20210218 THE ESSENCE OF LIFE
18 February, 2021, Thursday After Ash Wednesday
First reading |
Deuteronomy 30:15-20 © |
I set before you today life or death, blessing or curse
Moses said to the people: ‘See, today I set before you life and prosperity, death and disaster. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I enjoin on you today, if you love the Lord your God and follow his ways, if you keep his commandments, his laws, his customs, you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you are entering to make your own. But if your heart strays, if you refuse to listen, if you let yourself be drawn into worshipping other gods and serving them, I tell you today, you will most certainly perish; you will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today: I set before you life or death, blessing or curse. Choose life, then, so that you and your descendants may live, in the love of the Lord your God, obeying his voice, clinging to him; for in this your life consists, and on this depends your long stay in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob he would give them.’
Responsorial Psalm | Psalm 1:1-4,6 © |
Happy the man who has placed his trust in the Lord.
Happy indeed is the man
who follows not the counsel of the wicked;
nor lingers in the way of sinners
nor sits in the company of scorners,
but whose delight is the law of the Lord
and who ponders his law day and night.
Happy the man who has placed his trust in the Lord.
He is like a tree that is planted
beside the flowing waters,
that yields its fruit in due season
and whose leaves shall never fade;
and all that he does shall prosper.
Happy the man who has placed his trust in the Lord.
Not so are the wicked, not so!
For they like winnowed chaff
shall be driven away by the wind:
for the Lord guards the way of the just
but the way of the wicked leads to doom.
Happy the man who has placed his trust in the Lord.
Gospel Acclamation | Ps50:12,14 |
Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!
A pure heart create for me, O God,
and give me again the joy of your help.
Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!
Or: | Mt4:17 |
Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!
Repent, says the Lord,
for the kingdom of heaven is close at hand.
Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!
Gospel | Luke 9:22-25 © |
Whoever loses his life for my sake will save it
Jesus said to his disciples:
‘The Son of Man is destined to suffer grievously, to be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and to be put to death, and to be raised up on the third day.’
Then to all he said:
‘If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross every day and follow me. For anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake, that man will save it. What gain, then, is it for a man to have won the whole world and to have lost or ruined his very self?’
THE ESSENCE OF LIFE
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ Dt 30:15-20; Ps 1:1-4,6; Lk 9:22-25]
In the first reading, Moses put a choice to the people, “See, today I set before you life and prosperity, death and disaster.” This is apparently an easy choice because what human beings fear most is death. This is particularly true for those without religion because they live only for this life. Once dead, life is ended, and if you are famous, you might remain a part of history and perhaps in the memories of some people. This explains why the modern man seeks to extend his life to a ripe old age.
Yet, this choice for life and prosperity is more than just physical life and material prosperity. Physical life by itself cannot give us life. It can keep us physically alive but emotionally and spiritually we can be dead. Unfortunately, people in the world reduce life simply to the physical and sensual dimensions of life. They are concerned about sustaining themselves, enjoying the pleasures of life, the comforts of the world. They are only concerned about themselves. They are egocentric and the world must revolve around them. They do not see the reason why they should sacrifice their comfort, security and freedom for others.
Consequently, in seeking life, ironically, they choose death. The Lord warns His disciples, “What gain, then, is it for a man to have the whole world and to have lost or ruined his very self?” Indeed, when a man lives for himself, he is influenced by the culture of death. For him to live, others must die. He sees everyone else with suspicion. They are his enemies and competitors. This is true individually and even among nations. To satisfy their lust and sexual desires, they are ready to abort the baby that they conceived, for their freedom is more important than the life of a vulnerable baby. To satisfy their desire to get high, they take drugs and excessive alcohol or drive recklessly at the expense of the safety of society. To make himself secure, he hoards more than he needs. Often, many of his things are thrown away because they become unusable. Just consider the amount of food the rich throw away when the poor have nothing to eat!
This is why the Lord tells us, “If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross every day and follow me. For anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake, that man will save it.”
The paradox of life is that we renounce ourselves so that we can live. What does it mean to deny ourselves? It means that we do not make ourselves the center of the world. We are to live in a way that we are forgetful about ourselves. Our focus should not be on ourselves but on others. We live indirectly when we are not obsessed with our reputation, our needs and our desires. When we are focused on others, we forget our own problems. Mary is the example of self-forgetfulness. After being chosen to be the mother of the Saviour, her first thought was not her dignity of being the mother of our Lord but that Elizabeth needed her help as she was in her late stage of pregnancy. And when Elizabeth praised her for believing in the Word of God, her response was to sing praise to God in the Magnificat. (cf Lk 1:39-56)
Secondly, the Lord said, “anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake, that man will save it.” The only way to save our life is to give ourselves to Jesus and to pledge allegiance to Him. However, many are concerned about their reputation and popularity in the world and so compromise their faith. Indeed, in those days, anyone coming to Jesus risked compromising their reputation because the official religious leaders rejected Him. This was why Nicodemus came to look for Jesus in the middle of the night for fear of being seen. (cf Jn 3:2) We have many Nicodemuses today because they hide their beliefs from others or they compromise their loyalty to the Lord by acting against their faith in Christ.
To lose our life also means giving up our lives for others. Most of us are concerned about how much we get and the benefits we will receive when we are asked to serve or to help. Many of us do the minimum when called upon to do something. Instead of giving ourselves entirely to the service of others, we are more concerned with ourselves. Unless we burn ourselves up like the candle, we cannot find life. But the joy in giving life to others is to see the world lighted up with love and happiness. There is nothing more joyful than to be a life-giver knowing that we have given hope and encouragement to someone in this life. This is why the more we give ourselves, the more we find ourselves and thereby find life.
Thirdly, this will entail the cross. Following Jesus entails that we “take up his cross every day and follow me.” Laying down our life for others is more than just serving them. Often, in the process of service, there will be opposition from within and without. There will be disagreements on how service is to be done. There will be misunderstandings. Sometimes, we will face betrayal. At times, we will find ourselves short of resources. Sacrifices will be necessary. We cannot resolve all human problems. We can only do what we can. But the real cross we carry is that of our Lord, to be rejected, misunderstood and even condemned for doing what we know is the right thing. Indeed, He told His disciples, “The Son of Man is destined to suffer grievously, to be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and to be put to death, and to be raised up on the third day.”
But we cannot find the strength to do what the Lord asks of us unless we love the Lord. This was what Moses said to the people, “If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I enjoin on you today, if you love the Lord your God and follow his ways, if you keep his commandments, his laws, his customs, you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you are entering to make your own.” Loving God is more than just a sentimental feeling of His love. True love is expressed in a loving obedience. We obey the commandments out of love and reverence for the One who knows what is best for us. Submission to another person is only possible when we know that whatever decision and action the person is doing is always for our good. Obedience is difficult only when we doubt the love of the person. This is why in marriage, husbands and wives give themselves to each other believing and knowing that both care for each other more than they care for themselves.
Obedience to God’s commandments is the key to life simply because we are ignorant. We lack the wisdom to see the truth and reality of life. We are often deceived by our fears, anxieties and our selfish desires. We give excuses and rationalize what we do. This is what the world is doing, justifying every selfish action they do. We use our intellect to deceive ourselves, just like the serpent who tempted Eve. We try to find reasons to support our position even though we know the answer is obvious. But God warned the people of Israel, “But if your heart strays, if you refuse to listen, if you let yourself be drawn into worshipping other gods and serving them, I tell you today, you will most certainly perish; you will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.” This was the case unfortunately. Even though they entered the Promised Land, not long after, they lost the land, the kingdom and their Temple.
During this 40-day Lenten journey, as we retreat to the desert like the Israelites, we must refocus ourselves once again. The psalmist exhorts us, “Happy indeed is the man who follows not the counsel of the wicked; nor lingers in the way of sinners nor sits in the company of scorners, but whose delight is the law of the Lord and who ponders his Law day and night. He is like a tree that is planted beside the flowing waters, that yields its fruit in due season and whose leaves shall never fade; and all that he does shall prosper.” We must be attentive to the Word of God and place our trust in Him. Walking with Jesus is the way to find life.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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