LIBERATED FOR SELFLESS AND HUMBLE SERVICE

20160612 LIBERATED FOR SELFLESS AND HUMBLE SERVICE

Readings at Mass

Liturgical Colour: Green.

First reading

2 Samuel 12:7-10,13 ©

Nathan said to David, ‘The Lord the God of Israel says this, “I anointed you king over Israel; I delivered you from the hands of Saul; I gave your master’s house to you, his wives into your arms; I gave you the House of Israel and of Judah; and if this were not enough, I would add as much again for you. Why have you shown contempt for the Lord, doing what displeases him? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, taken his wife for your own, and killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. So now the sword will never be far from your House, since you have shown contempt for me and taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.”’

  David said to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the Lord.’ Then Nathan said to David, ‘The Lord, for his part, forgives your sin; you are not to die.’

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 31:1-2,5,7,11

Second reading

Galatians 2:16,19-21 ©

We acknowledge that what makes a man righteous is not obedience to the Law, but faith in Jesus Christ. We had to become believers in Christ Jesus no less than you had, and now we hold that faith in Christ rather than fidelity to the Law is what justifies us, and that no one can be justified by keeping the Law. In other words, through the Law I am dead to the Law, so that now I can live for God. I have been crucified with Christ, and I live now not with my own life but with the life of Christ who lives in me. The life I now live in this body I live in faith: faith in the Son of God who loved me and who sacrificed himself for my sake. I cannot bring myself to give up God’s gift: if the Law can justify us, there is no point in the death of Christ.

Gospel Acclamation

Jn14:6

Alleluia, alleluia!

I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, says the Lord;

No one can come to the Father except through me.

Alleluia!

Or

1Jn4:10

Alleluia, alleluia!

God so loved us that he sent his Son

to be the sacrifice that takes our sins away.

Alleluia!

EITHER:

Gospel

Luke 7:36-8:3 ©

One of the Pharisees invited Jesus to a meal. When he arrived at the Pharisee’s house and took his place at table, a woman came in, who had a bad name in the town. She had heard he was dining with the Pharisee and had brought with her an alabaster jar of ointment. She waited behind him at his feet, weeping, and her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them away with her hair; then she covered his feet with kisses and anointed them with the ointment.

  When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, ‘If this man were a prophet, he would know who this woman is that is touching him and what a bad name she has.’ Then Jesus took him up and said, ‘Simon, I have something to say to you.’ ‘Speak, Master’ was the reply. ‘There was once a creditor who had two men in his debt; one owed him five hundred denarii, the other fifty. They were unable to pay, so he pardoned them both. Which of them will love him more?’ ‘The one who was pardoned more, I suppose’ answered Simon. Jesus said, ‘You are right.’

  Then he turned to the woman. ‘Simon,’ he said ‘you see this woman? I came into your house, and you poured no water over my feet, but she has poured out her tears over my feet and wiped them away with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but she has been covering my feet with kisses ever since I came in. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. For this reason I tell you that her sins, her many sins, must have been forgiven her, or she would not have shown such great love. It is the man who is forgiven little who shows little love.’ Then he said to her, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’ Those who were with him at table began to say to themselves, ‘Who is this man, that he even forgives sins?’ But he said to the woman, ‘Your faith has saved you; go in peace.’

  Now after this he made his way through towns and villages preaching, and proclaiming the Good News of the kingdom of God. With him went the Twelve, as well as certain women who had been cured of evil spirits and ailments: Mary surnamed the Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, Joanna the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, Susanna, and several others who provided for them out of their own resources.

LIBERATED FOR SELFLESS AND HUMBLE SERVICE

SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ 2 Samuel 12:7-10.13; Ps 31:1-2,5,7,11; Galatians 2:16.19-21; Luke 7:36 – 8:3 (or >< 7:36-50) ]

We are all called to service, regardless of who we are.  Only in service can we find meaning and purpose in life.  We do not exist for ourselves primarily, but for others.  Man finds himself in his relationship with others because he is a social animal.  But more than that, man is created for love and therefore in loving service, he discovers himself, his identity and his meaning in life.  That is why Jesus said in no uncertain terms, “whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant,  and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave;  just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”  (Mt 20:26b-28)

But there are some people who cannot serve except themselves.  They are selfish, inward-looking, often making use of people for their interests, manipulating their friends, colleagues and business partners and clients.  This is true also for those in public service when the real reason for seeking public office is not to serve the people but for glory, power, money and prestige.  Indeed, so often many serve for wrong motives, even in Church ministries and NGOs.  They have an agenda that they want to push through, often motivated either by selfish needs, insecurity or an ideology.

Sadly, many are not even aware of their real motives in service, priests and religious included. We labour in the guise of service and love when unconsciously we seek our own security which comes in recognition, in power and control, in the respect and adulation we get from the people or sometimes with the desire for material gains and wealth.  Of course, on our lips we say a different thing and perhaps in our minds we believe that we are truly serving but it is on the level of the unconscious that the real motives lie.   How do we know what our real motives in service are?  Not in what we say but what we do and how we serve.  Indeed, all of us have the right answer when asked why we want to serve the church or go into politics, but it is not what we say but the way we live out our lives, the way we value things, how we treat people who come to us for help, what are the values that we hold and practice, etc that are the measures of our real motives in service.

Indeed, this was the case of St Paul in the second reading.  Before his conversion, he was seeking righteousness through the Law, on his own efforts, not by the grace of God, so that he could boast of how disciplined and righteous he was.  He sought by all means to be faithful to the Law and that made him self-righteous, despising those who could not.  This, too, was the same attitude of the Pharisees, the Holy Ones in the gospel.  They despised the woman of ill repute who came to anoint the feet of Jesus with tears and ointment.  Pride and arrogance ruled them.

It was only after encountering the power of the Risen Lord and His mercy and love for him that St Paul made a radical change in his life.  In the second reading, he wrote, “We acknowledge that what makes a man righteous is not obedience to the Law, but faith in Jesus Christ. We had to become believers in Christ Jesus no less than you had, and now we hold that faith in Christ rather than fidelity to the Law is what justifies us, and that no one can be justified by keeping the Law.”  He came to realize that efforts alone cannot justify us and make us holy either because it is impossible to obey all the laws perfectly, both in letter and in spirit, or even if we believe we could, we become egoistic, arrogant and proud, lacking compassion, having only condemnation for others, like the Jewish leaders and the Pharisees.  Rather, he said, “I have been crucified with Christ, and I live now not with my own life but with the life of Christ who lives in me.”   Only Christ in Him can make him live out the laws!

This, then, is the basis for authentic service either of God or of our fellowmen.  Authentic service begins with the liberation of the self, particularly the ego.  The beginning of service is always that of gratitude, which comes from self-awareness of our inadequacy.  Those who are self-sufficient are hardly grateful.  Jesus warns us, “Truly I tell you, it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”  (Mt 19:23f)  So long as we think we have earned what we have, there is nothing to be grateful for or to anyone.  All those who are not successful in our eyes are either stupid or lazy and they deserve to suffer anyway.

So genuine service and unconditional giving comes from one who has been blessed graciously by God and by others.  This was the case of King David who, in the first reading, committed adultery.  He forgot all the blessings that God had bestowed on him and became irresponsible in conducting himself before God and his people.  So when confronted by the Lord, he became conscious of his sins and immediately accepted the reprimand of Nathan.  Without making excuses or making light of his sin, he was humble and contrite and asked for forgiveness from the Lord.  So, too, the woman in the gospel was certainly contrite and repentant and remorseful for her many sins.  She did not have to say much but her actions of anointing the feet of Jesus with her tears and ointment and wiping them with her hair was enough to demonstrate her sincerity when Simon the host of Jesus did not even welcome Him by washing His feet or anointing His head.

Hence, Jesus remarked, “For this reason, I tell you that her sins, her many sins, must have been forgiven her, or she would not have shown such great love. It is the man who is forgiven little who shows little love.”  So when we look at the story of St Paul we can appreciate his missionary zeal in proclaiming the Good News because, as he wrote, “The life I now live in this body I live in faith: faith in the Son of God who loved me and who sacrificed himself for my sake. I cannot bring myself to give up God’s gift; if the Law can justify us, there is no point in the death of Christ.”  The thought of Jesus dying for him and forgiving him was enough to change Saul to Paul, the great apostle of Christ to the Gentiles.

Consequently, we can learn that before we can set others free in service, before we can heal or empower them, we need first and foremost to liberate ourselves, from our fears, insecurities and impure motives for serving God and others.  Like the Paul and the woman, we need to encounter the most radical form of God’s mercy, which is His unconditional love and forgiveness for our sins.   This is the root of God’s mercy because sin often is the cause of our blindness, ignorance, pride, selfishness and the hardening of our hearts and minds so that we no longer are able to see the truth, like the Jewish leaders who were blind and deaf to what Jesus wanted to reveal to them.

Once liberated from our sins, the other areas of liberation become possible, namely, illnesses, obsessions, fears, anxieties, selfishness and anger.  When our service is no longer prompted by insecurity but by love, then our service is purer.  We will then serve out of gratitude to God for His mercy towards ourselves, and in response to the mercy we have received freely from Him, we extend that divine mercy to others without conditions and without personal interests. In the final analysis, only authentic service can liberate and heal others, especially the one who serves.  Indeed, this was what we read in the gospel, that Jesus “made his way through towns and villages, preaching, and proclaiming the Good News of the kingdom of God and those “women who had been cured of evil spirits and ailments: Mary surnamed the Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and several others … provided for them out of their own resources.”  Those who were liberated became in turn the liberating agents of God.  Those who are not liberated and seek to serve will only seek to control those whom they claim to love and serve.

Where, then, can we find this mercy today if not through the Lord Himself, especially when we contemplate on His face at the Eucharistic celebration and on the Word of God and through the sacraments, particularly Reconciliation and the anointing of the sick?  In prayer and reflection of His mercy for us in our sinfulness, we will find healing and grace to share that mercy with others in compassion, forgiveness and in humble selfless love and service.  But we can also find divine mercy from the community.  Through our service and encouragement of each other and reaching out to the materially and spiritually poor, we encounter the mercy of God concretely in our lives.  That was what Jesus did.  He did not simply proclaim the mercy of God and His forgiveness; He demonstrated it by His life and by healing those who came to Him.  We too are called to do likewise.

Written by The Most Rev William Goh Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved