20210730 EVOLUTION OF THE SACRED CALENDAR and LITURGICAL FEASTS
30 July, 2021, Friday, 17th Week, Ordinary Time
First reading |
Leviticus 23:1,4-11,15-16,27,34-37 © |
The law of the festivals of the Lord
The Lord spoke to Moses. He said:
‘These are the Lord’s solemn festivals, the sacred assemblies to which you are to summon the sons of Israel on the appointed day.
‘The fourteenth day of the first month, between the two evenings, is the Passover of the Lord; and the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of Unleavened Bread for the Lord. For seven days you shall eat bread without leaven. On the first day you are to hold a sacred assembly; you must do no heavy work. For seven days you shall offer a burnt offering to the Lord. The seventh day is to be a day of sacred assembly; you must do no work.’
The Lord spoke to Moses. He said:
‘Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them:
‘“When you enter the land that I give you, and gather in the harvest there, you must bring the first sheaf of your harvest to the priest, and he is to present it to the Lord with the gesture of offering, so that you may be acceptable. The priest shall make this offering on the day after the sabbath.
‘“From the day after the sabbath, the day on which you bring the sheaf of offering, you are to count seven full weeks. You are to count fifty days, to the day after the seventh sabbath, and then you are to offer the Lord a new oblation.
‘“The tenth day of the seventh month shall be the Day of Atonement. You are to hold a sacred assembly. You must fast, and you must offer a burnt offering to the Lord.
‘“The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of Tabernacles for the Lord, lasting seven days. The first day is a day of sacred assembly; you must do no heavy work. For seven days you must offer a burnt offering to the Lord. On the eighth day you are to hold a sacred assembly, you must offer a burnt offering to the Lord. It is a day of solemn meeting; you must do no heavy work.
‘“These are the solemn festivals of the Lord to which you are to summon the children of Israel, sacred assemblies for the purpose of offering burnt offerings, holocausts, oblations, sacrifices and libations to the Lord, according to the ritual of each day.”’
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 80(81):3-6,10-11 © |
Ring out your joy to God our strength.
Raise a song and sound the timbrel,
the sweet-sounding harp and the lute;
blow the trumpet at the new moon,
when the moon is full, on our feast.
Ring out your joy to God our strength.
For this is Israel’s law,
a command of the God of Jacob.
He imposed it as a rule on Joseph,
when he went out against the land of Egypt.
Ring out your joy to God our strength.
Let there be no foreign god among you,
no worship of an alien god.
I am the Lord your God,
who brought you from the land of Egypt.
Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.
Ring out your joy to God our strength.
Gospel Acclamation | cf.1Th2:13 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Accept God’s message for what it really is:
God’s message, and not some human thinking.
Alleluia!
Or: | 1P1:25 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
The word of the Lord remains for ever:
What is this word?
It is the Good News that has been brought to you.
Alleluia!
Gospel |
Matthew 13:54-58 © |
A prophet is only despised in his own country
Coming to his home town, Jesus taught the people in their synagogue in such a way that they were astonished and said, ‘Where did the man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers? This is the carpenter’s son, surely? Is not his mother the woman called Mary, and his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Jude? His sisters, too, are they not all here with us? So where did the man get it all?’ And they would not accept him. But Jesus said to them, ‘A prophet is only despised in his own country and in his own house’, and he did not work many miracles there because of their lack of faith.
EVOLUTION OF THE SACRED CALENDAR and LITURGICAL FEASTS
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [Lev 23:1, 4-11, 15-16, 27, 34-37; Ps 80:3-6,10-11; Mt 13:54-58]
For most of us, when we celebrate Sacred days or liturgical events, or even secular anniversaries, we celebrate them as a mere ritual, without truly understanding the spirit of the celebrations. Indeed, most of us just do what others do, or what our forefathers did without asking the true meaning of what we are celebrating and how these festivals originated, or why some events are considered sacred and others secular. Most of us are so naïve to think that these festivals are celebrated exactly as delineated by the commands of God in the scriptures. In truth, a study into the origins and development of these festivals will help us to appreciate how sacred celebrations are actually ordinary and memorable events but invested with religious meanings. The rituals that we celebrate are actually historical or agricultural events, given a new meaning and adapted for a religious purpose. This will help us to appreciate these sacred days and liturgical feasts in a better light, not slavishly but to return to the spirit of these events which we are celebrating.
This is not surprising but truly the consequence of the incarnation. God, by becoming man in Jesus, has assumed humanity and history into Himself. In that sense all history is salvific history insofar as these events are seen in relation to our salvation and redemption. This is where many of us lack the faith to see that God works in our lives in ordinary ways, through ordinary events and human situations. The townsfolk of Jesus could not accept Him because they found Him too ordinary. He was one of them and they knew Him, His family and relatives and background. “They were astonished and said, ‘Where did this man get his wisdom and these miraculous powers? This is the carpenter’s son, surely? Is not his mother the women called Mary and his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Jude? His sisters, too, are they not all here with us? So where did the man get it all?’ And they would not accept him.” Indeed, they lacked the faith to see God in Jesus and working in and through Him.
As a result of their prejudice, they were deprived of the miracles of God working in their lives. This is also very much the case for the world. It wants to remove God from the world by secularization. This is why the world no longer believes in God and in miracles. They think science and technology is the answer to all the problems in life, except that they cannot tell us why we are born into this world, and the origin of this world, or the final destiny of this world. Science and technology can solve some problems but they cannot provide meaning and purpose in life. Many of us are behaving as if we are AI robots without feelings. The truth is that God is so present in our ordinary life, as the Lord had told the disciples earlier in the parable of the mustard seed. The kingdom of God is hidden but we can only see it with the eyes of faith.
It is with these eyes of faith that people of faith are able to appreciate life to the fullest by recognizing historical events as salvific events. In the first reading, we read of the solemn festivals that Israel was commanded to celebrate in a year. Christianity, which is for us the fulfilment of the Old Testament, modified and adapted these festivals and injected them with a Christic meaning. Just like the Jewish religion, Christianity also has its sacred calendar and liturgical feasts to commemorate God in its history and in the lives of Christians. Such celebrations are not just a way to punctuate a monotonous and routine life with some festivities. They are also a way to help our people to be grateful to God for what they have, to see life in perspective, to remember that life is more than just accumulating wealth and power and fame, or to rely too much on ourselves that we forget that God is our provider and that what matters most in life is friendship, relationships, love and giving. It is a time when we are called to be grateful not just to God but to our fellowmen, to become aware of our selfishness and sins, and to ask for forgiveness and to begin life anew with hope.
The Passover of the Lord is the most important celebration of the Jewish Faith. It is a reminder of how they were liberated by the Lord from slavery of the Egyptians so that they could serve and worship God. It was that day that their lives were spared by the angel of death when he passed by those houses with the blood of the lamb painted on their doorposts. Jesus took over this Jewish celebration and made it His Passover to the Father with Him being the Passover Lamb as a sacrifice for the salvation of all by taking away our sins, freeing us for life with His Father. Christians transform this Passover into the Eucharist.
The Feast of Unleavened Bread which was celebrated for a week immediately after the Passover was initially to commemorate the beginning of the barley harvest Festival. It was the beginning of a new harvest and so all the old food were thrown out so that they could have a new start. The bread is unleavened because the new leaven would not be cultured in time. This celebration was joined to the historical Passover because the Israelites were in a hurry to leave Egypt and had no time to wait for the leaven to rise. Hence, this agricultural celebration is merged with the Passover to thank God for the first fruits of the season with the People of Israel being God’s first-born son. (Ex 4:22) Barley was usually the first to be ready for harvest, which is normally during the Easter period. For us Christians, the Feast of the Unleavened Bread is our Lenten season when we remove the old yeast of sin and malice in our lives so that we can prepare for the New Life at Easter. This was what St Paul asked of the Christians. (1 Cor 5:7) But Christians too believe that we have the first-fruits of the Spirit.
Fifty days later came the wheat festival, which is celebrated as the Feast of Seven Weeks culminating in the Feast of Pentecost. The harvest festival was taken over by the Christians as symbolic of the harvest that the Lord asked His labourers to work at in His vineyard. Pentecost is the day when the Church gathers together in thanksgiving and begin the work of mission.
Following Pentecost, the Israelites celebrate the Feast of Ingathering or their New Year, which happens within the Seventh Month. This was a week’s celebration with an extra Sabbath rest as the people were tired after the grape harvest. This is soon followed by the day of Atonement for their sins. Then came the Feast of Booths or Tabernacles, reminding the people of how their forefathers once lived in tents in the wilderness. Now having settled in brick houses in the Promised Land, they might have taken their comfort and stability for granted. At the same time, they are reminded that they remain pilgrims on earth until they enter the fullness of the kingdom. Later the Jews added the blessing of the altar with water taken from the pool of Siloam to ask the Lord for blessing on a new agricultural and pastoral year. It was at this time too that we read of Jesus crying out in the Temple, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink.” And the evangelist provides the footnote that He was speaking about the Spirit which the believers were to receive. (Jn 7:38)
Of course, besides all these festivals, the Sabbath was celebrated every week to remind them of the need to rest from work. But above all, to make time to worship God and be with their loved ones and the community. Unfortunately, instead of focusing on the spirit of the Sabbath Law, they became obsessed with what would be counted as “work” on the Sabbath. The Sabbath was meant to free them for life, for love and fellowship with God and their brothers and sisters, not to enslave them. For us, our Sabbath is on a Sunday, not the last day of the week but the first day of the week, signifying that we are a new creation because of the resurrection of our Lord.
In the final analysis, what we can learn from all these sacred feasts and celebrations is that the liturgy is not some fixated celebrationbut evolved over time to help us connect with God and the meaning of life events. Even Catholic liturgical celebrations evolved over time. Hence, we must be careful that we do not fall into the same trap as the Jews of being petty over liturgical rules and celebrations. We must remember the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So too our liturgy must evolve with the times.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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