20170912
GOODWILL BUT UNTRAINED SOLDIERS FOR CHRIST
Readings
at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Green.
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First reading
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Colossians 2:6-15 ©
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You must live your whole life according to the Christ you have
received – Jesus the Lord; you must be rooted in him and built on him and
held firm by the faith you have been taught, and full of thanksgiving.
Make sure
that no one traps you and deprives you of your freedom by some second-hand,
empty, rational philosophy based on the principles of this world instead of on
Christ.
In his body
lives the fullness of divinity, and in him you too find your own fulfilment, in
the one who is the head of every Sovereignty and Power.
In him you
have been circumcised, with a circumcision not performed by human hand, but by
the complete stripping of your body of flesh. This is circumcision according to
Christ. You have been buried with him, when you were baptised; and by baptism,
too, you have been raised up with him through your belief in the power of God
who raised him from the dead. You were dead, because you were sinners and had
not been circumcised: he has brought you to life with him, he has forgiven us
all our sins.
He has
overridden the Law, and cancelled every record of the debt that we had to pay;
he has done away with it by nailing it to the cross; and so he got rid of the
Sovereignties and the Powers, and paraded them in public, behind him in his triumphal
procession.
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm 144(145):1-2,8-11 ©
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How good is the Lord to all.
I will give you glory, O God my king,
I will bless your name for ever.
I will bless you day after day
and praise your name for ever.
How good is the Lord to all.
The Lord is kind and full of compassion,
slow to anger, abounding in love.
How good is the Lord to all,
compassionate to all his creatures.
How good is the Lord to all.
All your creatures shall thank you, O Lord,
and your friends shall repeat their blessing.
They shall speak of the glory of your reign
and declare your might, O God.
How good is the Lord to all.
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Gospel Acclamation
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Ph2:15-16
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Alleluia, alleluia!
You will shine in the world like bright stars
because you are offering it the word of life.
Alleluia!
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Or
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cf.Jn15:16
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Alleluia, alleluia!
I chose you from the world
to go out and bear fruit,
fruit that will last,
says the Lord.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Luke 6:12-19 ©
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Jesus went out into the hills to pray; and he spent the whole
night in prayer to God. When day came he summoned his disciples and picked out
twelve of them; he called them ‘apostles’: Simon whom he called Peter, and his
brother Andrew; James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of
Alphaeus, Simon called the Zealot, Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot who
became a traitor.
He then came
down with them and stopped at a piece of level ground where there was a large
gathering of his disciples with a great crowd of people from all parts of
Judaea and from Jerusalem and from the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon who had
come to hear him and to be cured of their diseases. People tormented by unclean
spirits were also cured, and everyone in the crowd was trying to touch him
because power came out of him that cured them all.
GOODWILL BUT UNTRAINED SOLDIERS FOR CHRIST
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [Col 2:6-15; PS 145:1-2,8-11; Lk 6:12-19]
“The harvest is plentiful
but the labourers are few.” (Mt 9:37) Indeed, there are many people in the world
seeking truth and love, and the Good News of salvation but we have very few
labourers in the vineyard of the Lord. But if these few labourers we have
are of high quality, we still can spread the gospel to the whole world since
Christ started with only Twelve apostles. In the final analysis, it is
not about the number of labourers but their quality.
The truth is that many who
give themselves to the ministry in the Church, whether part-time or full time,
are not properly formed for the work of evangelization. Most who have been
touched by the Lord offer their services to assist in the spread of the
gospel. But many of them are not just ill-formed in the faith but are themselves
wounded emotionally and psychologically. Often, in the process of serving
in their ministries, their Old Adam resurfaces, causing others to be
hurt. This explains why there is a high turnover in Church
involvement. Many are disillusioned, hurt and angry with the Church.
What does it take to perform
our ministry? How can we be effective? Ongoing formation is
critical to the work of evangelization. It does not mean that we
must be fully formed, healed and are saintly before we can engage in the
mission of the Church. But it does mean that even whilst we serve
the Church and engage the world, we need to constantly form ourselves in our
faith. The real problem is that many are just keen to reach out to
others and to minister, but they themselves are not being ministered to or
formed. There is output without a corresponding input. This is the
cause of many being jaded and burnt out. They seek to do the mission of
Christ using their own resources, strength, ingenuity and talents.
We are called to take the
cue in today’s gospel by following Jesus in the way He fulfilled the mission of
His Father. The foundation of Jesus’ mission is His intimacy with His
Father. Again and again, the gospel records that “Jesus went out into the
hills to pray; and he spent the whole night in prayer to God.”
Jesus was always in constant union with His Father in everything. He was
always in conversation with the Father. When the Devil tempted Him to
change stone to bread, His reply was, “One does not live by bread
alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Mt 4:4)
So the strength and wisdom of Jesus’ ministry come from His communion with the
Father.
More so when it comes to
making important decisions in leadership. In the gospel, we have Jesus
praying all night as He wanted to make a decision on who to appoint as His
apostles. The list that He chose was not based on logical thinking and
human wisdom. Otherwise, He would have chosen a more qualified and united
group. Instead, He chose a motley crowd; those without qualifications,
incompatible in temperament and poles apart in intellectual capacity and
motives in serving Him. Among them were revolutionaries and a
traitor.
This was precisely what St
Paul wrote, “Consider your own call, brothers and sisters; not many of you were wise by human
standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But
God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is
weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised
in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are,
so that no one might boast in the presence of God.” (1 Cor 1:26-29)
The choice of the apostles came through prayerful discernment in the power of
the Holy Spirit and not through rationalistic thinking alone.
It was because of His
intimacy with His Father that He was filled with the Father’s love and energy. As the evangelist
recounted, “He then came down with them and stopped at a piece of level
ground where there was a large gathering of his disciples with a great crowd of
people from all parts of Judaea and from Jerusalem and from the coastal region
of Tyre and Sidon who had come to hear him and to be cured of their
diseases. People tormented by unclean spirits were also cured, and
everyone in the crowd was trying to touch him because power came out of him
that cured them all.” Indeed, He was infused with the energy of God
and suffused His Father’s healing grace on everyone who came into contact with
Him. This is what St Paul wrote, “In his body lives the fullness of
divinity, and in him you too find your own fulfilment.”
Clearly, without being
immersed in the Father’s love, we will lack the capacity to preach and to heal. That was why St Paul
urged the Christian community saying, “Your whole life according to the Christ
you have received – Jesus the Lord; you must be rooted to him and built on him
and held firm by the faith you have been taught, and full of
thanksgiving.” A Christian, especially a disciple and an apostle of
our Lord, must found his or her entire life in Him alone. Christ must be
the center, the foundation and the reference point of his or her life. A
Christian draws energy and wisdom from the Lord. Like a plant, his life
is rooted in Him and he nurtures himself with the food that is given him by the
Lord.
A Christian must come to the
Lord daily to learn from Him about life and the world. Whilst earthly wisdom
is a participation in divine wisdom, it remains inadequate and
incomplete. It is just a partial understanding of life. Only Christ
gives us the full answer to all the questions and mysteries of life.
Hence St Paul wrote, “Make sure that no one traps you and deprives you of your
freedom by some second-hand, empty, rational philosophy based on the principles
of this world instead of on Christ.” As Christians, are we
convinced that Christ is the answer to all our problems and queries, or do we
refer the judgement to the world? Indeed, we must hold “firm by the faith you
have been taught.” Without constant study and praying of the Word of God,
sharing of the Word and reading up on the Catholic Faith, how can we ever grow
in knowledge of the treasures of our faith and deepen our knowledge and
relationship with the Lord?
Secondly, a Christian must
realize that he is never alone. He belongs to a covenanted
people. He is a member of the New People of God through
baptism. This is what St Paul said of the Christians. “In him
you have been circumcised, with circumcision not performed by human hand, but
by the complete stripping of your body and flesh. This is circumcision
according to Christ.” Circumcision was a sign of being made a member of
the People of God in the Old Covenant. That was why all Israelites and
Jews had to be circumcised. But St Paul wrote that as Christians, the
real circumcision is not of the flesh but of the heart by having faith in
Christ and giving up our entire body and soul to the Lord. This was the
way Christ incorporated us into His body, the Church. We too must also
surrender our will and our mind to the Lord and work with the rest of the
members of the Body of Christ in one mind and in one heart. A Christian
must never walk alone but always with the rest of the Church because we are
called to be members of the body of Christ. Our faith is nourished and
strengthened by the members of our community.
Finally, effective
witnessing is when we live out our baptismal promises. “You have been buried with
him, when you were baptised; and by baptism, too, you have been raised up with
him through your belief in the power of God who raised him from the dead.
You were dead, because you were sinners and had not been circumcised: he has
brought you to life with him, he has forgiven us all our sins.” Having
our sins cancelled by the death and resurrection of Christ, we are all saved
and loved by the Lord. We are reconciled with the Father through
Christ. As a redeemed people, we must now live out the graces of baptism
given to us. With Christ, we must nail ourselves and our sins to the
cross by living a graced life. In this way, we too become the glory
of God and exude His love and healing grace.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of
Singapore © All Rights Reserved
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