20200221
MEASURING
THE DEPTH OF OUR FAITH
21 February,
2020, Friday, 6th Week, Ordinary Time
Readings at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Green.
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First reading
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James 2:14-24,26 ©
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A body dies without spirit; faith without good works is not alive
Take the case, my
brothers, of someone who has never done a single good act but claims that he
has faith. Will that faith save him? If one of the brothers or one of the
sisters is in need of clothes and has not enough food to live on, and one of
you says to them, ‘I wish you well; keep yourself warm and eat plenty’, without
giving them these bare necessities of life, then what good is that? Faith is
like that: if good works do not go with it, it is quite dead.
This
is the way to talk to people of that kind: ‘You say you have faith and I have
good deeds; I will prove to you that I have faith by showing you my good
deeds – now you prove to me that you have faith without any good deeds to
show. You believe in the one God – that is creditable enough, but the demons
have the same belief, and they tremble with fear. Do realise, you senseless
man, that faith without good deeds is useless. You surely know that Abraham our
father was justified by his deed, because he offered his son Isaac on the
altar? There you see it: faith and deeds were working together; his faith
became perfect by what he did. This is what scripture really means when it
says: Abraham put his faith in God, and this was counted as making him
justified; and that is why he was called ‘the friend of God.’
You
see now that it is by doing something good, and not only by believing, that a
man is justified. A body dies when it is separated from the spirit, and in the
same way faith is dead if it is separated from good deeds.
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Responsorial
Psalm
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Psalm 111(112):1-6 ©
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Happy
the man who takes delight in the commands of the Lord.
Happy
the man who fears the Lord,
who
takes delight in all his commands.
His
sons will be powerful on earth;
the
children of the upright are blessed.
Happy
the man who takes delight in the commands of the Lord.
Riches
and wealth are in his house;
his
justice stands firm for ever.
He is
a light in the darkness for the upright:
he
is generous, merciful and just.
Happy
the man who takes delight in the commands of the Lord.
The
good man takes pity and lends,
he
conducts his affairs with honour.
The
just man will never waver:
he
will be remembered for ever.
Happy
the man who takes delight in the commands of the Lord.
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Gospel
Acclamation
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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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Or:
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Jn15:15
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Alleluia,
alleluia!
I
call you friends, says the Lord,
because
I have made known to you
everything
I have learnt from my Father.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Mark 8:34-9:1 ©
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Anyone who loses his life for my sake will save it
Jesus called the
people and his disciples to him and said:
‘If
anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his
cross and follow me. For anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but
anyone who loses his life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will
save it. What gain, then, is it for a man to win the whole world and ruin his
life? And indeed what can a man offer in exchange for his life? For if anyone
in this adulterous and sinful generation is ashamed of me and of my words, the
Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of his Father
with the holy angels.’ And he said to them, ‘I tell you solemnly, there are
some standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God come
with power.’
MEASURING THE
DEPTH OF OUR FAITH
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [JAMES 2:14-24. 26; MK 8:34-9:1 ]
How do we know whether
we have faith in Christ?
Many of us do not have a genuine faith in Christ. In other words, it is
an inadequate faith. True faith in Christ means total submission to His
Lordship, surrendering our lives to Him and walking in the way of the
gospel. It is a faith that is expressed in following Jesus by giving our
lives in service to our fellowmen. Jesus called the people and His disciples to
Him and said, “If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce
himself and take up his cross and follow me. For anyone who wants to save
his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake, and for the
sake of the gospel, will save it.”
Those who claim to know
Christ but do not submit to His Lordship cannot be said to have faith. The case in point is the
demons. “You believe in the one God – that is credible enough, but the
demons have the same belief, and they tremble with fear.” Indeed,
the devil knows the truth but it is just a doctrinal belief, not a genuine
faith that involves trust and obedience. Those who claim to have much
knowledge about Christ but do not submit to Him are no different from the
demons in their faith. They, too, confess and acknowledge Jesus as the
Son of God. (cf Mk 1:24) So a
Christian can be well instructed in the faith, the scripture and the doctrines,
but if their faith is simply a notional but not a personal faith, they are no
different from the demons. Even theologians and priests can fall into
that category if they only preach and teach about Jesus without living out what
they teach themselves. In fact, such people are worse than the
demons because at least the latter shudder in fear, knowing that they are not
saved, whereas we live under the false confidence that just because we know the
gospel and about Christ, we are saved.
For others, faith is
reduced simply to trusting in God.
Christians believe that God can work miracles in their lives. He can
perform wonders and intervene when we need help and when we pray to God.
Whilst faith certainly presumes trust and confidence in God, it is not
enough to reduce faith to a personal trust. Precisely, the doctrine,
“Justification by Faith alone through grace” whilst is a central doctrine of
Christian Faith, is not reducible to merely putting one’s trust in Him without
the corollary actions. James wrote, “Do realise, you senseless man,
that faith without goods deeds is useless.” When there are no good works
to show, that is, when no actions follow from what we believe, that faith is
dead. It is like a body without a soul.
The example adduced by
St James is that of Abraham. “You
surely know that Abraham our father was justified by his deed, because he
offered his son Isaac on the altar? There you see it: faith and deeds
were working together; his faith became perfect by what he did. This is
what scripture really means when it says: Abraham put his faith in God;
and this was counted as making him justified; and that is why he was called
‘the friend of God.'” Abraham, as noted by James, was God’s friend.
He had an intimate relationship with Him. Hence, he trusted in God
and was therefore justified by Him.
Abraham’s faith was not
just merely one of trusting in God’s providence and His promises but it was
also expressed in loving obedience to His commands. In the offering of Isaac, the
supreme sacrifice of Abraham of his only son to God, carried out in obedience
and in faith, is precisely what James wants to illustrate as what faith
entails. At every step of his life, Abraham trusted in God and did what
he was told. In faith, he left his country and set out to the Promised
Land. In faith, he believed that God’s promise of posterity would be
fulfilled in spite of the fact that he and Sarah were in their old age.
In faith, he sacrificed his only son because “God provides!” Abraham
never understood fully the plan of God and how it was to be realized. He
could not understand how he was to sacrifice his only son. All he knew
was to trust in Him and obey Him without questioning. This is the kind of
faith that James is asking us to have.
Clearly, for St James,
faith and action go together. You cannot have one without the other, otherwise faith
is defective. They are part of one reality. A faith that is
justifying must be seen in works. If there are no works, it means there
is no faith. Even when scripture says that one is justified by faith,
this justification is fulfilled by God’s actions and that of Abraham who
responded in faith. Abraham was considered righteous not only because he
believed and trusted in God but also because of his obedience to God.
Through his act of obedience, Abraham showed that his faith justified him.
Faith is not something
that is static, a gift to be possessed like a thing. Rather, faith is a
growing and dynamic reality.
Faith means growing trust and understanding. Faith is expressed in what
we believe. So there is this perfect union between what we believe and
what we do. Neither can exist without the other. Faith is
perfected over time when our actions are constantly more and more aligned with
what we believe. Hence, St James concludes that one is justified not just
by faith alone but also by what he does. “You see now that it is by doing
something good, and not only by believing, that a man is justified. A
body dies when it is separated from the spirit, and in the same way faith is
dead if it is separated from good deeds.”
However, there is a
primacy, which is that of faith. There must be faith in God first and then
followed by actions to confirm that faith. Those who claim to have faith but do not obey
the commands of the Lord clearly reveal that they have no faith. Indeed,
this is what the Lord teaches us in the discernment of faith as well. He
said, “In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree
bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree
bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and
thrown into the fire. Thus you will know them by their
fruits.” (Mt 7:17-20)
In other words, in the order of faith, one must first receive the grace of
trusting in God. This trust will bring about a deepening of one’s
relationship with God. The consequence of such a relationship is seen in
positive actions in accordance with the Word of God. When one lives
the life of God or the life of Christ, then it clearly proves that the person
has faith because that faith has justified him.
So, faith is seen in
following Christ, taking up His cross and following after Him. We must be ready to be disciples
and walk behind our Lord. A disciple is one who follows Jesus and makes
Him the center of his or her life, and from Him alone all decisions have its
reference point. This is why the Lord said, “For anyone who wants to save
his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake, and for the
sake of the gospel, will save it. What gain, then, is it for a man to win
the whole world and ruin his life? And indeed what can man offer in
exchange for his life?” Only those who are ready to give up their life for the
Lord can find life. He set us the example of laying down His life for His
sheep. (cf John 10:15).
Concretely, it means
responding to His love through walking in faith, reading the scripture,
worshipping Him and growing in understanding of what and who we believe in. We cannot take faith for
granted but just as in any relationship, we must grow day by day. Faith
is a two-way relationship. A person trusts in the Lord, submits to
His Lordship more and more as one’s faith grows stronger and
deeper. As Christians, it means to take up our cross and follow
after Jesus. He is the norm and standard of Christian life.
In Christ, faith and action meet, justice and mercy come together.
Clearly, it is not enough to grow in intellectual faith in Christ or even in
personal faith. But this faith must permeate our entire being, mind and
heart so that we will express them in our obedience to God by loving our
fellowmen.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All
Rights Reserved
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