20171007
MAKE THE NAME OF JESUS KNOWN THROUGH MARY
Readings
at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: White.
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First reading
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Baruch 4:5-12,27-29 ©
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Take courage, my people,
constant reminder of Israel.
You were sold to the nations,
but not for extermination.
You provoked God;
and so were delivered to your enemies,
since you had angered your creator
by offering sacrifices to demons, not to God.
You had forgotten the eternal God who reared you.
You had also grieved Jerusalem who nursed you,
for when she saw the anger fall on you
from God, she said:
Listen, you neighbours of Zion:
God has sent me great sorrow.
I have seen my sons and daughters taken into captivity,
to which they have been sentenced by the Eternal.
I had reared them joyfully;
in tears, in sorrow, I watched them go away.
Do not, any of you, exult over me,
a widow, deserted by so many;
I suffer loneliness because of the sins of my own children,
who turned away from the Law of God.
Take courage, my children, call on God:
he who brought disaster on you will remember you.
As by your will you first strayed away from God,
so now turn back and search for him ten times as hard;
for as he brought down those disasters on you,
so will he rescue you and give you eternal joy.
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm 68(69):33-37 ©
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The Lord listens to the needy.
The poor when they see it will be glad
and God-seeking hearts will revive;
for the Lord listens to the needy
and does not spurn his servants in their chains.
Let the heavens and the earth give him praise,
the sea and all its living creatures.
The Lord listens to the needy.
For God will bring help to Zion
and rebuild the cities of Judah
and men shall dwell there in possession.
The sons of his servants shall inherit it;
those who love his name shall dwell there.
The Lord listens to the needy.
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Gospel Acclamation
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Mt11:25
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Blessed are you, Father,
Lord of heaven and earth,
for revealing the mysteries of the kingdom
to mere children.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Luke 10:17-24 ©
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The seventy-two came back rejoicing. ‘Lord,’ they said ‘even the
devils submit to us when we use your name.’ He said to them, ‘I watched Satan
fall like lightning from heaven. Yes, I have given you power to tread underfoot
serpents and scorpions and the whole strength of the enemy; nothing shall ever
hurt you. Yet do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you; rejoice rather
that your names are written in heaven.’
It was then
that, filled with joy by the Holy Spirit, he said:
‘I bless
you, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, for hiding these things from the
learned and the clever and revealing them to mere children. Yes, Father, for
that is what it pleased you to do. Everything has been entrusted to me by my
Father; and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father
is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.’
Then turning
to his disciples he spoke to them in private, ‘Happy the eyes that see what you
see, for I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see,
and never saw it; to hear what you hear, and never heard it.’
MAKE THE NAME OF JESUS KNOWN THROUGH MARY
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [Baruch 4:5-12. 27-29; Lk 10:17-24]
What is the
primary role of Mary if not to lead all to Jesus so that we might know the
Father’s love? Indeed, many people in the world still do not know Jesus
and therefore do not know the Father and their calling in life. Only
Jesus, who is the Way, the Truth and the Life, can lead us to the Father.
It is in this context that we say that Jesus is the only mediator between God
and man. From this perspective, Jesus declared, “Yes, Father, for that is
what it pleased you to do. Everything has been entrusted to me by my
Father; and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father
is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”
To come to
know the Son, we need the childlikeness of Jesus. We therefore must come
to the Father in humility and faith. “I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and
of earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing
them to mere children. Yes, Father, for that is what it pleased you to
do.” This is indeed the greatest joy, to know the Father through
the Son. That is why Jesus, in response to the elated disciples who
returned from their ministry, said, “Yet do not rejoice that the spirits submit
to you; rejoice rather that your names are written in heaven.” Knowing the Lord
personally is therefore critical in Christian life. This is what gives us
completeness and joy.
Indeed this
is what Mary wills for us, that we come to know her Son. Mary’s role in the history
of salvation is to give us Jesus. The letter to Galatians says, “But when
the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the
law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to
sonship. Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into
our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, ‘Abba, Father.’ So you are no longer a
slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an
heir.” (Gal 4:4-7)
Of course, it is more than just giving us Jesus by giving birth to Him; she
desires that Jesus be born in our hearts, that we too will share with her the
joy of conceiving Jesus in our hearts by knowing Him intimately, sharing in His
life and love, and imitating Him in doing the Father’s will.
Consequently,
praying to Mary who is the Star of the New Evangelization entails bringing back
our lost sheep and bringing others to Christ. This is done by being a
soldier of Mary in the world. Like the prophet in the first reading from
Baruch, we are called to reach out to those in exile and invite them to
return. “Take courage, my children, call on God: he who brought disaster
on you will remember you. As by your will you first strayed away from God, so
now turn back and search for him ten times as hard; for as he brought down
those disasters on you, so will he rescue you and give you eternal joy.”
Re-evangelizing our Catholics is the first priority. Hence, we are called
to try to reach out to them, using whatever means available. Bringing
people to Mary is but the first step to restoring the faith of our Catholics.
Pope John Paul
II in Novo Milennio Ineunute wrote, “We are certainly not seduced by the naive
expectation that, faced with the great challenges of our time, we shall find
some magic formula. No, we shall not be saved by a formula but by a
Person, and the assurance which he gives us: I am with you! It is not
therefore a matter of inventing a “new programme”. The programme already
exists: it is the plan found in the Gospel and in the living Tradition, it is
the same as ever. Ultimately, it has its centre in Christ himself, who is
to be known, loved and imitated, so that in him we may live the life of the
Trinity, and with him transform history until its fulfilment in the heavenly
Jerusalem.”
The Feast of
Our Lady of the Rosary was commemorated because of the victory of the
Christians against their enemies. We too are the soldiers of
Mary, not only to defend the Church, but it is also our duty to win souls for
Christ. How can we be missionaries for Christ? What does it take to be
apostles of Christ and soldiers of Mary? What would be our weapons and
our strategy to fight this battle in the world? Like the apostles, we are
called to cast out demons, that is, to save the world from the influence of the
Evil One, to liberate humanity from darkness and the slavery of the Evil One.
Where can we,
as devotees of our Lady, find the passion to do the work of the New
Evangelization? Firstly, the key to the success of Mary’s children is
prayer. From beginning to the end, it is always prayer. Prayer must
permeate right through all our apostolates and ministries. Nothing is
done without the consciousness of prayer. Even throughout the day, three
times, we are asked to pray the Angelus, in the morning, at noon and in the
evening. It is almost mirroring the Liturgy of the Hours where the
Church invites us to pray at key hours during the day.
Secondly, we must
contemplate on the face of the crucified Christ by contemplating on the face of
Mary. What better way than to pray the Rosary, using all the four
mysteries that the Church has provided us. In the rosary, we
contemplate especially the critical events in the life of Jesus and Mary. Through
the rosary, we learn to share the joy of Mary, her sorrows and her hopes as
well. Sharing her joys, we feel consoled at the fulfillment
of the promises of God to our forefathers. Sharing Mary’s
sorrows for the world, we cannot but be moved by her to share her pain for the
world. By contemplating on the passion and death of our Lord in union with our
Mother Mary, we will be able to identify with our Lord in His love for
sinners. It is for this reason that Jesus gave us His mother Mary
at the foot of the cross. “Behold, your mother. And from that hour the
disciple took her into his home.” Mary is called the associate of
Christ’s redemption because she associated herself with our Lord in offering
Himself for the salvation of humanity since the day she said her fiat at the
incarnation till His passion, death and resurrection. Like the prophet, we are
called to weep and feel for our people who are lost in life and ruining
themselves because they live without hope, meaning and purpose. These
people must be called to repentance. “God has sent me great sorrow. I
have seen my sons and daughters taken into captivity, to which they have been
sentenced by the Eternal. I had reared them joyfully; in tears, in sorrow, I
watched them go away. Do not, any of you, exult over me, a widow, deserted by
so many; I suffer loneliness because of the sins of my own children, who turned
away from the Law of God.” By contemplating on His resurrection, we too
are given full confidence of freedom and liberation. Our hope for eternal
life is certain because of Christ’s resurrection and Mary’s assumption into
heaven. Where they are, we will be there with them.
Thirdly, we
are called to sanctify ourselves the whole day. Again, this is in line
with what Pope John Paul II in his apostolic letter, Novo Milennio Ineunte,
exhorts; that holiness must be the key to all pastoral planning. We need
to grow in holiness. He wrote, “I have no hesitation in saying that all
pastoral initiatives must be set in relation to holiness. Stressing holiness
remains more than ever an urgent pastoral task.” There can be no
effective mission unless we are serious about the goal of Christian life, which
is holiness.
Fourthly, the
strength of our missionary endeavours is that as soldiers of Mary’s army, we
work as a team. We never work alone. Following Christ in sending out His
disciples in pairs to the towns and villages proclaiming the Kingdom of God, we
too likewise must work as a team in the work of evangelization.
Alone, we are weak and fearful. But when we have someone with us to
evangelize together, we won’t feel so intimidated. And better still when
we have a faith-filled Catholic accompanying us, we can learn the art of
evangelization quickly from him or her. Collaboration and teamwork, which
is the catchphrase in today’s ministry, is something that we must be familiar
with.
Fifthly, like
good soldiers, we need to review our work. We must come before our
Lord in prayer and discernment. There is the question of
accountability. Evaluation helps us to be focused and responsible.
Otherwise, we tend to be lazy and indifferent. The failure in many
organizations is that members are not accountable and so they do not produce
fruits in their Christian life. The need for accountability will
remind us of our responsibility so that we can consciously do our duties in the
work of evangelization.
In the final
analysis, like the apostles, our great joy is in coming closer to the Father
through the Son in our devotion to Mary. Through prayer, works of mercy and
direct evangelization, we are sanctified in our Christian life. So
instead of thinking how much sacrifice we have given to the Lord, we should be
thanking the Lord for His love and mercy. By using us for His mission, we
benefit in the end because we are sanctified. Indeed, this is what the Lord
told His disciples, “Yet do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you; rejoice
rather that your names are written in heaven.”
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of
Singapore © All Rights Reserved
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