20180111 SUPERSTITION
11 JANUARY, 2018, Thursday, 1st Week, Ordinary Time
Readings
at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Green.
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First reading
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1 Samuel 4:1-11 ©
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It happened at that time that the Philistines mustered to fight
Israel and Israel went out to meet them in battle, encamping near Ebenezer
while the Philistines were encamped at Aphek. The Philistines drew up their
battle line against Israel, the battle was hotly engaged, and Israel was
defeated by the Philistines and about four thousand of their army were killed
on the field. The troops returned to the camp and the elders of Israel said,
‘Why has the Lord allowed us to be defeated today by the Philistines? Let us
fetch the ark of our God from Shiloh so that it may come among us and rescue us
from the power of our enemies.’’ So the troops sent to Shiloh and brought away
the ark of the Lord of Hosts, he who is seated on the cherubs; the two sons of
Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, came with the ark. When the ark of the Lord arrived
in the camp, all Israel gave a great shout so that the earth resounded. When
the Philistines heard the noise of the shouting, they said, ‘What can this
great shouting in the Hebrew camp mean?’ And they realised that the ark of the
Lord had come into the camp. At this the Philistines were afraid; and they
said, ‘God has come to the camp.’ ‘Alas!’ they cried ‘This has never happened
before. Alas! Who will save us from the power of this mighty God? It was he who
struck down Egypt with every kind of plague! But take courage and be men,
Philistines, or you will become slaves to the Hebrews as they have been slaves
to you. Be men and fight.’ So the Philistines joined battle and Israel was
defeated, each man fleeing to his tent. The slaughter was great indeed, and
there fell of the Israelites thirty thousand foot soldiers. The ark of God was
captured too, and the two sons of Eli died, Hophni and Phinehas.
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm 43(44):10-11,14-15,24-25 ©
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Redeem us, O Lord, because of your love.
Yet now you have rejected us, disgraced us;
you no longer go forth with our armies.
You make us retreat from the foe
and our enemies plunder us at will.
Redeem us, O Lord, because of your love.
You make us the taunt of our neighbours,
the laughing-stock of all who are near.
Among the nations, you make us a byword,
among the peoples a thing of derision.
Redeem us, O Lord, because of your love.
Awake, O Lord, why do you sleep?
Arise, do not reject us for ever!
Why do you hide your face
and forget our oppression and misery?
Redeem us, O Lord, because of your love.
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Gospel Acclamation
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Ps118:88
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Because of your love give me life,
and I will do your will.
Alleluia!
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Or
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cf.Mt4:23
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Jesus proclaimed the Good News of the kingdom
and cured all kinds of sickness among the people.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Mark 1:40-45 ©
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A leper came to Jesus and pleaded on his knees: ‘If you want to’
he said ‘you can cure me.’ Feeling sorry for him, Jesus stretched out his hand
and touched him. ‘Of course I want to!’ he said. ‘Be cured!’ And the leprosy
left him at once and he was cured. Jesus immediately sent him away and sternly
ordered him, ‘Mind you say nothing to anyone, but go and show yourself to the
priest, and make the offering for your healing prescribed by Moses as evidence
of your recovery.’ The man went away, but then started talking about it freely
and telling the story everywhere, so that Jesus could no longer go openly into
any town, but had to stay outside in places where nobody lived. Even so, people
from all around would come to him.
SUPERSTITION
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ 1 SM 4:1-11; Mk 1:40-45
]
When we
experience failure at work or in ministry, we tend to blame others for our
difficulties.
We try to look for scapegoats for our mistakes. This was the case of the
Israelites. When they were defeated by the Philistines, “about four
thousand of their army were killed on the field”, they began to ask “Why has
the Lord allowed us to be defeated today by the Philistines?” Instead of
looking at themselves, the morale of the soldiers, the moral standards of the
officers, their military preparedness, they sought other reasons.
Oftentimes,
when we feel guilty about our sins, we can become overly superstitious. Instead of putting our
house in order, we think God is taking revenge on us. The
Israelites came to conclude that it was because the Ark of the Covenant was not
there. Instead of repenting for their sins, they took out the Ark of the
Covenant. They said, “Let us fetch the ark of our God from Shiloh so that
it may come among us and rescue us from the power of our enemies.’ So the
troops sent to Shiloh and brought away the ark of the Lord of hosts, he who is
seated on the cherubs; the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, came with the
ark. When the ark of the Lord arrived in the camp, all Israel gave a
great shout so that the earth resounded.” Religion became a means to
satisfy their selfish interests. Instead of being used by God and
allowing Him to work in our lives, we seek to make use of God and to control
how He is to fulfill our whims and fancies.
The
Israelites’ faith in God was based on a mere superstitious belief in the
mechanical action of God through the Ark of the Covenant, when in fact it was
but a symbol and a promise of His presence with them. Unless they were
open to His presence and faithful to His covenant, the Ark could not save them.
As a result, they were slaughtered by the Philistines. “So the
Philistines joined battle and Israel was defeated, each man fleeing to his
tent. The slaughter was great indeed, and there fell of the Israelites
thirty thousand foot soldiers. The Ark of God was captured too, and the
two sons of Eli died, Hophni and Phinehas.”
This is true
for many of us. There are many Catholics who hardly pray or attend Church
services regularly and least of all, live an upright life, but they would carry
their rosary and wear blessed medals for divine protection. Some think that if they wear
the scapular, they will be protected from all harm and be assured of salvation,
regardless what they do. Such thinking is no better than the way the
Israelites made use of the Ark of the Covenant. When we are not ready to
look into the source of our problems, we will end with more dire
consequences. Just blessed medals alone cannot protect us unless we have
a faith relationship with God. Unless we know Jesus, His strength and His
power, when it comes to the test of faith, we will falter. The blessed
medals can only protect us provided we believe in the power of the one whom the
medal represents. But this presupposes that we have a living
relationship with Jesus or Mary or the saints that are represented in the
medals. What the medal or scapular does for us is to help us to recall
the presence of the saints so that we will not be afraid or think that we are
alone in our time of difficulty.
What was the
real reason for the Israelites’ failure to defeat their enemies? It was their sinful life
that pushed God out of their lives. The leaders, including the religious
leaders, were laxed in their moral life. As a result, God had abandoned
them to themselves. Earlier on, the Lord said to Samuel, “On that day I
will fulfil against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from
beginning to end. And I tell him that I am about to punish his house for ever,
for the iniquity which he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God, and he
did not restrain them. Therefore I swear to the house of Eli that the iniquity
of Eli’s house shall not be expiated by sacrifice or offering for ever.”
(1 Sm 3:12-14)
Holiness of
life is essential to the success of our ministry. This is the key to
fruitfulness in ministry and work. But we also cannot be superstitious in
our relationship with God as the Israelites did over the Ark of the
Covenant. We must not treat our prayers like magic or instruments to
control God. Today, we must be like the leper who begged for healing.
We must begin by acknowledging our sins and our need for mercy. “Yet now
you have rejected us, disgraced us; you no longer go forth with our armies. You
make us retreat from the foe and our enemies plunder us at will. You make
us the taunt of our neighbours, the laughing-stock of all who are near. Among
the nations, you make us a byword, among the peoples a thing of
derision. Awake, O Lord, why do you sleep? Arise, do not
reject us forever! Why do you hide your face and forget our oppression and
misery?” We must confess our sins humbly, especially in the Sacrament of
reconciliation so that we can begin our relationship anew with the Lord.
Most of all,
we must listen to the Word of God attentively as Samuel did. This also explains why the
author said, “Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord under Eli. And the
word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision.” (1 Sm 3:1)
They could no longer hear the voice of God. Indeed, when our lives
are not in order, we cannot act in accordance with the will of God.
Without hearing the Word of God, we cannot act according to His word. If
we want to act in union with the Lord, we must seek His will. This is what
the Lord asks of us. “Every one then who hears
these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house
upon the rock; and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew
and beat upon that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on
the rock.” (Mt 7:24f)
Faith in
God’s power is dependent on us hearing the Word of God first. For this reason,
Jesus preached the Word before He healed. He instructed the disciples,
“And preach as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the
sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without
pay, give without pay.” (Mt 10:7f) He solicited faith in the person before He performed
the miracle. So too, in our healing ministry, the Word of God
always precedes the sacramental action. The Word of God comes before the
Liturgy of the Eucharist. Without faith the action that we perform would
be meaningless and lacking in power. Preaching must always be accompanied
by signs. “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole
creation. And these signs will accompany those who
believe.” (Mk 16:15f)
We ask the
Lord to redeem us because of His love. This is what the psalmist prayed.
We must place our confidence in His love for us. The leper approached
Jesus humbly and with trust in His love and power. He was assured
that Jesus would not reject him, for lepers were not supposed to come near to
the people. Jesus is ever ready to heal us and empower us, for that is
what He said, “A leper came to Jesus and pleaded on his knees: ‘If you want to’
he said ‘you can cure me.’ Feeling sorry for him, Jesus stretched out his
hand and touched him. ‘Of course I want to!’ he said. ‘Be
cured!’ And the leprosy left him at once and he was cured.”
Indeed, Jesus showed forth not just His power but His love by touching the
untouchables. Not only did Jesus heal his body but also his heart which
needed much acceptace and human love.
However, like
the leper, we must cooperate with His grace. He was told to see the
priest and make an offering. “Jesus immediately sent him away and sternly
ordered him, ‘Mind you say nothing to anyone, but go and show yourself to the
priest, and make the offering for your healing prescribed by Moses as evidence
of your recovery.’” We must cooperate in prayer and conversion of
life. Many of us are not fruitful in our ministry, nor in our workplace,
or even in family life because we are not living a righteous life.
St John Mary Vianney once asked a priest who lamented that his
ministry was not fruitful, whether he had prayed, fasted or did penance.
If he had not done all these, then he had no reason to complain. Let us
renew our love for the Lord, beg for His mercy and open our hearts to His
healing grace.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of
Singapore © All Rights Reserved
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