20170118 THE PRICE OF BEING TOO FOCUSED IN LIFE
Readings at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Green.
|
First reading
|
|
Hebrews
7:1-3,15-17 ©
|
You remember that Melchizedek,
king of Salem, a priest of God Most High, went to meet Abraham who was on his
way back after defeating the kings, and blessed him; and also that
it was to him that Abraham gave a tenth of all that he had. By the
interpretation of his name, he is, first, ‘king of righteousness’ and also king
of Salem, that is, ‘king of peace’; he has no father, mother or ancestry,
and his life has no beginning or ending; he is like the Son of God. He remains
a priest for ever.
This
becomes even more clearly evident when there appears a second Melchizedek, who
is a priest not by virtue of a law about physical descent, but by the power of
an indestructible life. For it was about him that the prophecy was made: You
are a priest of the order of Melchizedek, and for ever.
|
Responsorial
Psalm
|
|
Psalm
109(110):1-4 ©
|
You are a priest
for ever, a priest like Melchizedek of old.
The Lord’s revelation
to my Master:
‘Sit on
my right:
your foes
I will put beneath your feet.’
You are a priest
for ever, a priest like Melchizedek of old.
The Lord will wield
from Zion
your
sceptre of power:
rule in
the midst of all your foes.
You are a priest
for ever, a priest like Melchizedek of old.
A prince from the day
of your birth
on the
holy mountains;
from the
womb before the dawn I begot you.
You are a priest
for ever, a priest like Melchizedek of old.
The Lord has sworn an
oath he will not change.
‘You are
a priest for ever,
a priest
like Melchizedek of old.’
You are a priest
for ever, a priest like Melchizedek of old.
|
Gospel
Acclamation
|
Heb4:12
|
Alleluia, alleluia!
The word of God is
something alive and active:
it can judge secret
emotions and thoughts.
Alleluia!
|
Or
|
cf.Mt4:23
|
Alleluia, alleluia!
Jesus proclaimed the
Good News of the kingdom
and cured all kinds
of sickness among the people.
Alleluia!
|
Gospel
|
Mark 3:1-6 ©
|
Jesus went again into
a synagogue, and there was a man there who had a withered hand. And they were
watching him to see if he would cure him on the sabbath day, hoping for
something to use against him. He said to the man with the withered hand, ‘Stand
up out in the middle!’ Then he said to them, ‘Is it against the law on the
sabbath day to do good, or to do evil; to save life, or to kill?’ But they said
nothing. Then, grieved to find them so obstinate, he looked angrily round at
them, and said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ He stretched it out and his
hand was better. The Pharisees went out and at once began to plot with the
Herodians against him, discussing how to destroy him.
THE
PRICE OF BEING TOO FOCUSED IN LIFE
It has become a fashion
today to speak about the need to be centered in life. To be centered is
often interpreted as being in focus. Indeed, somewhere else in the
scriptures, we are told by Jesus that the man who puts his hand on the plough
and looks back is not fit for the kingdom of God. Yes, to find life, one
must be well focused. However, many of us fall into either
extremes. Some of us are not focused at all in life; but there are others
who are overly focused. It is to the latter group of people especially,
that today’s scripture readings want to address.
The irony is that when a
person is too focused, he is actually out of focus. What do I mean by
this? The truth is that when we are too focused on something, it means
that we have closed our horizon to other things. It is only possible to
focus on one thing at a time. But the price of closing our horizon to
other realities of life can be detrimental to our well being.
Take the case of the
Pharisees, for instance. Surely, we do not doubt that the Pharisess were
people who were really focused in life. For them, what absolutely
mattered was obedience to the laws of Moses. Their whole spirituality was
founded on fidelity to the laws, even up to the letter. Anything else did
not matter. Naturally, when one is so pre-occupied with the laws, any
deviant must be dealt with decisively.
For
this reason, the gospel tells us that the Pharisees were all out to incriminate
Jesus. Right from the beginning, we are told that the Pharisees were all
eyes to see whether Jesus would heal the man with the shriveled hand on the
Sabbath. And when He did, they began to plot with the Herodians to
destroy Jesus.
As a result, the Pharisees
missed out on the more essential problem confronting them, namely, the need of
the sick man. Instead of paying attention to this person who was in need,
they paid attention to Jesus who was breaking the law. Instead of
responding to the question of Jesus, whether it was permitted to preserve life
or destroy life on the Sabbath, they remained silent. They were silent
simply because they were not reflecting on what Jesus was saying but how they
could get rid of Jesus. Indeed, when their minds were only pre-occupied
with the observance of the Law, they could not keep an open mind to what Jesus
was challenging them. That was why Jesus was deeply grieved when He
realized not so much that they had closed their minds to Him, but that by so
doing, they had closed their minds to the sufferings of the man with the
shriveled hand.
What happened to the
Pharisees is also a reality for us. Some of us are so intent on pursuing
a particular career option or vocation in life that we would not be open to any
other possibilities that God could be calling us to. Of course we will
not say that we are not open. We prefer to call this determination
‘perseverance’. Then again, some of us are so determined to do well in
our studies that we have no time for people and other things in life.
Once again, we justify ourselves by calling this ‘singularity of
purpose’. Lastly, some of us may be so obsessed with certain things,
projects or people in our lives to the extent that these matters control our
movements and our freedom. We become slaves to our projects, to our
friends and to our pursuits.
Consequently, to be too
focussed actually brings about death rather than life. When anything or
any person becomes the object of our lives, that thing or person becomes our
God. What, then, should we do? It seems then that to be too focused
does not seem right. But not to be in focus would make us wishy-washy,
fickle-minded, aimless people, drifting and blowing with wind. Now, such
a situation will not bring us any peace and fulfillment as well. So, what
is the secret of Jesus with regard to this question of being focused?
The truth is that being
centered or focussed does not mean that we give ourselves to only one project
or one person in our entire life. Rather, it means to give our full
attention to what we are supposed to do at a particular point of time.
Thus, whatever is at hand, we must give our full focus, be it at prayer, during
studies, in relationships or at work. But once these activities are
finished, our minds must be open to the other realities of life as well.
Only in this way can we say that we are in focus. That is to say, one is
focused and yet not closed to the overall horizon of life. Every act of
focusing must be done within a wider framework and one must realize that it is
only one aspect of this total perspective of reality.
This has been the way of
Jesus indeed. We find that Jesus is very focused in His mission and His
fidelity to the Father. He too has been faithful to the laws insofar as
the laws bring about its very purpose, which is to preserve and enrich
life. Thus, Jesus saw life always in perspective. Such an outlook
is confirmed by the letter to the Hebrews when the author speaks of the
priesthood of Jesus as eternal, without beginning or end. He is a priest
forever. In other words, Jesus remained available to God and to
all. The life that He came to give us is nothing less than the life of
God – a life that is all encompassing and personally fulfilling.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights
Reserved
No comments:
Post a Comment