20171204
CHRISTIAN HOPE FOR WORLD PEACE
Readings
at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Violet.
First reading
|
Isaiah 2:1-5 ©
|
The vision of Isaiah son of Amoz, concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
In the days to come
the mountain of the Temple of the Lord
shall tower above the mountains
and be lifted higher than the hills.
All the nations will stream to it,
peoples without number will come to it; and they will say:
‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the Temple of the God of Jacob
that he may teach us his ways
so that we may walk in his paths;
since the Law will go out from Zion,
and the oracle of the Lord from Jerusalem.’
He will wield authority over the nations
and adjudicate between many peoples;
these will hammer their swords into ploughshares,
their spears into sickles.
Nation will not lift sword against nation,
there will be no more training for war.
O House of Jacob, come,
let us walk in the light of the Lord.
Responsorial Psalm
|
Psalm 121(122):1-2,4-5,6-9 ©
|
I rejoiced when I heard them say: ‘Let us go to
God’s house.’
I rejoiced when I heard them say:
‘Let us go to God’s house.’
And now our feet are standing
within your gates, O Jerusalem.
I rejoiced when I heard them say: ‘Let us go to
God’s house.’
It is there that the tribes go up,
the tribes of the Lord.
For Israel’s law it is,
there to praise the Lord’s name.
There were set the thrones of judgement
of the house of David.
I rejoiced when I heard them say: ‘Let us go to
God’s house.’
For the peace of Jerusalem pray:
‘Peace be to your homes!
May peace reign in your walls,
in your palaces, peace!’
I rejoiced when I heard them say: ‘Let us go to
God’s house.’
For love of my brethren and friends
I say: ‘Peace upon you!’
For love of the house of the Lord
I will ask for your good.
I rejoiced when I heard them say: ‘Let us go to
God’s house.’
Gospel Acclamation
|
cf.Ps79:4
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Alleluia, alleluia!
God of hosts, bring us back:
let your face shine on us and we shall be saved.
Alleluia!
Gospel
|
Matthew 8:5-11 ©
|
When Jesus went into Capernaum a centurion came up and pleaded
with him. ‘Sir,’ he said ‘my servant is lying at home paralysed, and in great
pain.’ ‘I will come myself and cure him’ said Jesus. The centurion replied,
‘Sir, I am not worthy to have you under my roof; just give the word and my
servant will be cured. For I am under authority myself, and have soldiers under
me; and I say to one man: Go, and he goes; to another: Come here, and he comes;
to my servant: Do this, and he does it.’ When Jesus heard this he was
astonished and said to those following him, ‘I tell you solemnly, nowhere in
Israel have I found faith like this. And I tell you that many will come from
east and west to take their places with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob at the
feast in the kingdom of heaven.’
CHRISTIAN HOPE FOR WORLD PEACE
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ ISAIAH 2:1-5; MATTHEW 8:5-11
]
We are living
in a world that has changed so rapidly beyond our imagination. This
is a fast moving technological age. Technology has made life easier for us. Certainly,
life is much more comfortable than the days of our forefathers. But
technology is blind. It is amoral. Depending on who harnesses it and for what
purpose, technology can be employed for good or for evil. This explains
why technology, whilst it has its advantages, can also be used to destroy lives
through wars, acts of terrorism, spreading of fake news slandering the
reputation of people, and also for cheating and deceiving innocent and trusting
people. Ironically, more than ever, in spite of sophisticated equipment
and weapons, this is the most unsafe world we are living in because anything
can happen; wars, religious conflicts and terrorism.
What, then,
is our basis and hope for world peace? The first reading from Isaiah says that world peace
will come about when everyone knows their place in this world and acknowledges
God as the creator and source of all life. “In the days to come the
mountain of the Temple of the Lord shall tower above the mountains and be
lifted higher than the hills. All the nations will stream to it, peoples
without number will come to it; and they will say: ‘Come, let us go up to the
mountain of the Lord, to the Temple of the God of Jacob that he may teach us
his ways so that we may walk in his paths; since the Law will go out from
Jerusalem.’” Indeed, only when all men walk in the ways of the Lord
can there be peace. Without taking directions from the Lord, man cannot
agree among ourselves because we are all short-sighted and do not possess the
wisdom to know and understand everything.
We need the
laws of God to guide us to walk the right path. As the psalmist says, “I
rejoiced when I heard them say: ‘Let us go to God’s house.’ And now our feet
are standing within your gates, O Jerusalem. It is there that the tribes
go up, the tribes of the Lord. For Israel’s law it is, there to praise the
Lord’s name. There were set the thrones of judgement of the house of
David.” Walking in His way, we will foster peace in our midst. “He
will wield authority over the nations and adjudicate between many peoples;
these will hammer their swords into ploughshares, their spears into sickles.
Nation will not lift sword against nation, there will be no more training for
war. House of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord.”
But why are
there religious conflicts when all religions profess to lead their faithful to
God? This is where each religion must ask whether they are teaching the
truth and where this truth comes from? If it is from man, then we
cannot claim to have the absolute truth. Only through God’s revelation,
can man understand the fullness of truth. Consequently, different religions
possess different levels of truth accordingly. We are not here to pass
judgement. This is what the Church in the Modern world says of
other religions. “Likewise, other religions found everywhere try to
counter the restlessness of the human heart, each in its own manner, by
proposing ‘ways,’ comprising teachings, rules of life, and sacred rites. The
Catholic Church rejects nothing that is true and holy in these religions. She
regards with sincere reverence those ways of conduct and of life, those precepts
and teachings which, though differing in many aspects from the ones she holds
and sets forth, nonetheless often reflect a ray of that Truth which enlightens
all men. Indeed, she proclaims, and ever must proclaim Christ ‘the way, the
truth, and the life’ (John 14:6), in whom men may find the fullness of religious
life, in whom God has reconciled all things to Himself.” (Nostra Aetate,
No 2) Every religion therefore must purify herself in the truth.
Consequently,
“The Church, therefore, exhorts her sons, that through dialogue and
collaboration with the followers of other religions, carried out with prudence
and love and in witness to the Christian faith and life, they recognize,
preserve and promote the good things, spiritual and moral, as well as the
socio-cultural values found among these men.” (NA, No 3) Together,
we are called to share our faith so that we will be enriched in our own
understanding of our faith as we listen to others who too have truth and
goodness in their religions to share with us. With humility, we can
always learn from others and through other religions examine our own faith and
be purified through them.
So if there
are religious conflicts, it is because of an inadequate interpretation of the
Sacred Texts.
Some followers narrowly interpret the texts in such a way that it becomes
exclusive and divisive. All religions, if they are from God, must promote
peace and goodwill among all of humanity. Exclusivity is a danger and we
cannot afford to act in such a manner today because it will lead to greater
division, conflicts, wars and resentment among believers of different
faiths. With mass communication and digital communication, we need to be
more sensitive in what we say and teach so that others will not feel offended
by our teachings. All true religions must point the way to peace and
goodness. So long as they are teaching what is true and good, they too
partake of God’s truth and love.
Of course for
us, Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life because He shows us the face of
the Father. This of course is the Christian claim rooted in our personal
encounter with Him in His passion, death and resurrection. Without this
prior encounter with the Risen Lord, no one can make this claim. This is
what St Paul wrote to the Romans, “if you confess with your lips that Jesus is
Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be
saved. For man believes with his heart and so is justified, and he
confesses with his lips and so is saved.” (Rom 10:9f)
So not all can make this confession of faith. Only on this basis is the
Christian claim that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life to the Father is
founded since as He told Philip, “Do you not believe that I am in the Father
and the Father in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own
authority; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am
in the Father and the Father in me; or else believe me for the sake of the works
themselves. (Jn 14:10-11; Cf Jn 14:4)
Yet, even if
they have not yet come to this truth, it does not mean that they have no
inkling of God. It is significant that the Centurion, although not a Jew,
showed his faith in God, perhaps not exactly in the way the Jews worshipped the
One God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. His faith in Christ was also
not that of a divine person but he could somehow sense that Jesus was truly a
man of God, who mediated God to him. He did believe that he possessed the
powers of God to do the works that only God could do. Hence, he said to
Jesus, “Sir, I am not worthy to have you under my roof; just give the word and
my servant will be cured. For I am under authority myself, and have
soldiers under me; and I say to one man: Go, and he goes; to another: Come
here, and he comes; to my servant: Do this, and he does it.” So even with
an inadequate faith in the identity of Jesus, the Lord responded to his
request. We can thus believe and hope that even those who do not know the
Lord personally, could come to experience Him in other ways as the Holy Spirit
makes it possible.
The Constitution
of the Church in the Modern World gives this possibility. “All this holds true
not only for Christians, but for all men of good will in whose hearts grace
works in an unseen way. For, since Christ died for all men and since the
ultimate vocation of man is in fact one, and divine, we ought to believe that
the Holy Spirit in a manner known only to God offers to every man the
possibility of being associated with this paschal mystery.” (GS 22)
On our part, we must live the life of Christ in such a way that others will
come to see us as the messengers of God and be inspired by our lives to search
for the Way, the Truth and the Life in Christ themselves. We are called
to bring life and love to them. No amount of words and doctrines can convince
people except by a life of inclusivity, justice and charity.
We must not
conduct ourselves like the Jews who were exclusive in their approach to
non-Jews.
They excluded others from the Kingdom. The warning of Jesus to such
people is this, “I tell you that many will come from the east and west to take
their places with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob at the feast in the kingdom of
heaven.” By preventing others from entering the Kingdom because of
prejudice and arrogance, we will further cause division and scandals in the
world Let us be peacemakers and bridge builders if we want the
world to be a world of peace.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of
Singapore © All Rights Reserved
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