20220303 A DECISION OF FAITH
03 March, 2022, Thursday after Ash Wednesday
First reading |
Deuteronomy 30:15-20 © |
I set before you today life or death, blessing or curse
Moses said to the people: ‘See, today I set before you life and prosperity, death and disaster. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I enjoin on you today, if you love the Lord your God and follow his ways, if you keep his commandments, his laws, his customs, you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you are entering to make your own. But if your heart strays, if you refuse to listen, if you let yourself be drawn into worshipping other gods and serving them, I tell you today, you will most certainly perish; you will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today: I set before you life or death, blessing or curse. Choose life, then, so that you and your descendants may live, in the love of the Lord your God, obeying his voice, clinging to him; for in this your life consists, and on this depends your long stay in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob he would give them.’
Responsorial Psalm | Psalm 1:1-4,6 © |
Happy the man who has placed his trust in the Lord.
Happy indeed is the man
who follows not the counsel of the wicked;
nor lingers in the way of sinners
nor sits in the company of scorners,
but whose delight is the law of the Lord
and who ponders his law day and night.
Happy the man who has placed his trust in the Lord.
He is like a tree that is planted
beside the flowing waters,
that yields its fruit in due season
and whose leaves shall never fade;
and all that he does shall prosper.
Happy the man who has placed his trust in the Lord.
Not so are the wicked, not so!
For they like winnowed chaff
shall be driven away by the wind:
for the Lord guards the way of the just
but the way of the wicked leads to doom.
Happy the man who has placed his trust in the Lord.
Gospel Acclamation | Ps50:12,14 |
Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!
A pure heart create for me, O God,
and give me again the joy of your help.
Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!
Or: | Mt4:17 |
Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!
Repent, says the Lord,
for the kingdom of heaven is close at hand.
Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!
Gospel | Luke 9:22-25 © |
Whoever loses his life for my sake will save it
Jesus said to his disciples:
‘The Son of Man is destined to suffer grievously, to be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and to be put to death, and to be raised up on the third day.’
Then to all he said:
‘If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross every day and follow me. For anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake, that man will save it. What gain, then, is it for a man to have won the whole world and to have lost or ruined his very self?’
A DECISION OF FAITH
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [Dt 30:15-20; Ps 1:1-4,6; Lk 9:22-25 ]
In both readings today, we are called to decide for life or for death. Obviously, no one wants to choose death in the fullest sense of the term. Not only do we not want to die but we want to live our life to the fullest, finding happiness and joy in what we are doing, especially in the relationships we have formed. Hence Moses’ invitation to his people to choose “life and prosperity” or “death and disaster” is a redundant command. So too our Lord’s invitation as well. It is obvious what people will choose. However, it is not so obvious that we can agree on what happiness entails, and how we can get there. The goal and the means are in dispute.
Is happiness just a matter of prolonging one’s life and being blessed with wealth and security? We know that happiness is not reducible to being prosperous or even having good health and security in life. There are many who are doing well in their business, are wealthy, living in luxury and even enjoying good health, yet they are not happy at all. They are always anxious about tomorrow, about their wealth, fighting with their opponents and those who seek to acquire their wealth. Having a good life as the world portrays is no guarantee for happiness. This is why the Lord said, “What gain, then, is it for a man to have the whole world and to have lost or ruined his very self?”
Moses warned his people about seeking false gods. “But if your heart strays, if you refuse to listen, if you let yourself be drawn into worshipping other gods and serving them, I tell you today, you will most certainly perish; you will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.” What are these false gods? Idolatry is more than worshipping statues. Rather, it is to worship an illusion. Precisely, these statues and idols are empty and void of reality. As the psalmist says, “the idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths, but they do not speak; they have eyes, but they do not see; they have ears, but they do not hear, and there is no breath in their mouths. Those who make them and all who trust them shall become like them.” (Ps 135:15-18)
These false gods also express itself in possessions. The Lord reminds us in the gospel, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal.” (Mt 6:19f) And the Lord told us the story of the rich farmer who said, “‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’ Then he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.” (Lk 12:17-21)
So happiness is about finding fulfilment, meaning and purpose. Of course, being materially sufficient is necessary for a comfortable living although that does not equate with happiness. We are all afraid of suffering discomfort, hunger or physically. Yet, having a comfortable material life has its limitations. There is a saturation point as to how much we can consume or use. When our material and physical needs are met we will find life dissatisfying. This is because we are human beings with a soul and a heart. We look for love and relationships; and we seek truth and meaning in what we do. We are not merely animals who are satisfied with food. Even animals like dogs seek for love and attention as well. Happiness seeks what is real and lasting. We will never be contented with passing things in life. We seek for what is eternal and good.
What, then, are these if not as the Lord said, being rich towards God? In other words, we are rich in love, joy, peace, generosity, goodness, kindness, compassion and freedom. The reverse is equally true when we are full of “impurity, licentiousness, enmity, strive, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy and drunkenness”. St Paul warns us, “those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” (Gal 5:18-21) In the words of our Lord, “‘If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross every day and follow me. For anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake, that man will save it.” It is when we learn self-denial and are ready to give up our lives for the service and love of others, unconditionally and selflessly, that we can find true life, meaning and purpose. We will experience a joy and freedom that the world cannot give.
Indeed, when Moses told the people, “If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I enjoin on you today, if you love the Lord your God and follow his ways, if you keep his commandments, his laws, his customs, you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you are entering to make your own”, he was simply giving them the guidelines to harmonious living. The commandments given by God through Moses were supposed to help the people to live as a covenanted community, caring for each other, ensuring justice and care for the poor, widowed and orphans. The commandments were not meant to constrain them from living a full life. They were the means by which happiness would be experienced as a shared happiness with our brothers and sisters. No one would be too rich and no one would be too poor. All are taken care of as the People of God.
But this decision to accept the self-denial demanded by our Lord or the commandments given by God through Moses presupposes we trust in God. Do we trust Him enough to believe wholeheartedly that this is the way to find life? The psalmist says, “Happy indeed is the man who follows not the counsel of the wicked; nor lingers in the way of sinners nor sits in the company of scorners, but whose delight is the law of the Lord and who ponders his law day and night. He is like a tree that is planted beside the flowing waters, that yields its fruit in due season and whose leaves shall never fade; and all that he does shall prosper. Not so are the wicked, not so! For they like winnowed chaff shall be driven away by the wind for the Lord guards the way of the just but the way of the wicked leads to doom.”
The truth is that many of us would not be able to accept God’s way to fullness of life. This is the context of today’s gospel. Peter had just confessed in Jesus as the Messiah of God. Jesus then “sternly ordered and commanded them not to tell anyone, saying, “The Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” (Lk 9:21f) Of course, Peter rejected this possibility. And this also explains why Jesus instructed them not to tell others He is the Messiah of God because the people would have a wrong understanding and expectations of the Messiah they were seeking. They were looking for a political and triumphalist Messiah.
But God’s way was to have His Son suffer and die on the cross. It is the way of suffering and death to self for love of others. It calls for self-sacrifice, servanthood and putting oneself as the ransom to set others free to love and serve. So unless we are able to see things from the perspective of God, trust in His wisdom and in His commandments, we will not be able to find life. Many of us would reject the way of God because His way does not agree with ours. This is why the world rejects the gospel and the beatitudes, the blueprint to a blessed life. The world seeks glory, recognition and riches. But the way of God is the way of self-emptying, the way of self-sacrifice, the way of humility. It is the way of losing ourselves to find life. It is the way of the cross. Indeed, as the Lord said, “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” (Mt 7:13f) “Happy the man who has placed his trust in the Lord”, is our response. Will we trust His wisdom, His laws and His ways? It is a radical decision of faith.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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