20210723 PRINCIPLES FOR RIGHT LIVING
23 July, 2021, Friday, 16th Week, Ordinary Time
First reading | Exodus 20:1-17 © |
The Law given at Sinai
God spoke all these words. He said, ‘I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
‘You shall have no gods except me.
‘You shall not make yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything in heaven or on earth beneath or in the waters under the earth; you shall not bow down to them or serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God and I punish the father’s fault in the sons, the grandsons, and the great-grandsons of those who hate me; but I show kindness to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
‘You shall not utter the name of the Lord your God to misuse it, for the Lord will not leave unpunished the man who utters his name to misuse it.
‘Remember the sabbath day and keep it holy. For six days you shall labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath for the Lord your God. You shall do no work that day, neither you nor your son nor your daughter nor your servants, men or women, nor your animals nor the stranger who lives with you. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that these hold, but on the seventh day he rested; that is why the Lord has blessed the sabbath day and made it sacred.
‘Honour your father and your mother so that you may have a long life in the land that the Lord your God has given to you.
‘You shall not kill.
‘You shall not commit adultery.
‘You shall not steal.
‘You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.
‘You shall not covet your neighbour’s house. You shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, or his servant, man or woman, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is his.’
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 18(19):8-11 © |
Lord, you have the message of eternal life.
The law of the Lord is perfect,
it revives the soul.
The rule of the Lord is to be trusted,
it gives wisdom to the simple.
Lord, you have the message of eternal life.
The precepts of the Lord are right,
they gladden the heart.
The command of the Lord is clear,
it gives light to the eyes.
Lord, you have the message of eternal life.
The fear of the Lord is holy,
abiding for ever.
The decrees of the Lord are truth
and all of them just.
Lord, you have the message of eternal life.
They are more to be desired than gold,
than the purest of gold
and sweeter are they than honey,
than honey from the comb.
Lord, you have the message of eternal life.
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.Lk8:15 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Blessed are those who,
with a noble and generous heart,
take the word of God to themselves
and yield a harvest through their perseverance.
Alleluia!
Gospel |
Matthew 13:18-23 © |
The man who hears the word and understands it yields a rich harvest
Jesus said to his disciples: ‘You are to hear the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom without understanding, the evil one comes and carries off what was sown in his heart: this is the man who received the seed on the edge of the path. The one who received it on patches of rock is the man who hears the word and welcomes it at once with joy. But he has no root in him, he does not last; let some trial come, or some persecution on account of the word, and he falls away at once. The one who received the seed in thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this world and the lure of riches choke the word and so he produces nothing. And the one who received the seed in rich soil is the man who hears the word and understands it; he is the one who yields a harvest and produces now a hundredfold, now sixty, now thirty.’
PRINCIPLES FOR RIGHT LIVING
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [Ex 20:1-17; Ps 19:8-11; Mt 13:18-23 ]
In today’s world of relativism and complete freedom, people are weary of laws. People balk at laws because they want to exercise their freedom without constraints. At face value, the offer of freedom is the heart of the bible. Indeed, God sent Moses to set the sons of Israel free from the slavery of the Egyptians. Over the history of Israel, God continued to set His people free from their enemies. In the gospel, Jesus came to set us free not just from our physical enemies but our spiritual enemies as well. Indeed, freedom is a right inspired by the gospel. St Paul himself was an opponent of the Law. “We know that a person is justified not by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ. And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by doing the works of the law, because no one will be justified by the works of the law.” (Gal 2:16)
On the other hand, St Paul warns the Christians, “For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” (Gal 5:1, 13f) Indeed, like the Israelites who were set free from the slavery of the Egyptians, we too, like them and the early Christians, are always in danger of giving in to self-indulgence and become slaves of the flesh, the world and the Evil One. To prevent us from losing our freedom for authentic love and life, God gave us the Commandments. So the commandments must not be seen as laws imposed unilaterally on us but rather as the principles for authentic life, for harmonious living, peace and prosperity.
The Decalogue, particularly, provides the fundamental principles for living not just a righteous life in the moral sense but right living in its broadest meaning. The Commandments were not meant to enslave the People of God but to provide them with directions so that they could live together as a harmonious people and be united so that they could withstand their enemies. Most scholars divide the Ten Commandments into two main categories. The first three commandments are focused on the proper worship of God whilst the other seven commandments deal with the ordering of human relationships. However, the over-arching backdrop of putting God as the First Ultimate Principle of life is necessary for us to understand the corollary laws spelt out for right relationships with our fellowmen. It is because the secular world divorced God from human life that the universal laws governing human relationships are placed in question, or have been seriously compromised.
How is this so? Unless God is the absolute in our lives, man becomes the centre of everything. This is what idolatry is all about, the worship of self. God commanded the people, “I am the Lord your God. You shall have no gods except me.” When the people left Egypt, many of them were influenced by the worship of deities both from the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan. They sought the deities for various forms of protection and they thought that Yahweh was only one of their gods, the God who delivered them. So to prevent them from worshipping false gods, idolatry was condemned, for what is idolatry if not to worship an illusion? They are empty and cannot give life. The psalmist warns us, “The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths, but they do not speak; they have eyes, but they do not see; they have ears, but they do not hear, and there is no breath in their mouths. Those who make them and all who trust them shall become like them.” (Ps 135:15-18) Today our idols are power, money, success, glory and fame. We think these can give us life and happiness but we are wrong. Those who finally achieved all these will tell you how empty they are compared to meaning that is found in loving and caring relationships.
For this reason, in order to live a holistic life, we need to keep the Sabbath holy. Again, we must remember what the Lord says of this, “The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath.” (Mk 2:27) The Sabbath Law must not be reduced to just a fulfilment of an obligation to worship God and to rest from work completely. This was the problem with the Pharisees and the Scribes as they were more concerned with keeping the letter of the Sabbath Law than the spirit behind it. The reason why we must spend time to worship God is in order to remind ourselves of who we are and that all we have depend on the grace of God. We are called to cooperate with His grace and the gifts He has blessed us with. Otherwise, some of us work day and night at the expense of our health and inter-personal relationships, especially with our loved ones. Taking a day of rest is to protect our well-being, not so much because God needs us to worship Him. A day of rest therefore would mean time to strengthen our personal relationships, first with God and then with our brothers and sisters.
The other seven commandments are universal laws taken from their surrounding neighbours. They are not so much divine laws as such but moral laws given to man and dictated by his conscience. They are implicitly from God because He has inscribed such moral principles in the hearts of man. They are meant to protect the individual, the family and society at large. They are based on nature and common sense. Nevertheless, they are to be seen in reference to God, otherwise such moral laws become ambiguous as it is today in the modern world. Although the world accepts these moral principles, they are interpreted in an individualistic and relativistic manner, so much so that they are made useless. How?
The fourth commandment instructs us to honour our parents. In a certain way, this is also to ensure that the elderly is cared for in their old age. But today, instead of children looking after their parents, most parents continue to look after their grown-up children until they die, providing them with financial and other forms of assistance. Unfortunately, many abandon their elderly parents and do not care for them in their old age. The least we can do is to ensure they have a home where people are looking after them. But if we see our parents as the image of God our Father, we will love them and honour them.
The sixth and ninth commandments instruct us to protect our marriage so that our family will be intact. Again, these two commandments are ignored in the name of free love. As a consequence, many marriages are on the verge of breaking up, many are divorced because of infidelity, not just in having another partner but not putting love and relationship as the centre of their married life. So we end up having dysfunctional families and children. This would not happen if we see the indissolubility of marriage, and marriage as a gift from God for us to find our helpmate. Then we will cherish marriage relationship as a sign of God’s love.
The fifth commandment seeks to protect the lives of people. Yet, today, there are plenty of justifications for killing, whether it is abortion, euthanasia, destruction of human embryos because of scientific experiment and trials, or war and violence. When we no longer see God as the giver of life, we think life comes from us and so we can destroy it as we like. This is why people who do not recognize God has no respect for human life, especially for the weak, the sick and the elderly. Protection of life would include protecting the name of the person as well. Hence, the eighth commandment, bearing false witness against our neighbour, is tantamount to destroying their reputation and their integrity. Fake news or distorted news and slander can even be more harmful than physical killing as this is emotional and psychological hurt.
Finally, happiness is ours only when we respect the goods of our neighbours – the seventh and tenth commandments. Envy and greed will eat us up. Again, if we believe that God is our provider, then we should be content with what He gives us to us rather than desire what is not ours. However, those who have been provided more have a grave duty to share with others who have not because we are all stewards of His goods. The reason why there is so much cheating and stealing is because of greed, of wanting to have more on one hand, and the poor not having sufficient, thus making them envious of others who have too much.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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