20190502
BAPTISM
IS THE SACRAMENT OF A WITNESSING FAITH
02 MAY, 2019,
Thursday, 2nd Week of Easter
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First reading
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Acts 5:27-33 ©
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We are witnesses to all this, we and the Holy Spirit
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When the officials had brought the
apostles in to face the Sanhedrin, the high priest demanded an explanation. ‘We
gave you a formal warning’ he said ‘not to preach in this name, and what have
you done? You have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and seem determined to
fix the guilt of this man’s death on us.’ In reply Peter and the apostles said,
‘Obedience to God comes before obedience to men; it was the God of our
ancestors who raised up Jesus, but it was you who had him executed by hanging
on a tree. By his own right hand God has now raised him up to be leader and
saviour, to give repentance and forgiveness of sins through him to Israel. We
are witnesses to all this, we and the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those
who obey him.’
This so infuriated them that
they wanted to put them to death.
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm 33(34):2,9,17-20 ©
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This poor man called and
the Lord heard him.
or
Alleluia!
I will bless the Lord at all times,
his praise always on my lips;
Taste and see that the Lord is good.
He is happy who seeks refuge
in him.
This poor man called and
the Lord heard him.
or
Alleluia!
The Lord turns his eyes to the just
and his ears to their appeal.
They call and the Lord hears
and rescues them in all their
distress.
This poor man called and
the Lord heard him.
or
Alleluia!
The Lord is close to the broken-hearted;
those whose spirit is crushed
he will save.
Many are the trials of the just man
but from them all the Lord
will rescue him.
This poor man called and
the Lord heard him.
or
Alleluia!
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Gospel Acclamation
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Christ has risen, he who created all
things,
and has granted his mercy to men.
Alleluia!
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Or:
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Jn20:29
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Alleluia, alleluia!
‘You believe, Thomas, because you can see
me.
Happy are those who have not seen and yet
believe.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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John 3:31-36 ©
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The Father loves the Son and has entrusted
everything to him
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John the Baptist said to his disciples:
‘He who comes from above is above all
others;
he who is born of the earth is earthly
himself
and speaks in an earthly way.
He who comes from heaven
bears witness to the things he has seen
and heard,
even if his testimony is not accepted;
though all who do accept his testimony
are attesting the truthfulness of God,
since he whom God has sent
speaks God’s own words:
God gives him the Spirit without reserve.
The Father loves the Son
and has entrusted everything to him.
Anyone who believes in the Son has eternal
life,
but anyone who refuses to believe in the
Son will never see life:
the anger of God stays on him.’
BAPTISM IS THE
SACRAMENT OF A WITNESSING FAITH
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ ACTS 5:27-33; JOHN 3:31-36]
As we enter the 4th day of
the second week of Easter, the liturgy concludes the exposition of the
Sacrament of baptism which our newly-minted neophytes had just
received. Yesterday, the liturgy underscored baptism as the gateway to
eternal life. However, eternal life is given to those who have faith in
Christ as the Son of God. The question at stake therefore is, “do we
truly have faith in Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of the Father?” More so
for those of us who are already baptized!
How do we know that we
have a real faith in Jesus as the Son of God? It is expressed in
witnessing. If
there is no desire to witness to Christ or we are diffident about proclaiming
the Good News, this in itself is evidence that we have not arrived at a deep
faith in Christ. In the first reading, we read of the faith of the
apostles, a faith that could not be silenced even in the face of
opposition. In spite of the fact that they were just arrested and put in
jail, yet after being rescued, they continued in defiance of the order of the Sanhedrin
not to teach in the name of Jesus. The high priest demanded an
explanation. “We gave you a formal warning not to preach in this name,
and what have you done? You have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and
seem determined to fix the guilt of this man’s death on us.”
And their reply was simply this. “Obedience
to God comes before obedience to men.” So strong was their faith that
they could live by this principle. They were proclaiming the Good News
about Jesus in obedience to God. Unlike them, we often do things based on
whether it is popular, politically correct or safe. For them, the only question
they asked was whether it was the will of God? “What does God expect of
me? What is His will?” It was never a question of what they wanted
to do but what God wanted of them. With that conviction, nothing could
stop them from doing and saying what had to be said and done. Thus
instead of retracting their words, all the more they said with boldness, “it
was the God of our ancestors who raised up Jesus, but it was you who had him
executed by hanging on a tree. By his own right hand God has now raised
him up to be a leader and saviour, to give repentance and forgiveness of sins
through him to Israel.”
Where did they get such
strength and conviction that conquered the fear of death? The source of
this faith is clear. They said, “we are witnesses to all this.” Who is a witness? A
witness is one who has seen and heard. Unless we have a personal
relationship with someone or saw it with our own eyes and heard with our ears,
we cannot be real witnesses. Hence, before the apostles could witness to
Christ they themselves must first have witnessed Christ in their lives.
In other words, they must have had a firsthand encounter with the Lord.
Indeed, they did. They knew the Jesus of Nazareth. They were with
Him in His ministry. They saw how He lived, what He did and they heard
His message. Most of all, they were also witnesses of His passion, death
and resurrection. This explains why they refused to keep quiet over
things that they had seen and heard, even when the authorities were so infuriated
and “wanted to put them to death.” Besides the life of Jesus, they
experienced the power of His resurrection in the miracles that they worked in
His name.
In the light of what
they heard and saw, they knew, as St John who had the hindsight of the
resurrection commented on John the Baptist’s teaching, that He had to be from
God. “He
who comes from above is above all others; he who is born of the earth is
earthly himself and speaks in an earthly way. He who comes from heaven
bears witness to the things he has seen and heard.” The conclusion from
all that happened was that Jesus who spoke the Word of God must be the Son of
the Father. This is because “God gives him the Spirit without reserve.
The Father loves the Son and has entrusted everything to him.” Truly,
only Jesus who is from the Father can reveal to us who the Father is.
Jesus Himself is our revealer because He knows the Father. That
makes Him not just a witness to the Father’s love but the revealer as
well. Indeed, if we want to know the truth about someone or something, we
must always go to the source itself. If we want to know what
Catholicism is, we must ask one who is a practising, devout and informed
Catholic. We do not ask one who has left the Church or someone who is of
another faith.
So the question is “do
you believe in Jesus?” If
we say we believe in Jesus, then the proof that we believe is in the way we
live our lives, our attitudes towards life and death, and most of all, the
desire to announce Christ to the whole world. If someone says that He
believes in Christ but has no desire to share Him with the rest of humanity,
that faith is put in question. Hence, those who are baptized but are not
witnessing to the faith already shows that their faith in the Lord is shallow
or at most a nominal faith. That is why, when Catholics are not
evangelical minded or when they lack the enthusiasm to share Christ and the
Good News with others, it shows that their faith is weak and even
individualistic. It is about themselves; not about others or doing the
Father’s will. We know our faith is real and strong when, like the
apostles, we cannot stop telling the world how wonderful this Jesus is to us
and that He is the Son of God, the savior of the world.
So today, we are called
to take our faith in Christ seriously. The choice is ours. Do we want life or death, blessings
or curses, freedom or slavery? John the Baptist says, “Anyone who
believes in the Son has eternal life, but anyone who refuses to believe in the
Son will never see life: the anger of God stays on him.” The truth
is that if we reject Jesus as the Son of God, we will only incur the wrath of
God, not that God will punish us but we will hurt ourselves because we are not
living the life of truth, freedom in love. But if we accept Jesus, then
we share in His eternal life. Those who accept Jesus will see the
truth revealed in their own lives. St John, speaking through John the
Baptist, says, “even if his testimony is not accepted; though all who do accept
his testimony are attesting the truthfulness of God, since he whom God has sent
speaks God’s own words.” In their lives, they could attest with the
psalmist, the power of the Risen Lord, “This poor man called and the Lord heard
him. The Lord turns his eyes to the just and his ears to their appeal. They
call and the Lord hears and rescues them in all their distress. The Lord
is close to the broken-hearted; those whose spirit is crushed he will save.
Many are the trials of the just man but from them all the Lord will rescue him.”
How then can we acquire
this faith? The irony
of the answer is this: obedience in faith. In other words, just
commend and entrust yourself to the Lord. The apostles declared, “we are
witnesses to all this, we and the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who
obey him.” By submitting in faith, the Holy Spirit will be given to
us. Since unlike the apostles we have never seen the Lord ourselves, we
need to experience Him in our lives. This personal encounter with Him
requires faith. Faith is to trust and to open oneself to the
other. When we do so, Jesus will give us the Holy Spirit.
What does the Holy
Spirit do for us with respect to faith? He will reveal Jesus to us in our minds
and hearts. He will show us that Jesus is the Lord and convict us of our
sins. As we come to know Jesus, we will also come to know the
Father. So the Holy Spirit is given to those who are obedient to
those who are receptive. The Holy Spirit leads us to Jesus and empowers
us to know and love Him. Thus, at baptism, in faith we accept
Christ as our Lord and savior. In accepting Christ, we are
baptized. We receive the Holy Spirit, who is the love of God in our
hearts. With that deep experience of His love, we are also blessed with
the gifts of the Holy Spirit to witness to Christ as our Lord and savior.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All
Rights Reserved
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