20191201
THE
DANGER OF COMPLACENCY
01 DECEMBER,
2019, 1st Sunday of Advent
Readings at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Violet.
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First reading
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Isaiah 2:1-5 ©
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The Lord gathers all nations together into the eternal peace of
God's kingdom
The vision of
Isaiah son of Amoz, concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
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.’
He
will wield authority over the nations
and
adjudicate between many peoples;
these
will hammer their swords into ploughshares,
their
spears into sickles.
Nation
will not lift sword against nation,
there
will be no more training for war.
O
House of Jacob, come,
let
us walk in the light of the Lord.
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Responsorial
Psalm
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Psalm 121(122):1-2,4-5,6-9 ©
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I
rejoiced when I heard them say: ‘Let us go to God’s house.’
I
rejoiced when I heard them say:
‘Let
us go to God’s house.’
And
now our feet are standing
within
your gates, O Jerusalem.
I
rejoiced when I heard them say: ‘Let us go to God’s house.’
It is
there that the tribes go up,
the
tribes of the Lord.
For
Israel’s law it is,
there
to praise the Lord’s name.
There
were set the thrones of judgement
of
the house of David.
I
rejoiced when I heard them say: ‘Let us go to God’s house.’
For
the peace of Jerusalem pray:
‘Peace
be to your homes!
May
peace reign in your walls,
in
your palaces, peace!’
I
rejoiced when I heard them say: ‘Let us go to God’s house.’
For
love of my brethren and friends
I
say: ‘Peace upon you!’
For
love of the house of the Lord
I
will ask for your good.
I
rejoiced when I heard them say: ‘Let us go to God’s house.’
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Second reading
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Romans 13:11-14 ©
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Our salvation is near
You know ‘the
time’ has come: you must wake up now: our salvation is even nearer than it was
when we were converted. The night is almost over, it will be daylight
soon – let us give up all the things we prefer to do under cover of the
dark; let us arm ourselves and appear in the light. Let us live decently as people
do in the daytime: no drunken orgies, no promiscuity or licentiousness, and no
wrangling or jealousy. Let your armour be the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Gospel
Acclamation
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Ps84:8
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Alleluia,
alleluia!
Let
us see, O Lord, your mercy
and
give us your saving help.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Matthew 24:37-44 ©
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The Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect
Jesus said to his
disciples: ‘As it was in Noah’s day, so will it be when the Son of Man comes.
For in those days before the Flood people were eating, drinking, taking wives,
taking husbands, right up to the day Noah went into the ark, and they suspected
nothing till the Flood came and swept all away. It will be like this when the
Son of Man comes. Then of two men in the fields one is taken, one left; of two
women at the millstone grinding, one is taken, one left.
‘So
stay awake, because you do not know the day when your master is coming. You may
be quite sure of this, that if the householder had known at what time of the
night the burglar would come, he would have stayed awake and would not have
allowed anyone to break through the wall of his house. Therefore, you too must
stand ready because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.’
THE DANGER OF
COMPLACENCY
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ Is 2:1-5; Ps 122:1-2, 4-5, 6-9; Rom 13:11-14; Matt 24:37-44]
The Catholic Church
boasts of being the oldest Christian institution in history and the longest as
well. We
are rich in traditions and we have a long history that can be traced to the
first apostles. That is why we are proud of our apostolic succession as a
guarantee of the authenticity of our faith. Yet, after 2000 years of
tradition and with many traditions also accumulated over time, the Church as an
institution can become too huge to respond to challenges and changes in our
history. We want to maintain the long established traditions and
practices of the Church even when they no longer speak to the people of this
generation.
This, I feel, is what is
happening to the Church at large as well. Simply because we are a big Church, ancient and
established, many of us take refuge in that the Church will be able to
withstand the test of time. We want to glorify our past, the
traditions that we have inherited. We are not willing to change and adapt
to the times. In fact, there is a group that seeks to go back to the
olden days. Perhaps, some who are nostalgic about those days might
feel such ancient liturgy inspiring. But in most situations, many are
attracted to join other churches because they feel that their message is more
relevant and they feel helped and inspired in their life. We can
insist on our traditions and our ancient liturgy and doctrines. But
people will be drawn towards those that help them to encounter God personally
and have their lives touched and drawn closer to the Lord.
Indeed, this is the
danger of complacency when an organization has grown so big and established in
a place for too long.
We can take our ministry for granted and the mission we have carved for
ourselves. We can fall into routine as many organizations do. We
take for granted where we have arrived and all the glories and achievements of
our founders and leaders before us. Instead of adding on to what they
have achieved and making further improvements on past achievements, we are
contented to rest on our laurels. We have become so proud and arrogant of
our organizations that those who are not happy with us are not encouraged to
stay. We will not even miss them, so unlike the gospel that asks us to
even reach out to the lost sheep. Here, many of our sheep are lost,
injured, wounded and abandoned. But we are adamant. They must
repent and come back to us and do things our ways. Otherwise, they can
leave us. This is the arrogance of an organization that has become too
confident and sure of itself.
This was the case of the
Romans. St Paul warned them about their complacency. They were converted to the Lord but they
were not living the Christian life. Hence, St Paul wrote to them, “You
know ‘the time’ has come: you must wake up now: our salvation is even nearer
than it was when we were converted.” St Paul urged them not
to take their baptism for granted. Just because they were baptized did not mean
that they were living enlightened lives. In fact, many of them were
living promiscuously, involved in drunken orgies, licentiousness, wrangling and
jealousy. Their lives were like that of the pagans. So
although baptized, they had not been receptive to the salvation that the Lord
had given to them. It is within this context that St Paul urged them
saying, “The night is almost over, it will be daylight soon – let us give up
all the things we prefer to do under the cover of the dark; let us arm
ourselves and appear in the light. Let us live decently as people do in the
daytime: Let your armour be the Lord Jesus Christ.” In other words,
as baptized Christians we must show ourselves to be who we are in the Lord,
living a life that is true to our identity and calling in Christ.
Jesus warned us about
doing the same thing again and again. Routine
faith is what destroys us. “Jesus said to his disciples: ‘As it
was in Noah’s day, so will it be when the Son of Man comes. For in those days
before the Flood people were eating, drinking, taking wives, taking husbands,
right up to the day Noah went into the ark, and they suspected nothing till the
Flood came and swept all away. It will be like this when the Son of Man comes.
Then of two men in the fields one is taken, one left; of two women at the
millstone grinding, one is taken, one left.” Indeed, we are so used to
doing the same thing, day in and day out, that we lose our creativity,
initiative and adventure. We need to be more conscious of what we do in
our faith and in our apostolate and not fall into routine. This is the
greatest temptation for us priests and religious because of our set ways,
organized schedules and programs. We do not leave room for surprises,
initiative and undertaking new things.
We need to be awakened
to the signs of the time so that we can be relevant. Sometimes, people want the tradition to be
preserved at the expense of connectivity and relevance. We
can continue to live in our tradition but who cares! We can
say we have the right doctrine, right liturgy but people cannot connect with
God. The Protestants lead people to God, give them meaning and purpose and
hope. We say, “O their theology is wrong, the prosperity gospel is not of the
gospel, their praise and worship is mere sentimentalism and emotionalism”.
But for people who are in it, they find these helpful in their
lives. What, then, can we say? Our doctrines may be true, but
people cannot connect with us or see the truth of what we are
proclaiming. If our faith does not serve them, we do not expect them to
be interested.
Hence, the message is to
stay awake. The Lord urges
us, “So stay awake, because you do not know the day when your master is coming.
You may be quite sure of this that if the householder had known at what time of
the night the burglar would come, he would have stayed awake and would not have
allowed anyone to break through the wall of his house. Therefore, you too must
stand ready because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not
expect.” It means that we must be relevant to the challenges and the changing
trends of our people today. This is what it means to be alert when the
master comes. In other words, we must be connected to the struggles of
our people in dealing with the current trends in the world, with regard to the
redefinition of marriage, family, procreation, abortion, sexuality, etc.
How are we responding to these challenges?
In some ways, we are
happy that as Church we have done well in many areas, especially in our social
and pastoral services.
We reach out to those who suffer from domestic violence and exploitation,
single mothers, children experiencing challenges in their families as well as
from disadvantaged households, persons who are trafficked, migrants, refugees,
the development of rural communities and youth at risk. We also reach out
to people in need of healing, persons with HIV/AIDS and children from
low-income families and indigenous groups. Our educational services include
daycare, nursery, kindergarten, primary and secondary, college and university
education.
But we cannot take these
achievements for granted. We must endeavor to remain connected and
relevant. Advent
is a season of hope and a new beginning. It is the occasion to revive our
dreams as well. How do we do this? Gratitude, the memory of our heart is
what will excite us to dream the dream of our fathers. The only way we
can remain relevant requires that we must first be grateful for the past.
Gratitude presupposes that we remember past events and the blessings we
have received. Only true gratitude and remembrance of God’s blessings and
love can lead us to thanksgiving. When we thank God for all that we are
today, we become grateful to Him and this gratitude is always expressed in
wanting to share what the Lord has blessed us with others. Thanksgiving
in other words, always leads to action. We thank God for our faith and
our Church, traditions and institutions. But we also want to ensure that
we are responding to the needs and challenges of the situation in our times, a
technological, scientific, secular, individualistic and materialistic world.
So today, like the
Israelites, we must go to the Temple of the Lord to reassess our strategy and
reclaim the charisms of our founders and find new ways to make them relevant to
our people whom we serve. We should not be at a stalemate. Rather, we
should be moving forward and be like the man with two and five talents who took
risks in investing the money the master entrusted to them, rather than the man
with one talent trying to preserve what he inherited instead of making it grow.
Indeed, we must “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.”
Only then can we walk in the light of the Lord and bring others with us to
enter the House of God. “I rejoiced when I heard them say: ‘Let us go to
God’s house.’ And now our feet are standing within your gates, O Jerusalem.”
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All
Rights Reserved
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