20200201
ORDER
OUT OF CHAOS
01 February,
2020, Saturday, 3rd Week of Ordinary Time
Readings at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Green.
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First reading
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2 Samuel 12:1-7,10-17 ©
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David's penitence over Uriah
The Lord sent
Nathan the prophet to David. He came to him and said:
‘In
the same town were two men,
one
rich, the other poor.
The
rich man had flocks and herds
in
great abundance;
the
poor man had nothing but a ewe lamb,
one
only, a small one he had bought.
This
he fed, and it grew up with him and his children,
eating
his bread, drinking from his cup,
sleeping
on his breast; it was like a daughter to him.
When
there came a traveller to stay, the rich man
refused
to take one of his own flock or herd
to
provide for the wayfarer who had come to him.
Instead
he took the poor man’s lamb
and
prepared it for his guest.’
David’s anger
flared up against the man. ‘As the Lord lives,’ he said to Nathan ‘the man who
did this deserves to die! He must make fourfold restitution for the lamb, for
doing such a thing and showing no compassion.’
Then
Nathan said to David, ‘You are the man. So now the sword will never be far from
your House, since you have shown contempt for me and taken the wife of Uriah
the Hittite to be your wife.”
‘Thus
the Lord speaks, “I will stir up evil for you out of your own House. Before
your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to your neighbour, and he
shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. You worked in secret, I
will work this in the face of all Israel and in the face of the sun.”’
David
said to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the Lord.’ Then Nathan said to David,
‘The Lord, for his part, forgives your sin; you are not to die. Yet because you
have outraged the Lord by doing this, the child that is born to you is to die.’
Then Nathan went home.
The
Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to David and it fell gravely
ill. David pleaded with the Lord for the child; he kept a strict fast and went
home and spent the night on the bare ground, covered with sacking. The
officials of his household came and stood round him to get him to rise from the
ground, but he refused, nor would he take food with them.
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Responsorial
Psalm
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Psalm 50(51):12-17 ©
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A
pure heart create for me, O God.
A
pure heart create for me, O God,
put
a steadfast spirit within me.
Do
not cast me away from your presence,
nor
deprive me of your holy spirit.
A
pure heart create for me, O God.
Give
me again the joy of your help;
with
a spirit of fervour sustain me,
that
I may teach transgressors your ways
and
sinners may return to you.
A
pure heart create for me, O God.
O
rescue me, God, my helper,
and
my tongue shall ring out your goodness.
O
Lord, open my lips
and
my mouth shall declare your praise.
A
pure heart create for me, O God.
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Gospel
Acclamation
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cf.Ps26:11
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Alleluia,
alleluia!
Instruct
me, Lord, in your way;
on an
even path lead me.
Alleluia!
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Or:
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Jn3:16
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Alleluia,
alleluia!
God
loved the world so much that he gave his only Son:
everyone
who believes in him has eternal life.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Mark 4:35-41 ©
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'Even the wind and the sea obey him'
With the coming
of evening, Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Let us cross over to the other side.’
And leaving the crowd behind they took him, just as he was, in the boat; and
there were other boats with him. Then it began to blow a gale and the waves
were breaking into the boat so that it was almost swamped. But he was in the
stern, his head on the cushion, asleep. They woke him and said to him, ‘Master,
do you not care? We are going down!’ And he woke up and rebuked the wind and
said to the sea, ‘Quiet now! Be calm!’ And the wind dropped, and all was calm again.
Then he said to them, ‘Why are you so frightened? How is it that you have no
faith?’ They were filled with awe and said to one another, ‘Who can this be?
Even the wind and the sea obey him.’
ORDER OUT OF
CHAOS
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [2 SM 12:1-7, 10-17; PS 51:12-17; MARK 4:35-41]
This life is much more
chaotic than ever in the history of humanity. Indeed, when we look at the
situation in the world today, there is chaos. The trade wars and nationalistic fervor of some
countries have caused the economic volatility in the world. Powerful
countries are seeking to control the smaller and weaker countries through the
use of monetary, trade and political pressures, and when these do not work,
they sow seeds of discord among the peoples, finance opposition so that the
country will be in disarray and collapse. But there is also another war that
has been waging silently over the last 40 years by secularists, relativists and
materialists. It is an ideological cultural war. They seek to
destroy the eternal values of humanity by diminishing the sacredness of
marriage into a trivial and mundane event. Through the powerful use of mass
media, entertainment, and celebrities, they have slowly normalized what was
considered out of place in society, such as same-sex union, transgender,
divorce, abortion euthanasia and the use of drugs.
In our own life, our
family is messy and we feel incapable of holding the members of the family
together. Spouses are
living separate personal lives. Children and parents cannot communicate
because of the generation gap. Values of children are no longer imbibed
from their parents, because the latter are hardly around, but picked up from
the internet and social media. Since there are so many views, they will
follow what is popular, which means those that speak the loudest and of highest
publicity. It is a herd mentality because with so many voices, it is impossible
to verify all the information. We just follow what we like, or what the
world sees as ‘cool’.
Even the Church is
facing chaos. There are so many voices today, compared to 40 years ago when things were
a lot clearer. Doctrines were accepted without question then. But
today, our own Catholics espouse relativistic views, choosing what they agree
with and discarding teachings that they do not agree with. It is a
selective reading and following of the doctrines. Even bishops,
theologians and priests are not in accord. Even the competence of the
teaching of the Pope is put in question. With doctrinal confusion, be
they doctrines or morals, and with the scandals in the hierarchy of the Church,
one wonders whether the Catholic Church is truly the Church of Christ. By
extension, one even wonders whether Christ is real, because He does not seem to
be protecting the Church as He promised St Peter.
We are just like the
disciples of our Lord in the boat.
They were in the midst of the storm. The Lord was with them. Apparently,
He was asleep, tired after a long day of preaching and ministering. He
was sleeping soundly at the stern of the boat even though the boat was tossing,
waves crashing in, the disciples yelling and shouting for help in fear, in
spite of the fact that some were experienced fishermen. But Jesus did not
seem to be perturbed by what was happening. So “they woke him and
said to him, ‘Master, do you not care? We are going down!'” Isn’t this
the same question we ask every day and so often of our Lord? Do you not
care that we are sinking into the mud? Do you not care that we are
drowning in our sorrows, confusion and division in the world? Do you not
care that the Church seems to be losing her battle in building the kingdom of
God? Instead of seeing the Church as a mustard seed growing from strength
to strength, we see the influence of the Church diminishing, marginalized, and
instead of being held in regard, she is viewed with suspicion. The power
of evil in the world seems to be gaining strength and momentum. The
negative values of the world seem to be gradually accepted as the norm of
life. What is good in the past is now seen as outdated. What is
evil in the past is seen as something good. Even Satanism is promoted in the
world as a religion and occult books are sold publicly to children. So is
Jesus sleeping, is He aware?
Perhaps, it is not the
Lord who is sleeping but we are sleeping. We are still in our ignorance, like the
disciples. We do not know who Jesus truly is. That is why we do not
have faith and confidence in Him. After Jesus calmed the storm, the Lord
said to the disciples, “Why are you so frightened? How is it that you have no
faith?” We read that “they were filled with awe and said to one another,
‘Who can this be? Even the wind and sea obey him.'” Who is this
man? Who is He that even the wind and the sea obey Him? He must of
course be God because it was God who created the world. Only God can
command the seas and the winds to obey Him. God is in charge. He
has power over all creation. Hence, when the Lord “rebuked the wind and
said to the sea, ‘Quiet now! Be calm!’ And the wind dropped, and all was calm
again.”
The irony of this event
shows that the real fear is not the fear of creation and even of death. The
real fear that we should have is the fear of God. So we read that the disciples were
filled with awe, a holy fear of God. Initially they were fearful of the
winds and the waves. But now when everything was calm, they feared God
because they intuited the divinity in Jesus. But isn’t that what the Lord
said, “I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after
that can do nothing more. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who,
after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear
him!” (Lk 12:4f) Unless we fear Him, we lose
all perspective of life. The book of Wisdom tells us that the fear of the
Lord is true Wisdom. “The fear of the Lord delights the heart, and gives
gladness and joy and long life. Those who fear the Lord will have a happy
end; on the day of their death they will be blessed. To fear the Lord is
the beginning of wisdom; she is created with the faithful in the womb. The
fear of the Lord is the crown of wisdom, making peace and perfect health to
flourish. To fear the Lord is the root of wisdom, and her branches are
long life. (Sirach 1:12-14,18,20)
This was initially the
case of King David after he had sinned. He was fearful of the punishment
that came from sin.
God does not punish us for our sins. Rather, our sins punish us. In other
words, God always forgives us, but we might not be spared from the consequences
of our sins. David committed adultery and murder. As a consequence
the Lord told him, “So now the sword will never be far from your House, since
you have shown contempt for me and taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be
your wife. I will stir up evil for you out of your own House. Before your very
eyes I will take your wives and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie
with your wives in the sight of this sun. You worked in secret, I will work
this in the face of all Israel and in the face of the sun.” Nathan said
to David, “The Lord, for his part, forgives your sin; you are not to die, the
child that is born to you is to die.” Although, it is phrased as if God
punished David, it is more accurate to say that the effects of the sins of
David caught up with him.
Whatever we do in life,
we will reap the consequences.
If we sow evil, then evil will be sown in our family and in society. This
is true for the decadent world as well. Evil might be seem to be
triumphant. But it is not. Evil will destroy itself. Evil
people will destroy others and eventually also destroy themselves. This
is the greatest deception of the Evil One. With the destruction of
religious authority, political authority, parental authority, what is there
left for this world except relativism and pragmatism? Society without
moral guidance, without knowledge of what is right or wrong will destroy itself
because the values promoted by the world are selfish, inward-looking, individualistic
and not holistic or for the common good of humanity.
Like King David and the
disciples, we must fear God!
We must come to realize that God is the ultimate power in life. The world
may seem to be winning in its evil influence but we do not just live for this
life but in the life to come. We should not just fear death but eternal
death. If we are faithful and repentant, then eternal life awaits
us. We should not fear that we are losing the battle because Jesus is
with us in the storms of life. He is in charge. Rather, we
should simply pray with King David, “A pure heart create for me, O God, put a
steadfast spirit within me. Give me again the joy of your help; with a
spirit of fervour sustain me.”
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All
Rights Reserved
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