20180630
THE TRAGEDY OF A ROUTINE AND NOMINAL FAITH
Readings at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Green.
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First reading
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Lamentations 2:2,10-14,18-19 ©
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Cry aloud to the Lord, daughter of Zion
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Beth
The Lord has pitilessly destroyed
all the homes of Jacob;
in his displeasure he has shattered
the strongholds of the daughter of Judah;
he has thrown to the ground,
he has left accursed the kingdom and its rulers.
Yod
Mutely they sit on the ground,
the elders of the daughter of Zion;
they have put dust on their heads,
and wrapped themselves in sackcloth.
The virgins of Jerusalem hang their heads
down to the ground.
Kaph
My eyes wasted away with weeping,
my entrails shuddered,
my liver spilled on the ground
at the ruin of the daughters of my people,
as children, mere infants, fainted
in the squares of the Citadel.
Lamed
They kept saying to their mothers,
‘Where is the bread?’
as they fainted like wounded men
in the squares of the City,
as they poured out their souls
on their mothers’ breasts.
Mem
How can I describe you, to what compare you,
daughter of Jerusalem?
Who can rescue and comfort you,
virgin daughter of Zion?
For huge as the sea is your affliction;
who can possibly cure you?
Nun
The visions your prophets had on your behalf
were delusive, tinsel things,
they never pointed out your sin,
to ward off your exile.
The visions they proffered you were false,
fallacious, misleading.
Sade
Cry aloud, then, to the Lord,
groan, daughter of Zion;
let your tears flow like a torrent,
day and night;
give yourself no relief,
grant your eyes no rest.
Qoph
Up, cry out in the night-time,
in the early hours of darkness;
pour your heart out like water
before the Lord.
Stretch out your hands to him
for the lives of your children
who faint with hunger at the entrance to every street.
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm 73(74):1-7,20-21 ©
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Do not forget your poor servants for ever.
Why, O God, have you cast us off for ever?
Why blaze with anger at the sheep of your pasture?
Remember your people whom you chose long ago,
the tribe you redeemed to be your own possession,
the mountain of Zion where you made your dwelling.
Do not forget your poor servants for ever.
Turn your steps to these places that are utterly ruined!
The enemy has laid waste the whole of the sanctuary.
Your foes have made uproar in your house of prayer:
they have set up their emblems, their foreign emblems,
high above the entrance to the sanctuary.
Do not forget your poor servants for ever.
Their axes have battered the wood of its doors.
They have struck together with hatchet and pickaxe.
O God, they have set your sanctuary on fire:
they have razed and profaned the place where you
dwell.
Do not forget your poor servants for ever.
Remember your covenant; every cave in the land
is a place where violence makes its home.
Do not let the oppressed return disappointed;
let the poor and the needy bless your name.
Do not forget your poor servants for ever.
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Gospel Acclamation
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cf.2Tim1:10
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Our Saviour Jesus Christ abolished death
and he has proclaimed life through the Good News.
Alleluia!
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Or:
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Mt8:17
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Alleluia, alleluia!
He took our sicknesses away,
and carried our diseases for us.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Matthew 8:5-17 ©
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'I am not worthy to have you under my roof: give the word, and
my servant will be healed'
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When Jesus went into Capernaum a centurion came up and pleaded
with him. ‘Sir,’ he said ‘my servant is lying at home paralysed, and in great
pain.’ ‘I will come myself and cure him’ said Jesus. The centurion replied,
‘Sir, I am not worthy to have you under my roof; just give the word and my
servant will be cured. For I am under authority myself, and have soldiers under
me; and I say to one man: Go, and he goes; to another: Come here, and he comes;
to my servant: Do this, and he does it.’ When Jesus heard this he was
astonished and said to those following him, ‘I tell you solemnly, nowhere in
Israel have I found faith like this. And I tell you that many will come from
east and west to take their places with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob at the
feast in the kingdom of heaven; but the subjects of the kingdom will be turned
out into the dark, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth.’ And to
the centurion Jesus said, ‘Go back, then; you have believed, so let this be
done for you.’ And the servant was cured at that moment.
And going
into Peter’s house Jesus found Peter’s mother-in-law in bed with fever. He
touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on
him.
That evening
they brought him many who were possessed by devils. He cast out the spirits
with a word and cured all who were sick. This was to fulfil the prophecy of
Isaiah:
He took our sicknesses away and carried our diseases for us.
30 JUNE, 2018, Saturday, 12th Week,
Ordinary Time
THE TRAGEDY OF A ROUTINE AND NOMINAL FAITH
“When Jesus
heard this he was astonished and said to those following him, ‘I tell
you solemnly, nowhere in Israel have I found faith like this. And I
tell you that many will come from east and west to take their places with
Abraham and Isaac and Jacob at the feast on the kingdom of heaven; but the
subjects of the kingdom will be turned out into the dark, where there will be
weeping and grinding of teeth.’” Such was the judgment of the faith of
the Jews, especially the religious leaders. The remark of Jesus
surely would have been a scandal to the Jews because they thought they were the
chosen people of God and therefore guaranteed of a place in the Kingdom.
To add salt to the wound, Jesus ventured further to declare that the sinners
and gentiles from the four corners of the earth would find themselves in the
kingdom of God, but the Jews would be left out. What is said of them is
also applicable to us Catholics as well. Why is this warning so real for
us?
The truth is
that we Catholics, like the Jews, tend to take our faith for granted. Many of us are cradle
Catholics, baptized when we were infants. Our parents made the act of
faith on our behalf when we were still unable to make our personal profession
of faith in Christ. Unfortunately, although we are supposed to make the
faith of our parents our own personally over the years, sometimes it does not
take place. We grow up in a Catholic milieu and we imbibe the faith like
a culture, that is to say, we are conditioned into it without understanding
what or why we are doing or what we do. Indeed, many of us never question
our culture or the customs we practice because everyone else is doing it.
But without understanding the value of the cultural practices, it becomes
routine, perfunctory and sometimes even superstitious.
Indeed, the
irony of life is that those who have to pay a price for what they believe in
tend to make better citizens or committed faith believers. When faith is given
to us on a platter, it ends up as cheap grace. When a gift is given
freely without us realizing the cost, we do not really appreciate what we
receive. This is true for the modern generation because they grow up
with all the comforts of life, unlike those who were born 50 years ago when
Singapore was then still poor. Some Singaporeans take their country for
granted and hence they lack patriotism. As for faith, many Catholics do
not treasure or cherish the faith that was brought to us by our forefathers and
the French missionaries who paid a heavy price to travel to foreign lands and
made much sacrifices for the local Church.
The gospel
speaks of the faith of the Centurion. He did not take Jesus for granted. He was firstly a
Roman, hated by the Jews. Secondly, he was of stature in terms of rank,
power and wealth. Yet, he humbled himself to come to the Lord seeking His
help. He was conscious of his position with respect to the Jews and also
sensitive to their customs. This explains why he did not want to trouble
the Lord to go to his house and be contaminated ritually. He had total
faith in the Lord whom he believed could heal from afar, since He was a man of
God. He was most grateful that Jesus would even consider his request and
dared not ask for more.
When we take
our faith for granted, like the Jews who thought they were the chosen people of
God and, based on that promise, assured of salvation, we will become complacent
in our relationship with God. We cannot depend and rely on heritage when it
comes to faith because faith is a personal thing. Faith is not a thing
but a personal relationship with God. We cannot depend simply on the fact
that we are Catholic, or that we were baptized and therefore grace works
without the need for our human cooperation. On the contrary, grace
perfects nature, but does not work without the assistance of nature.
Many
Catholics do not find their faith liberating and empowering, simply because of
routine practices. Day in day out, Sunday after Sunday, year after year, they would
go to Church and practise the faith like a ritual without personal conviction
or understanding. They do not grow in relationship with the Lord.
Often, what they do is done in a superstitious manner, either for fear of
punishment or condemnation. No wonder a day would come when they suddenly
awake from their ignorance because someone challenged them in their faith or
because of a crisis in their life. When that happens, often it is too late
to reach out to them because they have found God in another church or in
another religion. If God is experienced outside the Catholic faith, they
will leave the Church. The truth is not because the Catholic faith cannot
mediate the presence and the love of God but simply because we allow our
Catholics to live on a nominal, routine and superficial faith. We do not
help them to deepen their faith and their relationship with Christ, either
intellectually or personally.
What are the
consequences of a ritualistic and mechanical faith? We will face the same
tragic consequences as the first reading from the Book of Lamentations tells
us.
The prophet Jeremiah lamented over the state of Israel. Both the Northern
Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah were destroyed and all were
taken captives by the Assyrians and the Babylonians respectively. The
responsorial psalm sums up the sentiments of the Israelites in their national
tragedy when he cried out, “Why, O God, have you cast us off forever?
Turn your steps to these places that are utterly ruined! The enemy has
laid waste the whole of the sanctuary. Your foes have made uproar in your house
of prayer: they have set up their emblems, their foreign emblems, high above
the entrance to the sanctuary. Their axes have battered the wood of its doors.
They have struck together with hatchet and pickaxe. O God, they have set your
sanctuary on fire: they have razed and profaned the place where you dwell.”
Like the
Israelites, we will suffer not just the loss of our faith but eventually our
people will be destroyed due to moral and spiritual decadence. When a country loses
her soul and sells herself to materialism, consumerism, power and glory, its
people will end up with an impoverished soul, without strong ethical values of
integrity, honesty, compassion and tolerance. This will surely lead to
the country’s perdition. This is already happening all over the world.
With the family institution weakened because of globalization and migration,
coupled with the instability of marriages, our young people no longer come from
loving, stable and good families. They lack models and mentors for faith
and life. How shortsighted the world has become! We are only
concerned with economic progress and technological advancement but we are not
paying attention to the ethical values of our people. How can a nation
ever sustain itself without moral integrity, justice and compassion, especially
for the weak and the poor?
The cause is
always a weak faith in God. Our religious practices are routine, external, and
our doctrines empty, because our hearts are not with God. It is a dead faith. Such
faith cannot give us life abundantly. History repeats itself but no one
takes history seriously until it is too late to regret, like the Israelites.
Unfortunately, like them, we are stubborn and incorrigible till we suffer the
full consequences of our sins and negligence. Only then will we,
like them, cry out to the Lord and return to Him. Jeremiah said, “Cry
aloud, then, to the Lord, groan, daughter of Zion; let your tears flow like a
torrent, day and night; give yourself no relief, grant your eyes no rest. Up,
cry out in the night-time, in the early hours of darkness; pour your heart out
like water before the Lord. Stretch out your hands to him for the lives of your
children who faint with hunger at the entrance to every street.”
Still, the
Lord never rejects us. He comes to forgive and heal. In the gospel, we
read that He has come to carry our infirmities. “They bought him many who
were possessed by devils. He cast out the spirits with a word and cured
all who were sick. This was to fulfil the prophecy of Isaiah: He took our
sicknesses away and carried our diseases for us.” So with faith and a
humble heart, like the Centurion, let us turn to the Lord and beg for His
mercy.
Most of all,
imitating Peter’s mother-in-law who was healed by the Lord, we must now serve
Him with all our heart. We must never forget that once healed and forgiven, we are
restored for service to the Lord and His people. Health is never for
ourselves but for the service of others. So, let us be grateful
like Peter’s mother-in-law so that out of gratitude, we will not take our faith
for granted but endeavour to deepen our faith in Christ and our relationship
with Him. Only a personal faith in the authority and the person of Jesus
could help us to live our lives meaningfully and courageously. We are
called to cling to His word like the Centurion, believing that His word gives
us life.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of
Singapore © All Rights Reserved
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