20181202
LIVING WITH CONFIDENCE
02 DECEMBER,
2018, Sunday, 1st Week, Advent
Readings at Mass
Liturgical Colour:
Violet.
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First reading
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Jeremiah 33:14-16 ©
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I will make a virtuous Branch grow for
David
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See, the days are coming – it is the
Lord who speaks – when I am going to fulfil the promise I made to the
House of Israel and the House of Judah:
‘In those days and at that time,
I will make a virtuous Branch grow for
David,
who shall practise honesty and integrity
in the land.
In those days Judah shall be saved
and Israel shall dwell in confidence.
And this is the name the city will be
called:
The-Lord-our-integrity.’
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm
24(25):4-5,8-9,10,14 ©
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To you, O Lord, I lift
up my soul.
Lord, make me know your ways.
Lord, teach me your paths.
Make me walk in your truth, and teach me:
for you are God my saviour.
To you, O Lord, I lift
up my soul.
The Lord is good and upright.
He shows the path to those who
stray,
He guides the humble in the right path,
He teaches his way to the
poor.
To you, O Lord, I lift
up my soul.
His ways are faithfulness and love
for those who keep his
covenant and law.
The Lord’s friendship is for those who
revere him;
to them he reveals his
covenant.
To you, O Lord, I lift
up my soul.
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Second reading
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1 Thessalonians
3:12-4:2 ©
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May you be blameless when our Lord Jesus
Christ comes again
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May the Lord be generous in increasing
your love and make you love one another and the whole human race as much as we
love you. And may he so confirm your hearts in holiness that you may be
blameless in the sight of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus Christ comes
with all his saints.
Finally,
brothers, we urge you and appeal to you in the Lord Jesus to make more and more
progress in the kind of life that you are meant to live: the life that God
wants, as you learnt from us, and as you are already living it. You have not
forgotten the instructions we gave you on the authority of the Lord Jesus.
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Gospel Acclamation
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Ps84:8
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Let us see, O Lord, your mercy
and give us your saving help.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Luke 21:25-28,34-36 ©
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That day will be sprung on you suddenly,
like a trap
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Jesus said to his disciples: ‘There will
be signs in the sun and moon and stars; on earth nations in agony, bewildered
by the clamour of the ocean and its waves; men dying of fear as they await what
menaces the world, for the powers of heaven will be shaken. And then they will
see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When these
things begin to take place, stand erect, hold your heads high, because your
liberation is near at hand.
‘Watch
yourselves, or your hearts will be coarsened with debauchery and drunkenness
and the cares of life, and that day will be sprung on you suddenly, like a
trap. For it will come down on every living man on the face of the earth. Stay
awake, praying at all times for the strength to survive all that is going to
happen, and to stand with confidence before the Son of Man.’
LIVING WITH CONFIDENCE
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [Jer 33:14-16; Ps 25; 1 Th 3:12 – 4:2; Lk 21:25-28.34-36 ]
In the gospel, Jesus
spoke of the signs that would precede the Second Coming of the Son of Man. “There will be signs in the
sun and moon and stars; on earth nations in agony, bewildered by the clamour of
the ocean and its waves; men dying of fear as they await what menaces the
world, for the powers of heaven will be shaken. And then they will see the Son
of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.” However, we should
not fear the end, because it is not meant to be a day of punishment but a day
of reward. Indeed, the Lord said, “when these things begin to take place,
stand erect, hold your heads high, because your liberation is near at hand.”
But why do some people
fear the end? Because they are
worried that they would not be ready to meet the Lord and account to Him for
the life they have lived, the blessings of talents, the wealth and the
resources. They are afraid that they would fail the judgment of
God. And so talking about the final judgement helps them, as it did
during the time of our Lord, to take their life on earth seriously as the
future reality will depend on the present life. Some are so obsessed
about the final judgment that they live in fear rather than in true freedom and
peace. Such an approach to life contradicts the gospel because the
judgement of God is truly a judgement of love.
However today, we have the
opposite situation where most people never give a thought about the future
state of life. This
is because we are living in a different situation. In the days of old,
life was hard due to poverty, illnesses, epidemics, wars and natural
disasters. Therefore, it was natural for such people, whose life span was
also short, to be prepared for the future life, which would be a better life
than what they had on earth. However, today, with a better standard of
living, a more comfortable life, the sumptuous spread of food, and good medical
care, old age masked by cosmetic makeover, life has been prolonged; people are
now more concerned about enjoying this life than giving thought to the next
life since this life is so good!
Indeed, these are the
warning signs of our times that the Lord spoke about in the gospel. Relativism, atheism, individualism
and materialism. There is a loss of the sense of the Sacred. The
consequence is that people no longer have respect for the sacredness of
life. This explains why abortion is taken lightly and in some
quarters, doctors are suggesting that abortion should be extended even to newly
born babies. Now, the world is promoting euthanasia, simply because they
believe that life ends and finishes at death, and we disappear from the face of
this world forever.
Furthermore, the time
immemorial institutions of marriage and family are under threat. As a result, we will have more
dysfunctional children who will grow up without a real identity, even of their
sexual identity. In the West, they are promoting Agender, gender
neutral or transgender or intersex. Humanity has come to such a degraded
state, they are even promoting bestialism. In some Western countries, and
even in Indonesia, they have animal sex brothels. Such obsession with sex
is because of pornography and promiscuity, where people become addicted with
sex through constant indoctrination by the mass media. That is why we
still have many sexual crimes committed each day even though they know how
serious the penalty is for such crimes.
Another imminent sign
that the world could end up destroying itself is the way we treat creation. The failure to practice ecology
will lead to greater global warming and climate change and the destruction of
creation. Recently, the United States sent a spacecraft to Mars, which is
about 484 million kilometres away, hoping to try to understand how Mars became
inhabitable when it was believed that it was once habitable.
But why do we live this
kind of fake life, pretended happiness when we are not truly at peace in our
hearts and the joy is superficial?
This is because it is focused on self, not on others. A joy contained
within oneself will eventually be stifled out. In truth, as the Lord
warned us, “Watch yourselves, or your hearts will be coarsened with debauchery
and drunkenness and the cares of life, and that day will be sprung on you
suddenly, like a trap.” Indeed, it is the temptations of the flesh, the
World and Satan that has led us to live an unenlightened, sensual life focused
on oneself without any real love and concern for others. People are there
for us to make use of, but we do not give our hearts to love and authentic
relationships.
That is why, if we want
to live a happy life on earth and hereafter, we must live the fullness of life
at the end of time on this earth. If true happiness in life consists in freedom, love,
relationships, giving and sharing and humble service then, we should already be
living this life on earth. This is what living a life of holiness
is. St Paul said, “And may he so confirm your hearts in holiness that you
may be blameless in the sight of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus Christ
comes with all his saints.” By living a life of holiness, we live a
blameless life before God and before men. We live in total freedom
without fear of judgement because at all times, we could walk and stand with
heads erect as we having nothing to hide.
A life of holiness means
to live a life of integrity.
St Paul wrote, “Finally, brothers, we urge you and appeal to you in the Lord
Jesus to make more and more progress in the kind of life that you are meant to
live: the life that God wants, as you learnt from us, and as you are already
living it.” This means that we live out who we are, Christ’s disciples
and what we are called to do according to the gospel taught to us by the Lord.
When our life is consistent, who we are is also what we believe; we can
live our life in total freedom from all fear because we live a blameless life,
a life with a clear conscience. It makes no difference when the Lord
comes, now, next year, at the end of their life on earth or at His second
coming. When we live a life of integrity we are always welcoming the Lord
who comes at every moment of our life.
A life of holiness must
be expressed in a life of charity.
St Paul wrote, “May the Lord be generous in increasing your love
and make you love one another and the whole human race as much as we love
you.” Holiness in the Bible, in fact, is spelt out in terms of charity.
The Lord, after commanding the people to “Be holy because I,
the Lord your God, am holy”, gave them a list of instructions as
to how they should treat their neighbours, their loved ones, the elderly, the
poor and the stranger. (Lev 19) So how can we
know that we have grown in holiness if not in our capacity to love more and
more, to forgive those who have hurt us, to tolerate those who are weak and to
be compassionate with those who are poor and vulnerable?
That is why at the
beginning of the New Liturgical Year, the Lord invites us to start the year
with a new beginning so that we will have a glorious ending. The Lord says, “Stay awake,
praying at all times for the strength to survive all that is going to happen,
and to stand with confidence before the Son of Man.” We must keep
ourselves alert to the signs of the times, which are not just cosmic signs but
the events that are happening around us and in our lives. We just have to
become conscious of the consequences of sin, infidelity, immorality, cheating,
and dishonesty.
Today, we are called to
imitate our Lord, who is the Promised Messiah, to show us the way to true peace
and joy. Jesus by His
life, death and resurrection has shown us the way to live a life of integrity,
which is fidelity to His vocation as the Son of God, the Saviour of
humanity. We too are called to live out our fidelity to the Father as His
adopted sons and daughters, and brothers and sisters of our Lord Jesus
Christ. St Paul reminds us, “You have not forgotten the instructions we
gave you on the authority of the Lord Jesus.” So with the psalmist, we
are called to learn from the Lord by contemplating on His word and His
ways. Walking the way of the Lord is the sure path to fullness of life.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All
Rights Reserved
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