20191210
CONSOLE
MY PEOPLE CONSOLE THEM
10 December,
2019, Tuesday, 2nd Week of Advent
Readings at Mass
Liturgical Colour: Violet.
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First reading
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Consolations from the heart
of Jerusalem
‘Console
my people, console them’
says
your God.
‘Speak
to the heart of Jerusalem
and
call to her
that
her time of service is ended,
that
her sin is atoned for,
that
she has received from the hand of the Lord
double
punishment for all her crimes.’
A
voice cries, ‘Prepare in the wilderness
a way
for the Lord.
Make
a straight highway for our God
across
the desert.
Let
every valley be filled in,
every
mountain and hill be laid low.
Let
every cliff become a plain,
and
the ridges a valley;
then
the glory of the Lord shall be revealed
and
all mankind shall see it;
for
the mouth of the Lord has spoken.’
A
voice commands, ‘Cry!’
and I
answered, ‘What shall I cry?’”
–
‘All flesh is grass
and
its beauty like the wild flower’s.
The
grass withers, the flower fades
when
the breath of the Lord blows on them.
(The
grass is without doubt the people.)
The
grass withers, the flower fades,
but
the word of our God remains for ever.’
Go up
on a high mountain,
joyful
messenger to Zion.
Shout
with a loud voice,
joyful
messenger to Jerusalem.
Shout
without fear,
say
to the towns of Judah,
‘Here
is your God.’
Here
is the Lord coming with power,
his
arm subduing all things to him.
The
prize of his victory is with him,
his
trophies all go before him.
He is
like a shepherd feeding his flock,
gathering
lambs in his arms,
holding
them against his breast
and
leading to their rest the mother ewes.
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Responsorial
Psalm
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Here
is our God coming with power.
O
sing a new song to the Lord,
sing
to the Lord all the earth.
O
sing to the Lord, bless his name.
Proclaim
his help day by day.
Here
is our God coming with power.
Tell
among the nations his glory
and
his wonders among all the peoples.
Proclaim
to the nations: ‘God is king.’
He
will judge the peoples in fairness.
Here
is our God coming with power.
Let
the heavens rejoice and earth be glad,
let
the sea and all within it thunder praise,
let
the land and all it bears rejoice,
all
the trees of the wood shout for joy
at
the presence of the Lord for he comes,
he
comes to rule the earth.
Here
is our God coming with power.
With
justice he will rule the world,
he
will judge the peoples with his truth.
Here
is our God coming with power.
|
Gospel
Acclamation
|
Alleluia,
alleluia!
Come,
Lord! Do not delay.
Forgive
the sins of your people.
Alleluia!
|
Or:
|
Alleluia,
alleluia!
The
day of the Lord is near;
Look,
he comes to save us.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
|
The one lost sheep gives him
more joy than the ninety-nine that did not stray
Jesus said to his
disciples: ‘Tell me. Suppose a man has a hundred sheep and one of them strays;
will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hillside and go in search of the
stray? I tell you solemnly, if he finds it, it gives him more joy than do the
ninety-nine that did not stray at all. Similarly, it is never the will of your
Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost.’
CONSOLE MY
PEOPLE, CONSOLE THEM
This God we worship is
truly a God of compassion.
This is what the Lord said to Isaiah His people in exile, “Console my people,
console them.” He is all powerful and yet gracious and
compassionate. God said to the prophet Isaiah, “Go up on a high mountain,
joyful messenger to Zion. Shout with a loud voice, joyful messenger to Jerusalem.
Shout without fear, say to the towns of Judah, ‘Here is your God.’ Here is the
Lord coming with power, his arm subduing all things to him. The prize of his
victory is with him, his trophies all go before him.” Indeed, almighty
and powerful the Lord is, He is also almighty in love and mercy. He is
portrayed, “like a shepherd feeding his flock, gathering lambs in his arms,
holding them against his breast and leading to their rest the mother ewes.”
In the gospel, we have
Jesus who showed us the compassion of God in finding the lost sheep. He said, “Suppose a man has a
hundred sheep and one of them strays; will he not leave the ninety-nine on the
hillside and go in search of the stray? I tell you solemnly, if he finds it, it
gives him more joy than do the ninety-nine that did not stray at all.
Similarly, it is never the will of your Father in heaven that one of these
little ones should be lost.” Every sheep is important to God, especially
those who strayed for one reason or another. God sees every one of us as
His children, whether we follow Him or disobey Him. His love for us is
like the mother’s love for her children. Regardless of what the children
do, the mother cannot stop loving them even if they were ingrates,
irresponsible and selfish. The mother in her helplessness can only try to
reach out to her incorrigible and wayward children. So, too, God is like
our mother and His love is even greater than that of a mother because in Isaiah
God said to the Israelites in exile who complained that God had forsaken them,
“Can a woman forget her nursing-child, or show no compassion for the child
of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. See, I have
inscribed you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before
me.” (Isa 49:15f)
How does the Lord
console us? To console us does not mean that He gives us what we want. It does not mean that He comforts
by satisfying all our selfish desires. He is not like some parents who,
out of weakness, give in to whatever their children ask for. It is the
same for those of us who have dogs. Are we the master of the dogs or do
we allow the dogs to become our master, determining how we should respond to
them? Or as master, should we not train them to respond to us accordingly
because we know what is best for them? In the same way too, when God said
He will console us, He is not saying that He will pamper us and say “yes” to
whatever we ask for in life, even when they destroy us and take away our
happiness. Giving in to evil would not be an act of kindness but
selfishness.
So the Lord consoles us
first by allowing us to exercise our freedom even if that freedom causes us to
suffer because that is the only way in which we learn how to exercise authentic
freedom. That
was why the Lord said to Isaiah, “Speak to the heart of Jerusalem and call to
her that her time of service is ended, that her sin is atoned for, that she has
received from the hand of the Lord double punishment for all her crimes.”
Indeed, even though God allows us to be punished by our sins, the consequences
we suffer are not the vindictive action of an angry God but they are acts of
His overwhelming mercy for us. God wants to heal us through our suffering
and learn through our mistakes so that we can come to realize our folly. “How
happy is the one whom God reproves; therefore do not despise the
discipline of the Almighty. For he wounds, but he binds up; he strikes, but his
hands heal.” (Job 5:17f) Hosea also gave a similar
message, “Come, let us return to the Lord; for it is he who has torn, and
he will heal us; he has struck down, and he will bind us up.” (Hos 6:1)
It takes someone who
loves us deeply to allow us to grow through our mistakes and sufferings rather
than to take away the pain from us and hinder our purification in love and
truth. God
has a heart that is strong enough to bear seeing us suffer because He loves us
more than He loves Himself. He prefers to grieve for and with us.
To the recalcitrant Israelites, the Lord said “How can I give you up,
Ephraim? How can I hand you over, O Israel? My heart recoils within me;
my compassion grows warm and tender. I will not execute my fierce anger; I will
not again destroy Ephraim; for I am God and no mortal, the Holy One in
your midst, and I will not come in wrath.” (Hos 11:8f)
Through our sufferings
and miseries, like the Israelites, we are forced into awakening. This was the case of the
Prodigal Son as well. “So he went and hired himself out to one of the
citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. He
would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and
no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many
of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying
of hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him,
‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer
worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.'” (Lk 15:15-19)
In the letter of Hebrews, the author has this same message as well. “Moreover,
we had human parents to discipline us, and we respected them. Should we not be
even more willing to be subject to the Father of spirits and
live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to
them, but he disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share his
holiness. Now, discipline always seems painful rather than pleasant
at the time, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those
who have been trained by it.” (Heb 12:9-11)
Repentance requires us
to put our house in order by giving up our sinful way of life. This is why the prophet invites his
people and all of us to repent. “Prepare in the wilderness a way for the
Lord. Make a straight highway for our God across the desert. Let every valley
be filled in, every mountain and hill be laid low, let every cliff become a
plain, and the ridges a valley.” We need to level down our mountain of
pride that makes us think we know better than anyone else. We need to
straighten our paths instead of living a crooked, dishonest and selfish
life. We need to fill the vacuum of our lives not with things and
pleasure but with the love of God and love for our fellowmen. When we
live a life of love and truth, a life of compassion and service, then as Isaiah
said, “Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all mankind shall see
it.” Indeed, it is sin that prevents us from being the glory of
God. St Paul wrote, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
Repentance therefore
requires us to make time for prayer and the Word of God. Again, the prophet was commanded to
say, “A voice commands: ‘Cry!’ and I answered, ‘What shall I cry?’ – ‘All flesh
is grass and its beauty like the wild flowers. The grass withers, the flower
fades when the breath of the Lord blows on them. (The grass is without doubt
the people.) The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God
remains for ever.'” Everything else on this earth is passing and
changing. We cannot cling to the things of this world because they are
transient. We cannot hold on to our wealth and status or even health
forever. We would have to let God. Living in a world of change, we
must all the more hold on to the Word of God which never changes. Only
the Word of God is an objective reference point for us to be enlightened on how
we should walk in truth and in love. Only God can give us that ultimate
peace and joy we long for.
So during this season of
Advent, we only need to welcome the Lord into our lives to find true peace and
lasting joy. With the
psalmist, we sing, “Let the heavens rejoice and earth be glad, let the sea and
all within it thunder praise, let the land and all it bears rejoice, all the
trees of the wood shout for joy at the presence of the Lord for he comes, he
comes to rule the earth. With justice he will rule the world, he will judge
the peoples with his truth.” He is coming with Power, not to dominate or
destroy but with love, mercy and compassion.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All
Rights Reserved
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