20170512 CHRISTIANITY IS NOT A THREAT BUT AN ALLY TO TRUTH AND
LIFE
Readings at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: White.
First reading
|
Acts 13:26-33 ©
|
Paul stood up in the
synagogue at Antioch in Pisidia, held up a hand for silence and began to speak:
‘My
brothers, sons of Abraham’s race, and all you who fear God, this message of
salvation is meant for you. What the people of Jerusalem and their rulers did,
though they did not realise it, was in fact to fulfil the prophecies read on
every sabbath. Though they found nothing to justify his death, they condemned
him and asked Pilate to have him executed. When they had carried out everything
that scripture foretells about him they took him down from the tree and buried
him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead, and for many days he appeared
to those who had accompanied him from Galilee to Jerusalem: and it is these
same companions of his who are now his witnesses before our people.
‘We have
come here to tell you the Good News. It was to our ancestors that God made the
promise but it is to us, their children, that he has fulfilled it, by raising
Jesus from the dead. As scripture says in the second psalm: You are my son:
today I have become your father.’
Responsorial
Psalm
|
Psalm 2:6-11 ©
|
You are my Son. It
is I who have begotten you this day.
or
Alleluia!
‘It is I who have set
up my king
on Zion,
my holy mountain.’
I will announce the
decree of the Lord:
The Lord said to me:
‘You are my Son.
It is I
who have begotten you this day.
You are my Son. It
is I who have begotten you this day.
or
Alleluia!
‘Ask and I shall
bequeath you the nations,
put the
ends of the earth in your possession.
With a rod of iron
you will break them,
shatter
them like a potter’s jar.’
You are my Son. It
is I who have begotten you this day.
or
Alleluia!
Now, O kings,
understand,
take
warning, rulers of the earth;
serve the Lord with
awe
and
trembling, pay him your homage.
You are my Son. It
is I who have begotten you this day.
or
Alleluia!
Gospel
Acclamation
|
Col3:1
|
Alleluia, alleluia!
Since you have been
brought back to true life with Christ,
you must look for the
things that are in heaven, where Christ is,
sitting at God’s
right hand.
Alleluia!
Or
|
Jn14:6
|
Alleluia, alleluia!
I am the Way, the
Truth and the Life, says the Lord;
No one can come to
the Father except through me.
Alleluia!
Gospel
|
John 14:1-6 ©
|
Jesus said to his
disciples:
‘Do not let your
hearts be troubled.
Trust in God still,
and trust in me.
There are many rooms
in my Father’s house;
if there were not, I
should have told you.
I am going now to
prepare a place for you,
and after I have gone
and prepared you a place,
I shall return to
take you with me;
so that where I am
you may be too.
You know the way to
the place where I am going.’
Thomas said, ‘Lord,
we do not know where you are going, so how can we know the way?’ Jesus said:
‘I am the Way, the
Truth and the Life.
No
one can come to the Father except through me.’
CHRISTIANITY
IS NOT A THREAT BUT AN ALLY TO TRUTH AND LIFE
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [
ACTS 13:26-33; PS 2:6-11; JOHN 14:1-6 ]
Very often, Christianity is portrayed as
triumphalistic and exclusive. To some, Christians appear arrogant and
aggressive. This conduct could be true for some Christians. But as a
religion, Christianity is not against humanity but for humanity. She presents
herself as a servant of the gospel whose mission is to offer the Good News of
Jesus Christ, as the Way, the Truth and the Life for all. Indeed, more
than ever, when this world is falling into despair because of the promotion of
agnosticism, relativism and humanism, Christianity seeks to fulfill the vacuum
and gaps in our lives and in religions.
Agnosticism says what Thomas in the
gospel said: “we do not know where you are going, so how can we know the
way?” In the face of so many religions and philosophies, Agnostics cry,
“We do not know the way! So let us just live in ignorance of the
existence of God”. Like the Jews during the time of Jesus, they too, out
of ignorance, put Jesus to death. St Paul said, “Though they found
nothing to justify his death, they condemned him and asked Pilate to have him
executed. When they had carried out everything that scripture foretells about
him they took him down from the tree and buried him in a tomb.”
To the agnostics, we want to say that we
know the way. Jesus is the Way, the Gate to eternal life. He comes
from the Father and He shows us where the Father is. As the psalm
prophesied through David, “It is I who have set up my king on Zion, my holy
mountain.’ I will announce the decree of the Lord: The Lord said to me:
‘You are my Son. It is I who have begotten you this day.” For this
reason, Jesus declared, “No one can come to the Father except through
me.” Jesus is the revelation of God. He is our revealer and
the revealed. St Paul wrote, “The mystery that has been hidden throughout the
ages and generations but has now been revealed to his saints. To
them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the
glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Col 1:26f)
Secondly, relativism says that everything
is relative. There is no objectivity in truth. Precisely, the
confusion in the world today is the consequence of relativism as there is no
reference point for truth. When there are no absolutes or fundamental
principles that are unchanging for us to refer to, everything ends up in
subjectivism. Relativism breeds pragmatism and individualism. It is
not possible to unite a people when there is no basis to hold the people
together. Since truth is always changing, no one can say that whatever
values we hold in life are true or good. Parents can no longer teach
their children values, since it is a matter of preference. Without the
objectivity of truth, no one dares to hold on too strongly to whatever they
believe. So we live in flux and instability, anxious that what we cherish
today might be seen as silly and superstitious tomorrow.
However, for Christians, Jesus is the
Truth simply because He is the Word of God in person. We are
confident that we know what the truth is because Jesus is the revealer.
He comes to reveal to us the truth about God. He will send us the Holy
Spirit who “will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and
judgment: about sin, because they do not believe in me; about
righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no
longer; about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been
condemned.” (Jn 16:8b-11)
In Jesus, we know what is right or wrong. He is the light of the world.
“All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for
correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who
belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.” (2 Tim 3:16f)
Thirdly, humanism says there is no
God. But they can know everything through human reason. There is no
eternity. When we die, we just disappear from the face of the
earth. When we push the limits of humanism, we will end in annihilation
because there is no purpose or goal in life. We are just here to make the
best of it and then we will disappear from the world. Whatever success or
achievements we make will be left to the next generation to take over.
When life has no purpose or a meaning that lives beyond us, then this life is
vanity. We fall into despair like the apostles when Jesus was about to
leave them. Hence, Jesus said to them, “Do not let your hearts be
troubled. Trust in God still, and trust in me. There are many rooms in my Father’s
house; if there were not, I should have told you. I am going now to prepare a
place for you, and after I have gone and prepared you a place, I shall return
to take you with me; so that where I am you may be too.” We cannot be
reduced to mere creatures like the rest of the world. Whether we admit it
or not, we have an intellectual capacity for knowledge and a heart that desires
everlasting love, which we call soul.
In response to humanism, Christianity
tells us that we are called to share in the life of God. Jesus is not just the
Way, the Truth but the Life. He comes to reveal to us that life is not
just on earth, nor is life simply a physical or biological life. Life is
to share in the love of God. History has a purpose and God has a plan for
humanity. It is not a world that is left to its own without any direction
or goal. This is what St Paul was telling the Jews. Everything that
happened to Jesus was in the plan of God. “What the people of Jerusalem
and their rulers did, though they did not realise it, was in fact to fulfil the
prophecies read on every Sabbath.” Furthermore, the claim that Jesus is
the life-giver and that there is life after death, is established in no
uncertain terms in the raising of Jesus from the dead. “But God raised him
from the dead, and for many days he appeared to those who had accompanied him
from Galilee to Jerusalem: and it is these same companions of his who are now
his witnesses before our people.”
Indeed, Christianity is the fulfillment
of the plan of God for humanity. This was what St Paul told the Jews, “We
have come here to tell you the Good News. It was to our ancestors that God made
the promise but it is to us, their children, that he has fulfilled it, by
raising Jesus from the dead. As scripture says in the first psalm: You are my
son: today I have become your father.’” Again, he wrote to the Ephesians.
“This grace was given to me to bring to the Gentiles the news of the boundless
riches of Christ, and to make everyone see what is the plan of the mystery
hidden for ages in God who created all things; so that through the
church the wisdom of God in its rich variety might now be made known to the
rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.” (Eph 3:7b-11) To the
non-Jews in Athens, Paul said, “For as I went through the city
and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an
altar with the inscription, ‘To an unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as
unknown, this I proclaim to you.” (Acts 17:23)
Finally, in Nostra
Aetate, the Church teaches, “Likewise, other religions found everywhere try to
counter the restlessness of the human heart, each in its own manner, by
proposing ‘ways,’ comprising teachings, rules of life, and sacred rites. The
Catholic Church rejects nothing that is true and holy in these religions. She
regards with sincere reverence those ways of conduct and of life, those
precepts and teachings which, though differing in many aspects from the ones
she holds and sets forth, nonetheless often reflect a ray of that Truth which
enlightens all men. Indeed, she proclaims, and ever must proclaim Christ ‘the
way, the truth, and the life’ (John 14:6),
in whom men may find the fullness of religious life, in whom God has reconciled
all things to Himself. The Church, therefore, exhorts her sons, that through
dialogue and collaboration with the followers of other religions, carried out
with prudence and love and in witness to the Christian faith and life, they
recognize, preserve and promote the good things, spiritual and moral, as well
as the socio-cultural values found among these men.” (NA 2)
Written by The Most
Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved
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