20200209
DOING
GOOD WORKS FOR THE GREATER GLORY OF THE FATHER
09 February,
2020, Sunday, 5th Week of Ordinary Time
Readings at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Green.
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First reading
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Isaiah 58:7-10 ©
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Then will your light shine like the dawn
Thus says the
Lord:
Share
your bread with the hungry,
and
shelter the homeless poor,
clothe
the man you see to be naked
and
do not turn from your own kin.
Then
will your light shine like the dawn
and
your wound be quickly healed over.
Your
integrity will go before you
and
the glory of the Lord behind you.
Cry,
and the Lord will answer;
call,
and he will say, ‘I am here.’
If
you do away with the yoke,
the
clenched fist, the wicked word,
if
you give your bread to the hungry,
and
relief to the oppressed,
your
light will rise in the darkness,
and
your shadows become like noon.
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Responsorial
Psalm
|
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Psalm 111(112):4-9 ©
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The
good man is a light in the darkness for the upright.
or
Alleluia!
He is
a light in the darkness for the upright:
he
is generous, merciful and just.
The
good man takes pity and lends,
he
conducts his affairs with honour.
The
good man is a light in the darkness for the upright.
or
Alleluia!
The
just man will never waver:
he
will be remembered for ever.
He
has no fear of evil news;
with
a firm heart he trusts in the Lord.
The
good man is a light in the darkness for the upright.
or
Alleluia!
With
a steadfast heart he will not fear;
open-handed,
he gives to the poor;
his
justice stands firm for ever.
His
head will be raised in glory.
The
good man is a light in the darkness for the upright.
or
Alleluia!
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Second reading
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1 Corinthians 2:1-5 ©
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The only knowledge I claimed was of the crucified Christ
When I came to
you, brothers, it was not with any show of oratory or philosophy, but simply to
tell you what God had guaranteed. During my stay with you, the only knowledge I
claimed to have was about Jesus, and only about him as the crucified Christ. Far
from relying on any power of my own, I came among you in great ‘fear and
trembling’ and in my speeches and the sermons that I gave, there were none of
the arguments that belong to philosophy; only a demonstration of the power of
the Spirit. And I did this so that your faith should not depend on human
philosophy but on the power of God.
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Gospel
Acclamation
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Jn8:12
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Alleluia,
alleluia!
I am
the light of the world, says the Lord;
anyone
who follows me will have the light of life.
Alleluia!
|
Gospel
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Matthew 5:13-16 ©
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Your light must shine in the sight of men
Jesus said to his
disciples: ‘You are the salt of the earth. But if salt becomes tasteless, what
can make it salty again? It is good for nothing, and can only be thrown out to
be trampled underfoot by men.
‘You
are the light of the world. A city built on a hill-top cannot be hidden. No one
lights a lamp to put it under a tub; they put it on the lamp-stand where it
shines for everyone in the house. In the same way your light must shine in the
sight of men, so that, seeing your good works, they may give the praise to your
Father in heaven.’
DOING GOOD WORKS
FOR THE GREATER GLORY OF THE FATHER
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [IS 58:7-10; 1 COR 2:1-5; MT 5:13-16 ]
“…our light must shine in the sight of
men, so that, seeing your good works, they may give the praise to your Father
in heaven.” These words were spoken to the disciples of Jesus, which
would therefore include all Christians today. We all know that we
are all called to be witnesses of Christ in our lives. In the words
of today’s gospel, we are told to be the salt and the light of the world.
And the first reading of today delineates concretely how one can be the light
of the world, namely, through almsgiving, consideration for the poor, hungry
and oppressed. Isaiah tells us that when we practise charity, our “light
will rise in the darkness and your shadows become like noon.”
But quite often, we
forget the other part of the exhortation
of Jesus. He said that others, seeing our good works, might
give praise to the Father in heaven. The fact is that many of us,
when doing good works, do so to bring glory and honour to ourselves. More
often than not, we get very annoyed and angry when our services are not given
due recognition. Most of us expect some kind of gratitude and
acknowledgement, or even public acknowledgement of our supposed
generosity. When we adopt this kind of attitude, are we not subtly doing
good works for ourselves under the pretext of doing it for God or for others?
Yes, good works are truly good
only when they are offered selflessly. This is the gist of today’s
gospel reading. When Jesus called us to be the salt and the light of the
world, He was not only calling us to be His witnesses of love and life to the
world, but He wanted us to do it in a selfless manner. After all, the
very elements that Jesus used to illustrate our calling are
self-explanatory. We all know, for example, that salt is never
used for itself or by itself. We do not take salt on its own but
always with something else, most of the time as a food condiment. So to
be the salt of the world is to be unselfishly used for others, so much so that
the focus of attention will not be on us but on those who use us.
Similarly, the nature of light has the
same characteristic. Light is never for itself, as
Jesus says. Indeed, no one lights a lamp to put in under a tub; they put
it on the lamp-stand where it shines for everyone in the house. The
nature of light is to focus on others not on itself.
In other words, both salt and light are
meant to give life and light to the world. They are not meant for
themselves as such. Salt is used to add flavour to food; light is given
so that others might see. To be the salt and the light of the
world simply means that we are called to add colour and flavour to the world;
and to bring light and truth to the world which lives in falsehood and darkness –
but always done in such a way that the attention would not be focused on us.
How can one do that? We might say that we cannot help
being conscious of the fact that we are doing a good work. Some of us
might also say that we cannot but expect some acknowledgement of
gratitude. If we are still very much conscious of what we do, or we feel
the need for acknowledgement, then it is simply because we are doing good works
from mere human effort. In other words, the good works do not originate
from within us but are produced by our mind. It does not come from the
purity of the heart. For this reason, such good works are always
manipulated to increase our ego. Such love requires great human effort
and human strength.
However, this will not be so for someone
who is filled with the love of God. Such a person will not be doing good
works out of a rational conviction but simply because it is in his nature to
love. If he does good works, it is because he is so filled with
God’s love that he cannot contain God’s love within himself and so it flows out
from him like the light and the salt. Now such love needs no
recognition since the person is sharing that love out of his bounty and not out
of any obligation or compulsion. His love, like God’s, is an overflowing
love. It is an effortless love which requires not human strength but from
a divine power. It is like that city which is built on a hill-top and
therefore cannot be hidden.
For this reason, an altruistic
kind of love is possible only when we are filled with God’s love.
This is the case with Paul in today’s second reading. He told the people
of Corinthians, that what he had to say was not some rational philosophical
arguments but his personal experience of Jesus, the crucified Christ. It
is this experience of the Crucified Christ that gave him the power of the
Spirit of the same Crucified but now Risen Christ.
In simple words, what he meant was that
because he had experienced the over-powering love of God in the crucified and
risen Lord, he now has the strength and power to share that good news and love
with others. Indeed, he concluded by saying, our faith should not depend
on human philosophy but on the power of God. Applying it to our lives of
good works, it means that our good works should not spring from mere
human calculation of what we can get in return but we must simply give from
the depths of our hearts – hearts which have been touched by the love
of God – hearts which cannot contain that love and must let it flow out
naturally like a well that is overflowing.
Yes, altruistic and selfless love
is only possible for those who have been touched by the love of God.
This is a pre-requisite. If not, even good works can be another form of
self-centered love. Now if we find that we do not yet have this kind of
love, today’s gospel gives us hope.
If we are that tasteless
salt, how can we be salty again so that we can be truly the salt of the earth,
not for ourselves but for the good of others and the greater glory of the Father? The
answer is clear. We need to be salted with the love of God in
Jesus. Like Paul, we need to come to Jesus often, to contemplate on His
love for us in prayer, in meditation, in Christian fellowship, so that that
love which is latent in us will start flowing out from us again.
And that love will flow from us
spontaneously, because we no longer act from ourselves but from Christ within
us. To be salted with Christ is to become Christ
ourselves. To be salted with Christ is to become the salt; to be lighted
by Christ is to become the light and the torch. Indeed, this is
what Jesus is asking us to do. He never said that we should use salt to
add spice into the lives of our fellow human beings, nor use a torch to light
up the lives of those who live in darkness. Nay, He said that we be the
salt and we be the light. When the disciple asked his master: “What’s
the difference between knowledge and enlightenment?” The master replied:
“When you have knowledge you use a torch to show the way. When you are
enlightened you become a torch.”
Hence, only and until we become
the salt and the light like Christ Himself is, then and only then will the good
works that we do flow from the divine love within us. Only that
kind of selfless love can lead people to praise the Father in heaven and not
us, for in seeing the good works, they will recognize that all goodness comes
from God. Yes, only a selfless love can really touch people.
And when it happens, we will find
great joy in life, not because people will recognize us for doing good works
but because we see them alive in love and living in the light. In
the final analysis, no one is deprived of love and life. Whether it is
the giver or the receiver, all experience life and love. In that sense,
being the giver or receiver is irrelevant. What is important is that all
of us experience the love and goodness that comes from the Father in ways
sometimes which we are not aware of.
Are we the salt or are
we using salt to salt the world; are we the torch or are we using a torch to
light up the world?
Unless, we are salt and torch, all that we do and say will not lead humankind
to give praise to the Father when they see our good works.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All
Rights Reserved
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