20190824
OVERCOMING
PREJUDICES
24 AUGUST, 2019,
Saturday, St Bartholomew, Apostle
Readings at Mass
Liturgical Colour: Red.
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First reading
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Apocalypse 21:9-14 ©
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He showed me Jerusalem, the holy city,
coming down from God out of heaven
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The angel came to speak to me, and said,
‘Come here and I will show you the bride that the Lamb has married.’ In the
spirit, he took me to the top of an enormous high mountain and showed me
Jerusalem, the holy city, coming down from God out of heaven. It had all the
radiant glory of God and glittered like some precious jewel of crystal-clear
diamond. The walls of it were of a great height, and had twelve gates; at each
of the twelve gates there was an angel, and over the gates were written the
names of the twelve tribes of Israel; on the east there were three gates, on
the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates.
The city walls stood on twelve foundation stones, each one of which bore the
name of one of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm
144(145):10-13a,17-18 ©
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Your friends, O Lord,
make known the glorious splendour of your reign.
All your creatures shall thank you, O
Lord,
and your friends shall repeat
their blessing.
They shall speak of the glory of your
reign
and declare your might, O God.
Your friends, O Lord,
make known the glorious splendour of your reign.
They make known to men your mighty deeds
and the glorious splendour of
your reign.
Yours is an everlasting kingdom;
your rule lasts from age to
age.
Your friends, O Lord,
make known the glorious splendour of your reign.
The Lord is just in all his ways
and loving in all his deeds.
He is close to all who call him,
who call on him from their
hearts.
Your friends, O Lord,
make known the glorious splendour of your reign.
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Gospel Acclamation
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Jn1:49
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Rabbi, you are the Son of God,
you are the King of Israel.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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John 1:45-51 ©
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You will see heaven laid open, and the
Son of Man
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Philip found Nathanael and said to him,
‘We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, the one about whom the
prophets wrote: he is Jesus son of Joseph, from Nazareth.’ ‘From Nazareth?’
said Nathanael ‘Can anything good come from that place?’ ‘Come and see’ replied
Philip. When Jesus saw Nathanael coming he said of him, ‘There is an Israelite
who deserves the name, incapable of deceit.’ ‘How do you know me?’ said
Nathanael. ‘Before Philip came to call you,’ said Jesus ‘I saw you under the
fig tree.’ Nathanael answered, ‘Rabbi, you are the Son of God, you are the King
of Israel.’ Jesus replied, ‘You believe that just because I said: I saw you
under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.’ And then he added
‘I tell you most solemnly, you will see heaven laid open and, above the Son of
Man, the angels of God ascending and descending.’
OVERCOMING
PREJUDICES
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ Rev 21:9-14; Ps 145:10-13, 17-18; Jn 1:45-51 ]
We never see things as
they are but as we are. How
we look at things, process and make judgements is dependent not just on the
objectivity of the situation but it is very much coloured and filtered by our
experiences in life. This explains why we are all conditioned
people. We see new events through the lens of our past experiences.
If the experiences were positive then we tend to be more positive towards a
similar event. If the experiences were negative, we tend to look at such
events negatively. The truth, therefore, is that we are conditioned by
our past and consequently, we are all biased in some ways.
This is particularly
true when it comes to how we view races and religions, both extremely sensitive
topics. If
our encounters with people of other races and religions have been positive,
then we tend to be very open and receptive towards them. However, if such
encounters were unpleasant, we tend to lump all the people of a particular race
or religion together. Whether we like it or not, we are coloured by our
past. This explains why there are many people who are prejudiced against
Muslims because they associate Islam with the ISIS and terrorist activities.
So it is also with Christians. Non-Christians tend to see Christians as
aggressive, triumphalist and intolerant of people who are of other
faiths. Protestants also tend to view Catholics as heretical,
superstitious and devotional. With the publicity on sexual abuse,
Catholic priests are now associated with pedophilia.
This was the case of
Nathaniel in today’s gospel. Even
he had his own prejudices. When he heard from Philip that they “have
found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, the one about whom the prophets
wrote: he is Jesus son of Joseph, from Nazareth”, his immediate reaction was
“From Nazareth? Can anything good come from that place?” He was not only
skeptical but also disdainful. Nathaniel came from Cana. In those days,
there was much rivalry between one town and another. So Nathaniel did not
think highly of people who came from Nazareth. Furthermore, there was
nothing in scripture that spoke of the Messiah as coming from Nazareth.
Indeed, life is such
that we are influenced greatly by what we hear and most of all by what we see. A picture is worth a thousand
words. This is why today, people do not like to read long articles but
they like to watch video clips and movies because they are more
entertaining. Less effort is required to listen and watch. Reading
requires deep concentration and thinking. What we read, we tend to
forget. But what we see is imprinted in our minds indelibly. This
explains why experiences in life, especially if they are radical and
surprising, are never forgotten. Of course, traumas and unpleasant events
unfortunately are deeply imprinted in our unconscious, so much so that many of
us cannot get over them.
So the only way to
change our perception of anything is to experience it anew. Philip was wise not to enter into a
philosophical or theological debate with Nathaniel over Jesus’ identity.
If he did, it would only end with disagreement because each would be seeing the
situation from his own prism of life. This is true especially when it
pertains to things that are beyond logic, such as taste, preferences,
friendships and faith. Such matters cannot be reduced to reason alone
because the whole person is engaged entirely, body, mind, soul and spirit.
Faith, therefore, although reasonable, cannot be reasoned or proven. If
it were so, there would be no need for faith. Thus, faith in Christ also
cannot be proven. He has to be encountered and experienced.
Thus, Pope Benedict wrote, “We have come to believe in God’s love: in these
words the Christian can express the fundamental decision of his life. Being
Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the
encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive
direction.” (Deus Caritas Est 1)
The way to help someone
to over his prejudices is simply to invite as Philip did, “Come and See!” This is the best way to convince
people. Many Catholics are uncomfortable with the Charismatic Renewal,
the exercise of the gift of tongues, the raising of hands, etc. This is
understandable for the ordinary Catholic who has been brought up in the solemn
way of worshipping in silence and in adoration with limited participation in
the liturgy, which is mostly done by the priests, the ministers and the choir.
Unless, they are initiated into this form of prayer, they will find themselves
too conscious of how they pray and end up not praying at all. In all
cases I have seen, those who were dead against the Charismatic renewal and way
of worshipping, changed their minds totally when they allowed themselves to
enter into this form of worship, thereby encountering Christ in the Holy Spirit
deeply, not just in their minds but in their hearts and their entire being.
Some even received the gift of tongues and resting in the Spirit!
However, for this to
happen, the person must be courageous and receptive like Nathaniel. Although he was skeptical about Jesus,
when invited by Philip to come and see Jesus for himself, he did not shy from
doing so. He could have just dismissed Philip’s invitation and remained
stuck in his own opinion of Jesus. But the Lord saw in him a man of
great sincerity and desire to search for the truth. The Lord remarked,
“There is an Israelite who deserves the name, incapable of deceit.”
Indeed, Nathaniel was not someone who would allow himself to be deceived by
others because of his previous experiences. He was a man who was always
searching for the truth. This is affirmed again when the Lord said to
Nathaniel, “before Philip came to call you, I saw you under the fig
tree.” The Lord was observant of Nathaniel. To sit under the fig
tree is but an expression of a rabbi in prayer and contemplation. Nathaniel was
in deep prayer, contemplating on God and the coming of the Messiah to deliver
Israel as promised by the prophets.
Consequently, Nathaniel
was not shortchanged in his courage and openness to meet the Lord. He encountered the Lord
Himself. When the Lord spoke well of him, he was taken aback that the
Lord knew his heart so well. Only God knows our hearts. That Jesus
was able to read him well, gave him the confidence to say to Jesus, “Rabbi, you
are the Son of God, you are the King of Israel.” Indeed, when we
encounter the Lord, we also come to know ourselves. Jesus is the revealer
of who we are and what we are called to do. But this was just the
beginning. The Lord assured Nathaniel. “You believe that just
because I said: I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than
that. I tell you most solemnly, you will see heaven laid open and, above
the Son of Man, the angels of God ascending and descending.”
When we are receptive,
we see even more.
When we love, we tend to understand the person more. Love is the eye to
understanding; not knowledge. The mind sees truth from one aspect, but
the heart sees truth from its depth. When we love someone or when someone
loves, we tend to be more receptive and caring towards the person. That
is why the best method of conversion is never through logical and intellectual
discourse. This is not to say that this is not necessary, but at most it
can only prepare the way for the heart to accept more readily. There is
nothing that can change a person’s impression more radically than when he
experiences directly for himself. Why do some people support some
worthy causes more than others do? It all depends on whether they have
seen, not just heard, for themselves the sufferings that these people are going
though. The best way to get people to donate to a cause is to bring them
to see with their eyes what the organization is doing to help the people who
could be suffering from a particular illness, poverty or pain.
Today, as we celebrate
the Feast of Bartholomew, one of the twelve apostles, the Church invites us to
rejoice and to share in his mission of bringing others to Christ. The first reading gives us a
beautiful picture of the eternal city for humanity. Through this vision,
St John hopes to inspire us to work together to make it a reality in our lives
for all peoples.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All
Rights Reserved
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