Wednesday 31 October 2018

SAINTS ARE THOSE WHO HAVE PURIFIED THEMSELVES IN CHRIST

20181101 SAINTS ARE THOSE WHO HAVE PURIFIED THEMSELVES IN CHRIST


01 NOVEMBER, 2018, Thursday, All Saints
Readings at Mass
Liturgical Colour: White.

First reading
Apocalypse 7:2-4,9-14 ©

I saw a huge number, impossible to count, of people from every nation, race, tribe and language
I, John, saw another angel rising where the sun rises, carrying the seal of the living God; he called in a powerful voice to the four angels whose duty was to devastate land and sea, ‘Wait before you do any damage on land or at sea or to the trees, until we have put the seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.’ Then I heard how many were sealed: a hundred and forty-four thousand, out of all the tribes of Israel.
  After that I saw a huge number, impossible to count, of people from every nation, race, tribe and language; they were standing in front of the throne and in front of the Lamb, dressed in white robes and holding palms in their hands. They shouted aloud, ‘Victory to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’ And all the angels who were standing in a circle round the throne, surrounding the elders and the four animals, prostrated themselves before the throne, and touched the ground with their foreheads, worshipping God with these words, ‘Amen. Praise and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honour and power and strength to our God for ever and ever. Amen.’
  One of the elders then spoke, and asked me, ‘Do you know who these people are, dressed in white robes, and where they have come from?’ I answered him, ‘You can tell me, my lord.’ Then he said, ‘These are the people who have been through the great persecution, and they have washed their robes white again in the blood of the Lamb.’

Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 23(24):1-6 ©
Such are the men who seek your face, O Lord.
The Lord’s is the earth and its fullness,
  the world and all its peoples.
It is he who set it on the seas;
  on the waters he made it firm.
Such are the men who seek your face, O Lord.
Who shall climb the mountain of the Lord?
  Who shall stand in his holy place?
The man with clean hands and pure heart,
  who desires not worthless things.
Such are the men who seek your face, O Lord.
He shall receive blessings from the Lord
  and reward from the God who saves him.
Such are the men who seek him,
  seek the face of the God of Jacob.
Such are the men who seek your face, O Lord.

Second reading
1 John 3:1-3 ©

We shall be like God because we shall see him as he really is
Think of the love that the Father has lavished on us,
  by letting us be called God’s children;
  and that is what we are.
Because the world refused to acknowledge him,
  therefore it does not acknowledge us.
My dear people, we are already the children of God
  but what we are to be in the future has not yet been revealed;
all we know is, that when it is revealed
  we shall be like him
  because we shall see him as he really is.
Surely everyone who entertains this hope
  must purify himself, must try to be as pure as Christ.

Gospel Acclamation
Mt11:28
Alleluia, alleluia!
Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened
and I will give you rest, says the Lord.
Alleluia!

Gospel
Matthew 5:1-12a ©

How happy are the poor in spirit
Seeing the crowds, Jesus went up the hill. There he sat down and was joined by his disciples. Then he began to speak. This is what he taught them:
‘How happy are the poor in spirit;
  theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Happy the gentle:
  they shall have the earth for their heritage.
Happy those who mourn:
  they shall be comforted.
Happy those who hunger and thirst for what is right:
  they shall be satisfied.
Happy the merciful:
  they shall have mercy shown them.
Happy the pure in heart:
  they shall see God.
Happy the peacemakers:
  they shall be called sons of God.
Happy those who are persecuted in the cause of right:
  theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
‘Happy are you when people abuse you and persecute you and speak all kinds of calumny against you on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.’


SAINTS ARE THOSE WHO HAVE PURIFIED THEMSELVES IN CHRIST

SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ REV 7:2-49-141 JN 3:1-3MT 5:1-12 ]
The feast of All Saints certainly is one of the happiest feasts we celebrate in the Church’s liturgy.  For this feast celebrates not only the victory of our loved ones who have gone before us but our hope and final destiny as well.  To know that our loved ones are already there and have won the victory over sin should inspire us as well in our sojourn on this earth.  This joy is ours even as St John wrote, “what we are to be in the future has not yet been revealed; all we know is, that when it is revealed we shall be like him because we shall see him as he really is.”
But is this feast ours as well?  Is it true to say that the feast of All Saints is a celebration of every one of us and not just the saints in heaven?  In a way it is true that this is our feast, but we have not yet arrived, although we all have what it takes to become a saint.  Hence, the second reading begins with an attitude of thanksgiving for having the honour to be able to call ourselves sons of God.  To become a Saint is simply to become completely what we already are – a child of God, loved by the Father.  This presupposes that we are transformed in the image of His Son, and so share in God’s own life and happiness.  So although we are God’s children, we do not enjoy the full sonship until we become like God.  How then can we arrive with the saints in heaven and share in the joys of the saints?
Firstly, saints are those who have lived out their identity as the children of God.  Indeed, by virtue of our baptism, we are all made children of God.  As St John says, “Think of the love that the Father has lavished on us, by letting us be called God’s children; and that is what we are.  Because the world refused to acknowledge him, therefore it does not acknowledge us. My dear people, we are already the children of God.”   The question is, do we believe that we are children of God?  The truth is that the early Christians did, and that is why St Paul addressed the early Christians as saints.  In the first reading the angels were instructed thus, “Wait before you do any damage on land or at sea or to the trees, until we have put the seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.”
Unfortunately, although we are truly children of God by baptism through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit,we often forget our identity.  Yes, by our baptism, we are saying that we want to be saints.  Many people are shy, or deny that they want to be saints.  They keep saying that they are not worthy to be saints.  Not worthy or capable is one thing, but not wanting to be saints is another matter altogether.
It is as good as refusing to acknowledge this reality with the rest of humanity in the world.  When we deny our identity as the children of God and therefore saints in principle, we would then not bother to live as such.  So it is important right from the start to always to remember who we are:  children of God and His saints.
Secondly, saints are those who have been purified in faith and love.  Of course, to assert that we are children of God is not the same as claiming that we have arrived.  Rather, we know who we are and seek and strive to be faithful to our calling and sonship in Christ.  Rightly so, St John says, “surely everyone who entertains this hope must purify himself, must try to be as pure as Christ.”  So whilst we are technically saints, we are still growing to become one.
Isn’t this is what baptism is all about?  Who is a saint?  Isn’t he one who has put on Christ?  Indeed, we read that the saints “were standing in front of the throne and in front of the Lamb, dressed in white robes and holding palms in their hands.” Baptism is therefore called a Christening service because we put on Christ.  In the same vein, when we choose a baptismal name, we express our desire to imitate that particular saint in his or her virtues.  Hence, he or she is called our patron saint.  A patron is one who supports us.  So not only do we seek to imitate the saints’ virtues but that they will support us in our journey to saintliness and holiness through their examples and intercession.
Thirdly, saints are those who witness to Christ even under persecution and opposition.  As the book of Revelation says, “These are the people who have been through the great persecution, and they have washed their robes white again in the blood of the Lamb.”  Only those who have suffered with and for Christ, even unto death, can truly share in the resurrected life of Christ.  This is affirmed by Jesus in the gospel when He said, “Happy are you when people abuse you and persecute you and speak all kinds of calumny against you on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.”  Isn’t this what baptismal life requires?  After all, to be baptized is to share in the death and resurrection of Christ. Those who were dressed in white robes symbolize the purity of the Father and demonstrate that they have won a great victory.
What, then, is the secret to live out this kind of life?  It is none other than to live out the beatitudes proposed to us by Christ.  Living out the beatitudes is already to live a blessed life and therefore a foretaste of life to come.   These beatitudes were lived out by Jesus before they were taught to us.  It can be said that these beatitudes guided Jesus in His life on earth.
Yes, we must cultivate the virtue of poverty of spirit by being dependent on God totally and obedient to His commands.  Only in this way can we become selfless, merciful, compassionate, pure and forgiving.  We are called to live a life of holiness in contradiction to the values of the world.  Only a man who lives such a life of holiness, even in the face of opposition, can be said to be truly free.
However, it must be said that saints are those who have won the victory through the blood of the lamb.  They won the victory not by their own strength but by the grace given to them through the death of Jesus.  By contemplating on the death of Jesus on the cross, they too could survive crises by keeping their sights on the living God and uniting themselves with the sacrifice of Christ.  So let it be said, the call to sainthood is a privilege as much as our cooperation with His grace at work in us.  So we do not become saints by mere efforts alone but by allowing the grace of God to operate in our lives.
Finally, we can have confidence in God’s overwhelming love, as the vision presents us with much hope and confidence, since John said, “I saw a huge number, impossible to count, of people from every nation, race, tribe and language.”  It is our hope that we will eventually arrive, albeit some of us might need further purification upon death in purgatory.  That is why we turn to the saints as our models to inspire us to live a holy life and also to persevere till the end.

Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved



Tuesday 30 October 2018

BUILDING OUR RELATIONSHIPS IN CHRIST

20181031 BUILDING OUR RELATIONSHIPS IN CHRIST


31 OCTOBER, 2018, Wednesday, 30th Week, Ordinary Time
Readings at Mass
Liturgical Colour: Green.

First reading
Ephesians 6:1-9 ©

Duties in domestic life
Children, be obedient to your parents in the Lord – that is your duty. The commandment that has a promise attached to it is: Honour your father and mother, and the promise is: and you will prosper and have a long life in the land. And parents, never drive your children to resentment but in bringing them up correct them and guide them as the Lord does.
  Slaves, be obedient to the men who are called your masters in this world, with deep respect and sincere loyalty, as you are obedient to Christ: not only when you are under their eye, as if you had only to please men, but because you are slaves of Christ and wholeheartedly do the will of God. Work hard and willingly, but do it for the sake of the Lord and not for the sake of men. You can be sure that everyone, whether a slave or a free man, will be properly rewarded by the Lord for whatever work he has done well. And those of you who are employers, treat your slaves in the same spirit; do without threats, remembering that they and you have the same Master in heaven and he is not impressed by one person more than by another.

Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 144(145):10-14 ©
The Lord is faithful in all his words.
All your creatures shall thank you, O Lord,
  and your friends shall repeat their blessing.
They shall speak of the glory of your reign
  and declare your might, O God,
to make known to men your mighty deeds
  and the glorious splendour of your reign.
The Lord is faithful in all his words.
Yours is an everlasting kingdom;
  your rule lasts from age to age.
The Lord is faithful in all his words.
The Lord is faithful in all his words
  and loving in all his deeds.
The Lord supports all who fall
  and raises all who are bowed down.
The Lord is faithful in all his words.

Gospel Acclamation
Jn14:6
Alleluia, alleluia!
I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, says the Lord;
No one can come to the Father except through me.
Alleluia!
Or:
cf.2Th2:14
Alleluia, alleluia!
Through the Good News God called us
to share the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Alleluia!

Gospel
Luke 13:22-30 ©

The last shall be first and the first last
Through towns and villages Jesus went teaching, making his way to Jerusalem. Someone said to him, ‘Sir, will there be only a few saved?’ He said to them, ‘Try your best to enter by the narrow door, because, I tell you, many will try to enter and will not succeed.
  ‘Once the master of the house has got up and locked the door, you may find yourself knocking on the door, saying, “Lord, open to us” but he will answer, “I do not know where you come from.” Then you will find yourself saying, “We once ate and drank in your company; you taught in our streets” but he will reply, “I do not know where you come from. Away from me, all you wicked men!”
  ‘Then there will be weeping and grinding of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and yourselves turned outside. And men from east and west, from north and south, will come to take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God.
  ‘Yes, there are those now last who will be first, and those now first who will be last.’

BUILDING OUR RELATIONSHIPS IN CHRIST

SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ EPHESIANS 6:1-9LUKE 13:22-30 ]
One of the biggest challenges in life is handling relationships at all levels.  In fact, most of our sufferings in life are caused by strained and broken relationships.   Indeed, if there is so much disunity and lack of peace in society and in the world, it begins first with unhappy relationships at home.  Parents are often at odds with each other over values, finance, raising of children, dealing with relatives, religion and education.  They are always shouting at each other or they go to the extreme of having a cold war.  Siblings are often jealous and envious of each other.  They always feel that they are more favoured at home by their parents.  They compete and see each other as enemies rather than brothers and sisters.  Between parents and children there are tensions.  Although parents are supposed to be the support for their children, they are often seen as joy-killers, wet blankets, financial controllers, slave masters.  Instead of looking towards their parents for encouragement and understanding, the children look towards their friends.
The other great source of tension we face in relationships is at work and in our community or the organizations we are in.  At work, bosses lament about their employees or subordinates. Vice versa, employees gossip about their bosses and express their unhappiness and resentment against them.  Superiors act in a discriminating manner, are self-centered, hot-tempered, temperamental and dictatorial.  They gripe about workers who are lazy, unmotivated, slow and lacking creativity and initiative.  So too, in Church there are politics.   There are struggles for power because of ambition, fame, popularity and egotism.  We have differences in working style, in vision and in execution.
What is the key to building loving, supportive, empowering and enriching relationships?  It is to bring Christ into the picture.  If we pay attention to the first reading, St Paul repeatedly ends every advice on the different levels of relationship by bringing Christ into the equation.  Human love alone cannot sustain a relationship unless Christ is the center of it.  Emotional love cannot last long. It is not enough to strengthen a relationship.
This is what the Lord meant in today’s gospel when He said, “Try your best to enter by the narrow door, because, I tell you, many will try to enter and will not succeed.”  What is this narrow door if not through Him?  In the gospel, He said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”  He also declared, “I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture.  The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”  (Jn 10:9f)
But what does it mean to enter through the narrow gate?  It is more than just having a superficial knowledge and relationship with our Lord.  He said to them, “Once the master of the house has got up and locked the door, you may find yourself knocking on the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us” but he will answer, “I do not know where you come from.’ Then you will find yourself saying, ‘We once ate and drank in your company; you taught in our streets’ but he will reply, ‘”I do not know where you come from.  Away from me, all you wicked men!'”  This is the biggest mistake of many of our Catholics.  They think that just because they are baptized, they are saved.  Just because they got married in Church, their marriage is protected.  It is not enough to receive the sacraments, but we must live out the sacraments in our lives.  This means welcoming Jesus into our personal relationships with everyone.
What does it mean to make Jesus the center and foundation of our relationships?  It means that our love for each other must be a sacrificial love, putting the interests of others before self, whether it is our spouse, children, staff or friends.  Earlier on, St Paul said, “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”  (Eph 5:1f)  In this context, he wrote that husbands must love their wives, “just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, in order to make her holy.”  (Eph 5:25f)
In the same way too, that is how we must love our children and our elderly in Christ.  St Paul said, “Parents must never drive your children to resentment but in bringing them up correct them and guide them as the Lord does.”  Parents must put their children’s interests before their own.  They must learn to understand them and feel with them in their struggles and not impose their fears, anxieties and ambitions on them.  Sometimes, parents are more concerned about their children doing well in their studies and work than that they are truly happy.
Similarly, children must build their relationships with their parents in Christ.  St Paul urges, “Children, be obedient to your parents in the Lord – that is your duty.  The first commandment that has a promise attached to it is: Honour your father and mother; and the promise is: and you will prosper and have a long life in the land.”  Rendering respect to our parents requires humility to recognize that they care for us even if they have shortcomings.  We must forgive them for over-reacting and often over-protective of us because they are afraid to lose us or to see us suffer in the future.  But we should not ignore their wisdom and experience in life lest we fall into the same pit as they did.  And even if our parents are old and elderly, infirmed and demented, we must be patient with them because they were once patient with us when we were young.   We must seek to understand their struggles of loneliness, pain and sickness in their old age.
So too, in relationships between bosses and subordinates.  We are not against each other.  The boss is to ensure that his or her workers have a job that gives them passion, growth and meaning so that they can contribute to society; and also to earn money to take care of their loved ones.  The workers’ task is to ensure that the company and organization is viable and successful, otherwise, how could they be paid and how could they continue to be employed.  So there is a partnership between bosses and workers.  There should not be a tension if we realize that we are together in this equation.
At the end of the day, we are serving the Lord through each other and together we serve the community.  This is what St Paul advised the Christians. Hence, he said, “Slaves, be obedient to the men who are called your masters in this world, with deep respect and sincere loyalty, as you are obedient to Christ: not only when you are under their eye, as if you had only to please men, but because you are slaves of Christ and wholeheartedly so the will of God.  Work hard and willingly, but do it for the sake of the Lord and not for the sake of men.  You can be sure that everyone, whether a slave of a free man, will be properly rewarded by the Lord for whatever work he has done well.”
Indeed, we must remember that we have the same Father and Master in heaven.  “And those of you who are employers, treat your slaves in the same spirit; do without threats, remembering that they and you have the same Master in heaven and he is not impressed by one person more than by another.”  Every child, every parent, every worker and every boss is given to us by God to help each other to grow in love and holiness.  We all belong to God and therefore to serve our brothers and sisters and to care for them is to give glory to God.  In this way, “All your creatures shall thank you, O Lord, and your friends shall repeat their blessing.  They shall speak of the glory of your reign and declare your might, O God, to make known to men your mighty deeds and the glorious splendor of your reign.”
Unless we walk through the narrow gate of self-sacrifice, we will be worse off than those who are non-Catholic and even unbelievers.  So long as they live the life of Christ, they too will come to enjoy the peace, love and joy of the kingdom of God.  They might not know Christ but they are living the gospel life.  The sad reality is that many Catholic families, Catholic organizations and Catholic bosses and workers do not reflect the life of Christ and put Him at the center of our relationships.  There is so much politics, power-struggle, in-fighting with little respect, charity and sensitivity to each other, they can hardly be called ‘Catholic’.  Hence, the Lord warns us, “Then there will be weeping and grinding of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and yourselves turned outside.  And men from east and west, from north and south, will come to take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God.  Yes, there are those now last who will be first, and those now first who will be last.”


Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved