20180905
OVERCOMING JEALOUSY IN
MINISTRY
05 SEPTEMBER,
2018, Wednesday, 22nd Week, Ordinary Time
Readings at Mass
Liturgical Colour:
Green.
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First reading
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1 Corinthians 3:1-9 ©
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Neither the planter nor the waterer
matters, only God, who makes things grow
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Brothers, I myself was unable to speak to
you as people of the Spirit: I treated you as sensual men, still infants in
Christ. What I fed you with was milk, not solid food, for you were not ready
for it; and indeed, you are still not ready for it since you are still
unspiritual. Isn’t that obvious from all the jealousy and wrangling that there
is among you, from the way that you go on behaving like ordinary people? What
could be more unspiritual than your slogans, ‘I am for Paul’ and ‘I am for
Apollos’?
After
all, what is Apollos and what is Paul? They are servants who brought the faith
to you. Even the different ways in which they brought it were assigned to them
by the Lord. I did the planting, Apollos did the watering, but God made things
grow. Neither the planter nor the waterer matters: only God, who makes things
grow. It is all one who does the planting and who does the watering, and each
will duly be paid according to his share in the work. We are fellow workers
with God; you are God’s farm, God’s building.
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm
32(33):12-15,20-21 ©
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Happy the people the
Lord has chosen as his own.
They are happy, whose God is the Lord,
the people he has chosen as
his own.
From the heavens the Lord looks forth,
he sees all the children of
men.
Happy the people the
Lord has chosen as his own.
From the place where he dwells he gazes
on all the dwellers on the
earth;
he who shapes the hearts of them all;
and considers all their deeds.
Happy the people the
Lord has chosen as his own.
Our soul is waiting for the Lord.
The Lord is our help and our shield.
In him do our hearts find joy.
We trust in his holy name.
Happy the people the
Lord has chosen as his own.
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Gospel Acclamation
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1P1:25
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Alleluia, alleluia!
The word of the Lord remains for ever:
What is this word?
It is the Good News that has been brought
to you.
Alleluia!
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Or:
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Lk4:17
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Alleluia, alleluia!
The Lord has sent me to bring the good
news to the poor,
to proclaim liberty to captives.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Luke 4:38-44 ©
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He would not allow them to speak because
they knew he was the Christ
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Leaving the synagogue, Jesus went to
Simon’s house. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever and
they asked him to do something for her. Leaning over her he rebuked the fever
and it left her. And she immediately got up and began to wait on them.
At
sunset all those who had friends suffering from diseases of one kind or another
brought them to him, and laying his hands on each he cured them. Devils too
came out of many people, howling, ‘You are the Son of God.’ But he rebuked them
and would not allow them to speak because they knew that he was the Christ.
When
daylight came he left the house and made his way to a lonely place. The crowds
went to look for him, and when they had caught up with him they wanted to
prevent him leaving them, but he answered, ‘I must proclaim the Good News of
the kingdom of God to the other towns too, because that is what I was sent to
do.’ And he continued his preaching in the synagogues of Judaea.
OVERCOMING JEALOUSY IN MINISTRY
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [1 CORINTHIANS 3:1-9; LUKE 4:38-44 ]
As Christians, in
different ways and in different capacities, we are called to proclaim the gospel according
to our capacities and charisms. However, being
successful in the ministry has its downside. One has to deal with the
price of success. We would think that jealousy and envy is only something
that happens in the secular world. The truth is that jealousy is also
present among fellow priests and parishioners. This is the
spiritual worldliness that Pope Francis cautioned us about. When we
become too popular or our programs earn the praises of people, those who are
insecure will feel side-lined and threatened. They will feel that others
are getting more attention and more credit than them.
Jealousy also creates
competition.
Parishioners can easily sense the jealousy among priests and especially among
church organizations. Each one is competing for recognition and
praise. Indeed, this is one of the main reasons for division in the
presbyterium and frustrations in serving in the ministry. Those who are doing
well are criticized and often unjustly belittled and their motives
questioned. When we see each other as competitors rather than
collaborators, we destroy the good works each one is doing.
In the first reading we
see that such manifestations were also present in St Paul’s community. St Paul reprimanded the Christian
Community at Corinth. “Isn’t that obvious from all the jealousy and
wrangling that there is among you, from the way that you go on behaving like
ordinary people? What could be more unspiritual than your slogans, ‘I am for
Paul’ and ‘I am for Apollos’?” When we behave like them, it shows the
immaturity of faith. We are not motivated by the Holy Spirit in service
but by spiritual worldliness. Like those in the world, we also seek
power, glory and recognition.
This is totally against
the spirit of the gospel. Even
the apostles, before their conversion, were fighting for position, glory and
honour. James and John sought for special positions. The Lord
taught them, “It will not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among
you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your
slave; just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to
give his life a ransom for many.” (Mt 20:26-28) St Paul, writing to the
Philippians, urged them, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in
humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to
your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you
that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not
regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied
himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.” (Phil 2:3-7) After the resurrection, we
read that John gave way to St Peter as the head of the Church. (Jn 20:4-6)
However, it is very difficult for us to
admit that we are jealous. Often we think that others are insecure
and jealous of us instead. We cannot see the real motives of what we
do. When people tell us that we are seeking glory and recognition, we
become defensive. Consciously, we think we are doing everything for the
glory of God but often we are motivated by pride. This explains why we
become very defensive when we get negative feedback from others. With
humility, therefore, we must come to terms with ourselves for we are no better
than them. We must also recognize that we too suffer from insecurity as
well.
How do we know when we
are jealous? What are
the symptoms of insecurity? If we are unable to genuinely
rejoice with others in their success, it is simply because we are jealous.
Can we, as St Paul urges us, “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with
those who weep”? (Rom 12:15) A clear
indication that we are not envious of them is when we show genuine appreciation
and praise for the good work that our brothers and sisters are doing.
When we are able to praise God for them and to honour them genuinely from our
hearts, then clearly we do not feel threatened. Conversely, if we
are unable to see any good in what they are doing or when we discount and
belittle the good works they do, even to the extent of denigrating and
criticizing them, it could be an indication of jealousy. At times,
jealousy takes the form of non-cooperation and non-collaboration with our
fellow Catholics in their projects. Quite often, some would even discourage
their friends and others from participating in such programs. When
we adopt such attitudes, we are allowing the spirit of envy to divide and
destroy us.
But why is there jealousy
in us? It is obvious that all of us, because of original sin, are wounded
within. We read in
the bible that Cain was envious of Abel and killed him. (cf Gn 4:1-16) Whilst it is true that
baptism has forgiven us our sins, yet concupiscence, disorder of the will and
darkness of the intellect still remain in us after baptism. This explains
why the Lord on the cross could forgive us, because He said that we were
ignorant and did not know what we are doing. (cf Lk 23:34) This dullness of the intellect
is caused by pride and envy. We are so blinded by our insecurity that we
are not even aware of ourselves and our motives. We lack self-knowledge
and we tend to suppress our inner feelings for fear that knowing the kind of
person we are, we might feel disgusted with ourselves.
Secondly, we lack depth
in our spiritual life.
As St Paul tells us, we are like spiritual infants that drink milk.
“Brothers, I myself was unable to speak to you as people of the Spirit: I
treated you as sensual men, still infants in Christ. What I fed you with was
milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it; and indeed, you are still
not ready for it since you are still un-spiritual.” When we begin to
serve, many of us do so purely out of joy and love. But eventually, we
become enslaved to the joy of being loved and appreciated. We begin to
look for recognition and appreciation. We get the thrill of being in the
limelight and recognized by those whom we serve. So much so that
sometimes, it is difficult to distinguish the real motive of our service.
The truth is that like the pagans, as Jesus said, we love those who love us.
(cf Mt 5:46f)
Rendering service is not so difficult when we are loved, accepted and
appreciated. The motive for service is therefore not always pure but
often mixed. Hence, when others are doing better than us, the insecurity
in us surfaces.
How, then, can we
overcome our insecurity and jealousy in the ministry? Firstly, we must
realize that the harvest is plentiful and
rich. There is no need to compete with each other on the same ground.
In the gospel, Jesus refused to settle in His comfort zone but moved on to
other places to proclaim the Good News. He told the people who wanted to
prevent Him from leaving them saying, “I must proclaim the Good News of the
kingdom of God to the other towns too, because that is what I was sent to
do”. If we feel that others are a threat to our ministry, it is because
of our parochial-mindedness. Hence, we should expand our mission in other
areas instead of competing in the same ministry. The harvest is
plentiful.
Secondly, we must see that their success is also
ours because we all have one common mission, which is to bring Christ to all.
Does it matter who is the one who brings the Good News? This is what St
Paul asked the Christians. “After all, what is Apollos and what is Paul?
They are servants who brought the faith to you. Even the different ways in
which they brought it were assigned to them by the Lord.” We must realize
that there is only one mission and one Church. We are all sharing in the
one mission of Christ, which is to build His church. As St Paul reminds
us, “we are fellow workers with God; you are God’s farm, God’s
building.” Each one of us has a part to contribute because we have
different roles and charisms. Indeed, St Paul said the different ways in
which they are to take part in the mission is “assigned to them by the Lord.”
The truth is that “Blowing out someone else’s candle does not make yours
shine any brighter.”
Thirdly, all success belongs to God alone. We
must remember that we are only the instruments of God. St Paul
says, “I did the planting, Apollos did the watering, but God made things grow.
Neither the planter nor the waterer matters: only God, who makes things grow.
It is all one who does the planting and who does the watering, and each will
duly be paid according to his share in the work. We are fellow workers with
God; you are God’s farm, God’s building.” We are His servants but it is
God who makes the ministry fruitful. Success comes from the Lord, not
because of our wisdom, knowledge or skills. Yes, let us remember that we
are servants of the gospel, not the master. We must be like John
the Baptist, doing our tasks in the proclamation of the gospel, then stepping
aside and allowing Jesus to be known and glorified. Let everything be
done for the greater glory of God.
How can such attitudes
be cultivated? We must recover our center. Like Jesus, we need to find time to pray and examine
ourselves honestly. If Jesus rose early in the morning to go to a
lonely place to pray, it was because He needed not only to find strength to
continue His mission but He also wanted to check Himself lest He got carried
away by His popularity and the demands of the people. We too must learn
from Jesus. Hence, those who are active in ministry must cultivate the
habit of prayer, especially meditation and contemplation of the Word of
God. Without contemplating on the face of Jesus, we are in serious danger
of losing our focus and our union with Him. Let us follow St Paul who
always kept his sight on Jesus and did not allow himself to be the focus of his
preaching. St Paul was clear that it was Christ Jesus who he was to
preach and that he was only His servant.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All
Rights Reserved
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