20160819 REVIVING THE DRY BONES
Readings at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Green.
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First reading
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Ezekiel 37:1-14 ©
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The hand of the Lord
was laid on me, and he carried me away by the spirit of the Lord and set me
down in the middle of a valley, a valley full of bones. He made me walk up and
down among them. There were vast quantities of these bones on the ground the whole
length of the valley; and they were quite dried up. He said to me, ‘Son of man,
can these bones live?’ I said, ‘You know, Lord.’ He said, ‘Prophesy over these
bones. Say, “Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. The Lord says this to these
bones: I am now going to make the breath enter you, and you will live. I shall
put sinews on you, I shall make flesh grow on you, I shall cover you with skin
and give you breath, and you will live; and you will learn that I am the
Lord.”’ I prophesied as I had been ordered. While I was prophesying, there was
a noise, a sound of clattering; and the bones joined together. I looked, and
saw that they were covered with sinews; flesh was growing on them and skin was
covering them, but there was no breath in them. He said to me, ‘Prophesy to the
breath; prophesy, son of man. Say to the breath, “The Lord says this: Come from
the four winds, breath; breathe on these dead; let them live!”’ I prophesied as
he had ordered me, and the breath entered them; they came to life again and stood
up on their feet, a great, an immense army.
Then he
said, ‘Son of man, these bones are the whole House of Israel. They keep saying,
“Our bones are dried up, our hope has gone; we are as good as dead.” So
prophesy. Say to them, “The Lord says this: I am now going to open your graves;
I mean to raise you from your graves, my people, and lead you back to the soil
of Israel. And you will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and
raise you from your graves, my people. And I shall put my spirit in you, and
you will live, and I shall resettle you on your own soil; and you will know
that I, the Lord, have said and done this – it is the Lord who speaks.”’
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Responsorial
Psalm
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Psalm 106:2-9 ©
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O give thanks to
the Lord for he is good, for his love has no end.
or
Alleluia!
Let them say this,
the Lord’s redeemed,
whom he
redeemed from the hand of the foe
and gathered from
far-off lands,
from east
and west, north and south.
O give thanks to
the Lord for he is good, for his love has no end.
or
Alleluia!
Some wandered in the
desert, in the wilderness,
finding
no way to a city they could dwell in.
Hungry they were and
thirsty;
their
soul was fainting within them.
O give thanks to
the Lord for he is good, for his love has no end.
or
Alleluia!
Then they cried to
the Lord in their need
and he
rescued them from their distress
and he led them along
the right way,
to reach
a city they could dwell in.
O give thanks to
the Lord for he is good, for his love has no end.
or
Alleluia!
Let them thank the
Lord for his love,
for the
wonders he does for men:
for he satisfies the
thirsty soul;
he fills
the hungry with good things.
O give thanks to
the Lord for he is good, for his love has no end.
or
Alleluia!
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Gospel
Acclamation
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Ps118:18
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Open my eyes, O Lord,
that I may consider
the wonders of your
law.
Alleluia!
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Or
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Ps24:4,5
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Teach me your paths,
my God,
make me walk in your
truth.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Matthew 22:34-40
©
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When
the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees they got together
and, to disconcert him, one of them put a question, ‘Master, which is the
greatest commandment of the Law?’ Jesus said, ‘You must love the Lord your God
with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the
greatest and the first commandment. The second resembles it: You must love your
neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments hang the whole Law, and the
Prophets also.’
REVIVING
THE DRY BONES
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: [ EZEKIEL
37:1-4; PSALM 106:2-9; MATTHEW 22:34-40 ]
Dry bones! What an
appropriate symbol for those who are going through the valley of tears in life.
Not just bones, but dry bones! To be just bones is to be stripped
of everything in life. When a person does not eat sufficiently, we say to
that person, “you are all bones!” We can therefore feel with the prophet
when he saw his people in exile. They had lost their homeland, their security,
their land and their kingdom and were without a leader, without any direction
in life, without a future.
Many of us are also in the
valley of dry bones. We have no more energy left. Things are not
going well for us. Our health is failing. No one seems to care
about us. We are not able to pay for our medical treatment.
Our business is about to fold up. We are unemployed. We have many
financial woes. Our children too are not doing well in their
studies. They get involved with bad company. We are struggling with
the infidelity of our spouse and in-laws that are hostile and demanding.
When we are in that situation, we are certainly in the valley of dry
bones. We are tempted to give up on life, on caring for our loved
ones, on our jobs and even God and the Church. Without motivation and
with a sense of hopelessness, we just do not feel like doing anything. We
slip further and further down the slope of depression. Like them we say,
“Our bones are dried up, our hope has gone; we are as good as dead.”
How, then, do we get out of
this valley when we no longer have any strength to do so? Firstly, we
need a good prophet, a preacher to help us to see life in a new
perspective. For this reason, the Lord sent the prophet Ezekiel to the
exiled. The Lord said, “’Son of man, can these bones live?’ I said, ‘You
know, Lord.’ He said, ‘Prophesy over these bones.’” The Lord told Ezekiel
to say to them, “The Lord says this to these bones: I am now going to make the
breath enter you, and you will live. I shall put sinews on you, I shall
make flesh grow on you. I shall cover you with skin and give you breath,
and you will live; and you will learn that I am the Lord.”
Indeed, the Word of God is
the beginning of conversion. The Word must be preached to those in exile
so that they can once again hear the message of hope. Those in depression need
to be enlightened and be given mercy and hope. The Word of God, the Good News,
is meant precisely to enlighten, to inspire and to bring hope to the
nations. This was the message from Ezekiel to the people, “The Lord says
this: I am now going to open your graves; I mean to raise you from your graves,
my people, and lead you back to the soil of Israel. And you will know
that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and raise you from your graves, my
people.” It is clearly good news. And this good news is also ours.
We must have hope and believe that the Lord will open our graves of darkness
and bring us forth to the new life.
Of course, the proclamation
of the Word requires that the recipients are willing to hear the Word of
God. Thus the prophet is to preface his teaching by saying, “Dry bones,
hear the word of the Lord.” Only those who are willing to hear the Word
of God can find new inspiration, new insight and new vision. We must
therefore cooperate with the Word of God. We need humility to listen to
His Word and believe in faith so that the Word of God can act in our
lives. Without an act of faith and obedience to His Word, the Word of God
remains ineffective and useless. The appropriate response to God’s Word is
always obedience in faith. If we follow the example of Abraham, Mary, the
apostles and all the saints, the Word of God will also be fulfilled in our
lives; and then we will recover our sense of purpose, our confidence in the
midst of our trials, knowing that He is with us and He will see us through.
But knowing what to do is
not enough to get a man on his feet again. He needs the energy. This
energy is what the Spirit supplies. After enlightening the exiles and
giving them a new vision and hope, the prophet had to empower them by giving
them the Spirit of God. “The Lord says this: Come from the four winds, breath;
breathe on these dead; let them live!” ‘I prophesied as he had ordered me, and
the breath entered them; they came to life again and stood up on their feet, a
great, an immense army.” Christ came precisely to give us the Spirit of God so
that we can share in the life of God. Without the Holy Spirit, there can
be no inner transformation and no power for evangelization. The Word of
God without the Spirit cannot give because the Word is Spirit and Life.
The Holy Spirit is given
through prayer. We need to ask for the Holy Spirit. Only through
prayer, can we receive the Holy Spirit. For this reason, it is not
sufficient for a prophet or a preacher to preach. He must pray as much as
he teaches. If we want the lives of others to be changed, it is not
enough to speak to them but we must pray for them as well. Only the Holy
Spirit can open their minds and hearts to receive His word. The trouble
with most of us is that we think it is what we say or teach that changes the
hearts of people. Only the Spirit can transform lives. Word and
Spirit must always go together.
When we receive the Holy
Spirit, we will then be able to do what the Lord asks of us. As we share in the
life of Christ, we will then be able to find meaning and purpose. In the
gospel, Jesus gives us the direction of life. Jesus said, “You must love
the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your
mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second resembles it:
you must love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments hang the
whole Law, and the Prophets also.”
Why is the call to love God
the first and most important commandment? Unless we put God as the
ultimate and the focus of our lives, we cannot live our life in security and be
free from anxiety. But we must remember that the command to love God
presupposes that God has already loved us. We are called to respond to
His love by loving the Lord in return. The command to love God with our
entire being is rooted first and foremost in the prior love of God for us.
When we love God, we will
then be able to love our neighbours. No longer do we see them just as an
animal or another creature. Christian appreciation of our fellowmen is
not based on humanism but on the dignity of each person who is created in the
image and likeness of God. If our faith forbids us to abort babies,
practice euthanasia, conduct research involving the destruction of embryos, and
invites us to accept everyone, those who are physically and mentally
challenged, refugees, etc, it is because we see everyone as sharing in the life
of God. They do not have just a soul but they share in God’s life.
Hence, all human beings must be treated with respect and with love.
Accordingly, if a Christian
claims that he loves God then he too must love his neighbours. Regardless
of language, race or religion, every human person deserves to be loved and be
given a basic wage to live on. So on that basis of the dignity of the
human person, we are to care for every man and woman. Our position
therefore cannot be that of the world, where a human person is treated like
another thing or animal to be disposed at will. If a person has a soul
that is immortal, then we are no longer dealing with just a thing.
Otherwise, there is no basis why human beings are treated differently from
other animals. Whether we like it or not, a human person is given special
treatment only because he or she is God’s image and likeness.
Consequently, a person who loves God would also love his neighbor. If he
does not love God, then he would not be able to love his neighbor and give him
the respect and reverence he deserves. “Those who say, ‘I love God’, and hate
their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or
sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. The
commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their
brothers and sisters also.” (1 Jn 4:20f
)
)
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights
Reserved
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