20220214 BUILDING ON THE RIGHT FOUNDATION
14 February, 2022, Monday, Dedication of the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd
First reading |
1 Kings 8:22-23,27-30 © |
'Listen to the prayer your servant makes in this place'
In the presence of the whole assembly of Israel, Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord and, stretching out his hands towards heaven, said, ‘O Lord, God of Israel, not in heaven above nor on earth beneath is there such a God as you, true to your covenant and your kindness towards your servants when they walk wholeheartedly in your way. Yet will God really live with men on the earth? Why, the heavens and their own heavens cannot contain you. How much less this house that I have built! Listen to the prayer and entreaty of your servant, O Lord my God; listen to the cry and to the prayer your servant makes to you today. Day and night let your eyes watch over this house, over this place of which you have said, “My name shall be there.” Listen to the prayer that your servant will offer in this place.
‘Hear the entreaty of your servant and of Israel your people as they pray in this place. From heaven where your dwelling is, hear; and, as you hear, forgive.’
Responsorial Psalm |
1 Chronicles 29:10-12 © |
We praise your glorious name, O Lord.
Blessed are you, O Lord,
the God of Israel our father,
for ever, for ages unending.
We praise your glorious name, O Lord.
Yours, Lord, are greatness and power,
and splendour and triumph and glory.
All is yours, in heaven and on earth.
We praise your glorious name, O Lord.
Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom,
you are supreme over all.
Both honour and riches come from you.
We praise your glorious name, O Lord.
You are the ruler of all,
from your hand come strength and power,
from your hand come greatness and might.
We praise your glorious name, O Lord.
Gospel Acclamation | Ezk37:27 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
I shall make my home among them, says the Lord;
I will be their God,
they shall be my people.
Alleluia!
Gospel |
Matthew 16:13-19 © |
You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church
When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi he put this question to his disciples, ‘Who do people say the Son of Man is?’ And they said, ‘Some say he is John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ ‘But you,’ he said ‘who do you say I am?’ Then Simon Peter spoke up, ‘You are the Christ,’ he said ‘the Son of the living God.’ Jesus replied, ‘Simon son of Jonah, you are a happy man! Because it was not flesh and blood that revealed this to you but my Father in heaven. So I now say to you: You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church. And the gates of the underworld can never hold out against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: whatever you bind on earth shall be considered bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth shall be considered loosed in heaven.’
BUILDING ON THE RIGHT FOUNDATION
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [1 KGS 8:22-23, 27-30; PS 84; 1 COR 3:9-11,16-17; MT 16:13-19]
Today, we celebrate the 175th anniversary of the Dedication of the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd. Being the oldest church in Singapore, it is also the church that gave birth to the rest of the Catholic churches here. Rightly so, the Cathedral is called the Mother church of the archdiocese, for the foundation of the Catholic Faith in Singapore was laid here. It is right therefore to celebrate this anniversary with gratitude and thanksgiving for all that God has done for us through the missionaries that came to our shores 200 years ago.
However, it is not enough to give thanks. We must be spurred further by showing our gratitude in continuing to grow the Church as St Paul reminded us. “You are God’s building. By the grace God gave me, I succeeded as an architect and laid the foundations, on which someone else is doing the building.” We must remember that the building of the Church is not the result of one person or even a group of people. It is an ongoing process when one generation of Catholics builds up the Church that was handed on to them. In truth, they will be succeeded by the next generation of leaders. We will come and go but the Church will remain till the end of the world. This is what the Lord said, “The gates of the underworld can never hold out against it.”
But there is a danger of falling into smugness and complacency. This is the main weakness of institutional churches that have been established for many years. The vibrancy, the evangelistic fervour and missionary dimension is lost. Established churches feel secure that they have enough parishioners to support the maintenance of the church. Members come to church in a routine manner. They take their faith and worship for granted. They do not get involved in the church. They are not interested in formation or in prayer. For those who are involved, their service is functional rather than evangelistic. Both the clergy and parishioners go through the routine week after week but not reaching out to fellow Catholics, much less to non-Catholics. When the Church lives and thrives on its past glory, we are in trouble.
Consequently, we need to ask ourselves how we are expanding the Church, not just in terms of infrastructure but in the building of the People of God. In the first reading, King Solomon was very much aware that God could not be confined to a building even as he dedicated the Temple. “Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord and, stretching out his hands towards heaven, said, ‘Lord God of Israel, not in heaven above nor on earth beneath is there such a God as you, true to your covenant and your kindness towards your servants when they walk wholeheartedly in your way. Yet will God really live with men on the earth? Why, the heavens and their own heavens cannot contain you. How much less this house that I have built!”
Indeed, whilst a Temple or a church is necessary for gathering the People of God to worship as One People whom we call an assembly, from which the term “ecclesia” or “church” is derived, we must never forget that the Church is essentially the gathering of the People of God. St Paul reminds us, “Didn’t you realize that you were God’s temple and that the Spirit of God was living among you? If anybody should destroy the temple of God, God will destroy him, because the temple of God is sacred; and you are that temple.” We are the living Temple of God where the Spirit lives. St Peter said, we are like living stones being “built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” (1 Pt 2:5) Clearly, the purpose of the physical church is a means by which we form the People of God in grace, love and faith. Unless they are formed in faith and love, they will remain dead stones, hardly alive in Christ. This is why, the dedication of any church, including the Cathedral, must include the dedication of the People of God to the Lord as well.
How, then, can we ensure that we have the right foundation for the building of the Church and the People of God? There is only one real foundation, which is our faith in the Crucified and Risen Lord. St Paul wrote, “Everyone doing the building must work carefully. For the foundation, nobody can lay any other than the one which has already been laid, that is Jesus Christ.” All others are just building on their foundation in Christ. If our foundation is not founded in Christ, we will fail. We are not just another secular organization or commercial or government corporation. The Church is founded by our Lord and He is the cornerstone on which we build the Church. “See, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” (1 Pt 2:6)
This is the same faith as Peter who confessed in Jesus as “the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” When the Lord said to Peter, “Simon son of Jonah, you are a happy man! Because it was not flesh and blood that revealed this to you but my Father in heaven. So I now say to you: You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church.” How often have we tended to see the Church as a mere human institution simply because of human weaknesses and the presence of sin? In truth, the Church is also a divine institution with Christ as the cornerstone. This is the sure guarantee of a living faith. The rock of Peter is not just a reference to Peter himself as a person but his faith in Christ. Unless we have the same conviction of Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the Living God, our faith remains weak and shaky.
Clearly, a personal faith in Christ is necessary if we were to come to a conviction of who Jesus is. When the Lord asked His disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” They said, “Some say he is John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” “But you,” he said, “who do you say I am?” It is not enough to hear what others say about Jesus. Worse still, if we hear from those who do not know about Jesus or know Him personally. Many today are reducing Jesus to just a good man or a teacher or a great prophet. But our faith is in nothing less than Jesus as the Son of God. On that basis, we can submit to Him and His Word which is beyond compromise, even if we do not agree with Him. Many Catholics today pick and choose what they want to believe rather than what Christ teaches us in the Bible. When we do not have a personal faith in Christ, we make Christ according to our image, just as what the people in today’s gospel sought to do. They tried to identify Jesus with one of the great prophets. But no human category can contain or capture the full identity of our Lord.
Today, we are reminded that we have a personal responsibility to build the Church of Christ. Each one of us, according to the grace God has given to us, must take part and play our role in the building not just of the physical church but the community. In this work, it presupposes that we will build upon our faith in Christ. St Paul reminds us, “Everyone doing the building must work carefully.” Each one of us must see how we can contribute to the Cathedral. This Cathedral does not belong to me or the priests. Our role is that of stewardship, pastoring and animating. Let us never take the church or the community that serves us for granted. Some of us only know how to make demands on the church, failing to realize that without volunteers, nothing much can be done. We need to support each other and volunteer our services and resources in whatever ways the Lord has blessed us. So before we make demands and requests from the Church and the Catholic community, we must also ask “how have I contributed to it” as well. We are Church and we are a family. We need each other!
In this way, the Church truly becomes a dwelling place of God. The responsorial psalm says, “How lovely is your dwelling-place, Lord, God of hosts. My soul is longing and yearning, is yearning for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my soul ring out their joy to God, the living God. One day within your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. The threshold of the house of God I prefer to the dwellings of the wicked.” Only then can we pray with Solomon, “Day and night let your eyes watch over this house, over this place of which you have said, ‘My name shall be there.’ Listen to the prayer that your servant will offer in this place.” God will certainly be present in our midst when we worship Him with faith and devotion. God’s name, which is His presence, will be with us in all that we do.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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