20240902 PROCLAMATION IN FAITH INSPIRES FAITH
02 September 2024, Monday, 22nd Week in Ordinary Time
First reading |
1 Corinthians 2:1-5 |
The only knowledge I claimed was of the crucified Christ
When I came to you, brothers, it was not with any show of oratory or philosophy, but simply to tell you what God had guaranteed. During my stay with you, the only knowledge I claimed to have was about Jesus, and only about him as the crucified Christ. Far from relying on any power of my own, I came among you in great ‘fear and trembling’ and in my speeches and the sermons that I gave, there were none of the arguments that belong to philosophy; only a demonstration of the power of the Spirit. And I did this so that your faith should not depend on human philosophy but on the power of God.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 118(119):97-102 |
Lord, how I love your law!
Lord, how I love your law!
It is ever in my mind.
Your command makes me wiser than my foes;
for it is mine for ever.
Lord, how I love your law!
I have more insight than all who teach me
for I ponder your will.
I have more understanding than the old
for I keep your precepts.
Lord, how I love your law!
I turn my feet from evil paths
to obey your word.
I have not turned from your decrees;
you yourself have taught me.
Lord, how I love your law!
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: | Lk4:18 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
The Lord has sent me to bring the good news to the poor,
to proclaim liberty to captives.
Alleluia!
Gospel | Luke 4:16-30 |
'This text is being fulfilled today, even as you listen'
Jesus came to Nazara, where he had been brought up, and went into the synagogue on the sabbath day as he usually did. He stood up to read and they handed him the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Unrolling the scroll he found the place where it is written:
The spirit of the Lord has been given to me,
for he has anointed me.
He has sent me to bring the good news to the poor,
to proclaim liberty to captives
and to the blind new sight,
to set the downtrodden free,
to proclaim the Lord’s year of favour.
He then rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the assistant and sat down. And all eyes in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to speak to them, ‘This text is being fulfilled today even as you listen.’ And he won the approval of all, and they were astonished by the gracious words that came from his lips. They said, ‘This is Joseph’s son, surely?’
But he replied, ‘No doubt you will quote me the saying, “Physician, heal yourself” and tell me, “We have heard all that happened in Capernaum, do the same here in your own countryside.”’
And he went on, ‘I tell you solemnly, no prophet is ever accepted in his own country.
‘There were many widows in Israel, I can assure you, in Elijah’s day, when heaven remained shut for three years and six months and a great famine raged throughout the land, but Elijah was not sent to any one of these: he was sent to a widow at Zarephath, a Sidonian town. And in the prophet Elisha’s time there were many lepers in Israel, but none of these was cured, except the Syrian, Naaman.’
When they heard this everyone in the synagogue was enraged. They sprang to their feet and hustled him out of the town; and they took him up to the brow of the hill their town was built on, intending to throw him down the cliff, but he slipped through the crowd and walked away.
PROCLAMATION IN FAITH INSPIRES FAITH
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [1 COR 2:1-5; LK 4:16-30]
How do people come to faith in Christ? In an age of rationalism and science, people are looking for logical proofs and empirical evidence before they believe. In some quarters of religion, believers seek to prove that their religion is the true religion. Among Christians, Catholics often seek to prove to non-believers that Christianity is the true faith, and to non-Catholic Christians, that they are the true Church of Christ. We come up with all kinds of arguments and syllogism to show the truth of our faith claims. We engage in apologetics, hoping to convince the atheists or adherents of other faiths that our religion is the true religion.
However, the truth is that faith is a personal relationship and a personal conviction. It is not reducible to reason. God cannot be proven, otherwise no faith is needed. For those who have faith, no proofs are necessary. For those who have no faith, no proofs would suffice. The author of Hebrews wrote, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval.” (cf Heb 11:1-3)
Faith in God is analogous to any human relationship, especially in marriage. All relationships are based on mutual trust and faith in each other’s love. No one can prove or guarantee that our friend or spouse would always love us faithfully and forever. They can make promises but we all know many of these promises are empty promises. How many so-called loving marriages have been destroyed by infidelity? So it is in faith that we learn to trust a person’s declaration of love for us. We have no proof. The person might show his love for us now through acts of love by buying gifts and helping us and listening to us. But there is no guarantee that he will still be loving after marriage, and for the next 20, 30 or 50 years of married life. So why do we still make an act of faith in the person when no fool proofs can be given to anyone? Love knows the reason that reason does not know.
Christianity is rooted in faith, in a personal relationship with God. It is not a system of intellectual arguments to prove that our faith is true. St Paul says this clearly in today’s first reading. “Brothers, when I came to you, it was not with any show of oratory or philosophy, but simply to tell you what God had guaranteed. During my stay with you, the only knowledge I claimed to have was about Jesus, and only about him as the crucified Christ.” St Paul was not seeking to prove or to argue that Jesus is the Son of God. Rather, he was sharing his personal encounter with the Lord. What changed him radically was his conversion experience at Damascus when the Lord appeared to him. Without this personal encounter with the Lord, there could be no mission. Paul was ready to die for Christ only because he knew Him personally. (Acts 9:4f) St Paul said, “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Gal 2:19f) St Paul’s conversion was based on a personal encounter, not on philosophy. (cf 1 Tim 1:12-14)
This is true for the Lord Himself as well. Christ did not receive His calling to proclaim the Good News because of reasoning. He received His calling from His intimacy with the Father from young, and which climaxed at His baptism. From childhood He was rooted in His personal relationship with His Father. At the temple, He said to His parents, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” (Lk 2:49) And at His baptism, He heard the voice of the Father affirming His Sonship when the voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” (Mt 3:17) It is His intimacy with the Father that was the basis of His mission. In John’s gospel, Jesus said, “The Father and I are one.” (cf Jn 10:30,37f)
For this reason, at the beginning of His ministry, Jesus could make the prophecy of Isaiah about the Suffering Servant His own. His citation of the Suffering Servant was His identification with His conviction that God is love and mercy. “The spirit of the Lord has been given to me, for he has anointed me. He has sent me to bring the good news to the poor, and to proclaim liberty to captives and to the blind new sight, to set the downtrodden free, to proclaim the Lord’s year of favour.” Again, in John’s gospel, Jesus remarked, “Very truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise. The Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing; and he will show him greater works than these, so that you will be astonished.” (Jn 5:19f)
His citation of Elijah’s ministry again shows that it was not reason but the encounter with God’s love and mercy in the miracles worked by him that brought faith. He said “There were many widows in Israel, I can assure you, in Elijah’s day when heaven remained shut for three years and six months and a great famine raged throughout the land, but Elijah was not sent to anyone of these: he was sent to a widow at Zarephath, a Sidonian town. And in the prophet Elisha’s time there were many lepers in Israel, but none of these was cured, except the Syrian, Naaman.” It was faith in God working through Elijah that the widow was fed and Naaman was healed.
Thus, we must take the advice of St Paul seriously in the work of evangelization and proclamation of the gospel. “Far from relying on any power of my speeches and the sermons that I gave, there were none of the arguments that belong to philosophy; only a demonstration of the power of the Spirit. And I did this so that your faith should not depend on human philosophy but on the power of God.” It is not apologetics and proofs that will convict people about Christ and the Church. Rather, it is the witness of His personal love and mercy for us in our lives. It is through personal testimonies of what the Lord has done for us in our lives and how He continues to speak to us through the Word of God and how we encounter Him deeply in the sacraments and in the intimacy of prayers. Most of all, it is our sharing of the miraculous healings and deep religious experiences we have of Him that will edify the faith of others.
Pope Benedict in His encyclical “God is Love” succinctly wrote, “Saint John also offers a kind of summary of the Christian life: ‘We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us’. (1 Jn 4:16)) We have come to believe in God’s love: in these words the Christian can express the fundamental decision of his life. Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction. Saint John’s Gospel describes that event in these words: ‘God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should … have eternal life’ (3:16). (Deus caritas est, 1) Conversion is not the result of appreciation of Christian morality or brilliant insights but due to a personal experience of His love and mercy.
Hence, the way to bring people to Christ is through faith, not reason. This does not mean that reason has no part to play in the growth of faith. Instead of understanding to believe, we should take the path of believing to understand. Understand to believe will take a long time and we may never reach the goal of faith. We cannot prove or convince someone unless the person is already receptive and docile to faith in Jesus. But until that happens there is no faith. We can study about love, but if we are not ready to take the plunge to love, nothing will happen. This love is just in the head, it is not real and not transforming. It is an ideology. We must fall in love with Jesus, surrender to His love and mercy if we are to know His love and His power. So we need people who have encountered the Lord personally to testify to the real and transforming power of His love and mercy. We do not need great theologians but people who have fallen in love with God and encountered Him to bring conversion into the lives of those who do not know Him.
With faith as the starting point, we can then follow with the study of scripture and theology. Study is necessary for the individual Christian to deepen and mature in His faith. The intellectual discourse of the faith is not to prove that Christ is true but to show the credibility of our beliefs and the reasonableness of our faith. This is to eradicate a mythological, superstitious or fundamentalist approach to Faith. The study of scripture and theology is to help Christians and those enquirers find reasons to take the leap of faith. In most instances, those who join our churches have already been inspired by faith believers to register for RCIA. Through the study of Christianity, their already incipient faith is strengthened.
Written by His Eminence, Cardinal William SC Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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