20210912 THE GOAL OF CATHOLIC EDUCATION
12 September, 2021, Sunday, 24th Week, Ordinary Time
First reading | Isaiah 50:5-9 © |
I offered my back to those who struck me
The Lord has opened my ear.
For my part, I made no resistance,
neither did I turn away.
I offered my back to those who struck me,
my cheeks to those who tore at my beard;
I did not cover my face
against insult and spittle.
The Lord comes to my help,
so that I am untouched by the insults.
So, too, I set my face like flint;
I know I shall not be shamed.
My vindicator is here at hand. Does anyone start proceedings against me?
Then let us go to court together.
Who thinks he has a case against me?
Let him approach me.
The Lord is coming to my help,
who will dare to condemn me?
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 114(116):1-6,8-9 © |
I will walk in the presence of the Lord in the land of the living.
I love the Lord for he has heard
the cry of my appeal;
for he turned his ear to me
in the day when I called him.
I will walk in the presence of the Lord in the land of the living.
They surrounded me, the snares of death,
with the anguish of the tomb;
they caught me, sorrow and distress.
I called on the Lord’s name.
O Lord, my God, deliver me!
I will walk in the presence of the Lord in the land of the living.
How gracious is the Lord, and just;
our God has compassion.
The Lord protects the simple hearts;
I was helpless so he saved me.
I will walk in the presence of the Lord in the land of the living.
He has kept my soul from death,
my eyes from tears
and my feet from stumbling.
I will walk in the presence of the Lord
in the land of the living.
I will walk in the presence of the Lord in the land of the living.
Second reading | James 2:14-18 © |
If good works do not go with it, faith is quite dead
Take the case, my brothers, of someone who has never done a single good act but claims that he has faith. Will that faith save him? If one of the brothers or one of the sisters is in need of clothes and has not enough food to live on, and one of you says to them, ‘I wish you well; keep yourself warm and eat plenty’, without giving them these bare necessities of life, then what good is that? Faith is like that: if good works do not go with it, it is quite dead.
This is the way to talk to people of that kind: ‘You say you have faith and I have good deeds; I will prove to you that I have faith by showing you my good deeds – now you prove to me that you have faith without any good deeds to show.’
Gospel Acclamation | 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!
Or: | Ga6:14 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
The only thing I can boast about is the cross of our Lord,
through whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world.
Alleluia!
Gospel | Mark 8:27-35 © |
The Son of Man is destined to suffer grievously
Jesus and his disciples left for the villages round Caesarea Philippi. On the way he put this question to his disciples, ‘Who do people say I am?’ And they told him. ‘John the Baptist,’ they said ‘others Elijah; others again, one of the prophets.’ ‘But you,’ he asked ‘who do you say I am?’ Peter spoke up and said to him, ‘You are the Christ.’ And he gave them strict orders not to tell anyone about him.
And he began to teach them that the Son of Man was destined to suffer grievously, to be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and to be put to death, and after three days to rise again; and he said all this quite openly. Then, taking him aside, Peter started to remonstrate with him. But, turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said to him, ‘Get behind me, Satan! Because the way you think is not God’s way but man’s.’
He called the people and his disciples to him and said, ‘If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me. For anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.’
THE GOAL OF CATHOLIC EDUCATION
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ Is 50:5-9; Ps 116:1-6,8-9; Jam 2:14-18; Mk 8:27-35]
Today, the Archdiocese celebrates Catholic Education Sunday. Whenever we celebrate Catholic Education Sunday, we tend to focus narrowly on our Catholic Schools as the means by which we provide a Catholic Education to our Catholics studying in our Catholic Schools, and to all students irrespective of religions. In the context of Catholic education, the objective is more than just imparting faith, but to ensure that Catholic Faith is the underlying foundation in the way our students are formed in their secular knowledge and skills, values and ethos. It seeks to provide a Catholic ambience and a welcoming and all-embracing community. The vision of Catholic Education is to form our young people to contribute to society and Church. Catholic Education therefore seeks an integral development of our students, which means intellectual, affective, emotional, physical and spiritual.
In the second reading, St James’ message is clear, that faith cannot be separated from life. He said, “Take the case, my brothers, of someone who has never done a single good act but claims that he has faith. Will that faith save him? Faith is like that: if good works do not go with it, it is quite dead.” When we speak of Catholic education, it is more than just imparting Catholic doctrines or teaching our young people about the scriptures. It is not just an intellectual faith but a faith that touches the heart and expresses itself in charity. As St James warns us in the same chapter, “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe and shudder. Do you want to be shown, you senseless person, that faith apart from works is barren?” (Jam 2:19f) Evangelization is not proselytization or spreading an ideology. It is about helping people to live a good life.
Confession of faith in Christ is more than just an intellectual affirmation of the identity of Jesus. St Peter, in spite of the fact that he got the right answer to the identity of Jesus, failed to grasp the content of his declaration. He did not fully understand what it meant for Jesus to be the Christ. He and the others were still thinking of Jesus as a political liberator against the Romans, restorer of the Kingdom of David to its golden age, and to achieve this end in a triumphalist manner. To prevent the apostles from imparting the wrong vision of Him, Jesus “gave them strict orders not to tell anyone about him.” The truth is that they did not know the full implication of their confession of faith in Christ and the content of that confession. Hence, when Jesus spoke of His imminent death, “taking him aside, Peter started to remonstrate with him. But, turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said to him, ‘Get behind me, Satan! Because the way you think is not God’s way, but man’s.'” Peter was indeed the instrument of Satan tempting Jesus the same way the Devil sought to tempt Him at the very beginning of His ministry. Then, the Devil had challenged Jesus to show off His power by jumping from the pinnacle of the Temple, to change stone to bread to satisfy His hunger, and to pursue the wealth, glory and kingdom of this earth. (Mt 4:1-11)
Faith calls for commitment to the Lord who is the Son of the Living God, and fidelity to the Church, since Jesus gave Peter the keys to the kingdom. Hence St Peter’s declaration that Jesus is the Christ is followed up by Jesus prophesying His imminent passion and death. “He began to teach them that the Son of Man was destined to suffer grievously, to be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and to be put to death, and after three days to rise again.” He concluded by declaring, “If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me. For anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.” Indeed, the disciple of Christ must be ready to give up his life like Christ, for the sake of the gospel and to take up his cross of suffering, persecution, rejection and humiliation.
How, then, can we move from an intellectual faith in Christ to a living faith in Christian life? Often, we wonder how it is that our children who have been formed in faith, attended catechism classes for 10 years, or even our adults who have gone through RCIA, some of whom even attended advanced courses, seminars and institutes and earning diplomas and degrees in theology and scriptures, live anything but a Catholic way of life. They live worldly lives, adopt the values and moral judgment of the world, and think like worldly people. Many of them are selective in what they choose to believe, some have stopped going to church or dropped out of the faith entirely. They think the Church is outdated and the teachings of scripture are not helpful in today’s world because the rest of the world is more pragmatic in approach, and individualistic in making decisions. It seeks immediate gratification, and freedom in everything, whether in sex, in love, or in speech. Without faith, it is understandable why the teachings of the Church cannot be accepted by the world, because many moral principles are not just based on natural laws but on doctrinal positions of how we see man and creation from the perspective of faith.
To move from mere intellectual faith of our Lord to a personal faith in Christ, which is all important, the Lord asked His disciples, “Who do people say I am? But you, he asked, ‘who do you say I am?'” Jesus was not impressed with what others were saying about Him. In the final analysis, it is not what we know about Jesus but how well we know Him personally. If we have faith in Him as the Christ, the Son of the Living God, then we would surrender our entire life to Him because we trust He knows best as He is the Wisdom of God, and the perfect man. And even if we do not understand or agree with what He taught us, we submit in faith simply because Jesus is God. As God, He is omniscient and omnipotent. So it is not just a matter of being able to articulate our faith in Him in words but whether what we declare is really what we believe in our hearts. Unless it is a personal faith in Him, such intellectual faith will not change our lives or affect the way we live.
This is what Catholic Education must do for everyone and this includes us all. Catholic education is not just for students, it is meant for all. The danger is that many adult Catholics think they no longer have to be formed in their faith. Many of us hardly grow in knowledge and understanding of our faith. We read widely almost about everything under the sun except our Faith. We do not take seriously the importance of growing in our faith in Christ. Most of all, many do not belong to a small Catholic community that could provide them a lived Christianity, where there is mutual support, love and understanding. In other words, they do not have a Catholic ambience at home or in church. This explains why in many of our Catholic homes, faith is dichotomized from life. Our young people have stopped going to church because they do not experience the love of Christ in their lives or a Catholic atmosphere, whether of a prayerful community or the presence of Catholic symbols and Catholic practices.
Unless, our faith is grounded in our personal conviction of our Lord, we will always have unsettled questions, making us doubt our faith in Christ. The folly of Catholics is that they doubt the faith when they should be doubting their doubts. If Christ is the Son of God, then He will ensure that the Church is protected as He promised Peter after His declaration. Only with that personal faith in Christ, can we truly help our students to grow up to have strong values rooted in the gospel, and spurred to do good not just out of humanitarian reasons but for the love of God, and most of all, for the salvation of their souls beyond this life. Without such a personal faith in God, like Jeremiah, it will be difficult to stand up for our values because we will face many oppositions. Only with that personal faith in God, can we say, “The Lord comes to my help, so that I am untouched by the insults. So, too, I set my face like flint; I know I shall not be shamed.” When we have faith in God, all our questions will disappear, not because they have been answered but because in faith we believe that Jesus knows best. In the final analysis, faith is the answer, intellectual questioning can help us to understand the faith. Theology is faith seeking for understanding. Trying to understand Faith without faith is a futile task. It is the heart that understands when reason does not know.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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