20191020
MISSION
OF BUILDING UNITY IN HUMANITY
20 OCTOBER,
2019, World Mission Sunday
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First reading
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Exodus 17:8-13 ©
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The Amalekites came and attacked Israel at
Rephidim. Moses said to Joshua, ‘Pick out men for yourself, and tomorrow
morning march out to engage Amalek. I, meanwhile, will stand on the hilltop,
the staff of God in my hand.’ Joshua did as Moses told him and marched out to
engage Amalek, while Moses and Aaron and Hur went up to the top of the hill. As
long as Moses kept his arms raised, Israel had the advantage; when he let his
arms fall, the advantage went to Amalek. But Moses’ arms grew heavy, so they
took a stone and put it under him and on this he sat, Aaron and Hur supporting
his arms, one on one side, one on the other; and his arms remained firm till
sunset. With the edge of the sword Joshua cut down Amalek and his people.
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm 120(121) ©
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Our help is in the name
of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
I lift up my eyes to the mountains;
from where shall come my help?
My help shall come from the Lord
who made heaven and earth.
Our help is in the name
of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
May he never allow you to stumble!
Let him sleep not, your guard.
No, he sleeps not nor slumbers,
Israel’s guard.
Our help is in the name
of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
The Lord is your guard and your shade;
at your right side he stands.
By day the sun shall not smite you
nor the moon in the night.
Our help is in the name
of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
The Lord will guard you from evil,
he will guard your soul.
The Lord will guard your going and coming
both now and for ever.
Our help is in the name
of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
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Second reading
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2 Timothy 3:14-4:2 ©
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You must keep to what you have been taught
and know to be true; remember who your teachers were, and how, ever since you
were a child, you have known the holy scriptures – from these you can
learn the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All
scripture is inspired by God and can profitably be used for teaching, for
refuting error, for guiding people’s lives and teaching them to be holy. This
is how the man who is dedicated to God becomes fully equipped and ready for any
good work.
Before
God and before Christ Jesus who is to be judge of the living and the dead, I
put this duty to you, in the name of his Appearing and of his kingdom: proclaim
the message and, welcome or unwelcome, insist on it. Refute falsehood, correct
error, call to obedience – but do all with patience and with the intention
of teaching.
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Gospel Acclamation
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cf.Ep1:17,18
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Alleluia, alleluia!
May the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ
enlighten the eyes of our mind,
so that we can see what hope his call
holds for us.
Alleluia!
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Or:
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Heb4:12
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Alleluia, alleluia!
The word of God is something alive and
active:
it can judge secret emotions and thoughts.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Luke 18:1-8 ©
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Jesus told his disciples a parable about
the need to pray continually and never lose heart. ‘There was a judge in a
certain town’ he said ‘who had neither fear of God nor respect for man. In the
same town there was a widow who kept on coming to him and saying, “I want
justice from you against my enemy!” For a long time he refused, but at last he
said to himself, “Maybe I have neither fear of God nor respect for man, but
since she keeps pestering me I must give this widow her just rights, or she
will persist in coming and worry me to death.”’
And
the Lord said ‘You notice what the unjust judge has to say? Now will not God
see justice done to his chosen who cry to him day and night even when he delays
to help them? I promise you, he will see justice done to them, and done
speedily. But when the Son of Man comes, will he find any faith on earth?’
MISSION OF
BUILDING UNITY IN HUMANITY
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ ISA 2: 1-5; EPH 3: 2-12; LUKE 24:44-53]
We are living in a very
critical time of history where lights and shadows prevail and always in
competition with each other.
Since the beginning of time, there is this ongoing battle between the kingdom
of Satan and the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of darkness is seeking to
overcome the Kingdom of light, truth and love. It appears that the war
fought by Satan is becoming more hostile and ferocious than ever. Indeed,
all the other wars in the world are somehow instigated by Satan through the
promotion of selfishness, half-truths and lies. Indeed, in spite of
progress in science and technology, a better standard of living and communication,
the world today is also facing greater threat to self-destruction because of
wars, whether military or trade, religious fanaticism and terrorism, climate
warming, protectionism versus globalization. The world is getting
more divided in spite of mass communication and so called ‘secularism’, which
the world believes is the key to unity.
This is contrary to the
plan of God for us all. The
world can only be united when humanity comes to know God and subscribes to the
eternal values that God intended for humanity. We were created for a
purpose, to share His life and love in accordance with His plan. But many
of us are ignorant of the plan of God for us and for humanity. A god-less
society has no purpose because they do not believe in God and life after
death. It cannot explain the why of creation, the purpose and our
destiny. Man has been living in ignorance, not knowing their true
identity as children of God and their call to share in the life of the Trinity.
However, St Paul says the “mystery
that has now been revealed through the Spirit to his holy apostles and
prophets was unknown to any men in past generations; it means that pagans now
share the same inheritance, that they are parts of the same body, and that the
same promise has been made to them in Christ Jesus, through the
gospel.” Therefore, in God’s plan we are called to be one family of
God, brothers and sisters of the same Lord. The inheritance all are
called to share is the life and love of God. Without exception, all men and
women are given a place in the heart of God.
This is why the answer
to the division in the world is precisely in Christ who makes us all one body
and one family of God. The
world is divided and turbulent because we are all selfish, individualistic and
insecure. We care about ourselves, our needs and our comforts without
taking into consideration the needs of others. We compete and seek to
destroy our competitors. So long as we fail to see that we are one people
of God and one family of nations, there cannot be peace and true progress in
the world. So long as we see ourselves apart from others, as if others do
not need what we need, do not seek what we seek, then we cut ourselves off from
them. There cannot be world unity so long as one group of people is
considered more important and more deserving than other groups. We are
all human beings and we all belong to the People of God.
To find peace in the
world, we need to pray for God-fearing leaders who understand the wisdom and
plan of God for humanity.
This is the vision of Isaiah for the leaders of his time. “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.'”
Unless world leaders, political, corporate and religious leaders are deeply
imbued with the Word of God to guide them, in their vision of building a
peaceful and loving society, humanity will always be fighting and killing each
other because of selfishness, revenge and greed.
Christ, for us
Christians, is the key to this unity.
St Paul wrote, “Through all the ages, this has been kept hidden in God, the
creator of everything. Why? So that the Sovereignties and Powers should
learn only now, through the Church, how comprehensive God’s wisdom really is,
exactly according to the plan which he had had from all eternity in Christ
Jesus our Lord. This is why we are bold enough to approach God in
complete confidence, through our faith in him.” Christ is the true man
and the true God. In Christ, we come to know who we are and what we are
called to do. Christ revealed to us our identity as sons and daughters of
God. He has shown us that the way to fullness of life, is dying to
oneself in humble service and love. It is the way of forgiveness,
non-violence and compassion. Our ultimate goal is to share in the life of
His Father. Death is therefore not the end of life but the beginning of
eternal life with God. We will share in His resurrection at the end of
time.
For us who are baptized
in Christ, we have two responsibilities in the work of mission. Firstly,
like St Paul, we are called to announce this mystery, the plan of God to the
world. Evangelization is not proselytization. The best way to evangelize is
to share the beauty of our faith. It is by way of attraction, not
coercion.
It begins with the
attraction of the Good News.
St Paul said, “I have been made the servant of that gospel by a gift of grace
from God who gave it to me by his own power. I, who am less than the
least of all saints, have been entrusted with this special grace, not only of
proclaiming to the pagans the infinite treasure of Christ but also of
explaining how the mystery is to be dispensed.” It is an invitation to share in
the joy of God. There is no coercion of any sort. But to reveal to
others that Jesus is for everyone; and that Jesus has come to give us life to
the fullest by giving us His Spirit and the gospel. Anyone who is
baptized in Christ receives this Spirit explicitly. Those who are not
baptized or do not know Christ explicitly share in His Spirit in different ways
and in different degrees.
So our task is to
explain and to enlighten people in the truth. What is true is always
beautiful. This is what the Lord did with His disciples. He explained to the disciples how
the scriptures were fulfilled in Him. “This is what I meant when I said,
while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of
Moses, in the Prophets and in the Psalm, has to be fulfilled’. He then
opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, ‘So you
see how it is written that the Christ would suffer and on the third day rise
from the dead, and that, in his name, repentance for the forgiveness of sins
would be preached to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.”
Indeed, at the commission, the Lord told the apostles, to baptize and to teach
them all that He has taught us. (Mt 28:20)
Secondly, we must
proclaim the gospel not just in words but in deeds. Truth is always incarnated in
love and service. Indeed, the Church has been attractive because of
the works of mercy carried out by us. The world has changed because of
the missionary activities of the Church in the areas of education, medicine and
compassion for the poor and the marginalized. The Church is well known
for its numerous Catholic educational institutions in the world, her many
hospitals, homes for the aged and nursing homes, shelters for the homeless, and
all her social services to the needy, the migrants, the refugees. She
stands for humanity, for justice and mercy.
In Mark’s gospel, he
wrote, “These are the signs that will be associated with believers: in my name they will cast out devils;
they will have the gift of tongues; they will pick up snakes in their hands,
and be unharmed should they drink deadly poison; they will lay their hands on
the sick, who will recover.” And so “they, going out, preached everywhere,
the Lord working with them and confirming the word by the signs that
accompanied it.” (Mk 16:17f; 20) That is why the work of evangelization
always demands works of charity and mercy. At times, it calls for us to
work for the oppressed, the marginalized and for justice. It is charity
and love that will convince people that Christ has transformed and changed us.
People encounter God through the loving words and actions that we do.
All these cannot be done
unless we are first witnesses of Christ and are filled with His Spirit. “You are witnesses to this.
‘And now I am sending down to you what the Father has promised. Stay in
the city then, until you are clothed with the power from on high.'” We
must know Christ first before we can be His witnesses. Then we need to be
filled with His Holy Spirit before we can be empowered. This can happen
only if we follow the disciples. “They worshipped him and then went back
to Jerusalem full of joy; and they were continually in the Temple praising
God.” Only in prayer, sharing of the Word of God and celebrating the
Eucharist in worship and in praise, coming together as a community of
disciples, encountering the Lord deeply and renewed in His Spirit, can we be
joyful messengers of the Lord like the disciples. Hence, we must remember
the exhortation of Pope Francis in his encyclical, Gaudium Evangelii, that we
must be missionary disciples. Unless we take our discipleship seriously
as an ongoing reality, our missionary outreach will be weak and ineffective
because it lacks maturity, power, zeal and faith.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All
Rights Reserved
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