20200126
FORMING
FISHERS OF MEN FOR THE FUTURE OF HUMANITY
26 January,
2020, Sunday, 3rd Week of Ordinary Time
Readings at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Green.
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First reading
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Isaiah 8:23-9:3 ©
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In Galilee of the nations the people has seen a great light
In days past the
Lord humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in days to come
he will confer glory on the Way of the Sea on the far side of Jordan, province
of the nations.
The
people that walked in darkness
has
seen a great light;
on
those who live in a land of deep shadow
a
light has shone.
You
have made their gladness greater,
you
have made their joy increase;
they
rejoice in your presence
as
men rejoice at harvest time,
as
men are happy when they are dividing the spoils.
For
the yoke that was weighing on him,
the
bar across his shoulders,
the
rod of his oppressor –
these
you break as on the day of Midian.
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Responsorial
Psalm
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Psalm 26(27):1,4,13-14 ©
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The
Lord is my light and my help.
The
Lord is my light and my help;
whom
shall I fear?
The
Lord is the stronghold of my life;
before
whom shall I shrink?
The
Lord is my light and my help.
There
is one thing I ask of the Lord,
for
this I long,
to
live in the house of the Lord,
all
the days of my life,
to
savour the sweetness of the Lord,
to
behold his temple.
The
Lord is my light and my help.
I am
sure I shall see the Lord’s goodness
in
the land of the living.
Hope
in him, hold firm and take heart.
Hope
in the Lord!
The
Lord is my light and my help.
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Second reading
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1 Corinthians 1:10-13,17 ©
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Make up the differences between you instead of disagreeing among
yourselves
I appeal to you,
brothers, for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ, to make up the differences
between you, and instead of disagreeing among yourselves, to be united again in
your belief and practice. From what Chloe’s people have been telling me, my
dear brothers, it is clear that there are serious differences among you. What I
mean are all these slogans that you have, like: ‘I am for Paul’, ‘I am for
Apollos’, ‘I am for Cephas’, ‘I am for Christ.’ Has Christ been parcelled out?
Was it Paul that was crucified for you? Were you baptised in the name of Paul?
For
Christ did not send me to baptise, but to preach the Good News, and not to
preach that in the terms of philosophy in which the crucifixion of Christ
cannot be expressed.
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Gospel
Acclamation
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cf.Mt4:23
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Alleluia,
alleluia!
Jesus
proclaimed the Good News of the kingdom
and
cured all kinds of sickness among the people.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Matthew 4:12-23 ©
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He went and settled in Capernaum: in this way the prophecy of
Isaiah was fulfilled
Hearing that John
had been arrested, Jesus went back to Galilee, and leaving Nazareth he went and
settled in Capernaum, a lakeside town on the borders of Zebulun and Naphtali.
In this way the prophecy of Isaiah was to be fulfilled:
‘Land
of Zebulun! Land of Naphtali!
Way
of the sea on the far side of Jordan,
Galilee
of the nations!
The
people that lived in darkness has seen a great light;
on
those who dwell in the land and shadow of death
a
light has dawned.’
From that moment
Jesus began his preaching with the message, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven
is close at hand.’
As
he was walking by the Sea of Galilee he saw two brothers, Simon, who was called
Peter, and his brother Andrew; they were making a cast in the lake with their
net, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, ‘Follow me and I will make
you fishers of men.’ And they left their nets at once and followed him. Going
on from there he saw another pair of brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother
John; they were in their boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets,
and he called them. At once, leaving the boat and their father, they followed
him.
He
went round the whole of Galilee teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the
Good News of the kingdom and curing all kinds of diseases and sickness among
the people.
FORMING FISHERS
OF MEN FOR THE FUTURE OF HUMANITY
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ISA 8:23 – 9:3; 1 COR 1:10-13.17; MT 4:12-23 (or >< 4:12-17)]
All of us have different callings in
life. Every vocation is important in the unfolding of God’s plan for
humanity. We must respond accordingly. Yet among the vocations, one
of the most fulfilling and important calling in life is the work of formation,
specifically in the area of education. We must not restrict education
in the narrow sense of the word to that of intellectual and academic formation.
Rather, it entails the whole process of transforming someone, helping him or
her to grow in emotional, affective, moral and intellectual capacity. It
also involves the cultivation of skills and knowledge for the work they
do. Education is more than getting good grades for work done but forming
people holistically where they are balanced in life, realize their potentials
and become happy people who have good self-esteem, and are positive and
proactive. The work of formation is therefore not restricted to teachers
or catechists but it extends to all, whether as parents, guardians, superiors,
in government, ecclesial and in society.
Education is to form
people with wholesome and right values so that they can help to build humanity. Education, in the final
analysis, is to form young people for their vocation. No greater gift can
we give to someone than to form him or her to be leaders for tomorrow in
society and the Church. We can give many things to young people, but all
these will be used up, discarded or worn out. It is just like the gifts
we received at Christmas. Some of these are already thrown aside.
But the gift of education is one gift that is cumulative and remains not just
with the recipient but grows from strength to strength. Most of all, the
kind of formation they receive will determine their happiness in life, now and
in the future.
Today, the apostles were
asked to change their vocation from fishers of fish to fishers of
men. What
does it mean to catch men, if not to form people to become what they are called
to be in the plan of God? In other words, they were asked to go beyond
simply making a livelihood for themselves. They were called by the Lord
to help form men and women who could live their lives to the fullest by being
disciples of the kingdom and proclaimers of the Good News in word and deed.
By so doing, each person will realize his or her potential as he or she
gives himself or herself to service.
How, then, should we
form young people for their vocation? What kind of formation can see them
through life? Obviously, they must be grow in knowledge and
acquire new skills. This is the academic and practical part of
formation. Without knowledge and skills, we cannot be of use to
anyone. This aspect of formation cannot be under-emphasized, yet it is
not everything because they are only tools for service and for work.
Instead of focusing on skills, we must focus on the person who uses the
skills. If the person is not well formed or motivated rightly, he will
not give his heart and soul to the learning process.
Over and above the
intellectual component of formation is the cultivation of character. Without a good character and good virtues,
leaders will end up serving themselves and using others for their glory and
interests. They must be men and women of justice and integrity.
Without integrity and honesty, we cannot entrust our lives, wealth and power to
them because they will use them to destroy people and to enrich themselves
only.
Consequently, moral
formation is of critical importance for leadership. We must enlighten our future leaders to
know what is right and what is wrong. Today, many of our leaders are
pragmatic and are ambivalent to justice and truth. When leaders do not
have a good grounding for morality and right conduct, we can rationalize
everything we do. We can justify all our decisions when they are made
principally for self-gain and not for our people.
Indeed, as leaders we
are called to lead the world in darkness out of slavery because of ignorance
and sin. The
prophet says, “The people that walked in darkness has seen a great
light; on those who live in a land of deep shadow a light has shone.” As
leaders we are called to set our people free from slavery, addictions,
suffering and ignorance. “You have made their gladness greater, you have
made their joy increase, they rejoice in your presence as men rejoice at
harvest time, as men are happy when they are dividing the spoils.”
Leaders therefore must be enlightened if they are to enlighten and lead others.
Among the most important
virtues for leaders is the desire to serve God and humanity. We read in the gospel that Jesus
went about doing good. “He went round the whole of Galilee teaching in
their synagogues, proclaiming the Good News of the kingdom and curing all kinds
of diseases and sickness among the people.” They must be people of humility and
the aspiration to serve. They must be people who have compassion for the
suffering. They must be leaders where the greater good of the people
transcends their needs. They must work for something greater than
themselves, which is for Christ, for God and for others. This is why
leaders must sacrifice their own interests for the greater good of the
community. Leaders must not work for themselves but for the greater good of all.
St Paul warns the different factions who were taking sides with leaders.
He wrote, “it is clear that there are serious differences among you. What I
mean are all these slogans that you have, like: ‘I am for Paul’, ‘I am for
Apollos’, ‘I am for Cephas’, ‘I am for Christ’.”
Forming leaders today
also means forming them to be leaders of communion. The task of a leader is to foster
unity in the organization they lead. A leader must be inclusive and seeks
to bring real unity among all the members. Unity is founded on
truth. Unfortunately, today’s unity is superficial because it is not
founded on common values or on truth. The unity of the world is so very fragile
as it is based on relativism, pragmatism and subjectivism without any objective
truth. We must avoid the division that existed in the Corinthians
Community when the members began to take sides with leaders. St Paul
said, “I appeal to you, brothers, for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ, to
make up the differences between you, and instead of disagreeing among
yourselves, to be united again in your belief and practice.” We must help
our people to agree on the fundamental values. If we cannot even agree on basic
values of life, like service, honesty, justice and integrity or the importance
of our sexual identity, marriage and family institutions, we cannot agree on
anything else. Without common values accepted by all, we cannot build
real unity.
To form them in this
manner requires that we form them in Christ. This means that we must first walk in the light
ourselves. Unless we know Christ and the gospel, we cannot lead them to
where they are called to be. Leaders therefore must be familiar with the
gospel and the teachings of the Church so that they can understand the mind of
the Church and the mind of Christ in the gospel. As leaders, we take our
direction from the Word of God. With the psalmist, we say, “The Lord is my
light and my help; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my
life; before whom shall I shrink.” Catholic educators, parents and
leaders must take their faith seriously if they are to be leaders after the
heart of Christ our teacher.
But we need not travel
this journey alone. We need to align ourselves and collaborate with
others in the work of formation for the greater good of everyone. In today’s world, everything and everyone
is inter-dependent. So too, in forming our children, we cannot work in
silo. There needs to be greater coordination with parents, teachers,
catechists, Family Life, Youth Office and those who are involved in forming
young people to be holistic people and leaders. Today, it must be made
clear that no single person is responsible for the formation of the young
people but all of us in different capacities have a part to play. Hence,
all formators and educators must work together as a team for a common
goal. Unity is strength. We must work and travel together so that
we can form the best people for the next generation, leaders who are wise,
compassionate and who serve with integrity, honesty and selflessness.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All
Rights Reserved
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