20170504 DRAWN BY GOD’S GRACE
Readings at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: White.
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First reading
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Acts 8:26-40 ©
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The angel of the Lord
spoke to Philip saying, ‘Be ready to set out at noon along the road that goes
from Jerusalem down to Gaza, the desert road.’ So he set off on his journey.
Now it happened that an Ethiopian had been on pilgrimage to Jerusalem; he was a
eunuch and an officer at the court of the kandake, or queen, of Ethiopia, and
was in fact her chief treasurer. He was now on his way home; and as he sat in
his chariot he was reading the prophet Isaiah. The Spirit said to Philip, ‘Go
up and meet that chariot.’ When Philip ran up, he heard him reading Isaiah the
prophet and asked, ‘Do you understand what you are reading?’ ‘How can I’ he
replied ‘unless I have someone to guide me?’ So he invited Philip to get in and
sit by his side. Now the passage of scripture he was reading was this:
Like a sheep that
is led to the slaughter-house,
like a lamb that
is dumb in front of its shearers,
like these he
never opens his mouth.
He has been
humiliated and has no one to defend him.
Who will ever talk
about his descendants,
since his life on
earth has been cut short!
The eunuch turned to
Philip and said, ‘Tell me, is the prophet referring to himself or someone
else?’ Starting, therefore, with this text of scripture Philip proceeded to
explain the Good News of Jesus to him.
Further
along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, ‘Look, there is
some water here; is there anything to stop me being baptised?’ He ordered the
chariot to stop, then Philip and the eunuch both went down into the water and
Philip baptised him. But after they had come up out of the water again Philip
was taken away by the Spirit of the Lord, and the eunuch never saw him again
but went on his way rejoicing. Philip found that he had reached Azotus and
continued his journey proclaiming the Good News in every town as far as
Caesarea.
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Responsorial
Psalm
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Psalm
65(66):8-9,16-17,20 ©
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Cry out with joy
to God, all the earth.
or
Alleluia!
O peoples, bless our
God,
let the
voice of his praise resound,
of the God who gave
life to our souls
and kept
our feet from stumbling.
Cry out with joy
to God, all the earth.
or
Alleluia!
Come and hear, all
who fear God.
I will
tell what he did for my soul:
to him I cried aloud,
with high
praise ready on my tongue.
Cry out with joy
to God, all the earth.
or
Alleluia!
Blessed be God
who did
not reject my prayer
nor
withhold his love from me.
Cry out with joy
to God, all the earth.
or
Alleluia!
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Gospel
Acclamation
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Alleluia, alleluia!
The Lord, who hung
for us upon the tree,
has risen from the
tomb.
Alleluia!
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Or
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Jn6:51
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Alleluia, alleluia!
I am the living bread
which has come down from heaven,
says the Lord.
Anyone who eats this
bread will live for ever.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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John 6:44-51 ©
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Jesus said to the
crowd:
‘No one can come to
me
unless he is drawn by
the Father who sent me,
and I will raise him
up at the last day.
It is written in the
prophets:
They will all be
taught by God,
and to hear the
teaching of the Father,
and learn from it,
is to come to me.
Not that anybody has
seen the Father,
except the one who
comes from God:
he has seen the
Father.
I tell you most
solemnly,
everybody who
believes has eternal life.
‘I am the bread of
life.
Your fathers ate the
manna in the desert
and they are dead;
but this is the bread
that comes down from heaven,
so that a man may eat
it and not die.
I am the living bread
which has come down from heaven.
Anyone who eats this
bread will live for ever;
and the bread that I
shall give is my flesh,
for the life of the
world.’
DRAWN
BY GOD’S GRACE
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [
ACTS 8:26-40; ps 65:8-9,16-17,20; JOHN 6:44-51 ]
Not all of us are drawn to the same
things in life. We all have different interests. This is true when
it comes to food, sports, entertainment, music and any passion for that
matter. We have different make up and diverse needs in life. For
one, it is an enjoyment, for another, it is a bore and a chore. So each
one of us must respond to the will that is drawn to some external factor
outside of us. When it comes to life’s work, it is called a
vocation. That is why vocation is a call from without. More
specifically, it is a call from God. Anyone who is drawn to a particular
vocation and responds to it accordingly will find integrity and happiness in
life because this is where the heart and the object meet. The union
between the will and the object brings integration, fulfillment and happiness.
Accordingly, every calling is truly the
grace of God. It is not by chance that one is called to be a Christian, a
priest, a religious or a social worker. God has planted this desire in
us. This is not something that we can reason out because it is not
logical. Either you have it or you don’t, although some interests can be
gradually awakened when it is latent within us. Like many of us have
undiscovered talents and potentials. Only in the face of crisis are these
unveiled and activated. This explains why many of us are surprised at
ourselves because in normal circumstances we would not be able to do it.
But again, this is where the grace of God works in and through us, bringing us
to accomplish what humanly speaking we could not imagine. This was so in
the case of Philip who allowed God to work in him.
For this reason, the Lord said, “No one
can come to me unless he is drawn by the Father who sent me.” Faith in
God is itself a gift. If it is true in ordinary areas of daily life, more
so is the dimension of faith. Is it true that faith is not given to
all? Faith is a gift given to all because God has already planted a deep
desire in us for Him. In principle, all are given the grace to know
God. But it is given as a seed. This faith needs to grow and
flourish to a personal commitment. The fact that we are searching, like
the Eunuch, for something deeper in life is already an indication of grace
waiting to blossom. Indeed, this is so for all as well. There is no
question of one not having the gift of faith. So long as we desire
fulfillment in life, there is already the heart and mind seeking truth and
love. As St Augustine says, “Our hearts are restless until they rest in
Him.” Regardless who we are, so long as there is a vacuum, an emptiness,
a restlessness, there is the grace of God drawing us to go beyond ourselves.
Jesus comes to lead us to the Father by offering us the bread of life.
The Lord said, “They will all be taught by God, and to hear the teaching of the
Father, and learn from it, is to come to me.” Jesus said, “this is the
bread that comes down from heaven, so that a man may eat it and not die.”
However, this gift of grace can be
suppressed or overwhelmed by other concerns and by the distractions of the
world. Many are ignorant of what can give them life. Like the Jews
in the gospel, they were seeking the mundane things of life symbolized by the
bread. They came to Jesus to look for material needs. But Jesus
urged them to go beyond earthly and bodily desires to something that is more
fulfilling. He said, “Your fathers ate the manna in the desert and they
are dead; but this is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that a man may
eat it and not die.” Unfortunately, the truth remains that often the
pursuits of this world, the influence of mass media and worldly people cause us
to forget the higher goals of life. We dare not go against the tide
simply because everyone is swimming in that direction even if it is the wrong
direction. Safer to be counted among the crowd than to go off on our own
to pursue our dreams. This clarifies why many of us live unfulfilled
lives. We never find real happiness on earth and in whatever we do.
We dare not take the risk. But also because many of us are ignorant and
have not found our teacher of life and of truth.
Today, we are invited to be receptive to
the call of God. We are called to be courageous in our search for
authenticity and true happiness. Following the Eunuch, we must set out on
a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. We are all in that journey. Our life is
a constant pilgrimage. Each day, we are coming closer to Jerusalem, our
Heavenly homeland, the place of our passion, death and resurrection. But
how do we prepare for this journey? We need an open heart that is docile
and ready to learn, to inquire, to ask and to reflect. This was the basic
disposition of the Ethiopian eunuch. He was aware of his
limitations. When Philip asked him whether he could understand what he
was reading, his response was, “’How can I’ he replied ‘unless I have someone
to guide me?’ So he invited Philip to get in and sit by his side.” We
have this eunuch ready to learn and to grow.
Secondly, searching for authenticity
requires us to search the scriptures. The Ethiopian was in truth reading
from the prophet Isaiah. In the gospel, Jesus proclaimed Himself to be
the Word of God, the Bread of life. “I am the living bread which has come
down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever; and the bread
that I shall give is my flesh, for the life of the world.” There is no
better place to uncover the desires of our heart or to learn the wisdom from
God than by reading the scriptures. This is the privileged place that God
wants us to encounter Him. Only Jesus who has seen the Father could
reveal His face and His plan to us. St John said, “To hear the teaching
of the Father, and learn from it, is to come to me. Not that anybody has seen
the Father, except the one who comes from God: he has seen the
Father.” So anyone who seeks to find God and find himself must
begin from the scriptures.
Thirdly, the search for God must lead us
to Jesus who is ultimately the gift of God in person. The scriptures are
not just words. It is not even a nice philosophy book or like one of
those inspiring books we read. It is not primarily a collection of
wisdom stories, proverbs or wise sayings. Nay, the purpose of reading the
scriptures is not so much for knowledge, although it does offer us inspiration
as St Paul wrote, “All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for
teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that
the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” (2 Tim 3:16f) Rather, the
ultimate goal of reading the scripture is to know the mind and heart of Christ
so that we can be in union with Him. This is why St Jerome said that to
be ignorant of the scriptures is to be ignorant of Christ.
In the final analysis, as we read in the
first reading, all scripture texts find its fulfilment in Christ and foreshadow
Christ. As Christians, we do not read the scriptures like a Jew, but as a
Christian who sees all the texts alluding to Christ, especially those texts
from the Old Testament. This was how Philip led the Eunuch to Christ by explaining
to him how the text of the Suffering Servant is referring to Christ. Only by
coming to Christ, does one find himself and fulfillment. Christ is
our fulfillment and the living water that quenches our thirst. Incidentally,
that is the reason why I do not keep an archive of my daily scripture
reflections on the web so that one will not just read for knowledge but for
self-awareness and be drawn into prayer after the reflection. True
prayer is moving from the head to the heart. It is not inspiring thoughts
that transform us radically, but someone who inspires us.
Once we discover Christ, then we need to
make a decision for Christ. We should not tarry any longer. This is
the tragedy for many of us. We come to know Christ but we delay going to
Him until the time of grace has passed. When the opportunity is given, we must
not let go. We must seize it before it is too late. The Eunuch did
not hesitate. “They came to some water, and the eunuch said, ‘Look there is
some water here; is there anything to stop me being baptised?’ He ordered the
chariot to stop, then Philip and the eunuch both went down to the water and
Philip baptised him.” So too, if we hear the Lord’s call today, inviting
us to respond to Him in a vocation, a mission, some project, or a calling to be
His collaborator, delay no longer. Strike when the iron is hot for we may
not pass this way again.
Written by The Most
Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved
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