20160626 FREED FOR CHRIST’S SERVICE
Readings at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Green.
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First reading
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1 Kings
19:16,19-21 ©
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The Lord said to
Elijah, ‘Go, you are to anoint Elisha son of Shaphat, of Abel Meholah, as
prophet to succeed you.’
Leaving
there, Elijah came on Elisha son of Shaphat as he was ploughing behind twelve
yoke of oxen, he himself being with the twelfth. Elijah passed near to him and
threw his cloak over him. Elisha left his oxen and ran after Elijah. ‘Let me
kiss my father and mother, then I will follow you’ he said. Elijah answered,
‘Go, go back; for have I done anything to you?’ Elisha turned away, took the
pair of oxen and slaughtered them. He used the plough for cooking the oxen,
then gave to his men, who ate. He then rose, and followed Elijah and became his
servant.
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Responsorial
Psalm
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Psalm
15:1-2,5,7-11 ©
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O Lord, it is you
who are my portion.
Preserve me, God, I
take refuge in you.
I say to
the Lord: ‘You are my God.
O Lord, it is you who
are my portion and cup;
it is you
yourself who are my prize.’
O Lord, it is you
who are my portion.
I will bless the Lord
who gives me counsel,
who even
at night directs my heart.
I keep the Lord ever
in my sight:
since he
is at my right hand, I shall stand firm.
O Lord, it is you
who are my portion.
And so my heart
rejoices, my soul is glad;
even my
body shall rest in safety.
For you will not
leave my soul among the dead,
nor let
your beloved know decay.
O Lord, it is you
who are my portion.
You will show me the
path of life,
the
fullness of joy in your presence,
at your
right hand happiness for ever.
O Lord, it is you
who are my portion.
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Second reading
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Galatians
5:1,13-18 ©
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When Christ freed us,
he meant us to remain free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to
the yoke of slavery. My brothers, you were called, as you know, to liberty; but
be careful, or this liberty will provide an opening for self-indulgence. Serve
one another, rather, in works of love, since the whole of the Law is summarised
in a single command: Love your neighbour as yourself. If you go snapping
at each other and tearing each other to pieces, you had better watch or you
will destroy the whole community.
Let me
put it like this: if you are guided by the Spirit you will be in no danger of
yielding to self-indulgence, since self-indulgence is the opposite of the
Spirit, the Spirit is totally against such a thing, and it is precisely because
the two are so opposed that you do not always carry out your good intentions.
If you are led by the Spirit, no law can touch you.
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Gospel
Acclamation
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1S3:9,Jn6:68
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Speak, Lord, your
servant is listening:
you have the message
of eternal life.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Luke 9:51-62 ©
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As the time drew near
for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely took the road for Jerusalem
and sent messengers ahead of him. These set out, and they went into a Samaritan
village to make preparations for him, but the people would not receive him because
he was making for Jerusalem. Seeing this, the disciples James and John said,
‘Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to burn them up?’ But he
turned and rebuked them, and they went off to another village.
As they
travelled along they met a man on the road who said to him, ‘I will follow you
wherever you go.’ Jesus answered, ‘Foxes have holes and the birds of the air
have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.’
Another
to whom he said, ‘Follow me’, replied, ‘Let me go and bury my father first.’
But he answered, ‘Leave the dead to bury their dead; your duty is to go and
spread the news of the kingdom of God.’
Another
said, ‘I will follow you, sir, but first let me go and say goodbye to my people
at home.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Once the hand is laid on the plough, no one who
looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.’
FREED
FOR CHRIST’S SERVICE
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: [ 1 Kgs
19:16.19-21; Ps 15:1-2,5,7-11; Gal 5:1.13-18; Lk 9:51-62]
The world seeks freedom
more than anything else today. Yet, the irony is that the slavery of the
world actually is masked by freedom. In the name of freedom and human
rights, the world wants total autonomy from the Laws, from God and from the
state. Today, we have a ludicrous situation when the freedom of the
individual is given at the expense of the common good, their safety and
community rights. The freedom of the individual turns out to be pure
individualism, self-centeredness and egotism. Such a person is no
longer free! He is, as St Paul says, the slave of self-indulgence.
He is a slave of his passions. That is not real freedom! He is
unable to free himself from addiction to drugs, food and drinks. He is
obsessed with anger, revenge, jealousy and envy. He thinks of
nothing except money and sex. Or else, he is ambitious.
But Christ has set us
free. We are truly free, both from the Laws and from sin. The
freedom gained for us by Christ is freedom firstly from the Laws.
Salvation is the free gift of Christ through faith in Him by His passion, death
and resurrection. We do not earn our salvation but it is a pure gift from
God. He wants to love us and there is nothing we can do to earn or merit
the love and grace of God. Consequently, a Christian no longer lives
under legalism, worrying about breaking the Laws or trying to prove that he is
worthy of God’s love. Through Christ, we know that God loves us even when
we are sinners. He wants to save us from our sins and from being slaves
to our passion and the world.
The corollary of being
freed from the Laws does not mean that we can continue to live in sin.
That would be to fall into self-indulgence, which is worse! St Paul warns
us, “When Christ freed us, he meant us to remain free. Stand firm, therefore,
and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery. Let me put it like this:
if you are guided by the Spirit you will be in no danger of yielding to
self-indulgence.” That is why those who say that God’s grace alone has saved
them and yet continue to sin are cheating themselves. If we truly believe
that God has saved us in Christ through the price of His blood, we will never
continue to live a life of sin because we want to return the love that Christ
has paid for us by His death.
How do we know that we are
walking in the freedom of the Holy Spirit? What is real freedom?
Freedom is the ability to determine our lives and live in a way that brings
true and lasting happiness with the capacity to give and love freely and
unconditionally like our Lord Jesus Christ. When one is capable of love
and giving to the extent of death, he is truly free.
What does it mean to serve
the Lord in the freedom of the Spirit? It means that we are now ready for
service for Christ and our fellowmen. The first reading and the gospel speaks
of the call of the Christian. This service is ultimate for the service of
love. St Paul wrote, “Serve one another, rather, in works of love, since
the whole of the Law is summarised in a single command: Love your neighbour as
yourself.” We are called to give ourselves completely for the
service of our fellowmen.
At the end of the day, our
call is for the building of love and unity. We are to reconcile the
different warring factions of our day. St Paul warns us, “If you go
snapping at each other and tearing each other to pieces, you had better watch
or you will destroy the whole community.” Those who are free can then
help others to find their own freedom by journeying with them in freedom
without judgment and condemnation. When one is freed from his wounds and
pains, he is able to journey with others in their pains. Today more than
ever, we need to attend to the wounds, especially in relationships.
How then do we remain truly
free? When we make Christ as our Lord and master so that His Spirit can
live and move in us. We can only be free in Christ because He is the Way,
the Truth and the Life. We are called to follow Jesus who lived a
life of total freedom for others and for God. He must be our master
and portion. The psalmist says, “Preserve me, God, I take refuge in
you. I say to the Lord: ‘You are my God.’ Oh Lord, it is you who
are my portion and cup; it is you yourself who are my prize.” If Jesus is
our master, it means that we must be attentive to His Word spoken to us through
the Word of God, the authoritative teachers of the Church. In all that we
do, we must be guided by the wisdom of the Word of God. “You will show me
the path of life, the fullness of joy in your presence, at your right hand
happiness forever.”
What does it take to
respond to Christ our master? Firstly, the bible says that our response
must be immediate and there should be no delay because it is the Lord who
calls. When God calls, we cannot delay because the king is calling us to
be at His service. This was the response of Elisha when called upon
to follow after Elijah. “Elijah passed near to him and threw his cloak over
him. Elisha left his oxen and ran after Elijah.”
Secondly, we must get our
priorities right. To a would-be follower who said to Jesus, “Let me go
and bury my father first.” The answer of Jesus was swift, “Leave the dead
to bury their dead; your duty is to go and spread the news of the kingdom of
God.” Jesus is not teaching us to be irresponsible in the care of
our parents. He is telling us that we cannot serve our fellowmen or our parents
unless we first serve God! When we make a decision to serve God above all
things, then we will see everything else in that perspective. Loving and
serving God becomes the reference point of all that we do. Only because
we love God totally, that we also want to show this love for our parents and
our loved ones. Only because we love God completely, can we also give
ourselves completely in service to others. Otherwise if we serve others,
we will end up serving ourselves unconsciously. We serve to get
appreciation, recognition and gratitude. But when we serve God, we need no
other reward than to know that God is pleased with us and that we love Him.
Thirdly, in responding to
the call, it must be total and unconditional. There is no picking or choosing
what we like to do. When we do that we end up serving ourselves. This is
what many Catholics are doing. They pick and choose which doctrine they
like and reject those they do not like. They believe in themselves, not
the gospel of our Lord Jesus. Rather, we must be ready to wear the crown
of thorns; not just seek the crown of glory. We must not only accept the
blessings from God but also the burden that comes from them. We want God
to bless us with talents, wealth and influence but we do not use them for the
service of others but for ourselves. We want to have children but
we do not want to look after them. We want to hold positions in church
and society but we are irresponsible. Elisha, when he was called,
cut off his only security by killing the oxen that he needed for his work and
even burnt up the plough. In other words, he abandoned everything, even
his security to follow the Lord.
Fourthly, we must live a
life of simplicity without desire for honorific titles or a life of
luxury. We must live simply so that we can love more, not focus on
ourselves but on others. Of course, we take what we need to live but we
must not be overly concerned about the pleasures of this world. We must abandon
our security and trust in Him alone. Jesus in no uncertain terms spoke
about the cost of discipleship when he said, “Foxes have holes and the birds of
the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” It
does not mean that we cannot enjoy the things of creation. By all means enjoy
what we have, share with others, but do not become a slave to all these things
of the world. Use them for love and for building communion, not simply
for self. In other words, we must not be attached to all these
things. The only attachment that is allowed for us is attachment to
Christ, not even our loved ones, because they all belong to Christ as well.
Fifthly, in following
Jesus, there is no turning back. There must be no second thought.
We must be singular minded and resolute. That was the way
Jesus served His Father. “As the time drew near for him to be taken up to
heaven, Jesus resolutely took the road for Jerusalem and sent messengers ahead
of him.” Jesus reminded the disciple, “’Once the hand is laid on the
plough, no one who looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.’” Anyone who
lacks perseverance or gives up easily in the face of difficulties will not be a
good disciple of the Lord. Yet, we need to face the reality of
provisional commitment in love, both of marriage and priestly commitment
today. We seem to lack the capacity to love with commitment and make an
irrevocable vow and promise.
In the final analysis, we
cannot be free to love and be free for love and service, unless we stay close
to Jesus, especially in prayer every morning as He did. We must wake up
early each day and spend some time before the Lord in prayer, meditation and
contemplation. Only when we turn to the Lord in prayer to seek
consolation, understanding, wisdom and guidance from His Word and be filled
with His love, will we have the strength, capacity, joy and passion to make a
difference in the world today. Indeed, this is what we are all called to
do. Being set free is a grace of God, a great blessing. But it also
means a grave responsibility to be sent out to set others free for God and for
love. So let us renew our love for the Lord once again and be renewed in
His Spirit. Only when we make the Lord our portion, our love and
our life, can we love and serve without having any agenda, any ulterior motive,
any ambition except to be messengers of His love and mercy so that we can set
others free from fear of the laws and the slavery of sin.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights
Reserved
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