20220608 MATURITY AND PURITY IN FAITH
08 June, 2022, Wednesday, 10th Week in Ordinary Time
First reading |
1 Kings 18:20-39 © |
Elijah vanquishes the priests of Baal
Ahab called all Israel together and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. Elijah stepped out in front of all the people. ‘How long’ he said ‘do you mean to hobble first on one leg then on the other? If the Lord is God, follow him; if Baal, follow him.’ But the people never said a word. Elijah then said to them, ‘I, I alone, am left as a prophet of the Lord, while the prophets of Baal are four hundred and fifty. Let two bulls be given us; let them choose one for themselves, dismember it and lay it on the wood, but not set fire to it. I in my turn will prepare the other bull, but not set fire to it. You must call on the name of your god, and I shall call on the name of mine; the god who answers with fire, is God indeed.’ The people all answered, ‘Agreed!’ Elijah then said to the prophets of Baal, ‘Choose one bull and begin, for there are more of you. Call on the name of your god but light no fire.’ They took the bull and prepared it, and from morning to midday they called on the name of Baal. ‘O Baal, answer us!’ they cried, but there was no voice, no answer, as they performed their hobbling dance round the altar they had made. Midday came, and Elijah mocked them. ‘Call louder,’ he said ‘for he is a god: he is preoccupied or he is busy, or he has gone on a journey; perhaps he is asleep and will wake up.’ So they shouted louder and gashed themselves, as their custom was, with swords and spears until the blood flowed down them. Midday passed, and they ranted on until the time the offering is presented; but there was no voice, no answer, no attention given to them.
Then Elijah said to all the people, ‘Come closer to me’, and all the people came closer to him. He repaired the altar of the Lord which had been broken down. Elijah took twelve stones, corresponding to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, ‘Israel shall be your name’, and built an altar in the name of the Lord. Round the altar he dug a trench of a size to hold two measures of seed. He then arranged the wood, dismembered the bull, and laid it on the wood. Then he said, ‘Fill four jars with water and pour it on the holocaust and on the wood’; this they did. He said, ‘Do it a second time’; they did it a second time. He said, ‘Do it a third time’; they did it a third time. The water flowed round the altar and the trench itself was full of water. At the time when the offering is presented, Elijah the prophet stepped forward. ‘O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel,’ he said ‘let them know today that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, that I have done all these things at your command. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so that this people may know that you, the Lord, are God and are winning back their hearts.’
Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the holocaust and wood and licked up the water in the trench. When all the people saw this they fell on their faces. ‘The Lord is God,’ they cried, ‘the Lord is God.’
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 15(16):1-2,4-5,8,11 © |
Save me, Lord, I take refuge in you.
Preserve me, God, I take refuge in you.
I say to the Lord: ‘You are my God.’
Save me, Lord, I take refuge in you.
Those who choose other gods increase their sorrows.
Never will I offer their offerings of blood.
Never will I take their name upon my lips.
Save me, Lord, I take refuge in you.
O Lord, it is you who are my portion and cup;
it is you yourself who are my prize.
I keep the Lord ever in my sight:
since he is at my right hand, I shall stand firm.
Save me, Lord, I take refuge in you.
You will show me the path of life,
the fullness of joy in your presence,
at your right hand happiness for ever.
Save me, Lord, I take refuge in you.
Gospel Acclamation | Ps118:27 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Make me grasp the way of your precepts,
and I will muse on your wonders.
Alleluia!
Or: | Ps24:4,5 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Teach me your paths, my God,
make me walk in your truth.
Alleluia!
Gospel | Matthew 5:17-19 © |
I have not come to abolish the Law and the Prophets but to complete them
Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Do not imagine that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete them. I tell you solemnly, till heaven and earth disappear, not one dot, not one little stroke, shall disappear from the Law until its purpose is achieved. Therefore, the man who infringes even one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be considered the least in the kingdom of heaven; but the man who keeps them and teaches them will be considered great in the kingdom of heaven.’
MATURITY AND PURITY IN FAITH
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [1 Kings 18:20-39; Ps 16:1-2,4-5,8,11; Mt 5:17-19]
In the first reading, the prophet Elijah sought to purify the faith of the Israelites. King Ahab, influenced by his pagan wife, Queen Jezebel, brought in idolatry and misled the people into worshipping Baal, the god of fertility, the one who controlled the weather. As the people transited from a nomadic life to an agricultural life, Yahweh was always seen as the Trek-God who moved with the people. Hence, they began to doubt whether this Trek-God could also protect their crops from drought and flood. Hence, they turned to Baal and Astarte, the god and goddess of fertility.
To refute such a claim, that Baal was more powerful than Yahweh, Elijah confronted the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. He challenged them to a contest to see whether the God of Israel, or the gods of the Phoenicians was more powerful. This explains why a holocaust was chosen to be offered as a sacrifice to their respective god. But no fire was to be set to it; instead, each would call upon the name of their god to set fire to it as a concrete sign that the holocaust was accepted by their god. Of course the prophets of Baal lost, in spite of their cries from morning to midday, and even mutilating their bodies “with swords and spears until the blood flowed down them. Midday passed, and they ranted on until the time the offering is presented; but there was no voice, no answer, no attention given to them.” When it came to Elijah’s turn, he proved beyond doubt that Yahweh was above all gods when he drenched the holocaust with water from the trench which “the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the holocaust and wood and licked up the water in the trench. When all the people saw this they fell on their faces. ‘The Lord is God,” they cried, ‘the Lord is God.'”
Indeed, in the Old Testament, Moses was seen as the Law-Giver and Elijah the greatest prophet of the Lord. Moses stood for the Law and Elijah for the prophets. One gave the written Law; the other spoke the Word of God with conviction, without fear or favour. Together, they appeared with Jesus at the mountain when our Lord was transfigured. Jesus sums up what Moses and Elijah sought to do for the people of God. This explains why in the gospel Jesus said, “Do not imagine that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete them. I tell you solemnly, till heaven and earth disappear, not one dot, not one little stroke, shall disappear from the Law until its purpose is achieved.”
But how did Jesus fulfil the Law and the Prophets? Contrary to what some thought, that because of the unconventional way in which Jesus interpreted the Law, Jesus was breaking the Law, in truth, Jesus by breaking the Law, brought the Law to its fulfilment. He was not contented with merely observing the Law without conviction, passion and love. For Jesus, perfection of the Law was not a matter of observing to the meticulous details the commandments, but to observe them with the right spirit which the Law intended to do. He taught us how to observe the Law perfectly by observing them with love. So one must go beyond observing the external commands of the Law, but to do it with the right intention and in the context of love of God and our neighbours.
This was what the Church sought to do as well. Before Vatican II, the Church was very legalistic with respect to the laws, not just those that were taught by our Lord or in the scriptures, but liturgical and Church laws pertaining to Church discipline as well. After Vatican II, the Church wanted to help our people to grow in maturity of faith by helping us to focus on the spirit and intention of the laws. For example, with respect to fasting and abstinence, the Church permits different ways to observe the passion and death of our Lord on Fridays throughout the year. We can substitute abstinence with other forms of penance so long as we unite ourselves with the Lord in His passion so that we remember His love for us and the call to love others.
Alas, many of our Catholics do not seem to understand the intention of Vatican II. Many take it that fasting and abstinence are no longer necessary or required. This is true for all the other laws as well, such as mixed marriages, fasting before communion, coming to Mass on time, etc. Now, not only are the external laws not observed, but even the Spirit of the observance is lacking. It has led to complacency and neglect altogether. What was meant to help our Catholics has now become the cause of their neglect of the religious practices of the Church. So in truth, we have now lost both dimensions; both the legalistic observance of the laws and the purity of intention in observing the laws.
This is made worse by so-called Catholic teachers confusing our faithful, especially the young, on the need to observe the laws. In the name of freedom and critical thinking, our people have been taught to scrutinize the laws, not to obey them slavishly, but to understand the laws and apply them intelligently in their lives. Whilst this is not wrong, yet it could lead to a loss of faith. Critical thinking whilst not wrong, must be established on the firm foundations of faith.
Indeed, the Lord warned us of the abuse of our authority and position. “Therefore, the man who infringes even one of the least commandments and teaches others to do the same will be considered the least in the kingdom of heaven; but the man who keeps them and teaches them will be considered great in the kingdom of heaven.” The saddest thing in our society today is when arrogant teachers, apparently brilliant but without faith, influence our children in such a way that they lose faith by challenging them. This happens not just in secular institutions but in our Catholic institutions as well, when our faith is challenged, torn apart, and stripped to such an extent that anyone who has a religion is considered superstitious or conditioned by their upbringing, so much so they grow up believing that there is no reality in religion.
The Lord today invites us to rediscover the zeal of Elijah and the exemplary life of our Lord with respect to reclaiming the true meaning of the Law as given to us by God. We are called not just to observe the laws but every iota of it. We cannot pick and choose what laws we like to observe and throw out those that we think are not relevant. This is making ourselves the judge of the laws that God has given to us. If the laws are indeed given by God, then as the Lord said, even the very least of the commandments must be observed. If we truly love God, then we will observe what the Lord commands of us. The selective observance of the Laws shows that we choose those that are convenient to us. Every law must therefore be obeyed regardless whether they are major or minor.
What is new in Jesus’ teaching is that observance of the law must always consider the Spirit of the Law. So, it is not a matter of observing some laws and overlooking others. Rather, we must seek the spirit of the laws and apply the laws according to the situation, not in a legalistic manner but in the Spirit of love. As St Paul wrote, “Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet’; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ Love does no wrong to a neighbour; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.” (Rom 13:8-10)
Indeed, unless we observe all the laws with the right spirit and the right intention, we cannot claim that we have matured in faith. We must not fall into arrogance, thinking that we are beyond the laws. Many times, we doubt the truth or wisdom or relevance of some of the commandments in the bible. But before we disregard them, let us learn humility. Like the Psalmist, we say, “Happy are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord. Happy are those who keep his decrees, who seek him with their whole heart who also do no wrong, but walk in his ways.” (Ps 119:1-3)
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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