20170625 THE LOSS OF FEAR OF GOD AS THE CAUSE OF AMORALITY
Readings
at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Green.
|
First reading
|
|
Jeremiah 20:10-13 ©
|
Jeremiah said:
I hear so many disparaging me,
‘“Terror from every side!”
Denounce him! Let us denounce him!’
All those who used to be my friends
watched for my downfall,
‘Perhaps he will be seduced into error.
Then we will master him
and take our revenge!’
But the Lord is at my side, a mighty hero;
my opponents will stumble, mastered,
confounded by their failure;
everlasting, unforgettable disgrace will be theirs.
But you, O Lord of Hosts, you who probe with justice,
who scrutinise the loins and heart,
let me see the vengeance you will take on them,
for I have committed my cause to you.
Sing to the Lord,
praise the Lord,
for he has delivered the soul of the needy
from the hands of evil men.
|
Responsorial Psalm
|
|
Psalm 68(69):8-10,14,17,33-35 ©
|
In your great love, answer me, O Lord.
It is for you that I suffer taunts,
that shame covers my face,
that I have become a stranger to my brothers,
an alien to my own mother’s sons.
I burn with zeal for your house
and taunts against you fall on me.
In your great love, answer me, O Lord.
This is my prayer to you,
my prayer for your favour.
In your great love, answer me, O God,
with your help that never fails:
Lord, answer, for your love is kind;
in your compassion, turn towards me.
In your great love, answer me, O Lord.
The poor when they see it will be glad
and God-seeking hearts will revive;
for the Lord listens to the needy
and does not spurn his servants in their chains.
Let the heavens and the earth give him praise,
the sea and all its living creatures.
In your great love, answer me, O Lord.
|
Second reading
|
Romans 5:12-15 ©
|
Sin entered the world through one man, and through sin death, and
thus death has spread through the whole human race because everyone has sinned.
Sin existed in the world long before the Law was given. There was no law and so
no one could be accused of the sin of ‘law-breaking’, yet death reigned over
all from Adam to Moses, even though their sin, unlike that of Adam, was not a
matter of breaking a law.
Adam
prefigured the One to come, but the gift itself considerably outweighed the
fall. If it is certain that through one man’s fall so many died, it is even
more certain that divine grace, coming through the one man, Jesus Christ, came
to so many as an abundant free gift.
|
Gospel Acclamation
|
Jn1:14,12
|
Alleluia, alleluia!
The Word was made flesh and lived among us:
to all who did accept him
he gave power to become children of God.
Alleluia!
|
Or
|
Jn15:26,27
|
Alleluia, alleluia!
The Spirit of truth will be my witness;
and you too will be my witnesses.
Alleluia!
|
Gospel
|
|
Matthew 10:26-33 ©
|
Jesus instructed the Twelve as follows: ‘Do not be afraid. For
everything that is now covered will be uncovered, and everything now hidden
will be made clear. What I say to you in the dark, tell in the daylight; what
you hear in whispers, proclaim from the housetops.
‘Do not be
afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; fear him rather who
can destroy both body and soul in hell. Can you not buy two sparrows for a
penny? And yet not one falls to the ground without your Father knowing. Why,
every hair on your head has been counted. So there is no need to be afraid; you
are worth more than hundreds of sparrows.
‘So if
anyone declares himself for me in the presence of men, I will declare myself
for him in the presence of my Father in heaven. But the one who disowns me in
the presence of men, I will disown in the presence of my Father in heaven.’
THE LOSS OF FEAR OF GOD AS THE CAUSE OF AMORALITY
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ JER 20:10-13; ROM 5:12-15; MT 10:26-33 ]
The fundamental
message of Christianity is that Jesus is the Saviour of the
World. This is the Good News that we are called to proclaim.
Indeed, this is the gist of the message of St Paul when he wrote, “If it is
certain that through one man’s fall so many died, it is even more certain that
divine grace, coming through the one man, Jesus Christ, came to so many as an
abundant free gift.” For St Paul, the thought that Adam could have caused
so many of us to sin, the death of Jesus will surely bring about greater grace
for all.
However, in
order that we grasp the centrality of the Christian message of salvation, we
must be aware of our sinfulness. Yet the real challenge in this
century is that we are numb towards sin. The world today suffers from a
narcosis of sin. Today, the world has lost all consciousness of sin.
Truly, we do
not feel that we are sinners. Most of us are quite contented with ourselves. At
most we might admit that we have some imperfections, after all, we are
human. But we have no sin. That is to say, we never do anything
that is wrong consciously. Imperfection is a weakness. We are therefore
exonerated. Otherwise, most of us would blame society for the sins of the
world. We think that our sins are due to the environment or the structure
of society. This is not to deny that the environment does indeed lead us
to sin. In a secularized world, it is certainly more difficult to remain
chaste in relationships and focus on God. Sometimes people lament about
the state of society today as if they are not part of society. It would
be a deception to exonerate ourselves completely for the reality of sin in our
own lives and that of society since we are part of society.
Furthermore,
today modern psychology seems to be suggesting that guilt is wrong and
unhealthy for the person because it leads us to depression. Of
course we are not speaking of an over scrupulous kind of guilt that springs
from some kind of neurosis. We are talking about guilt that comes from
the conscience which instinctively informs the person that what he is thinking
or doing is wrong. This conscience is erroneously identified with bad
guilt when in fact, guilt is something given by God as an intuitive and
instinctive indicator even before we can rationally understand our actions as
being not in order.
Indeed, today,
there is the emphasis on the “feel good” and “feel great”
mentality. The stress is on putting up a good image, dressing well, going
for make-over. It is very difficult to tell someone that he is
wrong or that what he is doing is not the best. No one wants to be told
that he is wrong or that he is not good. People only want to be affirmed.
This explains
why Jeremiah was hated by his contemporaries. He was inspired
by God to warn the leaders that terrible disasters would befall them in the
future if they continued to profane the temple and worship false gods. Their
enemies would conquer them and they would be sent into captivity and exile in a
foreign land. Of course, the temple priests the nobles and the leaders
were not pleased with such perceived curses from Jeremiah.
So instead
of getting rid of their sin, they got rid of the irritant that became on
obstacle to their remaining in their sins. They persecuted Jeremiah and
waited for an occasion to put him in prison. Instead of watching their
own actions and seeing whether Jeremiah was speaking the truth, they silenced
the truth by silencing their hearts and watched for an occasion to cause
Jeremiah to fall. Isn’t this what we do as well? Instead of
praying for humility and trying to assess objectively what others say about us,
we react by finding ways and means to destroy our perceived opponents.
What is the
cause of all this? It is the loss of the fear of God!
Of course, we are not speaking of a kind of servile fear of God where God is
seen as a policeman waiting to catch us in our sins and mistakes. We are
speaking of a reverential fear of God who is the creator of all and has power
over life and death; who is the Absolute Truth and does not tolerate falsehood;
who is holiness and not compatible with sin; who is our deliverer and protector
from all harm. Godly fear is therefore not so much a kind of slavish fear
but a reverential fear or awesomeness in the face of God’s holiness, mercy and
love. It is to give respect to his name, as the opening prayer suggests.
The paradox is
that when God is no longer feared, then man begins to fear his
fellowmen, nature and the world. Why? Without God, he feels
that he is now fully in charge of the world and his own life. He has to protect
his self-interests. Thus, he manipulates his fellowmen and nature for his
self survival. He sees others either as his enemies or competitors. When
we do not fear God, we do all kinds of things that destroy our fellowmen and
they in turn take revenge on us.
When God is
not respected as the principle of life and the source of Truth, man is confused and
lost over what is right and wrong. Indeed, what are the right values
for society? It appears that the answer to what is right or wrong is no
longer dependent on some objective truth and values but what we perceive to be
right or wrong. So long as we agree that something is right, then we are
right. Thus, the truth is based on consensus and popular opinion.
Is there no objectivity in truth? Does it mean that if we agree that
cannibalism or euthanasia is permissible, then it is the right thing to
do? Man has made himself the sole judge as to what is right and wrong.
Indeed, the loss
of the sense of sin is due to the fact that modern man has total disregard
for God. Since there is no sense of morality, of what is right
or wrong, there is no need to seek forgiveness. As a consequence, many of
us do not feel the need for salvation either. They think they are
OK. Nothing is wrong with them. If there is anything wrong, it is
the world or someone else. As a consequence, he has no respect for the
dignity of human life. As St Paul pointedly said, “there was no law and
so no one could be accused of the sin of ‘law-breaking’, yet death reigned over
all from Adam to Moses, even though their sin, unlike that of Adam, was not a
matter of breaking a law.”
To overcome the
dullness of the conscience today, we need to preach Godly fear.
What is Godly fear? Firstly, Godly fear is to see God
as absolute truth, as Jesus said, “For everything that is now covered
will be uncovered, and everything now hidden will be made clear.” Truly, God
will vindicate us in the end. The truth will always be victorious at the
end of the day. No one can suppress the truth for long. Time will
reveal the truth to us. God, who is on the side of truth and justice,
will win the battle for us, if not soon or in this life, we can be sure that
truth will prevail at the end of the day.
Secondly, Godly
fear means our lives are in the hands of God so that we need
“not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; fear him
rather who can destroy both body and soul in hell.” We must remember that
happiness in life is more than just keeping our body intact. Happiness is
found in the soul, a good conscience. If our conscience is not at peace,
we will eventually fall sick as well because the body is the window of the
Spirit. The unhappiness and guilt in our soul will manifest itself in our
sicknesses. Indeed, many of our sicknesses are due to spiritual causes
rather than physical. If we compromise the truth, our conscience will
haunt us not only in this life but in the next.
Thirdly, Godly
fear means that God is on the side of truth as Jesus assures
us, “So if anyone declares himself for me in the presence of men, I will
declare myself for him in the presence of my Father in heaven. But the one who
disowns me in the presence of men, I will disown in the presence of my Father
in heaven.” Yes, if we are truthful before God and truthful before man,
if our conscience is clear, we never need to fear anyone because we have
nothing to hide. Fear of God and fear of man is always the consequence of
shame and embarrassment. That is why we want to hide our sins and wrong doings.
Indeed, Godly
fear will spur us to faith and action. A healthy fear of God will
lead us to value what is truly good and right. It will give us wisdom and
right judgment since we see everything from the perspective of God, of truth
and of the ultimate end. Such fear keeps us humble and obedient to His
Word, relying on His power and grace. Godly fear makes us have great
respect for God’s commandment of love for everyone. When we fear God,
then we no longer fear the world, especially falsehood.
So let us be like
Jeremiah and Jesus who entrusted their cause to God. So too, we can entrust
our life to Christ. Let us pray with confidence like the psalmist,
knowing that God in His great love will answer our prayers for justice.
If the heavenly Father takes care of the insignificant sparrows, surely He will
look after us. Indeed, “the Lord is at my side, a mighty hero; my
opponents will stumble, mastered, confounded by their failure; everlasting,
unforgettable disgrace will be theirs.”
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of
Singapore © All Rights Reserved
No comments:
Post a Comment