20160605 VISITATION OF GOD THROUGH THE HUMAN TOUCH
Readings at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Green.
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First reading
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1 Kings 17:17-24
©
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The son of the
mistress of the house fell sick; his illness was so severe that in the end he
had no breath left in him. And the woman said to Elijah, ‘What quarrel have you
with me, man of God? Have you come here to bring my sins home to me and to kill
my son?’ ‘Give me your son’ he said, and taking him from her lap, carried him
to the upper room where he was staying and laid him on his own bed. He cried
out to the Lord, ‘O Lord my God, do you mean to bring grief to the widow who is
looking after me by killing her son?’ He stretched himself on the child three
times and cried out to the Lord, ‘O Lord my God, may the soul of this child, I
beg you, come into him again!’ The Lord heard the prayer of Elijah and the soul
of the child returned to him again and he revived. Elijah took the child,
brought him down from the upper room into the house, and gave him to his
mother. ‘Look,’ Elijah said ‘your son is alive.’ And the woman replied, ‘Now I
know you are a man of God and the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth
itself.’
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Responsorial
Psalm
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Psalm
29:2,4-6,11-13 ©
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I will praise you,
Lord, you have rescued me.
I will praise you,
Lord, you have rescued me
and have
not let my enemies rejoice over me.
O Lord, you have
raised my soul from the dead,
restored
me to life from those who sink into the grave.
I will praise you,
Lord, you have rescued me.
Sing psalms to the
Lord, you who love him,
give
thanks to his holy name.
His anger lasts a
moment; his favour all through life.
At night
there are tears, but joy comes with dawn.
I will praise you,
Lord, you have rescued me.
The Lord listened and
had pity.
The Lord
came to my help.
For me you have
changed my mourning into dancing:
O Lord my
God, I will thank you for ever.
I will praise you,
Lord, you have rescued me.
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Second reading
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Galatians
1:11-19 ©
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The Good News I
preached is not a human message that I was given by men, it is something I
learnt only through a revelation of Jesus Christ. You must have heard of my
career as a practising Jew, how merciless I was in persecuting the Church of
God, how much damage I did to it, how I stood out among other Jews of my
generation, and how enthusiastic I was for the traditions of my ancestors.
Then God,
who had specially chosen me while I was still in my mother’s womb,
called me through his grace and chose to reveal his Son in me, so that I might
preach the Good News about him to the pagans. I did not stop to discuss this
with any human being, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to see those who were
already apostles before me, but I went off to Arabia at once and later went
straight back from there to Damascus. Even when after three years I went up to
Jerusalem to visit Cephas and stayed with him for fifteen days, I did not see
any of the other apostles; I only saw James, the brother of the Lord.
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Gospel
Acclamation
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cf.Ep1:17,18
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Alleluia, alleluia!
May the Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ
enlighten the eyes of
our mind,
so that we can see
what hope his call holds for us.
Alleluia!
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Or
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Lk7:16
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Alleluia, alleluia!
A great prophet has
appeared among us;
God has visited his
people.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Luke 7:11-17 ©
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Jesus
went to a town called Nain, accompanied by his disciples and a great number of
people. When he was near the gate of the town it happened that a dead man was
being carried out for burial, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow.
And a considerable number of the townspeople were with her. When the Lord saw
her he felt sorry for her. ‘Do not cry’ he said. Then he went up and put his
hand on the bier and the bearers stood still, and he said, ‘Young man, I tell
you to get up.’ And the dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him
to his mother. Everyone was filled with awe and praised God saying, ‘A great
prophet has appeared among us; God has visited his people.’ And this opinion of
him spread throughout Judaea and all over the countryside.
VISITATION
OF GOD THROUGH THE HUMAN TOUCH
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: [ 1 KINGS
17:17-24; GALATIANS 1:11-19; LUKE 7:11-17 ]
“Everyone
was filled with awe and praised God saying, ‘A great prophet has appeared among
us; God has visited his people.’” We are all looking and awaiting the
visitation of God in our lives, especially those of us who are walking in
darkness or in the valley of death. Where can we find God today?
How do we expect God to work in our lives? Many of us expect God to come
in spectacular ways, showing forth His power and glory. Yet, the
scripture readings today make it clear that God always comes in ordinary ways
and He comes to help us and not to make Himself a spectacle for all to
see.
We read
in today’s gospel how Jesus reached out to the widow who lost her only
son. “When the Lord saw her he felt sorry for her. ‘Do not cry’ he said.
Then he went up and put his hand on the bier and the bearers stood still, and
he said, ‘Young man, I tell you to get up.’ And the dead man sat up and began
to talk, and Jesus gave him to his mother.” It is significant that Jesus
performed miracles not for fame or to demonstrate something about Himself; rather,
the motive of Jesus was purely out of compassion. Jesus knew how to
empathize with those suffering, and in this case, the widow who had no one to
depend on. He could feel the grief and loss of the woman and feeling
sorry for her, He raised the man back to life. He personally gave the man
back to his mother. There is no ostentatiousness or publicity of any
kind. Jesus reacted spontaneously to one who needed His help.
Through His human touch, the people saw Jesus as the visitation of God. The evangelist
remarked, “Everyone was filled with awe and praised God saying, ‘A great
prophet has appeared among us; God has visited his people.’ And this opinion of
him spread throughout Judaea and all over the countryside.”
In the
first reading too we read how the widow was angry with the prophet
Elijah. We can imagine how betrayed the woman must have felt. After
being so gracious in giving hospitality to the prophet, all she got in return
was a curse. We can understand her frustration, anger and disappointment.
So much so, she took it out on the prophet, the man of God. She said, or
more likely shouted, “What quarrel have you with me, man of God? Have you come
here to bring my sins home to me and to kill my son?” Again,
Elijah, truly a prophet of God, did not react with anger in spite of being
wrongly accused. Instead of fighting and arguing with her, Elijah knew
that a woman in that state of mind would not stand to reason, as losing one’s
son had caused her to be in a state of grief. What she needed was not a
lecture on a theology of a loving God. What she needed at that point of time,
was not a reprimand either. She needed understanding and
compassion. So this was what Elijah did. Without retorting, he said
to her, “‘Give me your son’ he said, and taking him from her lap, carried him
to the upper room where he was staying and laid him on his own bed.” He
then prayed earnestly to the Lord, begging Him to raise the child back to
life. And we read, “the Lord heard the prayer of Elijah and the soul of
the child returned to him again and he revived. Elijah took the child, brought
him down from the upper room into the house, and gave him to his mother.
‘Look,’ Elijah said ‘your son is alive.’” Indeed, it was through the
compassion and sensitive love of the prophet, that the widow could see in him a
true man of God and that he was a real prophet indeed. And the woman
replied, “Now I know you are a man of God and the word of the Lord in your
mouth is truth itself.” This is another instance when the love of
God is made visible in a human way so much so the spectacular dimension of the
miracle was practically played down.
In the
second reading from the letter of St Paul to the Galatians, we once again see
how the divine works through the human dimension of man. St Paul attested
to the fact that the message that he received was “not a human message … given
by men.” Rather, “it is something I learnt only through a revelation of
Jesus Christ.” Yet, it must be noted that before his conversion, he was a
persecutor of the Church. He was filled with zeal in annihilating the
early Christians as he wrongly thought they were traitors of the true
religion. He wrote, “You must have heard of my career as a practising
Jew, how merciless I was in persecuting the Church of God, how much damage I
did to it, how I stood out among other Jews of my generation, and how
enthusiastic I was for the traditions of my ancestors.” Again, we read
how God called St Paul to be His apostle because God knew that He could make use
of St Paul’s passion, dedication and courage in preaching the gospel.
Grace transformed St Paul from an enemy and persecutor of the Church to an
ardent and zealous apostle of the gospel.
What does it mean for all
of us? The first lesson we can learn from today’s scripture readings is
that we need to allow the grace of God to work through us. God uses our
humanity as He used Jesus, St Paul and the prophet Elijah to mediate His love,
compassion and presence. In that sense all of us are invited to be the
visitation of God to our people and those whom we meet each day. It will
not be through miraculous and spectacular means that people are brought to
conversion. Rather it is the humble, sensitive, caring, compassionate and
loving ways that we will win hearts. Conversion of souls takes place not
through intimidation, condemnation, threats and manipulation. Such
conversion will not last long. Rather, people are converted to the faith
because they see God in us and how grace has transformed us. In our
thoughts, words and deeds, we can touch lives. So when proclaiming the
Good News, let us not think that apologetics and polemics is the way to convert
people, rather it is through works of mercy and compassion. As St Francis
of Assisi told his disciples, “Preach the gospel and if necessary, use words!”
Secondly,
we must also trust in the power of divine intervention. Although God works
through us, we must recognize that we can heal people not with our strength but
in God’s alone. As the psalmist says, “I will praise you, Lord, you have
rescued me and have not let my enemies rejoice over me. O Lord, you have raised
my soul from the dead, restored me to life from those who sink into the grave.
The Lord listened and had pity. The Lord came to my help. For me you have
changed my mourning into dancing: O Lord my God, I will thank you for ever.”
Indeed, our faith in changing lives is because of our faith in Christ who is
the author of life.
Faith in Jesus as the Lord
of life because of the resurrection is critical to our trust in God. The
basis of Christian confidence lies in the fact that Jesus is Lord because of
His resurrection. This is the central message of St Luke for in this
gospel text, he addressed Him as Lord. In other words, St Luke was anticipating
for his readers that Jesus is the Lord of life. He was preparing his
readers that Jesus is the resurrection and the life thereby sharing in the
creative power of God. In Him, God has come to visit us through His
teachings, miracles, deeds of love and compassion. He is the fulfilment
of the prophets for He is greater than Elijah and John the Baptist. In
Jesus, we know that love will never die and is everlasting. He has
conquered death, which is seen by people in the world as the end of everything
in life. Death destroys all hope and meaning in living since all our
aspirations and even relationships will come to nothing. Those who do not
believe in God will end up in annihilation since life is such a
contradiction. At the end of the day, there is only death. But
Christian hope tells us that because of the resurrection, life and love
continue in the next life. So love never ends.
Today,
we are challenged to give hope to those who have no more hope and purpose in
life. We are called to be the visitation of God to the world. By
our acts of love, compassion and kindness, we are called to mediate His love
and goodness. It is important therefore that in whatever we do or say, we
are conscious that like Jesus, we are sent to bear witness to God’s love in
this broken and hopeless world. Will our spouse and children look at us and see
the face of God in us? Will our colleagues and friends or others see us
as God’s visitation? Are we simply bringing the Good News to the world or
are we the Good News ourselves? Jesus is the Good News in person.
What about us?
Written by The Most Rev William Goh Roman Catholic Archbishop of
Singapore © All Rights Reserved
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