20190830
MAKING
PROGRESS IN OUR SPIRITUAL LIFE
30 AUGUST, 2019,
Friday, 21st Week, Ordinary Time
Readings at Mass
Liturgical Colour:
Green.
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First reading
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1 Thessalonians 4:1-8 ©
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What God wants is for you all to be holy
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Brothers, we urge you and appeal to you in
the Lord Jesus to make more and more progress in the kind of life that you are
meant to live: the life that God wants, as you learnt from us, and as you are
already living it. You have not forgotten the instructions we gave you on the
authority of the Lord Jesus.
What
God wants is for you all to be holy. He wants you to keep away from
fornication, and each one of you to know how to use the body that belongs to
him in a way that is holy and honourable, not giving way to selfish lust like the
pagans who do not know God. He wants nobody at all ever to sin by
taking advantage of a brother in these matters; the Lord always punishes sins
of that sort, as we told you before and assured you. We have been called by God
to be holy, not to be immoral; in other words, anyone who objects is not
objecting to a human authority, but to God, who gives you his Holy Spirit.
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm 96(97):1-2,5-6,10-12 ©
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Rejoice, you just, in
the Lord.
The Lord is king, let earth rejoice,
let all the coastlands be
glad.
Cloud and darkness are his raiment;
his throne, justice and right.
Rejoice, you just, in
the Lord.
The mountains melt like wax
before the Lord of all the
earth.
The skies proclaim his justice;
all peoples see his glory.
Rejoice, you just, in
the Lord.
The Lord loves those who hate evil;
he guards the souls of his
saints;
he sets them free from the
wicked.
Rejoice, you just, in
the Lord.
Light shines forth for the just
and joy for the upright of
heart.
Rejoice, you just, in the Lord;
give glory to his holy name.
Rejoice, you just, in
the Lord.
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Gospel Acclamation
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cf.Ps129:5
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Alleluia, alleluia!
My soul is waiting for the Lord,
I count on his word.
Alleluia!
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Or:
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Lk21:36
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Stay awake, praying at all times
for the strength to stand with confidence
before the Son of Man.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Matthew 25:1-13 ©
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The wise and foolish virgins
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Jesus told this parable to his disciples:
‘The kingdom of heaven will be like this: Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and
went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were sensible:
the foolish ones did take their lamps, but they brought no oil, whereas the
sensible ones took flasks of oil as well as their lamps. The bridegroom was
late, and they all grew drowsy and fell asleep. But at midnight there was a
cry, “The bridegroom is here! Go out and meet him.” At this, all those
bridesmaids woke up and trimmed their lamps, and the foolish ones said to the
sensible ones, “Give us some of your oil: our lamps are going out.” But they
replied, “There may not be enough for us and for you; you had better go to
those who sell it and buy some for yourselves.” They had gone off to buy it
when the bridegroom arrived. Those who were ready went in with him to the
wedding hall and the door was closed. The other bridesmaids arrived later.
“Lord, Lord,” they said “open the door for us.” But he replied, “I tell you
solemnly, I do not know you.” So stay awake, because you do not know either the
day or the hour.’
MAKING PROGRESS
IN OUR SPIRITUAL LIFE
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ 1 Th 4:1-8; Ps 97:1-2,5-6,10-12; Mt 25:1-13 ]
On one hand, Catholics like to boast of
the fact that we are the oldest Church in the world and have the highest number
of members at 1.2 billion. But what is the level of commitment
and quality of our members? This is a question that we are afraid to
ask ourselves sincerely. We take consolation that our churches are packed
with worshippers every weekend. We are quite satisfied that our Sunday
collection is more than sufficient to maintain our churches. But how many
of our Catholics take their faith seriously, live out the gospel values, spend
time with Jesus in prayer, pray the Word of God daily, defend their faith, bear
witness to Christ and the gospel? Without an increasing love of God and our
fellowmen, faith in Him and hope for eternal life, we have failed in our
Christian obligation. Failing to develop our life of faith, hope and
charity means that we are carrying the lamp without the oil. When the
lamp has no light, it cannot show us the way to the truth and to life.
The stark truth is that
if we are speaking of faithful Catholics, who are committed and seek to live
the gospel life, are supportive of the Church and serving the Catholic
community, we have hardly 20%.
The rest are lukewarm Catholics who come for Sunday mass but do not have a real
relationship with God or with the Church. Some are casual Catholics who
attend services during special occasions. Then there many nominal
Catholics, who profess themselves to be Catholics but do not attend any church
services, never read the scriptures or are connected with the Church.
This is because
Catholics do not take seriously the importance of making progress in their
spiritual life. Faith
is like any relationship. Relationship needs communication in order
to grow and deepen. When we stop connecting with people, eventually, the
relationship becomes cold and distant. The truth is that many of
our Catholics stop growing in their faith after baptism. They think that
faith is something we possess, like a thing. So, many do not take ongoing
formation seriously as they are distracted by the demands of daily life.
Indeed, many are born again at baptism but they die before they can reach
maturity. This is also true for young people who finish their formal
catechism classes after confirmation. That is the end of their faith
formation. So, too, those who attend retreats but do not participate in
any follow-up activities. They feel high for a while, but soon, when the
emotions fade, they return to their old way of life.
The real weakness of
Catholics is that we lack the discipline of discipleship. We forget that we are disciples
always. We need to grow in our relationship with the Lord. We need
to be formed in scriptures, doctrines, morality and prayer life. When we
neglect all these, then we are just like the five foolish bridesmaids in the
gospel. They did not bring sufficient oil whilst waiting for the
bridegroom. They were complacent and over confident about their
faith. Life is a long journey. We need support, energy,
encouragement and inspiration in this journey of life. Otherwise,
we lose our zeal, passion and hope along the way. Whether it is in
marriage, parenthood or in our work and ministry, without being sustained by
the Lord and by our faith, we eventually become disheartened and discouraged when
things go wrong and do not turn out the way we hope. Like the foolish
bridesmaids, we become drowsy, lethargic and tired. Eventually, we give
up whatever good we are doing, not just our faith.
That is why St Paul
urged the Christians in Thessalonica to make progress in their spiritual life
in spite of the fact that their faith was already exemplary. Earlier on, he praised them for
their faith. We remember “before our God and Father your work of
faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus
Christ. You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for in spite of
persecution you received the word with joy inspired by the Holy Spirit, so
that you became an example to all the believers. In every place your
faith in God has become known, so that we have no need to speak about it.” (1 Th 1:3, 6, 8)
Instead of being complacent about our
faith and achievements, Paul said, “we urge you and appeal to you in
the Lord Jesus to make more and more progress in the kind of life that you are
meant to live: the life that God wants, as you learnt from us, and as
you are already living it. You have not forgotten that instructions we
gave you on the authority of the Lord Jesus. What God wants is for you
all to be holy.”
Indeed, the call to
holiness is a never-ending process.
No matter which stage we are at in our spiritual life, we are never holy
enough. So, we must ask ourselves every day, have we become holier than
yesterday, or last month, or last year? The greatness of a Catholic is
not measured in terms of how long we have been Catholic, but by the depth of
our faith commitment. We can be Catholic for 50 years and yet remain
infantile in our faith, whereas a person who is newly baptized knows more about
his faith and are even willing to die for Christ and give up his or her life
for Him.
Hence, we are called to
imitate the example of the wise bridesmaids who carried extra oil with them
when they waited for the bridegroom to arrive. What is the use of carrying
the lamp without oil! What is the use of a passport that is not
stamped? In order to enter the country, we require our passport to be
stamped. So, too, what is the use of being baptized when we are not
living as children of God? We are given a passport to enter the family of
God at our baptism. But this passport must be stamped with a life of
love, faith and hope. Without an increasing love of God and our
fellowmen, faith in Him and hope for eternal life, we have failed in our
Christian obligation. Failing to develop our life of faith, hope and
charity means that we are carrying the lamp without the oil. When the
lamp has no light, it cannot show us the way to the truth and to life.
Thus it is necessary
that we provide oil for the lamp through spiritual exercises, retreats,
recollections, talks and reading up on our faith. We must make time for personal
prayer, reading and praying on the scriptures, reflecting and examining our
life through the act of examen, sharing our faith and the Word of God with our
fellow Catholics. Without spiritual input, we will eventually become dry
and lack the spirit of Christ to motivate us to live a life of charity and
selfless service. When it comes to spiritual formation, there is no way
for us to proxy for someone. This explains why the wise bridesmaids told
the foolish ones, “there may not be enough for us and for you; you had better
go to those who sell it and buy some for yourselves.” In other words, faith and
relationship can only be cultivated and nurtured personally. If we are
not willing to make time in a relationship, we cannot expect the relationship
to grow. This is also true in our personal relationship with God.
Today, there is no
excuse for us not to grow and deepen our faith and relationship with God. Catholics excuse themselves by
saying that they are too busy to attend formation talks or seminars because of
their commitments to their work or family life. With modern digital
technology, digital network, social media, you-tube, internet, there are so
many resources available for our personal formation, if we only make time for
them. We can access all these at our own convenience. The
archdiocese has a website where homilies, talks, articles, testimonies are
featured. We have produced many videos which can be viewed on You-tube,
Facebook and Instagram. We have even started Catholic SG Radio so that
Catholics can have access to the radio all day, all night and every day of the
year where programs, talks, homilies, sharings, reflections, songs, music can
be downloaded.
So let us take heed of the
exhortation of Paul to grow in holiness. “We have been called by God to be holy, not to
be immoral.” Let us use our bodies to glorify God by the way we love
authentically, faithfully and selflessly. Holiness is to allow the
goodness of God to radiate through us. Holiness is more than not
committing sin but to use our bodies in such a way that His love is seen in our
lives. Instead of “taking advantage of a brother in these matters”, we
love one another genuinely as brothers and sisters, purely and freely.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All
Rights Reserved
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