20160928 SETTING OUR BAR TOO LOW
Readings at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Green.
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First reading
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Job 9:1-13,14-16
©
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Job spoke to his
friends:
Indeed, I know it is
as you say:
how can
man be in the right against God?
If any were so rash
as to challenge him for reasons,
one in a
thousand would be more than they could answer.
His heart is wise,
and his strength is great:
who then
can successfully defy him?
He moves the
mountains, though they do not know it;
he throws
them down when he is angry.
He shakes the earth,
and moves it from its place,
making
all its pillars tremble.
The sun, at his command,
forbears to rise,
and on
the stars he sets a seal.
He and no other
stretched out the skies,
and
trampled the Sea’s tall waves.
The Bear, Orion too,
are of his making,
the
Pleiades and the Mansions of the South.
His works are great, beyond
all reckoning,
his
marvels, past all counting.
Were he to pass me, I
should not see him,
nor
detect his stealthy movement.
Were he to snatch a
prize, who could prevent him,
or dare
to say, ‘What are you doing?’
God never goes back
on his anger,
Rahab’s
minions still lie at his feet.
How dare I plead my
cause, then,
or choose
arguments against him?
Suppose I am in the
right, what use is my defence?
For he
whom I must sue is judge as well.
If he deigned to
answer my citation,
could I
be sure that he would listen to my voice?
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Responsorial
Psalm
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Psalm 87:10-15 ©
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Let my prayer come
into your presence, O Lord.
I call to you, Lord,
all the day long;
to you I
stretch out my hands.
Will you work your
wonders for the dead?
Will the
shades stand and praise you?
Let my prayer come
into your presence, O Lord.
Will your love be
told in the grave
or your
faithfulness among the dead?
Will your wonders be
known in the dark
or your
justice in the land of oblivion?
Let my prayer come
into your presence, O Lord.
As for me, Lord, I
call to you for help:
in the
morning my prayer comes before you.
Lord, why do you
reject me?
Why do
you hide your face?
Let my prayer come
into your presence, O Lord.
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Gospel
Acclamation
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Ps118:105
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Your word is a lamp
for my steps
and a light for my
path.
Alleluia!
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Or
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Ph3:8-9
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Alleluia, alleluia!
I have accepted the
loss of everything
and I look on
everything as so much rubbish
if only I can have
Christ
and be given a place
in him.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Luke 9:57-62 ©
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As Jesus and his
disciples 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.’
SETTING
OUR BAR TOO LOW
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: [ Job 9:1-13, 14-16; Luke 9:57-62 ]
What is the real problem
with the Catholic Church today? We have many members but very few
disciples of Christ. Many want to get baptized but few live a life of
Christian discipleship after baptism. Most are Sunday or nominal
Catholics. Yes, they come to church but they are not fired up for Christ
and His kingdom. Some join the Church like a club house for fellowship
and socializing. Others do so just in case they need God or in case they
get punished in the next life. Many are occasional visitors to the church
although they are “members.” They come on sentimental occasions like Christmas
and Good Friday. Beyond that they do not have any real relationship with
the Lord, nor are they involved in the proclamation of the Good News, either in
words or deeds.
When you have a Church with
members who are belong to one of the three categories or all of them in the
gospel, the Church cannot grow. The growth of the Church in the past was
all due to those who had a deep faith in the Lord. They were
willing to sacrifice everything for Christ and the gospel. The many
missionaries who brought the faith beyond Europe sacrificed their lives and
their loved ones for the sake of the gospel, even when faced with persecution
and death. Consider all the beautiful basilicas and churches built in
Europe, many of them took more 100 years to build! It was not constructed
in a matter of years but in 100s, and yet the Catholics slowly, patiently,
perseveringly built them. Such was their faith and devotion to God,
Christ and the gospel.
Perhaps, the greatest
weakness of the Catholic Church is that we have lowered our bar too low for
Christian discipleship. We have made too little demands on our members
and potential members. We want to take in everybody, the lame, the blind, the
dumb, the tax-collectors, the prostitutes but we are not ready to challenge
them at the same time to live out the radical life of being a Christian.
Indeed, Christ welcomed all sinners but He did not simply tell them that they
could continue with their old way of life. On the contrary, in no
uncertain terms, He spoke of the cost of discipleship. He did not couch
His expectations and demands in nice words and political correctness. His
demands were sharp, clear, demanding and non-compromising. This is clearly
illustrated in the three would be disciples in today’s gospel.
To the first man who wanted
to follow the Lord, Jesus answered, “Foxes have holes and the birds of the air
have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” Many
of us never count the cost and the sacrifices that we have to undertake before
embarking on anything. We only look at the frills, the privileges, the
honor and the fun but fail to take into consideration the sacrifices,
commitment and demands. Many young people entering into relationships only
think of enjoying physical intimacy, but never ask whether they are ready for
emotional and intellectual intimacy. Many get married, thinking only of
romance, but never looked at other married couples, how they are struggling in
their marriages. The truth is that in a marital relationship, there is
more to the romance between two persons; there are other elements involved:
children, in-laws and siblings, besides finance, housing, education, values,
religion, work, illnesses, etc. When we consider all these challenges,
the romance will fly out of the window. Equally true for those who desire
positions in life and aspire to high offices. Little do they know that
heavy is the head that wears the crown! With heavy responsibilities
on your shoulders, you might not be able to have time for your loved ones, much
less for God! So we seek prestige and position in life only to realize
that we cannot handle the stress, the demands and the sacrifices needed.
When their marriage and family life fail, including their health, they will
regret.
So too in Church ministry,
whether as volunteers or workers, there is commitment! When a person is
newly baptized, even before he learns to wean off milk, we put him into Church
ministry and even in positions of responsibility. He does not know what
it is like to work in a community of sinners waiting to become saints.
When he meets with difficulties, rejection and disagreements, he becomes
resentful and leaves the Church completely because the little faith he has
cannot sustain him. Of course, this applies especially to those who want
to work in the Church. They think that working in the Church is like
working in paradise. It is more like purgatory and hell because they will
be purified by those whom they serve, suffering humiliation, being
misunderstood, betrayed and rejected. They will have to suffer loneliness
and even ostracized. So, this is what Jesus was telling the man.
Think of the demands and sacrifices before you ask for discipleship!
So what is the
problem? This is because God is not the center of our life. That
was why when the second man who was asked by the Lord to follow Him, asked for
permission to look after his father till death first, the response of Jesus was
swift. “Leave the dead to bury the dead; your duty is to go and
spread the news of the kingdom of God.” Jesus was not teaching him
to be irresponsible and neglect his filial responsibilities. Rather, He
was telling him to place God first in His life. Only then will everything
fall into place. When we give our total commitment to God, then we will
know where to place our priorities and how to love our parents, spouse,
children, friends, colleagues. Everything must revolve around
Christ. Because when we love God above all, we too will love them as much
as God loves them. But when God is second or right at the bottom of the
scale, we will manipulate and abuse those people whom we love and are under our
care.
So if we want to be fully
alive as a Christian, then we must focus our eyes on the Lord. We must
never take our eyes off Him in whatever we do. If we do not do that, then
our lives will become a mess. Jesus told the third man, “Once the hand is
laid on the plough, no one who looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
We must not allow our attachment to our will and to the things of this world to
prevent us from following the ways of God. Quite often, it is our
attachment to our old way of life that makes us turn back from the Lord. Many
of us fall back to our old ways of life, especially when the journey is
tough. Singular mindedness is necessary if we are to do anything
well in life. The lack of focus and perseverance is the cause of many
failures. A Christian therefore will not allow anything to side
track him in following the gospel way of life.
In the light of all that we
have said, the question we must ask ourselves with regard to the apathy of
faith among Catholics is whether we have compromised too much. Have we
set our bar too low, thinking that we should not exact too much from
them? As a consequence, we have unwittingly allowed the minority to
influence the majority. Even the strong sheep, after some time, will
follow the weak and stray sheep. Most of the problems we face in the
Church today is due to the fact that we did not get it right from the
start. We relaxed Church discipline with regards to attire, marriage, the
prerequisites for baptism and the other sacraments, etc. Whilst we
must be compassionate, it does not mean compromising our principles and our
gospel values. The Church has given too much away so much so we are left
with very little to inspire, to challenge and to evoke the holiness, truth and
beauty of the Church. We have underestimated our Catholics’ ability to give
much more than what they are doing now for their faith.
Today, we have the example
of Job who gave his total commitment to the Lord even in those moments of
suffering. He could not understand the ways of God but he knew that he
could not fight against God and His divine plans. So even when he
could not understand why he had to suffer innocently, he submitted to God’s
will. Job was realistic and he accepted the cost of discipleship, which
is to be committed to the Lord in faith until the very end.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights
Reserved
