20190801
ARE
CATHOLICS IDOL WORSHIPPERS?
01 AUGUST, 2019,
Thursday, 17th Week, Ordinary Time
Readings at Mass
Liturgical Colour:
White.
These are the readings
for the feria
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First reading
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Exodus 40:16-21,34-38 ©
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The tabernacle is set up
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Moses did exactly as the Lord had directed
him. The tabernacle was set up on the first day of the first month in the
second year. Moses erected the tabernacle. He fixed the sockets for it, put up
its frames, put its crossbars in position, set up its posts. He spread the tent
over the tabernacle and on top of this the covering for the tent, as the Lord
had directed Moses. He took the Testimony and placed it inside the ark. He set
the shafts to the ark and placed the throne of mercy on it. He brought the ark into
the tabernacle and put the screening veil in place; thus he screened the ark of
the Lord, as the Lord had directed Moses.
The
cloud covered the Tent of Meeting and the glory of the Lord filled the
tabernacle. Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting because of the cloud that
rested on it and because of the glory of the Lord that filled the tabernacle.
At
every stage of their journey, whenever the cloud rose from the tabernacle the
sons of Israel would resume their march. If the cloud did not rise, they waited
and would not march until it did. For the cloud of the Lord rested on the
tabernacle by day, and a fire shone within the cloud by night, for all the
House of Israel to see. And so it was for every stage of their journey.
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm 83(84):3-6,8,11 ©
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How lovely is your
dwelling-place, Lord, God of hosts.
My soul is longing and yearning,
is yearning for the courts of
the Lord.
My heart and my soul ring out their joy
to God, the living God.
How lovely is your
dwelling-place, Lord, God of hosts.
The sparrow herself finds a home
and the swallow a nest for her
brood;
she lays her young by your altars,
Lord of hosts, my king and my
God.
How lovely is your
dwelling-place, Lord, God of hosts.
They are happy, who dwell in your house,
for ever singing your praise.
They walk with ever-growing strength,
they will see the God of gods
in Zion.
How lovely is your
dwelling-place, Lord, God of hosts.
One day within your courts
is better than a thousand
elsewhere.
The threshold of the house of God
I prefer to the dwellings of
the wicked.
How lovely is your
dwelling-place, Lord, God of hosts.
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Gospel Acclamation
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Jn15:15
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Alleluia, alleluia!
I call you friends, says the Lord,
because I have made known to you
everything I have learnt from my Father.
Alleluia!
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Or:
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cf.Ac16:14
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Open our heart, O Lord,
to accept the words of your Son.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Matthew 13:47-53 ©
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The fishermen collect the good fish and throw away
those that are no use
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Jesus said to the crowds: ‘The kingdom of
heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea that brings in a haul of all kinds.
When it is full, the fishermen haul it ashore; then, sitting down, they collect
the good ones in a basket and throw away those that are no use. This is how it
will be at the end of time: the angels will appear and separate the wicked from
the just to throw them into the blazing furnace where there will be weeping and
grinding of teeth.
‘Have
you understood all this?’ They said, ‘Yes.’ And he said to them, ‘Well then,
every scribe who becomes a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a
householder who brings out from his storeroom things both new and old.’
ARE CATHOLICS
IDOL WORSHIPPERS?
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ Ex 40:16-21, 34-38; Ps 84:3-6,8,11; Mt 13:47-53 ]
Catholics are often
accused of not being faithful to the bible and branded as
idol worshippers.
This is because of the rich sacramentals, icons, images and symbols that we use
for our worship, devotion and liturgy. Are we breaking the first
commandment as some accuse us of? What does the first commandment
forbid? “You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for
yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above,
or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you
shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous
God.” (Ex 20:3f)
If that were so,
it would seem contradictory that Moses, having punished the
Israelites for making the golden calf, ordered the construction of a Tabernacle
to house the Ark where the Ten Commandments were kept and where they could
offer burnt offerings.
(cf Ex 35-40) This Tent of Meeting would
become the sacred place where God was present in a very special way. “The cloud
covered the Tent of Meeting and the glory of the Lord filled the
tabernacle. Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting because of the
cloud that rested on it and because of the glory of the Lord that filled the
tabernacle.” Not only was it the Sacred Presence of God, we read
that the Tabernacle accompanied and guided them along their journey. “At
every stage of their journey, whenever the cloud rose from the tabernacle the
sons of Israel would resume their march. If the cloud did not rise, they
waited and would not march until it did. For the cloud of the Lord rested
on the tabernacle by day, and a fire shone within the cloud by night, for all
the House of Israel to see. And so it was for every stage of their
journey.”
The truth remains that
in spite of the anger that God and Moses felt with the people who
made the golden calf, there was still the human need to remember the
presence of God.
That was what Aaron said to Moses. “Let not the anger of my Lord burn hot; you
know the people, that they are set on evil. For they said to me, ‘Make us gods
who shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the
land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.'” (Ex
32:22f) Human beings are not pure spirit and we need tangible
things to see and feel to help us feel the closeness of God and of our loved
ones. Human beings need signs, symbols and things to convey the deeper
reality of their experiences. We need sacred symbols. Hence,
since time immemorial, shrines have been constructed so that God could be
remembered and worshipped.
This explains why the
Tabernacle was replaced 500 years later by the Temple built by King Solomon. Jesus Himself would visit the
Temple yearly for worship. The Temple was most sacred to the Israelites
and the Jews. In their history, the destruction and desecration of the
Temple was considered the most heinous crimes that could be committed.
The Maccabean brothers died to purify the Temple as we read in the book of
Maccabees. It was one of the charges against Jesus when he was brought to
trial before the High Priest. (cf Mt
26:61) In years to come, the Torah was considered the most
holy book of the Jews. The psalmist felt the presence of God in the
Temple. He said, “How lovely is your dwelling-place, Lord, God of hosts. My
soul is longing and yearning, is yearning for the courts of the Lord. They are
happy, who dwell in your house, forever singing your praise. They walk
with ever-growing strength, they will see the God of gods in Zion. One day
within your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. The threshold of the
house of God I prefer to the dwellings of the wicked.” So we cannot deny
the need of human beings to create symbols and things to remind them of God’s
presence.
Thus, in the Catholic
Church, we make use of many signs and symbols to mediate God’s presence so that
people could be led to contemplate on the greatness and splendor of
God. Just
like in the Old Testament where Moses ordered the people to establish an
elaborate liturgy with the intricate vestments and sacred vessels to enhance
the awesomeness of God’s presence, so does the Church as well in her
liturgy. No one can deny that such sacramentals employed by the Church
enrich and bring out the liturgical celebration and help the worshippers to
experience interiorly what they express externally.
This is where there is a
thin line between idolatry and sacramentals. Idolatry is to make an image
and worship it as a god. To
render homage to something that is of the earth, created by God who is the
source of everything is to deny that there is only one God. This is what the
first commandment seeks to emphasize, that God is One. There is also the
historical context where the pagan neighbours of the Israelites worshipped many
other gods that they had carved for themselves. To worship a thing as if
it is a god is to worship an illusion and to worship nothingness. In
other words, idols are not real. As the psalm says, “Their idols are
silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths, but do not speak;
eyes, but do not see. They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do
not smell. They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; and they do
not make a sound in their throat. Those who make them are like them; so
are all who trust in them.” (Ps
115:4-8)
Sacramentals are
different. They are instituted by the Church. They are not
identified with the reality but
put us in a right disposition to receive God’s grace. Sacramentals “are
sacred signs which bear a resemblance to the sacraments. They signify effects,
particularly of a spiritual nature, which are obtained through the intercession
of the Church. By them, men are disposed to receive the chief effect of the
sacraments, and various occasions in life are rendered holy” (Catechism of the
Catholic Church, No. 1667). They are firstly not carved images of God who is
pure Spirit, but they are images of people and things that we have seen, for
example, the image of the cross, the crucifix, our Lord, Mary and the
Saints. These images help us to focus our eyes on God. Catholics
do not identify the sacred things as the reality itself but as means by which
God works so that we can experience tangibly His presence, as in the Temple or
the Ark of the Covenant which the Israelites brought with them to win battles
against their enemies.
At its highest level,
the Church uses Sacraments instituted by Christ which are outward signs that
give grace to those who receive them worthily. The Eucharist is par excellence of
the presence of Christ because He transformed bread and wine to be His body and
blood. Another sacrament is the Sacrament of the Sick. Even Jesus asked
the disciples to use oil to heal the sick. “And they cast
out many demons, and anointed with oil many that were sick and healed
them.” (Mk 6:13) St James exhorted the
Christians to do the same. “Is any among you sick? Let him call for the
elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the
name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and the
Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he will be
forgiven.” (Jms 5:14)
Of course, these are
means to the end, which is to experience God’s healing grace and His
presence. As Jesus told the
Samaritan woman, it is not which mountain we should worship “but true
worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such the Father
seeks to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must
worship in spirit and truth.” (Jn
4:23f) In other words, it is the motive, the intention and the
disposition of the heart and mind that matters. The externals are merely
means for us to create the right disposition for us to encounter God.
They are necessary means because human beings need to communicate and encounter
reality through the incarnational means. Sacraments and sacramentals are
based on the Incarnation of our Lord. God became man so that we can see
Him as Jesus told Philip, “He who has seen me has seen the Father.’ (Jn
14:9)
The gospel puts
everything in perspective. In the parable of the dragnet, Jesus speaks
about the need to sort out what is good and what is bad. In the same way, we need to be
vigilant with regard to the use of sacramentals, that popular piety does not
fall into superstition but means to encounter God and the sacred. The
Church has this grave responsibility to ensure that they are used
rightly. “Manifestations of popular piety are subject to the jurisdiction
of the local Ordinary. It is for him to regulate such manifestations, to
encourage them as a means of assisting the faithful in living the Christian
life, and to purify and evangelize them where necessary. He is also to ensure
that they do not substitute for the Liturgy nor become part of the liturgical
celebrations.” (CDF, Directory On Popular Piety, no 21)
Indeed, Jesus encourages
us to appreciate the past traditions and yet be open to new developments as
well because faith is dynamic and circumstances are changing. If the Church were to just insist
on past traditions, we would be out of sync with the world. When our
symbols cannot mediate God’s presence anymore, we would have dead symbols which
are useless and superstitious. But we must be careful not to throw out
all old traditions because they have much to teach us and are of use to us in
our faith. Truly, “every scribe who becomes a disciple of the kingdom of
heaven is like a householder who brings out from his storeroom things both new
and old.”
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All
Rights Reserved
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