HAVE YOUR ANSWER READY FOR THE HOPE THAT YOU HAVE

20170521 HAVE YOUR ANSWER READY FOR THE HOPE THAT YOU HAVE

Readings at Mass

Liturgical Colour: White.

If the Ascension of the Lord is going to be celebrated next Sunday, the alternative Second Reading and Gospel shown here (which would otherwise have been read on that Sunday) may be used today.

First reading

Acts 8:5-8,14-17 ©

Philip went to a Samaritan town and proclaimed the Christ to them. The people united in welcoming the message Philip preached, either because they had heard of the miracles he worked or because they saw them for themselves. There were, for example, unclean spirits that came shrieking out of many who were possessed, and several paralytics and cripples were cured. As a result there was great rejoicing in that town.

  When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, and they went down there, and prayed for the Samaritans to receive the Holy Spirit, for as yet he had not come down on any of them: they had only been baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 65(66):1-7,16,20 ©

Cry out with joy to God, all the earth.

or

Alleluia!

Cry out with joy to God all the earth,

  O sing to the glory of his name.

O render him glorious praise.

  Say to God: ‘How tremendous your deeds!

Cry out with joy to God, all the earth.

or

Alleluia!

‘Before you all the earth shall bow;

  shall sing to you, sing to your name!’

Come and see the works of God,

  tremendous his deeds among men.

Cry out with joy to God, all the earth.

or

Alleluia!

He turned the sea into dry land,

  they passed through the river dry-shod.

Let our joy then be in him;

  he rules for ever by his might.

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:

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!

EITHER:

Second reading

1 Peter 3:15-18 ©

Reverence the Lord Christ in your hearts, and always have your answer ready for people who ask you the reason for the hope that you all have. But give it with courtesy and respect and with a clear conscience, so that those who slander you when you are living a good life in Christ may be proved wrong in the accusations that they bring. And if it is the will of God that you should suffer, it is better to suffer for doing right than for doing wrong.

  Why, Christ himself, innocent though he was, had died once for sins, died for the guilty, to lead us to God. In the body he was put to death, in the spirit he was raised to life.

OR:

Second reading

1 Peter 4:13-16 ©

If you can have some share in the sufferings of Christ, be glad, because you will enjoy a much greater gladness when his glory is revealed. It is a blessing for you when they insult you for bearing the name of Christ, because it means that you have the Spirit of glory, the Spirit of God resting on you. None of you should ever deserve to suffer for being a murderer, a thief, a criminal or an informer; but if anyone of you should suffer for being a Christian, then he is not to be ashamed of it; he should thank God that he has been called one.

EITHER:

Gospel Acclamation

Jn14:23

Alleluia, alleluia!

Jesus said: ‘If anyone loves me he will keep my word,

and my Father will love him,

and we shall come to him.’

Alleluia!

Gospel

John 14:15-21 ©

Jesus said to his disciples:

‘If you love me you will keep my commandments.

I shall ask the Father,

and he will give you another Advocate

to be with you for ever,

that Spirit of truth

whom the world can never receive

since it neither sees nor knows him;

but you know him,

because he is with you, he is in you.

I will not leave you orphans;

I will come back to you.

In a short time the world will no longer see me;

but you will see me,

because I live and you will live.

On that day you will understand that I am in my Father

and you in me and I in you.

Anybody who receives my commandments and keeps them

will be one who loves me;

and anybody who loves me will be loved by my Father,

and I shall love him and show myself to him.’

OR:

Gospel Acclamation

cf.Jn14:18

Alleluia, alleluia!

I will not leave you orphans, says the Lord;

I will come back to you,

and your hearts will be full of joy.

Alleluia!

Gospel

John 17:1-11 ©

Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said:

‘Father, the hour has come:

glorify your Son

so that your Son may glorify you;

and, through the power over all mankind that you have given him,

let him give eternal life to all those you have entrusted to him.

And eternal life is this:

to know you,

the only true God,

and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

I have glorified you on earth

and finished the work that you gave me to do.

Now, Father, it is time for you to glorify me

with that glory I had with you

before ever the world was.

I have made your name known

to the men you took from the world to give me.

They were yours and you gave them to me,

and they have kept your word.

Now at last they know

that all you have given me comes indeed from you;

for I have given them the teaching you gave to me,

and they have truly accepted this, that I came from you,

and have believed that it was you who sent me.

I pray for them;

I am not praying for the world

but for those you have given me,

because they belong to you:

all I have is yours

and all you have is mine,

and in them I am glorified.

I am not in the world any longer,

but they are in the world,

and I am coming to you.’

HAVE YOUR ANSWER READY FOR THE HOPE THAT YOU HAVE

SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ ACTS 8:5-8,14-17; 1 PETER 3:15-18; JOHN 14:15-21  ]

In the second reading, St Peter exhorts us, “have your answer ready for people who ask you the reason for the hope that you all have.”  Do we have an answer for our faith in Christ?  Can we give convincing reasons for our belief in Christ and the Church?  Will we stand up for Jesus in the face of opposition, misinterpretation, slander and false accusations with regard to the teachings of Christ and the gospel?  Or do we, in the face of criticism, fight shy of our beliefs and hide among the crowd for fear that others will know that we are Catholics?  Indeed, in many instances, it does not pay to be known as a Catholic because there are many who are biased against us.  I am told that even our young school children are ridiculed in school by their non-Catholic friends for the faith they hold.

The persecution of the Church is not new.  Since the beginning, the Church has always been persecuted. In fact, the Church was persecuted by both the Jews and the Romans for more than 300 years.  Many died as martyrs for the faith.  Most of them were cruelly tortured and put to death.  In fact, Philip himself went to Samaria to preach the gospel only because “a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judaea and Samaria.”  (Acts 8:1)  Today, there is a new form of subtle persecution in the form of religious oppression and discrimination on one hand, and on the other, attacks from secularism and humanism.

Yet such persecutions should be viewed positively. It will help us to determine who the real Catholics are.  It will help us to distinguish true believers from nominal believers.  Indeed, in life too, our true friends are those who stand by us in times of need and trouble.  Fair-weather friends we have plenty, but they are there only because you can give them something.  So too, many are Catholic only because they hope to get something out of the Church, but not to stand up for Jesus or support and defend His Church.

It is also a good wake up call for weak Catholics, those who take their faith for granted.  Unless questioned about their faith, their personal convictions of what is ultimate in their life, that is, God, they tend to take their faith for granted.  How many of our Catholics have left the Church to join other churches or religions because when their faith was challenged, they suddenly found that they had no Catholic friends to explain to them their beliefs and the doctrines.  As a result, because of poor understanding of their faith and a lack of personal relationship with the Lord, they leave the Church.  However, there are those who stay behind to study their faith and doctrines all over again, researching and rediscovering their faith through the study of scriptures, the writings of the Church Fathers and the Church’s teachings.  By so doing, they begin to appreciate their faith anew and no longer take their faith and the practices of the Church for granted.  Now they see the meaning behind what we do and why we believe.  Only then do they become truly Catholics and disciples of the Lord.

How, then, should we give an account of our faith to those who do not believe us?  St Peter urges us to “give it with courtesy and respect and with a clear conscience.”  Our attitude should not be one of anger, resentment or retaliation.  Rather, if we truly believe in what we believe, we must not attack those who do not agree with us.  Such hostility towards non-believers would only make them defensive.  On the contrary, we must, if we are God’s people, deal with them with kindness, compassion, understanding, respect and honesty.   Only when we are calm and reasonable, can we truly help them to understand the Good News.

The first way to demonstrate the validity of our faith is not by words but life.  It is not what we say but how we live our life that confirms that our faith is true.  For what we believe must be seen in what we do, as St Peter advised us, “so that those who slander you when you are living a good life in Christ may be proved wrong in the accusations that they bring.  And if it is the will of God that you should suffer, it is better to suffer for doing right than for doing wrong.”  There is nothing like a virtuous life that shows forth that we are men and women of God.  If we claim to be people of God, then we must radiate His peace, love and joy in our hearts.  People can slander us and distort our faith, but soon their allegations will sound hollow when others see how loving, caring and compassionate we are.  Even if people do not believe in our doctrines, they will become more receptive when they see how our faith has changed the way we live.  They too will begin to ask the reason for our peace, tranquility and joy.

Secondly, the way to demonstrate our faith is by witnessing to what the Lord has done for us in our lives.  In the first reading, we read how the people were “united in welcoming the message Philip preached, either because they had heard of the miracles he worked or because they saw them for themselves.  Unclean spirits came shrieking out of many who were possessed, and several paralytics and cripples were cured.”  Indeed, then and now, one of the most effective ways of showing the reality of the Risen Lord is in the miracles that we encounter in our daily life.  Such miracles which we read in the first reading do not cease.  We still have many testimonies of God healing us of sicknesses and incurable diseases, liberating us from our sins and bondages, and reconciling us with God and with our brothers and sisters.

This is what the psalmist is also inviting us to do as well.  He said, “Come and hear, all who fear God.  I will tell what he did for my soul: Blessed be God who did not reject my prayer nor withhold his love from me.”  Having experienced His merciful and bountiful love, they cannot but give thanks to the Lord.  Truly testimonies of what God has done for us in our lives is by far the second most effective way of witnessing to our faith in the Risen Lord.  One of the reasons why many lose faith in Christ is because they no longer see the signs of God’s presence in their lives.  They feel that God is far from them and Christ is anything but alive because He does not hear their prayers.  So it is important that we render praise and thanks to God for others to hear so that they too can increase in faith in God who will supply them their needs and come to their aid.

Thirdly, we can give an account of our faith by proclaiming the truth of the gospel.  There is a time when we need to engage in apologetics for the sake of those who are intellectual and need some credible reasons before they can make the leap of faith in Christ. Jesus assures us that He will help us to explain the truth to those who are searching for Him.  He said, “I shall ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you forever, that Spirit of truth whom the world can never receive since it neither sees nor knows him; but you know him, because he is with you, he is in you.”  The truth is known not only through logical reasoning but it is known through faith.  This is where we need the Holy Spirit to help us to open the minds of our listeners and to give us the right words to say to them so that their hearts may be cut to the quick and seek repentance.

Consequently the task of witnessing cannot be carried out alone or by human intelligence or knowledge.  We need the help of the Holy Spirit who can work miracles through us and lead us to understand the truth proclaimed in the gospel and give us the joy of Christ in our hearts.  Jesus assures us, “I will not leave you orphans.”  The Lord will come to us in the Holy Spirit as He promised to be with us and to help us in the work of proclamation. For this reason, as we approach the Feast of Pentecost, the Church invites us to renew the Holy Spirit in our lives so that we can encounter Jesus the Risen Lord again.  We need to ask for a release of the Holy Spirit.  It is not enough to accept the Word of God as the Samaritans did.  We are told that Peter and John went down to Samaria, “and prayed for the Samaritans to receive the Holy Spirit.”  We too need to avail ourselves to be prayed over and have the Holy Spirit renew our lives.

Of course, the Holy Spirit can only come into our lives if we are docile and receptive.  Obedience is always the condition to receive the Holy Spirit.  The apostles said, “And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.”  (Acts 5:32) When our hearts are filled with anger and hatred, the Holy Spirit cannot dwell in us.  That is why Jesus said, “If you love me you will keep my commandments.  I shall ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you forever.  Anybody who receives my commandments and keeps them will be one who loves me; and anybody who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I shall love him and show myself to him.”

With Christ in our hearts, we can go forth with confidence, joy and courage to witness to Christ.  This is what St Peter means when he said, “Reverence the Lord Christ in your hearts.”  When we know that Christ is with us and in our hearts, we will be able to stand up for Jesus with conviction, proclaiming the truth with boldness.  Indeed, the Lord promised us, “On that day you will understand that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you.”

Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved