20170227 ATTACHMENT IS THE CAUSE OF SADNESS
Readings at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Green.
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First reading
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Ecclesiasticus
17:20-28 ©
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To those who repent,
God permits return,
and he
encourages those who were losing hope.
Return to the Lord
and leave sin behind,
plead
before his face and lessen your offence.
Come back to the Most
High and turn away from iniquity,
and hold
in abhorrence all that is foul.
Who will praise the
Most High in Sheol,
if the
living do not do so by giving glory to him?
To the dead, as to
those who do not exist, praise is unknown,
only
those with life and health can praise the Lord.
How great is the
mercy of the Lord,
his
pardon on all those who turn towards him!
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Responsorial
Psalm
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Psalm
31(32):1-2,5-7 ©
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Rejoice, rejoice
in the Lord, exult, you just!
Happy the man whose
offence is forgiven,
whose sin
is remitted.
O happy the man to
whom the Lord
imputes
no guilt,
in whose
spirit is no guile.
Rejoice, rejoice
in the Lord, exult, you just!
But now I have
acknowledged my sins;
my guilt
I did not hide.
I said: ‘I will
confess
my
offence to the Lord.’
And you, Lord, have
forgiven
the guilt
of my sin.
Rejoice, rejoice
in the Lord, exult, you just!
So let every good man
pray to you
in the
time of need.
The floods of water
may reach high
but him
they shall not reach.
Rejoice, rejoice
in the Lord, exult, you just!
You are my hiding
place, O Lord;
you save
me from distress.
You surround me with
cries of deliverance.
Rejoice, rejoice
in the Lord, exult, you just!
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Gospel
Acclamation
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cf.1Th2:13
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Accept God’s message
for what it really is:
God’s message, and
not some human thinking.
Alleluia!
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Or
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2Co8:9
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Jesus Christ was
rich,
but he became poor
for your sake,
to make you rich out
of his poverty.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Mark 10:17-27 ©
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Jesus was setting out
on a journey when a man ran up, knelt before him and put this question to him,
‘Good master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ Jesus said to him, ‘Why
do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments:
You must not kill; You must not commit adultery; You must not steal; You must
not bring false witness; You must not defraud; Honour your father and mother.’
And he said to him, ‘Master, I have kept all these from my earliest days.’
Jesus looked steadily at him and loved him, and he said, ‘There is one thing
you lack. Go and sell everything you own and give the money to the poor, and
you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’ But his face fell at
these words and he went away sad, for he was a man of great wealth.
Jesus
looked round and said to his disciples, ‘How hard it is for those who have
riches to enter the kingdom of God!’ The disciples were astounded by these
words, but Jesus insisted, ‘My children,’ he said to them ‘how hard it is to
enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a
needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.’ They were more
astonished than ever. ‘In that case’ they said to one another ‘who can be
saved?’ Jesus gazed at them. ‘For men’ he said ‘it is impossible, but not for
God: because everything is possible for God.’
ATTACHMENT
IS THE CAUSE OF SADNESS
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: [ SIR 17:20-28; 31:1-2,5-7; MK 10:17-27 ]
What is the cause of
sadness in our hearts? Many are sad in spite of the fact that they have
everything they want in life. Rich, successful and powerful people are
also sad. Many are not happy even when they reach the top of their
career. In fact, they find their lives more miserable. They lose
their privacy as they can no longer move about freely. They are worried about
protecting their wealth. Because they neglected their families, they feel
cut from their loved ones and many experience failure in relationships.
Today, the scripture tells
us that the cause of sadness is attachment in all its forms. The obvious
attachment is to wealth. We read that when Jesus told the rich man, “Go
and sell everything you own and give the money to the poor, and you will have
treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’ But his face fell at these
words and he went away sad, for he was a man of great wealth.” Indeed,
many of us are attached to our wealth, money, property and things. Some
are attached to their car, or some material things, more than their loved
ones. Others are attached to their comforts. They cannot do without
certain creaturely comforts in life. They cannot give up living a
luxurious life. They are addicted to some food and drinks.
Most are attached to money,
like the rich young man. That is why rich people are afraid to die
because when they die, they cannot bring a cent of their wealth with
them. Instead, they have to leave it to others, and often undeserving
people too, who would one day squander away all their money. Some people
are always thinking and counting their money. They are afraid to spend
them. Instead of using money for their happiness and the happiness of
their loved ones and those in need, they hoard them only to realize that the
more they hoard, the more they are enslaved by money. Ironically, they
live in insecurity for fear of losing their hard earned money.
The second kind of
attachment is to sin. This is what the book of Sirach is asking of us.
“Who will praise the Most High in Sheol, if the living does not do so by giving
glory to him? To the dead, as to those who do not exist, praise is unknown,
only those with life and health can praise the Lord.” When we live in
sin, our life does not give glory to God. To live in sin is to live in
the land of the dead. Those who are attached to their vices in life
cannot be liberated for love. Those who live immoral lives, such as
cheating, slandering, lying, stealing, fighting, manipulating, gambling
excessively, smoking and drinking to the detriment of their health, cannot find
happiness. Others are lazy, envious of others and lustful. When we
are controlled by our sins, we cannot expect happiness. St Paul makes it
clear, “Now the works of the flesh are plain: immorality, impurity,
licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger,
selfishness, dissension, party spirit, envy, drunkenness, carousing,
and the like. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things
shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” (Gal 5:19-21) Let us
be reminded of the advice of St John of the Cross who said that a bird tied to
a chain or a string cannot fly. So long as sins have a hold over us, we
cannot be free either.
The third kind of
attachment is to our guilt and the lack of forgiveness to those who have hurt
us. Many of us cannot forgive ourselves for the wrongs we have
done. We keep going back to our past hurts and wounds. We think of
the people who have hurt us. We cannot forgive them. We nurture
grudges against them. Most of our sadness comes from this inability
to let go. Indeed, there are many people who are always living in the
past, lamenting, recollecting all the wrongs and negligences in their lives and
those who have hurt them deeply.
The fourth kind of
attachment is to the law. “Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call me good?
No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: You must not
kill; you must not commit adultery; you must not steal; you must not bring
false witness; you must not defraud; Honor your father and mother.’ And
he said to him, ‘Master, I have kept all these from my earliest days.’”
There are some who are slaves to the laws, partly because of upbringing and
partly because of self-righteousness. Like the Jewish leaders, we see
salvation in terms of mere obedience to the laws. We live in fear of
God’s punishment; always thinking that we are not good enough for Him. So
like the rich man, we can never find real happiness. If we fulfill the
laws, our lives can be quite empty because it is without love. If we
break the law, we think that God will send us to hell.
If attachment is the cause
of unhappiness, then the way to happiness is of course detachment, learning to
let go. We need to learn how to let go.
Firstly, we must let go of
our wealth in all its forms. Money is a means, not the end itself.
Keeping money in the bank cannot make you happy but only cause you to be more
worried. But if we use our money for the good of others, we will find
happiness and fulfillment. This was the advice of Jesus to the rich man
when He said, “There is one thing you lack. Go and sell everything you
own and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in
heaven.” In serving the poor, we live with a purpose. When we live
a meaningful life, a life that is connected with people, we find joy. The joy of
giving joy to others is already a participation in the joy of God.
Secondly, we must seek true
repentance of heart. Sirach says, “To those who repent God permits
return, and he encourages those who were losing hope. Return to the Lord
and leave sin behind, plead before his face and lessen your offence. Come back
to the Most High and turn away from iniquity, and hold in abhorrence all that
is foul.” If we repent of our sins, we will experience true joy and
liberation. We are at peace again. So long as we do not give up our
sins, we cannot expect our conscience to leave us in peace. The choice is
really ours. Peace, joy and freedom or slavery to our attachments and
sins. Attachment to sin is the cause of sadness in our hearts.
Until we set ourselves free, we cannot be happy.
Thirdly, we must hold on to
the forgiveness of God. The psalmist says, “Happy the man whose offence is
forgiven, whose sin is remitted. O happy the man to whom the Lord imputes
no guilt, in whose spirit is no guile. But now I have acknowledged
my sins; my guilt I did not hide. I said: ‘I will confess my offence to the
Lord.’ And you, Lord, have forgiven the guilt of my sin.” If we confess
our sins, we can be sure that God will be ever ready to forgive us. It is
not for God to bear grievances against us like we do towards our fellowmen.
Sirach assures us, “How great is the mercy of the Lord, his pardon on all those
who turn towards him!” Only when we believe that God has forgiven
us, can we in turn grant forgiveness to ourselves and to those who have hurt
us. If we cannot forgive ourselves or others, it is because deep in our
hearts, we do not truly believe that God has forgiven us in spite of our
sinfulness.
Finally, we must once again
assert the importance of the doctrine of justification by faith through grace.
In the gospel, the disciples were scandalized when they heard that the
rich man would have great difficulty entering the kingdom of God. “’In
that case’ they said to one another ‘who can be saved?’ Jesus gazed at
them. ‘For men’ he said ‘it is impossible, but not for God: because
everything is possible for God.’” Salvation is not by our good
works. We cannot merit the love of God. Good works are the
expressions of being loved by God and sometimes the means by which we open our
hearts to the love and mercy of God. Penance and mortification do not
earn God’s grace but they are tools to unlock the selfishness of our hardened
hearts so that we can be more receptive to the grace of God. The rich man
can enter heaven only because of God’s grace when he is rich in love; not
attached to his wealth but using all that he has for the good of others.
This comes about only when he encounters the love of God, the joy of his
life. In finding this joy of being so loved by God, he will be able to
live in freedom and in love.
How can we find happiness
in the final analysis? We need to be attached to Jesus, to follow
Him. This is the only attachment permitted. Jesus told the rich
man. “Go and sell everything you own and give the money to the poor, and you
will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” Jesus is not simply
saying that we must reach out to the poor and give everything to them but more
importantly, we must follow Him. Otherwise, service to the poor can also
cause us to be resentful, frustrated and disillusioned. Some are also too
attached to the poor that they become angry with God! Giving up for the
poor is to make room for Jesus to fill our hearts with His joy. Giving up
our sins is only to permit Jesus to be master of our lives. Giving up
faith in justification through the laws is to allow the grace of God to work in
and through us. Following Jesus is much easier when we surrender all our
attachments to Him.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights
Reserved
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