20171029 LET OUR LIVES BE AN INSTRUCTION FOR OTHERS
Readings
at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Green.
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First reading
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Exodus 22:20-26 ©
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The Lord said to Moses, ‘Tell the sons of Israel this:
‘“You must
not molest the stranger or oppress him, for you lived as strangers in the land
of Egypt. You must not be harsh with the widow, or with the orphan; if you are
harsh with them, they will surely cry out to me, and be sure I shall hear their
cry; my anger will flare and I shall kill you with the sword, your own wives
will be widows, your own children orphans.
‘“If you
lend money to any of my people, to any poor man among you, you must not play
the usurer with him: you must not demand interest from him.
‘“If you
take another’s cloak as a pledge, you must give it back to him before sunset.
It is all the covering he has; it is the cloak he wraps his body in; what else
would he sleep in? If he cries to me, I will listen, for I am full of pity.”’
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm 17(18):2-4,47,51 ©
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I love you, Lord, my strength.
I love you, Lord, my strength,
my rock, my fortress, my saviour.
My God is the rock where I take refuge;
my shield, my mighty help, my stronghold.
The Lord is worthy of all praise,
when I call I am saved from my foes.
I love you, Lord, my strength.
Long life to the Lord, my rock!
Praised be the God who saves me,
He has given great victories to his king
and shown his love for his anointed.
I love you, Lord, my strength.
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Second reading
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1 Thessalonians 1:5-10 ©
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You observed the sort of life we lived when we were with you,
which was for your instruction, and you were led to become imitators of us, and
of the Lord; and it was with the joy of the Holy Spirit that you took to the
gospel, in spite of the great opposition all round you. This has made you the
great example to all believers in Macedonia and Achaia since it was from you
that the word of the Lord started to spread – and not only throughout
Macedonia and Achaia, for the news of your faith in God has spread everywhere.
We do not need to tell other people about it: other people tell us how we
started the work among you, how you broke with idolatry when you were converted
to God and became servants of the real, living God; and how you are now waiting
for Jesus, his Son, whom he raised from the dead, to come from heaven to save
us from the retribution which is coming.
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Gospel Acclamation
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cf.Ac16:14
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Open our heart, O Lord,
to accept the words of your Son.
Alleluia!
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Or
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Jn14:23
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Alleluia, alleluia!
If anyone loves me he will keep my word,
and my Father will love him,
and we shall come to him.
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.’
LET OUR LIVES BE AN INSTRUCTION FOR OTHERS
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ EX 22:20-26; PS 18:2-4,47,51; 1 THES 1:5-10; MT 22:34-40 ]
In the second reading,
St Paul wrote, “You observed the sort of life we lived when we were with
you, which was for your instruction, and you were led to become imitators of
us, and of the Lord.” How many of us can say this to our
children, our spouse, our siblings, our friends and colleagues? Can we
say to them that we are a model and an exemplar for them? Indeed, the question
we need to ask ourselves before God and our fellowmen is: has our life
been an inspiration for them? Have we made a difference in their lives?
Have we lived in such a way that they look up to us and desire to imitate the
way we live? We can only elicit such a response if we have lived an
inspiring, edifying, loving and liberated life.
Indeed,
today, what we need are mentors. It is not enough just to be a Christian
or a worker doing our work well. We are all called to be mentors to each
other. We all have an influence over each other for better or for
worse. St Paul wrote to the Romans, “None of us lives to himself, and
none of us dies to himself. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we
die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the
Lord’s.” (Rom 14:7f) People do not believe in talkers but in
witnesses. We can teach beautiful things about God and love, but if
we do not live out what we preach then everything is spoken in vain.
Truly, many Catholics have left the Church not because they do not believe in
Christ or His teachings but they are scandalized by how fellow Catholics, especially
the leaders, behave and conduct themselves. Many are disillusioned with
the Church and have stopped coming because they find it difficult to reconcile
with what the Church teaches and how we live out the gospel. In contrast, when
we find witnesses of Christ, we are inspired to live likewise, just as the
early Christians did when they saw how St Paul and his fellow missionaries
lived out the gospel.
What kind of
faith inspires people today? A faith that focuses on the ultimate of
life. Many in the world, especially in affluent societies, are finding
life so dissatisfying because they have everything they want. They have
luxury, food, pleasures. They live and travel in comfort, go for holidays
often, eat well and have great careers. Yet, many of them find life
meaningless. This is because many are living life superficially.
They are living life like an animal that is concerned in keeping itself
alive. Such a life is a life of idolatry. It is a worship of
self. Such kind of life will not make us feel liberated. Life is
more than just pleasure, success and fame. This was what happened to the
Christians at Thessalonians before they were converted. St Paul praised
them saying, “how you broke with idolatry when you were converted to God and
became servants of the real, living God.”
We have a
Spirit, a human and a divine spirit. The divine spirit connects us with
God and the human spirit connects with us with our fellow men. For this
reason, to live a life that is worthy of living is to live a life in communion
with God and with our fellowmen. Anyone can live a meaningful and
inspiring life if we live for God and for our fellowmen. Only such a life
can give us lasting meaning. This explains why when the Lord was
asked, “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.” Loving God as the ultimate
in life and loving our neighbours is to love ourselves. In the
final analysis, it is love that provides us meaning and purpose in life.
All other achievements when pursued other than for the service of love, will
not liberate us or give us life. They will only enlarge our ego and make
us self-centered and inward-looking. We will remain unfulfilled, empty
and insecure in spite of having all that we want.
To put God as
the center of our lives means that He is the ultimate. It is to believe that
we are not the ultimate answer to life, unlike those humanists and secularists
who think that they can dictate their own future and control life. We are
contingent beings. Our life comes from God and to Him, we return.
This truth is revealed to us in Christ by His passion, death and
resurrection. And this was the kind of life the early Christians lived,
how they “are now waiting for Jesus, his Son, whom he raised from the dead, to
come from heaven to save us from the retribution which is coming.” Our
life is therefore not just a life on this earth. We live fully in the
present for the future, which is to be with God. We become more humble
and realistic about life. We no longer cling on to the things of this
world as they are passing. We know that nothing on this earth will last
except love.
Loving God
with our all heart, soul and mind therefore means to submit our entire life to
Him.
Love is more than an emotional response but it means to trust Him completely
and live according to the way He loves us in Christ Jesus. We are called
to obey His commandments and all that He has taught us. Jesus is for us,
the Way, the Truth and the life. We are called to love God completely only
because He has revealed His love for us when He delivered the Hebrews from the
slavery of the Egyptians, and when He died for us in Christ for our
salvation. The call to love God is possible only because He has first
loved us. “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God
sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In
this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be
the expiation for our sins.” (1 Jn 4:9f)
Consequently,
the love of God leads to the love of neighbor, which is the second greatest
commandment.
Jesus said, “You must love your neighbour as yourself.” St John wrote,
“Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No man has
ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is
perfected in us.” (1 Jn 4:11f) This love of our neighbor is not
just based on humanitarian grounds,although it not does preclude it.
But rather, it is based principally on the love of God for us. This was
what Moses told the sons of Israel. “You must not molest the stranger or
oppress him, for you lived as strangers in the land of Egypt.” In other
words, when we reach out to help those who are weak and in need, it is rooted
in the fact that we ourselves were once in their place and have been set free
by God, whether from material poverty, uselessness of life, or spiritual
poverty. Only when we are conscious that we were once sinners and
helpless, can we then from the love of God in us reach out to others.
Of course,
for those who lack the love of God, they are still capable of love if they
identify themselves with their fellowmen using platonic love, a love that
springs from the origin of humanity. The examples given by Moses illustrate the need to be
identified with their sufferings. He said, “You must not be harsh with
the widow, or with the orphan; if you are harsh with them, they will surely cry
out to me, and be sure I shall hear their cry; my anger will flare and I shall
kill you with the sword, your own wives will be widows, your own children
orphans. If you lend money to any of my people, to any poor man among
you, you must not play the usurer with him: you must not demand interest from
him. If you take another’s cloak as a pledge, you must give it back to
him before sunset. It is all the covering he has; it is the cloak he wraps his
body in; what else would he sleep in? If he cries to me, I will listen, for I
am full of pity.”
Finally, an
inspiring life is one that empowers and witness to others the love of God in
our lives in word and in deed. We read how the early Christians, filled with “the joy of
the Holy Spirit” “took to the gospel, in spite of the great opposition” they
faced. They were those who were not left defeated by opposition and
failure. They knew that God was their strength. They knew where their
hope lay. So we too can surrender our lives to Him because of the
assurance of His love for us. With God on our side, we can overcome all
trials in life because we know that we can win every battle with Him fighting
on our side. This security in God gives us the courage to let go of the things
of this life, the false securities, and enable us to give ourselves in love and
service to others and not be preoccupied with our needs.
By living
such a life that is devoted to God and man, we in turn inspire others in their
faith. They too become living examples to others and a source of
inspiration to others. This is how we become mentors for each
other. Good mentors produce great mentors after them. This was the case
of the early Christians. “This has made you the great example to all
believers in Macedonia and Achaia since it was from you that the word of the
Lord started to spread – and not only throughout Macedonia and Achaia, for the
news of your faith in God has spread everywhere.”
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of
Singapore © All Rights Reserved
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