20230214 WILL GOD REALLY LIVE WITH MEN ON THE EARTH?
14 February 2023 Tuesday, 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.’
WILL GOD REALLY LIVE WITH MEN ON THE EARTH?
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [1 KGS 8:22-23, 27-30; PS 84:3-5,10-11; 1 COR 3:9-11,16-17; MT 16:13-19]
In a world where secularism proclaims that God is dead, that there is no God beyond this material universe, man has fallen into despair. He is confused. He has no sense of his origin and his identity. He cannot explain himself, where he comes from and his purpose in life. The world wants him to believe that he is just a material creature like the rest of creation. He belongs to the earth. He came from the earth and returns to the earth. There is no purpose in life. He was not created by anyone but just came into being by chance. He has only this life to live. His objective is to make sure that he does not suffer from hunger, sickness and pain. He seeks to enjoy the pleasures of life, the luxuries of the world, fulfil all his sensual and physical needs. He lives for himself. He lives only for those who are of use to him. He regards others as means to keep him from loneliness and boredom.
But how did this situation come about? How did man come to be convinced that God is dead, as proclaimed by Marxism in the 18thcentury? Atheism came about because of extreme poverty and the lack of Christian witnessing in a situation where the poor were suffering, oppressed and unjustly treated by the institutions, and those in power. The world was then all Christian, at least in Europe. When God was reduced to simply an opium, a relief used by the vulnerable poor and suffering, or a means used by the powerful to silence the pain and frustrations of the poor, religion became an enemy to man. God was no longer present in the world and certainly not in man, not even in religious men and women; or in the Church. The churches become empty symbols of God’s presence because His presence was not felt in the world and among Christians.
Indeed, King Solomon’s question, “Yet will God really live with men on the earth?” is still a relevant question that we all ask. How do we know that God is with us? How do we know that He is with us in our suffering, in our pain, in our hunger and when we suffer injustice? Is God really present in our churches? When we look at Europe or the West in general, many churches have closed down, or converted to secular buildings. How could such a pathetic situation happen? When we think of the millions of poor people who saved and contributed money to build all the churches and basilicas in Europe because of their faith in Christ, but now left in ruins, we wonder whether God is still with the people. Already in the time of St Francis of Assisi, the Church was corrupt, including the bishops, priests and religious. He was asked to restore the Church of Christ, not just the building but the interior life of the Church.
This is why the prayer of King Solomon is pertinent to us all. He said, “Why, the heavens and their own heavens cannot contain you. How much less this house that I have built!” The church as a building ultimately remains only a symbol of God’s presence, unless the real Church, namely, the Ecclesia, the community is alive in faith. It is significant that Solomon, after feeling humbled that the Lord would choose to dwell in the Temple he built, also prayed, knowing that the Temple would not always be the presence of God because they would deny His presence by their lives.
That is why like King Solomon we need to pray for God’s protection over His Church. We need to pray for forgiveness. “Listen to the prayer and entreaty of your servant, 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.'” Indeed, we must never take the Church for granted. Unfortunately, this is what most people do. They take their faith and the Church for granted.
Today, as we celebrate the Dedication of the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd, we are reminded of our responsibility to keep the Mother Church in this archdiocese alive in the Spirit, alive in faith, alive in increasing membership, alive in worship, alive in fellowship, alive in charity and alive in reaching out to society. The Mother Church must be a model church of what the Church is to be. We must never allow the Mother Church, and indeed our churches, to become merely dead monuments where people visit to reminisce the past glory of the Catholic Church. We have already lost the beautiful chapel opposite my house, which is now called Chijmes. It is now used for secular activities because we do not have the funds or resources to maintain it. If we are not careful, other historic churches might go the same way, especially St Joseph’s Church down the road.
As pastors and fellow Catholics, we must feel responsible not just to keep the Church alive but to grow the church as well. What is the foundation? St Paul wrote, “By the grace God gave me, I succeeded as an architect and laid the foundations, on which someone else is doing the building. 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.” Indeed, there is no other foundation than that of leading people to encounter Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the Living God. In the gospel, Jesus made it clear that our faith must be founded in Him alone. When Peter said to Jesus, “You are the Christ, 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.” In other words, unless as Catholics our faith is one with Peter in confessing from our heart, and not just from our lips that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, our faith will not be like the rock that Jesus needs to build His Church. Otherwise, how do we answer to our forefathers who had sacrificed so much to build these churches for our worship and gatherings?
How can we do this? As city churches, we must therefore ask ourselves how do we help people to encounter Jesus deeply? We must not merely be satisfied with allowing our churches to just become shrines and a place for religious services to be held. We must ask ourselves how to uplift our people and bring them a personal encounter with the Lord. How do we improve in our worship? How do we help our people to encounter the Lord deeply at every Eucharistic celebration? How do we help people to encounter Jesus beyond the liturgy? How do we make the Sacrament of Reconciliation more available to our people so that they can encounter God’s mercy and forgiveness? What must we do to attract people to drop by the Cathedral to attend Mass or to visit the Blessed Sacrament? What extra-liturgical celebrations can we organize to allow people to encounter Christ? What programs can we organize to support our office workers in the city? What about the young people, especially those studying in the surrounding institutes of learning? How are we reaching out to them? How do we get them involved in the church and be part of the Cathedral community or the city parishes? What about witnessing to visitors, passers-by, tourists, enquirers of the faith? Indeed, offering RCIA is only one of the possibilities. What about talks, courses, devotions that can sustain our people in their faith? Finally, we also must have a place for the marginalized, the poor and the lapsed Catholics. We need to make the Church a welcoming place. People must feel welcomed and appreciated. One of the complaints we hear so often is that our churches are too bureaucratic and impersonal. Our ministry members often lack tact, patience, compassion and humility in service.
Above all, such programs and activities cannot be organized without the presence of a stable community. All these initiatives cannot materialize without first building a faith-filled and loving community. Faith can thrive only in a community. We need to be supported, inspired, helped and formed by the community. St Paul makes it clear in today’s second reading. “You are God’s building. Didn’t you realise 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.” Let us try to get more people involved in the life of our churches and community. Indeed, prayers and worship are very important, but we need to build a community as well. We meet God not just in worship but in our brothers and sisters. I pray that God will send us the people we need to make this Cathedral alive, vibrant, evangelizing and missionary.
Written by His Eminence, Cardinal William SC Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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