20220525 GROWING INTO THE FULLNESS OF TRUTH
25 May, 2022, Wednesday, 6th Week of Easter
First reading |
Acts 17:15,22-18:1 © |
I proclaim the God you already worship without knowing it
Paul’s escort took him as far as Athens, and went back with instructions for Silas and Timothy to rejoin Paul as soon as they could.
So Paul stood before the whole Council of the Areopagus and made this speech:
‘Men of Athens, I have seen for myself how extremely scrupulous you are in all religious matters, because I noticed, as I strolled round admiring your sacred monuments, that you had an altar inscribed: To An Unknown God. Well, the God whom I proclaim is in fact the one whom you already worship without knowing it.
‘Since the God who made the world and everything in it is himself Lord of heaven and earth, he does not make his home in shrines made by human hands. Nor is he dependent on anything that human hands can do for him, since he can never be in need of anything; on the contrary, it is he who gives everything – including life and breath – to everyone. From one single stock he not only created the whole human race so that they could occupy the entire earth, but he decreed how long each nation should flourish and what the boundaries of its territory should be. And he did this so that all nations might seek the deity and, by feeling their way towards him, succeed in finding him. Yet in fact he is not far from any of us, since it is in him that we live, and move, and exist, as indeed some of your own writers have said:
“We are all his children.”
‘Since we are the children of God, we have no excuse for thinking that the deity looks like anything in gold, silver or stone that has been carved and designed by a man.
‘God overlooked that sort of thing when men were ignorant, but now he is telling everyone everywhere that they must repent, because he has fixed a day when the whole world will be judged, and judged in righteousness, and he has appointed a man to be the judge. And God has publicly proved this by raising this man from the dead.’
At this mention of rising from the dead, some of them burst out laughing; others said, ‘We would like to hear you talk about this again.’ After that Paul left them, but there were some who attached themselves to him and became believers, among them Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman called Damaris, and others besides.
After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 148:1-2,11-14 © |
Your glory fills all heaven and earth.
or
Alleluia!
Praise the Lord from the heavens,
praise him in the heights.
Praise him, all his angels,
praise him, all his host.
Your glory fills all heaven and earth.
or
Alleluia!
All earth’s kings and peoples,
earth’s princes and rulers,
young men and maidens,
old men together with children.
Your glory fills all heaven and earth.
or
Alleluia!
Let them praise the name of the Lord
for he alone is exalted.
The splendour of his name
reaches beyond heaven and earth.
Your glory fills all heaven and earth.
or
Alleluia!
He exalts the strength of his people.
He is the praise of all his saints,
of the sons of Israel,
of the people to whom he comes close.
Your glory fills all heaven and earth.
or
Alleluia!
Gospel Acclamation | Col3:1 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Since you have been brought back to true life with Christ,
you must look for the things that are in heaven, where Christ is,
sitting at God’s right hand.
Alleluia!
Or: | Jn14:16 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
I shall ask the Father,
and he will give you another Advocate
to be with you for ever.
Alleluia!
Gospel | John 16:12-15 © |
The Spirit of truth will lead you to the complete truth
Jesus said to his disciples:
‘I still have many things to say to you
but they would be too much for you now.
But when the Spirit of truth comes
he will lead you to the complete truth,
since he will not be speaking as from himself
but will say only what he has learnt;
and he will tell you of the things to come.
He will glorify me,
since all he tells you
will be taken from what is mine.
Everything the Father has is mine;
that is why I said:
All he tells you
will be taken from what is mine.’
GROWING INTO THE FULLNESS OF TRUTH
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ACTS 17:15, 22-18:1; JOHN 16:12-15]
Christianity proclaims Jesus as the Way, the Truth and the Life. This is confirmed by His death and resurrection. With the resurrection, Jesus is declared Lord and God. St Paul writing to the Romans said that he was “called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures, the gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for the sake of his name, including yourselves who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.” (Rom 1:1-6)
Dei Verbum in Vatican II teaches that revelation closes with Jesus. “Then, after speaking in many and varied ways through the prophets, ‘now at last in these days God has spoken to us in His Son’ (Heb. 1:1-2). For He sent His Son, the eternal Word, who enlightens all men, so that He might dwell among men and tell them of the innermost being of God (see John 1:1-18). Jesus Christ, therefore, the Word made flesh, was sent as ‘a man to men.’ He ‘speaks the words of God’ (John 3;34), and completes the work of salvation which His Father gave Him to do (see John 5:36; John 17:4). To see Jesus is to see His Father (John 14:9). For this reason, Jesus perfected revelation by fulfilling it through his whole work of making Himself present and manifesting Himself: through His words and deeds, His signs and wonders, but especially through His death and glorious resurrection from the dead and final sending of the Spirit of truth. Moreover, He confirmed with divine testimony what revelation proclaimed, that God is with us to free us from the darkness of sin and death, and to raise us up to life eternal. The Christian dispensation, therefore, as the new and definitive covenant, will never pass away and we now await no further new public revelation before the glorious manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ (see 1 Tim. 6:14 and Tit. 2:13).” (Dei Verbum, 4)
On the other hand, the Church also speaks of growth in understanding of this revelation received by the Church. “Now what was handed on by the Apostles includes everything which contributes toward the holiness of life and increase in faith of the peoples of God; and so the Church, in her teaching, life and worship, perpetuates and hands on to all generations all that she herself is, all that she believes. This tradition which comes from the Apostles develop in the Church with the help of the Holy Spirit. For there is a growth in the understanding of the realities and the words which have been handed down. This happens through the contemplation and study made by believers, who treasure these things in their hearts (see Luke, 2:19, 51) through a penetrating understanding of the spiritual realities which they experience, and through the preaching of those who have received through Episcopal succession the sure gift of truth. For as the centuries succeed one another, the Church constantly moves forward toward the fullness of divine truth until the words of God reach their complete fulfilment in her.” (Dei Verbum, 8)
What is the implication of the three statements we have just made with respect to Jesus as the fullness of revelation and the growth of this revelation? How can Jesus be the close of revelation and yet this revelation still continues to develop? Precisely, in today’s gospel, Jesus said, “I still have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you now. But when the Spirit of truth comes he will lead you to the complete truth, since he will not be speaking as from himself but will say only what he has learnt; and he will tell you of the things to come. He will glorify me, since all he tells you will be taken from what is mine. Everything the Father has is mine; that is why I said: All he tells you will be taken from what is mine.” Whilst Jesus is the fullness of revelation and all that is needed for our salvation have been revealed in Christ and by Christ, interiorizing and concretizing the truths for people of our time is still needed.
Indeed, with the changing situation, developments in science and technology, culture and values, and new issues and questions confronting humanity, the questions about salvation in Christ are asked differently. Theology is the attempt to situate the truths embedded in the gospel and apply to the current set of questions which the Word of God does not deal with explicitly. All truths are explicit or implicit in the scripture. This is why the Church accepts the development of doctrines. Those who say that scripture provides the answer to everything must not presume that scripture is so clear that it does not require interpretation.
For this reason, Vatican II also teaches, “The task of authentically interpreting the word of God, whether written or handed on, has been entrusted exclusively to the living teaching office of the Church, whose authority is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ. This teaching office is not above the word of God, but serves it, teaching only what has been handed on, listening to it devoutly, guarding it scrupulously and explaining it faithfully in accord with a divine commission and with the help of the Holy Spirit, it draws from this one deposit of faith everything which it presents for belief as divinely revealed.” (Dei Verbum, 8)
Hence, with regards to the proclamation of the gospel, the work of evangelization, we are called to enlighten those who do not know Christ in the fullness of truth, which was what Paul did. As his audience were the intelligentsia of Greek philosophy, he had to tailor his message to make it palatable for them. He was addressing two primary groups of people, namely, the Epicureans and the stoic philosophers. These two were contemporary but contradictory in their approach to life. The Epicureans regarded the gods as remote and have no real influence on human affairs. Everything is left to chance. There is no life after death and no judgment. The modern Epicureans are those from our generation that view life as one of the pursuits of pleasure, and have a great disdain for pain. Then there was the other group called the Stoic philosophers. For them, the world is determined by fate. We cannot control nature and the events in the world. We must therefore resign ourselves to fate, try to live as much as possible in harmony with nature and reason. In the face of suffering, the Stoics just endured and submit. They are akin to those who live their life according to fate.
Against such an impersonal concept of God or of how the world is being determined, St Paul introduced the idea of a personal creator. He is the creator of the universe. He made the world and everything in it. He cares for the world and for humanity. He is the sustainer of life. God does not need us and holocausts. God does not depend on us but we on Him. He gives life and breath to everything living creature. He spoke of God as the Father of all humanity. He is not a retired architect unconcerned with the world He had created. But that is not all, God is also the ruler and judge of all nations. Adam is the single progenitor of the human race. All of humanity are connected with Adam. Hence, we are all related to each other. We are brothers and sisters and God is our loving Father. We are created in His image and likeness. Our fulfilment is in Him alone. Our alienation from Him is due to sin. Consequently, stoicism, epicureanism and all forms of idolatry fall short in mediating the goodness of God to us and most of all, direct us to our final destiny which is to be with God.
Evangelization is to help them recognize the Christ in them. It is not a giving up of their faith and culture but to bring them to fullness. Christ precisely is the answer to all riddles of life, pain, suffering and death. By His death and resurrection, He shows us the way to life by conquering sin and death. We are called to believe in the resurrection of our Lord so that we can confess in Him as Lord, Judge and Saviour. With Christ, judgment on the world takes place as we will be measured in Him. However, faith in the resurrection ultimately depends on faith in the testimony of the apostles and the early Christians. Without faith in their testimony, one cannot have faith in the resurrection. This, therefore, is the final determining point of confessing one’s faith in Christ as the fullness of revelation. Whilst reason can establish to a certain level the reasonableness of our belief in the testimony of the early Christians, ultimately, we need to take the leap of faith. Unfortunately, this is what will divide believers from non-believers. Paul’s listeners could not accept his testimony and laughed at him, although some did believe. Those who “attached themselves to him became believers.”
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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