20161013 A REASON TO LIVE AND A REASON TO DIE
Readings at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Green.
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First reading
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Ephesians 1:1-10
©
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From Paul, appointed
by God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, to the saints who are faithful to
Christ Jesus. Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord
Jesus Christ.
Blessed be God the
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who has blessed us with
all the spiritual blessings of heaven in Christ.
Before the world was
made, he chose us, chose us in Christ,
to be holy and
spotless, and to live through love in his presence,
determining that we
should become his adopted sons, through Jesus Christ
for his own kind
purposes,
to make us praise the
glory of his grace,
his free gift to us
in the Beloved,
in whom, through his
blood, we gain our freedom, the forgiveness of our sins.
Such is the richness
of the grace
which he has showered
on us
in all wisdom and
insight.
He has let us know
the mystery of his purpose,
the hidden plan he so
kindly made in Christ from the beginning
to act upon when the
times had run their course to the end:
that he would bring
everything together under Christ, as head,
everything in the
heavens and everything on earth.
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Responsorial
Psalm
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Psalm 97:1-6 ©
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The Lord has shown
his salvation.
Sing a new song to
the Lord
for he
has worked wonders.
His right hand and
his holy arm
have
brought salvation.
The Lord has shown
his salvation.
The Lord has made
known his salvation;
has shown
his justice to the nations.
He has remembered his
truth and love
for the
house of Israel.
The Lord has shown
his salvation.
All the ends of the
earth have seen
the
salvation of our God.
Shout to the Lord,
all the earth,
ring out
your joy.
The Lord has shown
his salvation.
Sing psalms to the
Lord with the harp
with the
sound of music.
With trumpets and the
sound of the horn
acclaim
the King, the Lord.
The Lord has shown
his salvation.
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Gospel
Acclamation
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Ps110:7,8
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Your precepts, O
Lord, are all of them sure;
they stand firm for
ever and ever.
Alleluia!
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Or
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Jn14:6
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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!
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Gospel
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Luke 11:47-54 ©
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Jesus said:
‘Alas for
you who build the tombs of the prophets, the men your ancestors killed! In this
way you both witness what your ancestors did and approve it; they did the
killing, you do the building.
‘And that
is why the Wisdom of God said, “I will send them prophets and apostles; some
they will slaughter and persecute, so that this generation will have to answer
for every prophet’s blood that has been shed since the foundation of the world,
from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was murdered between the
altar and the sanctuary.” Yes, I tell you, this generation will have to answer
for it all.
‘Alas for
you lawyers who have taken away the key of knowledge! You have not gone in
yourselves, and have prevented others going in who wanted to.’
When he
left the house, the scribes and the Pharisees began a furious attack on him and
tried to force answers from him on innumerable questions, setting traps to
catch him out in something he might say.
A
REASON TO LIVE AND A REASON TO DIE
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: [ EPHESIANS 1:1-10; LUKE 11:47-54 ]
Not in any epoch in history
has there been a time when the world was on the brink of despair, as we are now
in, because of hopelessness. In those days of war, famine and
pestilence, at least there was a hope for a new world to come in the next
life. People then, in spite of their miseries, believed in the
Sacred and retribution after death, where the good would be rewarded with
paradise and the evil consigned to hell.
Indeed, when you remove God
from the world, man has no place and no way to explain himself. Man
cannot explain his existence on earth, whither he came from and where he is
going after life on earth. The universe and his own existence are seen as
something that happened accidentally. Life has no purpose except to work
hard, have sufficient to live on comfortably and enjoy the pleasures of
life. A man is defined more as an epicurean, a hedonist, a sensualist and
a pleasure-seeker, not much different from the animals. Not surprisingly,
the world has become very materialistic. We are living in a consumerist
society.
Thus, we can understand why
many who have no faith live in hopelessness and meaninglessness. They do
not live beyond this earth. So much so there is not much meaning in this
life because they know all is temporary and everything will end in
annihilation. The purpose and motivation for doing good is reduced to
pure humanitarian reasons, compassion for one’s fellow human beings in their
suffering. St Paul wrote, “If only for this life we have hope in Christ,
we are of all people most to be pitied.” (1 Cor 15:19) Man cannot
live just on food alone but he needs purpose, meaning and hope.
For us who are Christians,
we do not walk in the dark as if we have no hope. The plan of humanity
that God has for us has been revealed to us. This is succinctly
summarized in today’s first reading. No Catholic should ever say that he
or she does not know what is life and what he or she is living for.
Because of Christ, the plan of God is revealed. St Paul calls Christ the
mystery, that is, the plan of God revealed. He is the mystery of
salvation, not in the sense of mysterious, but that the hidden plan of God for
all eternity has now been revealed in Him. Christ is “the mystery that
has been hidden throughout the ages and generations but has now been revealed
to his saints.” (Col 1:26)
In his letter to the Ephesians, St Paul says “before the world was made, he
chose us, chose us in Christ.”
What, then, is the plan of
God for us in Christ? We are called “to be holy and spotless.” Our
first call then is the call to holiness. This is the common vocation of
all Christians when we were baptized in Christ. We desire to be holy and
spotless in Christ. In other words, we want to be pure like Christ.
St John said, “What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like
him, for we will see him as he is. And all who have this hope in him purify
themselves, just as he is pure.” (1 Jn 3:2f) Living a life
of holiness is to live a life of purity in love and in truth. It is
to be another Christ in the way we live.
Secondly, we are called “to
live through love in his presence.” In other words, living a holy life is
not something that we seek to do with our own strength. Rather, we must
do it with the love of God in our hearts. Only when we draw His love by
living in His presence, can we then find ourselves capable of loving, giving
and sharing. We all can carry our crosses in life when we live in His
presence because knowing that He is with us and that He loves us will give us
the strength to persevere right to the end. With God’s love and with Him
in us, we have no reason to fear because we are not alone.
Thirdly, we are called to
“become his adopted sons, through Jesus Christ.” This is our dignity as
Christians. We are called not just to be creatures of God but to be heirs
with Christ. St John affirms this divine filiation given to us when he
wrote, “See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called
children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us
is that it did not know him.” (1 Jn 3:1) As
adopted sons and daughters in Christ, we too share in His dignity. “When
we cry, “Abba! Father!” it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit
that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs,
heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ – if, in fact, we suffer with him so
that we may also be glorified with him.” (Rom 8:15b-17)
How is this possible if not
through the redemption wrought by Christ’s death and resurrection? Christ
who has been foretold by the prophets in the Old Testament is the Saviour who
set us free from our sins through forgiveness manifested in His death on the
cross. Salvation is freely given through faith in God’s love and mercy in
Christ. His death enabled us to overcome death and sin. Through His
resurrection, He gave humanity a clear hope of our destiny at the end of
time. Death would not be the end of everything as what the world thinks
but it will lead to new life in the resurrection. Indeed, God’s plan is
that “we should become his adopted sons, through Jesus Christ for his own kind
purposes, to make us praise the glory of his grace, his free gift to us in the
Beloved, in whom, through his blood, we gain our freedom, the forgiveness of
our sins.” Truly with the psalmist, we declare, “The Lord has shown his
salvation. Sing a new song to the Lord for he has worked wonders. His
right hand and his holy arm have brought salvation. The Lord has made
known his salvation; has shown his justice to the nations. He has
remembered his truth and love for the house of Israel.”
Accordingly, Christ is the
One who is our leader in salvation and all things are recapitulated in
Him. “He has let us know the mystery of his purpose, the hidden plan he
so kindly made in Christ from the beginning to act upon when the times had run
their course to the end: that he would bring everything together under Christ,
as head, everything in the heavens and everything on earth.” In
Christ everything is made clear, our origin, our destiny. He is the answer
to all riddles in life. In the constitution of the Church, she teaches,
“The Church firmly believes that Christ, who died and was raised up for all,
can through His Spirit offer man the light and the strength to measure up to
his supreme destiny. Nor has any other name under the heaven been given to man
by which it is fitting for him to be saved. She likewise holds that in her most
benign Lord and Master can be found the key, the focal point and the goal of
man, as well as of all human history.” (GS 10.3)
Acceptance
of this divine plan presupposes that we accept Christ as the mystery of our
salvation, the revealer of the Father, the Way, the Truth and the Life.
Do we truly believe that Christ is the Christ that the prophets
foretold? Those in the time of Christ and before Him did not. All
the prophets that prepared for the Lord’s coming were put to death, including
John the Baptist, the precursor of our Lord. This is what Jesus told the
people, “I will send them prophets and apostles; some they will slaughter and persecute,
so that this generation will have to answer for every prophet’s blood that has
been shed since the foundation of the world, from the blood of Abel to the
blood of Zechariah, who was murdered between the altar and the
sanctuary.” Today, many still reject Christ as their Saviour and by so
doing also reject the revelation of God through Him.
Secondly, there are some,
whilst not outrightly rejecting Christ as the revelation of God, do not accept
Him in fact. Many Catholics are like the Jews criticized by the
Lord. “Alas for you who build the tombs of the prophets, the men your
ancestors killed! In this way you both witness what your ancestors did and
approve it; they did the killing, you do the building.” Indeed, we might
not have killed the Lord but by our lives of counter-witness, we have also
killed Him. Nominal Catholics do Christ as much harm as those who reject
Him.
Finally, we too show
ourselves to have rejected the Lord when we lack faith and understanding.
We are all supposed to be leaders of faith and mentors to our children, as
parents, elders and adults. But when we do not even know our faith and
have no relationship with the Lord, how can we ever lead our children to God,
to know Him? It is bad enough that we do not enter the Kingdom of God but
by so doing, by our scandalous conduct and shallow faith, we prevent others
from entering as well. We have committed a double sin.
Although we are saved
through grace by our faith in Christ, grace requires a response. And such
a response means responsibility in living out our faith. Let us
therefore live out our calling to be God’s children in Christ by sharing in His
life, living in His presence and living in love and holiness. We are
reminded that we are called to be “saints who are faithful to Christ Jesus.”
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights
Reserved
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