20201208 OVERCOMING SIN AND EVIL
08 December, 2020, Tuesday, Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Readings at Mass
Liturgical Colour: White.
First reading |
Genesis 3:9-15,20 © |
The mother of all those who live
After Adam had eaten of the tree the Lord God called to him. ‘Where are you?’ he asked. ‘I heard the sound of you in the garden;’ he replied ‘I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.’ ‘Who told you that you were naked?’ he asked ‘Have you been eating of the tree I forbade you to eat?’ The man replied, ‘It was the woman you put with me; she gave me the fruit, and I ate it.’ Then the Lord God asked the woman, ‘What is this you have done?’ The woman replied, ‘The serpent tempted me and I ate.’
Then the Lord God said to the serpent, ‘Because you have done this,
‘Be accursed beyond all cattle,
all wild beasts.
You shall crawl on your belly and eat dust
every day of your life.
I will make you enemies of each other:
you and the woman,
your offspring and her offspring.
It will crush your head
and you will strike its heel.’
The man named his wife ‘Eve’ because she was the mother of all those who live.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 97(98):1-4 © |
Sing a new song to the Lord for he has worked wonders.
Sing a new song to the Lord
for he has worked wonders.
His right hand and his holy arm
have brought salvation.
Sing a new song to the Lord for he has worked wonders.
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.
Sing a new song to the Lord for he has worked wonders.
All the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation of our God.
Shout to the Lord, all the earth,
ring out your joy.
Sing a new song to the Lord for he has worked wonders.
Second reading |
Ephesians 1:3-6,11-12 © |
Before the world was made, God chose us in 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,
And it is in him that we were claimed as God’s own,
chosen from the beginning,
under the predetermined plan of the one who guides all things
as he decides by his own will;
chosen to be,
for his greater glory,
the people who would put their hopes in Christ before he came.
Gospel Acclamation | cf.Lk1:28 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee!
Blessed art thou among women.
Alleluia!
Gospel | Luke 1:26-38 © |
'I am the handmaid of the Lord'
The angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the House of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. He went in and said to her, ‘Rejoice, so highly favoured! The Lord is with you.’ She was deeply disturbed by these words and asked herself what this greeting could mean, but the angel said to her, ‘Mary, do not be afraid; you have won God’s favour. Listen! You are to conceive and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David; he will rule over the House of Jacob for ever and his reign will have no end.’ Mary said to the angel, ‘But how can this come about, since I am a virgin?’ ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you’ the angel answered ‘and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow. And so the child will be holy and will be called Son of God. Know this too: your kinswoman Elizabeth has, in her old age, herself conceived a son, and she whom people called barren is now in her sixth month, for nothing is impossible to God.’ ‘I am the handmaid of the Lord,’ said Mary ‘let what you have said be done to me.’ And the angel left her.
OVERCOMING SIN AND EVIL
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ Gen 3:9-15.20; Ps 98:1-4; Eph 1:3-6.11-12; Lk 1:26-38 ]
Are we richer and better today, or is the world poorer? Even though our standard of living has improved because of technological and scientific progress, yet, the world is becoming more unsafe to live in; and more divisive than ever, ironically because of advancement in digital and social communication. The world seems to be poorer because human life is no longer treated with respect. The dignity of marriage and family are no longer held sacred.
With secularism and relativism, we see a world order that is lived without consciousness of sin and morality because God is no longer acknowledged. Terrorist activities and crimes are also on the rise, whether it is gambling, pornography, pedophilia, rape, molestation, voyeurism, drug consumption, suicide, insane murders, etc. So what is society doing about this? We condemn such social ills. We strengthen the laws and impose harsher punishment on those who commit crime. But we are just dealing with the consequences; not tackling the origin and source of our moral ills. If laws can prevent crime, then there should be no criminals. Why do people still commit rape and molest when they are aware of the severity of the punishment, especially in Singapore? Why do people cheat, knowing that they will be caught? Why do people traffic in drugs, kill and murder when they know that they will be sentenced to death?
What is the cause of crime, sin and division? Finding the cause is the key to fostering peace, harmony and progress in a country and in our own lives. Let us not blame those who commit crimes and sins. Laws are preventive measures at best, but they do not heal the heart of the human person. Knowing the laws cannot make a person moral. Why is the world in this situation?
The Church’s teaching and diagnosis of the human condition traces it to original sin. We are all wounded in our nature. Evil comes from man who is wounded by sin. This is what Original Sin means. It means that we share in the wounded nature of Adam, which means fear of death and pain, lack of control over our sensual appetite, and ignorance. As a consequence, man by his wounded nature finds it difficult to resist the temptations of the world, for glory, power and wealth. When the person is spiritually weak, ignorant to what is truly good for him, and susceptible to temptations, he falls easily to the deception and illusions offered by the world. Prompted by the Devil, man finds it difficult to resist sin and temptations.
Indeed, we live in a broken and fragmented world. In the first reading, the author speaks of the ongoing battle between good and evil, between God and Satan. After the fall of Adam and Eve, the Lord said to the serpent, “I will make you enemies of each other: you and the woman, your offspring and her offspring. It will crush your head and you will strike its heel.” This battle is still being fought, and with greater vengeance by the devil today, using secularism, humanism, making themselves God; and on the other extreme, occult worship and activities, meddling with the spirit world. In many countries, Satanism is recognized as a religion. Books on occult and worship of demons are even targeted at children. No one can tell the difference between what is good or evil any more. With relativism, there is no sin, no morality, no right or wrong. Archbishop Fulton Sheen once said that when the Immaculate Conception was proclaimed in 1854, many were scandalized saying, “how could we say that Mary is sinless. We are all sinners!” Today, everyone is saying that they are sinless!
In celebrating the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, we are reminded of our fundamental calling in life, which is a call to holiness and wholesomeness. In the second reading, St Paul explains to us the eternal plan of God for humanity. It is the Father’s will and plan for us all, even “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 purposes, to make us praise the glory of his grace, his free gift to us in the Beloved.” Indeed, we are called to live a holy and spotless life so that our lives will be wholesome and integrated. Holiness is to live a life of integrity, a life that does not destroy oneself, whether bodily, in mind or spirit, nor destroy the lives of others. When we keep ourselves bodily and spiritually sound, the entire human person is well. Most of our sicknesses in life are due to our sins and the failure to take care of our moral, bodily and spiritual well-being. To live a life of holiness is to live a holistic life, a balanced life.
Only by living a life of holiness and blamelessness, free from sin, are we living the life of God as His adopted sons and daughters. To be God’s children means that we are called to share in His life and love. In this way, we become His glory for all to see.
To help us to live this kind of life, God for all eternity has chosen us in Christ. Only in Christ, can we live this kind of life by following Him and most of all, be filled with His grace and love. The truth is that living the life of Christ is only possible through His grace alone. It is not by our will alone that we can do good and live a holy life. It is the grace of God. The holiness of Mary is God’s favour and not the merits of Mary.
Mary is the symbol of hope for us in our strive for holiness and winning victory over sin and death and the temptations of the Evil One. The Church, reflecting on hindsight her life of grace and holiness, and strengthened by scripture, came to understand that the holiness of Mary began even at her conception. Mary who would conceive the Messiah was preserved from Original Sin through the preemptive grace of Christ’s passion and resurrection. We are all predestined to share in the holiness of Christ through Him and His love, just as Mary did before the coming of Christ into the world. In view of Mary’s role as the Mother of the Saviour and her victory over sin and the Evil One, Mary was protected from original sin through Christ’s anticipatory death on the cross. This is of course, purely, the grace of God.
Her divine motherhood was also purely the grace of God. It was not something that she earned. Her divine motherhood was the work of the Holy Spirit. The angel said, “Listen! You are to conceive and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David; he will rule over the House of Jacob for ever and his reign will have no end.” For this reason, Mary in her Magnificat proclaimed, “My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name.” (Lk 1:46-49)
Of course, Mary had to cooperate with the grace of God by responding in faith and in humility. When the angel assured her that her divine motherhood was by the power of God, she said “yes” in faith. We too must cooperate with the grace that we received at baptism when our sins were forgiven and we received the grace of Christ to be reborn as adopted sons and daughters of God. The grace of holiness given to Mary at her conception was also given to us at our baptism. But having received this grace of sonship and daughtership in Christ, Mary, like us, was not exempted from cooperating in faith with the grace of God.
The only way to resist the temptations of the Evil One and win victory over the onslaughts of the disturbing trends in the world is to follow Mary in responding to God’s invitation to live a holy life inspired and energized by the love of Christ. We are called to follow St Bernadette in her devotion to our Lady, who revealed herself as Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception. Bernadette received from our Lady the message to pray the rosary, do mortifications to strengthen our resistance to the sin of the flesh, do almsgiving, especially in helping the poor and sick, to mediate on the passion of Christ on the cross and to receive the Eucharist and go for regular Sacrament of Reconciliation. These are but means for God to restore us to wholeness of life when we live a holistic life that is free from attachment to the world and from sin. When our spiritual life is in order, our body will also be restored to health. It is not a coincidence that healing miracles take place at Lourdes, since the Immaculate Conception is the antidote to Original Sin and its effects. The Immaculate Conception inspires every person to strive for a life of holiness and sonship in Christ.
Today, we are called to be poor in being receptive to God’s grace. But we are also called to attend to the poor as well – those who are sick, those who have lost meaning and purpose in life, those who are living in sin, those who are marginalized and lonely. We conquer sin not just by resisting sin but proactively, together with Mary, strive to make this world a better place by living a life of grace, especially in reaching out to our neighbors through love and charity.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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