20180823
DISPLAY THE HOLINESS OF HIS NAME
23 AUGUST, 2018, Thursday, 20th Week,
Ordinary Time
Readings at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Green.
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First reading
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Ezekiel 36:23-28 ©
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I will remove the heart of stone from your bodies and give you a
heart of flesh
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The word of the Lord was addressed to me as follows: ‘I mean to
display the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the
nations, which you have profaned among them. And the nations will learn that I
am the Lord – it is the Lord who speaks – when I display my holiness
for your sake before their eyes. Then I am going to take you from among the
nations and gather you together from all the foreign countries, and bring you
home to your own land. I shall pour clean water over you and you will be cleansed;
I shall cleanse you of all your defilement and all your idols. I shall give you
a new heart, and put a new spirit in you; I shall remove the heart of stone
from your bodies and give you a heart of flesh instead. I shall put my spirit
in you, and make you keep my laws and sincerely respect my observances. You
will live in the land which I gave your ancestors. You shall be my people and I
will be your God.’
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm 50(51):12-15,18-19 ©
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I shall pour clean water over you and all your
sins will be washed away.
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.
I shall pour clean water over you and all your
sins will be washed away.
Give me again the joy of your help;
with a spirit of fervour sustain me,
that I may teach transgressors your ways
and sinners may return to you.
I shall pour clean water over you and all your
sins will be washed away.
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.
I shall pour clean water over you and all your
sins will be washed away.
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Gospel Acclamation
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Ps118:27
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Make me grasp the way of your precepts,
and I will muse on your wonders.
Alleluia!
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Or:
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Ps94:8
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Harden not your hearts today,
but listen to the voice of the Lord.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Matthew 22:1-14 ©
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Invite everyone you can to the wedding
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Jesus began to speak to the chief priests and elders of the people
in parables: ‘The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a feast
for his son’s wedding. He sent his servants to call those who had been invited,
but they would not come. Next he sent some more servants. “Tell those who have
been invited” he said “that I have my banquet all prepared, my oxen and
fattened cattle have been slaughtered, everything is ready. Come to the
wedding.” But they were not interested: one went off to his farm, another to
his business, and the rest seized his servants, maltreated them and killed
them. The king was furious. He despatched his troops, destroyed those murderers
and burnt their town. Then he said to his servants, “The wedding is ready; but
as those who were invited proved to be unworthy, go to the crossroads in the
town and invite everyone you can find to the wedding.” So these servants went
out on to the roads and collected together everyone they could find, bad and
good alike; and the wedding hall was filled with guests. When the king came in
to look at the guests he noticed one man who was not wearing a wedding garment,
and said to him, “How did you get in here, my friend, without a wedding
garment?” And the man was silent. Then the king said to the attendants, “Bind
him hand and foot and throw him out into the dark, where there will be weeping
and grinding of teeth.” For many are called, but few are chosen.’
DISPLAY THE HOLINESS OF HIS NAME
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ Ezekiel 36:23-28; Matthew 22:1-14 ]
Happiness and
joy in life are always portrayed as a Wedding Feast. A “wedding” because
it is a celebration of love. A “feast” because it is the way in which we
participate in the love of the couple. This explains why we do not
celebrate our wedding privately as a couple in the Registry of Marriages, but
we have witnesses and most of all, a religious and a social celebration.
Through the wedding, the couple profess their love for each other for the rest
of their lives. Such a love must be permanent and indissoluble so
that it can withstand the trials and storms of life that would surely come in
time. This is why the bible underscores the indissolubility of
marriage, without which couples would easily give up trying to perfect their
love in times of difficulty, whether because of differences in personality or
in issues pertaining to their relationship, family, children, work and
friends. Indeed, as Jesus remarked, “It was because you were so
hard-hearted that Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the
beginning it was not so.” (Mt 19:8)
This is the
faithful love that God has for His people. God invites us to the
Wedding feast of His Son. He wants us to celebrate the love that He has
with His Son so that we can partake of His divine love. For all
generations, God has been preparing us to share in His Trinitarian love through
Christ Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit. When He made the covenant
with His people, He meant it to be permanent. In spite of man’s sins and
infidelity, God remained faithful to His covenant. He did not change His
mind or give up on humanity regardless how obstinate, evil or incorrigible we
were. He continues to send us messengers, one after another, to invite us
to the banquet of love and life. This is what the first part of the
parable of the Weeding Banquet seeks to illustrate.
Yet, we read
that this invitation to love and life continues to be rejected even
today. The rejection of God’s invitation by the leaders and the people of
Israel continues in our days. Many of us are like them, rejecting the
call of God’s prophets to repent of our sins and to turn back to Him.
Instead, like them, we are also so absorbed in our worldly endeavours, in our
work, business, and pleasures. Indeed, “they were not interested: one
went off to his farm, another to his business, and the rest seized his
servants, maltreated them and killed them.” So many of us put
money, power, and worldly success first before God and before authentic
love. Even our relationships with people are based on an “I-it”
relationship, that is one of use and manipulation, not one of self-giving to
the other. Some do not simply reject the call of God but they, like
the Israelite leaders, react with hostility by attacking God and His Church
simply because they feel annoyed by the call to holiness, integrity, justice.
Nevertheless,
God’s plan is undefeatable. Man might close the door but God will open
the window. When the chosen people of God rejected Him, God extended His call
to the Gentiles and to sinners. He said to His servants, “‘The wedding is
ready; but as those who were invited proved to be unworthy, go to the
crossroads in the town and invite everyone you can find to the wedding.’ So
these servants went out onto the roads and collected together everyone they
could find, bad and good alike; and the wedding hall was filled with
guests.” Such is the graciousness of God and the insuperable plan
of God for humanity. Israel was supposed to be the light of the nations.
“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the
tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of Israel; I will give you as a
light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” (Isa 49:6)
But they failed in that responsibility. Therefore, God turned to the
Gentiles through St Paul who said, “It was necessary that the word of God
should be spoken first to you. Since you reject it and judge yourselves to be
unworthy of eternal life, we are now turning to the Gentiles.” (cf Acts 13:46f)
Today, we
belong to God’s Chosen people because of God’s gracious love. We are the people of
the Promised Land. We are the New Chosen People of God. By His
grace alone, we are here. Indeed, we have received the forgiveness of
God. Like those from the highway, we are invited to the Wedding
Banquet. God’s grace is free. Most of all, we have been forgiven of
our sins and we have a future. We are given a new heart because of the
gift of the Holy Spirit given to us at baptism.
This is the
fulfillment of the prophecy of Ezekiel in the first reading. “I am going to take you from
among the nations and gather you together from all the foreign countries, and
bring you home to your own land. I shall pour clean water over you and
you will be cleansed; I shall cleanse you of all your defilement and all your
idols. I shall give you a new heart, and put a new spirit in you; I shall
remove the heart of stone from your bodies and give you a heart of flesh
instead. I shall put my spirit in you, and make you keep my laws and
sincerely respect my observances. You will live in the land, which I gave
your ancestors. You shall be my people and I will be your God.”
Unfortunately,
there is another group of people that have lost God again after
conversion. These are fellow Catholics. They are the ones portrayed in the
gospel as the man without the wedding garment. In those days, all guests
were provided with the wedding garment. They were expected to respect the
host by participating in the celebration fully. But the man was careless
and negligent. He went to the wedding without the garment, which is the
baptismal garment which we were given at our baptism. Instead, they
continue to wear their old clothes. In other words, they have not given
up the sinful way of life that they lived before baptism. They have not
died to the Old Adam in them. They have been negligent in their
faith. They do not belong to any Catholic community and are unsupported
in their faith. As a consequence, although baptized, they remain with the
world.
Today, we are
called to assume the responsibility of being the light to the nations. Jesus said, “You are
the salt of the earth” and “You are the light of the world. A city built
on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the
bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the
house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they
may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.” (Mt 5:13-16)
In this way, we will display the holiness of His great name that has been
profaned among the nations in the world. We are called to be the holiness
of God. By living holy lives based on the gospel of love and compassion,
we show forth the glory of God and His holiness. In this way, we show
that we are truly sons and daughters of God our Father who loves us all.
God’s face and glory can only be seen through us, His children.
What is the
path to holiness? Pope Francis in his latest apostolic exhortation
reiterates the call to holiness. He wrote, “At its core, holiness is
experiencing, in union with Christ, the mysteries of his life. It consists in
uniting ourselves to the Lord’s death and resurrection in a unique and personal
way, constantly dying and rising anew with him. But it can also entail
reproducing in our own lives various aspects of Jesus’ earthly life: his hidden
life, his life in community, his closeness to the outcast, his poverty and
other ways in which he showed his self-sacrificing love.” (GEX 20)
Most of all, we are called to be the holiness of God by living out the
beatitudes in our lives. By so doing, Jesus says we live a blessed and a
happy life. It is this kind of life that can display His love and His
holiness. By living a life of compassion for the poor and a life of
forgiveness and mercy for the weak, we will bring sinners, those who have left
the Church and those who have never known God’s love to find Him. In the
final analysis, holiness of life is to display the mercy, compassion,
forgiveness and the love of God in words and actions. This is aptly
summed up in the parable of the Last Judgement when the criterion for entering
the kingdom is based on love, mercy and compassion. (cf Mt 25:31-46)
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of
Singapore © All Rights Reserved
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