20190125
VOCATIONS
– A CRISIS?
25 JANUARY,
2019, Friday, Conversion of St Paul, Apostle
Readings at Mass
Liturgical Colour:
White.
EITHER:
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First reading
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Acts 22:3-16 ©
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'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?'
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Paul said to the people, ‘I am a Jew and
was born at Tarsus in Cilicia. I was brought up here in this city. I studied
under Gamaliel and was taught the exact observance of the Law of our ancestors.
In fact, I was as full of duty towards God as you are today. I even persecuted
this Way to the death, and sent women as well as men to prison in chains as the
high priest and the whole council of elders can testify, since they even sent
me with letters to their brothers in Damascus. When I set off it was with the
intention of bringing prisoners back from there to Jerusalem for punishment.
‘I was on that journey and
nearly at Damascus when about midday a bright light from heaven suddenly shone
round me. I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying, “Saul, Saul, why are
you persecuting me?” I answered: Who are you, Lord? and he said to me, “I am
Jesus the Nazarene, and you are persecuting me.” The people with me saw the
light but did not hear his voice as he spoke to me. I said: What am I to do,
Lord? The Lord answered, “Stand up and go into Damascus, and there you will be
told what you have been appointed to do.” The light had been so dazzling that I
was blind and my companions had to take me by the hand; and so I came to
Damascus.
‘Someone called Ananias, a devout
follower of the Law and highly thought of by all the Jews living there, came to
see me; he stood beside me and said, “Brother Saul, receive your sight.”
Instantly my sight came back and I was able to see him. Then he said, “The God
of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will, to see the Just One and hear
his own voice speaking, because you are to be his witness before all mankind,
testifying to what you have seen and heard. And now why delay? It is time you
were baptised and had your sins washed away while invoking his name.”’
OR:
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Alternative First reading
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Acts 9:1-22 ©
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Saul's call
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Saul was still breathing threats to
slaughter the Lord’s disciples. He had gone to the high priest and asked for
letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus, that would authorise him to
arrest and take to Jerusalem any followers of the Way, men or women, that he
could find.
Suddenly, while he was
travelling to Damascus and just before he reached the city, there came a light
from heaven all round him. He fell to the ground, and then he heard a voice
saying, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ ‘Who are you, Lord?’ he
asked, and the voice answered, ‘I am Jesus, and you are persecuting me. Get up
now and go into the city, and you will be told what you have to do.’ The men
travelling with Saul stood there speechless, for though they heard the voice they
could see no one. Saul got up from the ground, but even with his eyes wide open
he could see nothing at all, and they had to lead him into Damascus by the
hand. For three days he was without his sight, and took neither food nor drink.
A disciple called Ananias who
lived in Damascus had a vision in which he heard the Lord say to him,
‘Ananias!’ When he replied, ‘Here I am, Lord’, the Lord said, ‘You must go to
Straight Street and ask the house of Judas for someone called Saul, who comes
from Tarsus. At this moment he is praying, having had a vision of a man called
Ananias coming in and laying hands on him to give him back his sight.’
When he heard that, Ananias
said, ‘Lord, several people have told me about this man and all the harm he has
been doing to your saints in Jerusalem. He has only come here because he holds
a warrant from the chief priests to arrest everybody who invokes your name.’
The Lord replied, ‘You must go all the same, because this man is my chosen
instrument to bring my name before pagans and pagan kings and before the people
of Israel; I myself will show him how much he himself must suffer for my name.’
Then Ananias went. He entered the house, and at once laid his hands on Saul and
said, ‘Brother Saul, I have been sent by the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on
your way here so that you may recover your sight and be filled with the Holy
Spirit.’ Immediately it was as though scales fell away from Saul’s eyes and he
could see again. So he was baptised there and then, and after taking some food
he regained his strength.
He began preaching in the
synagogues, ‘Jesus is the Son of God.’ All his hearers were amazed. ‘Surely’
they said ‘this is the man who organised the attack in Jerusalem against the
people who invoke this name, and who came here for the sole purpose of
arresting them to have them tried by the chief priests?’ Saul’s power increased
steadily, and he was able to throw the Jewish colony at Damascus into complete
confusion by the way be demonstrated that Jesus was the Christ.
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm 116(117) ©
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Go out to the whole
world; proclaim the Good News.
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Alleluia!
O praise the Lord, all you nations,
acclaim him all you peoples!
Go out to the whole
world; proclaim the Good News.
or
Alleluia!
Strong is his love for us;
he is faithful for ever.
Go out to the whole
world; proclaim the Good News.
or
Alleluia!
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Gospel Acclamation
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cf.Jn15:16
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Alleluia, alleluia!
I chose you from the world
to go out and bear fruit,
fruit that will last,
says the Lord.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Mark 16:15-18 ©
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Go out to the whole world; proclaim the
Good News
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Jesus showed himself to the Eleven and
said to them:
‘Go
out to the whole world; proclaim the Good News to all creation. He who believes
and is baptised will be saved; he who does not believe will be condemned. These
are the signs that will be associated with believers: in my name they will cast
out devils; they will have the gift of tongues; they will pick up snakes in
their hands, and be unharmed should they drink deadly poison; they will lay
their hands on the sick, who will recover.’
VOCATIONS – A
CRISIS?
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ Acts 22:3-16 or Acts 9:1-22; Ps 117:1-2; Mark 16:15-18 ]
Today we often hear that
there is a priestly and religious vocations crisis. This appears to be
true in Singapore and in many parts of the world, especially the first world
countries. The
Church is indeed in need of more priests. In Singapore, we have 155
priests, but only about 100 are active in serving the 383,000 Catholics.
As a result, the Church has also become inward-looking as the clergy have no
more energy and resources left to focus on the need for evangelization and
mission. Just trying to sustain the spiritual needs of our Catholics is
trying enough, not to speak of giving them formation in the faith.
But what is the real
crisis? It is not the lack of priestly and religious vocations. It
is the lack of prayers! In
the gospel, Jesus told the disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the
laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers
into his harvest.” (Mt 10:37f) The
Lord never asked us to promote priestly and religious vocations as if it is a
recruitment drive for more candidates to the seminary and religious life.
What is required is prayer. In other words, we must first help our young
people to come into contact with the Lord, fall in love with Him, develop an
intense and intimate relationship with Him to the extent that they want to give
their lives to Him, share in His mission and in His passion for the people.
Without a personal relationship with the Lord, there is no vocation and no
call.
Indeed, we must never
forget that priestly vocation is a calling. It is not an option in life that we choose from
among the many options. When the Lord calls, we respond immediately
because it is the Lord who calls. The call of the first disciples showed
how they immediately left their boats and nets to follow after Jesus when they
were called. (cf Mt 4:18-22) The letter of Hebrews says,
“Every high priest chosen from among mortals is put in charge of things
pertaining to God on their behalf, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. And
one does not presume to take this honor, but takes it only when called by God,
just as Aaron was.” (Heb 5:1,4) No wonder, the Church today is
having all kinds of scandals because those who responded to the call of the
priesthood have no calling! They are taking it as a “career” in life, or
a lifestyle that they are comfortable with, as opposed to marriage or
singlehood.
So the real crisis is
not the shortage of priestly and religious vocations but the crisis of
faith. Our
churches appear to be vibrant with lots of activities. But all these
activities are not signs of a living faith because they could be mere
distractions to occupy peoples’ time and boredom. The only sign that is truly
reflective of a community growing in faith is when young people who have fallen
in love with Jesus desire to empty their lives in the service of the People of
God and be His missionaries in the world. Priestly and religious
vocations are the fruits of a deep prayer life, a deep relationship with God.
The reality is that God
is not felt in this secularized world and even by so-called believers in the
Lord. The
Christian Faith has become a religion that we subscribe to, or some philosophy
of life. It is not a personal relationship with the Lord. It has
been reduced to fulfillment of duties, rituals and commandments. In a
secularized world where God is hardly mentioned in our schools, universities
and in social life, God is confined to the one hour on Sundays in church.
The environment is hostile and unwelcoming to the question of faith.
Those who have religious beliefs are seen to be narrow-minded, silly,
superstitious and weak. It is the in- thing today to be known as an
agnostic, a free thinker or a humanist. We depend on our
knowledge and strength in life. We do not need anyone else, especially
someone that we cannot see or feel.
Indeed, what our people
need is a conversion experience for them to fall in love with Jesus. This was the case of St Paul in
today’s feast of his conversion. His vocation did not come from
intellectual study of Jesus or the Christian Faith. It was his radical
encounter with the Lord on his way to Damascus to arrest the Christians and
bring them back to Jerusalem to be put in prison. He was persecuting the
Christians even to death. He did not know Jesus and he did not believe in
Him until the Lord appeared to Him in a flash of light and spoke to him, “Saul,
Saul, why are you persecuting me?” It was then that he knew the Lord was
His savior. From that moment, his life was totally
transformed. This explains why St Paul throughout his ministry would
recall his conversion experience story to show his conviction of how the Lord
had called him into the ministry.
What does a conversion
experience story entail? It is a personal encounter with the Lord. The apostles also had a similar
conversion experience when they witnessed the transfiguration of our
Lord. St Peter recounted this when he wrote, “For we did not follow cleverly
devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honor
and glory from God the Father when that voice was conveyed to him by the
Majestic Glory, saying, ‘This is my Son, my Beloved, with whom I am well
pleased.’ We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven, while we were with
him on the holy mountain.” (2 Pt 1:16-18)
Secondly, it is the
experience of forgiveness of our sins. In spite of the fact that Saul was a
persecutor, the Lord forgave him and appointed him as an apostle to the
gentiles. He sent Ananias to lay hands on Saul to restore his
sight. “But Ananias replied, ‘Lord, I have heard from many sources about
this man, what evil things he has done to your holy ones in Jerusalem.'”
Nevertheless, Ananias went “and laying his hands on him, he said, ‘Saul, my
brother, the Lord has sent me, Jesus who appeared to you on the way by which
you came, that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.’
Immediately things like scales fell from his eyes and he regained his sight. He
got up and was baptized.”
St Paul would narrate
later how the Lord was so merciful to him. “I am grateful to Christ Jesus our Lord,
who has strengthened me, because he judged me faithful and appointed me to his
service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a man of
violence. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and
the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in
Christ Jesus. The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners – of whom I am the foremost. But for
that very reason I received mercy, so that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ
might display the utmost patience, making me an example to those who would come
to believe in him for eternal life. ” (1 Tim 1:12-16) St Peter too experienced the
Lord’s forgiveness for his arrogance when He performed the miracle of
fish. “When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, ‘Go
away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!’ (Lk 5:8)
Thirdly, it is the
experience of being sent.
The Lord assured Ananias His plan for Saul. “Go, for this man is a chosen
instrument of mine to carry my name before Gentiles, kings, and children of
Israel, and I will show him what he will have to suffer for my name.”
Then Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching
people.” (Lk 5:10) After having encountered the Lord, we
want to announce to the whole world that Christ is our Lord and Savior.
It is a natural outcome of having encountered the Risen Lord. Like Simon
who was given a new name, Peter; and Saul a new name, Paul, those who encounter
Him are given a new mission. When we fall in love with Jesus, we cannot
stop proclaiming Him. This is what it means when the Lord said, “Go out
to the whole world; proclaim the Good News to all creation. He who believes and
is baptised will be saved.” Filled with His Holy Spirit like Paul, we too
will announce the Good News to our fellowmen. We read that “he began at
once to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God.”
So when we celebrate the
Conversion of St Paul, let us pray for our own conversion of heart. Many of us are nominal
Catholics. Many of our parents are not showing the example of
faith to their children. We are lacking in faith and that is why our
children lose their faith completely when they grow up in a secular
world. What we need is to create an ambience where our children can
encounter Jesus in their lives by belonging to a community anointed with the
Holy Spirit and a community that gives them support in love and in faith.
Only when we become a praying community and a community that celebrates the
Eucharist and contemplate on the Word of God, will there be vocations for the
Church and the world.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All
Rights Reserved
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