20201115 HOSPITALITY AND SUPPORT FOR OUR MISSIONARIES
14 November, 2020, Saturday, 32nd Week, Ordinary Time
Readings at Mass
Liturgical Colour: Green.
First reading | 3 John 5-8 © |
It is our duty to welcome missionaries and contribute our share to their work
My friend, you have done faithful work in looking after these brothers, even though they were complete strangers to you. They are a proof to the whole Church of your charity and it would be a very good thing if you could help them on their journey in a way that God would approve. It was entirely for the sake of the name that they set out, without depending on the pagans for anything; it is our duty to welcome men of this sort and contribute our share to their work for the truth.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 111(112):1-6 © |
Happy the man who takes delight in the commands of the Lord.
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 takes delight in the commands of the Lord.
Riches and wealth are in his house;
his justice stands firm for ever.
He is a light in the darkness for the upright:
he is generous, merciful and just.
Happy the man who takes delight in the commands of the Lord.
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 takes delight in the commands of the Lord.
Gospel Acclamation | Jm1:21 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Accept and submit to the word
which has been planted in you
and can save your souls.
Alleluia!
Or: | cf.2Th2:14 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Through the Good News God called us
to share the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Alleluia!
Gospel | Luke 18:1-8 © |
The parable of the unjust judge
Jesus told his disciples a parable about the need to pray continually and never lose heart. ‘There was a judge in a certain town’ he said ‘who had neither fear of God nor respect for man. In the same town there was a widow who kept on coming to him and saying, “I want justice from you against my enemy!” For a long time he refused, but at last he said to himself, “Maybe I have neither fear of God nor respect for man, but since she keeps pestering me I must give this widow her just rights, or she will persist in coming and worry me to death.”’
And the Lord said ‘You notice what the unjust judge has to say? Now will not God see justice done to his chosen who cry to him day and night even when he delays to help them? I promise you, he will see justice done to them, and done speedily. But when the Son of Man comes, will he find any faith on earth?’
HOSPITALITY AND SUPPORT FOR OUR MISSIONARIES
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [3 JOHN 5-8; LUKE 18:1-8 ]
It is significant that St John praised Gaius for showing hospitality especially to fellow Christian missionaries. “My friend, you have done faithful work in looking after these brothers, even though they were complete strangers to you.” Offering hospitality especially to Christian itinerant missionaries during the early days of Christianity was expected of Christians. In line with St John’s reminder to live out the commandment of love, hospitality to missionaries was something praiseworthy. St John added, “They are a proof to the whole Church of your charity and it would be a very good thing if you could help them on their journey in a way that God would approve.”
But what is important to take note is that welcoming itinerant teachers and preachers was the way to support their common mission of spreading the gospel. Since their work was essentially to proclaim the gospel, we cannot expect non-believers to pay for their expenses. St John wrote, “It was entirely for the sake of the name that they set out, without depending on the pagans for anything; it is our duty to welcome men of this sort and contribute our share to their work for the truth.” As Christians, having the same obligation to spread the good news to all the nations by virtue of our baptism, it is therefore our duty to contribute to the spread of the mission either by voluntary service, in kind or financially. No one is exempted from the responsibility of contributing to the mission of the Church. This is why the Church celebrates Mission Sunday and all the collections of that Sunday are sent to Rome for the use of the spread of the gospel in those countries that need our financial support.
Unfortunately, other than giving some money on Mission Sunday many Catholics have no sense of the need to contribute to the work of evangelization and mission within the local church or abroad. Most of the collection on Sundays is towards the maintenance of the Church. This consciousness of the need to support the mission is weak both in our priests and our laity. Most of the time, we tend to be inward-looking, caring for our parish and the needs of the parishioners. Yet it is not enough to build a maintenance church. To be church, we must not only be vibrant but always going out to find new members and bring more people to Christ. How much of our parish funds are used for the work of evangelization? Most of the expenses are spent on the maintenance of the church and building or restoring infrastructure than for the work of mission per se.
This is why as the Archdiocese, our mission is to conscientise our Catholics of the need to be an evangelizing and missionary Church. All of us must play our part to foster the mission of the Church, whether by playing an active role or by contributing to the financial cost of this work. Until the 19th century before Vatican II, the Church was very conscious of the need to spread the gospel. This accounts for so many missionaries being sent to Asia, Africa and the Far East. Unfortunately, after Vatican II, because of the teaching that we could be saved without belonging to the Church of Christ explicitly, the zeal for mission died down as well, since people could be saved by their conscience. There was no longer any urgency to baptize pagans. Thus, the Church became a maintenance Church. Today, most Catholics lack the evangelical zeal of the Christians. Mission is met in a lukewarm manner by Catholics in general. We see this in the number of converts each year in our RCIA classes. Of course, compared to the West, 1200 baptisms out of 380,000 Catholics is considered an achievement. But for Asia and Africa, this is considered a paltry number compared to the growth in the number of Christians in the Protestant churches.
In fact, protestant churches are more supportive in helping sister Churches in other countries to spread the gospel, either by sending missionaries or by contributing financially. This was in fact the spirit that existed in the early Church as well. If we study the history of the primitive and early Church, there was much communication and exchanges between the different local Christian communities. They were very much conscious of the fact that they were Christians and so form one body of Christ. They were not parochial-minded, inward-looking, exclusivist and indifferent to the needs of the other sister churches. Already during the time of St Paul, we read of the generosity of the Christians in Philippi sending financial contribution to help St Paul in his mission trips. (cf Phil 4:10-20) St Paul also asked the Christian churches in Corinth to help the Church in Jerusalem when she was going through hard times. (cf 2 Cor 8)
Today more so than ever, as the Catholic Church, the universal Church of Christ, our parishes have a duty to support the poorer parishes in the archdiocese; and the archdiocese has a responsibility to support not just the Universal Church through our contribution to Rome but sister churches who come to us for help. Our Archdiocese is not just collecting money to help the poor in Singapore but through Charis and other affiliated groups, we have been collecting money to help the poor overseas under our humanitarian programs. But this is just the remote involvement in the work of evangelization. Our archdiocese also helps many dioceses in Asia, Africa and India financially as many dioceses are poor and short of funds even to maintain their priests and missions. The needs are so many and we know that we cannot help all of them. Indeed, support of the Christian mission is our common responsibility, a Christian duty and an act of Christian love.
Yet, we do as much as we can, even taking from our own needs to help others simply because we belong to one universal Church. We are all one body of Christ. We remember the extreme generosity of the churches of Macedonia in responding to the appeal for help. St Paul wrote, “We want you to know, brothers and sisters, about the grace of God that has been granted to the churches of Macedonia; for during a severe ordeal of affliction, their abundant joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For, as I can testify, they voluntarily gave according to their means, and even beyond their means, begging us earnestly for the privilege of sharing in this ministry to the saints – and this, not merely as we expected; they gave themselves first to the Lord and, by the will of God, to us.” (2 Cor 8:1-5)
Of course, in helping foreign missionaries and itinerant preachers and teachers, we must also not be naïve, especially in a world of corrupt people, which unfortunately could even include some unscrupulous priests who are just using their priestly vocation or religious life to make money for themselves. We must be careful and watchful that we are not supporting the wrong cause and the wrong missionaries. Whilst we have an obligation to help missionaries, we must be sure that they cannot support themselves and what we give them is really for the use of the mission and not for luxurious living. This is why today, because of so much temptations and corruption, the Church has put in place many policies to ensure that the contributions of our people are going to where they should go. All contributions must be used for the spread of the gospel and for the proclamation of His name.
The gospel reminds us of the need to practice justice. God wants justice to be served to His people. We must pray that more of us will be generous like our Lord to ensure that His people are all attended to and the prayers of the righteous are heard. The widow is a symbol of the poor, the defenseless and the needy without any resources. But she was persistent and persevering in prayers. Let us too respond to such request as the Lord said, “Now will not God see justice done to his chosen who cry to him day and night even when he delays to help them? I promise you, he will see justice done to them, and done speedily.”
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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