20180205 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE PRESENCE OF GOD AND SACRAMENTALS
05 FEBRUARY, 2018, Monday, 5th Week, Ordinary Time
Readings
at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Red.
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First reading
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1 Kings 8:1-7,9-13 ©
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The Ark of the Covenant is brought into the Temple
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Solomon called the elders of Israel together in Jerusalem to bring
the ark of the covenant of the Lord up from the Citadel of David, which is
Zion. All the men of Israel assembled round King Solomon in the month of
Ethanim, at the time of the feast (that is, the seventh month), and the priests
took up the ark and the Tent of Meeting with all the sacred vessels that were
in it. In the presence of the ark, King Solomon and all Israel sacrificed sheep
and oxen, countless, innumerable. The priests brought the ark of the covenant
of the Lord to its place, in the Debir of the Temple, that is, in the Holy of
Holies, under the cherubs’ wings. For there where the ark was placed the
cherubs spread out their wings and sheltered the ark and its shafts. There was
nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets Moses had placed in it at
Horeb, the tablets of the covenant which the Lord had made with the Israelites
when they came out of the land of Egypt; they are still there today.
Now when the
priests came out of the sanctuary, the cloud filled the Temple of the Lord, and
because of the cloud the priests could no longer perform their duties: the
glory of the Lord filled the Lord’s Temple.
Then Solomon
said:
‘The Lord has chosen to dwell in the thick cloud.
Yes, I have built you a dwelling,
a place for you to live in for ever.’
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm 131(132):6-10 ©
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Go up, Lord, to the place of your rest!
At Ephrata we heard of the ark;
we found it in the plains of Yearim.
‘Let us go to the place of his dwelling;
let us go to kneel at his footstool.’
Go up, Lord, to the place of your rest!
Go up, Lord, to the place of your rest,
you and the ark of your strength.
Your priests shall be clothed with holiness;
your faithful shall ring out their joy.
For the sake of David your servant
do not reject your anointed.
Go up, Lord, to the place of your rest!
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Gospel Acclamation
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Jn8:12
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Alleluia, alleluia!
I am the light of the world, says the Lord;
anyone who follows me will have the light of life.
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 6:53-56 ©
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All those who touched him were cured
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Having made the crossing, Jesus and his disciples came to land at
Gennesaret and tied up. No sooner had they stepped out of the boat than people
recognised him, and started hurrying all through the countryside and brought
the sick on stretchers to wherever they heard he was. And wherever he went, to
village, or town, or farm, they laid down the sick in the open spaces, begging
him to let them touch even the fringe of his cloak. And all those who touched
him were cured.
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE PRESENCE OF GOD AND SACRAMENTALS
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ 1KGS 8:1-7, 9-13; MK 6:53-56 ]
When we read the
gospel, we cannot but acknowledge that healing and exorcism occupy a
large part of Jesus’ ministry. Indeed, the miracles of Jesus comprise
one third of the components of the gospel. It would be difficult to
conceive of Jesus without His healing and deliverance ministry. At any
rate, if the people were attracted to Jesus in the first place, it was because
they needed some favour from Him, especially the sick. They desired
to be healed of their ailments and afflictions. Hence, the evangelist
recounts that “no sooner had they stepped out of the boat then people
recognised him, and started hurrying all through the countryside and brought
the sick on stretchers to wherever they heard he was. And wherever he
went, to village, or town, or farm, they laid down the sick in the open spaces,
begging to let them touch even the fringe of his cloak. And all those who
touched him were cured.”
Of course, if
the people turned to Jesus, it was because He was more than just a miracle
worker. For the people, He was the Visitation of God.
The people were all hungering to see the love of God in person, His compassion
and mercy. We can be certain that Jesus, by His healing miracles,
intended to demonstrate that His Father was a merciful and compassionate God
who cared for them and was one with them in their pain and struggles.
Secondarily, by healing them, His miracles were meant to reveal His identity as
the expected Messiah who would bring about the restoration of Israel and all of
humanity. He would be the Final Visitation of God and the eschatological
prophet that Israel was awaiting. At the same time, the miracles of the
Lord were meant to manifest His identity as the presence of God and His
identity as the Son of the Eternal Father. For Jesus ultimately was more
than a prophet but truly the love of God in person, the Eternal Son of the
Heavenly Father.
What people
are seeking today is to encounter the visible presence of God. The
world is hungry to see God, and not merely to just think about God or to know
about God. People need to see, feel and experience the touch of God,
otherwise God feels unreal and is mere cerebral knowledge. Inevitably,
the presence of God is mediated through tangible realities, through signs and
symbols including miracles. Isn’t that the reason for the
Incarnation? Isn’t the Incarnation the par excellence symbol of God’s
personal presence? If we do not need such signs and symbols to encounter
God, then there is no reason for the Incarnation. The Second Person of
the Trinity emptied Himself of His divinity so that we can encounter God in
human flesh and blood. This also explains why Jesus told His disciples in
John’s gospel, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the
Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as
well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” (Jn 14:6-7)
It is the constant teaching of the Church and of the scriptures that Jesus is
the Mediator to the Father. Only He can show us the face of the Father
because He is both God and Man.
Hence, we
must never compromise this truth even as we engage in inter-religious dialogue.
St Paul reiterates this when he wrote, exhorting us to pray for everyone
because “This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be
saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one
mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a
ransom for all men—the testimony given in its proper time.” (1 Tim 2:3-6)
To compromise our faith would be falling into false irenicism, that is the
attempt to unify religions at all costs but at the expense of compromising our
beliefs.
Indeed, the
warning of Pope Pius XII in his encyclical letter is still relevant in our
times as we foster and engage in inter-religious dialogue and ecumenism.
He warned, “Another danger is perceived which is all the more serious because
it is more concealed beneath the mask of virtue. There are many who, deploring
disagreement among men and intellectual confusion, through an imprudent zeal
for souls, are urged by a great and ardent desire to do away with the barrier
that divides good and honest men; these advocate an “irenism” setting aside the
questions which divide men ….reconciling things opposed to one another in
the field of dogma.’(Humani Generis 11)
The lack of
conviction among many Catholics and Christians about the unicity of Christ as
the Saviour of all humanity comes about because their faith in Christ has been
reduced to an intellectual study and knowledge of Him. Often, catechesis is
more concerned with the imparting of doctrines and knowledge about Jesus than
mediating the person of Jesus to our listeners. Many of us lack a
concrete encounter with Jesus as the Risen Lord. Many of us worship Him
as if He is a figure of the past, a historical figure whom we commemorate for
the good things He had done and His wise teachings. The proclamation of
the Lordship of Christ is hollow if we do not have a conscious experience of
His Lordship at work in our lives especially through miracles, healings or
simply a deep personal unforgettable encounter with Him in prayer and worship.
But how can
we encounter God if not through signs and symbols? In the first reading, we read
that when the Ark of the Covenant was brought in to be kept in the Holy of
Holies, the people all felt the sacred presence of God. As if it was not
sufficient, God authenticated and gave His assurance of His presence when He
hovered over them in the form of a cloud. We read, “Now when the priests
came out of the sanctuary, the cloud filled the Temple of the Lord, and because
of the cloud the priests could no longer perform their duties: the glory
of the Lord filled the Lord’s Temple. Then Solomon said: ‘The Lord has
chosen to dwell in the thick cloud. Yes, I have built you a dwelling, a place
for you to live for ever.’”
To us
Christians, Jesus is the New Temple of God. He is the personal presence
of God for us. He is the Sacrament, the sign and reality of the
Father. Jesus supersedes the Temple of Jerusalem. He comes to us as
man to manifest the Father’s love and mercy, through His teachings, miracles
and works of healing, forgiveness and identification with us. Just like
the people during the time of Jesus, we too need to touch the Lord.
Sometimes, Catholics are accused of being superstitious and of committing
idolatry simply because we use sacramentals besides the sacraments to relate
with God e.g. statues, holy water, blessed salt, etc. Behind Catholics’
reverence and use of such sacramentals is the need to touch and be
touched. Of course, no Catholic would ever think that a thing in itself
can heal, or that Jesus or the saints are in the statues.
But in
venerating such religious images, we are aided in our contact with the Lord not differently from
those people during the time of Jesus who begged “to let them touch even the
fringe of his cloak. And all those who touched him were cured.”
Were they being superstitious or simply expressing their faith in Jesus?
Were they condemned for doing such things? Even the woman with hemorrhage
was healed by touching the tassel of cloak of Jesus! (Mt 9:20)
So too we read how Peter and Paul healed the sick through the use of
sacramentals. “As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and
laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some
of them as he passed by. (Acts 5:15) “God did extraordinary miracles through
Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to
the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.”
(Acts 19:11-12)
In citing these
texts we are not advocating that our faith is reducible to sacramentals. What
saves us are not things but a personal relationship with the Lord in faith and
love. Hence, we must bear in mind that the celebration of the Liturgy
which is celebrated through the use of signs, symbols, things and gestures and
words must ultimately bring people to a conscious experience of the presence of
God. Otherwise we would have failed to mediate God’s presence to
them. Then our proclamation of the power of the Eucharist would be an
empty word, for if the people could be healed simply by touching the cloak of
Jesus, how much more when we touch Jesus, holding His body in our palms when we
receive Him in Holy Communion. Isn’t that what we solemnly declare before
the reception of communion at Mass, “Lord I am not worthy that you should enter
under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed”?
If we cannot
even experience the presence of the Sacred and the Lordship of Christ in the
celebration of the sacraments especially the Eucharist, how would we be able to
see the face of Christ in the secular world or in creation? The
purpose of worship is to enable us to encounter the face of God so that we can
encounter Him in the world, in every person, in our work and in our daily
lives. Only when we encounter His living presence in our lives, can we
then give hope to a hopeless world that Jesus, our Lord and Saviour, can rescue
them and heal them and free them from their pain and misery.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of
Singapore © All Rights Reserved
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