20170825
THE FOUNDATION FOR OBSERVING THE COMMANDMENTS
Readings
at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Green.
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First reading
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Ruth 1:1,3-6,14-16,22 ©
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In the days of the Judges famine came to the land and a certain
man from Bethlehem of Judah went – he, his wife and his two sons – to
live in the country of Moab. Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died, and she and her
two sons were left. These married Moabite women: one was named Orpah and the
other Ruth. They lived there about ten years. Then both Mahlon and Chilion also
died and the woman was bereft of her two sons and her husband. So she and her
daughters-in-law prepared to return from the country of Moab, for she had heard
that the Lord had visited his people and given them food. Then Orpah kissed her
mother-in-law and went back to her people. But Ruth clung to her.
Naomi said
to her, ‘Look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her god.
You must return too; follow your sister-in-law.’
But Ruth
said, ‘Do not press me to leave you and to turn back from your company, for
‘wherever you go, I will go,
wherever you live, I will live.
Your people shall be my people,
and your God, my God.’
This was how Naomi, she who returned from the country of Moab,
came back with Ruth the Moabitess her daughter-in-law. And they came to
Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm 145(146):5-10 ©
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My soul, give praise to the Lord.
or
Alleluia!
He is happy who is helped by Jacob’s God,
whose hope is in the Lord his God,
who alone made heaven and earth,
the seas and all they contain.
My soul, give praise to the Lord.
or
Alleluia!
It is he who keeps faith for ever,
who is just to those who are oppressed.
It is he who gives bread to the hungry,
the Lord, who sets prisoners free,
My soul, give praise to the Lord.
or
Alleluia!
the Lord who gives sight to the blind,
who raises up those who are bowed down,
the Lord, who protects the stranger
and upholds the widow and orphan.
My soul, give praise to the Lord.
or
Alleluia!
It is the Lord who loves the just
but thwarts the path of the wicked.
The Lord will reign for ever,
Zion’s God, from age to age.
My soul, give praise to the Lord.
or
Alleluia!
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Gospel Acclamation
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Ps118:18
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Open my eyes, O Lord, that I may consider
the wonders of your law.
Alleluia!
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Or
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Ps24:4,5
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Teach me your paths, my God,
make me walk in your truth.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Matthew 22:34-40 ©
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When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees
they got together and, to disconcert him, one of them put a question, ‘Master,
which is the greatest commandment of the Law?’ Jesus said, ‘You must love the
Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.
This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second resembles it: You must
love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments hang the whole Law,
and the Prophets also.’
THE FOUNDATION FOR OBSERVING THE COMMANDMENTS
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ Ruth 1:1.3-6.14-16.22; Mt 22:34-40 ]
When we read
today’s scripture readings, the following questions and doubts would
no doubt come to mind. From the gospel reading, we might ask whether it
is at all possible for anyone to love the Lord with all his heart, with all his
soul, and with his entire mind. In the same vein, can we love our neighbour as
ourselves? Is this kind of love narcissistic? And when we turn to the
first reading, we cannot but admire Ruth for her decision to follow Naomi, her
mother-in-law, back to Israel when she had the opportunity to return to her
homeland. After all, most women have difficulty living with their
mother-in-law, and she could have blamed Naomi’s family for her misfortune to
be widowed at such an early age. Finally, we may ask if such principles
or laws of love could ever be observed in reality.
Such questions
in my view are ill put. In themselves, they are not wrong, but the
foundation or prerequisite for fulfilling these commandments is missing.
When we ask the question, how can we live out the commandments, the focus is
naturally on ourselves, our human effort in living out the commandments of
love. Such an approach will certainly make us self-centered and
egoistic. Indeed, it is unfortunate that many Catholics reduce Christian
morality to ethics and humanism. When morality is reduced to ethics, then
we are simply speaking of the moral imperative in us to do what is right, or
simply following some laws based on human reasoning and humanism. Thus, when we
try to carry out the laws, we will find ourselves incapable, because the human
heart is broken, wounded, egoistic and self-centered.
Hence it is
important to recall the basis for Christian morality. The origin and
source of Christian morality is founded on the prior love of God for
us; not our love for Him, nor our love for our fellowmen. This is the key
principle in today’s liturgy and a presupposition in observing the commandments
of love.
We uncover this
principle when we examine the person of Naomi. In reality, the greatest person
in the first reading is not Ruth but Naomi. She symbolizes the
unconditional love of God in her person. If Ruth had chosen to
follow Naomi and could say to her, “Do not press me to leave you and to turn
back from your company, for wherever you go, I will go, wherever you live, I
will live. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God”, it was
because Naomi was a powerful example of God’s love. We can hear the
selflessness of Noami, for being alone, she would surely have wanted her daughters-in-law
to stay and look after her.
Instead, we are
told of her magnanimity in urging her daughters-in-law to
return to their homeland. She understood that for them, they would have
greater security back home with their people than in following her, as she had
no means to provide for them since she herself was a widow. The greatness
of Naomi is underscored by her insistence that Ruth went back, following the
footsteps of the other daughter-in-law, Orpah.
Isn’t Naomi the manifestation
of God’s unconditional love and mercy? Naomi put the interests
of her daughters-in-law above her own. If she could love in this manner,
it must be because she herself had experienced the love of Yahweh in spite of
the tragedies she suffered in her family. As a consequence, she
could love God with all her heart, soul and mind, her neighbour as
herself. Within this context, we can appreciate why Ruth insisted on
following Naomi. Having encountered the unconditional love of God in
Naomi, she too, could accept the God of Naomi, for she had demonstrated the
reality of God’s love in her life and in her faith. Without the example
of Naomi and her genuine love, Ruth would never have followed her. In a
nutshell, Ruth was transformed by the love of Naomi, just as the latter was transformed
by the love of Yahweh.
Ruth
therefore symbolizes all of us in our response to God. Only in view of our experience
of God’s love can we then make the appropriate response. Of course, we
can also follow the example of Orpah. She, too, equally received
the love of Naomi, yet she chose to return to her homeland. She was not
completely reflective and appreciative of Noami’s love. She cared more
for her own interests and security than that of Naomi’s. So in both Ruth
and Orpah, we have the symbols of those who respond to God’s love and those who
do not.
This same
principle has to be applied in today’s gospel as well. When
Jesus gave the greatest commandment, He was referring to Deuteronomy. For
when Moses spoke these words, it was in the context of the Israelites’ entry
into the Promised Land. Moses taught them the shema in the context of
their liberation from Egypt and their sojourn in the desert. The shema
could only be understood and lived by those who had encountered and remembered
the unconditional love of God for them. Truly, the Israelites were slaves
and strangers. They were the outcasts of society. Yet God chose
them to be His people unconditionally.
Having experienced
such great mercy and gratuity from God, the natural response would be
to return that love. So when Moses asked them to love God with all their
heart, mind and soul, it was only because God had loved them with His whole
being in the first place. Secondly, when Moses exhorted them to love
their neighbour as themselves, it was only because they, who were the
marginalized of society, had been loved unconditionally. Hence, they
should be compassionate and feel with the poor and the strangers in their
midst; after all, they would have been in the same predicament if not for God’s
love and mercy.
Indeed, the
key to living out the commandments of love, not in a legalistic manner but
in a way that flows from our being, is when the love of God has
transformed us from within. Anyone who is touched by God’s love,
loves in a self-forgetful manner, like Mary who visited Elizabeth. God
loves us for no reason.
Similarly, true
love for others is not dictated by reason and self-interest. Genuine
love is when we love for the sake of the person. When we love, we
must not be conscious that we love. When we love unconsciously, then we
know that that love comes from within and that love is pure because it is
flowing out from us.
Only this kind
of selfless love can transform people. Truly, if we have
reduced our ministry, our various roles and responsibilities in life to mere
function and work, that is because we have still not come into a deep contact
with God’s love. More often than not, we serve with imperfect motives, more for
ourselves than for others and for God. This explains why we are not able
to attract people to our faith and share our lifestyle. We are not as
attractive as Noami because, unlike her, we are not filled with the love of
God. But if we are truly reflective of God’s unconditional love and
mercy, we would have converted many to our faith, and drawn many others to join
us in our ministry.
Consequently, we
must return to the foundation, which is our relationship with God
cultivated through prayer. When we pray, it is not simply to meditate
on the virtues of Christ, or to try to imitate Him or make our daily examen to
see our failures. Of course this analytic dimension of meditation is necessary.
But essentially, prayer is to be with God and to allow ourselves to bask in His
unconditional love. Only then can we find our true selves and be healed of our
brokenness. Only when we have experienced Him, can we then proclaim Him
to others.
The hymn “Pass it on” sums
it all beautifully. “It only takes a spark to keep a fire
going. And soon all those around can warm up in its glowing. That’s
how it is with God’s love, once you’ve experienced it, you spread his love to
everyone, you want to pass it on. I wish for you my friend, this
happiness that I’ve found. You can depend on it, it matters not where
you’re bound. I’ll shout it from the mountain top, I want the world
to know, the Lord of love has come to me, I want to pass it on.“
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of
Singapore © All Rights Reserved
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