20170804
SEEING GOD IN THE ORDINARY
Readings
at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: White.
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First reading
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Leviticus 23:1,4-11,15-16,27,34-37 ©
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The Lord spoke to Moses. He said:
‘These are
the Lord’s solemn festivals, the sacred assemblies to which you are to summon
the sons of Israel on the appointed day.
‘The
fourteenth day of the first month, between the two evenings, is the Passover of
the Lord; and the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of Unleavened
Bread for the Lord. For seven days you shall eat bread without leaven. On the
first day you are to hold a sacred assembly; you must do no heavy work. For
seven days you shall offer a burnt offering to the Lord. The seventh day is to
be a day of sacred assembly; you must do no work.’
The Lord
spoke to Moses. He said:
‘Speak to
the sons of Israel and say to them:
‘“When you
enter the land that I give you, and gather in the harvest there, you must bring
the first sheaf of your harvest to the priest, and he is to present it to the
Lord with the gesture of offering, so that you may be acceptable. The priest
shall make this offering on the day after the sabbath.
‘“From the
day after the sabbath, the day on which you bring the sheaf of offering, you
are to count seven full weeks. You are to count fifty days, to the day after
the seventh sabbath, and then you are to offer the Lord a new oblation.
‘“The tenth
day of the seventh month shall be the Day of Atonement. You are to hold a
sacred assembly. You must fast, and you must offer a burnt offering to the
Lord.
‘“The
fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of Tabernacles for the
Lord, lasting seven days. The first day is a day of sacred assembly; you must
do no heavy work. For seven days you must offer a burnt offering to the Lord.
On the eighth day you are to hold a sacred assembly, you must offer a burnt
offering to the Lord. It is a day of solemn meeting; you must do no heavy work.
‘“These are
the solemn festivals of the Lord to which you are to summon the children of
Israel, sacred assemblies for the purpose of offering burnt offerings,
holocausts, oblations, sacrifices and libations to the Lord, according to the
ritual of each day.”’
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm 80(81):3-6,10-11 ©
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Ring out your joy to God our strength.
Raise a song and sound the timbrel,
the sweet-sounding harp and the lute;
blow the trumpet at the new moon,
when the moon is full, on our feast.
Ring out your joy to God our strength.
For this is Israel’s law,
a command of the God of Jacob.
He imposed it as a rule on Joseph,
when he went out against the land of Egypt.
Ring out your joy to God our strength.
Let there be no foreign god among you.
no worship of an alien god.
I am the Lord your God,
who brought you from the land of Egypt.
Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.
Ring out your joy to God our strength.
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Gospel Acclamation
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cf.1Th2:13
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Accept God’s message for what it really is:
God’s message, and not some human thinking.
Alleluia!
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Or
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1P1:25
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Alleluia, alleluia!
The word of the Lord remains for ever:
What is this word?
It is the Good News that has been brought to you.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Matthew 13:54-58 ©
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Coming to his home town, Jesus taught the people in their
synagogue in such a way that they were astonished and said, ‘Where did the man
get this wisdom and these miraculous powers? This is the carpenter’s son,
surely? Is not his mother the woman called Mary, and his brothers James and
Joseph and Simon and Jude? His sisters, too, are they not all here with us? So
where did the man get it all?’ And they would not accept him. But Jesus said to
them, ‘A prophet is only despised in his own country and in his own house’, and
he did not work many miracles there because of their lack of faith.
SEEING GOD IN THE ORDINARY
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ LEV 23:1-37; MT 13: 54-58]
In our lives, we
must have come across many great, famous and charismatic people. And we
have been impressed by them. Yet, who are those people that are
really great? Are they those who are highly gifted; making themselves
so awesome to approach; making us feel small when we speak to them? Or are they
those who are highly gifted and yet appear and relate to us as if they are
normal and ordinary people? Indeed, the truly, truly great are those who
are great per se but make themselves so ordinary; are so humble in their ways,
making us feel that we are somebody before them. I was told by the
helpers of MC that when Mother Teresa came, she lived among the sisters and
lived as one of them without any special treatment accorded to her. That
is indeed someone really great.
Yes, this is the
theme of today’s gospel. God comes to us in ordinary ways, in
very human ways. Unfortunately, like the people in Jesus’
hometown, many of us cannot accept that God can manifest Himself to us that
way. The people could not accept Jesus because they knew
Him too well. He was so ordinary, He was one of them. They knew His
family and relatives too. How could one with such a village background be
the Messiah who was promised in the Old Testament? And so they rejected Him, as
they would again at the crucifixion. They wanted God to appear in
more fantastic and spectacular ways. Yes, Jesus was a scandal to
them.
But that is
not the way of God. In fact, God has always revealed and related to us in
ordinary and human ways. The first reading from the book of Leviticus
prescribes the three great festivals of Israel, viz, the Passover, Weeks or
Pentecost; and Tabernacles. The lives of the Jews were structured around
these three great feasts. The origin of the Passover was a pastoral
festival which celebrates the spring firstlings. The Feast of Pentecost,
also called the Feast of Weeks, is simply the harvest festival, the feast of
the first-fruits of the grain harvest. The Feast of Tabernacles
celebrated at autumn is actually a harvest festival for the fruits of the
threshing floor and wine press. Like Passover and Pentecost, Tabernacles
combines an agricultural motif and a historical motif which developed later on.
What, then, are the
implications for us with regard to our own lives and in our relationship with
others?
Firstly, with
regard to ourselves, how should we live our lives? We
should live ordinary lives in an extraordinary way. That is to say, we
should just be. There is no need to make a show of what we do or who we
are. When we are natural with ourselves, we will radiate the love of God
and the presence of God. But when we attempt to exaggerate the uniqueness
in us, we become artificial and phony. Being ordinary does not mean to be
mediocre. Mediocre people are those who pretend to be what they are not
and, worst of all, fall short of what they pretend to be. Precisely,
Jesus was so ordinary that people who lacked the faith-vision or God-vision
could not see His divine presence.
Secondly,
with regard to others, we should not be too impressed by what they do and who
they are.
Quite often, we are easily impressed by how the person speaks and dresses, and
the credentials and offices he holds. And we tend to treat those who are
more impressive with greater respect and honour. But let us not be
deceived. Not all of them are truly great people. They might be
impressive, but behind the mask of their externals, they could be hiding deep
insecurities and inferiority. Rather, the great man is one who is truly
great but thinks that he is ordinary. He does not want to be treated
differently and prefers to be just ordinary. They are the people who are
wise and great and who live happy lives. These are people whom we should
really look up to so that we too can live full lives.
But to
think and live that way takes faith. Jesus told us in the gospel to
see how God is working in our ordinary lives. Without faith, we cannot
see the prophetic signs of God working through the lives of others and in our
ordinary events. And like the people of Jesus’ time, we will deprive
ourselves of experiencing the miracles of God in our lives. So the
question is: do we see the world with the vision of God and Jesus, or
through the eyes of the world?
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of
Singapore © All Rights Reserved
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