20191208
A
LONE VOICE IN THE WILDERNESS
08 December,
2019, Sunday, 2nd Week Of Advent
Readings at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Violet.
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First reading
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Isaiah 11:1-10 ©
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A shoot springs from the stock of Jesse
A
shoot springs from the stock of Jesse,
a
scion thrusts from his roots:
on
him the spirit of the Lord rests,
a
spirit of wisdom and insight,
a
spirit of counsel and power,
a
spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.
(The
fear of the Lord is his breath.)
He
does not judge by appearances,
he
gives no verdict on hearsay,
but
judges the wretched with integrity,
and
with equity gives a verdict for the poor of the land.
His
word is a rod that strikes the ruthless,
his
sentences bring death to the wicked.
Integrity
is the loincloth round his waist,
faithfulness
the belt about his hips.
The
wolf lives with the lamb,
the
panther lies down with the kid,
calf
and lion feed together,
with
a little boy to lead them.
The
cow and the bear make friends,
their
young lie down together.
The
lion eats straw like the ox.
The
infant plays over the cobra’s hole;
into
the viper’s lair
the
young child puts his hand.
They
do no hurt, no harm,
on
all my holy mountain,
for
the country is filled with the knowledge of the Lord
as
the waters swell the sea.
That
day, the root of Jesse
shall
stand as a signal to the peoples.
It
will be sought out by the nations
and
its home will be glorious.
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Responsorial
Psalm
|
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Psalm 71(72):1-2,7-8,12-13,17 ©
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In
his days justice shall flourish, and peace till the moon fails.
O
God, give your judgement to the king,
to
a king’s son your justice,
that
he may judge your people in justice
and
your poor in right judgement.
In
his days justice shall flourish, and peace till the moon fails.
In
his days justice shall flourish
and
peace till the moon fails.
He
shall rule from sea to sea,
from
the Great River to earth’s bounds.
In
his days justice shall flourish, and peace till the moon fails.
For
he shall save the poor when they cry
and
the needy who are helpless.
He
will have pity on the weak
and
save the lives of the poor.
In
his days justice shall flourish, and peace till the moon fails.
May
his name be blessed for ever
and
endure like the sun.
Every
tribe shall be blessed in him,
all
nations bless his name.
In
his days justice shall flourish, and peace till the moon fails.
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Second reading
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Romans 15:4-9 ©
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Christ is the saviour of all men
Everything that
was written long ago in the scriptures was meant to teach us something about
hope from the examples scripture gives of how people who did not give up were
helped by God. And may he who helps us when we refuse to give up, help you all
to be tolerant with each other, following the example of Christ Jesus, so that
united in mind and voice you may give glory to the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ.
It
can only be to God’s glory, then, for you to treat each other in the same
friendly way as Christ treated you. The reason Christ became the servant of
circumcised Jews was not only so that God could faithfully carry out the
promises made to the patriarchs, it was also to get the pagans to give glory to
God for his mercy, as scripture says in one place: For this I shall praise you among
the pagans and sing to your name.
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Gospel
Acclamation
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Lk3:4,6
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Alleluia,
alleluia!
Prepare
a way for the Lord,
make
his paths straight,
and
all mankind shall see the salvation of God.
Alleluia!
|
Gospel
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Matthew 3:1-12 ©
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The one who follows me will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and
fire
In due course
John the Baptist appeared; he preached in the wilderness of Judaea and this was
his message: ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is close at hand.’ This was the
man the prophet Isaiah spoke of when he said:
A
voice cries in the wilderness:
Prepare
a way for the Lord,
make
his paths straight.
This man John
wore a garment made of camel-hair with a leather belt round his waist, and his
food was locusts and wild honey. Then Jerusalem and all Judaea and the whole
Jordan district made their way to him, and as they were baptised by him in the
river Jordan they confessed their sins. But when he saw a number of Pharisees
and Sadducees coming for baptism he said to them, ‘Brood of vipers, who warned
you to fly from the retribution that is coming? But if you are repentant,
produce the appropriate fruit, and do not presume to tell yourselves, “We have
Abraham for our father,” because, I tell you, God can raise children for
Abraham from these stones. Even now the axe is laid to the roots of the trees,
so that any tree which fails to produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown
on the fire. I baptise you in water for repentance, but the one who follows me
is more powerful than I am, and I am not fit to carry his sandals; he will
baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing-fan is in his hand; he
will clear his threshing-floor and gather his wheat into the barn; but the
chaff he will burn in a fire that will never go out.’
A LONE VOICE IN
THE WILDERNESS
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [Is 11:1-10; Ps 72:1-2,7-8,12-13,17; Rom 15:4-9; Mt 3:1-12]
We are living in very
troubled times.
Without, we hear of so much violence, terrorism, killing of innocent lives,
wars, violent protests in the name of human rights and democracy; within,
society is divided on many ethical and moral issues, not just political but
social issues, including those concerning the understanding of marriage,
family, children, gender and the sacredness of life from conception to death.
Then there is the threat of climate warming brought about by the failure of man
to respect the ecology of the environmental, but the greatest threat of all is
to human ecology, when relationships between persons are confused, beginning
with the confusion of one’s own identity, purpose and origin.
The Church is also not
spared from the ravages of society. The Church used to be very clear of
her teachings on many doctrinal and moral issues. But many of the Church’s 2000 years of
tradition and values are being challenged and modified to make her more
relevant to the world. The Church is being pressured to allow divorce and
remarriage, to bless same-sex union, to have married priests and women
deacons. We are called to relax our moral laws and to put compassion
above all laws. As a consequence, within the Church, there are those who
are conservative, who find it unacceptable to change what they see as the
unchanging laws, teachings and traditions of the Church as taught in
scripture. Then we have the liberals who wish to make the Church more
welcoming and all-embracing, recognizing the reality of our times and the
difficulty of maintaining the standards required of us by the scriptures,
claiming that our current situation is different.
Where can we find peace
and unity in our homes, society and the world today? Ironically, in spite of
globalization and mass and social communications, the world is much more
divided than before. At least before the advent of the internet, each
country was homogenous, having the same religion, race, language, culture and
values. But in a globalized world, we are becoming not just a
cosmopolitan society but a hotbed of different and differing values, cultures,
languages, religions, values and viewpoints that often cannot be reconciled
with each other. Perhaps, not unlike what Israel was experiencing then –
internal disorder within and external threats from surrounding nations.
But today, the scripture
readings give us hope that peace is possible. God will send His Messiah to bring about peace
to humanity. The prophet Isaiah tells us that He will be filled with the
Holy Spirit, “a spirit of wisdom and insight, a spirit of counsel and power, a
spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. He does not judge by
appearances, he gives no verdict on hearsay, but judges the wretched with
integrity, and with equity gives a verdict for the poor of the land. His word
is a rod that strikes the ruthless, his sentences bring death to the wicked.
Integrity is the loincloth round his waist, faithfulness the belt about his
hips.” Then there will be peace. Indeed, the psalmist tells us that
only the Lord can give us peace. “In his days justice shall flourish and
peace till the moon fails. He shall rule from sea to sea, from the Great River
to earth’s bounds. For he shall save the poor when they cry and the needy
who are helpless. He will have pity on the weak and save the lives of the
poor.” The prophet envisaged a paradisiac future, when not just human
beings but even wild animals can live in peace and harmony. “The wolf lives
with the lamb, the panther lies down with the kid, calf and lion cub feed
together with a little boy to lead them. The cow and the bear make friends,
their young lie down together. The lion eats straw like the ox. The infant
plays over the cobra’s hole; into the vipers lair the young child puts his
hand. They do no hurt.”
How can this happen
unless we call people to repentance?
We need to help the world to see what is going to happen to the future of
humanity if we allow such trends to continue. We should not just be
worried about climate warming, that the earth will be burnt up in due course,
but the destruction of humanity itself because we are repeating what happened
at the Towel of Babel when men sought to reach the sky without God. The
world is making progress in science and technology without taking into
consideration the moral and ethical guidelines inspired by faith in God.
When the world removes God from the world, morality and ethics no longer have
any real foundation because it is based on human preferences and
opinions. In a world of relativism, nothing has permanent value.
This was what John the
Baptist did when he came to the scene. He was that lone voice in the
wilderness calling his people to repentance. “This was his message: ‘Repent, for the
kingdom of heaven is close at hand’. This was the man the prophet Isaiah spoke
of when he said: A voice cries in the wilderness: Prepare a way for the
Lord, make his paths straight.” After the last prophet Malachi, the prophetic
voice was silent for more than 400 years until the time of John the
Baptist. He is also addressing each one of us today to wake up to the
urgency of the crisis in front of us. Unless we do something now, not
only will we suffer and society degenerate further, humanity will lose all hope
for tomorrow. There will be no future, no humanity and no creation to
protect when everything will be destroyed because of the selfishness of man,
whether with regard to the way he treats creation, or the way he uses
technology to subdue and destroy those who are a threat to his vested
interests.
We need to build a
vibrant, evangelizing and missionary Church. Unless, we repent and take
our faith seriously, we will lose everything that we have built over all these
years and our family as it is will disintegrate. As Jesus warns us in the gospel, a
time will come, “five in one household will be divided, three against two and
two against three; father against son and son against father, mother
against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her
daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.” (Lk 12:52f) This is already happening in
our times, when parents and children do not agree with the values they each
hold, spouses are not on good terms, and children neglect their elders.
What is even worse is
the danger of complacency.
Again, we all know that only 1/3 of our Catholics are going to church
regularly. Between 10 to 15% of those Catholics that come to church
regularly are active in Church ministry. Less than 20% of our Catholics
frequent Penitential Services at Advent and Lent. Ironically, 99% of our
Catholics receive Holy Communion. We have more divorces compared to other
religions and Christian denominations. We have about 1200 adult baptisms
a year but we do not know how many leave the Church after baptism and
confirmation. Indeed, John the Baptist warned the Jews about clinging to
their special position as God’s chosen people. He said, “‘Brood of vipers, who
warned you to fly from the retribution that is coming? But if you are
repentant, produce the appropriate fruit, and do not presume to tell
yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father,’ because, I tell you, God can
raise children for Abraham from these stones. Even now the axe is laid to the
roots of the trees, so that any tree which fails to produce good fruit will be
cut down and thrown on the fire.”
Indeed, what we need to
do is to be renewed in the fire of the Holy Spirit. We need the love of God to be
renewed in our hearts without which faith becomes merely an external
religion. This is what John the Baptist is urging us. He said, “I
baptise you in water for repentance, but the one who follows me is more
powerful than I am, and I am not fit to carry his sandals; he will baptise you
with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing-fan is in his hand; he will clear
his threshing-floor and gather his wheat into the barn; but the chaff he will
burn in a fire that will never go out.” We must open our hearts through
repentance to receive anew the love of God and His Holy Spirit to inflame in us
the fire of love for the gospel. Without this personal contact with God’s
love in Christ, we cannot be fired for the gospel.
But once we receive the
Holy Spirit, we will fall in love with the Scriptures again. Our lives will no longer be based
on the philosophies of the world but by faith in the Word of God. St Paul
wrote, “Everything that was written long ago in the scriptures was meant to
teach us something about hope from the examples scripture gives of how people
who did not give up were helped by God. And may he who helps us when we refuse
to give up, help you all to be tolerant with each other, following the example
of Christ Jesus, so that united in mind and voice you may give glory to the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It can only be to God’s glory, then,
for you to treat each other in the same friendly way as Christ treated you.”
Indeed, when we all learn to live like Christ, be filled with the seven
messianic gifts of the Spirit, then we can work for true and lasting peace and
unity in the world.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All
Rights Reserved
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