20190926
LIVING
WITH GUILT
26 SEPTEMBER,
2019, Thursday, 25th Week, Ordinary Time
Readings at Mass
Liturgical Colour:
Green.
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First reading
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Haggai 1:1-8 ©
|
In the second year of King Darius, on the
first day of the sixth month, the word of the Lord was addressed through the
prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, high commissioner of Judah, and
to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, as follows, ‘The Lord of Hosts
says this, “This people says: The time has not yet come to rebuild the Temple
of the Lord. (And the word of the Lord was addressed through the prophet
Haggai, as follows:) Is this a time for you to live in your panelled houses,
when this House lies in ruins? So now, the Lord of Hosts says this: Reflect
carefully how things have gone for you. You have sown much and harvested
little; you eat but never have enough, drink but never have your fill, put on
clothes but do not feel warm. The wage earner gets his wages only to put them
in a purse riddled with holes. So go to the hill country, fetch wood, and
rebuild the House: I shall then take pleasure in it, and be glorified there,
says the Lord.”’
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm 149:1-6,9 ©
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The Lord takes delight
in his people.
or
Alleluia!
Sing a new song to the Lord,
his praise in the assembly of
the faithful.
Let Israel rejoice in its Maker,
let Zion’s sons exult in their
king.
The Lord takes delight
in his people.
or
Alleluia!
Let them praise his name with dancing
and make music with timbrel
and harp.
For the Lord takes delight in his people.
He crowns the poor with
salvation.
The Lord takes delight
in his people.
or
Alleluia!
Let the faithful rejoice in their glory,
shout for joy and take their
rest.
Let the praise of God be on their lips:
this honour is for all his
faithful.
The Lord takes delight in
his people.
or
Alleluia!
|
Gospel Acclamation
|
Ps118:18
|
Alleluia, alleluia!
Open my eyes, O Lord, that I may consider
the wonders of your law.
Alleluia!
|
Or:
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Jn14:6
|
Alleluia, alleluia!
I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, says
the Lord;
No one can come to the Father except
through me.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
|
Luke 9:7-9 ©
|
Herod the tetrarch had heard about all
that was being done by Jesus; and he was puzzled, because some people were
saying that John had risen from the dead, others that Elijah had reappeared,
still others that one of the ancient prophets had come back to life. But Herod
said, ‘John? I beheaded him. So who is this I hear such reports about?’ And he
was anxious to see Jesus.
LIVING WITH
GUILT
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ Hg 1:1-8; Ps 149:1-6,9; Lk 9:7-9 ]
In the first reading, the prophet
Haggai was asked by the Lord to strike the hearts and consciences of the people
because they were nonchalant to the call to help rebuild the Temple of the
Lord. Instead of taking the opportunity given by King Cyrus and King
Darius to reconstruct the Temple, they were indifferent and sought to
discourage others from taking up the invitation saying that “The time has not
yet come to rebuild the Temple of the Lord.” Obviously, it was just an
excuse not to be involved in the rebuilding of the Temple. Many of them
were comfortably settled in Babylon, found their trade, started business there and
built their homes. Why would they want to return to Israel, a ruined city
that could not provide them a good life?
So Haggai asked them,
“Is this a time for you to live in your panelled houses, when this House lies
in ruins?” This
is the same question directed at the people of God today as well. Many
Catholics claim that they have deep faith in God and love for Christ. But
most are paying lip service. They live in comfortable houses, some in big
bungalows, but they complain when the church appeals for funds to upgrade and
refurbish its structures. But it is more than just the structure that we
are called to contribute. Do we as Catholics care for the state of
the Church in terms of conversion rate, formation of our young people, ongoing
formation of the faith of our adults, the building of Christian communities,
bringing back the lapsed Catholics? Indeed, we care more about ourselves
than the Christian community.
The tragedy of our local
Church is our complacency. We
are happy to be a maintenance Church. We see our Churches packed every
Sunday. More than one third of our Catholics attend mass regularly on
Sundays. Our parishes on the surface look vibrant with all masses packed
to the brim. Sunday collections are enough to cover maintenance expenses.
But when we ask our Catholics what they are doing for the work of
evangelization and the faith of our people, many do not see the urgency of
making our church vibrant, evangelizing and missionary. Are we not
concerned that the number of adult baptisms, which is about 1200 a year, cannot
replace those who have died and the many that have left the Church? Are
we concerned that two thirds of our Catholics do not attend mass
regularly? Are we not concerned that only 20% of our Catholics make
regular confession and most of them only during Penitential Services at Advent
and Lent? Are we concerned that our young people are leaving after
confirmation? Are we concerned that our young people are subscribing to
the values of relativism, individualism, pragmatism and materialism?
The failure to
strengthen the Catholic Community and the Church will affect us in the long
run. When
we do not evangelize, we will be ultimately secularized by the world.
There is no neutrality when it comes to our faith. It is like a relationship.
Either we are growing and deepening our relationship with someone we love, or
the relationship is weakening and deteriorating. If we do not keep up
with our dialogue, conversation, fellowship and intimacy, our hearts become
distanced from each other. So, too, with our relationship with God.
If we do not nurture it, strengthen it and deepen it, our faith becomes weaker
and weaker. Very soon, the world will overwhelm us and influence us to
adopt the secular, hedonistic and individualistic values of
society. Eventually, our families will break apart when marriages
are unstable. Our children will become dysfunctional and seek love in the
wrong places to fill the vacuum in their hearts. Society will fall into
decadence and amorality.
This is the warning of
Haggai to his people and to us when
he said, “So now, the Lord of hosts says this: Reflect carefully how things
have gone for you. You have sown much and harvested little; you eat but
never have enough, drink but never have your fill, put on clothes but do not
feel warm. The wage earner gets his wages only to put them in a purse
riddled with holes. Reflect carefully how things have gone for
you.” By not putting God first in our lives, we will lose whatever we
have built. Indeed, we might make lots of money but we are destroyed by
worldly pleasures. We might be successful in our career and businesses
but our family is falling apart, our children are brought up without values of
filial piety and integrity. When our children are materialistic and
self-centered, we cannot expect them to find real happiness in life no matter
how well they perform academically or in their jobs. They will live only
for this world and themselves. There is no peace, meaning or satisfaction
in life or focus without God, for the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the
Lord.
For being shortsighted,
we will suffer the regret of King Herod. He was living in guilt as well. He did
not take control over the situation. Firstly, he committed adultery by
taking his brother’s wife. One sin led to another. Herodias was
indignant when John the Baptist spoke out against her illicit union with Herod.
She felt embarrassed and became vindictive. But Herod knew that John the
Baptist was a prophet of God. He liked to listen to him because he knew
he spoke the truth. On one hand, he wanted to do God’s will but he was
weak. Instead of listening to John the Baptist, he allowed Herodias to
control his life. His greatest guilt came when he was trapped into
beheading John the Baptist at the request of Herodias, made through her
daughter who was promised half the kingdom for performing such a beautiful dance
in front of King Herod and his guests. Of course, it was partly because
of his pride as well, since he could have resisted such a request. From
then on, King Herod must have suffered much guilt for putting a prophet of God
to death. This heinous sin came back to haunt him for the rest of his
life.
This explains his
curiosity when he heard “about all that was being done by Jesus.” “He was puzzled, because some people
were saying that John had risen from the dead, others that Elijah had
reappeared, still others that one of the ancient prophets had come back to
life. But Herod said, ‘John? I beheaded him. So who is this I
hear such reports about?’ And he was anxious to see Jesus.” He
could not sleep properly worrying that John the Baptist had come again in
Jesus. He was troubled and thus wanted to see Jesus to verify for
himself. But he was never given a chance. Later on when Jesus was
brought to him on trial, he sought to find out more about Jesus. However,
Jesus was silent before Him. He did not get what he wanted. His
guilt haunted him until his death. He did not manage to clear his guilt.
Indeed, many of us will
live a life of regret. We
wish we had done what we could and should. But now it is too late to turn
back the clock. We did not insist on the importance of faith formation of
our children. Our children have now grown up. They have left us and
started to live on their own. They live worldly lives, as if they never
knew God. Are they happier than us or worse off? Did we not want to see
our children happy in life? Our family is torn apart. But it is too
late for us to regret. This is all simply because we did not teach our
children to put God as the center of their lives. Without God as the
center, they have made themselves the center of everything. They have
become egoistic and narcissistic. So before we fall into the same mistake
of the Jews living a life of regret, let us place God as the center of our
lives. Let us play our part in building the Temple of God by contributing our
resources and skills for the building of the Kingdom. To protect our own
houses and families, Haggai says, we must first protect and build up the Temple
of God and the community. We need the Church more than the Church needs
us.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All
Rights Reserved
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