20200706 DESPERATION AS THE INSTRUMENT TO ENCOUNTER GOD’S GRACE
Readings at Mass
Liturgical Colour: Green.
First reading
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Hosea 2:16,17-18,21-22 ©
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I will betroth you to myself and you will come to know the name of the Lord
It is the Lord who speaks:
I am going to lure her
and lead her out into the wilderness
and speak to her heart.
I am going to give her back her vineyards,
and make the Valley of Achor a gateway of hope.
There she will respond to me as she did when she was young,
as she did when she came out of the land of Egypt.
When that day comes – it is the Lord who speaks –
she will call me, ‘My husband’,
no longer will she call me, ‘My Baal.’
I will betroth you to myself for ever,
betroth you with integrity and justice,
with tenderness and love;
I will betroth you to myself with faithfulness,
and you will come to know the Lord.
Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm 144(145):2-9 ©
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The Lord is kind and full of compassion.
I will bless you day after day
and praise your name for ever.
The Lord is great, highly to be praised,
his greatness cannot be measured.
The Lord is kind and full of compassion.
Age to age shall proclaim your works,
shall declare your mighty deeds,
shall speak of your splendour and glory,
tell the tale of your wonderful works.
The Lord is kind and full of compassion.
They will speak of your terrible deeds,
recount your greatness and might.
They will recall your abundant goodness;
age to age shall ring out your justice.
The Lord is kind and full of compassion.
The Lord is kind and full of compassion,
slow to anger, abounding in love.
How good is the Lord to all,
compassionate to all his creatures.
The Lord is kind and full of compassion.
Gospel Acclamation
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cf.Jn6:63,68
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Your words are spirit, Lord, and they are life;
you have the message of eternal life.
Alleluia!
Or:
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cf.2Tim1:10
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Our Saviour Jesus Christ abolished death
and he has proclaimed life through the Good News.
Alleluia!
Gospel
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Matthew 9:18-26 ©
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'Your faith has restored you to health'
While Jesus was speaking, up came one of the officials, who bowed low in front of him and said, ‘My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her and her life will be saved.’ Jesus rose and, with his disciples, followed him. Then from behind him came a woman, who had suffered from a haemorrhage for twelve years, and she touched the fringe of his cloak, for she said to herself, ‘If I can only touch his cloak I shall be well again.’ Jesus turned round and saw her; and he said to her, ‘Courage, my daughter, your faith has restored you to health.’ And from that moment the woman was well again.
When Jesus reached the official’s house and saw the flute-players, with the crowd making a commotion he said, ‘Get out of here; the little girl is not dead, she is asleep.’ And they laughed at him. But when the people had been turned out he went inside and took the little girl by the hand; and she stood up. And the news spread all round the countryside.
DESPERATION AS THE INSTRUMENT TO ENCOUNTER GOD’S GRACE
06 July, 2020, Monday, 14th Week, Ordinary Time
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ Hosea 2:16, 17-18, 21-22; Mt 9:18-26]
Many of us want to encounter God. But for many of us, our God-encounters are superficial, not deep enough to change and transform our lives radically. Our faith in God is based on an act of the will, an assent of the mind. But there are others who have deep religious experiences that convict them of God’s love. Why do some have such beautiful encounters, while others do not? It all depends on how are desperate we are to find Him. So long as we are not desperate for God, our experience of Him would be reduced to the extent of our need for Him.
This is the theme of today’s scripture readings, our desperation for God’s grace. In the gospel, we have the story of the Court Official. “While Jesus was speaking, up came one of the officials, who bowed low in front of him and said, ‘My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her and her life will be saved.’ Jesus rose and, with his disciples, followed him.” It was a moment of desperation that drove him to seek the impossible. How could his daughter be given new life? In his need, he turned to the Lord. The others would not believe that Jesus could raise her back to life. “When Jesus reached the official’s house and saw the flute-players, with the crowd making a commotion he said, ‘Get out of here; the little girl is not dead, she is asleep.’ And they laughed at him.”
This is true as well for the woman suffering from hemorrhage. She “had suffered from a hemorrhage for twelve years.” In the gospel of Luke, we read that “she had spent all she had on physicians, no one could cure her.” (Lk 8:43) She too was desperate. It was not just her illness but the shame that she carried with her, the exclusion from worship and from the rituals because she was always unclean. It must have been so frustrating that she could not even get near to people for fear of contaminating them. Most of all, she had tried every possible way to find a cure but after spending all her money, she found none.
Like her, we too will only come to find the Lord when we are sick or in trouble, but after we have exhausted all other means and failed. After seeing all the doctors, TCMs, mediums and all the New Age techniques for healing, we turn to Jesus Christ as a last resort! The truth is that so long as we can depend on ourselves or on others, the Lord will not reach out to us. He will allow nature to take its course. Only when we are at our wit’s end, will He will show us that He is the author of life and death, if we turn to Him. He is master over all creation and nature. Just as He healed the woman, He too will heal us as well.
But we need to surrender in faith. It was the Court Official’s ultimate act of faith in the Lord that his daughter was raised from the dead. “When the people had been turned out he went inside and took the little girl by the hand; and she stood up. And the news spread all round the countryside.” So too the woman was healed because of her faith in the Lord. “She touched the fringe of his cloak, for she said to herself, ‘If I can only touch his cloak I shall be well again.'” And we read, “Jesus turned round and saw her; and he said to her, ‘Courage, my daughter, your faith has restored you to health.’ And from that moment the woman was well again.” It was her faith in the Lord’s healing grace that resulted in her healing. Without faith, there would be no restoration of life, or a resuscitation, or a cure. In both cases, they were given new life, not just physical health but a life with God, a life of grace in coming to know that Jesus is their Lord and savior.
We too must come in faith to receive His healing grace and to encounter His love and mercy. If we want to be healed of our sins and be set free, we must come to Him with expectant faith. With the psalmist, we must realize that the “The Lord is kind and full of compassion.” With humility, we must turn to the Lord and ask for help. Many of us are too proud to ask to be prayed over. We do not want others to know that we are helpless and are weak or in ill-health, or are sinful. We are ashamed to let people know, just like the woman suffering from a blood disorder. But only when she found the humility to confess her indiscretion of touching the Lord’s cloak was she healed of her illness. We need to lower our pride like the Court Official who turned to the Lord and perhaps made a fool of himself in the eyes of others. For those without faith, it is simply impossible.
So, our need for God’s grace is the pre-requisite. This is the reason why the Lord often allows us to enter into the wilderness so that we will experience helplessness and turn to Him. So long as we are self-sufficient, it is difficult to be receptive to God’s power and grace. It is only when we are totally helpless, then the Lord will stretch out His hand to save us. This was why He banished the Israelites and sent them into exile a second time. “It is the Lord who speaks: I am going to lure her and lead her out into the wilderness and speak to her heart. There she will respond to me as she did when she was young, as she did when she came out of the land of Egypt.” Only in their exile in Babylon, when they were humbled, did they come to realize that they were not such a great nation after all. Israel had become rich and prosperous but because they turned away from God, disobeyed the laws and worshipped foreign gods, God used the foreign powers to teach them and to purify their faith in Him.
But the exile should not be seen as a punishment. It was also God’s grace to help Israel returned to their senses and acknowledge who the Lord was. It was part of the process to bring them back. It was God’s hope that “when that day comes she will call me, ‘My husband’, no longer will she call me, ‘My Baal.’ I will betroth you to myself for ever, betroth you with integrity and justice, with tenderness and love; I will betroth you to myself with faithfulness, and you will come to know the Lord.” We must be grateful for God’s grace which comes to us in different ways, but all lead to a deeper encounter with Him.
So, if we are going through difficult moments in life, trials and challenges, let us not give up too easily on God or on our faith. We must persevere and use these sufferings and trials to strengthen us in our faith, to purify us in love for Him. It is a time for us to reflect about the shortness of life, our relationship with Him, and our dealings with our brothers and sisters. Only when we realize that most of our problems in life are caused by our selfishness, irresponsibility, negligence and pride, can we then turn to the Lord and those whom we have hurt for mercy, forgiveness and healing. Our sufferings are not meant to break us but to build us up, to restore us to fullness of life. Indeed, when we turn to the Lord in our desperation, in humility and in sincerity, He will surely look down in mercy on us. Without faith and repentance, we will be turned out like those cynics who laughed at Jesus when He came to heal the girl. However, if we seek the Lord, He will show us His mercy as He did to the Court Official and the woman with hemorrhage.
Then together with the psalmist, we can give glory to Him, for that is the outcome of being healed by the Lord. “I will bless you day after day and praise your name for ever. The Lord is great, highly to be praised, his greatness cannot be measured. Age to age shall proclaim your works, shall declare your mighty deeds, shall speak of your splendor and glory, tell the tale of your wonderful works. They will speak of your terrible deeds, recount your greatness and might. They will recall your abundant goodness; age to age shall ring out your justice. The Lord is kind and full of compassion, slow to anger, abounding in love. How good is the Lord to all, compassionate to all his creatures.” If the Lord wants us to confess our need for Him, it is in order that we can confess His glory and power for all to hear and see, so that they too can find hope in Him as we do.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved
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