20211112 SEEING BEYOND THE BEAUTY OF CREATION
12 November, 2021, Friday, 32nd Week, Ordinary Time
First reading | Wisdom 13:1-9 © |
How have those who investigated the world been so slow to find its Master?
Naturally stupid are all men who have not known God
and who, from the good things that are seen, have not been able to discover Him-who-is,
or, by studying the works, have failed to recognise the Artificer.
Fire however, or wind, or the swift air,
the sphere of the stars, impetuous water, heaven’s lamps,
are what they have held to be the gods who govern the world.
If, charmed by their beauty, they have taken things for gods,
let them know how much the Lord of these excels them,
since the very Author of beauty has created them.
And if they have been impressed by their power and energy,
let them deduce from these how much mightier is he that has formed them,
since through the grandeur and beauty of the creatures
we may, by analogy, contemplate their Author.
Small blame, however, attaches to these men,
for perhaps they only go astray
in their search for God and their eagerness to find him;
living among his works, they strive to comprehend them
and fall victim to appearances, seeing so much beauty.
Even so, they are not to be excused:
if they are capable of acquiring enough knowledge
to be able to investigate the world,
how have they been so slow to find its Master?
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 18(19):2-5 © |
The heavens proclaim the glory of God.
The heavens proclaim the glory of God,
and the firmament shows forth the work of his hands.
Day unto day takes up the story
and night unto night makes known the message.
The heavens proclaim the glory of God.
No speech, no word, no voice is heard
yet their span extends through all the earth,
their words to the utmost bounds of the world.
The heavens proclaim the glory of God.
Gospel Acclamation | Heb4:12 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
The word of God is something alive and active:
it can judge secret emotions and thoughts.
Alleluia!
Or: | Lk21:28 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Stand erect, hold your heads high,
because your liberation is near at hand.
Alleluia!
Gospel | Luke 17:26-37 © |
When the day comes for the Son of Man to be revealed
Jesus said to the disciples:
‘As it was in Noah’s day, so will it also be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating and drinking, marrying wives and husbands, right up to the day Noah went into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. It will be the same as it was in Lot’s day: people were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but the day Lot left Sodom, God rained fire and brimstone from heaven and it destroyed them all. It will be the same when the day comes for the Son of Man to be revealed.
‘When that day comes, anyone on the housetop, with his possessions in the house, must not come down to collect them, nor must anyone in the fields turn back either. Remember Lot’s wife. Anyone who tries to preserve his life will lose it; and anyone who loses it will keep it safe. I tell you, on that night two will be in one bed: one will be taken, the other left; two women will be grinding corn together: one will be taken, the other left.’ The disciples interrupted. ‘Where, Lord?’ they asked. He said, ‘Where the body is, there too will the vultures gather.’
SEEING BEYOND THE BEAUTY OF CREATION
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [Wis 13:1-9; Ps 19:2-5; Lk 17:26-37]
In the gospel, the Pharisees were asking Jesus about the time of the coming of the Kingdom of God. The reply of Jesus was that “The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed; nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There it is!’ For, in fact, the kingdom of God is among you.” (Lk 17:20f) Indeed, the coming of the Kingdom of God is not so much identified with events but it is already in our midst. In other words, the Kingdom of God is among us and within us. Earlier on, Jesus told the people “When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, ‘It is going to rain’; and so it happens. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat’; and it happens. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?” (Lk 12:54-56)
Indeed, the kingdom of God is already present in creation as the psalmist sees it. “The heavens proclaim the glory of God, and the firmament shows forth the work of his hands. Day unto day takes up the story and night unto night makes known the message. No speech, no word, no voice is heard yet their span extends through all the earth, their words to the utmost bounds of the world.” God is seen in His creation and in His works. St Paul writing to the Romans says, “Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made.” (Rom 1:20)
Unfortunately, men fail to see it. The author of Wisdom says, “Naturally stupid are all men who have not known God and who, from the good things that are seen, have not been able to discover Him-who-is, or, by studying the works, have failed to recognize the Artificer. Fire however, or wind, or the swift air, the sphere of the stars, impetuous water, heaven’s lamps, are what they have held to be the gods who govern the world.” St Paul remarked, “For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. So they are without excuse; for though they knew God, they did not honour him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their senseless minds were darkened.” (Rom 1:19-21) Sometimes, our intellectual pride hinders us from coming to see God who is the author of creation. We are so absorbed in studying the stars, the universe, plants and animals, the atoms, etc that we do not go beyond these to the ultimate question of who made all these things possible. In other words, we do not arrive at the ultimate cause of reality.
Then there are those who stop at the beauty of creation. So enchanted by it, they idolize it and worship creation as God instead of recognizing these are merely the works of God. St Paul noted, “Claiming to be wise, they became fools; and they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling a mortal human being or birds or four-footed animals or reptiles.” (Rom 1:22f) The book of Wisdom advises such people, “If, charmed by their beauty, they have taken things for gods, let them know how much the Lord of these excels them, since the very Author of beauty has created them. And if they have been impressed by their power and energy, let them deduce from these how much mightier is he that has formed them, since through the grandeur and beauty of the creatures we may, by analogy, contemplate their Author.” When we worship the things of this earth, we are short-changing ourselves. What we should be focused on is the author and creator of these beautiful works of art. It is not enough to fall in love with the painting or the music that is played, but rather, we should get to know the painter or the musician so that we can continue to enjoy the paintings and the music.
This is the same warning our Lord gave to His disciples about being attached to our possessions. He said, “‘When that day comes, anyone on the housetop, with his possessions in the house, must not come down to collect them, nor must anyone in the fields turn back either. Remember Lot’s wife. Anyone who tries to preserve his life will lose it; and anyone who loses it will keep it safe.” When we are overly attached to our possessions, we will be destroyed together with it. When we worship the things of this earth, we will become like them, just as Lot’s wife who turned back to look at what she left behind, and was turned into a pillar of salt. (Gn 19:26) Those of us who worship idols will become like them. The psalmist warns us, “Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. Those who make them are like them and so are all who trust in them.” (Ps 115:4-8)
Yet the greatest embodiment of the Kingdom of God is man himself. The psalmist in wonder said, “When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them? Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honour. You have given them dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under their feet.” (Ps 8:3-6) However, this man needs to be redeemed in Christ because of sin, corruption and ignorance. Man has degraded his dignity and honour by doing all kinds of filthy and wicked things. “God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the degrading of their bodies among themselves. Since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind and to things that should not be done. They were filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, covetousness, malice.” (Rom 1:24-32)
That is why Christ in our midst is the Kingdom of God in person. In His very person, He shows us the glory of God in human lowliness by His obedience to the Father, in His humble and loving service to humanity, identifying and feeling with us, healing and comforting us, showing His compassion and mercy, reconciling us to the Father and to one another, assuring us of God’s unconditional forgiveness and mercy, teaching us the way to true blessedness. Most of all, He showed God’s total love by His suffering, passion and cruel death on the cross. By stripping Himself of everything, He took all our sins away and showed forth the goodness, mercy, love of God in Him. That is why He said earlier, “For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day. But first he must endure much suffering and be rejected by this generation.” (Lk 17:24f)
Today, the Lord warns us to be prepared lest we miss the glory of the kingdom of God in our lives and at the end of time. We must avoid falling into the same mistake as the people during Noah’s time, or during the time of Lot, so absorbed in the mundane activities of the world that they had no place for God in their life. “As it was in Noah’s day, so will it also be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating and drinking, marrying wives and husbands, right up to the day Noah went into the ark, and the Flood came and destroyed them all. It will be the same as it was in Lot’s day: people were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but the day Lot left Sodom, God rained fire and brimstone from heaven and it destroyed them all. It will be the same when the day comes for the Son of Man to be revealed.”
Whilst we certainly must give our heart and soul to whatever we are doing, we must put God as the centre of our life. His coming will be sudden and there would be no escape when He comes, whether the last day of this earth or our last day on earth. When He comes, we can take nothing with us. When He comes, we cannot cling on to the good works of others, for as the Lord said, “When that day comes, anyone on the housetop, with his possessions in the house, must not come down to collect them, nor must anyone in the fields turn back either. I tell you, on that night two women will be grinding corn together: one will be taken, the other left.” This is why we must spend our time on earth reclaiming our lost glory destroyed by sin. We must come to our Lord whom the apostles saw “the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.” (Jn 1:14-16)
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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