20171111 USING YOUR RICHES FOR THE SPREAD OF THE GOSPEL
Readings
at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: White.
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First reading
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Romans 16:3-9,16,22-27 ©
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My greetings to Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ
Jesus, who risked death to save my life: I am not the only one to owe them a
debt of gratitude, all the churches among the pagans do as well. My greetings
also to the church that meets at their house.
Greetings to
my friend Epaenetus, the first of Asia’s gifts to Christ; greetings to Mary who
worked so hard for you; to those outstanding apostles Andronicus and Junias, my
compatriots and fellow prisoners who became Christians before me; to Ampliatus,
my friend in the Lord; to Urban, my fellow worker in Christ; to my friend
Stachys; Greet each other with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ send
greetings.
I, Tertius,
who wrote out this letter, greet you in the Lord. Greetings from Gaius, who is
entertaining me and from the whole church that meets in his house. Erastus, the
city treasurer, sends his greetings; so does our brother Quartus.
Glory to him
who is able to give you the strength to live according to the Good News I
preach, and in which I proclaim Jesus Christ, the revelation of a mystery kept
secret for endless ages, but now so clear that it must be broadcast to pagans
everywhere to bring them to the obedience of faith. This is only what scripture
has predicted, and it is all part of the way the eternal God wants things to
be. He alone is wisdom; give glory therefore to him through Jesus Christ for
ever and ever. Amen.
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm 144(145):2-5,10-11 ©
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I will bless your name for ever, O Lord.
I will bless you day after day
and praise your name for ever.
The Lord is great, highly to be praised,
his greatness cannot be measured.
I will bless your name for ever, O Lord.
Age to age shall proclaim your works,
shall declare your mighty deeds,
shall speak of your splendour and glory,
tell the tale of your wonderful works.
I will bless your name for ever, O Lord.
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.
I will bless your name for ever, O Lord.
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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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2Co8:9
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Jesus Christ was rich,
but he became poor for your sake,
to make you rich out of his poverty.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Luke 16:9-15 ©
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Jesus said to his disciples: ‘I tell you this: use money, tainted
as it is, to win you friends, and thus make sure that when it fails you, they
will welcome you into the tents of eternity. The man who can be trusted in
little things can be trusted in great; the man who is dishonest in little
things will be dishonest in great. If then you cannot be trusted with money,
that tainted thing, who will trust you with genuine riches? And if you cannot
be trusted with what is not yours, who will give you what is your very own?
‘No servant
can be the slave of two masters: he will either hate the first and love the
second, or treat the first with respect and the second with scorn. You cannot
be the slave both of God and of money.’
The
Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and laughed at him. He said to them,
‘You are the very ones who pass yourselves off as virtuous in people’s sight,
but God knows your hearts. For what is thought highly of by men is loathsome in
the sight of God.’
USING YOUR RICHES FOR THE SPREAD OF THE GOSPEL
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ ROM 16:3-9.16.22-27; PS 145:2-5,10-11; LK 16:9-15 ]
In the first
reading, we come to the end of the letter of St Paul to the Romans. St Paul was writing
from Corinth in AD 57. He himself had not been to Rome. But he
heard of the Christians in Rome and so he wanted to introduce himself to
them. Even though he was so far from them, he felt close to them because
they were all brothers and sisters in Christ. After giving a long
treatise on justification by faith through God’s grace alone, he concluded with
a great doxology, thanking God for the wonderful plan of salvation. What
can we learn from today’s scripture readings?
Firstly, the
gospel is meant for all, irrespective of race, language or status in
life. It is significant that there were many Jewish and Gentile
Christians in Rome even before St Paul went there. He wrote, “Greetings
to my friend Epaenetus, the first of Asia’s gifts to Christ; greetings to Mary
who worked so hard for you; to those outstanding apostles Andronicus and
Junias, my compatriots and fellow prisoners who became Christians before
me.” The gospel was received by all kinds of people; influential and
ordinary, slaves and free people, Jews and Gentiles, men and women. In this
way, we see how the gospel had indeed reached the ends of the world, as the
Lord prophesied. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has
come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and
Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)
Secondly, the
gospel went out to the whole world because of the Christians in Rome. The economic, political and
cultural center of the Roman Empire was in Rome. It was the heart
of the Roman Empire and all decisions were made there. It was also a
cosmopolitan city where peoples from all over the world would gather.
This made it a very strategic location to spread the gospel to the whole world.
Indeed, it was from Rome that Christianity became a world religion.
However, until the conversion of the Roman Emperor Constantine, Christians were
persecuted for their faith in the first three centuries. It was only in
AD 313, by the Edict of Milan, that persecutions formally ended. Later on
in 324, the Emperor was converted to Catholicism and eventually, Christianity
became the religion of the Empire. It was then that the Church extended to the
whole world, beginning from Europe.
Thirdly, many
missionaries besides St Paul brought the gospel to others. In his letter, St
Paul mentioned his many collaborators. It is edifying that some were
married couples working as a team in the spread of the Good News as in Prisca
and Aquila; Andronicus and Junias, whom he called as his fellow workers and
apostles. Each in his or her own way spread the gospel and they all
helped each other in this common mission to bring Christ to all. We do
not see them being inward-looking or protectionistic, as we are in our
churches, parishes, organizations and religious orders. They were
all clear that they were working for the glory of God and for the spread of the
gospel. It was not about themselves but all about Christ and for Christ
and the people.
Indeed, when
St Paul took an overview of the spread of the Gospel to the heart of the world
in Rome, he could not but give glory to God in thanksgiving. “Glory to him who is
able to give you the strength to live according to the Good News I preach, and
in which I proclaim Jesus Christ, the revelation of a mystery kept secret for
endless ages, but now so clear that it must be broadcast to pagans everywhere
to bring them to the obedience of faith. This is only what scripture has
predicted, and it is all part of the way the eternal God wants things to be.
He alone is wisdom; give glory therefore to him through Jesus Christ for ever
and ever. Amen.” Truly, God’s plan for humanity is too wonderful
for us to grasp. His plan for the salvation of humanity is unfolded each
day, gradually, slowly but surely.
In the light
of what we read in today’s first reading, we cannot but ask ourselves whether
we, especially in Singapore, living in a cosmopolitan society, also imitate St
Paul and the early Christians in making use of the opportunity to spread the
Good News to all peoples. The truth is that we are rather complacent in the work of
evangelization. We are too inward-looking and are contented with our
so-called spiritual life, living in our own world, where there is security,
self-sufficiency and we do not want to be disturbed. We bury ourselves in
our work and in our homes and the little community we have. We are not
excited about reaching out to the many who are lost, who are seeking hope,
meaning and purpose in life.
And the truth
is that we are blessed with the greatest of all gifts, which is the gift of
faith as St Paul mentioned. We have inherited the gospel of grace and the revelation of
Christ as the mystery of God, showing us our identity and our goal in
life. We have come to know that Christ is our Saviour and that we are
saved by grace and restored to the dignity of His sonship. We now belong
to Him and belong to one another in Christ. United as the family of God,
living in freedom, love, unity and charity, we witness His love to everyone.
We who have been blessed with the gospel, do we follow St Paul and the early
Christians to ask for the “strength to live according to the Good News”
and to “broadcast to pagans everywhere to bring them to the obedience of
faith?”
Jesus is
challenging us today as He did in the gospel about those who are blessed with
riches. These riches go beyond money and wealth, but include talents and
resources. Jesus reminds us that these riches that we have, tainted as
they are, can be used to “win you friends, and thus make sure that when it
fails you, they will welcome you into the tents of eternity.” Indeed, we
can use our riches for good or for evil. In themselves, they are
neutral. We can use our talents, not just our wealth, to destroy people
for our selfish gains and promotion. But we can also use them for the
good and service of humanity and the glory of God. Indeed, all
riches are meant to be shared with others who do not have so that together we
become a loving, caring and supportive family.
Unfortunately,
many of us do not go beyond the blessings and riches we have received. Like the Jewish leaders,
they prided themselves for being rich as they saw riches and prosperity as
God’s blessings on them for the kind of life that they lived. But
Jesus said to them, “You are the very ones who pass yourselves as virtuous in
people’s sight, but God knows your hearts. For what is thought highly of
by men is loathsome in the sight of God.” In truth, they were living
self-centered lives. Their hearts were far from God. They
were making use of religion to gain power, status and wealth for
themselves. When we serve ourselves, we cannot find real happiness in
life because our hearts remain closed to the hearts of humanity and of God.
Consequently,
let us remember that God has entrusted us with the things of this world so that
we can employ them for the service of the gospel. Jesus said, “No
servant can be the slave of two masters: he will either hate the first and love
the second, or treat the first with respect and the second with scorn.
You cannot be the slave both of God and of money.” We need to check
ourselves whether we are slaves of money or slaves for God. If it is
money, then everything we do and decide is based on the benefits that we can
get out of what we do. If it is for the glory of God and the service of
humanity, then we will be more than happy to do everything for the love of God
and our fellowmen.
So let us be
grateful to God and bless His name for everyone to hear and come to faith in
Christ.
With the psalmist, we must glorify God with our words and with our lives.
“The Lord is great, highly to be praised, his greatness cannot be
measured. Age to age shall proclaim your works, shall declare your mighty
deeds, shall speak of your splendor and glory, tell the tale of your wonderful
works. All your creatures shall thank you, O Lord. They shall speak of
the glory of your reign and declare your might, O God.” In this way, all
will come to know the Lord and submit in obedience in faith.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of
Singapore © All Rights Reserved
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