20170706
THE POWER OF FAITH IN GOD
Readings
at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Green.
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First reading
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Genesis 22:1-19 ©
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The sacrifice of Isaac
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God put Abraham to the test. ‘Abraham, Abraham’ he called. ‘Here I
am’ he replied. ‘Take your son,’ God said ‘your only child Isaac, whom you
love, and go to the land of Moriah. There you shall offer him as a burnt
offering, on a mountain I will point out to you.’
Rising early
next morning Abraham saddled his ass and took with him two of his servants and
his son Isaac. He chopped wood for the burnt offering and started on his
journey to the place God had pointed out to him. On the third day Abraham looked
up and saw the place in the distance. Then Abraham said to his servants, ‘Stay
here with the donkey. The boy and I will go over there; we will worship and
come back to you.’
Abraham took
the wood for the burnt offering, loaded it on Isaac, and carried in his own
hands the fire and the knife. Then the two of them set out together. Isaac
spoke to his father Abraham, ‘Father’ he said. ‘Yes, my son’ he replied.
‘Look,’ he said ‘here are the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the
burnt offering?’ Abraham answered, ‘My son, God himself will provide the lamb
for the burnt offering.’ Then the two of them went on together.
When they
arrived at the place God had pointed out to him, Abraham built an altar there,
and arranged the wood. Then he bound his son Isaac and put him on the altar on
top of the wood. Abraham stretched out his hand and seized the knife to kill
his son.
But the
angel of the Lord called to him from heaven. ‘Abraham, Abraham’ he said. ‘I am
here’ he replied. ‘Do not raise your hand against the boy’ the angel said. ‘Do
not harm him, for now I know you fear God. You have not refused me your son,
your only son.’ Then looking up, Abraham saw a ram caught by its horns in a
bush. Abraham took the ram and offered it as a burnt-offering in place of his
son. Abraham called this place ‘The Lord Provides’, and hence the saying today: On
the mountain the Lord provides.
The angel of
the Lord called Abraham a second time from heaven. ‘I swear by my own
self – it is the Lord who speaks – because you have done this,
because you have not refused me your son, your only son, I will shower
blessings on you, I will make your descendants as many as the stars of heaven
and the grains of sand on the seashore. Your descendants shall gain possession
of the gates of their enemies. All the nations of the earth shall bless
themselves by your descendants, as a reward for your obedience.’
Abraham went
back to his servants, and together they set out for Beersheba, and he settled
in Beersheba.
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Responsorial
Psalm
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Psalm 114(116):1-6,8-9 ©
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I will walk in the presence of the Lord in the
land of the living.
I love the Lord for he has heard
the cry of my appeal;
for he turned his ear to me
in the day when I called him.
I will walk in the presence of the Lord in the
land of the living.
They surrounded me, the snares of death,
with the anguish of the tomb;
they caught me, sorrow and distress.
I called on the Lord’s name.
O Lord, my God, deliver me!
I will walk in the presence of the Lord in the
land of the living.
How gracious is the Lord, and just;
our God has compassion.
The Lord protects the simple hearts;
I was helpless so he saved me.
I will walk in the presence of the Lord in the
land of the living.
He has kept my soul from death,
my eyes from tears
and my feet from stumbling.
I will walk in the presence of the Lord
in the land of the living.
I will walk in the presence of the Lord in the
land of the living.
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Gospel Acclamation
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Mt11:25
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Blessed are you, Father,
Lord of heaven and earth,
for revealing the mysteries of the kingdom
to mere children.
Alleluia!
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Or
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2Co5:19
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Alleluia, alleluia!
God in Christ was reconciling the world to himself,
and he has entrusted to us the news that they are reconciled.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Matthew 9:1-8 ©
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Jesus got in the boat, crossed the water and came to his own town.
Then some people appeared, bringing him a paralytic stretched out on a bed.
Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralytic, ‘Courage, my child, your sins
are forgiven.’ And at this some scribes said to themselves, ‘This man is
blaspheming.’ Knowing what was in their minds Jesus said, ‘Why do you have such
wicked thoughts in your hearts? Now, which of these is easier to say, “Your
sins are forgiven,” or to say, “Get up and walk”? But to prove to you that the
Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,’ – he said to the
paralytic – ‘get up, and pick up your bed and go off home.’ And the man
got up and went home. A feeling of awe came over the crowd when they saw this,
and they praised God for giving such power to men.
THE POWER OF FAITH IN GOD
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ GN 22:1 – 19; PS 114:1-6,8-9; MT 9:1-8 ]
This life is
truly unpredictable. As the saying goes, “Man proposes God disposes.”
Whilst it is important to plan and be responsible stewards yet we are not in
control of everything in life. Much is left to divine providence, or some
would call it fate. Man however is always fearful of suffering,
pain and most of all death. Hence, he feels the need to take control of
his life. He cannot leave things to chance. He wants to be in
charge. He trusts more in science and technology than God and His divine
providence.
The irony is
that the more he tries to control and manage his own life, the more mess he
creates for himself. Indeed, when man is fearful, they will do all kinds of
things to protect himself, even by unscrupulous means. This was what
happened to the paralyzed man in today’s gospel. His physical paralysis
was but a manifestation of his spiritual paralysis. He was paralyzed by
the sins he had committed, the anger and resentment in his heart. He
could not let go of his guilt and sins. We too are paralyzed by our
sins. Because we live a life of sin, we lack the wisdom to see situations
in the right perspective. We make unwise decisions and seek the wrong
things in life.
For this
reason, what is most important and highly praised in the Word of God is faith. Faith in God is the
only way to live a life of freedom and peace. It is said that God created
freedom in view of faith. With faith in God, we can overcome all things
in life. With faith in God, we have no fear of evil and suffering.
With faith in God, we conquer not only sin but the fear of death. Faith
therefore is the key to freedom and joy in life.
What is
faith? Faith means first and foremost, trust in God. Like Abraham, we are called
to trust that God will provide. When Isaac asked, “Father, look, here are
the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?’ Abraham
answered, ‘My son, God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering’”.
He did not know how the Lord would make possible for him to offer the sacrifice
at Mount Moriah. He did not know what to say to Isaac. Surely, he
could not say to him, “you are the sacrifice?” It was surely
heartbreaking. But he trusted that the Lord knew what was best. So
with faith, he brought Isaac to be sacrificed. But God provided another
offering instead by giving him a ram.
Secondly,
faith is more than just trust, it means obedience. Hence, when God calls
and commands, we are called to render the obedience of faith. Faith is an
act of obedience. This was what happened to the paralyzed man. All
his life, he obeyed his own will. For once, he listened to Jesus and
believed in Him. He trusted that his sins were forgiven and obeyed the
Lord when He ordered him to take up the mat and walk. Without obedience
of faith, he would never have walked at all! This is what St Paul
wrote about faith in Christ, “through whom we have received grace and
apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name
among all the nations.” (Rom 1:5) Indeed, only with obedience is our faith a
saving faith. We are called to trust in His promises and His word.
But we must also carry out what He tells us, otherwise faith without obedience
would render ineffective the promises of God.
Faith itself
is an act of obedience. That is why it is called the obedience of faith. Do
we trust God enough to obey Him? Do we believe that God can heal us of our
sickness? Do we believe that he can reconcile our broken
marriage? The truth is that in our mind, we have said, “No, it is
impossible! God cannot do it! So I should learn to live with it and
accept my illness. The marriage cannot work, so let us divorce. So
the real obstacle is not that God cannot heal us or rectify the situation but
because we do not believe that He can do it. We refuse to obey and turn
to Him in faith, taking His commands as prescribed in the Word of God without
trying to make compromises.
Abraham is
called our Father in faith because of his faith in God. The depth
of his faith is seen in his sacrifice of Isaac, his only son born to him when
he was 100 years old! But when commanded by the Lord to offer his only
son to Him, he did not hesitate but set out early the next morning to Mount
Moriah as instructed. His love for God took precedence over his love for
his son. No greater faith can one arrive at than to sacrifice your own
flesh and blood, someone whom you love dearly. Abraham’s faith was
at its pinnacle in his obedience to God’s command to sacrifice his son.
How, then,
can we arrive at this faith of trust and total obedience? In the first place,
let us realize that perfect faith is not something that we attain
overnight. Abraham grew in faith as well. Little by little, through the
various events unfolded to him, he learnt to trust in God and His divine
power. Those times when he tried to take things into his own hands, like
having the slave-girl to bear a child for him, he landed himself into more
trouble. So it was through trials that he gradually learnt to trust God
completely. We too must take baby steps to trust God before we can make the
leap of faith. This is true in human relationships as well. Trust
is not something that we build up overnight. Trust begets trust.
Our trust increases when we know we did not trust in vain. So we
must begin to trust in small things and then we will learn how to trust in big
things. So like Abraham, we are tested each day to trust the Lord.
Like Abraham, we are purified in love and faith.
So how can we
begin? We must surrender our ego and pride to the Lord. If we want to trust
in God, we need humility to know the primacy of grace and the power of
God. Many of us are like the Jewish leaders who could not believe that
God could work beyond our narrow confines. Hence when Jesus forgave the sins of
the paralyzed man, they were scandalized and said, “This man is
blaspheming.” This is the same complaint today by those who do not
believe in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. They say “why do we need to
confess our sins to a priest? Only God can forgive!” Yet the truth is
that those who avail themselves of the Sacrament have experienced the wonderful
power not just of forgiveness but healing of the heart and the mind and even of
the body. Indeed, we too will be like the crowd who witnessed the healing
of the man. “A feeling of awe came over the crowd when they saw this, and
they praised God for giving such power to men.”
Secondly, we
must surrender our things and resources to the Lord. Many of us are very attached
to our things, money and property. We are afraid to let go. Our
security is in our possessions. So long as we do not gradually learn to
surrender our possessions, we can never experience the power of God at work in
our lives. However, those who surrender experience the power of grace.
Abraham left everything to go to a foreign land when he was relatively rich
where he was. But because he surrendered, the Lord blessed him with even
more.
Thirdly, we
must surrender our loved ones to the Lord. This is the penultimate surrender.
This is the most difficult part of surrendering. We can give away our
wealth, pleasure and our status, but to give up someone we love so much is the
ultimate surrender. This was what Abraham did. He gave up his only
son to God. Very few of us can surrender our loved ones because we are so
attached to them. They become, unfortunately, our possessions! We
say it is our love for them but sometimes, it is more of attachment than
love. True love always sets the person free. We want to control
their lives. We are so afraid to lose them because they are our
possession. Abraham certainly loved his son but he was willing to
surrender to the Father because he loved the Father more.
The ultimate
question is, do we love God more than all other things, as the Lord asked St
Peter after His resurrection. Only when we love Him above everything else,
can we then feed His sheep. The reality is that we love our spouse,
children and friends more than God. God takes fourth place in our lives,
after them. Because we do not place God above all others, we do not love
them rightly. Eventually, by making them into our idols, we are possessed
by them. When we make them our gods, we will destroy them.
Only when we love God above all else, will we then be able to love our loved
ones with the heart and love of God, with compassion and unconditional love,
and yet not possessing them for ourselves, but releasing them for the love and
service of others.
Finally, the
greatest act of faith is to surrender one’s life entirely to the Lord, like
Jesus did at His death on the cross. When we are able to say “yes” to the Lord, a “yes” that
could cost our entire life, this is the ultimate faith. When we can
surrender our lives without fear or worry, then we truly become
life-giving. We are set free and our lives will be one of great joy.
Indeed, when
we love God above all else, He will reward us with greater things. Just like when we
lose something or someone, God surprises us by sending us better things and
better friends. Most of all, not only will we receive His blessings but
we will be a blessing to others as well. God said to Abraham, “I swear by
my own self – it is the Lord who speaks – because you have done this,
because you have not refused me your son, your only son, I will shower
blessings on you, I will make your descendants as many as the stars of heaven
and the grains of sand on the seashore. Your descendants shall gain possession
of the gates of their enemies. All the nations of the earth shall bless
themselves by your descendants, as a reward for your obedience.”
Through him, God blessed the world. Indeed, if we trust the Lord more and obey
His Word, we will find that the plan of God is much better than ours. What then
is our choice?
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of
Singapore © All Rights Reserved
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