20180221
THE UNCONVERTED CONVERTED
21 FEBRUARY, 2018, Wednesday, 1st Week of Lent
Readings
at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Violet.
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First reading
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Jonah 3:1-10 ©
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The Ninevites repent, and God spares them
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The word of the Lord was addressed a second time to Jonah: ‘Up!’
he said ‘Go to Nineveh, the great city, and preach to them as I told you to.’
Jonah set out and went to Nineveh in obedience to the word of the Lord. Now
Nineveh was a city great beyond compare: it took three days to cross it. Jonah
went on into the city, making a day’s journey. He preached in these words,
‘Only forty days more and Nineveh is going to be destroyed.’ And the people of
Nineveh believed in God; they proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth, from the
greatest to the least. The news reached the king of Nineveh, who rose from his
throne, took off his robe, put on sackcloth and sat down in ashes. A
proclamation was then promulgated throughout Nineveh, by decree of the king and
his ministers, as follows: ‘Men and beasts, herds and flocks, are to taste
nothing; they must not eat, they must not drink water. All are to put on
sackcloth and call on God with all their might; and let everyone renounce his
evil behaviour and the wicked things he has done. Who knows if God will not
change his mind and relent, if he will not renounce his burning wrath, so that
we do not perish?’ God saw their efforts to renounce their evil behaviour, and
God relented: he did not inflict on them the disaster which he had threatened.
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm 50(51):3-4,12-13,18-19 ©
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A humbled, contrite heart, O God, you will not
spurn.
Have mercy on me, God, in your kindness.
In your compassion blot out my offence.
O wash me more and more from my guilt
and cleanse me from my sin.
A humbled, contrite heart, O God, you will not
spurn.
A pure heart create for me, O God,
put a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from your presence,
nor deprive me of your holy spirit.
A humbled, contrite heart, O God, you will not
spurn.
For in sacrifice you take no delight,
burnt offering from me you would refuse,
my sacrifice, a contrite spirit.
A humbled, contrite heart you will not spurn.
A humbled, contrite heart, O God, you will not
spurn.
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Gospel Acclamation
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Ezk33:11
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Glory and praise to you, O Christ!
I take pleasure, not in the death of a wicked man
– it is the Lord who speaks –
but in the turning back of a wicked man
who changes his ways to win life.
Glory and praise to you, O Christ!
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Or
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Joel2:12-13
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Glory and praise to you, O Christ!
Now, now – it is the Lord who speaks –
come back to me with all your heart,
for I am all tenderness and compassion.
Glory and praise to you, O Christ!
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Gospel
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Luke 11:29-32 ©
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As Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man
be a sign
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The crowds got even bigger, and Jesus addressed them:
‘This is a
wicked generation; it is asking for a sign. The only sign it will be given is
the sign of Jonah. For just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will
the Son of Man be to this generation. On Judgement day the Queen of the South
will rise up with the men of this generation and condemn them, because she came
from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and there is
something greater than Solomon here. On Judgement day the men of Nineveh will
stand up with this generation and condemn it, because when Jonah preached they
repented; and there is something greater than Jonah here.’
THE UNCONVERTED CONVERTED
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ Jonah 3:1-10; Ps 51:3-4,12-13,18-19; Luke 11:29-32 ]
The call to
repentance and conversion is often heard and responded to by those who are
non-Catholic and those who consider themselves great sinners; more so than by
those who are already in the Church. This precisely was the feeling that Jesus had when He tried
to preach to His own people about conversion. In spite of His preaching
and the miracles He worked, the people remained unconverted, especially the
Jewish leaders. Indeed, the gospel says, “The crowds got even bigger and
Jesus addressed them, “This is a wicked generation; it is asking for a
sign. The only sign it will be given is the sign of Jonah. For just as
Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this
generation.” Jesus was of course referring to His passion, death and
resurrection, which would be the ultimate sign that He was from God. Just as
Jonah was in the belly of the whale for three days, Jesus was in the tomb for
three days before He rose from the dead.
But greater
is the judgement on those who have had the privilege of seeing Christ and yet
remain unconverted. This was the warning of Jesus to His contemporaries. “On Judgement day the
Queen of the South will rise up with the men of this generation and condemn
them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of
Solomon; and there is something greater than Solomon here. On Judgement day the
men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation and condemn it, because when
Jonah preached they repented; and there is something greater than Jonah here.”
Indeed, this
is the tragedy of life, that we do not appreciate what we have. We tend to take our
privileges for granted. This is true for us Catholics as well. We
have 2000 years of testimony of God’s love in Christ. We have 2000 years
of tradition and spirituality in the Church where many have encountered the
Lord. We have all the means to salvation, especially the
sacraments. Many of us have easy access to the Eucharist, just a 5 to 10
minutes’ drive from our house. In many Churches, there are talks
and retreats and prayer services held. In terms of knowledge and
information, the internet gives all kinds of information about the Catholic
faith, including homilies and talks on video and you-tube. So we are not
short of access and avenues to grow in the faith.
Yet many of
us are indifferent to the call to repentance. Our response is
half-hearted.
We might go for Penitential service just before Christmas and Easter. But
it is merely a routine confession, saying the same old sins without making any
effort to overcome them. We are just happy to have a superficial
confession, but there is no real examination of conscience, no serious
preparation – just a routine. This explains why such confessions will not
change lives because our sins are forgiven only when we confess them fully and
sincerely with a humble and contrite heart. Like King David, we must be
genuinely sorry for our sins in order to find the forgiveness of God.
“Have mercy on me, God, in your kindness. In your compassion blot out my
offence. O wash me more and more from my guilt and cleanse me from my
sin. For in sacrifice you take no delight, burnt offering from me you would
refuse, my sacrifice, a contrite spirit. A humbled, contrite heart you
will not spurn.”
This was the
case of the Ninevites when they heard the preaching of Jonah. They were pagans but
when they heard that Nineveh was going to be destroyed, “the people of
Nineveh believed in God; they proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth, from the
greatest to the least. The news reached the king of Nineveh, who rose from his
throne, took off his robe, put on sackcloth and sat down in ashes. A
proclamation was then promulgated throughout Nineveh, by decree of the king and
his ministers.”
Not only did
they fast, but they also renounced their evil behaviour and the wicked things
they had done. They had confidence in God’s mercy saying, “Who knows
if God will not change his mind and relent, if he will not renounce his burning
wrath, so that we do not perish?” Indeed, “God saw their efforts to
renounce their evil behaviour. And God relented: he did not inflict on them the
disaster which he threatened.” A contrite heart is not simply one that
feels remorseful for one’s sinful actions and past but it is a heart that takes
the necessary actions as well to change one’s way of life. Indeed, all
that God wants of us is that we change our lives so that no harm would befall
us. God wants us to repent, not to punish us. He allows us to
suffer the consequences of our sins in order that we will stop doing things
that will hurt us eventually. Hence, it must be clearly understood that
even the penance that is imposed on us after we make our confession is not to
be seen as a punishment for the offences we committed. Rather, they are
means that the Church provides to help us make amends for our sins and to
strengthen our spiritual life so that we can ward off future temptations.
Why, then, is
it so difficult to preach repentance and conversion to those who are already
coming to Church? Firstly, many of us have spiritual pride. We think we know much
about the Church and the doctrines. We have heard the same messages
read and preached in different ways by the priests. Intellectually, we
might know much about the teaching and doctrines of the Church. However,
they are merely knowledge on the cerebral level. Such knowledge does not
engage our entire being. It does not engage our heart. Therefore
our hearts are not moved. What we do not feel, we remain detached.
Our hearts are hardened and numbed, like the Israelites and the contemporaries
of Jesus. Whereas for the real sinners and the common people, they take
the Word of God to heart. They recognize their failures in living up to
the gospel life. Like the early converts after hearing the first
sermon of Peter, “they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and to the other
apostles, ‘Brothers, what should we do?’” (Acts 2:37)
Secondly,
because of familiarity. Indeed, it is said that familiarity breeds
contempt.
We often take for granted the love of our spouse, the care of our parents and
our friends until they are taken away from us. We do not appreciate the
freedom of worship until one day we are deprived of it, as in some
countries. Not only does familiarity breed contempt, but it brings about
the loss of the sense of the Sacred. This is particularly true for Church
ministers, including the lay ministers. We handle the Eucharist and our
sacred items so often that we lose the sense of the sacred. When we lose
our taste for the sacred and sacred things, we merely go through the motions;
there is no real contact with God. It is worship without a relationship.
Thirdly, it is
because of routine. Sometimes, we can be performing sacred actions without any real
consciousness of what we are doing, be it celebrating the mass, hearing
confessions or distributing Holy Communion. We forget what we are doing
and what we are celebrating, unlike our first encounter, when we felt the
closeness of God. Or when we are before the Blessed Sacrament
for adoration or for mass. Initially we may feel His presence, but when
we get used to it, it can become just a routine. This is how Catholics
behave. They attend mass and say their prayers in a perfunctory
manner. This was how Isaiah condemned the people, The Lord said: “these
people draw near with their mouths and honor me with their lips, while their
hearts are far from me, and their worship of me is a human commandment learned
by rote.” (Isa 29:13)
So today, we
are called to be humble and have a contrite heart. Let us hear the
message even if it were the same one, not just as words or something that we
have heard before. Christ is speaking to us directly. St Paul calls us to
accept the Word of God that is preached, “not as a human word but as what it
really is, God’s word, which is also at work in you believers.” (1 Th 2:13)
Let the psalmist’s words be ours as well, “A pure heart create for me, O God,
put a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast away from your
presence.” Let us be conscious of His love and mercy for us so that
we can repent and treasure His presence once again.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of
Singapore © All Rights Reserved
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