20161010 STAYING FREE IN THE LORD
Readings at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Green.
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First reading
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Galatians
4:22-24,26-27,31-5:1 ©
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The Law says, if you
remember, that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave-girl, and one by his
free-born wife. The child of the slave-girl was born in the ordinary way; the
child of the free woman was born as the result of a promise. This can be
regarded as an allegory: the women stand for the two covenants. The first who
comes from Mount Sinai, and whose children are slaves, is Hagar – The
Jerusalem above, however, is free and is our mother, since scripture says: Shout
for joy, you barren women who bore no children! Break into shouts of joy and
gladness, you who were never in labour. For there are more sons of the forsaken
one than sons of the wedded wife. So, my brothers, we are the children, not
of the slave-girl, but of the free-born wife.
When
Christ freed us, he meant us to remain free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not
submit again to the yoke of slavery.
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Responsorial
Psalm
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Psalm 112:1-7 ©
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May the name of
the Lord be blessed for evermore!
or
Alleluia!
Praise, O servants of
the Lord,
praise
the name of the Lord!
May the name of the
Lord be blessed
both now
and for evermore!
May the name of
the Lord be blessed for evermore!
or
Alleluia!
From the rising of
the sun to its setting
praised
be the name of the Lord!
High above all
nations is the Lord,
above the
heavens his glory.
May the name of
the Lord be blessed for evermore!
or
Alleluia!
Who is like the Lord,
our God,
who has
risen on high to his throne
yet stoops from the
heights to look down,
to look
down upon heaven and earth?
From the dust he
lifts up the lowly,
from the
dungheap he raises the poor
May the name of
the Lord be blessed for evermore!
or
Alleluia!
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Gospel
Acclamation
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Ps118:88
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Because of your love
give me life,
and I will do your
will.
Alleluia!
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Or
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Ps94:8
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Harden not your
hearts today,
but listen to the
voice of the Lord.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Luke 11:29-32 ©
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The crowds got even
bigger and Jesus addressed them, ‘This is a wicked generation; it is asking for
a sign. The only sign it will be given is the sign of Jonah. For just as Jonah
became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation.
On Judgement day the Queen of the South will rise up with the men of this
generation and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to
hear the wisdom of Solomon; and there is something greater than Solomon here.
On Judgement day the men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation and condemn
it, because when Jonah preached they repented; and there is something greater
than Jonah here.’
STAYING
FREE IN THE LORD
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: [ GAL 4:22-24, 26-27, 31-5:1; LK 11:29-32 ]
Freedom is the most
precious gift of God to man. It is an inherent right of man, a right that
is enshrined in the United Nations’ Declaration on Human Rights.
This means that every person has the right to free speech, religion and
worship. What is the basis of human freedom? The world advocates so
much on the rights of the freedom of the individual. Unfortunately, the
freedom of the individual is now advocated in such a manner that it infringes
on the rights of the community because of abuses and a lopsided emphasis on the
freedom of God. In the name of freedom, chaos is the consequence since
the individual’s right seems to have primacy over the common good.
At the
heart of the issue is a more fundamental question that we should pose to those
freedom fighters that fail to respect the limited freedom of man. What is
the basis of their call to freedom? Is this freedom founded on man per se
or on absolute freedom? Why should freedom be founded on man? What
about animals’ rights? Should we also accord them the same freedom?
If freedom is founded only on man, then that freedom is relative and rather
subjective. Such freedom is not freedom but rather another form of
slavery, to our passion, selfishness and pride. Only God is
absolute freedom. Our freedom is always relative and conditioned on the
freedom of others and most of all, the freedom of God. The basis of
Christian freedom is based on the fact that we are created in the image and
likeness of God. Sharing in His intellect and will, we are therefore
given the capacity to choose.
True freedom therefore
presupposes that our freedom is founded in God alone. All other forms of
freedom seek to mirror the freedom of God. This freedom reaches its
highest level in Christ. What is the basis of true freedom? It is
love. St Paul tells us that the only debt we owe to each other is the
debt of mutual love. He wrote, “Owe no one anything, except to love one
another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.” (Rom 13:8) “Love does not
do wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.” (Rom 13:10) Within
this premise of Christian freedom, we can then better appreciate today’s
scripture readings when St Paul in his exhortation to the Galatians wrote,
“When Christ freed us, he meant us to remain free. Stand firm, therefore,
and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery.”
When St Paul used the
allegory of the children born of Hagar and of Sarah as symbolizing the Old and
New Covenants, he wanted us to be reminded that salvation is not based on the
Law, but on faith alone. In the case of Hagar, she gave birth to a child
as a surrogate mother for Sarah and Abraham. It was done in accordance to
the ancient laws in those days when the marriage contract demanded that a
sterile wife had to find a surrogate mother, in this case, her slave, to bear
the child for her husband for the sake of posterity. In this sense, the
child born of Hagar belonged to the Law. In the case of Sarah, the child
was born through faith in God who miraculously blessed Sarah and Abraham with a
child although they were beyond child bearing age. Understood
within this context then St Paul wrote, “The first who comes from Mount Sinai,
and whose children are slaves, is Hagar. The Jerusalem above, however, is
free and is our mother, since scripture says: Shout for joy, you barren women
who bore no children! Break into shouts of joy and gladness, you who were never
in labour. For there are more sons of the forsaken one than sons of the
wedded wife. So, my brothers, we are the children, not of the slave-girl,
but of the free-born wife.” In a nutshell, we are not justified or
saved by the Law, by human effort or ingenuity, by purely by the graciousness
of God’s love.
Abraham and Sarah in their
impatience did not wait for God’s promise to be fulfilled and took things into
their own hands by having Hagar conceive the child for them. As a
consequence, they brought more problems into their lives and that of future
generations. It is believed that the Arab world came from Hagar’s
child and the Jewish world from Sarah’s child. This divide and
competition between both nationalities continue even today. If
Abraham and Sarah had only trusted and relied purely on the grace of God,
perhaps history would have been written differently. Yet, we know that
everything is in God’s hands. Our abuse of freedom cannot destroy the
divine plan of God for humanity because God reigns supreme and His plan can
never be jeopardized by man even though we often inflict self-harm.
With
Jesus therefore, we are set free and given true freedom both from our sins and
from the law. Both are different forms of slavery. To simply follow
our passion and satisfy our needs will lead to self-indulgence. Without
self-control, we will only allow our passions to destroy us. St Paul
warns us later in the same letter, “The acts of the sinful nature are obvious:
sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred,
discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and
envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that
those who live like this will not inherit the Kingdom of God.” (Gal 5:19-21)
On the other hand, we can
also come under the slavery of the Law like the Jews. The Law cannot save
us because knowing the Law can only tell us what is right and wrong. It
only brings us to consciousness of our sins. The Law can cause us to hate
ourselves for the wrongs we have done, or make us self-righteous and proud that
we have been able to keep the Law. Instead of saving us, the Law can make
us hate ourselves and despise our neighbours. It is not salvific as it
does not promote love. For this reason, St Paul urged the Galatians, “So
I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful
nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the
Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each
other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit,
you are not under the Law.” (Gal 5:16-18)
Salvation can only come
from Jesus who is the Freedom-in-love of the Father. Jesus in His
passion, death and resurrection revealed to us the unconditional love and mercy
of the Father. Freely, Jesus gave Himself up to the Law that condemned
Him so that He could set us free from the Law. By His paschal mystery, He
poured forth the love of the Father into us through the Holy Spirit.
Salvation is to remember God’s love for us. Faith in God’s love for us in
Jesus is the basis of true freedom from the Law and sin. It is also the
basis for loving oneself and loving our neighbour.
This freedom can be ours
however only if we come to hear Jesus who is greater than Solomon and accept
Him as the Wisdom and Word of God. Hearing the message of the
gospel, we are invited to repentance, like the Ninevites. What hinders us
from finding freedom in Christ is because we do not give heed to Jesus; the
Word of God, unlike the Queen of the South. Many of us take Jesus for
granted. We are so privileged to have the Word of God, the Eucharist, the
Sacrament of Reconciliation and the other Sacraments but we do not make full
use of these means to grow in the Spirit. We do not appreciate Jesus and
the means He has bequeathed to the Church. Like the Jews, we seek
self-justification and worse still, turn to other non-Christian sources using
New Age means to find salvation and freedom from sin, ignorance and
illnesses. Some of our Catholics have unwittingly fallen into those methods
that stress salvation through human effort and the use of dubious psychological
techniques masked as Christian spirituality. Today’s scripture
readings make it clear that in Christ alone, we find our true freedom and in
Him, we must hold firm and “not submit again to the yoke of slavery!”
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights
Reserved
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