20161021 THE CHURCH AS THE SACRAMENT OF GOD’S LOVE IN THE WORLD IS
ROOTED IN COMMUNION
Readings at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Green.
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First reading
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Ephesians 4:1-6 ©
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I, the prisoner in
the Lord, implore you to lead a life worthy of your vocation. Bear with one
another charitably, in complete selflessness, gentleness and patience. Do all
you can to preserve the unity of the Spirit by the peace that binds you
together. There is one Body, one Spirit, just as you were all called into one
and the same hope when you were called. There is one Lord, one faith, one
baptism, and one God who is Father of all, over all, through all and within
all.
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Responsorial
Psalm
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Psalm 23:1-6 ©
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Such are the men
who seek your face, O Lord.
The Lord’s is the
earth and its fullness,
the world
and all its peoples.
It is he who set it
on the seas;
on the
waters he made it firm.
Such are the men
who seek your face, O Lord.
Who shall climb the
mountain of the Lord?
Who shall
stand in his holy place?
The man with clean
hands and pure heart,
who
desires not worthless things.
Such are the men
who seek your face, O Lord.
He shall receive
blessings from the Lord
and
reward from the God who saves him.
Such are the men who
seek him,
seek the
face of the God of Jacob.
Such are the men
who seek your face, O Lord.
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Gospel
Acclamation
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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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Or
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Mt11:25
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Blessed are you,
Father,
Lord of heaven and
earth,
for revealing the
mysteries of the kingdom
to mere children.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Luke 12:54-59 ©
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Jesus said to the
crowds, ‘When you see a cloud looming up in the west you say at once that rain
is coming, and so it does. And when the wind is from the south you say it will
be hot, and it is. Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the face of the earth
and the sky. How is it you do not know how to interpret these times?
‘Why not
judge for yourselves what is right? For example: when you go to court with your
opponent, try to settle with him on the way, or he may drag you before the
judge and the judge hand you over to the bailiff and the bailiff have you
thrown into prison. I tell you, you will not get out till you have paid the
very last penny.’
THE
CHURCH AS THE SACRAMENT OF GOD’S LOVE IN THE WORLD IS ROOTED IN COMMUNION
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: [ EPH 6:1-6; LK 12:54-59 ]
The central theme of the
letter of St Paul to the Ephesians is unity in Christ. According to St
Paul, the grandiose salvific plan of God is the unity of all humankind.
Even before the creation of the world, God chose to make us members of His
family and to give us a share in His eternal inheritance. Christ, then,
is the mystery of God’s plan, for in Him we discover our calling to be one with
each other in Him and through Him with the Father. In Christ we are all
redeemed and incorporated into His body, the Church. Then united with one
another in the Holy Spirit, we come to the Father through Christ.
The gospel affirms Jesus to
be that sign of salvation for all humankind. He is the presence of the
Kingdom of God, of love and unity in person. He is called to reveal the
plan of His Father to all. We, who have received this revelation, are
called to be that sign as well. The Church, being the sacrament of
Christ, implies that we are called to reveal Christ to the world so that they
can know the plan of God for them. Regardless of whether we are priests,
religious or laity, we have a common vocation to be a witness of Christ to the
world according to our specific vocation in life. St Paul urges us, “I,
the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to lead a life worthy of your vocation.”
What is our common
vocation? It is our call to communion. Primarily, our vocation is
to be one with Christ and with each other. Our vocation is to be in
communion with God and with each other so that we can reconcile all men to God
and men with each other. Hence, our vocation as Christians is a call to
communion at every level, with ourselves, the Church and the world.
But what is the basis of
this communion? Our communion cannot be founded on a fragile unity like
that of the world. All countries have political motives in dealing with
other nations. At the root of diplomacy is the self-interest of the
nation, which is termed “national interest.” So the fragile unity of the
United Nations is based on mutual interests, survival and political
ideology. Countries support each other only because they have something
to gain. Unity in the world and among peoples is based on material and
personal gains. It is founded on pragmatism. The communion among
people is founded on superficiality. It is a unity that is based on human
friendship, on mutual needs and interests.
However
for us, true communion must be rooted in our communion with God. St Paul
gives us the fundamental basis of unity among Christians so that we can be
truly the sign of God’s presence in the world. Unless we manifest
ourselves to be people of peace and love, we cannot be the sign of God’s love
to others. Peace will be the sign of Christ’s presence in our
midst. Hence, in order that we can be the sign of salvation to all, St Paul
develops three levels of communion, namely, Church, Christ and the Father.
Under the category of
Church, we are all called to be one body united in spirit. We form one
visible Body that derives our life from one Spirit, the Holy Spirit in which we
are called by the same vocation to the same blessed hope of eternal life. This
common spirit of love and unity unites us. The Spirit of the Risen Christ
is our bond. We must imbibe the spirit of the gospel that Jesus
preached. Hence, Paul urges the Christians to “bear with one another
charitably, in complete selflessness, gentleness and patience. Do all you
can to preserve the unity of the Spirit by the peace that binds you
together. There is one Body, one Spirit, just as you were called into one
and the same hope.” The virtues of humility in considering ourselves to
be last; meekness in compassion and patience; and long suffering in bearing the
faults of each other in community living will help us to preserve the unity and
peace of the body of Christ.
Secondly,
our communion is founded on unity of belief and worship. “There is one Lord,
one faith, one baptism.” We have the same Lord; incorporated in the same
sacrament, baptism and share the same doctrines. Real Christian unity is
founded on unity of faith in doctrines and in worship, in truth and love.
Without a unity of doctrines and worship, we would be divided in our devotion
to the Lord. Doctrines and worship are inter-related and both mutually
influence each other. Right doctrines lead to right worship and vice
versa, as the theological axiom reminds us: lex credendi, lex ordandi. A
common faith in Christ is necessarily expressed in common doctrines and a
common worship, even if that worship is expressed according to each culture.
Thirdly,
our communion is founded on our common source and goal of life, namely, “one
God who is Father of all, over all, through all and within all.” In
recognizing God as our Father, we are also affirming that we have a common
origin and destiny. Since the Father pervades all, we are all included in
His providential plan. Since the Father is the Lord of all men, we are
called to be in communion with the rest of humankind, recognizing them as our
brothers. Hence, there is the need for tolerance, inter-religious
dialogue and unity among all men. And since our Father is the One
who sustains us all, we can have confidence that he is present everywhere by
His divine immensity and grace. So our unity is based on our common election
and destiny.
The
question is, whether we are convinced of the centrality of our vocation, which
is to teach and live a life of communion. The problem is that like the
crowds we focus on unimportant things. We are good at reading other
signs. With respect to mundane, material, worldly interests and
ambitions, we might be very capable and efficient, but when it comes to the
deeper spiritual realities of our mission, we fail to see the signs of God’s
kingdom. We might be good at teaching, writing, organizing activities,
conducting programs, building new churches and extending our buildings, etc but
we forget that all we are doing is for the purpose of serving the plan of God,
which is communion.
The tendency for us, even
in Church organizations, is to regard each other, especially our members, in a
functional way. Most Church members are there to do a job or perform a
task. But have we ever asked whether our members have grown in spiritual
maturity in that they have grown in their doctrinal faith, prayer life and most
of all, in love and fellowship among other members of their organization and
beyond to the larger Christian community? As a result, we often find
jealousy and unhealthy practices among Church organizations; and infighting
among members. When there is division in Christian organizations, then we
have failed in our objective of building communion with God and with each other.
So even if we have done a good job but failed to bring about a greater unity,
we have nothing to rejoice at. We must be careful not to reduce the
Church to a corporate organization where the bottom line is productivity and
success.
Hence,
in the Church, we must put the communion of life above everything else.
We must be like Paul “a prisoner of the Lord” who labored for the unity of the
Church. For unity to prevail, we must be willing to let go, be humble,
selfless and compassionate to our weaker brothers and sisters. By failing
to preserve the peace of the community, we will only jeopardize the mission of
the Church and the plan of God for us to be that sign of unity and love in the
world. Consequently, if we truly love Christ, then we must put the unity of the
Church above our own interests. We are called to repent of our
individualistic attitudes. The parable warns us that like Israel, we have no
time to delay as the great judgment and the final decision are at hand.
If not we would regret, as Jesus warned us. Our grandiose schemes and
projects must not make us ruthless and uncaring. Rather, we must do all
things “in complete selflessness, gentleness and patience.” Greatness of
the ministry does not lie in achieving great projects but in the ministry of
love that begins with the immediate, ordinary circumstances and relationships
around us. For even if we are successful in terms of preaching, teaching,
organizing and planning projects, we cannot claim to have lived out our
vocation.
The one and only vocation
in the final analysis is that in all that we do in our ministry, we do for the
purpose of realizing God’s plan of unity for all of us in Christ. Thus,
the primary task of the Christian leader at home, at work or in Church is to
build His people into a people of communion and love. Indeed, Jesus asks
us not to be contented with practical accomplishments that are measurable in
human standards. Rather, we must develop a broader way of looking at our
vocation and ministry as a call to a ministry of love and communion and not be
blinded by the means to bring such a vision to reality. This is the
wisdom that Jesus urges us to cultivate so that whilst we have time, we can
still re-orientate the way we live out our vocation.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh Roman Catholic Archbishop of
Singapore © All Rights Reserved
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