20200730 IMPERFECT PERFECT CHURCH
30 July, 2020, Thursday, 17th Week, Ordinary Time
Readings at Mass
Liturgical Colour: Green.
First reading
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Jeremiah 18:1-6 ©
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When the clay goes wrong, the potter starts afresh
The word that was addressed to Jeremiah by the Lord, ‘Get up and make your way down to the potter’s house; there I shall let you hear what I have to say.’ So I went down to the potter’s house; and there he was, working at the wheel. And whenever the vessel he was making came out wrong, as happens with the clay handled by potters, he would start afresh and work it into another vessel, as potters do. Then this word of the Lord was addressed to me, ‘House of Israel, can not I do to you what this potter does? – it is the Lord who speaks. Yes, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so you are in mine, House of Israel.’
Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm 145(146):2-6 ©
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He is happy who is helped by Jacob’s God.
or
Alleluia!
My soul, give praise to the Lord.
I will praise the Lord all my days,
make music to my God while I live.
He is happy who is helped by Jacob’s God.
or
Alleluia!
Put no trust in princes,
In mortal men in whom there is no help.
Take their breath, they return to clay
and their plans that day come to nothing.
He is happy who is helped by Jacob’s God.
or
Alleluia!
He is happy who is helped by Jacob’s God,
whose hope is in the Lord his God,
who alone made heaven and earth,
the seas and all they contain.
He is happy who is helped by Jacob’s God.
or
Alleluia!
Gospel Acclamation
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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!
Or:
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cf.Ac16:14
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Open our heart, O Lord,
to accept the words of your Son.
Alleluia!
Gospel
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Matthew 13:47-53 ©
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The fishermen collect the good fish and throw away those that are no use
Jesus said to the crowds: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea that brings in a haul of all kinds. When it is full, the fishermen haul it ashore; then, sitting down, they collect the good ones in a basket and throw away those that are no use. This is how it will be at the end of time: the angels will appear and separate the wicked from the just to throw them into the blazing furnace where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth.
‘Have you understood all this?’ They said, ‘Yes.’ And he said to them, ‘Well then, every scribe who becomes a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out from his storeroom things both new and old.’
IMPERFECT PERFECT CHURCH
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ JER 18:1-6; MT 13:47-53 ]
Many of us expect the Church to be a holy place where members are all saintly. This is because we are all supposed to subscribe to the teachings of Christ in the gospel. We are to live an upright, holy and virtuous life. When we are in Church, we expect everyone to be nice, polite, caring, helpful, considerate and forgiving, just like us! More often than not, we meet very selfish worshippers who would reserve seats for their loved ones or prevent others from sitting on the same bench even if there was a space. We get impatient drivers who would shout and scold our car park wardens. Of course, we have equally rude, arrogant and sarcastic ministry members as well, including some priests! When that happens, they get hurt and leave the Church, calling everyone a hypocrite.
However, the truth is that if we are so perfect, then we should be more exemplary by being polite even when others are rude to us, charitable even when others are selfish, compassionate even when others lack tolerance. If we are equally self-righteous, impatient, unkind and retaliate against those whom we cannot tolerate, we are in truth no better than them. Like them, we are also imperfect and have our faults as well. So as the Lord said, “Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye?” (Mt 7:1-3)
We must be careful that we are not advocating a perfect and exclusive Church only for the saints. Some Catholics think the Church is only for holy and saintly people, forgetting that we are equally sinners. If we reserve the Church only for the saints, we will have hardly any members. At any rate, if we are all so saintly, we do not need Christ or the Church to help us grow in holiness. We have already canonized ourselves. No Church has perfect members. Otherwise, we will be like the world, subscribing to spiritual eugenics, that is, only those who have the saintly genes will be allowed to live and those with wicked genes will be eliminated. We will be on the way to producing a superhuman race without moral defects. Those who are less than perfect would be deemed to be unfit for the Church.
The parable of the dragnet reminds us that the Church, the Kingdom of God on earth is constituted of all kinds of people. This is why the Church is called Catholic, universal, and open to all of humanity. It cuts across genders, races, cultures and languages. Whether one is poor or rich, educated or uneducated, ordinary or people with status and position, good or bad, saint or sinner, all belong to the Church. Like the dragnet that catches all kinds of fishes, the Kingdom of God embraces all categories of people without exception. As such, we can expect to encounter all sorts of people in the Church with their eccentricities, different levels of spiritual growth, diverse backgrounds, temperaments, experiences, prejudices and mindsets. Being Catholic means being united in diversity; not united in uniformity. Unless the Church embraces all kinds of people, the Church cannot be said to be a refuge for sinners, a sanctuary for the brokenhearted and a sacrament of love and unity. The Church is holy and yet the members are sinful.
The only requirement to be a member of the Church is our desire to grow in faith, love and charity. The only prerequisite is that we recognize we are sinners ourselves. If we are sincere in wanting to grow in holiness and to become more Christ-like, then we are worthy to be in the Church of Christ, not in spite of but because of our imperfections in faith and charity. God welcomes us into His Church so that we can be given the right ambience and opportunity to listen to the Word of God and journey with the rest of God’s people in faith.
The Church is a place where each one of us is given the ambience, the opportunity and grace to grow in Christ-likeness. Through the proclamation of the gospel, the teaching of scriptures, worship and prayers, the celebration of the sacraments, especially the Eucharist and Reconciliation, reflection on the Word of God, the sharing of the gospel and Christian fellowship, we grow in maturity in Christ. St Paul says that the gifts of the Spirit are to “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming.” (Eph 4:12-14)
In the Christian community, since the beginning of the Church, there will always be members who will fall short of the standards of the gospel. Since the early Church, we read of members who fell into sin like Ananias and Sapphira who lied about the proceeds of a property they sold. (Acts 5:1-11) We read of the apparent discrimination of the Greek-speaking widows against the Hebrew-speaking widows. (Acts 6:1-6) So there will also always be shortcomings in every Christian community, including those living in consecrated life and our clergy. We are all sinners but we are purifying ourselves in love and faith.
This was the case of the Israelites in today’s first reading on the parable of the potter and the clay. God told the Israelites that He is sovereign in His power and will. God is the potter and we are the clay. Like the potter, He can do what He wills with us because we are the clay. However, this God who is the potter is always giving us chances to be remoulded and refashioned. He knows that we are imperfect and so He allows us to be perfected over time. He never gives up on us. The only problem is when we give up on ourselves by refusing to change. Following today’s text, the Lord said, “Look, I am a potter shaping evil against you and devising a plan against you. Turn now, all of you from your evil way, and amend your ways and your doings.” (Jer 18:11) Unfortunately, Israel was stubborn. They said, “It is no use! We will follow our own plans, and each of us will act according to the stubbornness of our evil will.” (Jer 18:12) Indeed, we will ultimately have to face the judgment of God if we do not repent from doing evil. The Lord said, “This is how it will be at the end of time; the angels will appear and separate the wicked from the just to throw them into the blazing furnace where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth.”
In the meantime, God is giving us time to repent. “The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance.” (2 Pt 3:9) How does He do it? Precisely by allowing the good and evil, the strong and the weak, the traditionalists and the progressives, the conservatives and the liberals, the rich and the poor to interact with each other! We are mutually helping each other to grow in perfection in charity and faith. The poor test the rich in generosity. The poor give joy to the rich when they accept their help graciously and gratefully. The weak and sickly test the patience of those who are strong and healthy. Conversely, the strong help the weak and make them feel good and useful. Sinners test the saints to grow in patience, acceptance and forgiveness. The saintly people edify sinners in love, compassion and charity. So we are all mutual spiritual benefactors to each other.
Regardless, whether we are saints or sinners, we build each other up for better or for worse. The choice is ours. We can be negative and take the imperfections of the Church with resentment and discouragement. Alternatively, we can be positive and accept the imperfections of the Church as a stepping-stone for us to grow in charity and patience, in compassion and love. Indeed, at the end of the parables, Jesus gave us good advice to bring the old and the new together. “A disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his storeroom things both new and old.” We must not discard whatever is old or take whatever is new. From the strength of each, we use them for the greater good of all. We must be discerning. But we leave the final judgment to God.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved. The contents of this page may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission from the Archbishop’s Office. This includes extracts, quotations, and summaries.
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