20211026 RESTORATION OF CREATION AND HUMANITY IS CONCOMITANT
26 October, 2021, Tuesday, 30th Week, Ordinary Time
First reading | Romans 8:18-25 © |
The whole creation is eagerly waiting for God to reveal his sons
I think that what we suffer in this life can never be compared to the glory, as yet unrevealed, which is waiting for us. The whole creation is eagerly waiting for God to reveal his sons. It was not for any fault on the part of creation that it was made unable to attain its purpose, it was made so by God; but creation still retains the hope of being freed, like us, from its slavery to decadence, to enjoy the same freedom and glory as the children of God. From the beginning till now the entire creation, as we know, has been groaning in one great act of giving birth; and not only creation, but all of us who possess the first-fruits of the Spirit, we too groan inwardly as we wait for our bodies to be set free. For we must be content to hope that we shall be saved – our salvation is not in sight, we should not have to be hoping for it if it were – but, as I say, we must hope to be saved since we are not saved yet – it is something we must wait for with patience.
Responsorial Psalm | Psalm 125(126) © |
What marvels the Lord worked for us.
When the Lord delivered Zion from bondage,
it seemed like a dream.
Then was our mouth filled with laughter,
on our lips there were songs.
What marvels the Lord worked for us.
The heathens themselves said: ‘What marvels
the Lord worked for them!’
What marvels the Lord worked for us!
Indeed we were glad.
What marvels the Lord worked for us.
Deliver us, O Lord, from our bondage
as streams in dry land.
Those who are sowing in tears
will sing when they reap.
What marvels the Lord worked for us.
They go out, they go out, full of tears,
carrying seed for the sowing:
they come back, they come back, full of song,
carrying their sheaves.
What marvels the Lord worked for us.
Gospel Acclamation | Jn15:15 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
I call you friends, says the Lord,
because I have made known to you
everything I have learnt from my Father.
Alleluia!
Or: | Mt11:25 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Blessed are you, Father,
Lord of heaven and earth,
for revealing the mysteries of the kingdom
to mere children.
Alleluia!
Gospel | Luke 13:18-21 © |
The kingdom of God is like the yeast that leavened three measures of flour
Jesus said, ‘What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it with? It is like a mustard seed which a man took and threw into his garden: it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air sheltered in its branches.’
Another thing he said, ‘What shall I compare the kingdom of God with? It is like the yeast a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour till it was leavened all through.’
RESTORATION OF CREATION AND HUMANITY IS CONCOMITANT
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ROM 8:18-25; LK 13:18-21 ]
Today, the world speaks of climate change and climate warming. So much so world leaders, including religious leaders, are advocating everyone to take steps to protect the earth. This is certainly laudable. Everyone must do his or her part to protect the ecology of creation. Otherwise, the planet would become uninhabitable because of climate warming, natural disasters, flooding, heat-wave, causing wild life, marine life, plants and trees to die. All these are true but very often, when we speak of ecology and protecting the earth, we exclude humanity from creation. We are trying to resolve the issues affecting the planet when the real root of the problem is not creation itself per se but how humanity treats and uses creation. Clearly, there cannot be any real change in the way we treat the environment unless there is a fundamental change in the hearts of humanity.
Right from the beginning of creation, humanity and the rest of creation were intimately linked together. We cannot speak of humanity apart from the rest of creation and vice versa. In the book of Genesis, we read that when God created the world, creation was a paradise. There was perfect harmony among all creatures and plants. Man was called to be stewards of creation and bring the entire creation to its perfection. God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” (Gn 1:28)
Unfortunately, this paradise of a harmonious relationship among animals and the entire creation under the stewardship of man was disrupted with the advent of sin into the world. The Lord said to Adam, “cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field.” (Gn 3:17f) This curse of God in truth is but a foreshadowing of what sin would cause to creation because of the selfishness of man. Without respect for creation, he abused creation for his own selfish pleasure. Indeed, the world is what it is today simply because industrialization has led to deforestation, climate warming, water and air pollution, thereby destroying the ecology of planet earth. We hear of extreme weather conditions, heat-wave in one place, and at another, extreme cold; drought on one hand, flooding on the other. If creation is behaving erratically, it is because man has caused the harmonious relationship in creation through manipulation and abuse of the natural laws. St Paul made it clear, “It was not for any fault on the part of creation that it was made unable to attain its purpose, it was made so by God” because of the sins of man. Truly, creation has been subjected to frustration. Creation cannot achieve its purpose for the reason it was created because man has manipulated nature and failed to respect the natural laws.
Creation is now groaning for liberation and restoration. What is this groaning? St Paul wrote, “creation still retains the hope of being freed, like us, from its slavery to decadence, to enjoy the same freedom and glory as the children of God.” Slavery to decadence means that nature is enslaved, under bondage of man, abused and used for purposes that they were never created for, and so will never find its fulfilment, resulting in futility, frustration, destruction and death. Indeed, everything is created for a purpose, just as every human person has a special mission and vocation on this earth. St Paul said, “From the beginning till now the entire creation, as we know, has been groaning in one great act of giving birth; and not only creation, but all of us who possess the first-fruits of the Spirit, we too groan inwardly as we wait for our bodies to be set free.” But this frustration and incompleteness also indirectly forces creation and humanity to look towards a new order. Positively, the groaning has propelled humanity and creation towards deliverance, freedom and new life. Creation is looking forward to be liberated, transformed and filled with the glory of God, not destroyed.
But it must be man who will take the lead in restoring creation by first restoring himself. The book of Wisdom says, “Do not invite death by the error of your life, or bring on destruction by the works of your hands; because God did not make death, and he does not delight in the death of the living. For he created all things so that they might exist; the generative forces of the world are wholesome, and there is no destructive poison in them.” (Wis 1:12-14) Indeed, unless we have a share of the first-fruits of the Spirit, we cannot restore the rest of creation. Those of us who already have a foretaste of the freedom of the Spirit, the joy of sonship in Christ, sharing in His inheritance by virtue of being God’s adopted sons, we too live in hope for the full instalment that has already been given to us in part.
It implies therefore that since we already share in the adopted sonship of Christ, we must already begin to live this life of grace. We must live a resurrected life by dying to ourselves in giving ourselves entirely for the glory of God and for the service of our fellowmen. We are called to work with the rest of the world to build the Kingdom of God. We must proclaim the gospel to the world, infusing it with the values of the Kingdom as preached by our Lord. We do this by conscientizing humanity, overcoming the negative values that are promoted by the world today – an excessive form of individualism over the need to promote the common good; an exaggerated form of freedom infringing the rights of others, pursuing materialism whilst neglecting the needs of the spirit and the soul.
Lest we become discouraged at the immensity of the work we have to do to bring about a transformation of humanity and creation, the Lord Jesus taught us two parables of growth of the kingdom. In the first parable, the Lord said, “It is like mustard seed which a man took and threw into his garden: it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air sheltered in its branches.” Clearly, we need to begin small like a mustard seed. We must not be discouraged at the apparently insignificant contribution we can make when the world’s problems are of such magnitude that we wonder whether our efforts would produce any real result and whether we make a real difference in society today. Our task is just to grow the seed no matter how small it might be. What is important is that we are playing our part in the promotion of the gospel values in the world. In time to come, it will become a tree, perhaps not in our life-time. We might not see the fruits of the labour we put in today, but humanity will reap what we do today, just as we are reaping the fruits of our forefathers, the foreign missionaries that had sowed the seed of faith in our country. Indeed, Christianity started with just a handful of disciples and today, it is the largest religion in the world. Today, the mustard seed has become a tree where people of all nations, regardless of race, language and status have a place in the family of God.
Secondly, the Lord reminds us that we must begin from within. In the Parable of the Yeast, He said, “What shall I compare the kingdom of God with? It is like the yeast a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour till it was leavened all through.” This parable assures us that God is working quietly but surely in our lives, like the yeast in the dough. We cannot see the work of the yeast but we can see its effects. But what is important to take note is that it works from inside out. It works within, but always in relationship to the dough. So too, in our work of restoration of the kingdom, we must begin with our people but always bearing in mind the challenges being posed by the world. It is our hope that our people will eventually bring about the change of mindset in the world so that peace, harmony, compassion and respect for all of humanity, including creation and its natural laws will prevail.
But we do all this with the hope of fulfilment in mind. St Paul urges us, “For we must be content to hope that we shall be saved – our salvation is not in sight, we should not have to be hoping for it if it were – but, as I say, we must hope to be saved since we are not saved yet – it is something we must wait for with patience.” So we wait patiently for the fulfilment of creation and humanity in the future, when creation together with humanity are transfigured and there will once again be harmony in creation, animals and plants and human beings. Indeed, we await in hope and confidence that we will share in the glory of the resurrection.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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