20240506 BEARING HARDSHIPS
06 June 2024, Thursday, 9th Week in Ordinary Time
First reading |
2 Timothy 2:8-15 |
If we have died with Christ then we shall live with Christ
Remember the Good News that I carry, ‘Jesus Christ risen from the dead, sprung from the race of David’; it is on account of this that I have my own hardships to bear, even to being chained like a criminal – but they cannot chain up God’s news. So I bear it all for the sake of those who are chosen, so that in the end they may have the salvation that is in Christ Jesus and the eternal glory that comes with it.
Here is a saying that you can rely on:
If we have died with him, then we shall live with him.
If we hold firm, then we shall reign with him.
If we disown him, then he will disown us.
We may be unfaithful, but he is always faithful,
for he cannot disown his own self.
Remind them of this; and tell them in the name of God that there is to be no wrangling about words: all that this ever achieves is the destruction of those who are listening. Do all you can to present yourself in front of God as a man who has come through his trials, and a man who has no cause to be ashamed of his life’s work and has kept a straight course with the message of the truth.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 24(25):4-5,8-10,14 |
Lord, make me know your ways.
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.
Lord, make me know your ways.
In you I hope all day long
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.
Lord, make me know your ways.
His ways are faithfulness and love
for those who keep his covenant and law.
The Lord’s friendship is for those who revere him;
to them he reveals his covenant.
Lord, make me know your ways.
Gospel Acclamation | cf.Jn6:63,68 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Your words are spirit, Lord, and they are life;
you have the message of eternal life.
Alleluia!
Or: | cf.2Tim1:10 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Our Saviour Jesus Christ abolished death
and he has proclaimed life through the Good News.
Alleluia!
Gospel | Mark 12:28-34 |
'You are not far from the kingdom of God'
One of the scribes came up to Jesus and put a question to him, ‘Which is the first of all the commandments?’ Jesus replied, ‘This is the first: Listen, Israel, the Lord our God is the one Lord, and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: You must love your neighbour as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.’ The scribe said to him, ‘Well spoken, Master; what you have said is true: that he is one and there is no other. To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and strength, and to love your neighbour as yourself, this is far more important than any holocaust or sacrifice.’ Jesus, seeing how wisely he had spoken, said, ‘You are not far from the kingdom of God.’ And after that no one dared to question him any more.
BEARING HARDSHIPS
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [2 Tim 2:8-15; PS 25:4-5,8-10,14; Mark 12:28-34]
No one in this life is exempted from bearing hardships. We all suffer for different reasons. Not all suffering is noble and life-giving. Some suffer for the wrong reasons – because of their folly, greed and lack of self-control. They have to pay the consequences of their sins and crimes. Others suffer for worldly ambitions – to become great, powerful, famous and rich. When they arrive at the top and have power, wealth and positions, they feel empty, simply because they do not need all the money and wealth they have amassed, and they cannot spend it all on themselves. These would have to be given away when they die, and often to ingrates. With all the power, they live in deep insecurity – for fear of being kidnapped, or they become overly suspicious that people are after their wealth and connections. They trust no one, and can be quite lonely people. In fact, the ordinary people who have sufficient are the happier ones. They live their lives peacefully and freely.
Today, we are called to bear hardships for more noble reasons, firstly, for God, and secondly, for people. This was the case of St Paul. This was also what the Lord said to the scribe who was sincerely seeking answers to live a life of holiness and grace when he asked, “Which is the first of all the commandments?” The Pharisees and the Scribes were actually very good people who sought to live a righteous and holy life by being faithful to the commandments and the traditions handed on to them by their forefathers. Jesus’ answer, although not original in itself, was novel, because He brought together the two commandments of the Bible, one found in the Book of Deuteronomy 6:5, and the other in Leviticus 19:18, and juxtaposed them together. He said, “This is the first: Listen, Israel, the Lord our God is the one Lord, and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: You must love your neighbour as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.”
Indeed, the love for God is the foundation for love of neighbour. Otherwise, even though we may love our neighbour, that love can be a form of selfish love. It is not wrong, but an imperfect love. There are people who love others by serving the poor. They do so because they find it meaningful, and it gives them a sense of purpose and usefulness. All of us need to feel that we are useful, and that we can contribute to society. Otherwise, we feel that we are irrelevant. The truth is that most of us see ourselves as worthy only when we are useful to others. This explains why the sick, the elderly and those with physical or mental constraints sometimes feel useless, and have no desire to live on. We feel loved or wanted only when we are of value to others. We do not love ourselves for who we are, but only for what we can do. So we find ourselves only when we are able to serve others, or be seen as useful for people and society. Of course, this kind of “selfish love” for others is still considered acceptable, and noble, even if it is not perfectly motivated by love of others, but love of self.
There is another kind of “selfish love”, when we love others in the hope that we are loved in return. We expect a kind of payback, whether in terms of appreciation and recognition, or a returned favour at some other time. This kind of “selfish love” is often seen in people and organisations who make donations to charity and religions. They expect their generosity to be recognized – their names published, and good works made known, so that the world will come to see them as generous, kind and helpful. If they do not have publicity for the good they do, then they would not be that generous. Few of us take the words of Jesus seriously when He said, “So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (Mt 6:2-4)
But worse still, is when we do a favour and expect a favour returned. This kind of love is not even considered love, but merely an investment. The Lord said, “For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Mt 5:46-48) Then again, He taught us about inviting people for meals. He said, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” (Lk 14:12-14)
For this reason, the foundation of true love is when we love God first. Loving God is the only motivation for loving our brothers and sisters, regardless of who they are, simply because they are God’s children. When we love God with all our heart, mind and strength, we want to love Him and please Him in all that we do. What can please God more than anything else is when we love our brothers and sisters. God is self-sufficient. He does not need any praise from us or any gifts. God spoke through the prophet, “What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats. Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.” (Isa 1:11, 16f)
St John puts it differently but in the same vein, with emphasis on the primacy of God’s love for us. Firstly, he states that loving God means loving our brothers and sisters. “Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. Those who say, ‘I love God,’ and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.” (1 Jn 4:7f; 20f)
Secondly, he makes it clear that loving God is the outcome of being loved by God. “God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another.” (1 Jn 4:9-11) The capacity to love God comes from God who loves us first. Without God’s prior love for us, we will not be able to love God on our own strength. So the call to love God with all our heart, soul and strength presupposes that we have been so loved by God so unconditionally and unreservedly that we are drawn to love Him in return; not out of obligation, but purely out of love. And loving Him, we love all those whom He loves as well.
Thirdly, St John gives us the possibility of meeting God when we begin to reach out in love for our brothers and sisters. He wrote, “No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.” For those who have not yet encountered God’s love, by allowing himself to love his brothers and sisters, the love of God will come to him. To love others is to participate in God’s love. So a person who begins to love as much as he could, would eventually come to experience the love of God himself, through the genuine love and appreciation that others return to them, and that opens them to the heart of God. Hopefully, he will come to recognize that love is from God.
Written by His Eminence, Cardinal William SC Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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