Sunday, 15 September 2019

REACHING OUT TO THE UNCHURCHED

20180706 REACHING OUT TO THE UNCHURCHED


06 JULY, 2018, Friday, 13th Week, Ordinary Time

Readings at Mass

Liturgical Colour: Green.


First reading
Amos 8:4-6,9-12 ©

A famine not of bread, but of hearing the word of the Lord
Listen to this, you who trample on the needy
and try to suppress the poor people of the country,
you who say, ‘When will New Moon be over
so that we can sell our corn,
and sabbath, so that we can market our wheat?
Then by lowering the bushel, raising the shekel,
by swindling and tampering with the scales,
we can buy up the poor for money,
and the needy for a pair of sandals,
and get a price even for the sweepings of the wheat.’
That day – it is the Lord who speaks –
I will make the sun go down at noon,
and darken the earth in broad daylight.
I am going to turn your feasts into funerals,
all your singing into lamentation;
I will have your loins all in sackcloth,
your heads all shaved.
I will make it a mourning like the mourning for an only son,
as long as it lasts it will be like a day of bitterness.
See what days are coming – it is the Lord who speaks –
days when I will bring famine on the country,
a famine not of bread, a drought not of water,
but of hearing the word of the Lord.
They will stagger from sea to sea,
wander from north to east,
seeking the word of the Lord
and failing to find it.


Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 118(119):2,10,20,30,40,131 ©
Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.
They are happy who do his will,
  seeking him with all their hearts,
I have sought you with all my heart;
  let me not stray from your commands.
Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.
My soul is ever consumed
  as I long for your decrees.
I have chosen the way of truth
  with your decrees before me.
Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.
See, I long for your precepts;
  then in your justice, give me life.
I open my mouth and I sigh
  as I yearn for your commands.
Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.


Gospel Acclamation
Ps24:4,5
Alleluia, alleluia!
Teach me your paths, my God,
make me walk in your truth.
Alleluia!
Or:
Mt11:28
Alleluia, alleluia!
Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened,
and I will give you rest, says the Lord.
Alleluia!


Gospel
Matthew 9:9-13 ©

It is not the healthy who need the doctor, but the sick
As Jesus was walking on, he saw a man named Matthew sitting by the customs house, and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him.
  While he was at dinner in the house it happened that a number of tax collectors and sinners came to sit at the table with Jesus and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does your master eat with tax collectors and sinners?’ When he heard this he replied, ‘It is not the healthy who need the doctor, but the sick. Go and learn the meaning of the words: What I want is mercy, not sacrifice. And indeed I did not come to call the virtuous, but sinners.’


REACHING OUT TO THE UNCHURCHED


SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ Amos 8:4-12Psalm 119Mt 9:9-13 ]
When the Pharisees asked Jesus’ disciples, “Why does your master eat with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus replied, “It is not the healthy who need the doctor, but the sick. Go and learn the meaning of the words: What I want is mercy, not sacrifice. And indeed I did not come to call the virtuous, but sinners.” The mission of Jesus is clearly one of mercy.  How is this mission of mercy expressed?  It is not just words or preaching alone.  This is the real weakness of our church.  We preach the message of mercy as a doctrine and as a truth, but the way we conduct ourselves with respect to our fellowmen is anything but merciful.  We are indifferent to those who suffer injustices, the wounded, the elderly, the sick and the poor. We are judgemental of sinners; we ostracize them and lack compassion for the situation they are in.  We exclude them from our communities as if they are lepers, and we are afraid even to be seen with them.
Indeed, some of us behave like the Israelites during the time of the prophet Amos. There was a dichotomy between belief and practice. They were apparently observing all the rituals required of them.  In the eyes of the public, they appeared to be good people.  But after the rituals, they cheated and oppressed the poor.  When doing business, they employed dishonest means.  Instead of showing mercy to the poor, they cheated those who were most vulnerable.  Love of God was not expressed in their love for their neighbours.  How can we profess to love God when we do not share His love for all peoples whom He considered His children?  We attend masses and devotions, be involved in church activities and serve in church organizations, but when we lack compassion for those who are weak and those who have failed in Christian life, we are no better than the Israelites.
In today’s gospel, Jesus challenges us to go beyond talking about mercy to making mercy a reality.  This mercy is expressed concretely in two ways, healing the sick and proclaiming forgiveness to sinners.  Jesus was very focused in His mission.  His only desire was to heal lives, deliver those under the bondage of the Evil One and reconcile sinners with God.  He did not sit in His office or wait at the synagogue for the sick and sinners to come.  He went out to the marginalized and those who were on the fringes.  He walked among them and lived and ate with them.  He made Himself available to all.  We read how Jesus healed all the sick who were brought to Him and set free all those under bondage.  “That evening they brought to him many who were possessed with demons; and he cast out the spirits with a word, and cured all who were sick. This was to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah, ‘He took our infirmities and bore our diseases.’” (Mt 8:16f)  In our case, we wait for people to knock at our doors before we offer help.  We expect people to come to us instead of us reaching out to them.
Indeed, earlier in Chapter 8, we read about the healing ministry of Jesus, which was one of reaching out.  When the leper came to Him, the Lord did not simply heal him, but He did the most unexpected thing; He stretched out His hand and touched him and said, “I choose to. Be healed.”  (Mt 8:3)  It was an act of welcoming the untouchables. The man was healed not just physically but emotionally, knowing that he was accepted and embraced as a human being, not a thing to be shunned.  Next, when the Centurion, a non-Jew, came to Him for help in healing his servant who was dying, Jesus spontaneously, without concern that He might be contaminated ritually, made to go to the house.  But the centurion was thoughtful not to compromise Jesus’ position as a rabbi.  It was Jesus’ inclusivity and willingness to risk His reputation and “religious purity” that won the faith of the Centurion.
What is significant in both cases in today’s gospel is that Jesus had no qualms about making Himself unclean or inviting gossip that He broke the ritual laws of cleanliness and religious propriety.  His reputation was at stake.  Unlike the religious leaders of the day, Jesus had no reservations about dining with the tax collectors and sinners. He called Matthew, a tax-collector, to be His disciple and even attended a meal hosted by him with his friends in the trade.  Jesus felt that the only way to bring them back was to be in touch with them rather than distance Himself from them.
The truth is that we tend to only mix with fellow Christians and the righteous ones. The rich mix with the rich, the educated with the educated.  We like to be seen with Cardinals, bishops, priests and religious.  But few like to be seen with the divorcees, the sickly, the depressed and sinners.  How many of us, supposedly upright and righteous people, would want to be seen mixing with dishonest people, prostitutes, drug addicts and ex-convicts?  We would shy from even being associated with them because of fear for our reputation.  Haven’t we heard our parents and friends telling us to avoid certain people because they are of no good character?  Perhaps, if we are weak Catholics and prone to sin, we should avoid mixing with them lest we are badly influenced.  But if we claim to be strong in our faith, then all the more we should be out there influencing them and winning them over to Christ and the gospel.
For this reason, our message of mercy is hypocritical.  We only talk about reaching out to sinners and the poor, but we remain within our own circle of friends, comfortable with our ministry members or the cell group we belong to.  We are building enclaves, not reaching out and bringing new members to the Church.  And even if we bring in new members, they are people who are not really in need of Christ.  They are respectable people, not the outcasts.  They are people we like and who will not cause us trouble.  But we will avoid those who have plenty of issues in life, those who are nasty, resentful and vindictive.
The Church is often inward-looking.  We are only concerned about those who come to church and donate to our cause.  We only pay attention to those who help the church or are involved in our programs.  But with those who are uninvolved, the wounded, the broken, the sick, the marginalized, the gays and lesbians, the divorced, those who left the Church because they have been hurt by Church leaders, we do not bother to reach out to them.  We are so concerned about those complacent Catholics that remain unconverted when there are thousands outside the Church waiting to hear the Good News and be touched by His welcoming love and healing grace.
Jesus showed us the way to reach out to sinners and to give them hope.   We are called to reach out to the sick and sinners.  We are to give people hope.  We must not protect ourselves for fear that reaching out will compromise our reputation and breach our comfort zones.  This is what Pope Francis is doing in promoting the gospel of mercy, which is the concrete application of Pope Emeritus’ gospel of love.  He sought to bring the Church into the world and not hide in the safety and confines of the Vatican Walls.  He came out of the Vatican palace to be with the poor and the ordinary people. Gone are the days when we expect sinners to come back to Church.  There are some who would return but the majority are outside or have left the Church, bitter with the establishment, especially the leaders whom they find hypocritical.
We too must reach out to those outside the Church, and bring the gospel to those who are in need, and the unreached.  We need to support programs like Landings, those ministering outside the Church confines, like bringing the gospel to the malls and the tertiary institutions, the prisons and hospitals, the poor and the needy. The ministry to the unchurched is where the souls for Christ are to be found.  Those in the Church are either saved or unconverted.  They are mostly complacent Catholics who are quite happy to be nominal Catholics.  In spite of all our preaching, how many of our lukewarm Catholics are converted to active Catholics?  But if we reach out to those who are hopeless, those finding meaning and purpose in life, those who are lost and broken;  if we can get them to know Jesus, their conversion would be radical and they will be the best missionaries and evangelists for Christ after their conversion.
The new arena of evangelization is in the market place, where our people are today, in our offices, in the pubs and in the shopping centers.  How many will venture into such unknown and dangerous areas to market the Good News as Jesus did when He ate and drank with tax-collectors and mixed with prostitutes?  How many of us would be willing to take a page from St Paul who was a man for all seasons? (1 Cor 9:20-23)
Indeed, we are all called to be doctors of souls.  A doctor does not distance himself from his patients. He has to come into contact with his patients.  Only then can he be of help to them.  This explains why Jesus was always found among the poor, the uneducated, the common and ordinary people; not among the Establishment. We too must be present in the sufferings of others.  Our task is to call them back to walk in the truth.  Indeed, we must teach them what the psalmist has taught us, “Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.  They are happy who do his will, seeking him with all their hearts, I have sought you with all my heart; let me not stray from your commands.  My soul is ever consumed as I long for your decrees. I have chosen the way of truth with your decrees before me.  See, I long for your precepts; then in your justice, give me life.  I open my mouth and I sigh as I yearn for your commands.”  But they cannot see the beauty of God’s word until they come to encounter His love and mercy in and through us.


Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved


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