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OVERCOMING DESPAIR THROUGH FAITH IN CHRIST
20 MARCH, 2018, Tuesday, 5th Week of Lent
Readings
at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Violet.
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First reading
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Numbers 21:4-9 ©
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If anyone was bitten by a serpent, he looked up at the bronze
serpent and lived
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The Israelites left Mount Hor by the road to the Sea of Suph, to
skirt the land of Edom. On the way the people lost patience. They spoke against
God and against Moses, ‘Why did you bring us out of Egypt to die in this
wilderness? For there is neither bread nor water here; we are sick of this
unsatisfying food.’
At this God
sent fiery serpents among the people; their bite brought death to many in
Israel. The people came and said to Moses, ‘We have sinned by speaking against
the Lord and against you. Intercede for us with the Lord to save us from these
serpents.’ Moses interceded for the people, and the Lord answered him, ‘Make a
fiery serpent and put it on a standard. If anyone is bitten and looks at it, he
shall live.’ So Moses fashioned a bronze serpent which he put on a standard,
and if anyone was bitten by a serpent, he looked at the bronze serpent and
lived.
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm 101(102):2-3,16-21 ©
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O Lord, listen to my prayer and let my cry for
help reach you.
O Lord, listen to my prayer
and let my cry for help reach you.
Do not hide your face from me
in the day of my distress.
Turn your ear towards me
and answer me quickly when I call.
O Lord, listen to my prayer and let my cry for
help reach you.
The nations shall fear the name of the Lord
and all the earth’s kings your glory,
when the Lord shall build up Zion again
and appear in all his glory.
Then he will turn to the prayers of the helpless;
he will not despise their prayers.
O Lord, listen to my prayer and let my cry for
help reach you.
Let this be written for ages to come
that a people yet unborn may praise the Lord;
for the Lord leaned down from his sanctuary on high.
He looked down from heaven to the earth
that he might hear the groans of the prisoners
and free those condemned to die.
O Lord, listen to my prayer and let my cry for
help reach you.
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Gospel Acclamation
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Jn8:12
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Praise to you, O Christ, king of eternal glory!
I am the light of the world, says the Lord;
whoever follows me will have the light of life.
Praise to you, O Christ, king of eternal glory!
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Or:
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Praise to you, O Christ, king of eternal glory!
The seed is the word of God, Christ the sower;
whoever finds this seed will remain for ever.
Praise to you, O Christ, king of eternal glory!
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Gospel
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John 8:21-30 ©
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When you have lifted up the Son of Man then you will know that I
am He
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Jesus said to the Pharisees:
‘I am going away;
you will look for me
and you will die in your sin.
Where I am going, you cannot come.’
The Jews said to one another, ‘Will he kill himself? Is that what
he means by saying, “Where I am going, you cannot come”?’ Jesus went on:
‘You are from below; I am from above.
You are of this world; I am not of this world.
I have told you already:
You will die in your sins.
Yes, if you do not believe that I am He,
you will die in your sins.’
So they said to him, ‘Who are you?’ Jesus answered:
‘What I have told you from the outset.
About you I have much to say
and much to condemn;
but the one who sent me is truthful,
and what I have learnt from him
I declare to the world.’
They failed to understand that he was talking to them about the
Father. So Jesus said:
‘When you have lifted up the Son of Man,
then you will know that I am He
and that I do nothing of myself:
what the Father has taught me is what I preach;
he who sent me is with me,
and has not left me to myself,
for I always do what pleases him.’
As he was saying this, many came to believe in him.
OVERCOMING DESPAIR THROUGH FAITH IN CHRIST
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ NUMBERS 21:4-9; JOHN 8:21-30 ]
We can
empathize with the Israelites in the desert. Forty years is a long time
to be wandering round and round without arriving. We can imagine their
frustration and anger. They were in the desert, in the hot and cold, no
water and sometimes no food. Some were losing hope that the Promised Land
was just a dream.
In our trials
and difficulties we too will feel that God has abandoned us, especially when we
are walking through a tunnel, like suffering an incurable sickness, dealing with a rocky
marriage or a job that is difficult. When we see no end to our problems,
we cannot but give up hope in God. Some of us even become resentful of
Him for not caring for us. We too have our dreams of the Promised Land,
but along the way, we lose our direction in life because of difficulties or
challenges which seem too daunting for us to handle.
When we are
tempted to give up hope, what must we do? Complaining like them will do
us no good. St Paul wrote, “Do all things without murmuring and arguing, so
that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the
midst of a crooked and perverse generation, in which you shine like stars in
the world.” (Phil 2:14-18f) Indeed, they were punished for their lack
of faith and most of all, by their inability to accept God’s will and follow
His divine plan. They were bitten by the fiery serpents, symbolizing the
consequences of their sins of impatience, resentment and bitterness. So
lamenting and entering into depression will lead us to other sins. We
will eventually commit more sins, such as stealing, lying, and drinking,
destroying our lives. Indeed, those who complain and whine cannot find
life.
That was what Jesus
said to the Jews as well. “I am going away; you will look for me and you
will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.” Why
cannot we join Jesus in life and in heaven? According to Jesus, this
is because “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am
not of this world. I have told you already: You will die in your sins. Yes, if
you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.” Indeed,
because we do not look towards God and believe in Him and accept His divine
will, we will hurt ourselves by choosing our own path in life.
How, then,
should we act when we are in a dilemma?
We must first
begin by contemplating on our sins and the lack of faith. We must examine
our own lives. Socrates says that an unexamined life is not worth
living. The truth is that the Lord made the Israelites go such a long and
roundabout way round the Sinai Peninsula because He wanted them to mature in
faith so that they could fight their enemies when they entered the Promised
Land. God’s intention was to strengthen them physically and spiritually,
not to punish them. They were to be taught to trust in Him alone and no
one else. They were to be tested in fidelity and faith.
Suffering in
life too, is meant to strengthen us and transform us to be leaders in suffering
for others.
Last Sunday we read in Heb 5:7-9 how Christ submitted Himself so humbly in
obedience to the Father. Indeed, through our suffering we learn obedience
to God’s will. If we are obedient and surrender ourselves to His will, we
will find peace and freedom. In turn, like Jesus, we become a source of
inspiration to others. Life is a question of walking the way and
then showing the way. If we have not trod the path of suffering and
growth, we cannot be an inspiration to others to find their way.
This must be
followed by a humble acknowledgement and confession of sins. The people came and said to
Moses, “We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you. Intercede
for us with the Lord to save us from these serpents.” So long as we
repent, the Lord will come to our help. Truly, quite often in life,
during our time of suffering, we seek to find scapegoats for our woes.
Instead of acknowledging our faults and failings, we point the faults at
others, like the people who complained against Moses.
That is why
the cure for their sickness was to contemplate on the serpent lifted up on the
pole. “Moses interceded for the people, and the Lord answered him, ‘Make
a fiery serpent and put it on a standard. If anyone is bitten and looks at it,
he shall live.’ So Moses fashioned a bronze serpent which he put on a standard,
and if anyone was bitten by a serpent, he looked at the bronze serpent and
lived.” The Lord invites us to look at ourselves instead of blaming others for
their mistakes and folly. It is important that we begin with
self-examination if we want to seek healing and His divine wisdom.
We need to go
beyond contemplating on our sins. It is through knowing the consequences
of our sins that we can be led to repent. “Do not be deceived; God is not mocked,
for you reap whatever you sow. If you sow to your own flesh, you will
reap corruption from the flesh; but if you sow to the Spirit, you will reap
eternal life from the Spirit. So let us not grow weary in
doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up. So
then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all, and
especially for those of the family of faith.” (Gal 6:7-10)
But it is not enough. We do not have the strength to do the right thing.
Hence, this
serpent anticipates the cross of Jesus when He too was lifted up. We are
invited to contemplate on the love of Christ on the Cross. Jesus said, “When you have
lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He and that I do nothing
of myself: what the Father has taught me is what I preach; he who sent me is
with me, and has not left me to myself, for I always do what pleases him’.
As he was saying this, many came to believe in him.” In contemplating on
His love, we can repent because of His love for us. When we
think of how much He suffered for us and how He was tempted for us and suffered
for our sake, we will be able to carry our cross for the love of Jesus and our
loved ones even though they might be difficult to love, especially our young
people or unreasonable parents.
When we
reflect on God’s wondrous love, we cannot but be assured that He will help us
to overcome every trial. “But God proves his love for us in that while we still were
sinners Christ died for us. Much more surely then, now that we have been
justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God.
For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death
of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his
life. But more than that, we even boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
through whom we have now received reconciliation.” (Rom 5:8-11)
But again
love might not be enough to help us to continue because of the lack of
certainty. Reflecting on the resurrection will give us hope that suffering
and death have been overcome and eventually those who have faith in God will
find life. Love can enable us to do many things but humanly we are
weak. That is why we need a clear confidence in the final victory and
most of all, the Holy Spirit to give us the strength to love as He has loved
us. The Holy Spirit, we know, is the love of God that is poured
into our hearts. For that reason, we must contemplate on His
resurrection. Being lifted up is also a symbol of the resurrection when
the Father raised Jesus from the dead.
However, this
is not the crown of faith. It is when we reflect on the mystery of the
identity of Christ as the Son of God, the love of God in person. Only by contemplating
on the fact that this person who died for us is the Son of God, as in the
letter of St Paul to the Philippians, can we find life. Hence, the gospel
asks, “Do we know who He truly is?” Jesus answered, “What I have told you
from the outset. About you I have much to say and much to condemn; but the one
who sent me is truthful, and what I have learnt from him I declare to the
world.”
He is none
other than the Father’s only Son. “You will know that I am He and that I do
nothing of myself: what the Father has taught me is what I preach; he who sent
me is with me, and has not left me to myself, for I always do what pleases
him.” The death and resurrection of Jesus will be the credentials
that express the Father’s heart of love and mercy; and the resurrection as the
endorsement of His message and identity.
As we prepare
for the celebration of the Easter Mysteries, especially the Eucharist
which is the celebration of His passion, death and resurrection, let us deepen
our contemplation on His love and mercy in the passion and the resurrection.
Let us come to Jesus as He invites us, when He said, “Come to me, all you
that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” (Mt 11:28)
May our contemplation on His death and resurrection lead us to share in His resurrection
and glory as we die to ourselves with Him and find new life, love, and hope!
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of
Singapore © All Rights Reserved
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