20220105 HOW DO WE KNOW THAT WE HAVE SEEN GOD?
05 January, 2022, Wednesday After Epiphany
First reading | 1 John 4:11-18 © |
As long as we love one another God's love will be complete in us
My dear people,
since God has loved us so much,
we too should love one another.
No one has ever seen God;
but as long as we love one another
God will live in us
and his love will be complete in us.
We can know that we are living in him
and he is living in us
because he lets us share his Spirit.
We ourselves saw and we testify
that the Father sent his Son
as saviour of the world.
If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God,
God lives in him, and he in God.
We ourselves have known and put our faith in
God’s love towards ourselves.
God is love
and anyone who lives in love lives in God,
and God lives in him.
Love will come to its perfection in us
when we can face the day of Judgement without fear;
because even in this world
we have become as he is.
In love there can be no fear,
but fear is driven out by perfect love:
because to fear is to expect punishment,
and anyone who is afraid is still imperfect in love.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 71(72):1-2,10-13 © |
All nations shall fall prostrate before you, O Lord.
O God, give your judgement to the king,
to a king’s son your justice,
that he may judge your people in justice
and your poor in right judgement.
All nations shall fall prostrate before you, O Lord.
The kings of Tarshish and the sea coasts
shall pay him tribute.
The kings of Sheba and Seba
shall bring him gifts.
Before him all kings shall fall prostrate,
all nations shall serve him.
All nations shall fall prostrate before you, O Lord.
For he shall save the poor when they cry
and the needy who are helpless.
He will have pity on the weak
and save the lives of the poor.
All nations shall fall prostrate before you, O Lord.
Gospel Acclamation | Lk4:17 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
The Lord has sent me to bring the good news to the poor,
to proclaim liberty to captives.
Alleluia!
Or: | cf.1Tim3:16 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Glory to you, O Christ,
proclaimed to the pagans;
glory to you, O Christ,
believed in by the world.
Alleluia!
Or: | Mt4:16 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
The people that lived in darkness
has seen a great light;
on those who dwell in the land and shadow of death
a light has dawned.
Alleluia!
Or: | cf.Mt4:23 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Jesus proclaimed the Good News of the kingdom
and cured all kinds of diseases among the people.
Alleluia!
Or: | Lk7:16 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
A great prophet has appeared among us;
God has visited his people.
Alleluia!
Gospel | Mark 6:45-52 © |
His disciples saw him walking on the lake
After the five thousand had eaten and were filled, Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to Bethsaida, while he himself sent the crowd away. After saying goodbye to them he went off into the hills to pray. When evening came, the boat was far out on the lake, and he was alone on the land. He could see they were worn out with rowing, for the wind was against them; and about the fourth watch of the night he came towards them, walking on the lake. He was going to pass them by, but when they saw him walking on the lake they thought it was a ghost and cried out; for they had all seen him and were terrified. But he at once spoke to them, and said, ‘Courage! It is I! Do not be afraid.’ Then he got into the boat with them, and the wind dropped. They were utterly and completely dumbfounded, because they had not seen what the miracle of the loaves meant; their minds were closed.
HOW DO WE KNOW THAT WE HAVE SEEN GOD?
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [1 JN 4:11-18; MK 6:45-52]
Can we see God? In the Old Testament, it is clear that one cannot see God and live. St John in the first reading also seems to affirm that this is a possibility for he said, “No one has ever seen God.” It is true that we do not see God as He is, but yet He is not completely invisible and inaccessible. In Christ, God has manifested Himself and is in our midst. St John says, “We ourselves saw and we testify that the Father sent his Son as saviour of the world.” In Jesus, God has made Himself visible to us.
The season of Epiphany invites us to contemplate on the face of God as revealed to us in Christ. The incarnation is the manifestation of God in the world in the birth, life, passion, death and resurrection of our Lord. He is indeed, the Word made Flesh. As St John wrote, “the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.” (Jn 1:14) When Philip asked the Lord, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves.” (Jn 14:8-11)
Indeed, in the gospel, we see the face of God’s compassion in Jesus when He fed the multitude of 5000 with five loaves and two fish besides teaching them about the Kingdom of God. In today’s gospel, we see how Jesus never abandoned the disciples when they faced the storms of life; not even when the Lord Himself needed time to be with His Father to think through His plans and strategy in proclaiming the Kingdom because of hostility from the Jewish leaders, and His unintended stoking of revolutionaries in wanting to make Him King and Messiah to deliver them from the Roman army. Even when deep in prayer up in the hills, He was not oblivious to the cries of His disciples. He came to meet them in their struggles. He came to give them the assurance that in their struggles, He will always be with them. He said, “Courage! It is I! Do not be afraid.” With Jesus, we can always stay calm and not be unduly worried. “Then he got into the boat with them, and the wind dropped.”
That is why faith in Jesus is a pre-requisite in seeing the face of God. “If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him, and he in God.” Faith in Jesus as the Son of God is the Christian basis in believing in God’s love for us. In Jesus’ life and sacrifice, we know God’s love for us. “We ourselves have known and put our faith in God’s love towards ourselves.” We see God only in Jesus who shows us God’s love in person.
But how can we see God today? God continues to be visible in His Church and especially in the Sacraments. In the Eucharist, we encounter His real presence. In the Word of God, we hear Him speaking to us. In the Sacrament of Reconciliation, we hear His words of forgiveness and assurance of love. In the Christian community, we experience His support, His care and His encouragement. In the poor, we see His face inviting us to share in His joy of uplifting the lives of others. In our suffering God reveals His face to us by opening up our hearts to our own wounds so that we will remain in touch with life. The worst thing that can happen to us is when we are so caught up with our needs, our ego and our pursuits that we have lost the human touch of being aware of the sufferings, struggles, pains and weaknesses of humanity. This is why St John remarked, “No one has ever seen God; but as long as we love one another God will live in us and his love will be complete in us.”
Not only can we see God but we know that God lives in us. St John said, “God is love and anyone who lives in love lives in God, and God lives in him.” God is not so much outside us, but He also dwells within us. As St Paul wrote, “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” (Rom 5:5) In the same vein, St John writes, “we can know that we are living in him and he is living in us because he lets us share his Spirit.” When we put on the mind and the heart of Christ, then we know for sure that God lives in us. We will then act according to His Spirit. St Paul spoke about the Spirit allotting us His gifts, especially the gift of love. It will be His Spirit of love that will give us the capacity to act and love like Him. (Eph 4:7-14)
We cannot love like God if we are dependent on our strength or our inadequate human love. If we are using our strength to love others, it means that we have not seen God, yet His love dwells in our hearts. We are using our human strength and human love to love others which we call, the love of friends or humanitarian love. Such love will always be conditional and limited. This is why human love is calculative and merely reciprocal. Loving those who love us and those who appreciate us, is a pagan love, not the love of God which is unconditional and total, regardless of our response to Him.
St Paul insists that we can only do the unimaginable when we have come into a deep experience of the love of God. “I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine.” This has always been the basis for missionary activity. All missionaries are moved by God’s love for them, so much so they are willing to sacrifice their life, their comfort, their security, their loved ones and their homes to bring the gospel of Christ to places where Christ’s love remains unknown. Indeed, only when we understand and feel His love deeply in Christ, can we do more. As the Lord also said, “I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.” (Jn 14:12-14)
However, it must be said that our love for God needs time to grow and deepen. Few of us have had a direct encounter of God’s radical love like that of St Paul and some of the saints. For most of us, our encounter of His love is superficial, mostly through the routine of prayer and religious practices, formation in faith and most of the time, through our friends and those who help us. Like the disciples, coming to believe in God’s love takes time to mature. Even though the disciples saw the miracles of Jesus over nature, besides His healing miracles, they remained “utterly and completely dumbfounded, because they had not seen what the miracle of the loaves meant; their minds were closed.” So too for us, our minds remain closed, even when the Lord comes to our aid in times of need, again and again. We are too slow to come to appreciation and deep gratitude for His love.
Our hope therefore is that with His grace, we can perfect His love in us. St John wrote, “Love will come to its perfection in us when we can face the day of Judgement without fear; because even in this world we have become as he is.” Holiness is to grow in love and become how He is in love. When we learn to love like Jesus, and His love is in us, then meeting the Lord at our death should not be something fearful but it would be a day of true liberation. When we are like God in love, we have no difficulty meeting God since God is love. Only those who lack love feel aversion towards God. This is why, if we are fearful of death, of judgement, it simply means that we know that we have fallen short of this love. Otherwise, with a clear conscience and full of the love of God in us, we would be like St Paul, longing to be with the Lord. Hence, St John says, “In love there can be no fear, but fear is driven out by perfect love: because to fear is to expect punishment, and anyone who is afraid still is imperfect in love.”
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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