20240205 DOMESTICATING THE PRESENCE OF GOD
05 February 2024, Monday, 5th Week in Ordinary Time
First reading |
1 Kings 8:1-7,9-13 © |
The Ark of the Covenant is brought into the Temple
Solomon called the elders of Israel together in Jerusalem to bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord up from the Citadel of David, which is Zion. All the men of Israel assembled round King Solomon in the month of Ethanim, at the time of the feast (that is, the seventh month), and the priests took up the ark and the Tent of Meeting with all the sacred vessels that were in it. In the presence of the ark, King Solomon and all Israel sacrificed sheep and oxen, countless, innumerable. The priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place, in the Debir of the Temple, that is, in the Holy of Holies, under the cherubs’ wings. For there where the ark was placed the cherubs spread out their wings and sheltered the ark and its shafts. There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets Moses had placed in it at Horeb, the tablets of the covenant which the Lord had made with the Israelites when they came out of the land of Egypt; they are still there today.
Now when the priests came out of the sanctuary, the cloud filled the Temple of the Lord, and because of the cloud the priests could no longer perform their duties: the glory of the Lord filled the Lord’s Temple.
Then Solomon said:
‘The Lord has chosen to dwell in the thick cloud.
Yes, I have built you a dwelling,
a place for you to live in for ever.’
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 131(132):6-10 © |
Go up, Lord, to the place of your rest!
At Ephrata we heard of the ark;
we found it in the plains of Yearim.
‘Let us go to the place of his dwelling;
let us go to kneel at his footstool.’
Go up, Lord, to the place of your rest!
Go up, Lord, to the place of your rest,
you and the ark of your strength.
Your priests shall be clothed with holiness;
your faithful shall ring out their joy.
For the sake of David your servant
do not reject your anointed.
Go up, Lord, to the place of your rest!
Gospel Acclamation | Jn8:12 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
I am the light of the world, says the Lord;
anyone who follows me will have the light of life.
Alleluia!
Or: | cf.Mt4:23 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Jesus proclaimed the Good News of the kingdom
and cured all kinds of sickness among the people.
Alleluia!
Gospel | Mark 6:53-56 © |
All those who touched him were cured
Having made the crossing, Jesus and his disciples came to land at Gennesaret and tied up. No sooner had they stepped out of the boat than people recognised him, and started hurrying all through the countryside and brought the sick on stretchers to wherever they heard he was. And wherever he went, to village, or town, or farm, they laid down the sick in the open spaces, begging him to let them touch even the fringe of his cloak. And all those who touched him were cured.
DOMESTICATING THE PRESENCE OF GOD
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [1KGS 8:1-7,9-13; Psalm 132:6-10; Mark 6:53-56]
In the first reading, we read of the completion of the Temple of Jerusalem, the brainchild of King David but which was left to King Solomon to finish the task. There was great rejoicing in Israel as “Solomon called the elders of Israel to together in Jerusalem to bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord up from the Citadel of David, which Zion.” The Ark of the Covenant had special significance for the people of Israel. The Ark housed the two tablets containing the Ten Commandments God gave to Moses. It was important to the Israelites because it represented the presence of God for the people of Israel.
In all religions, signs and symbols are always used. Every religion would have their symbols to signify God’s presence. For Christians, the Bible is considered the sacred book of God. For Catholics, besides the bible, we have the sacraments, especially the Eucharist, which is the real presence of Christ. The tabernacle is to us what the Ark was to the Israelites. Instead of housing the Two Tablets of the Decalogue, literally, the Ten Words or Laws, we have Christ, who is the Word of God made flesh in the Eucharist. We, too, have great devotion to the Eucharist, whom we recognize as the presence of God par excellence.
The necessity of signs and symbols to represent the presence of God is due to the fact that we are not pure spirits. We need to see, smell, hear, feel and touch. The medium of communication is through the human body. This is the basis for the incarnation. God assumes our humanity so that through Christ, we can come to know the Father. Jesus is for us the presence of God in person. This accounts for Jesus’ claim that to see Him is to see the Father. For this same reason, the Lord instructed His disciples to heal the sick. “So they set of to preach repentance; and they cast out many devils, and anointed many sick people with oil and cured them.” (Mk 6:13) Such use of natural objects concurs with the first reading when God made His presence felt through the clouds, through the things of nature.
However, there is always the temptation to domesticate God. As in the days of old, symbols and signs which were meant to mediate the presence of God were often taken as the ends in themselves. When that happens, we fall into superstition. This was the case of the Israelites. Unfortunately, this is true of some Catholics as well, who are more concerned with sacramentals, rubrics and the externals of the liturgical celebrations than with the meaning that has been intended. What we need to emphasize is how we encounter God through the sacramentals, gestures and actions. We read in the gospel that all those who “touch even the fringe of his cloak. And all those who touched him were cured.” Would we say that this is pure superstition? The use of sacramentals like holy water, oil, crucifix are not to be considered as superstitious practices so long as such elements and objects are connected with God or with Christ. The power of such sacramentals is not dependent on the things in themselves, but by the promise of Christ through His Church that He would act through such objects so that people could feel His presence and love Him more deeply and tangibly.
Of course, it would be ideal if we have the faith of the Centurion who said, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; therefore I did not presume to come to you. But only speak the word, and let my servant be healed.” (Lk 7:7) But few have this simple faith as Jesus noted.
For this reason, God, knowing our weakness, was reluctant to have the Temple built for Him. When David wanted to build the Temple, the Lord instructed the Prophet Nathan, “Go and tell my servant David: Thus says the Lord, ‘Are you the one to build me a house to live in? I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent and a tabernacle. Wherever I have moved about among all the people of Israel, did I ever speak a word with any of the tribal leaders of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, ‘Why have you not built me a house of cedar?'” Indeed, God is a trek God, a nomadic God who moves with His people. He does not stay in a place like human beings. He does not want to be tied down to a particular location or an object. This God wants to be with His people, journeying with them in all their activities and life. This is the beginning of the domestication of God.
So after 480 years since they left Egypt, a Temple for which He did not ask to be built was constructed for Him. In truth, the Temple was more for the people than for God. In the New Testament, we find that, again, the Lord wanted to be present in His people; not so much in the Temple. Jesus told the Samaritan, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” (Jn 4:21-24) St Paul wrote, “What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, ‘I will live in them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” (2 Cor 6:16)
In Vatican Council teaching on Sacred Liturgy, the Fathers speak of the different ways Christ is present in His Church in the liturgy, especially in His ministers and the People of God. “To accomplish so great a work, Christ is always present in His Church, especially in her liturgical celebrations. He is present in the sacrifice of the Mass, not only in the person of His minister, ‘the same now offering, through the ministry of priests, who formerly offered himself on the cross’, but especially under the Eucharistic species. By His power He is present in the sacraments, so that when a man baptizes it is really Christ Himself who baptizes. He is present in His word, since it is He Himself who speaks when the holy scriptures are read in the Church. He is present, lastly, when the Church prays and sings, for He promised: “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Mt 18:20).” Christ indeed always associates the Church with Himself in this great work wherein God is perfectly glorified and men are sanctified. The Church is His beloved Bride who calls to her Lord, and through Him offers worship to the Eternal Father. Rightly, then, the liturgy is considered as an exercise of the priestly office of Jesus Christ.
In the liturgy the sanctification of the man is signified by signs perceptible to the senses, and is effected in a way which corresponds with each of these signs; in the liturgy the whole public worship is performed by the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ, that is, by the Head and His members. From this it follows that every liturgical celebration, because it is an action of Christ the priest and of His Body which is the Church, is a sacred action surpassing all others; no other action of the Church can equal its efficacy by the same title and to the same degree.”
In the gospel today, Jesus mediates the presence of God through His works of healing and compassion for the poor. People “brought the sick on stretchers to wherever they heard he was. And wherever he went, to village, or town, or farm, they laid down the sick in the open spaces.” In Jesus, they saw the presence of God. Christ was the mercy and compassion of God for them. He is the fulfilment of the prophecy of Zechariah. He is the visitation of the Lord. “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel. He has visited His people and redeemed them.” (Lk 1:68)
We, too, who worship the Lord in the Temple and receive Him in the sacraments, are called to do likewise. We must become what we receive. Having received Christ, we must be Christ to others in the way we live our lives, the way we speak, the way we serve, the way we look at others. Only when our lives and our very being also become the very presence of God’s love and mercy, could we then say that we have not allowed ourselves to fall into the temptation of domesticating God, but we have allowed Him to live and dwell in us, making us living stones of His Holy Temple.
Written by His Eminence, Cardinal William SC Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
No comments:
Post a Comment