20201015 TRANSMITING THE DIVINE DESIGN FOR HUMANITY AND CREATION
15 October, 2020, Thursday, 28th Week, Ordinary Time
Readings at Mass
Liturgical Colour: White.
These are the readings for the feria
First reading |
Ephesians 1:1-10 © |
Before the world was made, God chose us in Christ
From Paul, appointed by God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, to the saints who are faithful to Christ Jesus. Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Blessed be God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who has blessed us with all the spiritual blessings of heaven in Christ.
Before the world was made, he chose us, chose us in Christ,
to be holy and spotless, and to live through love in his presence,
determining that we should become his adopted sons, through Jesus Christ
for his own kind purposes,
to make us praise the glory of his grace,
his free gift to us in the Beloved,
in whom, through his blood, we gain our freedom, the forgiveness of our sins.
Such is the richness of the grace
which he has showered on us
in all wisdom and insight.
He has let us know the mystery of his purpose,
the hidden plan he so kindly made in Christ from the beginning
to act upon when the times had run their course to the end:
that he would bring everything together under Christ, as head,
everything in the heavens and everything on earth.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 97(98):1-6 © |
The Lord has shown his salvation.
Sing a new song to the Lord
for he has worked wonders.
His right hand and his holy arm
have brought salvation.
The Lord has shown his salvation.
The Lord has made known his salvation;
has shown his justice to the nations.
He has remembered his truth and love
for the house of Israel.
The Lord has shown his salvation.
All the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation of our God.
Shout to the Lord, all the earth,
ring out your joy.
The Lord has shown his salvation.
Sing psalms to the Lord with the harp
with the sound of music.
With trumpets and the sound of the horn
acclaim the King, the Lord.
The Lord has shown his salvation.
Gospel Acclamation | Ps110:7,8 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Your precepts, O Lord, are all of them sure;
they stand firm for ever and ever.
Alleluia!
Or: | Jn14:6 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, says the Lord;
No one can come to the Father except through me.
Alleluia!
Gospel | Luke 11:47-54 © |
You have not gone in yourselves and have prevented others who wanted to
Jesus said: ‘Alas for you who build the tombs of the prophets, the men your ancestors killed! In this way you both witness what your ancestors did and approve it; they did the killing, you do the building.
‘And that is why the Wisdom of God said, “I will send them prophets and apostles; some they will slaughter and persecute, so that this generation will have to answer for every prophet’s blood that has been shed since the foundation of the world, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was murdered between the altar and the sanctuary.” Yes, I tell you, this generation will have to answer for it all.
‘Alas for you lawyers who have taken away the key of knowledge! You have not gone in yourselves, and have prevented others going in who wanted to.’
When he left the house, the scribes and the Pharisees began a furious attack on him and tried to force answers from him on innumerable questions, setting traps to catch him out in something he might say.
TRANSMITING THE DIVINE DESIGN FOR HUMANITY AND CREATION
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [EPHESIANS 1:1-10; LUKE 11:47-54 ]
As Catholics, we confess that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. (Jn 14:6) He is the “Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” (Rev 22:13) Yet, many Catholics still do not understand the plan of God for creation. They are not confident of their origin, are confused about their identity, ignorant about their purpose in life and without hope for the future. How could this be? St Paul clearly wrote in today’s first reading that “He has let us know the mystery of his purpose, the hidden plan he so kindly made in Christ from the beginning to act upon when the times had run their course to the end.”
What could be the reasons for our ignorance and confusion? The truth is that the Catholic Faith as taught to us can be rather complex and daunting for anyone to understand and embrace the truths clearly. If you were not highly educated, you would not be able to grasp the arguments, the scriptural and theological explanation of the doctrines of the Church. In fact, even those of us who are intellectuals find the teachings of the Church, whether in doctrines or morality, rather confusing and complex. This is why, often priests, teachers and catechists, not to speak of our ordinary Catholic, find it difficult to explain our faith to non-Catholics or even to Catholics. There are so many doctrines of the Church and so many laws that most Catholics at the end of their long catechesis can only vaguely remember a few essential truths of the faith.
This was what the Lord was saying to the religious leaders during His time. “Alas for you lawyers who have taken away the key of knowledge! You have not gone in yourselves, and have prevented others going in who wanted to.” The scribes who were the interpreters of the Law of Moses went into great details, explicating the laws and applying the principles of the law to concrete situations, so much so that the essence and meaning of the Law was forgotten. Not only that, by twisting and arguing among themselves on the right application of the Mosaic Law, it led to various interpretations and they could not even agree among themselves. At the same time, they themselves were unable to put into practice what they taught in the Laws and they would find loopholes to justify when the laws could be broken.
This is true today even of the Christian Faith. We have many scripture and theology scholars studying the scripture, the history of theology and the doctrines of the Church. They spend their whole life studying the scriptures, the original text, the historical context, the meaning and the intentions of the author. Those of us who are scholars in scripture will realize the complexity of interpreting scripture. Scholars themselves cannot agree on the original texts itself, much less on the translation, the author of the books of the bible, the time and date of the writing, the audience, the intention, etc.
When it comes to theology, it is even more complex. We have 2000 years of Catholic theology from various schools, not forgetting 500 years of Protestant theology as well. When we study the history of theology, the history of doctrines, the history of liturgy, its historical context, the different schools of thought, we get even more confused at the diverse interpretations, so much so we do not even know who is right or wrong. Everyone has explanations for their position. This is why theologians and scripture scholars at the end of the day can only agree to disagree. For the poor, simple and ordinary Catholic who do not have all the time in the world to dwell on scripture and theology, as their concern is with human sciences and involvement in the world, they are almost totally lost in the maze of these arguments. This explains why Catholics are diffident to explain their faith.
For this reason, the Catholic Church fortunately has the Magisterium, that is the College of Bishops in union with the Holy Father to teach us the basic truths of our faith without the faithful getting into the complexity of the details. Our Faith is beautifully summarized in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Only the basic tenets of our faith are taught with simple explanations. Indeed, today we need not so much the intricate explanations of the scriptures and theology but the simple and basic gospel for the masses. This does not mean that we do not need scholars to offer their studies and theological reflections for the Church’s magisterium to consider so that our faith will always be relevant and growing by deepening our understanding of the scriptures and the doctrines of the Church.
Our greatest challenge for the Church today is to capture the essence of our Faith and transmit them to the ordinary laity so that they will be inspired and be led closer to the Lord. If we continue to use bombastic, archaic, technical theological terms to speak to our people, the real message of the gospel would not be heard. Indeed, in recent times, the Popes have sensed the importance of using plain language to speak to our people, especially in their letters and preaching. When Pope Benedict became pope, he wrote the shortest encyclical at the beginning of his pontificate, “God is Love”, which summarizes the essence of Christian Faith. Pope Francis dispensed with the use of technical terms and began to communicate with the People of God using ordinary layman’s language. This is why his messages and preaching speak to our hearts, not just our minds.
St Paul gives us a clear example of how to communicate the essence of the Good News clearly in his introductory letter to the Ephesians. As the chosen apostle appointed by God, he sought to convey only what was taught to him by our Lord Jesus Christ. He was conscious that Christ sent him and therefore what he taught would not be his thoughts and views but that of our Lord’s. He was called for a special purpose, namely, to reveal the plan of God in Christ to us all. (cf Eph 3:8-10)
In essence, what is this divine plan of God for humanity? It is this, that we have been chosen by the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ to share the “spiritual blessings of heaven in Christ.” From all eternity, we have been chosen to share the life of Christ. Indeed, St Paul said, “Before the world was made, he chose us, chose us in Christ, to be holy and spotless.” This is God’s plan for us. In His goodness, He wants us to share in the holiness and life of Christ.
However, because of man’s sins and rejection of His grace, He gave us Christ, “his free gift to us in the Beloved, in whom, through his blood, we gain our freedom, the forgiveness of our sins.” Christ is the one who delivered us from our slavery to sin, just as God delivered the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt. The word, “deliver” means to hand over, to give. The postman delivers us a letter, which means to “hand over.” Closely connected with the word, “deliverance” is the word, “redemption.” Redemption involves a payment, a price. And that price is the blood of Christ, His death as an expiation for our sins. This ransom is not paid to anyone, not the devil. It is the price to convince us of His Father’s unconditional love and mercy. His death therefore assures us of our forgiveness and our reconciliation.
What is left for us now is simply “to live through love in his presence” so that we can “become his adopted sons … for his own kind purposes, to make us praise the glory of his grace.” Indeed, sharing in Christ’s sonship, we share in the life and love of God, here on earth and eternity in heaven. Truly, with St Paul we say, “such is the richness of the grace which he has showered on us in all wisdom and insight.” Hence, we know for certain that God has planned “in Christ from the beginning to act upon when the times had run their course to the end: that he would bring everything together under Christ, as head, everything in the heavens and everything on earth.” This is the divine plan for humanity.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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