20190504
KEEPING
OUR FOCUS
04 MAY, 2019,
Saturday, 2nd Week of Easter
Readings at Mass
Liturgical Colour:
White.
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First reading
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Acts 6:1-7 ©
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They elected seven men full of the Holy
Spirit
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About this time, when the number of
disciples was increasing, the Hellenists made a complaint against the Hebrews:
in the daily distribution their own widows were being overlooked. So the Twelve
called a full meeting of the disciples and addressed them, ‘It would not be
right for us to neglect the word of God so as to give out food; you, brothers,
must select from among yourselves seven men of good reputation, filled with the
Spirit and with wisdom; we will hand over this duty to them, and continue to
devote ourselves to prayer and to the service of the word.’ The whole assembly
approved of this proposal and elected Stephen, a man full of faith and of the
Holy Spirit, together with Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and
Nicolaus of Antioch, a convert to Judaism. They presented these to the
apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.
The
word of the Lord continued to spread: the number of disciples in Jerusalem was
greatly increased, and a large group of priests made their submission to the faith.
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm
32(33):1-2,4-5,18-19 ©
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May your love be upon
us, O Lord, as we place all our hope in you.
or
Alleluia!
Ring out your joy to the Lord, O you just;
for praise is fitting for
loyal hearts.
Give thanks to the Lord upon the harp,
with a ten-stringed lute sing
him songs.
May your love be upon
us, O Lord, as we place all our hope in you.
or
Alleluia!
For the word of the Lord is faithful
and all his works to be
trusted.
The Lord loves justice and right
and fills the earth with his
love.
May your love be upon
us, O Lord, as we place all our hope in you.
or
Alleluia!
The Lord looks on those who revere him,
on those who hope in his love,
to rescue their souls from death,
to keep them alive in famine.
May your love be upon
us, O Lord, as we place all our hope in you.
or
Alleluia!
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Gospel Acclamation
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Rm6:9
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Christ, having been raised from the dead,
will never die again.
Death has no power over him any more.
Alleluia!
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Or:
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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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Gospel
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John 6:16-21 ©
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They saw Jesus walking on the lake
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In the evening the disciples went down to
the shore of the lake and got into a boat to make for Capernaum on the other
side of the lake. It was getting dark by now and Jesus had still not rejoined
them. The wind was strong, and the sea was getting rough. They had rowed three
or four miles when they saw Jesus walking on the lake and coming towards the
boat. This frightened them, but he said, ‘It is I. Do not be afraid.’ They were
for taking him into the boat, but in no time it reached the shore at the place they
were making for.
KEEPING OUR
FOCUS
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ ACTS 6:1-7; PS 33:1-2, 4-5, 18-19; JOHN 6:16-21 ]
In the first reading, we
see the growing tensions in the early Church. As the Church grew in number and in
conversions from Judaism to Christianity, there was the challenge of
maintaining support for the poor widows. Before they became followers of
Jesus, the poor widows were receiving weekly support from the Temple. But
having been removed from the temple assistance, the Christian community had the
task of supporting them. At the same time, we see the
cultural tensions that existed between the Greek-speaking Jewish widows and the
Hebrew-speaking Jewish widows. There were complaints of discrimination
against the Hebraic believers. There were many reasons for this
oversight because of the lack of communication and prejudices that came from
the superiority complex of the Hebraic Jews over the Grecian Jews.
When the community was
small, the leaders of the new-found Church could handle all the problems
themselves. But
as the community grew in number and the members also became more diversified,
coming from the different strata of society and different cultures, there was
bound to be tensions and misunderstandings. The apostles found themselves
unable to handle all the affairs of the community. Instead of being
focused on their primary mission, which was to devote themselves to prayer and
the service of the word, their energy, time and resources were exhausted by
dealing with logistics and administrative matters. If this
situation was allowed to continue, the gospel would not have been preached and
they would have ended up spending all their time dealing with trivial and
practical matters involving the community.
This is equally true or
even more so for the Church of the 21st Century. The Catholic Church has grown
into a large giant. There are about 1.3 billion Catholics in the world,
which is 17.7 percent of the world’s
population. The Catholic Church operates more than 216,000 schools in the
world and there are about 120,000 Catholic and charitable institutions looking
after the elderly, the orphans, the sick, besides Caritas Organization feeding
the thousands of poor in the world. Even in the archdiocese of Singapore,
we have 383,000 Catholics, 1 Catholic hospital, 33 Catholic schools, 21
Kindergartens, 4 nursing homes, and almost 50 charitable organizations coming
under the umbrella of Caritas and Charis.
How, then, can we manage the entire Church
with so few priests? In Singapore, less than 100 priests are active in
the ministry and many are old and elderly. With so many things to attend
to, from fund-raising to building and maintenance of churches, caring for the
poor of the parish, resolving conflicts and unhappiness among members of the
community, celebrating the sacraments and preparing Catechumens for baptism,
there is little time left to even look after the existing members of the
church, especially ministry members. That is why we have members but they
are not disciples. We do not insist that they continue to be
discipled in the Lord after their baptism. Most of them are left to
pursue their own spiritual life and formation. Those who are more serious
about their spiritual life would attend daily mass, spend some moments in
prayer, which is about all they do for discipleship.
As a result, priests
often lose their focus in their ministry. Because they are good-hearted, they are
involved in everything. They have their fingers in every aspect of the
running of the Church. Whilst showing humility in even undertaking the
mundane tasks of keeping the church clean, organized, etc, they are too tired
to pray properly. Some just fulfill their obligation to “say” the Liturgy
of the Hours. Homilies are not well prepared because there is a lack of
time to pray and meditate. Direct preaching of the word, whether it is
catechesis or giving retreats or formation talks are neglected. Their
relationship with the Lord is tepid and lukewarm. Eventually, they lose
focus and passion for the spread of the gospel.
That is why priests must
come back to the main focus of their ministry, which is the ministry of prayer
and preaching of the word and the celebration of the sacraments. Unless they are focused on these
fundamental components of their ministry, they would be too scattered and
fragmented to find time or energy to spread the gospel to those who want to
know Jesus or to form disciples in faith and love. Unless our
priests take care of their spiritual life, grow in love for our Lord and in
Christian virtues, in humility and service, they would just be doing things for
the Church in a perfunctory manner, lacking the sense of the urgency of the
mission. They must learn to delegate those tasks which the lay people can
do, and do even better than them, so that all are co-responsible for the growth
of the Church and the spread of the Good News.
Perhaps, the Church
should ordain more permanent deacons to assist the priests, as in the early
Church. In itself, it is
a possible way to solve the shortage of priests, provided the conditions are
met. But finding the right deacons as the Acts of the Apostles suggest is not
easy. Where do we find so many men who are of “good reputation, filled
with the Spirit and with wisdom”? Even some of our priests lack these
criteria and are unable to find time to pray. What more to find married
men who have to not only look after their families and continue in their
professional work but still find sufficient time to help in the Church.
If our married deacons are not full-time in the service of the Church, then the
argument is that many of our lay Catholics are doing as much if not more than
the married deacons who serve the Church over and above their own professional
work and family.
Then again, although we
have many lay Catholics who volunteer their services to the Church, are they
people of “good reputation, filled with the Spirit and with wisdom”? Many of them serve the Church out of
goodwill. But their lives are not in order and they are simply trying to
make amends for their sins by sacrificing their time for the service of the
Church. Most of them are ill-formed, both in their faith and in their
spiritual life. Many of them hardly pray, or spend time praying the
scriptures, and do not know much about their faith, much less come together
with fellow Catholics to share their faith. They have tremendous goodwill
but they lack the Christian virtues in dealing with those under their
charge. In fact, they tend to bring all the corporate values into the
Church, sometimes forgetting that the Church does not run like a corporate
organization where the emphasis is on productivity and efficiency. It is all
about organizing this event and that event. But the Church is about
people, helping them to grow in love and charity and in faith. It is
about accepting all peoples, especially the sick, the wounded, the broken and
marginalized. The Church advocates tolerance, forgiveness and patience in
dealing with the weak.
Truly, the challenges of
the Church are very daunting.
No one person can do everything today, not the bishop or the priests. We
need to empower all Catholics according to their charisms and their talents to
take part in the mission of the Church. Whether we have married deacons
or lay people involved in the Church, they need to be formed all the
time. No one is exempted from ongoing formation, including the bishop and
therefore no less for his priests. We need to take our formation in our
faith and spiritual life seriously. The key to mission at the end of the
day is falling in love with Jesus. Otherwise, we are just running
programs and events. They look good and exciting but they are shallow
because they do not bring real and radical conversion in the lives of our
people. We need to bring our people closer to God. That is
the goal of every ministry and church organization, whether we are involved in
formation or social work. Prayer and the Word of God are the keys to
faith.
So like the apostles, we
should not be afraid of the challenges ahead of us, because in the gospel, the
Lord assures us that He is with us, especially
when we go through the storms. We might not know that He is around.
When we need help most, He will appear to calm us and give us peace in the
midst of the storm. With Jesus in our hearts, we will reach shore
safely. Jesus said, “‘It is I. Do not be afraid.’ They were for taking
him into the boat, but in no time, it reached the shore at the place they were
making for.”
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All
Rights Reserved
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