20180730
A CHURCH THAT REACHES OUT
30 JULY, 2018, Monday, 17th Week,
Ordinary Time
Readings at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Green.
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First reading
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Jeremiah 13:1-11 ©
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Let this evil people become good for nothing
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The Lord said this to me, ‘Go and buy a linen loincloth and put it
round your waist. But do not dip it in water.’ And so, as the Lord had ordered,
I bought a loincloth and put it round my waist. A second time the word of the
Lord was spoken to me, ‘Take the loincloth that you have bought and are wearing
round your waist; up! Go to the Euphrates and hide it in a hole in the rock.’
So I went and hid it near the Euphrates as the Lord had ordered me. Many days
afterwards the Lord said to me, ‘Get up and go to the Euphrates and fetch the
loincloth I ordered you to hide there.’ So I went to the Euphrates, and I
searched, and I took the loincloth from the place where I had hidden it. The
loincloth was spoilt, good for nothing. Then the word of the Lord was addressed
to me, Thus says the Lord: In the same way I will spoil the arrogance of Judah
and Jerusalem. This evil people who refuse to listen to my words, who follow
the dictates of their own hard hearts, who have followed alien gods, and served
them and worshipped them, let them become like this loincloth, good for
nothing. For just as a loincloth clings to a man’s waist, so I had intended the
whole House of Judah to cling to me – it is the Lord who speaks – to
be my people, my glory, my honour and my boast. But they have not listened.’
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Responsorial Psalm
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Deuteronomy 32:18-21 ©
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You forget the God who fathered you.
You forget the Rock who begot you,
unmindful now of the God who fathered you.
The Lord has seen this, and in his anger
cast off his sons and his daughters.
You forget the God who fathered you.
‘I shall hide my face from them,’ he says
‘and see what becomes of them.
For they are a deceitful brood,
children with no loyalty in them.
You forget the God who fathered you.
‘They have roused me to jealousy with what is no god,
they have angered me with their beings of nothing;
I, then, will rouse them to jealousy with what is no people,
I will anger them with an empty-headed nation.’
You forget the God who fathered you.
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Gospel Acclamation
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cf.2Th2:14
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Through the Good News God called us
to share the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Alleluia!
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Or:
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James1:18
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Alleluia, alleluia!
By his own choice the Father made us his children
by the message of the truth,
so that we should be a sort of first-fruits
of all that he created.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Matthew 13:31-35 ©
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The smallest of all seeds grows into the biggest shrub of all
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Jesus put a parable before the crowds: ‘The kingdom of heaven is
like a mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest
of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the biggest shrub of all and
becomes a tree so that the birds of the air come and shelter in its branches.’
He told them
another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like the yeast a woman took and
mixed in with three measures of flour till it was leavened all through.’
In all this
Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables; indeed, he would never speak to them
except in parables. This was to fulfil the prophecy:
I will speak to you in parables
and expound things hidden since the foundation of the world.
A CHURCH THAT REACHES OUT
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [JER 13:1-11; DT 32:18-21; MT 13:31-35
]
What does it
mean to be “church”? The Church is an assembly of believers. But the Church does
not exist for herself. She comes together so that the Church could be the
light of the World and the salt of the earth. The Church by its very
nature is missionary and outward going. The Church exists for the world
and to bring all into fellowship with the Father through the Son in the Holy
Spirit so that we all can become one family of God united in love and peace.
Today’s
parables in the gospel speak of the two-fold nature of the Church, one is
inward and the other is outward. In the first parable of the mustard
seed, the Lord described the Church as the budding of the Kingdom of God. The Church is not
identical with the Kingdom of God but she seeks to make the Kingdom of God
present in her. Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed which
a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all the seeds,
but when it is grown it is the biggest shrub of all and becomes a tree so that
the birds of the air come and shelter in its branches.”
The Church
therefore is called to be a visible body in the world. She is to be the
tree so that all can come and take shelter in it. Indeed, the Church exists
for the world, to draw people to Christ. As the Lord said, “Come to
me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you
rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and
humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is
easy and my burden is light.” (Mt 11:28-30)
She is an oasis for those who yearn for God, those who need to be refreshed and
strengthened. She is a hospital for those who are sick, wounded
spiritually and emotionally or discouraged in life. Indeed, the Church is
for all those who are weary and seeking consolation.
She is the
Light of the World. “You are the light of the world. A town built on a
hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a
bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the
house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they
may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Mt 5:14)
The Church as the Body of Christ therefore seeks to give direction and purpose
to those who are seeking the meaning of life by leading them to the truth and
growing in authentic love. St Paul described it as “the church of the
living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.” (1 Tim 3:15)
However, the
Church cannot be inward-looking, simply attending to the needs of her members,
as if it is an exclusive club. The Church must be out in the world,
immersed in the lives of people, whether they are believers or not. This is what the Lord meant
when He said, “The kingdom of heaven is like the yeast a women took and mixed
in with three measures of flour till it was leavened all through.” As
yeast, we are called to be a transforming agent in the world. Christians
must therefore be involved in the lives of people. They cannot isolate
themselves from the rest of society if they are to be a transforming agent in society.
That is why the proper mission of the laity is in the world. The
laity is called to be the salt of the earth. (cf Mt 5:13)
They are to make the presence and love of Christ present in society. If
today the world is so secularized, it is because Christians have failed to
evangelize the world. Either we change the world to become more
Christ-like or we allow the world to transform us. To be the yeast is to
transform society by our participation in the lives of the people in the
social, economic, political and cultural fields.
In the light
of how Jesus described the nature of the Kingdom of God, which the Church is
called to be, we must therefore examine how we as Catholics, both as individuals
and as a collective body, whether as a diocese, parish or organization,
function as Church. Can we honestly say that our Church has shown itself to be the
shelter for the lonely, the troubled, the lost and the marginalized? In
fact, we seem to be offering our services to those who are healthy, those who
are well off, and those who do not give us trouble or make themselves a
nuisance. We come to serve the healthy, not so much the weak. But
this is contrary to what the Lord asks of us. “It is not the healthy who
need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire
mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but
sinners.” (Mt 9:12f)
Jesus demonstrated
this reaching out to the sick and lost in His ministry. “Jesus went
through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming
the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When
he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed
and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” (Mt 9:35-36)
If we have not shown ourselves to be a compassionate, tolerant, forgiving and
all-embracing Church, then we have failed in our calling to be the light to the
world. If we claim to be that light of Christ to the world, then we need
to ask whether our community is growing not just in strength and in numbers but
in depth. If we have been a light in the world, why is it that in an
average parish of 6000 Catholics, we have hardly forty adult baptisms a
year? Where is the impact of our witnessing?
Secondly, in
terms of outreach in society, again we need to ask whether as a Church we are
reaching out to those living around us, in our parish boundary or even beyond. There is a danger of
us being too parochial-minded to the extent that we have lost our real purpose
as Church. Some Catholics are very contented to just build up their
parish, their church organizations and their neighbourhood groups. It is
about growing their church, making it vibrant and active. Of course it is
necessary to grow the faith of the members, but it must be for the sake of
mission. Otherwise, it would be like building an enclave without any real
interaction with people outside the church. Such a church is
self-centered, self-seeking and cares more for herself than the world.
When we do
not take the trouble to invite our friends and our neigbours to church, or to
join us for our social and cultural activities, then we are not acting as a
transforming agent of society. Just focusing on ourselves, our needs and our
growth without caring for the larger community, seeking to know them,
establishing friendships, mutual understanding and respect, and even working
together on social projects, is to have failed in our service to the bigger
community. Most of our parish projects and activities are targeted only
at our parishioners. There is a lack of consciousness of the obligation
to reach out beyond the confines of their parish. The parish cannot just
take care of herself, neglecting the larger Church, the needs of the diocese,
the larger society within their parish and the nation at large. So to be
a transforming agent, as a parish, a church, a diocese and as individuals, we
must make it a point to make new contacts who are not Catholic so that we can
share the Good News with them in words and in deeds and, most of all, by our
exemplary life of dedication to our work, to the poor and the suffering.
Today, the
first reading reminds us that we are the “loincloth” of the Lord. The loincloth is the
most intimate part of a man’s clothing. It is like our underwear.
Israel was supposed to be God’s loincloth. Instead, the loincloth was
hidden in a hole in a rock. Jeremiah was instructed to retrieve it after
some time. “I searched, and I took the loincloth from the place where I had
hidden it. The loincloth was spoilt, good for nothing.” Indeed, when we
keep our faith hidden from others, we will become that loincloth, good for
nothing. This was what happened to Israel. The Lord says, “I will
spoil the arrogance of Judah and Jerusalem. This evil people who refuse to
listen to my words, who follow the dictates of their own hard hearts, who have
followed alien gods, and served them and worshipped them, let them become like
this loincloth, good for nothing.”
This parable
also reminds us that if we do not keep ourselves close to the Lord, like the
loincloth, we will lose our fervor for the mission, and our intimacy with Him. By not staying close
with the Lord, we will end up inward- looking, self-centred and caring for our
interests rather than the Lord’s flock. “For just as a
loincloth clings to a man’s waist, so I had intended the whole House of Judah
to cling to me to be my people, my glory, my honour and my boast. But they
have not listened.”
Indeed, let
us not forget our calling to be God’s instruments of peace and love, not just
to our brothers and sisters but also to all peoples who are seeking peace, love
and truth. The psalmist warns us, “You forget the Rock who begot you, unmindful
now of the God who fathered you. The Lord has seen this, and in his anger cast
off his sons and his daughters. ‘I shall hide my face from them,’ he says ‘and
see what becomes of them. For they are a deceitful brood, children with no
loyalty in them.” Grateful that the Lord has chosen us to be His
children, we must now invite the rest of humanity to acknowledge Him as their
Lord, God and Father.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore
© All Rights Reserved
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