20200223
DARE
TO BE DIFFERENT FROM THE WORLD
23 February,
2020, Sunday, 7th Week of Ordinary Time
Readings at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Green.
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First reading
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Leviticus 19:1-2,17-18 ©
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You must love your neighbour as yourself
The Lord spoke to
Moses; he said: ‘Speak to the whole community of the sons of Israel and say to
them:
‘“Be
holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy.
‘“You
must not bear hatred for your brother in your heart. You must openly tell him,
your neighbour, of his offence; this way you will not take a sin upon yourself.
You must not exact vengeance, nor must you bear a grudge against the children
of your people. You must love your neighbour as yourself. I am the Lord.”’
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Responsorial
Psalm
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Psalm 102(103):1-4,8,10,12-13 ©
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The
Lord is compassion and love.
My
soul, give thanks to the Lord
all
my being, bless his holy name.
My
soul, give thanks to the Lord
and
never forget all his blessings.
The
Lord is compassion and love.
It is
he who forgives all your guilt,
who
heals every one of your ills,
who
redeems your life from the grave,
who
crowns you with love and compassion.
The
Lord is compassion and love.
The
Lord is compassion and love,
slow
to anger and rich in mercy.
He
does not treat us according to our sins
nor
repay us according to our faults.
The
Lord is compassion and love.
As
far as the east is from the west
so
far does he remove our sins.
As a
father has compassion on his sons,
the
Lord has pity on those who fear him.
The
Lord is compassion and love.
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Second reading
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1 Corinthians 3:16-23 ©
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You belong to Christ and Christ belongs to God
Didn’t you
realise that you were God’s temple and that the Spirit of God was living among
you? If anybody should destroy the temple of God, God will destroy him, because
the temple of God is sacred; and you are that temple.
Make
no mistake about it: if any one of you thinks of himself as wise, in the
ordinary sense of the word, then he must learn to be a fool before he really
can be wise. Why? Because the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. As
scripture says: The Lord knows
wise men’s thoughts: he knows how useless they are; or again: God is not convinced by the
arguments of the wise. So
there is nothing to boast about in anything human: Paul, Apollos, Cephas, the
world, life and death, the present and the future, are all your servants; but
you belong to Christ and Christ belongs to God.
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Gospel
Acclamation
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Jn14:23
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Alleluia,
alleluia!
If
anyone loves me he will keep my word,
and
my Father will love him,
and
we shall come to him.
Alleluia!
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Or:
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1Jn2:5
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Alleluia,
alleluia!
Whenever
anyone obeys what Christ has said,
God’s
love comes to perfection in him.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Matthew 5:38-48 ©
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Love your enemies
Jesus said to his
disciples: ‘You have learnt how it was said: Eye
for eye and tooth for tooth. But
I say this to you: offer the wicked man no resistance. On the contrary, if
anyone hits you on the right cheek, offer him the other as well; if a man takes
you to law and would have your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if
anyone orders you to go one mile, go two miles with him. Give to anyone who
asks, and if anyone wants to borrow, do not turn away.
‘You
have learnt how it was said: You must love your neighbour and hate your enemy.
But I say this to you: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you;
in this way you will be sons of your Father in heaven, for he causes his sun to
rise on bad men as well as good, and his rain to fall on honest and dishonest
men alike. For if you love those who love you, what right have you to claim any
credit? Even the tax collectors do as much, do they not? And if you save your
greetings for your brothers, are you doing anything exceptional? Even the
pagans do as much, do they not? You must therefore be perfect just as your
heavenly Father is perfect.’
DARE TO BE
DIFFERENT FROM THE WORLD
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [LEV 19:1-2.17-18; PS 103:1-4, 8, 10, 12-13; 1 COR 3:16-23; MT 5:38-48]
“Be holy, for I, the
Lord your God, am holy!” Indeed, it is the obligation of every Christian
to grow in holiness. In
his apostolic letter at the beginning of the new Millennium, St John Paul II
wrote, “First of all, I have no hesitation in saying that all pastoral
initiatives must be set in relation to holiness. It is a duty which
concerns not only certain Christians: ‘All the Christian faithful, of whatever
state or rank, are called to the fullness of the Christian life and to the
perfection of charity’.” (NMI 30)
What then is
holiness? To be holy is to be set apart. This is what the term “Pharisee”
means in the gospel. It means that they are called to live a life that is
separated from the world. It is not a bad name as some of us have come to
understand it. In fact, Josephus, the well-known historian at that time
wrote that the Pharisees were loving, respectful and harmonious people.
They were people who sought to live out the commandments of Moses
faithfully. Those that the Lord reprimanded were those who were insincere
with respect to the observance of the law.
So holiness means to be
set apart from the world. A Christian lives in the world but not of the
world. This is what
Jesus said, “I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because
they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I
am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them
from the evil one. They do not belong to the world, just as I do not
belong to the world.” (Jn 17:14-16) In other words, a Christian
does not adopt the sensual, selfish and self-centered values of the world.
Such a life is not
living a life of wisdom. St
Paul wrote, “Make no mistake about it; if any one of you thinks of himself as
wise, in the ordinary sense of the word, then he must learn to be a fool before
he really can be wise. Why? Because the wisdom of this world is foolishness to
God.” A Christian therefore must live his life in such a way that he
becomes a sign of contradiction to the world. He is called to live
a life of true wisdom. We are called to be different so that people
recognize us as disciples of Christ simply because our values are not those of
the world.
Holiness is more than
just piety. Being prayerful,
filial in our devotion to God, carrying out the rituals and religious practices
in themselves can help us to grow in holiness but they are not what holiness is
essentially. Rather, holiness of life is expressed in the
perfection of charity. It is a radical living out of the gospel
life that Christ has taught us. St John Paul wrote, “To ask catechumens:
‘Do you wish to receive Baptism?’ means at the same time to ask them: ‘Do you
wish to become holy?’ It means to set before them the radical nature of the
Sermon on the Mount: ‘Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect’ (Mt 5:48).” (NMI 31) Living a life
of love and humble service to our fellowmen is a life of wisdom.
The perfection that the
gospel is asking of us is not what the world considers perfect. It does not mean that we do not
make mistakes or cannot be ignorant over matters. It does not mean that
we do not have human weaknesses, physically, intellectually, emotionally or
mentally. Rather, it is the call to perfection of charity, to be
compassionate and forgiving like our heavenly Father is. Indeed, in
the first reading after the call to be holy, Moses gave a list of things that a
holy person does. “You must not bear hatred for your brother in your
heart. You must openly tell him, your neighbour, of his offence; this way you
will not take a sin upon yourself. You must not exact vengeance, nor must you
bear a grudge against the children of your people. You must love your neighbour
as yourself.”
Concretely, this entails
reflecting the compassion and love of God. In the second reading, St Paul wrote, “Didn’t
you realise that you were God’s temple and that the Spirit of God was living
among you?” Because we are God’s temple, we must therefore act and
conduct ourselves in His image and likeness. Holiness is to make God’s
presence felt in us. We must radiate God’s love and compassion to one another
since in each one of us, he or she is not just a man or a woman, but he or she
shares the dignity of God’s life. Indeed, that is the way God loves
us. The Lord asked, “For if you love those who love you, what right have
you to claim any credit? Even the tax collectors do as much, do they not? And
if you save your greetings for your brothers, are you doing anything
exceptional? Even the pagans do as much, do they not?” It is on this
basis that we must treat our brothers and sisters, including our enemies, the
way God regards us.
The hallmark of
Christians is not just the work of compassion because this is even done by
unbelievers and people without faith because of humanitarian sentiments.
What makes us different from others is the way we treat our enemies, not with
revenge and retaliation but with love. This is so different from that of
the world. The justice of the world is more revenge and
retaliation. It makes things worse than before. Instead of
repairing the injury, they cause more injury. They follow the principle
of an “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” This ancient principle
imposes penalty according to the damages the other party has caused.
However, this principle of retaliation will end up in a vicious cycle.
The only way to stop
further fighting and hatred is to overcome hatred of our enemies with love. To overcome evil with evil only
brings more evil. We must respond to evil with goodness, not with another
evil. The way of non-violence and non-retaliation makes us different from
the world. Jesus said, “I say this to you: offer the wicked man no
resistance. On the contrary, if anyone hits you on the right cheek, offer him
the other as well; if a man takes you to law and would have your tunic, let him
have your cloak as well. And if anyone orders you to go one mile, go two miles
with him. Give to anyone who asks, and if anyone wants to borrow, do not turn
away.” St Paul says, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with
good.” (Rom 12:21)
This does not mean that
we cannot seek for justice.
Seeking justice is different from seeking retaliation. One can certainly
demand for one’s rights. But it must not become revenge. Greater
still is to allow charity to prevail over justice, without asking for our
rights. Instead, we ask God to act for us. That is why St Paul
wrote, “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of
God; for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the
Lord.’ No, ‘if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are
thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning
coals on their heads.’ (Rom 12:19f) Jesus shows us the
way. He responded to His enemies not with retaliation but with
love, mercy and forgiveness. He commended Himself to His Father to
act for Him. He trusted in God His Father to raise Him from the dead and to
vindicate Him. We must depend on God to change lives through our example
of love and compassion. Even the most hardened of hearts will eventually
be overcome by love.
Instead of behaving like
the foolish people of this world, we must show ourselves to be wise. The real saints are those who are
magnanimous in forgiveness, in mercy and compassion. They are those who
love their enemies and pray for them. If we feel with our enemies,
empathize with them, try to understand the fears and ignorance that caused them
to hurt others, then we will feel sorry for them rather than anger. Then,
like our Lord hanging on the cross, we too will say, “Father, forgive them they
do not know what they are doing.” (Lk 23:34) They too are our brothers and
sisters, wounded, ignorant and foolish. We must win them over by
mercy. When we act in this manner, then we can count ourselves as the
children of the Heavenly Father. The Lord said, “for he causes his sun to
rise on bad men as well as good, and his rain to fall on honest and dishonest
men alike.”
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All
Rights Reserved
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