20170317 SEIZING THE RIGHT OPPORTUNITIES
Readings at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Violet.
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First reading
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Genesis
37:3-4,12-13,17-28 ©
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Israel loved Joseph
more than all his other sons, for he was the son of his old age, and he had a
coat with long sleeves made for him. But his brothers, seeing how his father
loved him more than all his other sons, came to hate him so much that they
could not say a civil word to him.
His
brothers went to pasture their father’s flock at Shechem. Then Israel said to
Joseph, ‘Are not your brothers with the flock at Shechem? Come, I am going to
send you to them.’ So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan.
They saw
him in the distance, and before he reached them they made a plot among
themselves to put him to death. ‘Here comes the man of dreams’ they said to one
another. ‘Come on, let us kill him and throw him into some well; we can say
that a wild beast devoured him. Then we shall see what becomes of his dreams.’
But
Reuben heard, and he saved him from their violence. ‘We must not take his life’
he said. ‘Shed no blood,’ said Reuben to them ‘throw him into this well in the
wilderness, but do not lay violent hands on him’ – intending to save him
from them and to restore him to his father. So, when Joseph reached his
brothers, they pulled off his coat, the coat with long sleeves that he was
wearing, and catching hold of him they threw him into the well, an empty well
with no water in it. They then sat down to eat.
Looking
up they saw a group of Ishmaelites who were coming from Gilead, their camels
laden with gum, tragacanth, balsam and resin, which they were taking down into
Egypt. Then Judah said to his brothers, ‘What do we gain by killing our brother
and covering up his blood? Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, but let us
not do any harm to him. After all, he is our brother, and our own flesh.’ His
brothers agreed.
Now some
Midianite merchants were passing, and they drew Joseph up out of the well. They
sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty silver pieces, and these men took
Joseph to Egypt.
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Responsorial
Psalm
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Psalm
104(105):16-21 ©
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Remember the wonders
the Lord has done.
The Lord called down
a famine on the land;
he broke
the staff that supported them.
He had sent a man
before them,
Joseph,
sold as a slave.
Remember the
wonders the Lord has done.
His feet were put in
chains,
his neck
was bound with iron,
until what he said
came to pass
and the
word of the Lord proved him true.
Remember the
wonders the Lord has done.
Then the king sent
and released him
the ruler
of the people set him free,
making him master of
his house
and ruler
of all he possessed.
Remember the
wonders the Lord has done.
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Gospel
Acclamation
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Jn3:16
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Praise and honour to
you, Lord Jesus!
God loved the world
so much that he gave his only Son:
everyone who believes
in him has eternal life.
Praise and honour to
you, Lord Jesus!
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Gospel
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Matthew
21:33-43,45-46 ©
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Jesus said to the
chief priests and the elders of the people, ‘Listen to another parable. There
was a man, a landowner, who planted a vineyard; he fenced it round, dug a
winepress in it and built a tower; then he leased it to tenants and went
abroad. When vintage time drew near he sent his servants to the tenants to
collect his produce. But the tenants seized his servants, thrashed one, killed
another and stoned a third. Next he sent some more servants, this time a larger
number, and they dealt with them in the same way. Finally he sent his son to
them. “They will respect my son” he said. But when the tenants saw the son, they
said to each other, “This is the heir. Come on, let us kill him and take over
his inheritance.” So they seized him and threw him out of the vineyard and
killed him. Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those
tenants?’ They answered, ‘He will bring those wretches to a wretched end and
lease the vineyard to other tenants who will deliver the produce to him when
the season arrives.’ Jesus said to them, ‘Have you never read in the
scriptures:
It was the stone
rejected by the builders
that became the
keystone.
This was the Lord’s
doing
and it is wonderful
to see?
‘I tell you, then,
that the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a people who will
produce its fruit.’
When
they heard his parables, the chief priests and the scribes realised he was
speaking about them, but though they would have liked to arrest him they were
afraid of the crowds, who looked on him as a prophet.
SEIZING
THE RIGHT OPPORTUNITIES
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: [ GN 37:3-4,
12-13, 17-28; MT 21:33-43 ]
Lent is an invitation to
enter the kingdom of God. It is an invitation to live a life of love, joy,
peace and freedom. It is a great opportunity for anyone to receive the
grace to embrace the life of the kingdom. During this season of Lent, the
Church presents us many possibilities to journey together as one family of God
to enter the Promised Land of the life of the Risen Lord. What we make of
it depends on whether we seize this opportunity of grace or whether we let this
prospect pass us by.
Indeed, in life, we are
given many opportunities to be happy, successful and to live life to the
fullest. Every day that we are alive is itself an
opportunity. Every day that we are able to walk, eat, talk and
think means that we have the opportunity to grow and make a success of our
life. To have good health is the greatest blessing, for with health,
everything is possible and within our reach. It is a question of whether
we are open, receptive and courageous to seize the opportunities when they
come, and whether we are alert, proactive and positive in making use of the
occasions presented to us. And such opportunities abound.
Unfortunately, instead of
seizing the opportunity of the day, many of us live in the past, lamenting what
it could have been, bemoaning our misfortunes, blaming people for our failures
and falling into depression. The sad reality is that whilst they are
grumbling about their problems, the opportunities fly past without their
notice. So downcast they are and stuck in the mud, they cannot see the graces
that God sends through their friends, colleagues and family
members. Jobs are offered to them but they make excuses that these
are not suitable for them, because the place of work is more than three
bus-stops away! Friends invite them out for a meal but they give excuses
that they do not have nice clothes to wear, or that it is too hot or crowded.
Such people are impossible to help or please. And there are many of
them. In fact, many times we try to help such supposedly “poor” people
but they are not interested to be helped. All they want is regular
hand-outs; not work, not a solution.
In the scripture readings,
we are told that our God is a God of opportunities. He never gets tired
of helping us. He is a God of many chances. He does not give us one
chance but repeated chances. He is always patient, forgiving and
long-suffering. He never gives up hope on us. The parable of the vineyard
speaks of this God who perseveres in saving us. Since the beginning of
salvation history, God has been sending the Israelites one prophet after
another to call them to conversion. The vineyard refers to the people of
Israel because God called Israel His vineyard. Yet, instead of taking care of
the vineyard, they abused their authority and sought to be masters and lords of
the vineyard, instead of tilling it to serve God who was the master. They
did not listen to the prophets sent by God to ask the kings and the peoples to
repent. Instead, not only did they persecute the prophets of God, they
even had them killed.
This history of infidelity
and the rejection of God’s grace continued into the time of Jesus, when the
chief priests and the elders of the people rejected Jesus, who is the son of
the owner, the only begotten Son. They killed the Son of God and put Him
out of the vineyard. This is the sad reality even today, because often
the call to conversion and repentance is rejected not by the common people but
the leaders of religion and society.
The tragedy of the world
today is that instead of seizing the opportunities for conversion and new life,
we seize the opportunities for evil. This was what happened to Joseph’s
brothers and the religious leaders during the time of Jesus. In the first
reading, we read of how the brothers of Joseph were jealous of him. They
were envious that their father loved him more than the others. “He was
the son of his old age, and he had a coat with long sleeves made for
him.” Naturally they felt angry and resentful of Joseph and “came
to hate him so much that they could not say a civil word to him.” And so,
when the opportunity came, they plotted to have him killed so that they could
get rid of their competitor once and for all. They said, “Here comes the
man of dreams. Come on, let us kill him and throw him into some well; we can
say that a wild beast devoured him, then we shall see what becomes of his dreams.”
It was an opportunity indeed, but it was an opportunity for evil.
In the gospel too, we are
told that the leaders of Israel, both in the Old Testament and during the time
of Jesus, had the opportunity to put their lives in order. Alas, instead
of seizing these opportunities, they looked for the opportunity to put away the
prophets, Jesus and His apostles. Indeed, all through the history of
Israel, the primitive Church and even today, leaders are using every
opportunity to silence the truth of the gospel. Instead of being receptive to
the grace of God that comes through His prophets, we seek to silence them
instead. The Church of old and the Church today continues to suffer under
the persecution of secularism, relativism and pragmatism.
The critical question is
not just whether we seize the opportunity at hand but whether we are using the
grace of God rightly. We can use the grace of God given to us for the
wrong things. There are many who are intelligent but use their
intelligence to enrich themselves and to cheat. Even Joseph was equally
at fault because although God gave him the gift of leadership and intelligence,
he became boastful and caused his brothers to feel insecure. Some are talented
and eloquent but use their gift to gain popularity and even to manipulate
people. Whatever we have in life is given to us so that we can use them
for good. But often, because of jealousy, pride or greed, we misuse the
gifts for evil intentions.
Regardless, God is
gracious. The sins of man cannot disrupt His plan for the salvation of
humanity. He would not let us down if we repent. Even in the case
of Joseph, God inspired his brother Rueben to save him from being killed.
And then in accordance with His divine plan, God had Joseph sold as a slave but
later made him a great adviser to Pharaoh. Joseph must have learnt his
lesson and thus when he cooperated with God’s grace, God made him a great ruler
in Egypt and the savior of his people. This time, he seized the
opportunity correctly.
We too must learn how to seize
the opportunity for growth and conversion when God sends His prophets to
us. Through them, we can grow in our faith and relationship.
We must see them as instruments of God to purify us in our growth in authentic
love. At the same time, we are called to transcend our enemies by
conquering them with love. This was the case of Joseph and Jesus.
They did not succumb to the reign of revenge and bitterness in their lives
against those who did them harm. Instead, they returned love for
hatred. That is the way we too are called to act in dealing with our
enemies. This is using the opportunity of grace positively.
When we adopt such
attitudes to the prophets of grace in our lives, we will find that we can grow
and be purified in love and holiness in every way. It will always be a
win-win situation. With our enemies, we grow by transcending them; with
our true prophets, we can learn from their advice and challenges.
Whether true or false prophets, they are our spiritual benefactors, helping us
to grow in grace and love. Consequently, those whom we find a nuisance in our
lives, especially the difficult ones, are probably people who can really help
us to purify our motives of loving in life. That is why they are often
called our spiritual benefactors. In fact, the more a person is a thorn
in our lives, the more he or she is our spiritual benefactor. Thus, what we
perceive to be unwanted stones or pains in our lives, are often the very
instruments through which we grow in virtue and faith. Let us pray
that we will be able to always respond positively to the prophets in our lives
and all the opportunities of grace so that we might not miss the opportunities
for conversion in our lives.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh Roman Catholic Archbishop of
Singapore © All Rights Reserved
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