20181016
FAITH IN CHRIST AS THE
POWER FOR OUR MINISTRY
16 OCTOBER,
2018, Tuesday, 28th Week, Ordinary Time
Readings at Mass
Liturgical Colour:
Green.
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First reading
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Galatians 5:1-6 ©
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It is faith, not the Law, that justifies
us
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When Christ freed us, he meant us to
remain free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to the yoke of
slavery. It is I, Paul, who tell you this: if you allow yourselves to be
circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit to you at all. With all solemnity I
repeat my warning: Everyone who accepts circumcision is obliged to keep the
whole Law. But if you do look to the Law to make you justified, then you have
separated yourselves from Christ, and have fallen from grace. Christians are
told by the Spirit to look to faith for those rewards that righteousness hopes
for, since in Christ Jesus whether you are circumcised or not makes no
difference – what matters is faith that makes its power felt through love.
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm
118(119):41,43-45,47-48 ©
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Lord, let your love come
upon me.
Lord, let your love come upon me,
the saving help of your
promise.
Do not take the word of truth from my
mouth
for I trust in your decrees.
Lord, let your love come
upon me.
I shall always keep your law
for ever and ever.
I shall walk in the path of freedom
for I seek your precepts.
Lord, let your love come
upon me.
Your commands have been my delight;
these I have loved.
I will worship your commands and love them
and ponder your statutes.
Lord, let your love come
upon me.
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Gospel Acclamation
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Ps118:135
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Let your face shine on your servant,
and teach me your decrees.
Alleluia!
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Or:
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Heb4:12
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Alleluia, alleluia!
The word of God is something alive and
active:
it can judge secret emotions and thoughts.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Luke 11:37-41 ©
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Give thanks for what you have and it
will all be clean
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Jesus had just finished speaking when a
Pharisee invited him to dine at his house. He went in and sat down at the
table. The Pharisee saw this and was surprised that he had not first washed
before the meal. But the Lord said to him, ‘Oh, you Pharisees! You clean the
outside of cup and plate, while inside yourselves you are filled with extortion
and wickedness. Fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside too?
Instead, give alms from what you have and then indeed everything will be clean
for you.’
FAITH IN CHRIST AS THE POWER FOR OUR
MINISTRY
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ GAL 5:1-6; LK 11:37-41 ]
We all know that our
justification is by faith alone.
We are made right with God not because of what we can do or what we have done
but simply because of His merciful love for us. Hence, how effective and
dedicated we are to be as disciples and apostles of our Lord, depends on how
strong our faith is in Him.
But in reality, do we
truly believe in His merciful love? How does one measure one’s faith
in Christ? Do we measure our faith in terms of how much good
works and how many projects we have done? Do we measure our faith in
Him by examining how faithful we are to the decrees of the Lord, always keeping
the law and delighting in His commands? If these are the means by which
we gauge our faith in the Lord, then Jesus warns us that we might be putting
the cart before the horse.
Yes, we too have fallen into the
same mistake of the Galatians. Instead of clinging to
Christ’s love and mercy, they clung to the laws and we, our good works.
Hence, St Paul challenged them saying that “everyone who accepts circumcision
is obliged to keep the whole Law.” As a consequence, they lost the joy of
being Christians. Indeed, this so disappointed Paul that he urged them,
“When Christ freed us, he meant us to remain free. Stand firm, therefore, and
do not submit again to the yoke of slavery.”
This, too, was the
misunderstanding of the Pharisees and the Scribes about justification. They were apparently so faithful to
the Torah, just like the psalmist who worshipped the commands of the
Lord. Unfortunately, they literally worshipped the commands of God by
making the laws their idols. They were preoccupied and meticulous
in the observation of the rituals and the traditions of the Fathers.
In itself, the observation of such traditions has its value and is not to be
despised. Yet, we know that Jesus deliberately broke the Jewish customs
by eating without first washing His hands. The intention, as implied by
the evangelist, is to surprise them rather than to deny the value of the
traditions. Jesus wanted to put the all-important point across that what
is essential is not so much the commandments that we observe legalistically but
that they are really meant to help us to live a righteous and charitable
life. Indeed, He reprimanded them, “Oh, you Pharisees! You clean
the outside of cup and plate, while inside yourselves you are filled with
extortion and wickedness. Fools! … Instead give alms from what you
have and then indeed everything will be clean for you.” So what is
necessary is that we purify the heart rather than be too taken up by externals
which, although are important, do not necessarily mean that they are the
measure of true holiness.
But does it mean therefore that if
we do good deeds, that is, almsgiving, we can claim to have a deep faith in
Christ? Is Jesus implying that if we give alms then we can presume
that we love God? Such an interpretation would only lead us to believe
that we can justify ourselves by good works. The truth is that this
is no real indication that we have a deep faith in Jesus. How then does
one measure one’s faith in Christ?
Faith in Christ means
that we do not rely on the Law,
as St Paul tells us. Concretely it means that we do not rely on our
observance of the laws or good works. Why? Because obedience to the laws
and even the performance of good works spring from pride. Pride, we know,
was the first sin of Adam and Eve. They wanted to be like God without
God. Often, we, too, act in that manner. Although our lips profess
that we rely on God, yet in faith we can actually be like the Galatians whom
Paul condemned.
Sometimes we can stress too much
on the strict observance of rubrics, rules, regulations and doing the right
thing by our faith, and forget the real purpose or intention of the
rules, which is to promote love and unity. Indeed, Jesus condemned
the Jews not because of their observance of the customs but because they forgot
the real reason for their observance. Just the execution of them is no
guarantee that we love God if it springs from our pride, for the consequence is
that we begin to think too highly of ourselves and even despise those who fail
to keep to the rules. We become proud and condescending. We say to
others, “If I can do it, why can’t you?” So it is nothing but human power
and strength. If we can do it on our own strength and will, it is really
not the work of God but our own work. If that were the case, we do not
really need God or His grace. If we think we are such good Christians and
consider ourselves worthy and therefore have a place reserved for ourselves in
heaven, it is already a sign of pride because we think we have earned it.
Secondly, for those of us who
cannot live up to the laws or are incapable of loving, we may feel depressed
and demoralized. We hate ourselves. We feel that we are not
worthy of God or of His love. When we see ourselves as hypocritical and
unlovable, we begin to hate ourselves more and more. As a result we
become envious of those who are well loved and who do well in their
calling. Some of us might even condemn others more harshly because we act
like sour grapes. How can we accept others when we cannot admit our own
sinfulness?
The solution cannot be
based on our good works.
It must be because of our faith in the love of God in Jesus. This is
primary and central. We must realize that our faith is primarily in the
love of God and His forgiveness in Christ Jesus before anything else. It
has nothing to do with our works. This is the faith that is presupposed.
As St Paul says, it is faith that manifests its power through love. There
is great import in this statement. Faith in Christ means that we no
longer depend only on ourselves but always on His love for us. We must
never think of ourselves as unworthy of His love. This is the kind of
faith in Christ that St Paul means.
Hence, even when we fail,
especially when we have tried our best, then we must trust in God’s mercy.
We are loved by God even if we have not been able to live up to our calling;
even if we have not been able to do as much as we want. We will still
feel unworthy before the Lord, but without despising ourselves simply because
we have not lived up to the gospel demands. All the more we want to love
Him so that our lives can be lived in union with Him. Unless we have this
faith, we cannot say that we have faith in Him.
Without this faith, we
will fall back to slavery as we try to prove ourselves in good works. Thus, we must not misunderstand
Jesus as simply saying that it is enough to love. We must qualify His statement
with that of Paul. Jesus was not so much against the external practices
but He was speaking of the heart that has been transformed by the love of
God. He was not speaking of charity only. A lot of
philanthropists do that. But that can also make them proud. So even
to love is not sufficient to make us happy in life. We can think highly
of ourselves, but we will always feel insecure and never feel that we have done
enough. We become restless as we try to keep proving ourselves to
others. We remain forever unhappy because we think we can do better and
strive to do better. If such a thought comes from our recognition of our
powerlessness, it is good, but when it comes from our pride, then it will
unsettle us and make us anxious and fearful people.
Thus, the Good News that we are
called to proclaim to ourselves and to others is that, although unworthy, we
know that He still loves us unconditionally and always. With this
confidence in His love, we are now healed and transformed. We want to
tell the world that they do not have to prove themselves before God but that
God loves them just as they are and want us to share in His love even more each
day. Hence, when we speak of good works, it is a work and obedience to
the commandments rooted in our deep experience of God’s love for us. It
is His love that makes us good; not that He loves us because we are good.
Our strength must come from our experience of the merciful love of the
Lord. With the psalmist we implore, “Lord, let your love come upon me,
the saving help of your promise. Do not take the word of truth from my mouth
for I trust in your decrees.”
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All
Rights Reserved
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