20201107 FINDING TRANQUILITY IN A STRESSFUL WORLD
07 November, 2020, Saturday, 31st Week, Ordinary Time
Readings at Mass
Liturgical Colour: Green.
First reading |
Philippians 4:10-19 © |
With the help of the One who gives me strength, there is nothing I cannot master
It is a great joy to me, in the Lord, that at last you have shown some concern for me again; though of course you were concerned before, and only lacked an opportunity. I am not talking about shortage of money: I have learnt to manage on whatever I have, I know how to be poor and I know how to be rich too. I have been through my initiation and now I am ready for anything anywhere: full stomach or empty stomach, poverty or plenty. There is nothing I cannot master with the help of the One who gives me strength. All the same, it was good of you to share with me in my hardships. In the early days of the Good News, as you people of Philippi well know, when I left Macedonia, no other church helped me with gifts of money. You were the only ones; and twice since my stay in Thessalonika you have sent me what I needed. It is not your gift that I value; what is valuable to me is the interest that is mounting up in your account. Now for the time being I have everything that I need and more: I am fully provided now that I have received from Epaphroditus the offering that you sent, a sweet fragrance – the sacrifice that God accepts and finds pleasing. In return my God will fulfil all your needs, in Christ Jesus, as lavishly as only God can.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 111(112):1-2,5-6,8,9 © |
Happy the man who fears the Lord.
or
Alleluia!
Happy the man who fears the Lord,
who takes delight in all his commands.
His sons will be powerful on earth;
the children of the upright are blessed.
Happy the man who fears the Lord.
or
Alleluia!
The good man takes pity and lends,
he conducts his affairs with honour.
The just man will never waver:
he will be remembered for ever.
Happy the man who fears the Lord.
or
Alleluia!
With a steadfast heart he will not fear.
Open-handed, he gives to the poor;
his justice stands firm for ever.
His head will be raised in glory.
Happy the man who fears the Lord.
or
Alleluia!
Gospel Acclamation | cf.Ac16:14 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Open our heart, O Lord,
to accept the words of your Son.
Alleluia!
Or: | 2Co8:9 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Jesus Christ was rich,
but he became poor for your sake,
to make you rich out of his poverty.
Alleluia!
Gospel | Luke 16:9-15 © |
Use money, tainted as it is, to win you friends
Jesus said to his disciples: ‘I tell you this: use money, tainted as it is, to win you friends, and thus make sure that when it fails you, they will welcome you into the tents of eternity. The man who can be trusted in little things can be trusted in great; the man who is dishonest in little things will be dishonest in great. If then you cannot be trusted with money, that tainted thing, who will trust you with genuine riches? And if you cannot be trusted with what is not yours, who will give you what is your very own?
‘No servant can be the slave of two masters: he will either hate the first and love the second, or treat the first with respect and the second with scorn. You cannot be the slave both of God and of money.’
The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and laughed at him. He said to them, ‘You are the very ones who pass yourselves off as virtuous in people’s sight, but God knows your hearts. For what is thought highly of by men is loathsome in the sight of God.’
FINDING TRANQUILITY IN A STRESSFUL WORLD
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [PHILIPPIANS 4:10-19; LUKE 16:9-15 ]
Many of us are seeking for peace and rest in this stressful world. With consumerism and materialism, man is always feeling the need to have more and more. Our hearts are never satisfied because the world presents to us the latest gadget or things we must have. When our hearts crave for so many things, for sex, for pleasure, for fame and for power, we will never find peace in this life. Indeed, Buddha had diagnosed craving as the cause of the misery of humanity. Man suffers because he is never contented with what he has. Craving and hankering unsettles our mind and heart. As a result, it leads to greed, stealing, corruption, bribery and even violence. The truth is that no one has enough. In the history of philosophy and religion, great philosophers and spiritual leaders have proposed the way to finding peace in this world is by controlling our desires, the craving of the heart. If we can stop our desires, then we will no longer yearn to have this or that.
We have the way of stoicism. This philosophy seeks to eliminate all desires and attachment from our hearts through self-sufficiency. The principle underlying this philosophy is that the less you need in life, the less you desire. To arrive at contentment, one must no longer desire for anything. Riches is measured in terms of how much you need to be happy. If you need little to be happy, you are richer than those who need plenty to be happy. Happiness comes when we have eliminated our desire to have more of anything in life. But it is not only desire that causes us to suffer when our desires are not met.
Our attachment to people because of our emotions also unsettles us. In fact, most of us are lacking peace because we are worried for our loved ones. We are unhappy in our relationships. Or for some, they have no friends and they feel lonely. They desire love and company. Stoicism teaches us to detach ourselves from people as well till we are no longer attached to them. When we come to a stage where we are indifferent to suffering and death, whether of ourselves or of our loved ones, we will find peace.
Indeed, when all cravings, whether for the things of this world, pleasure or emotional needs, cease we will find peace. However, it is a peace that robs a person of his humanity, of his feelings, of his will, of his capacity to love. He is depersonalized and can hardly be considered a human being. He is more akin to the AI robots that the world is making. He can do all things but he is without a heart, without love. A man who is without love, a man who cannot feel for his fellowmen, a man who cannot suffer, a man who cannot cry or laugh, a man without emotions, a man who cannot celebrate is hardly a man.
Buddha too sought to extinguish desires and cravings from the human heart. Before he was enlightened, he sought the way of discipline, contemplation and fasting. It is the path of ascetism but the cravings were suppressed, not extinguished until one day, he was enlightened to the true nature of things, which is that everything is transient and passing. Hence, we should not cling on to the things of this world, not even our feelings and our thoughts. Instead, we should employ mindfulness, which is to live in the moment as fully as possible. Through meditation on mindfulness, concentrating on our passing breath, we will come to experience the true nature of reality as an illusion because like our thoughts and feelings, they are always changing. Once we realize this truth not from our head but from our being, we will no longer be attached to the things of this world or even persons. Trying to hold on to something that is transient is an illusion. So the secret is to rest our mind and our thoughts to find psychological peace.
This is why today, mindfulness meditation is taught and practiced as a psychological method to find peace in a stressful world. By breathing in and out slowly, paying full attention to the breath, we stop our mind from thinking and our thoughts from jumping like a monkey from one branch to another. Mindfulness meditation is also called Transcendental meditation or even Centering prayer. This method of finding peace and focus in a very stressful world is now being adopted even by the secular and corporate world, by hospitals and schools so that when their workers are at peace, they can find calmness to focus on their work and do well in life. Started as a religious striving for peace, it is now adopted as a psychological therapy to help people to find peace and calmness in a stressful world.
However, this is not the Christian way to peace and tranquility. We cannot accept the way of the Stoics because when we no longer have any desire even for love and friendship, life becomes meaningless. In the final analysis, we live for love. Love demands desire, but it is not a possessive desire. Love does not mean that we are possessive and attached to the person. That is not love. Love makes a person free and love is always free. It is a love that flows from our heart of love. It is outgoing and reaching out. Such love of course will cause us pain and suffering. But Christian joy means a suffering born out of love. Such suffering brings us a greater joy than just one who indulges in himself.
Hence, the Christian way to overcome the craving of our hearts is to focus on the Lord instead of ourselves. Contentment is arrived at not fundamentally through some ascetical discipline or transcendental meditation but through confidence in God who provides. St Paul was a contented person. He was passionate, a feeling person, a heart person and yet at peace with himself. This is because he had learnt that the art of contentment is to place his trust in divine providence and accept whatever is given. He wrote, “I have learnt to manage on whatever I have, I know how to be poor and I know how to be rich too. I have been through my initiation and now I am ready for anything anywhere: full stomach or empty stomach, poverty or plenty. There is nothing I cannot master with the help of the One who gives me strength.” This is what the Lord said in the gospel, “No servant can be the slave of two masters: he will either hate the first and love the second, or treat the first with respect and the second with scorn. You cannot be the slave both of God and of money.”
When we give ourselves entirely to the Lord, our will, our mind and our possessions, then we can use them for His greater glory and the service of the people. We should be contented with whatever we have. But if the Lord has blessed us with more wealth and riches, they are meant not for ourselves but for the service of His people. It is not a sin to be rich. It becomes a sin only when we love our money more than God and His people. Indeed, the Lord advised His disciples, “use money, tainted as it is, to win you friends, and thus make sure that when it fails you, they will welcome you into the tents of eternity.” Money, at the end of the day, is for us to make friends, build a people of love. Things themselves cannot make us happy, they are means to love and friendship.
When we realize, as the Lord said, that we are stewards of His grace and blessings for His people, and we use them for His service, then the riches will bring us real riches into eternity. Jesus said, “The man who can be trusted in little things can be trusted in great; the man who is dishonest in little things will be dishonest in great. If then you cannot be trusted with money, that tainted thing, who will trust you with genuine riches?” Indeed, when we are blessed with riches, wealth, talents and possessions in life, we will feel grateful knowing that God has counted us worthy to be His stewards of His blessings. This keeps us humble in our attitude. Like St Paul we should rejoice in thanksgiving and gratitude when others bless us with their gifts. Yet, our real rejoicing is not the gifts themselves but that the givers are sharing in the blessing of love and friendship of God. St Paul said, “It is not your gift that I value; what is valuable to me is the interest that is mounting up in your account. In return my God will fulfil all your needs, in Christ Jesus, as lavishly as only God can.”
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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