20170219 THE SOCIAL MISSION OF THE CHURCH
Readings at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Green.
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First reading
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Leviticus
19:1-2,17-18 ©
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The Lord spoke to
Moses; he said: ‘Speak to the whole community of the sons of Israel and say to
them:
‘“Be
holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy.
‘“You
must not bear hatred for your brother in your heart. You must openly tell him,
your neighbour, of his offence; this way you will not take a sin upon yourself.
You must not exact vengeance, nor must you bear a grudge against the children
of your people. You must love your neighbour as yourself. I am the Lord.”’
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Responsorial
Psalm
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Psalm
102(103):1-4,8,10,12-13 ©
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The Lord is
compassion and love.
My soul, give thanks
to the Lord
all my
being, bless his holy name.
My soul, give thanks
to the Lord
and never
forget all his blessings.
The Lord is
compassion and love.
It is he who forgives
all your guilt,
who heals
every one of your ills,
who redeems your life
from the grave,
who
crowns you with love and compassion.
The Lord is
compassion and love.
The Lord is
compassion and love,
slow to
anger and rich in mercy.
He does not treat us
according to our sins
nor repay
us according to our faults.
The Lord is
compassion and love.
As far as the east is
from the west
so far
does he remove our sins.
As a father has
compassion on his sons,
the Lord
has pity on those who fear him.
The Lord is
compassion and love.
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Second reading
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1 Corinthians
3:16-23 ©
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Didn’t you realise
that you were God’s temple and that the Spirit of God was living among you? If
anybody should destroy the temple of God, God will destroy him, because the
temple of God is sacred; and you are that temple.
Make no
mistake about it: if any one of you thinks of himself as wise, in the ordinary
sense of the word, then he must learn to be a fool before he really can be
wise. Why? Because the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. As scripture
says: The Lord knows wise men’s thoughts: he knows how useless they are;
or again: God is not convinced by the arguments of the wise. So there is
nothing to boast about in anything human: Paul, Apollos, Cephas, the world,
life and death, the present and the future, are all your servants; but you
belong to Christ and Christ belongs to God.
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Gospel
Acclamation
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Jn14:23
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Alleluia, alleluia!
If anyone loves me he
will keep my word,
and my Father will
love him,
and we shall come to
him.
Alleluia!
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Or
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1Jn2:5
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Whenever anyone obeys
what Christ has said,
God’s love comes to
perfection in him.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Matthew 5:38-48 ©
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Jesus said to his
disciples: ‘You have learnt how it was said: Eye for eye and tooth for
tooth. But I say this to you: offer the wicked man no resistance. On the
contrary, if anyone hits you on the right cheek, offer him the other as well;
if a man takes you to law and would have your tunic, let him have your cloak as
well. And if anyone orders you to go one mile, go two miles with him. Give to
anyone who asks, and if anyone wants to borrow, do not turn away.
‘You
have learnt how it was said: You must love your neighbour and hate your enemy.
But I say this to you: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you;
in this way you will be sons of your Father in heaven, for he causes his sun to
rise on bad men as well as good, and his rain to fall on honest and dishonest
men alike. For if you love those who love you, what right have you to claim any
credit? Even the tax collectors do as much, do they not? And if you save your
greetings for your brothers, are you doing anything exceptional? Even the
pagans do as much, do they not? You must therefore be perfect just as your
heavenly Father is perfect.’
THE
SOCIAL MISSION OF THE CHURCH
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: [ LEV 19:1-2.17-18; PS 102:1-4,8,10,12-13; 1 COR 3:16-23; MT 5:38-48 ]
In the
first reading, the Lord spoke to Moses, “Speak to the whole community of the
sons of Israel and say to them: Be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am
holy.” What is the call to holiness all about?
Holiness in the first place
means to be separated, to be set apart. Holiness is the call to be different
from the rest of the world. Indeed, the word, “Pharisee” means to be
separated and be detached from the rest of humanity, especially the common
people of the land, the Gentiles, and those who do not keep the Covenantal laws
strictly.
The call to be holy therefore
means to be different. This is what Jesus in the gospel taught as well.
“For if you love those who love you, what right have you to claim any credit?
Even the tax collectors do as much, do they not?” The hallmark of a
Christian is that he is distinguished from the rest of the world because of the
gospel values that he subscribes to, which contradict the logical thinking of
the world. This is particularly true with respect to the Beatitudes,
elaborated and expanded in the Sermon of the Mount which is the blueprint of
how a Christian should conduct his or her life. (cf Mt 5-7) It is the
magna carta of the New Testament manifesting God’s way to lead us all to
happiness.
Indeed, we are called to
turn the values of the world upside now. For this reason, Christians
would often be misunderstood and sometimes seen as a threat to the secular
world. St Paul reiterates this call to be different when he wrote, “Make no
mistake about it; if any one of you thinks of himself as wise, in the ordinary
sense of the word, then he must learn to be a fool before he really can be
wise. Why? Because the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God.” In
the gospel, Jesus also prefaced His teaching by saying, “’You have learnt how
it was said but I say to you.” In other words, the old way will not
work. Life cannot be the same again. We have to show to the
world that we are different.
But holiness is not just
being different for the sake of being different. We are called to be
different in treating our fellowmen and in the way we love and relate with
them. Social justice is spelt out in terms of right social
relationships. It is significant that immediately after the call to
holiness; Moses gave a list of the things that constitute holiness. He
said, “You must love your neighbour as yourself. I am the Lord.” Holiness
principally is to love our neighbor as ourselves. The twofold commandment
of Jesus to love God with all our heart, soul and strength must be manifested
in our love for neighbor and self. (cf Mk 12:29-31) Indeed,
the constant teaching of scripture is clear that there can be no real worship
of God without justice and compassion toward our neighbors and strangers.
Anyone who calls himself Catholic must first promote peace and practice justice
beginning from himself.
That is why the social
mission of the Church is an expression of our call to holiness. It also
explains why most of our religious congregations are devoted more to the
service of the poor than to services ad-intra, that is purely religious
services connected with the direct proclamation of the gospel in terms of
catechesis. The way to manifest the love of God is through good works,
especially works of mercy. The social mission of the Church therefore is our
mission in the world. In the past, the social mission was focused on charities,
hospitals and schools. But Vatican II has called the Church to a new understanding
of social mission as being involved in the civic, social and political life of
the Church. The Church’s strong sense of social mission is not just
confined to feeding and assisting the poor, but in defending life, the dignity
of the human person from conception to sickness, old age and death; fostering
justice, especially for workers, peace among races and nations and religions.
The practice of social
mission begins with the exercise of justice. If we cannot even practice justice
towards our workers, domestic helpers or our fellowmen, we cannot speak of
charity. It is unfortunate that often Catholics do not treat their
workers with respect and fairness. Shouting and screaming at our
subordinates is not rendering them the dignity they deserve even when they are
wrong. Very often, superiors practice favouritism and discrimination
among the staff. This is the reason for so much office politics because
we are creating distrust and unhealthy competition among staff. Not
cheating and stealing from each other and respecting the rights and dignity of
others is basic to human justice.
Even if we have fulfilled
our obligations towards our workers and our brothers and sisters, we have still
not yet fully carried out social justice if justice is not tampered with mercy
and compassion. As Christians we must go beyond rendering justice in the
strict sense of justice in the world. The Church is not just another
corporation. If that were the case, then we are no different from the
world. Rather, we must ensure that we go an extra mile in treating our
brothers and sisters. Jesus said, “If a man takes you to law and would
have your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. Give to anyone who asks, and
if anyone wants to borrow, do not turn away.” Christian charity is never
calculative. We give our best and even beyond the call of duty without
expecting anything in return. This is the ideal of Christian love.
Otherwise, if we simply fulfill the obligations of the world, which is based on
productivity and reward, then there is nothing special about Christian social
justice. Does God treat us in that manner, rewarding us according to our
work? Is salvation through good works or by the grace of God? In
truth if God were to treat us according to our good works, then none of us will
ever be saved. Christian charity always speaks of grace and generosity.
Social justice includes
speaking out for the poor. There are times when we need to intercede on
behalf of the poor and the suffering. We must use our connections to help
those in need. There will be times when in charity, we need to correct
those who are not dealing rightly with their fellowmen, as Moses said, “You
must openly tell him, your neighbour, of his offence; this way you will not
take a sin upon yourself.” There is the moral obligation to speak out for
the good of the community. Often, the minority speaks so loudly as if
that is the main voice. In this world of mass communication, there are so
many half-truths circulating in the social media that we do not know the
facts. So often, we see lots of conditioning by the social media because
a few people are pushing through their agenda.
Finally, the exercise of
social mission of the Church includes forgiveness. Moses taught the
people, “You must not exact vengeance, nor must you bear a grudge against the
children of your people. You must not bear hatred for your brother in
your heart.” In the same vein, Jesus said, “Eye for eye and tooth for
tooth. But I say this to you: offer the wicked man no resistance.” The
psalmist also reminds us of God’s patience and compassion for our
failings. There are some who are involved in the social mission of the
Church but instead of becoming more caring and loving, they are filled with
vindictiveness and anger with the Church, the secular institutions and even
with God because things did not happen the way they wanted. In their fight for
the poor, they themselves became oppressors. We must maintain our
Christian attitude of perseverance, dialogue and respect for all even when
others disagree with us. The day when we take things into our own hands,
we forget that at the end of the day, it is not our work but the work of God.
What, then, is the basis
for doing works of charity and being involved in the mission of the
Church? Firstly, we are all God’s children. This is the same basis
for Jesus inviting us to love our enemies. He said, “Love your enemies
and pray for those who persecute you; in this way you will be sons of your
Father in heaven, for he causes his sun to rise on bad men as well as good, and
his rain to fall on honest and dishonest men alike.” In the eyes of God,
we are all His children, regardless whether we acknowledge Him or not. He
is the Father and creator of us all.
Secondly, we are the Temple
of the Holy Spirit. St Paul says, “Didn’t you realise that you were God’s
temple and that the Spirit of God was living among you? If anybody should
destroy the temple of God, God will destroy him, because the temple of God is
sacred; and you are that temple.” As the Temple of the Holy Spirit, we
must regard each other with reverence. Every human person therefore must
be treated as sacred. We are not our own but purchased by the world of
Christ, and therefore we must regard each other with mutual respect.
Finally, we must be
grateful for what we have received. The psalmist says, “My soul,
give thanks to the Lord all my being, bless his holy name. My soul, give thanks
to the Lord and never forget all his blessings.” Gratitude is the
basis for justice and charity. When we are grateful for what we have, we
become generous as well because we know that everything we have belongs to God
and we are merely His stewards.
So when we consider the
goodness and mercy of God, we in turn are called to return the same kindness we
have received. This is what it means when Jesus said, “You must therefore
be perfect just as your heavenly Father is perfect.” The call to
perfection is not that we are without sin, but to be compassionate like our
heavenly Father is towards us. Otherwise, how can we ever be perfect, for as
Jesus told the rich man, “No one is good except God alone.” (Mk 10:18) Perfection
lies in our compassion for our brothers and sisters. Love covers a
multitude of sins.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights
Reserved
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