20181218
A BARREN OR A FRUITFUL
LIFE
18 DECEMBER,
2018, Tuesday, 3rd Week, Advent
Readings at Mass
Liturgical Colour:
Violet.
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First reading
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Judges 13:2-7 ©
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2 And there was a certain
man of Zorah, of the tribe of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife
was barren and had no children. 3 And the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Behold,
you are barren and have no children; but you shall conceive and bear a son. 4 Therefore beware, and
drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, 5 for lo, you shall
conceive and bear a son. No razor shall come upon his head, for the boy shall
be a Nazirite to God from birth; and he shall begin to deliver Israel from the
hand of the Philistines.” 6 Then the woman came and
told her husband, “A man of God came to me, and his countenance was like the
countenance of the angel of God, very terrible; I did not ask him whence he
was, and he did not tell me his name; 7 but he said to me, ‘Behold, you shall conceive and
bear a son; so then drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, for
the boy shall be a Nazirite to God from birth to the day of his death.’ ”
24 And the woman bore a son,
and called his name Samson; and the boy grew, and the Lord blessed him. 25 And the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah
and Eshta-ol.
Gospel : Luke 1 : 5-25
5 In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah,* of the division of Abijah; and he
had a wife of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. 6 And
they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and
ordinances of the Lord blameless. 7 But they had no
child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years.
8 Now while he was serving as
priest before God when his division was on duty, 9 according
to the custom of the priesthood, it fell to him by lot to enter the temple of
the Lord and burn incense. 10 And the whole
multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense. 11 And
there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the
altar of incense. 12 And Zechariah
was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. 13 But
the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer is heard,
and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.
14 And you will have joy and gladness,
and
many will rejoice at his birth;
15 for he will be great before the Lord,
and
he shall drink no wine nor strong drink,
and
he will be filled with the Holy Spirit,
even
from his mother’s womb.
16 And he will turn many of the sons of Israel to the Lord their God,
17 and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah,
to
turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,
and
the disobedient to the wisdom of the just,
to
make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”
18 And Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am
an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.” 19 And
the angel answered him, “I am Gabriel, who stand in the presence of God; and I
was sent to speak to you, and to bring you this good news. 20 And
behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things
come to pass, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in
their time.” 21 And the people
were waiting for Zechariah, and they wondered at his delay in the temple. 22 And
when he came out, he could not speak to them, and they perceived that he had
seen a vision in the temple; and he made signs to them and remained dumb. 23 And
when his time of service was ended, he went to his home.
24 After these days his wife
Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she hid herself, saying, 25 “Thus
the Lord has done to me in the days when he looked on me, to take away my
reproach among men.”
A BARREN OR A FRUITFUL LIFE
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ JUDGES 13:2-7, 24-25; LUKE 1:5-25 ]
Today we have two
parallel stories of two barren women and two miraculous births. The first thing to note is that
barrenness was considered a shame and a humiliation in the time of
Jesus. This applied particularly to the women more so than the men.
Why is that so? This causes me to reflect on our common call to be fruitful in
life. The meaning of birthdays and everyone’s calling in life is to be
fruitful. In those days women were homemakers and therefore seen as
mothers primarily, to look after children and to nurture them. Fathers
were providers and protectors of the family. He was the material
provider and leader in family and society.
Hence, a woman’s existence had no
meaning apart from child-bearing and motherhood. Being barren
thus meant they had no reason to live and hence a shame. Of course the
father was not to be blamed since the mother was seen as the one carrying the
baby. So, if the wife was barren than it was her fault. Women
therefore suffered great humiliation when they were without children. It
implied that they lived in vain. Biological barrenness was but a deeper
sign of personal barrenness.
In our days, the role of
women has changed much, yet the call to fruitfulness remains constant. Women today are also career women.
They have equal responsibility in the world and their role goes beyond the care
of the family and home. Still, the nurturing role of mothers remains
deeply ingrained in women. This, I believe, is in the genes or if you
would have it, God has written it into the woman’s biological and psychological
makeup.
Otherwise why do we all
want to have children?
Are they a blessing or a chore or a nuisance? What do you get out of having
children? In the past, they were needed for manpower and were seen as a
financial investment. Today, they are often seen as a liability. At
any rate, we do not need them to keep us financially viable as we have our
savings and investments. So why do we have children? Maybe we are
afraid of loneliness. But then we can find companionship in other
ways. For this reason many do not want to get married nor have
children because they are seen as a nuisance and a burden. Most of all,
they take away your freedom and it means lots of sacrifices. Worst still,
when they turn out to be ingrates.
The real reason for the
rejection of marriage and motherhood and fatherhood is because of individualism
and a loss of hope for the future. People live only for themselves and this is
because they do not see a future beyond this life. They must therefore
grab and enjoy as much of this world as possible, for they believe that
tomorrow we will die and then vanish from this world. Hence, having
children is no more a motivation in life. They are considered a liability,
heartache and a burden, not just financially.
For this reason, the
scripture readings bring us back to focus the purpose of having children and of
life as a whole. Children
are miraculous gifts from God. Every child is a miracle, not just those
miraculous births alone. Every child is a gift which cannot be demanded
but only accepted graciously. Hence the Church does not permit in-vitro
fertilisation or test tube babies, or surrogate motherhood. At the same
time, abortion too is not permitted. This is the mystical meaning of
Zachariah being struck dumb in the face of God’s miraculous intervention, since
he did not believe, unlike Manoah, his wife Elizabeth and of course Mary, the
mother of Jesus.
Most importantly, the
purpose of having children is made clear. We are called to be fruitful. It is
significant that the miraculous births of both Samson and John the Baptist were
not given to the barren women simply to take away their shame but because they
would have an important role in the plan of God and the history of
salvation. In other words, they too had a calling to serve the plan of
God for humanity. Samson was to rescue the Israelites from the
Philistines and John the Baptist was to prepare the people to welcome the
Messiah by turning away from their sins.
Consequently, parents are
to help their children find their real calling in life. Their task is not simply to mould
them to be lawyers and professionals or businessman so that they have a place
in society or make lots of money. The role of parents is to help them
fulfil their vocation in life so that they can be fruitful. At the end of
the day, it is not what they become but whether they will live a fruitful life
and be contributive to society. Will you consider your son or daughter as
successful if he or she were called to live a life and vocation like John the
Baptist, to be a priest or religious, or a contemplative nun? Even if they were
to be successful in worldly terms and are achievers in life, in their career or
business, but if they live only for themselves, they are failures! As
parents, you too would have failed even though you have provided them the means
to become successful in the eyes of the world. The real successful person
is he or she who makes a real difference in his or her family, church and
society. Unless we imprint on our children that happiness is
dependent on whether they are life-giving, they cannot be happy even if they do
well in their career or business.
In the final analysis,
regardless whether they are married or single, parents or priests, we have a
role to play in the plan of God, which is to give life and love in whichever
state of life we are in. This
is our common calling to fruition by fulfilling our role in this world, which
is to live for others. This is to share in the life of God. By so
doing we find life meaningful and fulfilling because we live for others and not
for ourselves.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All
Rights Reserved
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