20231001 BEING CONNECTED AS THE WAY TO BE TRULY ALIVE
01 October 2023, Sunday, 26th Week in Ordinary Time
First reading |
Ezekiel 18:25-28 © |
When the sinner renounces sin, he shall certainly live
The word of the Lord was addressed to me as follows: ‘You object, “What the Lord does is unjust.” Listen, you House of Israel: is what I do unjust? Is it not what you do that is unjust? When the upright man renounces his integrity to commit sin and dies because of this, he dies because of the evil that he himself has committed. When the sinner renounces sin to become law-abiding and honest, he deserves to live. He has chosen to renounce all his previous sins; he shall certainly live; he shall not die.’
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 24(25):4-9 © |
Remember your mercy, Lord.
Lord, make me know your ways.
Lord, teach me your paths.
Make me walk in your truth, and teach me:
for you are God my saviour.
Remember your mercy, Lord.
Remember your mercy, Lord,
and the love you have shown from of old.
Do not remember the sins of my youth.
In your love remember me,
because of your goodness, O Lord.
Remember your mercy, Lord.
The Lord is good and upright.
He shows the path to those who stray,
He guides the humble in the right path,
He teaches his way to the poor.
Remember your mercy, Lord.
Second reading |
Philippians 2:1-11 © |
Be united in your love
If our life in Christ means anything to you, if love can persuade at all, or the Spirit that we have in common, or any tenderness and sympathy, then be united in your convictions and united in your love, with a common purpose and a common mind. That is the one thing which would make me completely happy. There must be no competition among you, no conceit; but everybody is to be self-effacing. Always consider the other person to be better than yourself, so that nobody thinks of his own interests first but everybody thinks of other people’s interests instead. In your minds you must be the same as Christ Jesus:
His state 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.
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.
Gospel Acclamation | Jn14:23 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
If anyone loves me he will keep my word,
and my Father will love him,
and we shall come to him.
Alleluia!
Or: | Jn10:27 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
The sheep that belong to me listen to my voice,
says the Lord,
I know them and they follow me.
Alleluia!
Gospel |
Matthew 21:28-32 © |
Tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you
Jesus said to the chief priests and elders of the people, ‘What is your opinion? A man had two sons. He went and said to the first, “My boy, you go and work in the vineyard today.” He answered, “I will not go,” but afterwards thought better of it and went. The man then went and said the same thing to the second who answered, “Certainly, sir,” but did not go. Which of the two did the father’s will?’ ‘The first’ they said. Jesus said to them, ‘I tell you solemnly, tax collectors and prostitutes are making their way into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you, a pattern of true righteousness, but you did not believe him, and yet the tax collectors and prostitutes did. Even after seeing that, you refused to think better of it and believe in him.’
BEING CONNECTED AS THE WAY TO BE TRULY ALIVE
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [EZ 18:25-28; PHIL 2:1-11; MT 21:28-32]
When tragedy befalls us or when we encounter failures in life, the immediate reaction is to find scapegoats. And if we cannot apportion the blame to our fellowmen, then the next easiest person to hold responsible is God. Yes, we want to make Him responsible for our unhappiness, misery and the situation we are in. We feel that we do not deserve our sufferings.
Yet, the truth is that most of the sufferings that we encounter in life are due to our own decisions, especially in our failure to be true to God and to ourselves. It is due to our own sins and selfishness that we suffer, and eventually die both a physical and a spiritual death. We are only reaping the consequences of our foolish actions. We suffer only because we cannot accept the plan of God in our lives, the roles that God has created for us in this marvellous plan of creation. Instead, we choose to do our own will and to become what we are not meant to be. As a result, we become disorientated due to our infidelity.
This, precisely, was the response of God to the Israelites who complained about their sufferings. Through the prophet Ezekiel, the Lord said, “Listen, you House of Israel: is what I do unjust? Is it not what you do that is unjust?” Indeed, “When the upright man renounces his integrity to commit sin and dies because of this, he dies because of the evil that he himself has committed.” However, God is not vindictive. For in the same breath He said, “When the sinner renounces sin to become law-abiding and honest, he deserves to live. He has chosen to renounce all his previous sins: he shall certainly live; he shall not die.”
Happiness, to a great extent, is in our hands because God only wishes our happiness. We only need to decide to renounce sin and live an honest life and we will live. Yes, living a life of personal integrity is the way to true life because we live in peace with ourselves. Our suffering is in reality the kindness of God in disguise. Through our sufferings, He hopes to prevent us from an even greater destruction. So suffering is a grace from God, not a punishment. We must take suffering as a wake up call, not a vengeance of God.
What, then, is this wake up call? It is a call to live a life of integrity. It is the call to be connected at every level of human life. We are called to be in connection with ourselves, to be connected with our fellow human beings and most of all, to be connected with God. Being connected is to be in communion and communion brings integration. The failure to be connected is the cause of our misery and division. Thus to live an integral life is the theme of today’s liturgy.
But what does it mean to live an integral life or a life that is connected?
Firstly, to be connected implies that we must be true to ourselves. Like the two sons in today’s gospel, we are called to be true to our sonship and our dignity as children of God. The test of sonship is the test of obedience. To be son implies obedience to the Father, for that is the way a son is connected to the Father. The failure to be obedient to the Father implies also infidelity to oneself. Now there are two ways of denying our sonship and therefore disowning ourselves.
In the first example, the denial of one’s sonship is only momentary, but not deliberate. That is to say, quite often in life we act contrary to who we are. When we act incongruently to who we are, we are renouncing our identity and our calling. Thus, if a man commits adultery, then he is denying that he is married. In the words of Jesus, these are the prostitutes and tax collectors who have forgotten their dignity. Of course, such lapses are temporary for most of us. When we feel this way, we must not condemn ourselves. We must realize that quite often, it is the lack of wisdom and understanding.
This was indeed the case of the first son in today’s parable. He was asked by his father to work in the vineyard. Initially, he refused. However on afterthought, he realized that to be true to his sonship, he should obey his father. There was certainly a struggle within himself to be faithful to his father’s will. Most of us are in this kind of forgetfulness. We struggle with our weaknesses. To such people, God is merciful because He knows that we are human and fallen. Jesus does not condemn such people. If we are forgetful of who we are, then we must pray and discern God’s will so that we will be able to find the strength and courage to live out our identity.
However, there is greater culpability in the case of the second son since he deliberately chose to go against his father’s will. He knew that he should say “yes” to his father’s command and he indeed agreed. But later on, he did not keep his word. He was simply lazy and rebellious. For such people who chose to ignore their sonship deliberately, Jesus said, referring to the scribes and Pharisees who indeed had a greater self knowledge of who they were and their calling, that “tax collectors and prostitutes are making their way into the kingdom of God” before them. Their greatest sin was not because they refused to believe the message of John the Baptist to repent, but “even after seeing that … “they “refused to think better of it and believe in him.”
Truly, the real problem for us today lies in the fact that we are not living an integral life and yet not recognizing it. This is even more regrettable than being hypocritical. This is because not only do we cheat others but we cheat ourselves as well.
However, even when we live an integral life, it is still not sufficient. Living a personal life of integrity is but only one dimension of happiness in life. Certainly, it is primary. But it presupposes the other dimension, which is our connectedness with others. If we are self integrated, it implies that this self-integration includes, or rather precludes, that we are in communion with others as well. This is because we are all sons of the same Father and we are brothers and sisters in Christ. This is the “Spirit that we have in common.” This is the mind of Christ that we are all called to share. Hence, St Paul urges us to live a life in union with others in the community and be united in our convictions and united in love. To have a “common purpose and a common mind” ensures that there is no competition among ourselves. We are always called to be in communion with each other and complement each other. We do not compete with each other but rather think of others before we think of ourselves. Indeed, the best way to help ourselves is to help others.
However, only a person who knows himself can be connected with others. Only a great person is truly humble and concerned for others, acting in a self-effacing manner as Paul urges us, “so that nobody thinks of his own interests first but everybody thinks of other people’s interests instead”. But to have such altruistic outlook, one must first find oneself and love oneself.
The problem with relationship is that we try to love others when we do not even love ourselves. By so doing, we are cheating ourselves, for we love ourselves under the pretext of loving others. This explains why when others do not do what we ask or expect of them, we become unhappy. So the real problem and cause of our disconnectedness with others is because we are not connected with ourselves, knowing who we truly are. Hence, we need to build our centre first, so that we can integrate ourselves with others.
Yes, happiness is ours if only we learn to live a more integrated life, both within ourselves and with others. Only such a life can lead to real happiness. A life that lacks one or both elements will result in fragmentation. Today, the gospel tells us that it is never too late to reconsider the kind of divided life that we live, the battle that is being fought in our hearts. If we want to find peace, then we must make peace within ourselves so that we can be at peace with others. So long as we fight with ourselves or with others, there can be no real peace within. However, peace comes the moment when we are one with the will of God and true to our identity as sons and daughters of God. Until and unless we live our identity faithfully, we cannot find real peace in our lives. But if we do, then we will find ourselves in complete union with God, others and within ourselves.
What if we are still not ready to put our life in order? Well, the selfless love and mercy of God does not pressurize us to do things that we are not yet ready, just like the father in the parable. He is ready to wait for us. He does not want us to obey Him blindly and reluctantly. He wants the decision to come from within us. This is the way God regards us. Hence, if we find it difficult to tune ourselves to God’s will, let us be patient and pray, knowing that God in His own time will enlighten us and give us the courage to do His will.
Written by His Eminence, Cardinal William SC Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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