20161024 LIVING AS CHILDREN OF LIGHT
Readings at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Green.
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First reading
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Ephesians
4:32-5:8 ©
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Be friends with one
another, and kind, forgiving each other as readily as God forgave you in
Christ.
Try,
then, to imitate God as children of his that he loves and follow Christ loving
as he loved you, giving himself up in our place as a fragrant offering and a
sacrifice to God. Among you there must be not even a mention of fornication or
impurity in any of its forms, or promiscuity: this would hardly become the
saints! There must be no coarseness, or salacious talk and jokes – all
this is wrong for you; raise your voices in thanksgiving instead. For you can
be quite certain that nobody who actually indulges in fornication or impurity
or promiscuity – which is worshipping a false god – can inherit
anything of the kingdom of God. Do not let anyone deceive you with empty
arguments: it is for this loose living that God’s anger comes down on those who
rebel against him. Make sure that you are not included with them. You were
darkness once, but now you are light in the Lord; be like children of light.
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Responsorial
Psalm
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Psalm 1:1-4,6 ©
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Try to imitate
God, as children of his that he loves.
Happy indeed is the
man
who
follows not the counsel of the wicked;
nor lingers in the
way of sinners
nor sits
in the company of scorners,
but whose delight is
the law of the Lord
and who
ponders his law day and night.
Try to imitate
God, as children of his that he loves.
He is like a tree
that is planted
beside
the flowing waters,
that yields its fruit
in due season
and whose
leaves shall never fade;
and all
that he does shall prosper.
Try to imitate
God, as children of his that he loves.
Not so are the
wicked, not so!
For they like
winnowed chaff
shall be
driven away by the wind.
for the Lord guards
the way of the just
but the
way of the wicked leads to doom.
Try to imitate
God, as children of his that he loves.
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Gospel
Acclamation
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Jn17:17
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Your word is truth, O
Lord:
consecrate us in the
truth.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Luke 13:10-17 ©
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One sabbath day Jesus
was teaching in one of the synagogues, and a woman was there who for eighteen
years had been possessed by a spirit that left her enfeebled; she was bent
double and quite unable to stand upright. When Jesus saw her he called her over
and said, ‘Woman, you are rid of your infirmity’ and he laid his hands on her.
And at once she straightened up, and she glorified God.
But the
synagogue official was indignant because Jesus had healed on the sabbath, and
he addressed the people present. ‘There are six days’ he said ‘when work is to
be done. Come and be healed on one of those days and not on the sabbath.’ But
the Lord answered him. ‘Hypocrites!’ he said ‘Is there one of you who does not
untie his ox or his donkey from the manger on the sabbath and take it out for
watering? And this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan has held bound these
eighteen years – was it not right to untie her bonds on the sabbath day?’
When he said this, all his adversaries were covered with confusion, and all the
people were overjoyed at all the wonders he worked.
LIVING
AS CHILDREN OF LIGHT
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: [ EPHESIANS 4:32-5:8; LUKE 13:10-17 ]
As Christians, we are
called to live as children of light. Our lives must be
distinguished from those who live a life of darkness and sin. St
Paul writes, “It is for this loose living that God’s anger comes down on those
who rebel against him. Make sure that you are not included with
them. You were darkness once, but now you are light in the Lord: be like
children of light.” The real struggle of a Christian is to stay
away from the temptations of the Evil One on one hand; and on the other, from
falling into legalism and self-righteousness. Either of these extreme
forms of lifestyle disqualifies us from being children of light.
Indeed, there are those of
us who are weak and often succumb to sin, especially of the flesh, as St Paul
describes in the first reading. Not many people can overcome the
temptation to lust because of the sensual nature of human beings. Like
those in the world, many Christians struggle against sexual sins, of
fornication, impurity, lustful thoughts and actions. Many indulge in
salacious talk and jokes, influenced by a promiscuous society. With
the mass media and Internet, many are tempted into pornography. Of
course, lust is not the only temptation of man. There are other
equally destructive sins such as greed, envy, gluttony and anger.
But lust remains one of the most difficult sins to resist. That is why,
whilst we know the evil and destructive force of the sin of lust, we can and
should show compassion for those who failed in the area of chastity as Jesus
did with the adulterous woman. Concupiscence, which is the effect
of original sin, remains with us even after baptism. So even though
we are baptized, our will remains wounded and would have to struggle against
the sin of lust.
Another
sin that St Paul mentioned in today’s first reading is the inability to
forgive. That is why he exhorted the Christians to “Be friends with one
another, and kind, forgiving each other as readily as God forgave you in
Christ.” Again, forgiveness is not so easy for most people, especially
when you have suffered much because of injustices, the trauma we went through,
the sleepless nights, the shame and agony. We find it difficult to
forgive those who have betrayed us, destroyed our lives and our families or
taken away our livelihood. We want to forgive but the hurts are so deep
and the painful memories of the past are not easily forgiven.
Again, for those who cannot forgive, we can understand where they are coming
from. We can empathize with their psychological and emotional pain that
would not go away. Even if they wish to forgive, often forgiveness is in
the mind but not from the heart. Forgiveness is a process.
Time is needed. So we can only pray for their healing and
hopefully, with the grace of God, a day would come when they would be able to
let go of their past.
Regardless of whether it is
the sin of lust or any of the capital sins, or of the incapacity to let go of
our hurts, we remain in bondage. Those who live in sin and unforgiveness
cannot be set free for life and for love. When we live in sin, St Paul
says, we are “worshipping a false god” and therefore cannot “inherit anything
of the kingdom of God.” A life that is lived in selfishness, a life
that is reduced to an animalistic life of sensuality and a life of hatred
cannot set us free. Indeed, what the world claims about freedom is
nothing but a slavery to self and to the world and to one’s
passions. Whenever we are addicted to our passions and the
pleasures of this world, we have lost control over ourselves. Most of
all, we forget that we have a soul, a heart and an intellect that seeks for the
spiritual things of life. Man cannot be satisfied just by food and carnal
pleasures alone but his intellect needs to be enlightened in the truth and the
heart satiated by love. For this reason, we cannot inherit the Kingdom of
God because the Kingdom of God is a reign of love, joy, peace and freedom in
the Spirit.
Yet,
the irony of Christian life is not just avoiding the temptations of the sin of
the flesh or overcoming our anger over those who have hurt us, but falling into
the other extreme of self-righteousness. This comes about through
the sin of pride. Some of us pride ourselves in being such good
Christians because we live a righteous life. We boast about our merits,
as in the parable of the Tax-Collector and the Pharisee. A
righteous life becomes an end in itself. Purity and righteous living
become something for us to be proud about giving us a superiority complex over
others. It has to do with our ego. We want to be better than
others. Like the Pharisees, we end up despising those who fail in
Christian perfection.
Such an attitude is even
worse than that of being a sinner who succumbs to the temptations of the sin of
the flesh. At least for those who are tempted by pleasures, we know that
they are weak because they are creatures with a fallen nature. But for
those who are self-righteous, they lack mercy and compassion. They are no
longer human beings because their pride rules their lives. The sin
of pride prevents them from feeling with others. They become insensitive
to the struggles and pains of humanity. They become indifferent to
their sufferings because they only see things from the perspective of the laws
detached from the human being. The law becomes the end itself
rather than the means to the end.
This was what happened in
today’s gospel when the Pharisees expressed no compassion for the woman who was
under the bondage of the Evil One and left her enfeebled and bent double for
eighteen years. They had no compassion for her suffering. Instead
they were focused on finding fault with Jesus on whether He could cure on the
Sabbath. For them, the observance of the laws was more important
than alleviating the suffering of others. And that is the way many
Christians behaved. They are judgmental of others. They are strict
in observing the laws and are critical of those who do not. Often, some
Catholics squabble over Church laws, liturgical laws and moral
laws. This is not to say that we can simply break the laws or
discard them but we need to apply the laws to the concrete situation.
This was the question that Jesus posed to His adversaries, “And this woman, a
daughter of Abraham whom Satan has held bound these eighteen years – was it not
right to untie her bonds on the Sabbath day?’ When he said this, all his
adversaries were covered with confusion, and all the people were overjoyed at
all the wonders he worked.”
In the final analysis, we
must ask whether observance of the laws bring about charity and
compassion. Laws are meant to serve humanity, to preserve order, harmony
and justice. But they cannot be applied blindly and without consideration
of the concrete situation. For that reason, on Sabbath day, rest from
work does not mean rest from doing good. To live as children of
light is more than just living according to the laws of the gospel but to live
according to the Spirit of the gospel.
What, then, is the Spirit
of the gospel? St Paul says, “Try, then, to imitate God, as
children of his that he loves, and follow Christ by loving as he loved you,
giving himself up in our place as a fragrant offering and a sacrifice to
God.” We are called to imitate God who loves us all as His
children. It means following Christ who sacrificed Himself for us
all so that we can find fullness of life in God. Jesus lived a life of
compassion and selfless service. He was not interested in the laws but
His sole concern was love of God and love of humanity. This is all that
matters at the end of the day. Christianity is concerned with love and
love is the fulfillment of all laws.
Indeed,
the motivation of a Christian for living the life of the gospel is solely to
give praise to God in all that we do and say. God is seen through us when
we live a life of love and service. We live a life of perfection
not so much to gain glory or even gain salvation but so that we can share in
the joy of Christ by sharing His life of love. Failing to live an
authentic life means that we forfeit our share in the life of God.
At the same time, we remain humble because of God’s grace. We do not
judge or condemn others who could not observe the laws because we know that we
are all sinners. Rather, we pray for God’s grace for them.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh Roman Catholic Archbishop of
Singapore © All Rights Reserved
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