20181223 FINDING PEACE THROUGH HEALING OF OUR
HEART AND WILL
23 DECEMBER,
2018, Sunday, 4th Week, Advent
Readings at Mass
Liturgical Colour:
Violet.
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First reading
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Micah 5:1-4 ©
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He will stand and feed his flock with
the power of the Lord
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The Lord says this:
But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
the least of the clans of Judah,
out of you will be born for me
the one who is to rule over Israel;
his origin goes back to the distant past,
to the days of old.
The Lord is therefore going to abandon
them
till the time when she who is to give
birth gives birth.
Then the remnant of his brothers will come
back
to the sons of Israel.
He will stand and feed his flock
with the power of the Lord,
with the majesty of the name of his God.
They will live secure, for from then on he
will extend his power
to the ends of the land.
He himself will be peace.
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm
79(80):2-3,15-16,18-19 ©
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Lord of hosts, bring us
back; let your face shine on us and we shall be saved.
O shepherd of Israel, hear us,
shine forth from your cherubim
throne.
O Lord, rouse up your might,
O Lord, come to our help.
Lord of hosts, bring us
back; let your face shine on us and we shall be saved.
God of hosts, turn again, we implore,
look down from heaven and see.
Visit this vine and protect it,
the vine your right hand has
planted.
Lord of hosts, bring us
back; let your face shine on us and we shall be saved.
May your hand be on the man you have
chosen,
the man you have given your
strength.
And we shall never forsake you again;
give us life that we may call
upon your name.
Lord of hosts, bring us
back; let your face shine on us and we shall be saved.
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Second reading
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Hebrews 10:5-10 ©
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God, here I am! I am coming to obey your
will
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This is what Christ said, on coming into
the world:
You who wanted no
sacrifice or oblation,
prepared a body for me.
You took no pleasure in
holocausts or sacrifices for sin;
then I said,
just as I was commanded
in the scroll of the book,
‘God, here I am! I am
coming to obey your will.’
Notice that he says first: You did
not want what the Law lays down as the things to be offered, that is:
the sacrifices, the oblations, the holocausts and the sacrifices for sin, and you
took no pleasure in them; and then he says: Here I am! I am
coming to obey your will. He is abolishing the first sort to replace
it with the second. And this will was for us to be made holy by the offering of
his body made once and for all by Jesus Christ.
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Gospel Acclamation
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Lk1:38
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Alleluia, alleluia!
I am the handmaid of the Lord:
let what you have said be done to me.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Luke 1:39-45 ©
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Why should I be honoured with a visit
from the mother of my Lord?
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Mary set out and went as quickly as she
could to a town in the hill country of Judah. She went into Zechariah’s house
and greeted Elizabeth. Now as soon as Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the
child leapt in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. She gave
a loud cry and said, ‘Of all women you are the most blessed, and blessed is the
fruit of your womb. Why should I be honoured with a visit from the mother of my
Lord? For the moment your greeting reached my ears, the child in my womb leapt for
joy. Yes, blessed is she who believed that the promise made her by the Lord
would be fulfilled.’
FINDING PEACE THROUGH HEALING OF OUR
HEART AND WILL
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ MICAH 5:1-4; HEBREWS 10:5-10; LUKE 1:39-45 ]
Christmas is a season of
peace. It is ironical
that although everyone desires peace at home, in marriage, in
family, at work, in Church, in society and in the world, yet there is so much
division. We want peace but we are at war. Nations say they want
peace but are always fighting each other. In fact those who speak of
peace are the very ones who often cause division and champion rivalry, hatred
and war.
If there is no peace in the world, it is
because many are seeking for superficial peace. Most of us always
think that division is caused by others. So we spend our time trying
to fix others and fix the world. Those who condemn others for stealing,
cheating, drink-driving, adultery, etc often act as if they themselves are
exonerated from sin. Whilst sin cannot be condoned and are wrong, yet to
pass judgment harshly on those who fail in their responsibility could also
imply that we are perfect and never commit any wrongs in our lives. In
other words, we sound as if we are perfect and morally impeccable.
So what is the root cause of
division in the world? It is the sickness of the mind and the
heart of the individual. Division in the world begins with the
inner man. What must first be dealt with is not the world or
society. We must be careful that we do not shift the world’s problems and
sins to society and the structures whilst exonerating ourselves from any sins
of our own. There is a tendency for most of us to find fault with the
world, with others, with society, with the institution, blaming them for our
current predicament, failure and misfortunes. This is not to deny that
society has a role to play in the way we behave and conduct ourselves
today. But society is in such a pathetic state only because the
individual is broken and wounded. Society is but the collective term for
all individuals. As it is said, “it is better to light the candle than to
curse the darkness.”
The truth is that we
were conceived in sin at birth.
The Psalmist says, “For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before
me … Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost
place.” (Ps 51:3, 5,6) At birth we are already
sinners. At the very beginning of our lives, our mind is
darkened and our will is broken. We live in ignorance over what is
good and evil; and even if we know what is good and right, we are unable to
will what our intellect tells us. In other words, both intellect and will
are weakened. Instead of aligning our will with the divine will, we
choose to follow our own will. As a result, there is a disconnect between
intellect and will. Consequently, we allow our passions and selfish
desires to take control of our lives, very often going against our
conscience. For those of us who still are sensitive to our conscience,
even though we do not obey our conscience and allow sin to reign in us, we feel
guilty and disgusted with ourselves.
Guilt often leads to
self-hatred if not properly managed. Many of us live with a bad conscience
knowingly or unknowingly. We seek to ignore our conscience reprimanding
us. After some time, we become insensitive to the conscience. But
because the conscience is the voice of God in our hearts, the moral imperative
that lives in us, planted by God, there is no real way to eliminate our
conscience. What most have done is to repress their guilt and suppress
their conscience by not wanting to confront it. What is not dealt with
causes more harm than if we were to bravely confront it. Indeed, if many
of us are reactive in our dealings with others, often losing our anger, giving
ourselves to sins of gluttony and lust, greed and envy; it is often the
consequence of deep unhealed conscience.
How then can we overcome
this inner division within man? This is possible not with our own
strength. No
matter how much we try to be at peace with ourselves, we cannot free ourselves
from a bad and guilty conscience. On the other hand, we cannot
resist sin, regardless of how much we know that we must not do certain
things. There is this inner battle within our soul. This is the
first real battle that is being fought before the external battles with our
fellowmen. When this inner battle is lost, then it will break out in our
relationship with others. Helpless and feeling wretched about ourselves,
both because of our sins and our inability to overcome the temptation to sin,
some have given up trying to be good or to do the right thing. As it is
often said, if you cannot beat them, might as well join them.
So who can enlighten our
minds and heal our hearts and will? The liturgy tells us it is none other than the Prince
of Peace. Only Jesus can come to render us peace. We are told that
Jesus shows us the way to do the will of God. If Jesus is the Prince of
Peace, it is because He is one with God by being faithful to Himself and to His
Father. He chose to do His Father’s will, first by emptying Himself of
His divinity; and then of His pride by becoming a slave; and then of His
humanity by dying for us on the cross. Truly, Jesus is the Prince
of Peace, for at every moment of His life, especially during His ministry, He
was tempted by the Evil One and those who were opposed to Him, including His
own apostles, to compromise His values and His integrity, but Jesus remained
focus and firm in doing His Father’s will. Indeed, Jesus is our model of
integrity.
To find peace in our
hearts, we need to heal our brokenness,
being enlightened in our minds, by growing in wisdom in the understanding of
life and God, by deepening our understanding of the truths of God and most of
all, knowledge of Him and of ourselves. Hence, we must invite Jesus the
Prince of Peace to heal us from the very moment we were conceived in the womb
of our mother and for His grace to surrender ourselves to His divine
will. This was what happened to John the Baptist. The
gospel tells us that he was sanctified in the womb of Elizabeth by Jesus in
Mary’s womb through the Holy Spirit. “Now as soon as Elizabeth heard
Mary’s greeting, the child leapt in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the
Holy Spirit'”. St John the Baptist became a great precursor of the Lord
because of his total consecration to God and His holy will. He was able
to give himself unreservedly to the preparation of the Messiah because he was
sanctified in the womb of Elizabeth. This also explains why it is
customary to pray for God’s blessings on expectant mothers, not just for the
physical protection of the baby or the mother or for a safe delivery but also
for the healing of the emotional pain of the mother and the father that could
have undesirable impact on the baby who could already feel the love or
rejection of his or her mother even when in the womb.
The resultant effect of
being healed and sanctified is one of joy and liberation. Elizabeth told Mary, “For the moment your
greeting reached my ears, the child in my womb leapt for joy. Yes, blessed is
she who believed that the promise made her by the Lord would be
fulfilled.” Indeed, an indication of healing of mind and body is when we
are filled with joy. Without joy in our hearts, we are certainly still
laboring under some form of emotional, spiritual or psychological
oppression. Guilt and sin oppress our hearts. Even though we might
be happy externally, yet our hearts are imprisoned by sin and weighed down by
guilt.
Today, following Mary,
we are called to have faith in Jesus our Prince of Peace to heal us. How?
Firstly, parents must set good examples for their children and not perpetuate the sins of their
own parents or ancestors. Parents and adults are called to be agents of
God’s healing grace. By our unconditional love and acceptance of our
children, by our affirmation and encouragement, by our empathy and forgiveness,
we teach our children how to love and accept themselves. At the same
time, our openness and compassion for them will help them to forgive themselves
when they fail or sin; and as a consequence, we heal their pains and
memories. Parents and older siblings, aunts and uncles, and relatives
must not underestimate their influence over their children. We have a
very important and key role in forming children with holistic upbringing.
Otherwise, we cause them to be fearful, have low self-esteem, wounded and
broken. This in turn causes them to hurt others because of the fear of
rejection and their lack of self-worth.
Secondly, for such an environment to
exist, as adults, we must in the first place heal ourselves by
welcoming Jesus through repentance of our sins because we have lost
the grace given to us at our baptism. This is what the psalmist implores
the Lord. “Lord of hosts, bring us back; let your face shine on us and we shall
be saved.” Indeed, we must first heal ourselves if we want to be
wounded healers. So let us not delay longer but come back to the Prince
of Peace. Let His face shine on us again so that seeing Him, we are
healed of our ignorance and our brokenness. Let us make peace with God by
a good confession, which means one that is properly prepared through prayer,
self-examination of conscience and contrition.
In this way, the Lord will bring
about the healing of our body, mind and spirit. The sacrament of
reconciliation is the first and necessary step to pave the way for The
Lord. Only then will we be able to restore the peace in ourselves,
repair our relationships with people and find true peace. He will renew
the Holy Spirit in us and empower us. Just as the Holy Spirit empowered
John the Baptist to do good and filled him with grace, as was also in the case
of Mary and Jesus, let us welcome the Holy Spirit into our lives by repentance,
since the Holy Spirit is only given to those who obey Him. (cf Acts 5:32).
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All
Rights Reserved
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