20210908 PREDESTINATION
08 September, 2021, Wednesday, Birthday of the Blessed Virgin Mary
First reading | Micah 5:1-4 © |
He will stand and feed his flock with the power of the Lord
The Lord says this:
But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
the least of the clans of Judah,
out of you will be born for me
the one who is to rule over Israel;
his origin goes back to the distant past,
to the days of old.
The Lord is therefore going to abandon them
till the time when she who is to give birth gives birth.
Then the remnant of his brothers will come back
to the sons of Israel.
He will stand and feed his flock
with the power of the Lord,
with the majesty of the name of his God.
They will live secure, for from then on he will extend his power
to the ends of the land.
He himself will be peace.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 12(13):6-7 © |
I exult for joy in the Lord.
Lord, I trust in your merciful love.
Let my heart rejoice in your saving help.
I exult for joy in the Lord.
Let me sing to the Lord for his goodness to me,
singing psalms to the name of the Lord, the Most High.
I exult for joy in the Lord.
Gospel Acclamation |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Blessed are you, holy Virgin Mary,
and most worthy of all praise,
for the sun of justice, Christ our God,
was born of you.
Alleluia!
Gospel |
Matthew 1:1-16,18-23 © |
The ancestry and conception of Jesus Christ
A genealogy of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham:
Abraham was the father of Isaac,
Isaac the father of Jacob,
Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,
Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah, Tamar being their mother,
Perez was the father of Hezron,
Hezron the father of Ram,
Ram was the father of Amminadab,
Amminadab the father of Nahshon,
Nahshon the father of Salmon,
Salmon was the father of Boaz, Rahab being his mother,
Boaz was the father of Obed, Ruth being his mother,
Obed was the father of Jesse;
and Jesse was the father of King David.
David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife,
Solomon was the father of Rehoboam,
Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asa,
Asa was the father of Jehoshaphat,
Jehoshaphat the father of Joram,
Joram the father of Azariah,
Azariah was the father of Jotham,
Jotham the father of Ahaz,
Ahaz the father of Hezekiah,
Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh,
Manasseh the father of Amon,
Amon the father of Josiah;
and Josiah was the father of Jechoniah and his brothers.
Then the deportation to Babylon took place.
After the deportation to Babylon:
Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel,
Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,
Zerubbabel was the father of Abiud,
Abiud the father of Eliakim,
Eliakim the father of Azor,
Azor was the father of Zadok,
Zadok the father of Achim,
Achim the father of Eliud,
Eliud was the father of Eleazar,
Eleazar the father of Matthan,
Matthan the father of Jacob;
and Jacob was the father of Joseph the husband of Mary;
of her was born Jesus who is called Christ.
This is how Jesus Christ came to be born. His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph; but before they came to live together she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph; being a man of honour and wanting to spare her publicity, decided to divorce her informally. He had made up his mind to do this when the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because she has conceived what is in her by the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son and you must name him Jesus, because he is the one who is to save his people from their sins.’ Now all this took place to fulfil the words spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son
and they will call him Emmanuel,
a name which means ‘God-is-with-us.’
PREDESTINATION
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [MICAH 5:1-4 OR ROM 8:28-30; MATT 1:1-16, 18-23]
When we celebrate the Birthday of Mary, it is in view of the fact that she was chosen to be the Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is because of the great role she played in the divine plan of God and in the history of salvation that her birthday is commemorated. More so because her plan in God’s salvation would deem it appropriate that Mary be conceived without original sin, a pre-emption in order to protect the dignity and holiness of Jesus in her womb. Not only would the Saviour be born of a virgin without the intervention of a man but also in a creature, pure and holy, a worthy receptacle of our Lord.
It is within this context that the question of predestination also arises. This feast of Mary presupposes that we believe that God has a plan not just for Mary but for each and every one of us. We are all called to play our part in the plan of God according to the role that He has assigned to us. In the case of Mary, she was chosen to be the Mother of Christ not by her merits but purely by the grace of God. Our role in the divine plan of God is a given and not merited. Does it mean to say that we have no part to play in fulfilling the plan of God since all have been predestined? Can we therefore say that it is unfair for God to predestine Judas to betray our Lord, which led him to despair and suicide?
Predestination is indeed a doctrine of the Church but it must be rightly understood, otherwise it can lead to arrogance, fatalism and complacency. St Paul in the second reading speaks of how we all have been predestined by God. “They are the ones he chose specially long ago and intended to become true images of his Son, so that his Son might be the eldest of many brothers. He called those he intended for this; those he called he justified, and with those he justified he shared his glory.” This statement of Paul has been understood as that some are predestined to eternal life and some are not.
This is called the doctrine of double-predestination, as taught by Calvin. But such a doctrine could be easily misunderstood and lead to fatalism. In other words, since we are predestined to heaven or hell, there is nothing we can do on our part since this is the mystery of God’s election. This could result a person believing that he could continue to live his life recklessly and immorally, since it does not matter as he is already predestined to hell or heaven. It also gives the impression that God is not a good or just God after all, since He had already decided who would be sharing eternal life with Him. Of course, there is a catch in this statement. The truth is that we do not know whether we are predestined to hell or heaven. Clearly, if we live a life of sin, it shows that we are predestined to hell. But if we live a good life, then it shows that we are predestined to heaven.
This is why the Catholic Church, influenced by St Thomas, says that we are all predestined to heaven and eternal life. Salvation is the free gift of God given to all. No one can earn salvation. Nevertheless, we are free to accept the gift of not. However, we have a free will to cooperate with His grace. This will determine whether we go to heaven or to hell. St Paul wrote, “We know that by turning everything to their good God co-operates with all those who love him, with all those that he has called according to his purpose.” Indeed, there is a part for man to play even though salvation is a gift from God. Man must accept the gift freely. Accepting the gift means to accept the obligations as well of the life that God has given to us, the role we are to play in His divine plan, and according to His moral will and principles. In this sense, predestination is different from determinism. The latter says that we are determined by God to heaven, regardless of what we do. This is why it leads to fatalism, despair and resentment against God’s unfairness.
Hence, in celebrating the Birthday of Mary, we are not simply rejoicing that she has been graced by God to be the mother of the Redeemer, or the grace of immaculate conception. We are also thanking God for giving her the grace to cooperate with His plan to be the mediatrix to our Lord. Mary in today’s gospel had to endure the anxiety, the challenges, the sufferings that came with being the handmaid of the Lord in conceiving Jesus. Today’s gospel gives us a glimpse not just of Joseph but Mary’s dilemma as a result of her miraculous conception. So many doubts and fears would have crossed their minds and hearts as they grappled with this supernatural intervention. If it had happened in our time, with the advancement of science and technology, it would have been considered a hoax.
But Mary surrendered herself in faith to God’s will. Doing God’s will is never an easy process. Once we accept God’s will in our lives, it means having to live out the implications as well. It is easy to say “yes” to God when we are called upon to play our part in His divine plan. But when we say “yes”, whether to the priestly or religious vocation, the married vocation, or serving God in the Church or in the poor, or in politics, we will also have to pay the price that comes with the ‘yes’.
Whilst being chosen to be the Mother of God was a great honour, did Mary know how much she would have to suffer? Simeon forewarned her “This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed – and a sword will pierce your own soul too.” (Lk 2:34f) Did Mary fully reckon what the sword would be like? I am sure she did not know what supporting the ministry and mission of her Son would entail. If she had known earlier what was ahead of her, she might have withdrawn in fear. So too for many of us, just like the prophet Jeremiah who said, “But I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter. And I did not know it was against me that they devised schemes, saying, ‘Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, let us cut him off from the land of the living, so that his name will no longer be remembered!'” (Jer 11:19) Isaiah says of the suffering servant, “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.” (Isa 53:7) Indeed, Mary was the innocent lamb who suffered silently without uttering a word against her Son’s enemies or against God.
Mary is the one who gave us Jesus, not just by conceiving Him in her womb but the entire Jesus, His life to us by His teaching and a life lived in God. Because of Mary, we are able to encounter the love of God through the humanity of our Lord. Mary in her quiet ways supported Jesus in His ministry, even when others accused Him of working with Satan or was possessed, and most of fall, she stood under the foot of the cross whilst all others abandoned Him. Mary suffered with the Lord in His ministry and at His passion and death, without anger, resentment but pain, forgiveness and submission to God’s holy will.
More than that, after the ascension of our Lord, when the apostles were left without Jesus, Mary the Mother of Jesus and the mother of the Church was there, fulfilling her role as designated by our Lord at the foot of the cross. Mary, called woman by our Lord at the foot of the cross, was given to the nameless disciple that Jesus loved, telling him to take Mary home as his mother. “He said to his mother, ‘Woman, here is your son.’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’ (Jn 19:26f) ‘Woman’ in John’s understanding means ‘mother’. John is the symbol of the perfect disciple of our Lord. Hence, Mary was there at Jerusalem praying with the disciples for the descent of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 1:14) From hindsight, we see how Mary’s birth has impacted all of humanity. She certainly played a very important role in our salvation, so much so that the Church calls her ‘co-redemptrix’, not to say she saved us on the same level as our Lord, but her cooperation with God’s grace and plan was critical for our salvation. So, too, we must cooperate with His grace in our life as well.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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