20190203
GIVING
HOPE TO HUMANITY IN LOVE
03 FEBRUARY,
2019, Sunday, 4th Week, Ordinary Time
Readings at Mass
Liturgical Colour:
Green.
|
First reading
|
|
Jeremiah 1:4-5,17-19 ©
|
|
'I have appointed you prophet to the
nations'
|
In the days of Josiah, the word of the
Lord was addressed to me, saying:
‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew
you;
before you came to birth I consecrated
you;
I have appointed you as prophet to the
nations.
‘So now brace yourself for action.
Stand up and tell them
all I command you.
Do not be dismayed at their presence,
or in their presence I will make you
dismayed.
‘I, for my part, today will make you
into a fortified city,
a pillar of iron,
and a wall of bronze
to confront all this land:
the kings of Judah, its princes,
its priests and the country people.
They will fight against you
but shall not overcome you,
for I am with you to deliver you –
it is the Lord who speaks.’
|
Responsorial Psalm
|
|
Psalm 70(71):1-6,15,17 ©
|
My lips will tell of
your help.
In you, O Lord, I take refuge;
let me never be put to shame.
In your justice rescue me, free me:
pay heed to me and save me.
My lips will tell of
your help.
Be a rock where I can take refuge,
a mighty stronghold to save
me;
for you are my rock, my
stronghold.
Free me from the hand of the wicked.
My lips will tell of
your help.
It is you, O Lord, who are my hope,
my trust, O Lord, since my
youth.
On you I have leaned from my birth,
from my mother’s womb you have
been my help.
My lips will tell of
your help.
My lips will tell of your justice
and day by day of your help.
O God, you have taught me from my youth
and I proclaim your wonders
still.
My lips will tell of
your help.
|
Second reading
|
|
1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13 ©
|
|
The supremacy of charity
|
Be ambitious for the higher gifts. And I
am going to show you a way that is better than any of them.
If
I have all the eloquence of men or of angels, but speak without love, I am
simply a gong booming or a cymbal clashing. If I have the gift of prophecy,
understanding all the mysteries there are, and knowing everything, and if I
have faith in all its fullness, to move mountains, but without love, then I am
nothing at all. If I give away all that I possess, piece by piece, and if I
even let them take my body to burn it, but am without love, it will do me no
good whatever.
Love
is always patient and kind; it is never jealous; love is never boastful or
conceited; it is never rude or selfish; it does not take offence, and is not
resentful. Love takes no pleasure in other people’s sins but delights in the
truth; it is always ready to excuse, to trust, to hope, and to endure whatever
comes.
Love
does not come to an end. But if there are gifts of prophecy, the time will come
when they must fail; or the gift of languages, it will not continue for ever;
and knowledge – for this, too, the time will come when it must fail. For
our knowledge is imperfect and our prophesying is imperfect; but once
perfection comes, all imperfect things will disappear. When I was a child, I
used to talk like a child, and think like a child, and argue like a child, but
now I am a man, all childish ways are put behind me. Now we are seeing a dim
reflection in a mirror; but then we shall be seeing face to face. The knowledge
that I have now is imperfect; but then I shall know as fully as I am known.
In
short, there are three things that last: faith, hope and love; and the greatest
of these is love.
|
Gospel Acclamation
|
Jn14:6
|
Alleluia, alleluia!
I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, says
the Lord;
No one can come to the Father except
through me.
Alleluia!
|
Or:
|
Lk4:18
|
Alleluia, alleluia!
The Lord has sent me to bring the good
news to the poor,
to proclaim liberty to captives.
Alleluia!
|
Gospel
|
Luke 4:21-30 ©
|
|
No prophet is ever accepted in his own
country
|
Jesus began to speak in the synagogue:
‘This text is being fulfilled today even as you listen.’ And he won the
approval of all, and they were astonished by the gracious words that came from
his lips. They said, ‘This is Joseph’s son, surely?’
But
he replied, ‘No doubt you will quote me the saying, “Physician, heal yourself”
and tell me, “We have heard all that happened in Capernaum, do the same here in
your own countryside.”’
And
he went on, ‘I tell you solemnly, no prophet is ever accepted in his own country.
‘There
were many widows in Israel, I can assure you, in Elijah’s day, when heaven
remained shut for three years and six months and a great famine raged
throughout the land, but Elijah was not sent to any one of these: he was sent
to a widow at Zarephath, a Sidonian town. And in the prophet Elisha’s time
there were many lepers in Israel, but none of these was cured, except the
Syrian, Naaman.’
When
they heard this everyone in the synagogue was enraged. They sprang to their
feet and hustled him out of the town; and they took him up to the brow of the
hill their town was built on, intending to throw him down the cliff, but he
slipped through the crowd and walked away.
GIVING HOPE TO
HUMANITY IN LOVE
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ JER 1:4-5.17-19; 1 COR 12:31-13:13; LUKE 4:21-30 ]
We are living in a time
like the Israelites, where everything seemed hopeless. During the time of Jeremiah, the
country’s political and religious leaders were corrupt and did not care for the
people. The rich were getting richer through dishonest means. The
poor were abandoned and oppressed. Moral decadence set in. Because
the people were blind to their sins and evil, the country became weak and susceptible
to foreign powers like Assyria, and then it finally succumbed to Babylon.
Isn’t this the case for
us in our time? While
the world seems to be making great progress in science and technology, making
communication easy and fast, improving the economy, world trade and standards
of living, yet, moral decadence has set in as well. Political and
religious leaders, not just corporate leaders, are losing credibility because
of scandals and abuses. The world is confused over what is right or
wrong. Many people are championing human rights, but what are human
rights? What is the basis for human rights? On one hand, many are
advocating the removal of the death penalty, but in the same vein, they are
advocating abortion, the destruction of human embryos and euthanasia. On
one hand, we speak of the freedom of the individual, but often at the expense
of the larger community. We promote love but we want to destroy the
institution of marriage and the family. We condemn sex crimes but we
promote pornography, sensuality and promiscuity! Such hypocrisy, as in the days
of Jeremiah!
That is why prophets are
needed to give hope to a hopeless world. God sent prophets like Jeremiah to help the
people to come to realization of the impending destruction ahead of them.
The Lord said to Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before
you came to birth I consecrated you; I have appointed you as prophet to the
nations.” In the gospel, Jesus too was called to be the prophet
that restores the people back to God. Earlier on, Jesus read the text
from the Suffering Servant of Isaiah, which was the mission statement of our
Lord, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring
good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the
captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Lk 4:18f)
But why is it that many
of us, although baptized as Christians and sharing in the kingly, prophetic and
priestly roles of Christ, fail to exercise our baptismal
responsibilities? This is because we may be baptized but many of us lack
a radical experience of His love and mercy for us. Or if we did, we have forgotten
them already because of neglect and complacency in our relationship with the
Lord. What is happening among many Catholics is that they are involved in
Church activities or even humanitarian works more out of obligation, goodwill
and human empathy. They are not motivated by their love for Jesus, or
Christ’s love for them. That is why many feel that God and the Church are
indebted to them for their great generosity in availing of their time and
resources. Such collaborators in the vineyard of the Lord will not bear much
fruit.
Encountering His love is
the basis for any real calling to participate in the mission of our Lord.
This was the case for Jeremiah. He had a deep relationship and encounter with the
Lord. “O Lord, you have enticed me, and I was enticed;
you have overpowered me, and you have prevailed. If I say, ‘I will not mention
him, or speak any more in his name,’ then within me there is something like a
burning fire shut up in my bones; I am weary with holding it in, and I
cannot.” (Jer 20:7, 9) So too were the rest of the prophets,
Moses, Elijah, Ezekiel, Isaiah and Jesus whose intimacy with His Father was the
cause of His mission.
Indeed, the Psalmist in
today’s responsorial psalm confessed the love and mercy of God in his life. “My lips will tell of your
help. My lips will tell of your justice and day by day of your help.
O God, you have taught me from my youth and I proclaim your wonders
still. My lips will tell of your help.” This explains why the Lord
said to Jeremiah, “Stand up and tell them all I command you. Do not be dismayed
at their presence, or in their presence I will make you dismayed.” When
one has received the Word of God, our conscience will not permit us to keep
silent. By not speaking, we condemn ourselves. By speaking, others
might condemn us but we keep our peace. St Paul himself wrote, “For the
love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all;
therefore all have died. And he died for all, so that those who live might
live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them.”
(2 Cor 5:14f)
Our reason for our
undertaking the ministry of Jesus must be motivated purely by our love of
Christ and love of our fellowmen. The
mission we undertake is not so much to proselytize non-Christians but to lead
them to encounter God’s truth and love. It is not about making
converts and increasing the number of baptisms. Rather, it is to give
hope to humanity, which we believe is only found in Jesus who is the Way, the
Truth and the Life. He came to give us life. He came to show
us the mercy and love of God through His teachings, compassionate works of
mercy, healing miracles and most of all, assurance of God’s forgiveness and
acceptance of sinners by His passion, death and resurrection.
But like the people in
the hometown of Jesus, many do not have faith in Him. “They were astonished by the
gracious words that came from his lips. They said, ‘This is Joseph’s son,
surely?’ But he replied, ‘No doubt you will quote me the saying, ‘Physician,
heal yourself’ and tell me, ‘We have heard all that happened in Capernaum, do
the same here in your own countryside.'” However, God can touch
people only when they respond in faith to His love because love cannot be
imposed. This was the case of the Gentiles. They were opened to
God’s grace and they were healed. Jesus gave the example of how Elijah
was sent to help the widow at Zarephath who was dying of hunger and also how
the Lord cured, the Syrian, Naaman instead of the many lepers in Israel.
So how can we bring them
to have faith in Jesus? There is no other way other than by love. St Paul wrote, “Be ambitious for the
higher gifts. And I am going to show you a way that is better than any of them. If
I have all the eloquence of men or of angels, but speak without love, I am
simply a gong booming or a cymbal clashing. If I have the gift of prophecy,
understanding all the mysteries there are, and knowing everything, and if I
have faith in all its fullness, to move mountains, but without love, then I am
nothing at all. If I give away all that I possess, piece by piece, and if I
even let them take my body to burn it, but am without love, it will do me no
good whatever.” Indeed, it is not what we do, unless we do them
with love. Miracles and eloquence, knowledge and prophecies will not
change lives radically unless they are done and said in love. We must
declare the love and mercy of God in words and in deeds. “My mouth shall
declare your justice, day by day your salvation. O God, you have taught me from
my youth, and till the present I proclaim your wondrous deeds.”
Love is the science of
faith. It
is the science of the saints. St Theresa of the Child Jesus lived a
simple and hidden life, but it was her love of God that gave her the strength
to persevere in her vocation, and most of all, when she herself was afflicted
with physical and spiritual suffering until her death at the young age of 24
years old. Her great faith to live out her love for God through the little
things she did and say brought her to the realization that the heart of the
Church’s vocation is love. St Francis of Assisi too heard the voice of
our Lord at San Damiano when the Lord spoke to Him in a Byzantine wooden
crucifix. The large, open and dark eyes looked at St Francis and His lips
were moving. St Francis heard the words of Jesus, “Francis, you see that
my house is falling down; go and repair it for me.” And Francis answered
simply, “Willingly, Lord.” Indeed, it was the love and mercy of
Jesus that moved St Francis.
This is what St Paul
concludes as well “In
short, there are three things that last: faith, hope and love; and the greatest
of these is love.” We can convince and open people’s heart to the
love of God only through our works of love and mercy. Even
with our enemies and detractors, we are called to be patient and forgiving.
“Love takes no pleasure in other people’s sins but delights in the truth; it is
always ready to excuse, to trust, to hope, and to endure whatever comes.”
When we love, we will find the strength to rebuild the House of God as St
Francis did.
Indeed, only because of
love, can we find the strength to be patient and loving. “Love is always patient and kind;
it is never jealous; love is never boastful or conceited; it is never rude or
selfish; it does not take offence, and is not resentful.” Only because of
love, can we continue to believe that God will come to our aid in times of
trials and opposition. “I, for my part, today will make you into a fortified
city, a pillar of iron, and a wall of bronze to confront all this land: the
kings of Judah, its princes, its priests and the country people. They will
fight against you but shall not overcome you, for I am with you to deliver you
– it is the Lord who speaks.”
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All
Rights Reserved
No comments:
Post a Comment