20191220
A
TRUSTING AND DISCERNING FAITH
20 December,
2019, Friday, 3rd Week of Advent
Readings at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Violet.
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First reading
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Isaiah 7:10-14 ©
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The maiden is with child
The Lord spoke to
Ahaz and said, ‘Ask the Lord your God for a sign for yourself coming either from
the depths of Sheol or from the heights above.’ ‘No,’ Ahaz answered ‘I will not
put the Lord to the test.’
Then
Isaiah said:
‘Listen
now, House of David:
are
you not satisfied with trying the patience of men
without
trying the patience of my God, too?
The
Lord himself, therefore,
will
give you a sign.
It is
this: the maiden is with child
and
will soon give birth to a son
whom
she will call Immanuel,
a
name which means “God-is-with-us.”’
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Responsorial
Psalm
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Psalm 23(24):1-6 ©
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Let
the Lord enter! He is the king of glory.
The
Lord’s is the earth and its fullness,
the
world and all its peoples.
It is
he who set it on the seas;
on
the waters he made it firm.
Let
the Lord enter! He is the king of glory.
Who
shall climb the mountain of the Lord?
Who
shall stand in his holy place?
The
man with clean hands and pure heart,
who
desires not worthless things.
Let
the Lord enter! He is the king of glory.
He
shall receive blessings from the Lord
and
reward from the God who saves him.
Such
are the men who seek him,
seek
the face of the God of Jacob.
Let
the Lord enter! He is the king of glory.
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Gospel
Acclamation
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Alleluia,
alleluia!
Emmanuel,
our
king and lawgiver,
come
and save us,
Lord
our God.
Alleluia!
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Or:
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Alleluia,
alleluia!
Key
of David, who open the gates of the eternal kingdom,
come
to liberate from prison
the
captive who lives in darkness.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Luke 1:26-38 ©
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'I am the handmaid of the Lord'
The angel Gabriel
was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to
a man named Joseph, of the House of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. He
went in and said to her, ‘Rejoice, so highly favoured! The Lord is with you.’
She was deeply disturbed by these words and asked herself what this greeting
could mean, but the angel said to her, ‘Mary, do not be afraid; you have won
God’s favour. Listen! You are to conceive and bear a son, and you must name him
Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God
will give him the throne of his ancestor David; he will rule over the House of
Jacob for ever and his reign will have no end.’ Mary said to the angel, ‘But
how can this come about, since I am a virgin?’ ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon
you’ the angel answered ‘and the power of the Most High will cover you with its
shadow. And so the child will be holy and will be called Son of God. Know this
too: your kinswoman Elizabeth has, in her old age, herself conceived a son, and
she whom people called barren is now in her sixth month, for nothing is
impossible to God.’ ‘I am the handmaid of the Lord,’ said Mary ‘let what you
have said be done to me.’ And the angel left her.
A TRUSTING AND
DISCERNING FAITH
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ ISAIAH 7:10-14; LUKE 1:26-38 ]
The real problem in the
world today is that life and decisions are ruled by pure logic alone without
faith. The world
believes that reason can resolve every issue and can be trusted always.
Faith is relegated to those who are superstitious and the ignorant whereas
intelligent people make decisions based on logical thinking. That being
the case, understandably, we can appreciate the reluctance of King Ahaz to
submit to the will of God. Ahaz was deeply troubled when he heard the
conspiracy between Israel and Aram, who were plotting to overthrow his kingdom
because of his refusal to form an alliance with them to overthrow
Assyria. Without combining forces with Israel and Aram, Ahaz knew he
would not be able to overcome his enemies. On the other hand, he knew
that if he were to combine forces with Israel and Aram, they, too, would be
wiped out by the Assyrians. So in his analysis of the situation a better
bet would be to side with Assyria, welcome them and be their vassal state to
save the kingdom. But this would also invite foreigners into the country,
diluting their faith and culture and most of all, bringing in all the pagan
practices and idol worship.
But the Lord revealed to
him through the Prophet Isaiah that this would not happen. God would not allow King Rezin of
Aram and King Pekah of Israel to conquer Judah. He was asked to trust in the
Lord because Assyria would eventually destroy them on his behalf.
However, King Ahaz also calculated his move and he was not willing to take the
risk of trusting in God. Indeed, Ahaz was an evil king, in fact, the
worst in Israel’s history. He not only worshipped false gods but brought
idolatry into the kingdom. He sacrificed his own child to the
demons. He rebelled against God even when he knew the will of God.
God was not unreasonable in asking Ahaz to trust in Him. God offered him
a sign saying, “Ask the Lord your God for a sign for yourself coming either
from the depths of Sheol or from the heights above.” Instead of seeking
confirmation, Ahaz declined simply because he knew the sign would confirm God’s
will which he already knew. Hence, he tried to evade the truth of the
matter by acting modestly, “No, I will not put the Lord to the
test.” Of course, it was not an act of humility but a disguised
rebellion. He turned to Assyria as his deliverer instead of turning to
God. He had no faith in God and was rebellious.
In the gospel, we have a
similar event when the angel revealed to Mary the call of God for her to be the
mother of the Savior. Her
situation in fact was even more ridiculous than that of King Ahaz. At
least in the case of King Ahaz, there was a logical possibility that the
enemies would not be able to overthrow Judah. But in the case of
Mary, it was absurd and humanly speaking impossible. How could a
virgin give birth in the first place? No one would ever believe because
no virgin had ever given birth. They have heard of miraculous
intervention of women who were barren, like Hannah who gave birth to
Samuel. But for a virgin to bear a child, it was impossible to believe.
But it was more than
just giving birth. It was to whom she was giving birth to. Again, if we
were Mary, it would be too much for anyone to handle or to grasp. “He will be great and will be
called the Son of the Most High God. The Lord God will make him a king,
as his ancestor David was, and he will be king of the descendants of Jacob
forever; his kingdom will never end!” How could the baby be the Son of
the Most High God? What kind of son would that be? Would he be divine
or human? He would also be king forever, fulfilling the promise God made
to King David that his dynasty would last forever. How would Mary’s son
ever become king when they were simple, ordinary people? So, we can be
sure that the Angel’s message would have caused Mary to wonder, not in doubt,
but in amazement. Her question was different from Zechariah’s when
she inquired, “I am a virgin. How, then, can this be?” She asked
not out of skepticism, as in the case of Zechariah, but in faith and wonderment.
Indeed, this is what we
are invited to do today. We are called to trust God. Surrendering
ourselves to Him, our mind and heart, is the required disposition. This does not mean that God is asking us
to take a blind leap of faith. Nay, we must begin with faith, but this
faith must also be a discerning faith. It is not wrong to ask God for
signs to confirm our faith. But signs are not proofs. When
one desires proof, then we cannot say that we have faith. Rather, we
begin with faith in God even when we do not understand. Upon hearing His
word and knowing His will, we must be like Mary, willing to say “Yes.”
So like Mary, in faith
we should wonder how God would act in our lives. We might not fully understand, as
in the case of Mary who did not understand what was happening in her life and
what her son would turn out to be. In fact, in the gospel, we already
read about Mary contemplating the events in her heart. “All who heard it
were amazed at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured all
these words and pondered them in her heart.” (Lk 2:18f) And when she found Jesus in
the temple, she “treasured all these things in her heart.” (Lk 2:51) Mary was a contemplative
person. She would always be pondering and wondering all the Lord had said
to her and all the events in her life. At that point of time, she would
not have understood everything that was revealed to her.
But the Lord gave her a
sign, which was that Elizabeth, her cousin, was already six months into her
pregnancy in her old age.
Of course, this in itself is not a proof but only a sign because both
pregnancies are not exactly the same although through the same work of the Holy
Spirit. “The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and God’s
power will rest upon you. For this reason the holy child will be called
the Son of God. Remember your relative Elizabeth. It is said that
she cannot have children, but she herself is now six months pregnant, even
though she is very old.” The truth is “there is nothing that God cannot
do.”
Even then, it was not as
if she understood completely the message of the angel and about her Son
Jesus. But as the events unfolded, especially at the cross and
resurrection, then all these words made sense to her just as it did to the
apostles. “Then
he said to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with
you – that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and
the psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then he opened their minds to understand
the scriptures, and he said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Messiah
is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that
repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all
nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these
things.” (Lk 24:44-48)
In the same way too, we
have been given all the signs that Christ is the Messiah, the Son of God. We have the hindsight like Mary and
the apostles to understand how Christ is the fulfillment of the
scriptures. Today’s reading from Isaiah confirms Christ as the Messiah,
the Davidic King which would be born of a virgin and maiden. That Joseph
came from the house of David and that Jesus was born in the little town of
Bethlehem where David was, demonstrated that Jesus came from the line of King
David. By His teaching and works, Jesus showed Himself to be the Messiah
and the King. It was not coincidental that Jesus was charged for a
political crime for claiming Himself to be the King of Jews. All these
events go to show that Jesus is truly the Messiah foretold by the prophets and
He is the Son of God and our Saviour. He is the Emmanuel,
“God-is-with-us”.
Today, we are called to
not only trust in Jesus as our Messiah, but to recognize His presence in our
daily lives. God continues to
reveal His face to us and His holy will. We must be like Mary in faith,
accepting and trusting in God. But we must also be discerning, keeping an
open mind, not one that is already made up by reason, or by pride and
self-will, but one that is continuously receptive to the prompting of the Holy
Spirit. We must be courageous in listening to the will of God and
when the signs are given, let us resolve to carry out His divine plan for us as
Mary did. We, too, must be channels of God’s presence and love to
others. We, too, must carry Jesus in our hearts so that people can also
see the Emmanuel in our lives.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All
Rights Reserved
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