20191207
GO
RATHER TO THE LOST SHEEP OF THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL
07 December,
2019, Saturday, 1st Week Of Advent
Readings at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: White.
These are the readings for the feria
|
First reading
|
|
Isaiah
30:19-21,23-26 ©
|
The Lord God will be
gracious to you and hear your cry
Thus says the
Lord God, the Holy One of Israel:
People
of Zion, you will live in Jerusalem and weep no more. He will be gracious to
you when he hears your cry; when he hears he will answer. When the Lord has
given you the bread of suffering and the water of distress, he who is your
teacher will hide no longer, and you will see your teacher with your own eyes.
Whether you turn to right or left, your ears will hear these words behind you,
‘This is the way, follow it.’ He will send rain for the seed you sow in the
ground, and the bread that the ground provides will be rich and nourishing.
Your cattle will graze, that day, in wide pastures. Oxen and donkeys that till
the ground will eat a salted fodder, winnowed with shovel and fork. On every
lofty mountain, on every high hill there will be streams and watercourses, on
the day of the great slaughter when the strongholds fall. Then moonlight will
be bright as sunlight and sunlight itself be seven times brighter – like
the light of seven days in one – on the day the Lord dresses the wound of
his people and heals the bruises his blows have left.
|
Responsorial Psalm
|
|
Psalm
146(147):1-6 ©
|
Happy
are all who hope in the Lord.
or
Alleluia!
Praise
the Lord for he is good;
sing
to our God for he is loving:
to
him our praise is due.
The
Lord builds up Jerusalem
and
brings back Israel’s exiles.
Happy
are all who hope in the Lord.
or
Alleluia!
He
heals the broken-hearted,
he
binds up all their wounds.
He
fixes the number of the stars;
he
calls each one by its name.
Happy
are all who hope in the Lord.
or
Alleluia!
Our
Lord is great and almighty;
his
wisdom can never be measured.
The
Lord raises the lowly;
he
humbles the wicked to the dust.
Happy
are all who hope in the Lord.
or
Alleluia!
|
Gospel Acclamation
|
Is55:6
|
Alleluia,
alleluia!
Seek
the Lord while he is still to be found,
call
to him while he is still near.
Alleluia!
|
Or:
|
Is33:22
|
Alleluia,
alleluia!
The
Lord is our judge, the Lord our lawgiver,
the
Lord our king and saviour.
Alleluia!
|
Gospel
|
|
Matthew
9:35-10:1,5,6-8 ©
|
The harvest is rich but the
labourers are few
Jesus made a tour
through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming
the Good News of the kingdom and curing all kinds of diseases and sickness.
And
when he saw the crowds he felt sorry for them because they were harassed and dejected,
like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is
rich but the labourers are few, so ask the Lord of the harvest to send
labourers to his harvest.’
He
summoned his twelve disciples, and gave them authority over unclean spirits
with power to cast them out and to cure all kinds of diseases and sickness.
These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them as follows: ‘Go rather to the
lost sheep of the House of Israel. And as you go, proclaim that the kingdom of
heaven is close at hand. Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers,
cast out devils. You received without charge, give without charge.’
GO RATHER TO THE
LOST SHEEP OF THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ IS 30:19-21, 23-26; PS 147:1-6; MT 9:35-10:1, 5, 6-8]
In the gospel, we read
about Jesus’ concern for His people. “When he saw the crowds he felt sorry for them
because they were harassed and dejected, like sheep without a shepherd.
Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is rich but the labourers are few,
so ask the Lord of the harvest to send labourers to his harvest.'”
Indeed, this has always been the case. There are so many people in
the world that are dejected in life because of sufferings, loss and betrayal of
their loved ones, financial difficulties, unemployment, lack of water and food,
no access to medical help, injustices at their workplace or even at home.
Not only are they deprived of physical and material needs, they are also like
sheep without a shepherd. There is no real direction in life because of
the promotion of secularism and relativism. There is no purpose for
living because life ends at death. All that we work so hard for and
things that we have accumulated would have to be left behind.
It is within this
context that the Church is called to be missionary in her perspective. Jesus asked that more labourers be
found for the mission, priests, religious and laity as well. Just like
the Twelve, the Lord has also given us all the mandate to do what He did.
“He summoned his twelve disciples, and gave them authority over unclean spirits
with power to cast them out and to cure all kinds of disease and
sickness.” Like Jesus, we are called to heal every form of illness and
relieve all kinds of suffering, whether it is physical, material, emotional or
spiritual. The mission of the Church is not directed at just the
physical needs of people or their spiritual needs alone. The gospel is
directed at the entire person, body, mind and spirit. We are called to
provide for the integral growth of the human person, in its entirety, providing
sustenance for their body, peace of mind and an intimate relationship with God.
This was the same
message of Isaiah to his fellowmen when he prophesied how God would once again
return to Israel and bless them and heal them of their pains. “He will send rain for the seed you
sow in the ground, and the bread that the ground provides will be rich and
nourishing. Your cattle will graze, that day, in wide pastures.
Oxen and donkeys that till the ground will eat a salted fodder, winnowed with
shovel and fork. On every lofty mountain, on every high hill there will
be streams and watercourses, on the day of the great slaughter when the
strongholds fall.” Not only would there be a rich harvest and animals
providing food for the people, but creation as a whole would be restored to its
original integrity. “Then moonlight will be bright as sunlight and sunlight
itself be seven times brighter – like the light of seven days in one – on the
day the Lord dresses the wound of his people and heals the bruises his blows
have left.”
However, it is notable,
that in spite of the bountiful harvest, the Lord instructed His disciples, “Go
rather to the lost sheep of the House of Israel.” It is significant that the Lord
Himself was not keen to venture beyond the confines of Palestine in spreading
the Good News. When the Syro-phonecian woman sought Him for help to cure
her daughter, He remarked, “‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of
Israel.’ But she came and knelt before him, saying, ‘Lord, help
me.’ He answered, ‘It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it
to the dogs.’ She said, ‘Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that
fall from their masters’ table.” (Mt 15:24-27) Whilst Jesus in His
ministry did not exclude the Gentiles from His ministry of healing and
liberation, such as this Canaanite woman or the Centurion or the man who was
possessed by evil spirits at Gerasenes, His focus was nevertheless on His own
people. This was because Israel was supposed to be the instrument of
salvation to the world. They were called to be the light for the nations so
that God’s salvation could reach to all. (cf Isa 42:6; 49:6; 52:10; 60:3; Acts 13:47) But before Israel could do
that, she had first to be converted to the Lord, and receive the light of
Christ so that they could be witnesses to the whole world.
Similarly for us too, in
our missionary endeavour. Whilst
it is an obligation for us to help to spread the gospel to the whole world
because the Church is one and universal, and we should be doing our part as the
local Church, yet, it must not be at the expense or neglect of our local
Church. The best way to ensure that there are missionaries from the local
Church that could be sent abroad to those regions that the gospel has not yet
been heard is to form our Catholics in the faith first, so that they could be
powerful witnesses for Christ. In other words, we must never neglect the
Catholics, especially the migrant Catholics that are already here in our
midst. But our outreach is not just to the migrant Catholics but
also the many non-Catholics in our midst, local and migrants who are living
with us and yet have not met Christ.
In truth, in a
globalized world, missionary endeavor does not always mean we have to go to
another country to evangelize.
Unlike in Palestine and in many parts of the world in those days where the
country was homogenous in population and religion, today, in many parts of the
world and especially in Singapore, we are living in a multiracial,
multi-religious and multi-cultural environment because of immigration.
Indeed, Singapore is the most religiously diverse country in the world.
That being the case, we have ample opportunities in Singapore to witness to
Christ both to our locals and the 1.5 million migrants. Indeed, if we can
bring them to Christ, when they return to their homeland, they would be able to
do a better job than us because there will be lesser cultural and language
barriers for them to reach out to their own peoples. It is truly a lost
opportunity for us as the local Church when there are so many migrants waiting
to hear the Good News in our own backyard but we are either ill-prepared or
because our faith is weak.
If we want to ensure
that the gospel spreads to the whole world, we must begin with ourselves,
renewing our Catholics in the Faith. As it is, we have many nominal Catholics
of whom almost two thirds are just Sunday church goers and some only attend
Mass occasionally. Only about 1/3 of our Catholics attend services
regularly. Of these, 1/3, it would be good to ask ourselves, how many of
them are truly committed to the faith, living the life of Christ, familiar with
the scriptures and with the doctrines of the Church, well informed enough in
their spiritual life to be a real witness in love and in truth. If our
Catholics are still weak in the faith, we cannot expect the Church to be a
great help to send missionaries to the world when we ourselves are so in need
of importing missionaries from abroad to help us. Indeed, because of the
shortage of local priests, many of whom are old, we are importing more and more
foreign priests to help us. But this is for the short term. The
local is in danger of retrogressing once again to be a Church that is built by
missionary priests and religious from the third world. Where, then, is
the local Church? If we do not take leadership seriously, then the faith
of our Catholics in Singapore, whether local or migrants, will ultimate suffer.
So let us pray as the
Lord invites us, “Ask the Lord of the harvest to send labourers to his
harvest.” Why
is it that the Lord asked us to pray instead of promoting vocations through
active publicity? This is because vocation is not another career that one
chooses. Vocation is not a job but a calling that springs from a personal
relationship with the Lord. Attracted by the Lord, falling in love with
Him as a person, and inspired by His love and mission, we undertake to share in
His mission. So, without a prior falling in love with Jesus, there is no
mission or vocation but just a career. This is why I often remind our
Church organizations that we are not employing workers, regardless how skilled
they may be. We are looking for collaborators who are passionate and
convinced of what we are doing.
What we need to do,
therefore, is to help our people to fall in love with Jesus. This can only happen when we become
a praying and worshipping people. Intellectual knowledge of the faith is
not enough to make a person a missionary disciple. It is not excluded,
but it is the outflow of one’s love for the Lord and His mission that makes
someone willingly and passionately undertake theological studies so that he or
she can be better equipped for the work of the mission. If we want
to bring hope to the nations, let us revive the Hope among our Catholics.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All
Rights Reserved
No comments:
Post a Comment