20190325
DRIVEN
BY FEAR OR BY FAITH
25 MARCH, 2019,
Monday, The Annunciation of the Lord
Readings at Mass
Liturgical Colour: White.
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First reading
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Isaiah 7:10-14,8:10 ©
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The maiden is with child
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The Lord spoke to Ahaz and said, ‘Ask the
Lord your God for a sign for yourself coming either from the depths of Sheol or
from the heights above.’ ‘No,’ Ahaz answered ‘I will not put the Lord to the
test.’
Then
he said:
Listen now, House of David:
are you not satisfied with trying the
patience of men
without trying the patience of my God,
too?
The Lord himself, therefore,
will give you a sign.
It is this: the maiden is with child
and will soon give birth to a son
whom she will call Immanuel,
a name which means ‘God is with us.’
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm 39(40):7-11 ©
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Here I am, Lord! I come
to do your will.
You do not ask for sacrifice and
offerings,
but an open ear.
You do not ask for holocaust and victim.
Instead, here am I.
Here I am, Lord! I come
to do your will.
In the scroll of the book it stands
written
that I should do your will.
My God, I delight in your law
in the depth of my heart.
Here I am, Lord! I come
to do your will.
Your justice I have proclaimed
in the great assembly.
My lips I have not sealed;
you know it, O Lord.
Here I am, Lord! I come
to do your will.
I have not hidden your justice in my heart
but declared your faithful
help.
I have not hidden your love and your truth
from the great assembly.
Here I am, Lord! I come
to do your will.
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Second reading
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Hebrews 10:4-10 ©
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God's 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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Bulls’ blood and goats’ blood are useless
for taking away sins, and 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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Jn1:14
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Praise to you, O Christ, king of eternal
glory!
The Word became flesh,
he lived among us,
and we saw his glory.
Praise to you, O Christ, king of eternal
glory!
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Gospel
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Luke 1:26-38 ©
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'I am the handmaid of the Lord'
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The angel Gabriel was sent by God to a
town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph,
of the House of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. He went in and said to
her, ‘Rejoice, so highly favoured! The Lord is with you.’ She was deeply
disturbed by these words and asked herself what this greeting could mean, but
the angel said to her, ‘Mary, do not be afraid; you have won God’s favour.
Listen! You are to conceive and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus. He
will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give
him the throne of his ancestor David; he will rule over the House of Jacob for
ever and his reign will have no end.’ Mary said to the angel, ‘But how can this
come about, since I am a virgin?’ ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you’ the
angel answered ‘and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow.
And so the child will be holy and will be called Son of God. Know this too:
your kinswoman Elizabeth has, in her old age, herself conceived a son, and she
whom people called barren is now in her sixth month, for nothing is impossible
to God.’ ‘I am the handmaid of the Lord,’ said Mary ‘let what you have said be
done to me.’ And the angel left her.
DRIVEN BY FEAR
OR BY FAITH
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ IS 7:10-14, 8-10; PS 40:7-11; HEB 10:4-10; LK 1:26-38 ]
During this season of
Lent, many of us are focused on intensifying the spiritual exercises of prayer,
penance and mortification; and works of charity. This is indeed in the right spirit but we
must not forget that these are the means, not the ends in themselves.
Otherwise, performing all these spiritual exercises can make us fall into
spiritual pride and self-righteousness. What is more important than
merely performing these external exercises is that it must lead us to offer our
entire being for the service of the Lord. We are called not to merely
offer our good deeds and works to the Lord, but to give up our body as a living
sacrifice to God. The author of Hebrews says, His “will was for us to be
made holy by the offering of his body made once and for all by Jesus Christ.”
The giving of our body
is expressed first in the soul when we choose to do the will of God. It is not enough to make sacrifices unless
we are motivated by love. Before we can offer up our body as
a living sacrifice, we must first be willing to surrender our mind and heart to
the Lord. Doing God’s will is extremely difficult, especially in the face
of challenges. It is normal for us to fear the unknown, especially when
we think of the possible suffering ahead of us. We want to rely on
ourselves and our strength. Indeed, when we face an illness, admit a
mistake we have made, a crime we have committed, a difficult decision, or to
break a relationship, we fear that we might not be able to handle the
situation.
This was the case of
King Ahaz. He was
driven by fear. He was facing an imminent onslaught from
Israel, the Northern Kingdom which was in league with the King of Aram.
Hence, he was afraid that his kingdom would be swallowed up by
them. It was a military miscalculation that it would be more expedient
for him to join forces with Assyria by being its vassal state. He failed
to see beyond the immediate implications for the kingdom’s future under the
influence of Assyria. Indeed, it was because of the influx of the
Assyrians that Judah became weaker eventually. It was for this reason that God
sent the Prophet Isaiah to advise him not to proceed but to trust in His divine
providence. But he lacked faith in the Lord. Instead of trusting in
God, he preferred to rely on his own judgement even though God gave him a
sign. Isaiah said, “The Lord himself, therefore, will give you a sign. It
is this: the maiden is with child and will soon give birth to a son whom she
will call Immanuel, a name which means ‘God-is-with-us’.” Ahaz was not
even open to the Word of God and to further discernment of God’s will. He
was adamant and fixed on his decision to form an alliance with Assyria.
In contrast, we have
Mary who was not driven by fear but by faith. Admittedly, she too was
fearful when the angel came before her with not just the good news but
unimaginable news, “Rejoice,
so highly favoured! The Lord is with you.” The evangelist noted that “she
was deeply disturbed by these words and asked herself what this greeting could
mean but the angel said to her, ‘Mary, do not be afraid; you have won God’s
favour. Listen! You are to conceive and bear a son, and you must name him
Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God
will give him the throne of his ancestor David; he will rule over the House of
Jacob for ever and his reign will have no end.'”
But instead of rejecting
the plan of God for her life, and insisting on doing her own will, she was
receptive and open to discerning the will of God. Mary said to the angel, “But how can this
come about, since I am a virgin?” She was humble enough to inquire.
She did not immediately say “yes” to the angel’s message but looked for
verification and assurance that it was really God’s will. We too are
called to do the same. “You wanted no sacrifice or obligation,
prepared a body for me. You took no pleasure in holocausts or sacrifices for
sin; then you said, just as I was commanded in the scroll of the book, ‘God
here I am! I am coming to obey your will.'”
To be obedient to God’s
will does not mean that we need not discern His will. On the contrary, God’s will is not
always expressed so clearly and discernment takes time. Like Mary, we
need to ask and search for the will of God. It is this humility to remain
open to God’s will that determines our sincerity. Seeking out the will of
God is necessary, lest we mistake our will and fears for His will. So the
first step in doing God’s will is to verify what is His will for us and not
fall into presumption and hurt ourselves and then blame God.
Yet, God’s will is never
clearly spelt out so clearly. Even though the angel explained to Mary how it would
come about through the overshadowing, that is the power of the Holy Spirit, he
did not explain exactly how this would happen. “The Holy Spirit will come upon
you and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow. And so the
child will be holy and will be called Son of God.” The details of the
unfolding plan of God were not revealed to her. Only what was essential
for her to know, namely, the plan of God’s salvation for humanity through her
Son. The rest was dependent on her faith. She was called to walk by
faith, not by sight. The angel did not explain to her how Joseph would
accept the news of her pregnancy, how her family and relatives would react as
well, how she could explain to the neighbours, etc. And this is true for
us as well. If God’s will is so clear, things would be easy. But
God wants to respect our freedom and our intellect in responding to His call
through the events in our lives and the people that He sends to us.
However, after all the
discernment, we need to make an act of faith once our soul is at peace.
All the angel asked of Mary was faith.
“Know this too: your kinswoman Elizabeth has, in her old age, herself conceived
a son, and she whom people call barren is now in her sixth month, for nothing
is impossible to God.” The sign given was the pregnancy of her cousin
Elizabeth in her old age. So in faith, Mary said “yes” and consented to
be the mother of the Saviour, not fully understanding the full implications of
her decision. We too must make an act of faith even when we do not fully
understand all the implications.
Following the act of
faith, we must then live faithfully for the rest of our life. Faith is
more than just saying “yes” to God. Ahaz claimed to have faith in God by
refusing a sign, for he said, “I will not put the Lord to the test.” In
truth, it was because he did not have faith in Him and therefore did not want
to confirm the message of the prophet. For Mary, when she said “yes” to
the Lord, her entire life, like our Lord’s, was given to the service of the
gospel. She had to bear all the misunderstandings, loneliness and
struggles in living out her call to be the mother of the Saviour. She was
not only consistent with the faith she proclaimed but she was faithful to the
decision that she made. She shared with Jesus in offering her entire soul
and body for the service of the gospel, first by giving birth to Jesus and then
surrendering Him on the cross for the salvation of the world. This was
perhaps the most difficult part in the life of Mary, to accept the will of God
in seeing her only Son unjustly condemned, scourged and crucified on the
cross.
For us too, we are
called today in faith to cooperate with the plan of God in our lives. His
will might not be clear at times. This is what Mary meant when she said,
“I am the handmaid of the
Lord, let what you have said be done to me.” In other words, we must not place
obstacles for the Lord to work in and through us. But we walk one step at
a time. We must respond as best as we can in each situation of our
lives. God does not give us foresight of everything but if in faith and
sincerity, we seek to do His will, He will guide us through the trials and joys
of life, purifying us in love and in our service to Him. Through
our daily life, we continue to offer our bodies as a perfect sacrifice to
God. But we must not allow our fears to prevent us from acting
courageously. We cling to our faith that God is with us as the Emmanuel
in Jesus. He will give us the strength to do all things in Him.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All
Rights Reserved
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