20170615
REFLECTING THE GLORY OF GOD REQUIRES HOLINESS
OF LIFE
2Cor 3:15 – 4:1,3-6
18 And all of us, with our
unveiled faces like mirrors reflecting the glory of the Lord, are being transformed
into the image that we reflect in brighter and brighter glory; this is the
working of the Lord who is the Spirit.
1 Such
by God's mercy is our ministry, and therefore we do not waver
3 If our gospel seems to be
veiled at all, it is so to those who are on the way to destruction,
4 the unbelievers whose
minds have been blinded by the god of this world, so that they cannot see
shining the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
5 It is not ourselves that
we are proclaiming, but Christ Jesus as the Lord, and ourselves as your
servants for Jesus' sake.
6 It is God who said, 'Let light shine out of
darkness,' that has shone into our hearts to enlighten them with the knowledge of God's glory, the glory on the face of Christ.
Matthew 5:20-26
20 'For I tell you, if your
uprightness does not surpass that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never get into the kingdom of Heaven.
21 'You have heard how it was
said to our ancestors, You shall not kill; and if anyone does kill he must
answer for it before the court.
22 But I say this to you,
anyone who is angry with a brother will answer for it before the court; anyone
who calls a brother "Fool" will answer for it before the Sanhedrin;
and anyone who calls him "Traitor" will answer for it in hell fire.
23 So then, if you are
bringing your offering to the altar and there remember that your brother has
something against you,
24 leave your offering there
before the altar, go and be reconciled with your brother first, and then come
back and present your offering.
25 Come to terms with your
opponent in good time while you are still on the way to the
court with him, or he may hand you over to the judge and the judge to the
officer, and you will be thrown into prison.
REFLECTING THE GLORY OF GOD REQUIRES HOLINESS OF LIFE
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ 2 Cor 3:15-4:1.3-6; MT 5:20-26 ]
In the first
reading, St Paul speaks of our calling to radiate like Moses the glory of God
in our lives. “It is the same God that said, ‘Let there be light shining out of
darkness,’ who has shone in our minds to radiate the light of the knowledge of
God’s glory, the glory on the face of Christ.” All of us who have been
privileged to come to encounter Christ have received the light. It is an
obligation to make Christ known to the world. This is something that has
been entrusted to us because we are recipients of God’s mercy in Christ. St
Paul wrote, “Since we have by an act of mercy been entrusted with this work of
administration, there is no weakening on our part.” St Paul was
conscious of what the Lord had done for him by calling him, a great sinner, to
be an apostle of reconciliation. Hence, he gave his whole life and
applied all his energy and resources to announcing to all that Christ is their
savior.
At the same
time, St Paul was conscious that his vocation was not to proclaim himself but
the Lord.
“For it is not ourselves that we are preaching, but Christ Jesus as the Lord,
and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.” It is the Lord that we
are called to manifest in our lives. We are servants of our Lord.
Like St John the Baptist, he was conscious of his role as the forerunner of the
Messiah; that he was only the voice, not the Word, the friend of the
bridegroom, not the bridegroom. Unfortunately, instead of directing
people to the Lord, some of us in our ministry and in our lives either mislead
them into sin and falsehood or attract them to ourselves. We need to be
always aware of these two temptations in witnessing to the Lord.
In the same
vein, this is also what the Lord is asking of us when He said, “If your virtue
goes no deeper than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never get into
the kingdom of heaven.” A deeper spiritual life entails that we perfect our
virtues. We must go beyond mere external observance to the spirit of the
law. Holiness is not an external observance of some rituals or laws but
it is a matter of the heart. In fact, even what we do does not
count unless it comes from a pure and gracious heart. As Jesus tells us,
it is not sufficient simply not to kill, but even anger, which is the root of
all killings, must be destroyed. In no uncertain terms, Christ said,
“anyone who is angry with his brother will answer for it before the court; if a
man calls his brother ‘Fool’ he will answer for it before the Sanhedrin; and if
a man calls him ‘Renegade’ he will answer for it in hell fire.” Failing
to see the spirit of the laws is to have the veil cover our eyes. Quite
often, the veil of anger, revenge and hatred prevents us from seeing the
goodness of God in others.
Hence, Jesus
exhorts us to perfect our virtues. Failing to do so will cost us our credibility and
effectiveness as mediators and messengers of Christ. We must strive to
grow in holiness before we can be truly His evangelizers. This explains
why St John Paul II in his apostolic letter, “Novo Millennio Ineunte” wrote,
“First of all, I have no hesitation in saying that all pastoral initiatives
must be set in relation to holiness. Was this not the ultimate meaning of the
Jubilee indulgence, as a special grace offered by Christ so that the life of
every baptized person could be purified and deeply renewed? It is my hope
that, among those who have taken part in the Jubilee, many will have benefited
from this grace, in full awareness of its demands.” (NMI 30)
So what must
we do to ensure that we are not obstacles to people who are seeking the
Lord? We need to turn to the Lord so that we are clear of our motives and
our love for Him. St Paul wrote, “Even today, whenever Moses is read, the veil is
over the minds of the Israelites. It will not be removed until they turn
to the Lord. Now this Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the
Lord is, there is freedom. And we, with our unveiled faces reflecting
like mirrors the brightness of the Lord, all grow brighter and brighter as we
are turned into the image that we reflect, this is the work of the Lord who is
Spirit.” Only when we are filled with the Spirit of Christ can we then
radiate the presence of Christ in our lives. Unless the love of God lives
in us, we will not be able to radiate the goodness and peace of God in
us. Truly, we know someone is a man of God not so much by what he says
but by his demeanor, his way of speaking and his dealing with others.
When we observe the humility, sincerity and genuineness of St Teresa of Calcutta,
all can recognize her as one.
This calls
for a greater contemplation on the face of our Lord. Yes, if we
contemplate on the face of the Lord, then we will find the light of God shining
in our lives. We will live the life of true freedom from blindness and
sin. By meditating on the gospel, we will come to know the truth about
ourselves. Again, St John Paul II invites us to set our gaze firmly on
the face of the Lord. He wrote, “And is it not the Church’s task to
reflect the light of Christ in every historical period, to make his face shine
also before the generations of the new millennium? Our witness, however, would
be hopelessly inadequate if we ourselves had not first contemplated his
face.” To contemplate on the face of Christ would require us to search
the scriptures and meditate on the life, passion, death and resurrection of our
Lord. “The contemplation of Christ’s face cannot fail to be inspired by all
that we are told about him in Sacred Scripture, which from beginning to end is
permeated by his mystery, prefigured in a veiled way in the Old Testament and
revealed fully in the New, so that Saint Jerome can vigorously affirm:
‘Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ.” (NMI 17)
Finally,
there is a warning as well for those of us who fail to deepen our
virtues.
The Lord said, “Come to terms with your opponent in good time while you are
still on the way to the court with him, or he may hand you over to the judge
and the judge to the officer, and you will be thrown into prison. I tell
you solemnly, you will not get out till you have paid the last penny.”
This is truly good advice from the Lord. If we do not take our sins
seriously, even the “small sins” will become big eventually and we have no way
to deal with them. The trouble with many of us is that we feel that
because we do not commit serious and scandalous sins, we therefore are
“holy”. But we do not realize that a person will eventually become numb
to his weaknesses and imperfections.
So it is
important that we deal with a problem before it becomes hardened. When that happens, we will
become like those who are blinded by their pride and ego. This is what St
Paul also said about those who reject the light. “If our gospel does not
penetrate the veil, then the veil is on those who are not on the way to
salvation; the unbelievers whose minds the god of this world has blinded, to
stop them seeing the light shed by the Good News of the glory of Christ, who is
the image of God.” So whilst we still can recognize our superficiality in
our spiritual life and virtues, we must take action immediately to rectify
it. We must confess our sins, acknowledge our hypocrisy and turn to the
Lord for forgiveness. Just like the two men who had a quarrel and were on
the way to court for a settlement, we must preempt such a situation by
resolving our quarrels or differences before the Day of Judgment. So too
let us turn to the Lord in contemplation so that we truly discover our real self
and, exposed to the light, we can grow in true humility, in love and in truth.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of
Singapore © All Rights Reserved
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