20200321
WHAT
I WANT IS LOVE, NOT SACRIFICE
21 March, 2020, Saturday, 3rd
Week in Lent
Readings at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Violet.
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First reading
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Hosea 5:15-6:6 ©
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What I want is love, not sacrifice and holocausts
The Lord says
this:
They
will search for me in their misery.
‘Come,
let us return to the Lord.
He
has torn us to pieces, but he will heal us;
he
has struck us down, but he will bandage our wounds;
after
a day or two he will bring us back to life,
on
the third day he will raise us
and
we shall live in his presence.
Let
us set ourselves to know the Lord;
that
he will come is as certain as the dawn
his
judgement will rise like the light,
he
will come to us as showers come,
like
spring rains watering the earth.’
What
am I to do with you, Ephraim?
What
am I to do with you, Judah?
This
love of yours is like a morning cloud,
like
the dew that quickly disappears.
This
is why I have torn them to pieces by the prophets,
why I
slaughtered them with the words from my mouth,
since
what I want is love, not sacrifice;
knowledge
of God, not holocausts.
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Responsorial
Psalm
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Psalm 50(51):3-4,18-21 ©
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What
I want is love, not sacrifice.
Have
mercy on me, God, in your kindness.
In
your compassion blot out my offence.
O
wash me more and more from my guilt
and
cleanse me from my sin.
What
I want is love, not sacrifice.
For
in sacrifice you take no delight,
burnt
offering from me you would refuse,
my
sacrifice, a contrite spirit.
A
humbled, contrite heart you will not spurn.
What
I want is love, not sacrifice.
In
your goodness, show favour to Zion:
rebuild
the walls of Jerusalem.
Then
you will be pleased with lawful sacrifice,
burnt
offerings wholly consumed.
What
I want is love, not sacrifice.
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Gospel
Acclamation
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Ps94:8
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Glory
and praise to you, O Christ!
Harden
not your hearts today,
but
listen to the voice of the Lord.
Glory
and praise to you, O Christ!
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Gospel
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Luke 18:9-14 ©
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The tax collector, not the Pharisee, went home justified.
Jesus spoke the
following parable to some people who prided themselves on being virtuous and
despised everyone else: ‘Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee,
the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood there and said this prayer to
himself, “I thank you, God, that I am not grasping, unjust, adulterous like the
rest of mankind, and particularly that I am not like this tax collector here. I
fast twice a week; I pay tithes on all I get.” The tax collector stood some
distance away, not daring even to raise his eyes to heaven; but he beat his
breast and said, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” This man, I tell you, went
home again at rights with God; the other did not. For everyone who exalts
himself will be humbled, but the man who humbles himself will be exalted.’
WHAT I WANT IS
LOVE, NOT SACRIFICE
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [HOSEA 5:15 – 6:6; LUKE
18:9-14 ]
What kind of love do we
have for God? Will
the indictment against Israel be applied for us too? The Lord bemoaned,
“What am I to do with you, Ephraim? What am I to do with you,
Judah?” The love of the Israelites for God was not genuine.
It was external and superficial. The Lord said that their love was like a
morning cloud and the dew that quickly disappears. It does not
last. Isn’t this true for us all? How many of us truly love the
Lord our God with all our heart, soul and strength? (cf Mk 12:30)
Our expression of our love for God is shallow. We exhibit external
appearances of piety but our hearts are far from Him. When it comes to
deciding for Him, we will choose the world and ourselves before Him.
Why did God reject the
love of Israel? Firstly, because their love for God was based on
self-love. They
repented not because they loved God but for fear of punishment. They were
afraid to suffer the consequences of their sins. Indeed, they loved
themselves more. They were only concerned about the material blessings
they received from God. How true for us too! Some Catholics
go to church only on days of obligation because they fear breaking the
commandments of God. They do the barest minimum just to fulfil their
obligation so that they feel “righteous” before God lest they are punished for
breaking the commandments. Their faith in God is rooted in fear, not in
love. They do not see God as a God of love but God as a law enforcer,
ready to punish us for our offences. The reason why we keep on falling
back to sins is when fear is forgotten.
Secondly, like the
Israelites, we are presumptuous of God’s forgiveness. It is true that God is all forgiving and
He loves us unconditionally. However, taking His love and mercy for
granted and presuming that He forgives us every time we turn to Him, makes the
grace of God cheap. The Israelites apparently sought repentance.
But they were not sincere. They were not contrite of their sins or
understood the depth of their sins, the pain and suffering they caused to God
and their fellowmen. They thought the wrath of God would last just for a while.
They were presumptuous. “He has torn us to pieces, but he will heal us;
he has struck us down, but he will bandage our wounds; after a day or two, he
will bring us back to life, on the third day he will raise us and we shall live
in his presence.”
This is the folly of
those Christians who interpret the doctrine of Justification by faith alone in
a narrow way. The famous
Lutheran theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer warned us of the danger of reducing
the costly grace of Christ to cheap grace, which is grace without confession,
communion, discipleship, sacrifices and commitments. Like the
Israelites, we take our sins lightly since we think that faith in God’s love
and mercy is enough. Catholics might go for confession and some even
regularly. However, they are not repentant or contrite because they do
not see how their sins are hurting God who loves them so much and also their
loved ones who see them hurting themselves. They go for confession after
confession, repeating the same sins without any sorrow or intent to
change. For real repentance, we need to examine our conscience, acknowledge
the seriousness of our sins, be sorry for what we have done, deepen our love
for the Lord, meditate on the Word of God so that we can feel with the Lord and
resolve to overcome our sins.
Thirdly, the Israelites
were contented simply to offer sacrifices that are external but not a true
offering of themselves.
They offered holocausts to the Lord, but such sacrifices were merely
external. They had no real change of heart. The Lord rejected their
sacrifices. “This is why I have torn them to pieces by the prophets, why
I slaughtered them with the words from my mouth, his judgement will rise like
the light, since what I want is love, not sacrifice; knowledge of God, not
holocausts.”
Religious sacrifices and
rituals are certainly important in religion as means of worship. Certain practices and customs of
religions, although external, can help the believers to be reminded of God’s
love and majesty, their sinfulness and dependence on Him. We are human
beings. Signs, symbols and gestures are means to touch our interior self,
bind us together as a community, and strengthen our relationship with
God. They are also means to express our love and obedience to God.
But such worship must be from the heart. If they are carried out
robotically, perfunctorily and mechanically without sincerity, love and a
desire to change our lives, such rituals become superstitious practices.
What the Lord wants is not sacrifices but love!
Fourthly, a true worship
of God is focused on His greatness and love, not on ourselves. Sometimes worshippers and ministers
are more focused on themselves than on the worship of God. The choir
wants to stand out from the congregation and be recognized for their
performance. Sometimes, ministers, altar servers, and lectors serving at
the altar distract others from worshipping God. At times parishioners who
dress immodestly or outlandishly, draw people to themselves, distracting others
who are weak from focusing on God. We would then be behaving like what
the Pharisee did. He was drawing attention to himself. Within
earshot, he recounted all the things he had done for the Lord, how he kept the
laws faithfully. He said, “I thank you, God, that I am not grasping,
unjust, adulterous like the rest of mankind, and particularly that I am not
like this tax collector here. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes on all I
get.” He was praising himself and not praising God. He wanted
everyone to know how disciplined and faithful he was to the Law. We must
be careful never to become a source of distraction to others in worship.
Instead, we should lose ourselves in Him. If we are serving in the
liturgy, we should keep our eyes focused on the Lord and not make ourselves the
center of attention.
Fifthly, a true worship
of God means to rely solely on His strength and to give credit to Him alone. In this context, the doctrine of
Justification by faith alone should be underscored, especially among Catholics
who think that they can earn God’s grace by good works alone. We must not
behave like the Pharisee who thought he could earn his salvation by the good
works he did. All good works must be understood as the fruits of the
justification we have received from Him in the first place. They are not
the effects of being justified but the cause of justification. They
manifest the grace of God at work in our lives. They are not merits that
we can earn from God but rather they come because of the grace of God given to
us in Christ.
Today, we are called to
be like the tax-collector who was humble before God. He did not focus on
himself but on the mercy of God.
He felt unworthy before God and stood far away. “The tax collector stood
some distance away, not daring even to raise his eyes to heaven; but he beat
his breast and said, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” This is the
proper disposition before God in prayer and worship. The psalmist says,
“For in sacrifice you take no delight, burnt offering from me you would refuse,
my sacrifice, a contrite spirit. A humbled, contrite heart you will not
spurn.” God loves a contrite heart. Hence, the Lord said, “This
man, I tell you, went home again at rights with God; the other did not. For
everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the man who humbles himself
will be exalted.”
However, the gospel did
not say whether he changed his life or not. We only read that he went
home justified.
We can of course presume that he changed his life for the better. Having
encountered God’s merciful love and having a contrite heart, surely that person
would want to change his life. He might not become a saint overnight,
although it could be possible with the grace of God. But the fact that he
felt God’s mercy and forgiving love, was sufficient for him to reform his
life. Of course, changing one’s sinful life takes time. But God
sees our intention, our sincerity, our striving, not the results. If we
have done our best, God will do the rest. He will forgive us for our
weaknesses and justify us by His grace and mercy. We can never perfect
ourselves in this life. So we should be contented and trust in His mercy
and love when we fall into sin again, knowing that His grace justifies us.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All
Rights Reserved
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