20220914 INFINITE MERCY OF GOD
14 September, 2022, Wednesday, Exaltation of the Holy Cross
First reading | Numbers 21:4-9 © |
If anyone was bitten by a serpent, he looked up at the bronze serpent and lived
On the way through the wilderness the people lost patience. They spoke against God and against Moses, ‘Why did you bring us out of Egypt to die in this wilderness? For there is neither bread nor water here; we are sick of this unsatisfying food.’
At this God sent fiery serpents among the people; their bite brought death to many in Israel. The people came and said to Moses, ‘We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you. Intercede for us with the Lord to save us from these serpents.’ Moses interceded for the people, and the Lord answered him, ‘Make a fiery serpent and put it on a standard. If anyone is bitten and looks at it, he shall live.’ So Moses fashioned a bronze serpent which he put on a standard, and if anyone was bitten by a serpent, he looked at the bronze serpent and lived.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 77(78):1-2,34-38 © |
Never forget the deeds of the Lord.
Give heed, my people, to my teaching;
turn your ear to the words of my mouth.
I will open my mouth in a parable
and reveal hidden lessons of the past.
Never forget the deeds of the Lord.
When he slew them then they would seek him,
return and seek him in earnest.
They would remember that God was their rock,
God the Most High their redeemer.
Never forget the deeds of the Lord.
But the words they spoke were mere flattery;
they lied to him with their lips.
For their hearts were not truly with him;
they were not faithful to his covenant.
Never forget the deeds of the Lord.
Yet he who is full of compassion
forgave them their sin and spared them.
So often he held back his anger
when he might have stirred up his rage.
Never forget the deeds of the Lord.
When a Feast of the Lord falls on a weekday, there is no reading after the Psalm and before the Gospel.
Gospel Acclamation |
Alleluia, alleluia!
We adore you, O Christ,
and we bless you;
because by your cross
you have redeemed the world.
Alleluia!
Gospel | John 3:13-17 © |
God sent his Son so that through him the world might be saved
Jesus said to Nicodemus:
‘No one has gone up to heaven
except the one who came down from heaven,
the Son of Man who is in heaven;
and the Son of Man must be lifted up
as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert,
so that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.
Yes, God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost
but may have eternal life.
For God sent his Son into the world
not to condemn the world,
but so that through him the world might be saved.’
INFINITE MERCY OF GOD
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [NUMBERS 21:4-9; PHILIPPIANS 2:6-11; JOHN 3:13-17]
We can appreciate the frustrations and complaints of the Israelites in the desert. Certainly, life in Egypt was tough because of the oppression of the Egyptians. They were forced to work without straws in making bricks. Their children were put to death because they were multiplying so fast thereby posing a threat to the security of the Egyptians. But having been delivered from Egypt by the mighty hand of God through signs and wonders, they seemed to have forgotten too easily what Moses had to go through to free them from the slavery of the Egyptians. And that is true for us as well. Most of us have an entitlement mentality. We get used to our comfort and our comfortable lifestyle. We are used to having things our way and things done at an instant. We lose patience when the service is slow or when people are slow to respond. We too complain easily as it does not take much time to lodge a complaint since the computer or the mobile phone is in our hands all the time. So we can identify with the Israelites who, having to go through the wilderness, lost patience and “spoke against God and against Moses, ‘Why did you bring us out of Egypt to die in this wilderness? For there is neither bread nor water here: we are sick of this unsatisfying food.'”
Indeed, the fault lies in the fact that we have forgotten the blessings of the Lord in our lives just as the Israelites did. In the responsorial psalm, the psalmist warns us, “Never forget the deeds of the Lord.” Truly, we all have short memory, especially for good things that happened to us. This is why children are ingrates and forget easily how their parents had to struggle to make ends meet, worked very hard to pay for their education until their tertiary level or even their doctorate degree. Many had to mortgage their houses even to pay their children’s school fees and accommodation, especially when they studied overseas. Yet their parents never complained. But after graduation, they forget to give back to their parents, especially when they are old or unable to finance their own needs. We tend to take our loved ones for granted.
This is true for us too with regard to God as well. We take for granted the blessings we have received. We forget that our health, our work, our accommodation, our family, etc are blessings of God. Without His kindness and generosity, we would have been far worse. We presume that what we have today or what we are is purely the result of our hard work. Instead of being grateful and thankful, we become proud and arrogant. This will lead to our downfall as the psalmist warns us, “When he slew them then they would seek him, return and seek him in earnest. They would remember that God was their rock, God the Most High their redeemer.” We come to know God only when we are in trouble. In good times, we forget about God. We only remember Him in bad times.
Even our conversion of heart is superficial. As the psalmist rightly says, “But the words they spoke were mere flattery; they lied to him with their lips. For their hearts were not truly with him; they were not faithful to his covenant.” Indeed, we act in that manner towards God as well. In time of crises and need, we profess our fidelity to Him and humble ourselves before Him. But when the crisis is over, we again forget about God’s goodness and live as if He does not matter to us. He is the last person we think about in life. We are overcome by the pleasures of life and the pursuits of the world. We place human relationships higher than our relationship with God.
Yet the psalmist says, “he who is full of compassion forgave them their sin and spared them. So often he held back his anger when he might have stirred up his rage.” God is kind and merciful. He understands our human weakness, our folly and our childishness. He does not treat us with vindictiveness and anger. He is ever ready to forgive.
This is truly the mercy and magnanimity of God. This is what the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross celebrates. God will overcome our sins and our hardened hearts, not by force or by punishment and revenge. Rather He will overcome us and heal us by His divine mercy.
How does He heal us if not by enlightening us and bringing us to consciousness? In the first reading, “God sent fiery serpents among the people; their bite brought death to many in Israel. The people came and said to Moses, ‘We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you. Intercede for us with the Lord to save us from these serpents.’ Moses interceded for the people, and the Lord answered him, ‘Make a fiery serpent and put it on a standard. If anyone is bitten and looks at it, he shall live.’ So Moses fashioned a bronze serpent which he put on a standard, and if anyone was bitten by a serpent, he looked at the bronze serpent and lived.” The Lord in putting up a bronze serpent wanted the people to examine their conduct and their conscience so that they would be brought to self-awareness and how their self-centeredness could cause them to be ungrateful and demanding, and most of all hurt those people who had helped them, including God who showed His mercy. This is why, suffering, failures and disappointments in life are not moments to fall into despair but they are graced moments for us to keep our focus in life and re-examine our relationship with God and our fellowmen.
But the bronze serpent on the pole is only a foreshadowing of the greatest infinite mercy of God in the death of His only Son. Jesus said to Nicodemus: “No one has gone up to heaven except the one who came down from heaven, the Son of Man who is in heaven; and the Son of Man must be lifted up as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him. Yes, God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost but may have eternal life. For God sent his Son into the world not to condemn the world, but so that through him the world might be saved.” God will not stop at anything to save us and the world. He only desires our salvation, even at the price of His Son’s blood and death on the cross. God wants a real conversion of heart when we come to appreciate His love for us in giving up His Son, in delivering Him to His enemies so that we will be moved to sorrow and repentance. When we understand how much God loves us, we will repent. not because we have to but because we want to. Nothing can convict a man’s heart except love and mercy. Not words alone; no matter how great and eloquent the words and teachings of our Lord were, it was the way He gave up His life for us that convicted us.
Today, we are invited to imitate Jesus in the act of self-emptying. St Paul’s letter to the Philippians says, “The state of Jesus Christ was divine, yet he did not cling to his equality with God but emptied himself to assume the condition of a slave, and became as men are; and being as all men are, he was humbler yet, even to accepting death, death on a cross.” We too must learn to accept suffering with humility and total dependence on God. When we empty ourselves for the love of others and serve others humbly, we too will find life, joy and peace. Self-denial and self-sacrifice for the good of others and for the service of others is what will give us life.
Indeed, this was what the Father did for Jesus. “But God raised him high and gave him the name which is above all other names so that all beings in the heavens, on earth and in the underworld, should bend the knee at the name of Jesus and that every tongue should acclaim Jesus Christ as Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Not just supporting Him in His death but raising Him up in His resurrection. This is the true endorsement of God’s mercy for us, not just by allowing His Son to suffer slavery and death, but by raising Him from the dead, He endorsed the life, passion and death of His Son as the way to find life to the fullest. God has given us His Son so that we too, by following Him, will attain life to the fullest. We can be sure that we will be raised from the dead not just in this life but in the next when we die to ourselves, to our sins, to our demands, to our pursuit of the pleasures of the world.
Written by His Eminence, Cardinal William SC Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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