20210904 REMAINING STEADFAST IN THE FAITH
04 September, 2021, Saturday, 22nd Week, Ordinary Time
First reading |
Colossians 1:21-23 © |
God has reconciled you by Christ's death in his mortal body
Not long ago, you were foreigners and enemies, in the way that you used to think and the evil things that you did; but now he has reconciled you, by his death and in that mortal body. Now you are able to appear before him holy, pure and blameless – as long as you persevere and stand firm on the solid base of the faith, never letting yourselves drift away from the hope promised by the Good News, which you have heard, which has been preached to the whole human race, and of which I, Paul, have become the servant.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 53(54):3-4,6,8 © |
I have God for my help.
O God, save me by your name;
by your power, uphold my cause.
O God, hear my prayer;
listen to the words of my mouth.
I have God for my help.
But I have God for my help.
The Lord upholds my life.
I will sacrifice to you with willing heart
and praise your name for it is good:
I have God for my help.
Gospel Acclamation | cf.Ps26:11 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Instruct me, Lord, in your way;
on an even path lead me.
Alleluia!
Or: | Jn14:6 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, says the Lord;
No one can come to the Father except through me.
Alleluia!
Gospel | Luke 6:1-5 © |
The Son of Man is master of the sabbath
One sabbath Jesus happened to be taking a walk through the cornfields, and his disciples were picking ears of corn, rubbing them in their hands and eating them. Some of the Pharisees said, ‘Why are you doing something that is forbidden on the sabbath day?’ Jesus answered them, ‘So you have not read what David did when he and his followers were hungry how he went into the house of God, took the loaves of offering and ate them and gave them to his followers, loaves which only the priests are allowed to eat?’ And he said to them, ‘The Son of Man is master of the sabbath.’
REMAINING STEADFAST IN THE FAITH
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [Col 1:21-23; Ps 54:3-4,6,8; Lk 6:1-5 ]
How can we stand firm in our faith as Christians when we are living in a very secular world, often hostile to the gospel? When St Paul spoke about the enemies of Christ, there are many in the world today. There are those who disagree with our beliefs in Christ, some object to the moral values espoused by the gospel and some who live selfish, self-centred and immoral lives without respect for the dignity of life. The world is focused on profits and pleasure. When the Church’s position on moral issues threaten the bottom-line of these companies, corporations or individuals, we suffer their offensive actions to protect their interests. How, then, can we as Christians “appear before him holy, pure and blameless”, persevering and standing firm “on the solid base of the faith.”
We need stability in our faith by finding strength in the authority of Christ. This is the crux of today’s gospel reading. The religious leaders wanted to know why Jesus acted differently from them, especially with regard to the observance of the Sabbath Law. When they saw some of His disciples “picking ears of corn, rubbing them in their hands and eating them”, they asked, “Why are you doing something that is forbidden on the sabbath day?” The answer of Jesus was that the exigent needs of the people take precedence over the rituals and religious laws, as in the case of David and his followers who were hungry as they were fleeing from their enemies who were pursuing them. They asked the priest to give them the twelve loaves of Bread of the Presence which was reserved only for the priests. But more importantly, He said to them, “The Son of Man is master of the sabbath.” In other words, Jesus was implying that His authority was even higher than that of King David’s. As the Son of Man, God’s representative, as in the book of Daniel, and the Son of David, therefore the Messiah, He has power over the Sabbath. Relying on Jesus, we can be certain that what He says is true.
Secondly, finding faith in our Lord is to recognize that we have been reconciled to God “by Christ’s death in his mortal body.” Reconciliation is the work of God and not our effort. It is we who are reconciled with God; not God reconciling Himself with us. But we cannot do this on our own merit if not for God’s graciousness in sending Jesus the Son of God and the Son of man who shared in our humanity, and suffered the consequences of our sins, even unto death. However, through His resurrection, He conquered the last enemy of man, which is death, and reconciled us all with His Father. In principle therefore, Christ has won our salvation.
Justification is the work of God in us. What is required on our part to be reconciled with God is to have faith in Him. Martin Luther gives us this analogy. If we are very sick and a doctor tells us that he has the medication that could heal us, we must take the medication to be well. When we do that, the medication will take effect on us and heal our bodies. So, too, faith in Jesus will result not just in our justification but sanctification as well. However, sanctification is the by-product of being justified in Christ. That is, if we believe in Him and His saving grace. When we fail to live a blameless life, it means that in truth, we have never truly believed in Him because if we did, our lives would be radically different.
Sanctification is a process that is on-going. We might be justified in Christ through faith in Him in baptism. Justification is on the side of God. Sanctification requires our cooperation with His grace. In justification, God does for us what we cannot do ourselves. But having been justified, God will not do what we can do ourselves, which is to cooperate actively with His grace given to us. We must therefore continue to persevere in good works, in a life of grace. To think that we are justified, and therefore already saved, is wishful thinking. In principle, it is true that Christ has saved us all by His death and resurrection. Objectively, we are saved, but salvation must be accepted by us, which means more than just an intellectual acceptance of Him as saviour and Lord, but concretely in our lives, demonstrating that He is the Lord of our lives.
St Paul told the Christians to look at their past before their conversion to the Lord. “Not long ago, you were foreigners and enemies, in the way that you used to think and the evil things that you did; but now God has reconciled you.” Indeed, to assess whether we have truly accepted Christ as our saviour, we must consider how we have lived in the past. What kind of life did we have then? Was it a useless way of life? St Peter wrote, “You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish.” (1 Pt 1:18f) Before our conversion, we were living a life without a real purpose, just drifting through life, making the best of it, not knowing our final destiny. Some end up pursuing the pleasures and the things of the world, making them entrapped in a life of sin, greed and alienation from others.
But now with Christ, we live with a definite purpose because of the hope before us. St Paul urges us never to allow ourselves to “drift away from the hope promised by the Good News” which we have heard. We no longer live for ourselves but for Him. St Paul wrote, “For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died. And he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them.” (2 Cor 5:14f) To the Romans, he said, “We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.” (Rom 14:7-9) Indeed, it is the hope of sharing in the resurrection of our Lord at the end of our pilgrimage, and inspired by the unconditional love Christ has given for us, we live no longer for ourselves but for Him and for our fellowmen. Our aim in life is not to serve ourselves but to serve others and to help others to find meaning and purpose in Christ. It is in the process of living out this life that gives us great joy and meaning.
It is therefore our faith in Christ and our Hope in the resurrection that motivates us to live a life of holiness, purity and blamelessness. St Paul reminds us, not to “drift away from the hope promised by the Good News, which you have heard, which has been preached to the whole human race.” This is the reason the Church exhorts us to participate in the Sacrifice of the Mass, daily if possible, as it is a participation in the life that is to come. It is true that Christ has won salvation for us once and for all. Christ died for our sins once and for all. (Heb 10:1-18) This is the objective salvation Christ has won for us all. But this sacrifice needs to be appropriated by us to render it effective in our lives. The celebration of the Eucharist precisely is to enable us to enter into that same sacrifice now celebrated at our altar in a non-bloody manner, but nevertheless a real sacrifice, the same sacrifice that was made at Calvary. By celebrating the Eucharist as a memorial, we enter into the same experience and receive the same effects of what the cross has done for us.
Finally, to stay on course we must be faithful to the apostolic faith. St Paul reminds us that he is the servant of this gospel. This is why, it is so important that our faith must be founded on scripture and tradition, that is, the written word of God and the oral traditions passed on to us through the apostolic Church. Otherwise, we lose the foundations of the faith, like the Colossians who were confused by those who were influenced by Gnosticism and sought to impose alien philosophy into the Christian Faith. Fidelity to the apostolic faith would also mean that our faith must be in continuity with the apostolic Church. The Magisterium, that is the Pope and the Bishops, as an apostolic college seeks to protect and preserve the traditions of the Church as transmitted through the early Church.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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