20170208 EXERCISE OF FREEDOM REQUIRES KNOWLEDGE OF GOD
Readings at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Green.
First reading
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Genesis
2:4-9,15-17 ©
|
At the time when the
Lord God made earth and heaven there was as yet no wild bush on the earth nor
had any wild plant yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not sent rain on the
earth, nor was there any man to till the soil. However, a flood was rising from
the earth and watering all the surface of the soil. The Lord God fashioned man
of dust from the soil. Then he breathed into his nostrils a breath of life, and
thus man became a living being.
The Lord
God planted a garden in Eden which is in the east, and there he put the man he
had fashioned. The Lord God caused to spring up from the soil every kind of
tree, enticing to look at and good to eat, with the tree of life and the tree
of the knowledge of good and evil in the middle of the garden. The Lord God took
the man and settled him in the garden of Eden to cultivate and take care of it.
Then the Lord God gave the man this admonition, ‘You may eat indeed of all the
trees in the garden. Nevertheless of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil
you are not to eat, for on the day you eat of it you shall most surely die.’
Responsorial
Psalm
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Psalm
103(104):1-2,27-30 ©
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Bless the Lord, my
soul!
Bless the Lord, my
soul!
Lord God,
how great you are,
clothed in majesty
and glory,
wrapped
in light as in a robe!
Bless the Lord, my
soul!
All of these look to
you
to give
them their food in due season.
You give it, they
gather it up:
you open
your hand, they have their fill.
Bless the Lord, my
soul!
You take back your
spirit, they die,
returning
to the dust from which they came.
You send forth your
spirit, they are created;
and you
renew the face of the earth.
Bless the Lord, my
soul!
Gospel
Acclamation
|
cf.2Tim1:10
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Our Saviour Jesus
Christ abolished death
and he has proclaimed
life through the Good News.
Alleluia!
Or
|
Jn17:17
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Your word is truth, O
Lord:
consecrate us in the
truth.
Alleluia!
Gospel
|
Mark 7:14-23 ©
|
Jesus called the
people to him and said, ‘Listen to me, all of you, and understand. Nothing that
goes into a man from outside can make him unclean; it is the things that come
out of a man that make him unclean. If anyone has ears to hear, let him listen
to this.’
When he
had gone back into the house, away from the crowd, his disciples questioned him
about the parable. He said to them, ‘Do you not understand either? Can you not
see that whatever goes into a man from outside cannot make him unclean, because
it does not go into his heart but through his stomach and passes out into the
sewer?’ (Thus he pronounced all foods clean.) And he went on, ‘It is what comes
out of a man that makes him unclean. For it is from within, from men’s hearts,
that evil intentions emerge: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice,
malice, deceit, indecency, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things
come from within and make a man unclean.’
EXERCISE
OF FREEDOM REQUIRES KNOWLEDGE OF GOD
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: [ GEN 2:4b-9, 15-17; PS 103:1-2, 27-30; MK 7:14-23 ]
We all seek
freedom. Life has no meaning without freedom. This
desire for freedom is in the DNA of every human person. Even God respects
our freedom. In creating us, He gave us the highest gift of freedom, even
to the point of allowing us to reject Him. This gift of freedom is
brought out in today’s story when God explicitly told man, “You are free to eat
of all the trees in the garden. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil you are not to eat; for the day you eat of that, you are doomed to die.”
Perhaps, the greatest
mistake of humanity is that we want freedom like Adam and Eve, without
God. This is the moral of the story of the Fall. They wanted to be
like God without God. We seek absolute autonomy, failing to realize that
our autonomy is dependent on God. When we want to be free without God, we
end up being slaves to our passion, our ignorance and our desires. Those
who allow their passion to control their lives are certainly not free at
all. True freedom is when we exercise full control over ourselves in what
we want and what we should be doing.
The tragedy of human beings
is that we seek freedom but we do not know how to use our freedom. How
dangerous it is to give a gift to someone who is not mature enough to use
it. Do we give a car to a ten year old boy? We don’t, because he
cannot handle it. So even when we speak of the gift of freedom, we must
realize that there is no absolute freedom but it has to be exercised according
to the maturity and knowledge of the person. A younger person would
require more supervision than someone who is more mature. It is for this
reason that laws are needed to guide those who are not disciplined or
responsible enough to manage freedom. St Paul tells us that laws are not
meant for the just but for the sinners. “The law is good, if any one uses
it lawfully, understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but
for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly.” (1 Tim 1:8f)
Of course, the best way to
exercise responsible freedom presumes a good understanding of the laws and
knowledge of what is good and true. But today, with so many views
of life, we no longer know what is true and good. The growing
number of people who profess agnosticism and relativism confirm this
tendency. They do not know whether God exists or whether there are absolute
truths in life. The irony is that in a world of mass communication
and information technology, there is so much information on everything that we
are no longer able to distinguish one from the other. It is not enough to
have knowledge but we need to know whether they are true. It is significant
that on the cross, the Lord said, “Father forgive them for they know not what
they are doing!” So how do we blame those whose conscience is inculpably
erroneous?
Having knowledge and
understanding does not mean we can or will do the right thing. Knowing
the law or the truth about something only reveals to us our ignorance and our
sins. “Yet, if it had not been for the law, I should not have known sin.
I should not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall
not covet.” But sin, finding opportunity in the commandment, wrought in me
all kinds of covetousness.” (Rom 7:7f) So
knowledge of what is good and evil is no guarantee that we will walk the
truth. That is why the Lord warned our first parents, “But of the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil you are not to eat; for the day you eat of that,
you are doomed to die.” We can study ethics and morality, yet remain
powerless to overcome sin. St Paul shared his own struggle with us.
“We know that the law is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold under sin. I do not
understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing
I hate.” (Rom 7:14f)
The truth is that our heart
is drawn to evil, if not, at least selfishness. This is what the Lord
says, “It is what comes out of someone that makes that person unclean. For it
is from within, from the heart, that evil intentions emerge: fornication,
theft, murder, adultery, avarice, malice, deceit, indecency, envy, slander,
pride, folly. All these evil things come from within and make a person
unclean.” Jeremiah remarked, “The heart is devious above all else; it is perverse
– who can understand it?” (Jer 17:9) We suffer
from a wounded heart. We are basically self-preservative. No one
wants to suffer and most of us fear death and separation. We seek
security through money, power and status. Yet, these are false security.
Furthermore, the heart is
also drawn to the flesh. Just knowing what is the right thing does not
mean that we can resist the temptations of the flesh. We know that the
spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. So no matter how much we try, we
fail. Not all of us are so determined or disciplined. We all want
to be good but it is not easy. Many of us want to be healthy and slim but
are unable to resist food or control our diet or be regular in our
exercise. So desiring something does not mean that we can arrive at
it. Basically, we all seek to do good but our needs, desires; comfort and
convenience take precedence above others. Most of us are concerned about
short term needs rather than the long term impact on future generation.
Today, everyone is for himself without regard for the future of the planet or
humanity. Until today, the evil of the human heart is still the
same. Technology can solve many problems but they cannot stop war,
famine, inequality, injustice and diseases.
So what is needed for the
exercise of freedom? Life is a pedagogy in itself. We learn to grow
in love and in freedom, which is something not achieved overnight and not by
our strength alone but by His grace. In reality, we will remain
sinners. No matter how much we try, we fail now and then. But what
is important is that we pick ourselves up again and again, without giving up.
In the final analysis, we
need to submit to His mercy and rely on God’s grace. We can only
depend on His mercy and forgiveness. Grace is what justifies us. We
must believe that God is all merciful and forgiving. He does not hold His
grievances against us. Who is a God like thee, pardoning iniquity and passing
over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain
his anger forever because he delights in steadfast love. He will again
have compassion upon us; he will tread our iniquities under foot. Thou
wilt cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.” (Mic 7:18f) The psalmist
praised God who sustains creation. “All of these look to you to give them
their food in due season. You give it, they gather it up: you open your hand,
they have their fill. You take back your spirit, they die, returning to the
dust from which they came. You send forth your spirit, they are created; and
you renew the face of the earth.” We need to surrender ourselves to God
who can renew us in His Spirit. Only in His Spirit, can we be
renewed.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights
Reserved
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