20190708
REBUILDING
OUR SHATTERED DREAMS
08 JULY, 2019,
Monday, 14th Week, Ordinary Time
Readings at Mass
Liturgical Colour:
Green.
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First reading
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Genesis 28:10-22 ©
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Jacob's dream of the ladder at Bethel
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Jacob left Beersheba and set out for
Haran. When he had reached a certain place he passed the night there, since the
sun had set. Taking one of the stones to be found at that place, he made it his
pillow and lay down where he was. He had a dream: a ladder was there, standing
on the ground with its top reaching to heaven; and there were angels of God
going up it and coming down. And the Lord was there, standing over him, saying,
‘I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac. I will give
to you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants
shall be like the specks of dust on the ground; you shall spread to the west
and the east, to the north and the south, and all the tribes of the earth shall
bless themselves by you and your descendants.
Be
sure that I am with you; I will keep you safe wherever you go, and bring you
back to this land, for I will not desert you before I have done all that I have
promised you.’ Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, ‘Truly, the Lord is in
this place and I never knew it!’ He was afraid and said, ‘How awe-inspiring
this place is! This is nothing less than a house of God; this is the gate of
heaven!’ Rising early in the morning, Jacob took the stone he had used for his
pillow, and set it up as a monument, pouring oil over the top of it. He named
the place Bethel, but before that the town was called Luz.
Jacob
made this vow, ‘If God goes with me and keeps me safe on this journey I am
making, if he gives me bread to eat and clothes to wear, and if I return home
safely to my father, then the Lord shall be my God. This stone I have set up as
a monument shall be a house of God.’
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm 90(91):1-4,14-15 ©
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My God, in you I trust.
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most
High
and abides in the shade of the
Almighty
says to the Lord: ‘My refuge,
my stronghold, my God in whom
I trust!’
My God, in you I trust.
It is he who will free you from the snare
of the fowler who seeks to
destroy you;
he will conceal you with his pinions
and under his wings you will
find refuge.
My God, in you I trust.
Since he clings to me in love, I will free
him;
protect him for he knows my
name.
When he calls I shall answer: ‘I am with
you,’
I will save him in distress.
My God, in you I trust.
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Gospel Acclamation
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cf.Jn6:63,68
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Your words are spirit, Lord, and they are
life;
you have the message of eternal life.
Alleluia!
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Or:
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cf.2Tim1:10
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Our Saviour Jesus Christ abolished death
and he has proclaimed life through the
Good News.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Matthew 9:18-26 ©
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'Your faith has restored you to health'
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While Jesus was speaking, up came one of
the officials, who bowed low in front of him and said, ‘My daughter has just
died, but come and lay your hand on her and her life will be saved.’ Jesus rose
and, with his disciples, followed him. Then from behind him came a woman, who
had suffered from a haemorrhage for twelve years, and she touched the fringe of
his cloak, for she said to herself, ‘If I can only touch his cloak I shall be
well again.’ Jesus turned round and saw her; and he said to her, ‘Courage, my daughter,
your faith has restored you to health.’ And from that moment the woman was well
again.
When
Jesus reached the official’s house and saw the flute-players, with the crowd
making a commotion he said, ‘Get out of here; the little girl is not dead, she
is asleep.’ And they laughed at him. But when the people had been turned out he
went inside and took the little girl by the hand; and she stood up. And the
news spread all round the countryside.
REBUILDING OUR
SHATTERED DREAMS
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [Gn 28:10-22; Ps 91:1-4, 14-15; Mt 9:18-26 ]
We must have dreams in
order to live our life meaningfully and passionately. Dreams symbolize our aspirations and our
hopes for a better life and a greater future, not just for oneself but our
loved ones, our family and the nation. We dream of making a success of
our life, in our studies, career and business. Some of us dream of building
a beautiful family of love; sharing, caring and united. Having
great dreams is important, but what if our dreams are shattered because of
failure, setbacks, opposition or unforeseen circumstances like ill-health,
economic downturn, betrayal in business or in relationships, and worst of all,
an accident or even an untimely death?
This was the case for
Jacob, the daughter of the official who died, and of the woman suffering from
hemorrhage. They, too, had their dreams shattered. Jacob connived with his mother to receive
the blessings from Isaac to realize God’s promise to his grandfather,
Abraham. He was ambitious and dishonest in making his dream came
true. As a consequence, he was punished when Esau found out. He had
to flee from Esau and take refuge in Haran. Rebekah, for her instigation
too, was punished for she said, “Why should I lose both of you in one
day?” (Gn 27:45) So, too,
was the case of the woman with hemorrhage. St Luke told us that she “had
been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years; and though she had spent all
she had on physicians, no one could cure her.” (Lk 8:43) Twelve years is a long
time. And furthermore, she had spent all her money to find a cure.
She was desperate to find healing for her illness which must have caused her
much shame, inconvenience and rejection. Her dreams, too, must have been
shattered. Then we have the official and his young daughter who
died. We can imagine how devastated the father must have been to lose his
young daughter of twelve years old, which meant that she had just arrived at
adulthood. (cf Mk 5:42) She had a
bright future ahead of her. Both the father’s and daughter’s dreams
were shattered.
When our dreams are
shattered, what do we do? How can we continue to live our lives? For many of us, we simply give up.
We resign ourselves to the situation. When we act in this manner, we are
part of the crowd who was making a commotion at the official’s house because
they thought and believed that the daughter had died and hence there was no
more hope. Thus, when Jesus said, “the little girl is not dead, she is
asleep”, they laughed at Him. Indeed, people will always laugh at our
dreams. One of the sons of Jacob, Joseph, too had big dreams but was
laughed at by his brothers. (cf Gen 37:5-11) So, too, when Jesus shared
His dream of restoring Israel at the beginning of His ministry with His
townsfolks at the synagogue, they were amazed at Him and said, “Where did this
man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of
power are being done by his hands! Is not this the carpenter, the son of
Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his
sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.” (Mk 6:2-4; cf Lk 4:14-28)
Today, we are asked to
have faith in the dreams that God has planted in our hearts. We must revive the dream again and
again. So when Jacob thought that all was lost, the Lord gave him a
dream. “A ladder was there, standing on the ground with its top reaching
to heaven; and there were angels of God going up it and coming down. And
the Lord was there, standing over him, saying, ‘I am the Lord, the God of
Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac. I will give to you and your
descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants shall be
like the specks of dust on the ground; you shall spread to the west and the
east, to the north and the south, and all the tribes of the earth shall bless
themselves by you and your descendants.” It was such a beautiful
dream that gave him hope again.
This was the same dream
that Isaac gave Jacob before he left for Haran, “May God Almighty bless you
and make you fruitful and increase your numbers until you become a
community of peoples. May he give you and your descendants the blessing
given to Abraham, so that you may take possession of the land where you
now reside as a foreigner, the land God gave to Abraham.” (Gen 28:3f) This dream lived on in Jacob
although it took many years before it was realized. But because of this
dream, he persevered. According to scripture scholars’ calculation, it
was only 40 years later that he was reconciled with his brother Esau and found
forgiveness.
Jesus came to give us a
chance to rebuild our dream as well. When
the woman with the hemorrhage was about to give up hope, there came Jesus to
give her hope, to rebuild her dream. She was so ashamed of herself that
she could not bear to ask Jesus to heal her publicly; instead, she sneaked near
Jesus and touched His cloak. In faith, “she said to herself, ‘If I can
only touch his cloak I shall be well again.’ Jesus turned round and saw
her; and he said to her, ‘Courage, my daughter, your faith has restored you to
health.'” How encouraging were the words of our Lord! Such words
gave her hope. When we are ashamed of our past, our failures and
are discouraged, the Lord too says to us as He said to the woman, “Courage, my
daughter.” So in times of helplessness and hopelessness, we must have
courage. We read, “And from that moment the women was well again.”
Faith is what helps us
to rebuild our dreams. This faith must be founded on God and not on
ourselves. When we rely on
ourselves only, our plans will not come to fruition. Such is the
short-sightedness of man. We want to do things our own way and find our
own means to fulfill our dreams. Abraham made this mistake himself.
Impatient at waiting for God to give him a child, he took Hagar to be his wife
and conceived Ismael when he should have waited for God to give him
Isaac. Jacob, too, manipulated his father, Isaac, to give him his
blessings to continue the dream of Abraham as promised by God. They could
not wait for God to fulfill His plans for them. As a consequence, they
brought more problems for themselves later on because they did not follow God’s
plan. So, too, the crowd at the official’s house was mourning because
they gave up hope instead of turning to the power of God. Christ, by His death
and resurrection, is the only one who can fulfill all our dreams. Christ
who raised the child back to life, too, will give us life to the fullest if we
trust in Him.
The truth in life is
that God’s plan for us will always be fulfilled, regardless. No one can defeat the plan of
God. He will write straight in crooked lines. If we want our life
to be smooth, we must simply cooperate with the plan of God. It does not
mean that we will have no challenges in life. But we must take them in
our stride as part of the process of God’s plan at work in our lives.
Through the ups and downs of life, so long as we sincerely want to cooperate
with God’s will, He will show us the way and He will lead us. We must
trust in His divine wisdom and plan for us. This was how Jacob was able
to persevere for so many years, holding on to his dream, labouring in Haran for
Laban for 20 years whilst he built up his family gradually. When the time was
opportune, he went back to Canaan to fulfill the dream of his forefathers.
Where, then, can we
revive our dreams? It is in prayer that our dreams are reaffirmed, as in
the case of Jacob. In the dream, he heard the voice of God reassuring
him. “Be
sure that I am with you; I will keep you safe wherever you go, and bring you
back to this land, for I will not desert you before I have done all that I have
promised you.” Hence, Jacob said, “Truly, the Lord is in this place and I
never knew it! How awe-inspiring this place is! This is nothing less than a
house of God; this is the gate of heaven!” Indeed, only in prayer can we
encounter the Lord and His love for us. We need to hear Him affirming us
in His love as we discover His will and plan for us. With the psalmist,
we pray, “My refuge, my stronghold, my God in whom I trust. It is he who
will free you from the snare of the fowler who seeks to destroy you; he will
conceal you with his pinions and under his wings you will find refuge.
Since he clings to me in love, I will free him; protect him for he knows my
name.”
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All
Rights Reserved
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