20170908
FINDING OUR PLACE IN THE PLAN OF GOD
Readings
at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: White.
EITHER:
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First
reading
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Micah 5:1-4 ©
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The Lord says this:
But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
the least of the clans of Judah,
out of you will be born for me
the one who is to rule over Israel;
his origin goes back to the distant past,
to the days of old.
The Lord is therefore going to abandon them
till the time when she who is to give birth gives birth.
Then the remnant of his brothers will come back
to the sons of Israel.
He will stand and feed his flock
with the power of the Lord,
with the majesty of the name of his God.
They will live secure, for from then on he will extend his power
to the ends of the land.
He himself will be peace.
OR:
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Alternative
First reading
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Romans 8:28-30 ©
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We know that by turning everything to their good, God co-operates
with all those who love him, with all those he has called according to his
purpose. They are the ones he chose specially long ago and intended to become
true images of his Son, so that his Son might be the eldest of many brothers.
He called those he intended for this; those he called he justified, and with
those he justified he shared his glory.
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm 12(13):6-7 ©
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I exult for joy in the Lord.
Lord, I trust in your merciful love.
Let my heart rejoice in your saving help.
I exult for joy in the Lord.
Let me sing to the Lord for his goodness to me,
singing psalms to the name of the Lord, the Most High.
I exult for joy in the Lord.
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Gospel Acclamation
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Blessed are you, holy Virgin Mary,
and most worthy of all praise,
for the sun of justice, Christ our God,
was born of you.
Alleluia!
EITHER:
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Gospel
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Matthew 1:1-16,18-23 ©
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A genealogy of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham:
Abraham was the father of Isaac,
Isaac the father of Jacob,
Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,
Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah, Tamar being their mother,
Perez was the father of Hezron,
Hezron the father of Ram,
Ram was the father of Amminadab,
Amminadab the father of Nahshon,
Nahshon the father of Salmon,
Salmon was the father of Boaz, Rahab being his mother,
Boaz was the father of Obed, Ruth being his mother,
Obed was the father of Jesse;
and Jesse was the father of King David.
David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s
wife,
Solomon was the father of Rehoboam,
Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asa,
Asa was the father of Jehoshaphat,
Jehoshaphat the father of Joram,
Joram the father of Azariah,
Azariah was the father of Jotham,
Jotham the father of Ahaz,
Ahaz the father of Hezekiah,
Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh,
Manasseh the father of Amon,
Amon the father of Josiah;
and Josiah was the father of Jechoniah and his brothers.
Then the deportation to Babylon took place.
After the deportation to Babylon:
Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel,
Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,
Zerubbabel was the father of Abiud,
Abiud the father of Eliakim,
Eliakim the father of Azor,
Azor was the father of Zadok,
Zadok the father of Achim,
Achim the father of Eliud,
Eliud was the father of Eleazar,
Eleazar the father of Matthan,
Matthan the father of Jacob;
and Jacob was the father of Joseph the husband of Mary;
of her was born Jesus who is called Christ.
This is how Jesus Christ came to be born. His mother Mary was
betrothed to Joseph; but before they came to live together she was found to be
with child through the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph; being a man of honour
and wanting to spare her publicity, decided to divorce her informally. He had
made up his mind to do this when the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a
dream and said, ‘Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as
your wife, because she has conceived what is in her by the Holy Spirit. She
will give birth to a son and you must name him Jesus, because he is the one who
is to save his people from their sins.’ Now all this took place to fulfil the
words spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son
and they will call him Emmanuel,
a name which means ‘God-is-with-us.’
OR:
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Alternative
Gospel
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Matthew 1:18-23 ©
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This is how Jesus Christ came to be born. His mother Mary was
betrothed to Joseph; but before they came to live together she was found to be
with child through the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph; being a man of honour
and wanting to spare her publicity, decided to divorce her informally. He had
made up his mind to do this when the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a
dream and said, ‘Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as
your wife, because she has conceived what is in her by the Holy Spirit. She
will give birth to a son and you must name him Jesus, because he is the one who
is to save his people from their sins.’ Now all this took place to fulfil the
words spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son
and they will call him Emmanuel,
a name which means ‘God-is-with-us.’
FINDING OUR PLACE IN THE PLAN OF GOD
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [MICAH 5:1-4 or ROM 8:28-30; MT 1:1-16. 18-23 ]
What does it
mean to celebrate a birthday? Why do we celebrate birthdays in the first place?
Birthdays are more than merely a commemoration of someone’s birth date.
What is the use of remembering when we were born unless there is something to
celebrate about the life we have lived since we came into the world?
So we
celebrate birthdays primarily to thank God for the gift of life and more importantly,
the gift of love. For us Christians, we thank God not just for the
physical life but for the gift of eternal life, which is to share in the love
of God. A physical life without love is not worth living. Life has
no meaning when it is not lived in love. Only because of love, we want to
live on as long as possible because love does not want to end. We desire
to be with our loved ones forever because love gives us meaning, purpose and
the reason for our existence. How wonderful is the thought that we human
beings are invited to partake of the love of the Holy Trinity, the love between
the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit!
For those of
us who are beneficiaries of the person’s gift of life, we want to thank God for
blessing us through the person. Because of that person’s life, we have been blessed,
loved, helped and through that person, we have come to know the love and mercy
of God. So if we celebrate someone’s birthday, it is because we want to
thank the person and God for all the blessings that we have received through
him or her. So celebrating a birthday is to tell that person that his or
her life has made a real difference in our lives.
From this
understanding of the nature of birthday celebrations, it is clear that birthday
celebrations are not only meant for ourselves but for the love and service of
others because we are called to make a difference in the lives of
others. We were created not for ourselves but to fulfill our role in
God’s plan of salvation. Each one of us is called to be a mediator of
God’s love through our life. As St Paul wrote, “They are the ones he
chose specially long ago and intended to become true images of his Son, so that
his Son might be the eldest of many brothers. He called those he intended for
this; those he called he justified, and with those he justified he shared his
glory.” Yes, through our lives, we hope to lead others to become
true sons and daughters of God so that all can share in the glory, the joy and
love of the Son. We find our purpose and meaning in life only when we
serve the overall purpose of God’s plan for a larger family.
It is within
this context that we can appreciate the significance of today’s celebration. It is significant that the
liturgy only celebrates two birthdays other than that of Christ’s. They
are the birthdays of our Blessed Mother and that of John the Baptist. For
all others, we celebrate the day they died, since their death is their entrance
to the fullness of life in God. Why does the Church celebrate only
these two birthdays? Well, both of them already received the gift of
eternal life; Mary at her conception and John the Baptist when he encountered
the Lord in the womb of the Blessed Virgin. Mary received the gift of
Immaculate Conception and John the Baptist was sanctified in the womb of
Elizabeth. Of course, such privileges are gifts from the Lord and not
their entitlement. They received these gifts not primarily for themselves
but for us so that what they received could be given to us. They were
blessed with holiness so that they could give us Jesus our Saviour and Lord.
Once again, we are reminded that whatever has been given to us, whether it is
our life, health, status, wealth or talents, they have been given to us by God
not only for our good but for the service of others. Just as God blessed
Abraham and Mary for the sake of His people, we too must do likewise.
Secondly, if
we celebrate their birthdays it is because they were directly related to Christ
and participated in His saving work. John the Baptist was a precursor
for Christ, preparing the way of the Lord. Mary, by her consent to the
Incarnation, made possible for Christ our redeemer to come into this
world. This explains why on her birthday, the gospel text is taken from
the birth of Christ. The intention of the Church’s celebration is clear
in that all birthdays, including Mary’s, have their meaning only with reference
to Christ. We celebrate Mary’s birthday only because of her close
association with Christ’s redemptive work for humanity. Mary, in
assenting to be the mother of the Saviour at the incarnation, also by
extension, gave her consent to be associated with her Son’s suffering at the
cross. Mary therefore is truly the woman of convergence of the Old and
New Testaments. As the Anawim, she is likened to Israel preparing for the
Lord to come. As the bride, she is intimately in union with her
Son. As mother, she nurtures us all in the faith in her Son.
By
implication, we too are called to take our place in the plan of
salvation. Our goal is to lead others to Christ, as St Paul says.
Birthday celebrations are a reminder that we are called to live for God and for
others. Those who live only for themselves will find life empty and
meaningless even in their success. It is interesting that many successful
people, having reached the heights of success and have made tons of money, have
come to realize that happiness is not found in accumulating more and more but
in giving and sharing what they have with the less fortunate or for the good of
society. Indeed, many in their later life have become philanthropists.
They know they owe much to society and hence feel the obligation to return part
of their wealth back to society. Yes, all of us owe much to
society. We are what we are because of others and the society we come
from. Our success is never due to our hard work alone but to the very
many people who have helped us in life from young, in school and in our
work. This accounts for why the government always reminds those who are
better off that they are morally obliged to give back to society their wealth
and their talents.
But it is not
enough to give ourselves to others. We must ask what God’s specific plan
and will are for us, just as Mary and Joseph discerned theirs. To give ourselves
purposefully and meaningfully to society, we must discern what God wants us to
do and how to do it. Doing God’s will and taking up His call to do what
He asks of us is more important than doing what we like for Him. Only
then will we find real fulfillment because we can devote ourselves entirely to
the plan He has designated for us. So when we celebrate our birthday,
each one of us must continually ask God how He wants us to be a life-giver at a
particular place and time. It is critical for our happiness that we only
do what He has chosen for us in His masterpiece of creation.
When we are
doing His will, we should not be discouraged even when we go wrong. We can rest assured
and be at peace as we submit to His holy will, knowing that we have done what
we could. For those of us who have not been using our lives in accordance
with God’s plan for us, it is never too late. If we have chosen the wrong
vocation or choices in life, we can still redeem ourselves. St Paul
consoles us when he wrote, “we know that by turning everything to their good
God co-operates with all those who love him, with all those that he has called
according to his purpose.” So in all things, so long as we consecrate
them to God, our lives and all that we have and are, God will use them for His
purpose. In this way, like Jesus whose name is Emmanuel, which means God
is with us, we too become the presence of God to all those we meet and those
whom we are called to serve.
So like Mary,
whose birthday we celebrate today, we are called to cooperate with His grace. Mary was conceived
without original sin, but this did not exempt her from using her whole life to
glorify God by doing His holy will at every moment of her life, especially in
undertaking the vocation of motherhood to Christ the Saviour and of exercising
her spiritual maternity in the Church. Because we owe much to Mary in extending
the blessings she has received to us, we truly want to thank God for the gift
of Mary to us. Like her, we too want to cooperate with the grace of
God. Like Mary, we want to make ourselves a gift of God to others, having
received the gift of life from Him. In this way, we will not live
our lives in vain. The only way to live is to live for others by dying to
self. As we give ourselves to others, we forget about ourselves.
Otherwise self-centeredness will lead us to be too absorbed by our own needs
and problems leading us into depression. May our lives not be lived in
vain! How tragic to end the journey of life without having made our life
a gift to humanity! Let me conclude with this poem to remind us of the
shortness of life and how we must live. “I shall not pass this way
again. I expect to pass through this world but once; any good thing
therefore that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any
fellow-creature, let me do it now; let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall
not pass this way again.” – by Grellet
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of
Singapore © All Rights Reserved
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