20231028 PROTECTING THE HOUSEHOLD OF GOD
28 October 2023, Saturday, Ss Simon and Jude, Apostles
First reading |
Ephesians 2:19-22 © |
In Christ you are no longer aliens, but citizens like us
You are no longer aliens or foreign visitors: you are citizens like all the saints, and part of God’s household. You are part of a building that has the apostles and prophets for its foundations, and Christ Jesus himself for its main cornerstone. As every structure is aligned on him, all grow into one holy temple in the Lord; and you too, in him, are being built into a house where God lives, in the Spirit.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 18(19):2-5 © |
Their word goes forth through all the earth.
The heavens proclaim the glory of God,
and the firmament shows forth the work of his hands.
Day unto day takes up the story
and night unto night makes known the message.
Their word goes forth through all the earth.
No speech, no word, no voice is heard
yet their span extends through all the earth,
their words to the utmost bounds of the world.
Their word goes forth through all the earth.
Gospel Acclamation | cf.Te Deum |
Alleluia, alleluia!
We praise you, O God,
we acknowledge you to be the Lord.
The glorious company of the apostles praise you, O Lord.
Alleluia!
Gospel | Luke 6:12-19 © |
Jesus chooses his twelve apostles
Jesus went out into the hills to pray; and he spent the whole night in prayer to God. When day came he summoned his disciples and picked out twelve of them; he called them ‘apostles’: Simon whom he called Peter, and his brother Andrew; James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon called the Zealot, Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot who became a traitor.
He then came down with them and stopped at a piece of level ground where there was a large gathering of his disciples with a great crowd of people from all parts of Judaea and from Jerusalem and from the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon who had come to hear him and to be cured of their diseases. People tormented by unclean spirits were also cured, and everyone in the crowd was trying to touch him because power came out of him that cured them all.
PROTECTING THE HOUSEHOLD OF GOD
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [EPHESIANS 2:19-22; LUKE 6:12-19]
St Paul in the first reading wrote, “You are no longer aliens or foreign visitors: you are citizens like all the saints, and part of God’s household.” By virtue of our baptism, we are made citizens of the Kingdom of God and a member of God’s household. How wonderful is this privilege that has been bestowed upon us! As members of God’s kingdom and His family, necessarily, we want to protect the unity among all members. Jesus warns us saying, “If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.”
For this reason, the faith of the Church is that we all belong to the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. Oneness and Catholicity are necessarily signs for us to claim that the Church of Christ subsists in the Catholic Church. Christ came to establish only one Church and not many churches. That is why His final prayer for the Church is the prayer of unity. “I do not pray for these only, but also for those who believe in me through their word, that they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.” (Jn 17:20f) St Paul affirmed the Catholicity of the Church when he wrote, “for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Gal 3:26-28) As Catholics, we are never alone but we are members of the universal Church because we are members of the Body of Christ, with Him as our head. We are members of the family of God by virtue of our baptism.
How is the unity of the Church and its Catholicity maintained? What are the foundations to build the family of God so that we will always remain united as One Church?
Firstly, we must be aligned with Christ as our cornerstone. St Paul wrote, “As every structure is aligned on him, all grow into one holy temple in the Lord.” The Church is founded on Christ. If we want to be united in faith and love, we must share a common Spirit in Christ. Only Christ can give us His Spirit. Hence, St Paul remarked, “and you too, in him, are being built into a house where God lives, in the Spirit.” To have Christ as the cornerstone means that He must be the centre of our lives. He must be the reference point, the focal point of humanity and our history. Clearly, all of us must build our lives in Christ.
The question is, which is the real Christ? There are as many images and thoughts about Christ as there are opinions. Many make Christ fit into their own image and thinking. Christ can be made to fit into any kind of ideology. Some make Christ into a revolutionary. So which is the true Christ that we are called to worship? The danger is that today, instead of worshipping Christ, the world makes Christ conform to their wishful thinking and aspirations.
The true Christ that we worship must therefore be the same Christ that the apostles knew and worshipped. That is why, for our faith to be true, it must be founded on the apostolic faith. This is what we profess when we say that we believe in the apostolic Church. All our doctrines and teachings must be in continuity with the faith of the twelve apostles and the early Church. In the gospel, Jesus clearly chose from among the many disciples, twelve apostles to lead His Church. He “picked out twelve of them; he called them ‘apostles’: Simon whom he called Peter, and his brother Andrew; James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, Simon called the Zealot, Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot who became the traitor.” These Twelve apostles formed the apostolic college. The consciousness of the need to preserve the apostolic college is demonstrated by the replacement of Judas after his tragic death with Matthias.
To be faithful to the apostolic Church would therefore require that those who succeed the apostles are properly chosen and consecrated. This continuity with the apostolic authority is maintained through the college of bishops together with the Holy Father. Only those who are validly ordained are given the powers of the apostles to continue to teach authoritatively and to guarantee orthodoxy and fidelity to the deposit of faith. All bishops who are successors of the apostles continue to teach and exercise the office of safeguarding the faith of the apostles. The Church is called to transmit the deposit of faith that she received from the apostles. What we believe must be in continuity with the faith of the apostles that has been passed down to the Church over the last 2000 years. Hence, the importance of apostolic succession in ensuring the unity of faith, without which there can only be division among churches.
But it is not just apostolic succession alone. It requires that every bishop act in union with the apostolic college, with the Pope as its head. In the gospel, Jesus did not choose simply the apostles but the Twelve with Peter as the head of the Twelve. The Holy Father as the Head of the college of Bishops continues to teach authoritatively the doctrines of the Church. In the light of new developments, changing circumstances, new sciences and technological knowledge, the Church is tasked to respond to the signs of the time. This is where the college of bishops, together with the Holy Father, in consultation with the whole Church, continues to discern the movements of the Spirit. Of course, this presupposes our union with Christ in prayer. It calls for discernment and prayer. When the Church calls for a Synod, it is an exercise of collegiality of the bishops in union with the Holy Father.
Indeed, because our mission is communion, for this mission to bear fruit it must be accomplished in communion with the bishop who in turn must be in communion with the apostolic college so that our faith is the same faith handed on to us by the apostles. We cannot say we love Christ but we do not belong to the Church, because the Church is Christ. To love Christ without the Church is an illusion since the Church is His body. As individuals, we are not the Church. Those who claim that they believe in Christ and love Christ but without being aligned with the Church of Christ, worships the Christ that they have formed in their mind, not the Christ of faith as transmitted by the apostolic Church.
To believe in the apostolic Church also entails that all of us share the responsibility of the apostles in being ambassadors of Christ. An apostle is one who is sent out to proclaim the Good News. We, who belong to the Apostolic Church too, must continue the work of the apostles to spread the Good News. We are called to proclaim the Good News as taught by our Lord and received from Him through the apostles and the bishops, the successors of the apostolic college founded by Christ. Every Christian must fulfil the command of our Lord when He said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” (Mt 28:19f)
But we do not do this by our own strength but in the power of the Holy Spirit. In the gospel, Jesus Himself spent the whole night in prayer and when He came down, “a great crowd of people from all parts of Judaea and from Jerusalem and from the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon who had come to hear him and to be cured of their diseases. People tormented by unclean spirits were also cured, and everyone in the crowd was trying to touch him because power came out of him that cured them all.” When we celebrate the feasts of Simon and Jude, we are reminded that we are insignificant people like them, with no status and position. But instead of feeling hopeless, we can turn to the Lord in prayer, for it is the Lord who chooses us, just as He qualified His apostles to do His work. It is not that we are worthy to be His apostles and disciples, but He empowers us and works in and through us.
In the final analysis, what brings us together in love, worship and mission is prayer and fellowship. Jesus said, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” (Jn 15:5) As Church, we must work in union with each other. Hence, we must assert the importance of communal prayer, discernment and dialogue in any organization for unity of mission. Unless we are united, everything we do will be destroyed. We need to protect the family unity. We need to be alert to those who sow seeds of division. Are we supportive of each other and take care of each other’s interests?
There is a tone of sadness at the end of the gospel when the evangelist noted that “Judas who became the traitor.” Will that be said of us? Are we traitors to our organization? Are we protective of each other and of the Church at large? Do we destroy our own organization by bad mouthing each other? The greatest enemy is from within, not from without. It took one Judas to kill Jesus. Do you want the devil to make you another Judas to destroy the cause and good name of the family of God? So let us keep ourselves united in love through prayer and union with our leaders, looking after each other as members of the household of God.
Written by His Eminence, Cardinal William SC Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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