20170306 CHARITY IS THE PERFECTION OF HOLINESS
Readings at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Violet.
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First reading
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Leviticus
19:1-2,11-18 ©
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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 steal nor deal deceitfully or fraudulently with your neighbour. You
must not swear falsely by my name, profaning the name of your God. I am the
Lord. You must not exploit or rob your neighbour. You must not keep back the
labourer’s wage until next morning. You must not curse the dumb, nor put an
obstacle in the blind man’s way, but you must fear your God. I am the Lord.
‘“You
must not be guilty of unjust verdicts. You must neither be partial to the
little man nor overawed by the great; you must pass judgement on your neighbour
according to justice. You must not slander your own people, and you must not
jeopardise your neighbour’s life. I am the Lord. 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
18(19):8-10,15 ©
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Your words are
spirit, Lord, and they are life.
The law of the Lord
is perfect,
it
revives the soul.
The rule of the Lord
is to be trusted,
it gives
wisdom to the simple.
Your words are
spirit, Lord, and they are life.
The precepts of the
Lord are right,
they
gladden the heart.
The command of the
Lord is clear,
it gives
light to the eyes.
Your words are
spirit, Lord, and they are life.
The fear of the Lord
is holy,
abiding
for ever.
The decrees of the
Lord are truth
and all
of them just.
Your words are
spirit, Lord, and they are life.
May the spoken words
of my mouth,
the
thoughts of my heart,
win favour in your
sight, O Lord,
my
rescuer, my rock!
Your words are
spirit, Lord, and they are life.
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Gospel
Acclamation
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Ezk18:31
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Praise to you, O
Christ, king of eternal glory!
Shake off all your
sins – it is the Lord who speaks –
and make yourselves a
new heart and a new spirit.
Praise to you, O
Christ, king of eternal glory!
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Or
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2Co6:2
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Praise to you, O
Christ, king of eternal glory!
Now is the favourable
time:
this is the day of
salvation.
Praise to you, O
Christ, king of eternal glory!
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Gospel
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Matthew 25:31-46
©
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Jesus said to his
disciples: ‘When the Son of Man comes in his glory, escorted by all the angels,
then he will take his seat on his throne of glory. All the nations will be
assembled before him and he will separate men one from another as the shepherd
separates sheep from goats. He will place the sheep on his right hand and the
goats on his left.
‘Then the
King will say to those on his right hand, “Come, you whom my Father has
blessed, take for your heritage the kingdom prepared for you since the
foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty
and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you made me welcome; naked and you
clothed me, sick and you visited me, in prison and you came to see me.” Then
the virtuous will say to him in reply, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and
feed you; or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and
make you welcome; naked and clothe you; sick or in prison and go to see you?”
And the King will answer, “I tell you solemnly, in so far as you did this to
one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me.”
‘Next he
will say to those on his left hand, “Go away from me, with your curse upon you,
to the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and
you never gave me food; I was thirsty and you never gave me anything to drink;
I was a stranger and you never made me welcome, naked and you never clothed me,
sick and in prison and you never visited me.” Then it will be their turn to
ask, “Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty, a stranger or naked, sick or
in prison, and did not come to your help?” Then he will answer, “I tell you
solemnly, in so far as you neglected to do this to one of the least of these,
you neglected to do it to me.”
‘And
they will go away to eternal punishment, and the virtuous to eternal life.’
CHARITY
IS THE PERFECTION OF HOLINESS
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: [ LEV 19:1-2,11-18; PS 18:8-10,15; MATT 25:31-46 ]
As we begin
the first Monday of the first week of Lent, the cry of the entire Church is the
call to holiness. “Be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy.” Indeed,
the call to holiness is the fundamental vocation of every Christian. By
virtue of our baptism, we are seeking holiness. Since God is holy, every
son and daughter of God must seek to be like Him to grow in holiness. “Everyone
who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.” (1 Jn 3:30)
But
what is holiness? We must not confuse holiness with the means to
holiness. Right from the outset, after setting out the program for
holiness in the first four days of Lent last week, the Church needs to put on
record that holiness cannot be reduced to piety and good works.
Certainly, prayer, almsgiving and mortification are necessary for us to attain
a deeper union with God and the purification of motives of love and
service. But they are means and not the ends themselves. We can
perform all these tasks and yet not be holy. This is because we do them
for all the wrong reasons.
How do
we know that we are holy? Not by the length of prayers and penances we
do. Not by the service we do for the Church and for others. The
sure sign that we love God is our love for our neighbor. We might think
we are loving God but we might not be if we search deeper into our motives. The
clearest sign that we love God is when we love our neighbours. St John
wrote, “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for
he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom
he has not seen.” (1 Jn 4:20)
Holiness is therefore identified with love of neighbor as we read in today’s
scripture readings. Indeed, the quality, purity and depth of our love for
God is expressed in our love for our neighbours.
What
does love of neighbor mean? Firstly, it means that we live a just
life. This is spelt out in terms of right relationship with our brothers
and sisters. “You must not steal nor deal deceitfully or fraudulently
with your neighbor. You must not swear falsely by my name, profaning the
name of your God. You must not exploit or rob your neighbour. You must
not keep back the labourer’s wage until next morning. You must not curse
the dumb, nor put an obstacle in the blind man’s way, but you must fear your
God.”
It is a
counter-witness that we have many apparently good Catholics involved in the
Church and in social work for the poor who treat their domestic helpers or
workers badly, not giving them sufficient rest and monetary remuneration.
We make them work day and night like machines, as if they do not need
rest. Good Catholics must be good employers and have respect for their
staff, treating them justly and kindly. Conversely, good Catholics must
be good workers doing an honest day’s work and even going the extra mile.
They should show themselves to be honest, diligent, proactive and responsible in
their work.
Justice
also requires that we do not pass false judgements on others or make
presumptuous judgements on the motives of others. Moses said, “You must
not be guilty of unjust verdicts. You must neither be partial to the
little man nor overawed by the great; you must pass judgement on your neighbour
according to justice. You must not slander your own people, and you must
not jeopardise your neighbour’s life.” So often, those in authority are
not fair and just in judgement. They are coloured by their prejudices and
favour those whom they like. We need to make sure that we are transparent
and objective in our decisions and that no one is unjustly treated or
discriminated in their jobs because of riches and social or political status.
Secondly,
Christian charity requires us to be proactive in reaching out to our
neighbours. Justice is only the beginning of charity. We will be
called to account not only for the sins we have committed but also for the sins
of omission as well. It is not enough to say that we have done nothing
wrong towards our brothers and sisters. Not helping them is itself
already a sin because we are ignoring the Christ in them. This is what Jesus is
teaching us in the gospel today. In the final judgement, we will not be asked
how many masses we have attended on Sundays or how much money we have donated
but whether we have shown compassion to the needy, the sick, the elderly, those
in prison, in depression and those in material and financial needs.
Holiness is when we show our love for these people in a concrete way.
Even
then, in serving the poor and attending to the needs of our brothers and
sisters, the motive is purely supernatural. Christian charity goes beyond
mere philanthropism and giving out material needs. The parable of the
Last Judgement makes it clear that the motive of reaching out to the poor and
the suffering is because Christ is identified with them. “I tell you
solemnly, in so far as you did this to one of the least of these brothers of
mine, you did it to me.” The Church is not another NGO or agency for
doing good. We love the poor simply because it is done out of love for
Christ.
Serving
the poor is not about attending to another case, but we are called to see the
poor as a person. He or she is a child of God and a brother and sister of
Jesus Christ. So our service to the poor and the suffering is founded on
the fact that we see the face of Christ in every person in need. Christ
comes to meet us in our brothers and sisters. To serve them is to serve
the Lord. So Christian charity goes beyond giving of material needs but
to help each person to attain the fullness of life in Christ. Charity to
the poor is fundamentally to restore their dignity as God’s children. It
involves more than filling their stomachs but giving them dignity and, most of
all, helping them to grow in emotional and spiritual maturity.
Thirdly,
holiness also presumes that we love ourselves as much. The command to
love our neighbor presumes that we love ourselves. “You must love your
neighbour as yourself.” This means that we must live a holistic
life. We should not do things to harm our body, like eating too much,
indulging in unhealthy foods, excessive drinking and smoking, not resting
enough, being over ambitious in our studies and careers leading to a neglect of
our loved ones and even our spiritual life. In other words, we must
ensure that we have a balanced lifestyle, of work, service, prayer and play,
and to be with people whom we love. Otherwise, we are doing injustice to
our body and our soul.
In the
final analysis, holiness is simply to live the life of God which is a life of
love. Holiness is the perfection of love and vice versa.
Charity is the soul of holiness. We know we are holy when we live a
holistic life. We know we are holy when we love God, our neighours and
ourselves, never doing anything that will harm our integrity and relationship
with them. Love of God alone is the motivating factor in all that we
do. St Theresa of the Child Jesus said, “I realized that this love alone
was the true motive force which enabled the other members of the Church to act;
if it ceased to function, the apostles would forget to preach the Gospel, the
martyrs would refuse to shed their blood. Love, in fact, is the vocation which
includes all others; it’s a universe of its own, comprising all time and space
– it’s eternal! (St. Therese of Lisieux, Autobiography of a Saint)
Hence,
we can appreciate why holiness and mission are deeply intertwined. St
John Paul II wrote, “I have no hesitation in saying that all pastoral
initiatives must be set in relation to holiness. Stressing holiness
remains more than ever an urgent pastoral task.” (NMI 30) The
universal call to mission presupposes that we seek to live a life of holiness.
Without holiness of life, there is no mission since the Church’s mission is to
call all into holiness by being configured with Christ in baptism and through a
life of love and service to our brothers and sisters. Through our
life and love for the suffering, may they see Christ’s face in us!
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights
Reserved
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