20181128
PERSECUTION OF
RELIGIONS A PARADOX
28 NOVEMBER,
2018, Wednesday, 34th Week, Ordinary Time
Readings at Mass
Liturgical Colour:
Green.
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First reading
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Apocalypse 15:1-4 ©
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The victors sang the hymn of Moses and
of the Lamb
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What I, John, saw in heaven was a great
and wonderful sign: seven angels were bringing the seven plagues that are the
last of all, because they exhaust the anger of God. I seemed to see a glass
lake suffused with fire, and standing by the lake of glass, those who had
fought against the beast and won, and against his statue and the number which
is his name. They all had harps from God, and they were singing the hymn of
Moses, the servant of God, and of the Lamb:
‘How great and wonderful are all your
works,
Lord God Almighty;
just and true are all your ways,
King of nations.
Who would not revere and praise your name,
O Lord?
You alone are holy,
and all the pagans will come and adore you
for the many acts of justice you have
shown.’
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm 97(98):1-3,7-9 ©
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How great and wonderful
are all your works, Lord God almighty.
Sing a new song to the Lord
for he has worked wonders.
His right hand and his holy arm
have brought salvation.
How great and wonderful
are all your works, Lord God almighty.
The Lord has made known his salvation;
has shown his justice to the
nations.
He has remembered his truth and love
for the house of Israel.
How great and wonderful
are all your works, Lord God almighty.
Let the sea and all within it, thunder;
the world, and all its
peoples.
Let the rivers clap their hands
and the hills ring out their
joy
at the presence of the Lord.
How great and wonderful
are all your works, Lord God almighty.
For the Lord comes,
he comes to rule the earth.
He will rule the world with justice
and the peoples with fairness.
How great and wonderful
are all your works, Lord God almighty.
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Gospel Acclamation
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Lk21:36
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Stay awake, praying at all times
for the strength to stand with confidence
before the Son of Man.
Alleluia!
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Or:
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Rv2:10
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Even if you have to die, says the Lord,
keep faithful, and I will give you
the crown of life.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Luke 21:12-19 ©
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Your endurance will win you your lives
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Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Men will
seize you and persecute you; they will hand you over to the synagogues and to
imprisonment, and bring you before kings and governors because of my
name – and that will be your opportunity to bear witness. Keep this carefully
in mind: you are not to prepare your defence, because I myself shall give you
an eloquence and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to resist or
contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, relations and
friends; and some of you will be put to death. You will be hated by all men on
account of my name, but not a hair of your head will be lost. Your endurance
will win you your lives.’
PERSECUTION OF RELIGIONS A PARADOX
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ REV 15:1-4; LUKE 21:12-19 ]
Religions, if they are true
religions, promote peace, unity, love and compassion, besides giving
their believers a more holistic life on
earth as in heaven. This is done through an integration of the body and
the spirit of the human person, the physical, affective life with that of the
aesthetic and spiritual need, the individual with the rest of the
community. Religions, therefore, are an asset to everyone and work for
the good of all, regardless of race, language and religions. They
are not a threat to those who seek truth, goodness, love, justice and
compassion. They are not a threat to the State as well, because they are
partners with the State in bringing about the integral development of the
peoples, providing them peace and freedom from anxiety in times of stress, and bringing
about unity of all peoples through mutual understanding, dialogue, forgiveness
and mutual support.
Yet, the fact is as the Lord warned His
disciples that they would be persecuted. “Men will seize you and persecute you; they
will hand you over to the synagogues and to imprisonment, and bring you before
kings and governors because of my name. You will be betrayed even by parents
and brothers, relations and friends; and some of you will be put to death. You
will be hated by all men on account of my name.” In the first reading
from the Book of Revelation, we read of the countless martyrs in the early
Church who died for their faith and stood up for Christ. “I seemed to see
a glass lake suffused with fire, and standing by the lake of glass, those who had
fought against the beast and won, and against his statue and the number which
is his name.”
These persecutions come from various
quarters. It can come first and foremost from the State. Why? This
is ironical. Religions are not the opponents of the State but its
collaborators. This
is provided that the State seeks the good of all its citizens, acts justly,
treats all citizens with dignity and equality, promote truth and love, and
exercise compassion in dealing with those who are weak and vulnerable. A
just and honest government does not need to feel that religions are a threat to
their power of governing the country. Then why should the State feel
threatened? One reason is because religions expose the corruption and
injustices of a rogue government, especially when it is a dictatorship. It
is only when governments serve their own interests, abuse their powers,
discriminate the people they govern, institute policies that are unjust, unfair
and act against the interests of their people that they are wary of religions.
Otherwise, religions and the State should be partners in the development of the
country and their people. Both have the same goals of promoting
happiness, progress, prosperity, harmony, unity and peace in the country.
Secondly, some States are afraid that
believers might have double allegiance or worse still, allegiance to their
religion before the State.
This explains why in ancient times, the King held both political and religious
powers so that they had full control of the people. In the present day,
politics and religions are separated, which at times has led to subtle or even
public claims to power and control. When this happens, there will be
disunity in the country and the government of the day, especially when it
cannot govern the people according to the mandate given to them. But
Jesus made it clear, “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the
emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” (Mt 22:21) St Paul urged the Christians, “First
of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and
thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and all who are in high
positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and
dignity.” (1 Tim 2:1f) So
Christians must be good citizens. And we would tend to believe that all
true religions promote patriotism and universal brotherhood of humanity as
well.
Thirdly, persecution can come from among
religions. This is a contradiction. Religions must promote peace, mutual
respect, love and unity. Unfortunately, religions can fall into spiritual
worldliness. They can seek power, money and influence. As a result,
they become jealous of the success of others. They seek to proselytize
and even compel others to accept their religions. They persecute, oppress
and discriminate those who do not accept their religions. The rivalry
among religions contradict the universal values that all religions aspire
to. In fact, we all aspire to build “a kingdom eternal and universal, a
kingdom of truth and life, of holiness and grace, of justice, love and
peace.” (Gaudium et Spes, 39d) So in many places, those of minor
religions are oppressed and are disadvantaged. The lack of neutrality for
all religions does not accord our claims that religion is based on faith.
That being so, faith is a gift and it cannot be imposed but only offered.
This situation becomes more complicated when religion is mixed up with
politics, with both making use of each other to gain power. In some
countries, politicians use their religion to get votes and religions use
politics to gain power, privileges and influence. This can of
course lead to envy and resentment among the peoples for the lack of fair play.
Fourthly, persecution, as the Lord
said, comes from the world.
“You will be hated by all men on account of my name.” The reality is that
the world is concerned with money, power, prestige and pleasures.
Anything that can appeal to the sensual needs of peoples or their ego and
pride, they seek to satisfy. Some things that the world offer is good for
the people, as they help them to achieve a higher standard of living. But
the world is blind to what is right or wrong. A world without ethical
values would be like a car given to a little boy to drive. All things in
the world can be used for good or for evil, for building up a person or
destroying a person, for strengthening the family or destroying the family.
Because religions stand up for truth, the dignity of human life, compassion for
the weak, honesty and justice, fairness to all, often they are at logger heads
with the values of the world. We become opposed to their desire to make
more money through consumerism and entertainment. Thus, the world and
religions often do not get along. Rightly so, Jesus said, “I have given
them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the
world, just as I do not belong to the world.” (Jn 17:14)
Fifthly, persecution often comes from
within the family. “You
will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, relations and friends; and some
of you will be put to death.” Some members of the family cannot accept
the apostasy of their members because of their desire to maintain unity among
the members of the family. Having people from different religions in a
family can become a source of tension because the family no longer share common
values as most of these values originate from their faith beliefs. So we
can appreciate why those who convert to other faiths are often persecuted,
covertly and subtly, if not outrighty rejected and discriminated or even
separated.
What do we do in the face of such
persecutions? The Lord assures us of His assistance. He said, “that will be your
opportunity to bear witness. Keep this carefully in mind: you are not to
prepare your defence, because I myself shall give you an eloquence and a wisdom
that none of your opponents will be able to resist or contradict. Not a
hair of your head will be lost. Your endurance will win you your lives.”
We need first to be grounded in our faith. We need to have a strong
personal conviction of what we believe in and why we believe. Unless, we
have a deep encounter with the Lord, we will not be able to offer our faith as
Good News to our listeners. We are not trying to indoctrinate people or
even convince people using mere intellectual arguments alone to prove that our
faith is true. What is more important is that we must first live out our
faith. We must find meaning and inspiration from our faith to live a life
of love, service and forgiveness in union with Christ. We are not
propagating our faith as an ideology; rather, it is our encounter with the Lord
whom we recognize as our saviour, and who by His life, teaching, death and
resurrection has shown us the way to fullness of life here on earth and in
heaven.
So we must endure like the martyrs of the
New Testament in the first reading by standing up for our faith. We do not retaliate in a violent way
but through patient dialogue, reaching out, befriending and fostering mutual
understanding, remove all kinds of prejudice and fear so that others will not
see us as a threat but as harmless friends. As believers, whether of
Christ or of other religions, we must be exemplary people of faith, seen in our
works of love and mercy. In the final analysis, a true love and
experience of God must be seen in our fruits of love. As St James said,
“So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.” (Jms 2:17) Let
us show that religions is the way to the promotion of peace, unity, progress,
happiness and development of all peoples.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All
Rights Reserved
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