20160825 GOD COMES WHENEVER WE ARE PRESENT
Readings at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Green.
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First reading
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1 Corinthians
1:1-9 ©
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I, Paul, appointed by
God to be an apostle, together with brother Sosthenes, send greetings to the
church of God in Corinth, to the holy people of Jesus Christ, who are called to
take their place among all the saints everywhere who pray to our Lord Jesus
Christ; for he is their Lord no less than ours. May God our Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ send you grace and peace.
I never
stop thanking God for all the graces you have received through Jesus Christ. I
thank him that you have been enriched in so many ways, especially in your
teachers and preachers; the witness to Christ has indeed been strong among you
so that you will not be without any of the gifts of the Spirit while you are
waiting for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed; and he will keep you steady
and without blame until the last day, the day of our Lord Jesus Christ, because
God by calling you has joined you to his Son, Jesus Christ; and God is
faithful.
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Responsorial
Psalm
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Psalm 144:2-7 ©
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I will bless your
name for ever, O Lord.
I will bless you day
after day
and
praise your name for ever.
The Lord is great,
highly to be praised,
his
greatness cannot be measured.
I will bless your
name for ever, O Lord.
Age to age shall
proclaim your works,
shall
declare your mighty deeds,
shall speak of your
splendour and glory,
tell the
tale of your wonderful works.
I will bless your
name for ever, O Lord.
They will speak of
your terrible deeds,
recount
your greatness and might.
They will recall your
abundant goodness;
age to
age shall ring out your justice.
I will bless your
name for ever, O Lord.
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Gospel
Acclamation
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Jn15:15
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Alleluia, alleluia!
I call you friends,
says the Lord,
because I have made
known to you
everything I have
learnt from my Father.
Alleluia!
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Or
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Mt24:42,44
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Stay awake and stand
ready,
because you do not
know the hour
when the Son of Man
is coming.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Matthew 24:42-51
©
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Jesus said to his
disciples:
‘Stay
awake, because you do not know the day when your master is coming. You may be
quite sure of this that if the householder had known at what time of the night
the burglar would come, he would have stayed awake and would not have allowed
anyone to break through the wall of his house. Therefore, you too must stand
ready because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
‘What
sort of servant, then, is faithful and wise enough for the master to place him
over his household to give them their food at the proper time? ‘Happy that
servant if his master’s arrival finds him at this employment. I tell you
solemnly, he will place him over everything he owns. But as for the dishonest
servant who says to himself, “My master is taking his time,” and sets about
beating his fellow servants and eating and drinking with drunkards, his master
will come on a day he does not expect and at an hour he does not know. The
master will cut him off and send him to the same fate as the hypocrites, where
there will be weeping and grinding of teeth.’
GOD
COMES WHENEVER WE ARE PRESENT
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: [ 1Cor
1:1-9; Mt 24:42-51]
As we
approach the last chapters of Matthew’s gospel, the parable of the
conscientious steward reminds us of the need to be alert and be watchful of
Christ’s coming. The context of today’s pericope cannot but give us the
impression that Jesus is telling us to be prepared for the last day when His Kingdom
would come in its fullness. In other words, just like the community of
Matthew, we are called to be prepared for judgment on the last day. Such
interpretation on the level of the evangelist and his community is of course
correct and valid.
Nevertheless,
such an interpretation does not do justice to the real intention of Christ when
He told this parable. This is because when this parable is interpreted as
keeping ourselves prepared for the final judgment, it can be misunderstood that
eternal life begins only after death. That being the case, some would
adopt an attitude of postponement. Since judgment would only come on the last
day, many of us would then live in such a way that heaven can wait. So
long as I die a happy death (meaning having received the last sacraments or
make my conversion before deathbed) it does not matter how I live my life
now. In fact such is the attitude of many people. Believing that
they are still young or still healthy with many more years to come, they live
an irresponsible life, just like the dishonest servant in the parable.
They are not concerned about their spiritual and personal life, least of all
about the kingdom life that God wants to give us, here and now. Eat,
drink and be merry; living a selfish, superficial and unproductive life seems
to be the order of the day. This certainly is not the life of the Spirit
because it is a self-centered, sensual and impoverished way of living. A
life that is not lived in love and service cannot be considered a godly or a happy
and liberating life.
On the
other hand, they do fear the last day and want to be assured of a place in
heaven. As such, their only prayer is simply to ask that they have the
privilege of receiving the sacraments before they die. Not surprisingly,
we can understand why many Christians are not looking forward to death or to
the last day of the world. On the contrary, the talk of the last day is
often approached with great trepidation and anxiety. As is often uttered
by most people when we speak to them about the next life, “heaven can
wait.” But such a view of the coming of Christ is totally opposed
to the early Christians’ joyful expectations of the last day. For them,
they were looking forward intensely to the coming of Christ and His
kingdom. This is something they yearned and prayed for. Like Paul,
they could not wait to be with Christ. The early Christians were always living
in such a way that being with Christ is their goal and joy. St Paul said,
“while you are waiting for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed; and he will
keep you steady and without blame until the last day, the day of our Lord Jesus
Christ, because God by calling you has joined you to his Son, Jesus Christ; and
God is faithful.”
When
such an attitude is applied to our daily life, the implications are far
reaching. If we are only concerned about the last day, then it would also
mean that we need not bother very much about our lives, even now.
Consequently, we can take life easy; not expending ourselves in our work, not
really bothering whether we are advancing in our spiritual life or not.
And so we find ourselves living a life of mediocrity, a life sloth, without
purpose and direction. At the end of our lives, we will of course regret,
albeit it might be a bit too late at times. Then Christ’s prophecy would
come true for there will be “weeping and grinding of teeth” because we know
that we have wasted the golden opportunities to enrich ourselves by growing in
the life of the Spirit through using our gifts for the service of others.
We could have grown in wisdom, grace and understanding through the many
opportunities that come our way but we have not been faithful to the graces we
have received.
Consequently,
we must balance such a view of eschatology with that of the original message of
Jesus. In the original preaching of Jesus, this parable was not concerned
with the end-time specifically but the messianic time. Of course, the
messianic time is already the beginning of that end-time. Hence, what
Jesus wants His listeners to be aware was that the Kingdom of God has already
come. The master is already here. If the people are not aware of
the presence of the master, it is because they are too drunk with themselves to
be sensitive to the presence of the master.
So how
can one be present to the reality of the Kingdom which has come with the Son of
man? Simply by attending to what we have to do and be faithful to our
duties and ourselves. Jesus says, “Happy that servant if his master’s
arrival finds him at this employment.” Similarly, if only we are fully
engaged in what we have to do each day, be it sleeping, praying, recreating,
studying, all according to their proper time, then we would have already
experienced the joys of the kingdom. For how do we suppose the kingdom to
be present if it is not experienced in the concrete situations in our lives?
This
means that we can already live in the kingdom when we live our vocation
according to the state that we are in to its fullest. If we only learn to
enjoy our state of life, we would have experienced the joys of the
kingdom. Regardless of our state of life or vocation, we must put our
whole heart and soul into what we do. Fidelity to our state of life and
our vocation itself is the cause of our joy and freedom. Accepting and
being content with God’s will for us will give us peace and joy. If we
are miserable, it is because we are fighting against the will of God, living a
double-life and most of all, an irresponsible life of self-indulgence like the
unfaithful servant. Indeed, if one is fully absorbed in what one is doing
then one would find life such a joy because in giving oneself to love and
service, one is empowered and enriched as a person. There will be
no boredom nor would our mind be so free as to let it be the devil’s workshop
to disturb our peace.
That is
why, while we certainly await the full revelation of Jesus Christ as St Paul
tells us in the second reading, we are already experiencing His presence from
the gifts of the Spirit given to us. These gifts of the Spirit are meant
for the service of love and the building of the community. Whenever we
exercise our talents in this manner, we will keep ourselves “steady and without
blame”. In expending ourselves for the service of the kingdom, we live
the kingdom life at the same time. This has been the way of Jesus as
well, for we know that He fulfilled the kingdom of God in His life and ministry
by simply carrying out the mission that His Father had entrusted Him to
do. In doing the Father’s will even unto death, the kingdom was
accomplished in Him. We too, as we fulfill the Father’s will by
maximizing all the graces He gives to us for His greater glory, living our
lives to the fullest, will share in the joy of the kingdom now and in its
fullness on the last day.
In the
final analysis, of course, there is no dichotomy between the kingdom that will
come at the end of time and the kingdom which is already present. When we
live our lives fully wherever we are, then we are already living the life of
the kingdom that is to come. Thus, we are always prepared for the final
consummation of the kingdom. Hence, the coming of Christ would not be
looked upon with fear but as the fulfillment of what we are already
experiencing here on earth. When we exhaust the joys of living our life
on this earth, we cannot but desire to move to a higher level of life given to
us by Christ in the resurrection. The transition from this life to the
next should be like that of Mary in her Assumption when she seamlessly moved
from an earthly life to the heavenly life. She who already lived the life
of the kingdom entered into the fullness of life in heaven without any struggle
or tension.
For us,
because of our fallen nature, we know that we live in this tension of wanting
to be faithful to the Lord and wanting to please ourselves. Again and
again, especially in times of struggles, trials and sufferings, we do feel like
giving up being good and loving. We know that quite often, like God, we
feel that our kindness has been taken advantage of by those whom we love or
serve. At times we are misjudged and unappreciated. In such times
as these, we feel like doing what the lazy servant did, giving up the life of
the kingdom and living just for ourselves. When we feel like giving up,
let us take courage from the words of St Paul when he said, “God by calling you
has joined you to his Son, Jesus Christ; and God is faithful.” In other
words, let us share in Christ’s sonship both in suffering, death and
resurrection. Just as the Father was faithful to Jesus, He too will be
faithful to us when we are going through tough and demanding times living out
our vocation. Let us, whilst waiting for deliverance from our suffering
and misery, cling to the fidelity of God’s love for us. Most of all, by
being faithful in times of trials, we will become stronger and readier to
embrace the fullness of God’s life which requires ultimately a total
self-emptying. That is why Jesus said, “Happy that servant if his
Master’s arrival finds him at this employment. I tell you solemnly, he
will place him over everything he owns.”
Written by The Most Rev William Goh Roman Catholic Archbishop of
Singapore © All Rights Reserved
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