20241026 THE GOAL OF SPIRITUAL LIFE
First reading |
Ephesians 4:7-16 |
By grace, we shall not be children any longer
Each one of us has been given his own share of grace, given as Christ allotted it. It was said that he would:
When he ascended to the height, he captured prisoners,
he gave gifts to men.
When it says, ‘he ascended’, what can it mean if not that he descended right down to the lower regions of the earth? The one who rose higher than all the heavens to fill all things is none other than the one who descended. And to some, his gift was that they should be apostles; to some, prophets; to some, evangelists; to some, pastors and teachers; so that the saints together make a unity in the work of service, building up the body of Christ. In this way we are all to come to unity in our faith and in our knowledge of the Son of God, until we become the perfect Man, fully mature with the fullness of Christ himself.
Then we shall not be children any longer, or tossed one way and another and carried along by every wind of doctrine, at the mercy of all the tricks men play and their cleverness in practising deceit. If we live by the truth and in love, we shall grow in all ways into Christ, who is the head by whom the whole body is fitted and joined together, every joint adding its own strength, for each separate part to work according to its function. So the body grows until it has built itself up, in love.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 121(122):1-5 |
I rejoiced when I heard them say: ‘Let us go to God’s house.’
I rejoiced when I heard them say:
‘Let us go to God’s house.’
And now our feet are standing
within your gates, O Jerusalem.
I rejoiced when I heard them say: ‘Let us go to God’s house.’
Jerusalem is built as a city
strongly compact.
It is there that the tribes go up,
the tribes of the Lord.
I rejoiced when I heard them say: ‘Let us go to God’s house.’
For Israel’s law it is,
there to praise the Lord’s name.
There were set the thrones of judgement
of the house of David.
I rejoiced when I heard them say: ‘Let us go to God’s house.’
Gospel Acclamation | Ps144:13 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
The Lord is faithful in all his words
and loving in all his deeds.
Alleluia!
Or: | Ezk33:11 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
I take pleasure, not in the death of a wicked man,
says the Lord,
but in the turning back of a wicked man
who changes his ways to win life.
Alleluia!
Gospel | Luke 13:1-9 |
'Leave the fig tree one more year'
Some people arrived and told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with that of their sacrifices. At this he said to them, ‘Do you suppose these Galileans who suffered like that were greater sinners than any other Galileans? They were not, I tell you. No; but unless you repent you will all perish as they did. Or those eighteen on whom the tower at Siloam fell and killed them? Do you suppose that they were more guilty than all the other people living in Jerusalem? They were not, I tell you. No; but unless you repent you will all perish as they did.’
He told this parable: ‘A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it but found none. He said to the man who looked after the vineyard, “Look here, for three years now I have been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and finding none. Cut it down: why should it be taking up the ground?” “Sir,” the man replied “leave it one more year and give me time to dig round it and manure it: it may bear fruit next year; if not, then you can cut it down.”’
26 October 2024, Saturday, 29th Week in Ordinary Time
THE GOAL OF SPIRITUAL LIFE
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [EPHESIANS 4:7-16; PS 122:1-5; LUKE 13:1-9]
What is the call to holiness? Simply this: “we are all to come to unity in our faith and in our knowledge of the Son of God, until we become the perfect Man, fully mature with the fullness of Christ himself.” St Paul speaks of the two-fold goal in our growth in spiritual life. Firstly, we must become more integrated with the Body of Christ in our faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God. So the first aspect is unity in faith and in doctrines. But it is not just a matter of being united with the Body of Christ; we must also become more like Christ, that perfect man, fully mature with the fullness of Christ Himself.
To help us grow in unity of faith, the Lord bestows upon His Church the gifts of the Holy Spirit. St Paul writes, “Each one of us has been given his own share of grace, given as Christ allotted it.” Each one of us in the body of Christ is given our own unique gifts, different from others. This is to remind us that we are not called to be self-sufficient. We are called to be humble and be dependent on each other. We must work and serve each other as one in imitation of the Holy Trinity. God knows what is best for us and we should be contented with whatever task or gifts He has allotted to us. There is no question of envy because happiness is not dependent on the gifts we have but how we make use of them for service and love. If we make full use of what the Lord has given to us, we are assured of happiness and meaning in life. But if we are envious of others, then we lose focus on what we have been given. Instead, we waste precious time lamenting that others have gifts that we do not have.
Secondly, there are many functions that are needed to build up the Body of Christ. “When he ascended to the height, he captured prisoners, he gave gifts to men. And to some, his gift was that they should be apostles; to some, prophets; to some, evangelists; to some, pastors and teachers.” We need different people to help us grow in our faith and in the knowledge of Christ and to preserve the unity of the Church. We need the apostles to be the leaders of our Church, to provide authoritative leadership and to protect the unity of faith, doctrines and morals. We need prophets in our midst to provide us with insights, make us aware of the direction the Church is taking, and how the world is evolving, for better or for worse. Prophets are necessary in the Church to provide us the voice of God in an ambiguous world where even self-centred values are promoted as something good in the name of individualism and freedom. We need evangelists to write and tell us stories about Jesus. We cannot do without the written word to inspire us to love Jesus. We need pastors to look after the flock of Christ, to be with the people, to guide and inspire them. And of course, we need teachers to instruct us in the faith. Some of these roles could be performed by the same person. Regardless, these are just some of the more significant roles in the area of spiritual, doctrinal formation and pastoral care.
How do we know that we have arrived at spiritual maturity if not the fact that we are well grounded in our faith in Christ, a faith that firstly could withstand any onslaught of the world and the temptations of the Evil One? Many Catholics, even though they might be active in church, have a weak and superficial faith. They are more concerned about activities and programs. But not many take care of their spiritual life and faith formation seriously. As a result, just as many come to serve, many will eventually leave, not just the organization but also the Church. They are easily scandalized by the weakness they see in their fellow Catholics or swayed by the different opinions of the Church and Church leaders they read on the internet and social media. They are not clear of their beliefs and their faith. As St Paul wrote, “Then we shall not be children any longer, or tossed one way and another and carried along by every wind of doctrine, at the mercy of all the tricks men play and their cleverness in practising deceit.” Truly, Catholics who do not nurture their faith are at risk.
The best way to protect ourselves from being swayed by the world is to be inserted into the body of Christ. When we live in union with the Church, and are joined together with our brothers and sisters, we will always remain strong and firm in times of temptation. It is only because some of us do not have good Catholic friends who are firm in their faith that we are eventually overwhelmed by the world as we only have secular friends. If we keep hearing messages from the world and not from Christ, surely, our minds would no longer be one with Christ. To live in truth and love, we need to “grow in all ways into Christ, who is the head by whom the whole body is fitted and joined together, every joint adding its own strength, for each separate part to work according to its function.” Indeed, like the psalmist, we must rejoice when we “(hear) them say: ‘Let us go to God’s house.”
Of course, holiness is not an individual endeavour. The Church grows in holiness together. It is in the Church that “the body grows until it has built itself up, in love.” We must not imagine that all of us have become fully mature in Christ or live in truth and love. We are growing in maturity and in grace, in truth and love. The Church is where we as Christians learn how to love like Jesus. We learn to forgive, to tolerate, to love and to share. We do not grow in holiness in a vacuum but in a concrete community. When we are challenged by the imperfections we find in the community and our own as well, let us be grateful that we are given to each other as spiritual benefactors. We are to learn from each other the good examples and not to fall into the same mistakes that others have made.
As the Lord tells us in today’s gospel, rather than to speculate why people sin or fall, it is more important that we learn from their lessons. He said to those people who told “Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with that of their sacrifices. At this he said to them, ‘Do you suppose these Galileans who suffered like that were greater sinners than any other Galileans? They were not, I tell you. No; but unless you repent you will all perish as they did. Or those eighteen on whom the tower at Siloam fell and killed them? Do you suppose that they were more guilty than all the other people living in Jerusalem? They were not, I tell you. No; but unless you repent you will all perish as they did.” The sufferings and misfortunes of others are to be seen as grace moments for us to examine our own lives if we do not want to fall into the same mistake. Instead of speculating about other’s downfall or tragedy, we should be mindful of our own follies and repent. Otherwise, the Lord warned us, “you will all perish as they did.”
Indeed, let us take the current time we have as moments of God’s grace. God is patiently waiting for us to grow in holiness, in truth and love. This was what the Lord said in the parable of the fig tree that bears no fruit. He said, “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it but found none. He said to the man who looked after the vineyard, ‘Look here, for three years now I have been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and finding none. Cut it down: why should it be taking up the ground?’ ‘Sir,’ the man replied ‘leave it one more year and give me time to dig round it and manure it: it may bear fruit next year; if not, then you can cut it down.”’ God is truly patient with us. In fact, He is more patient with us in our ignorance and stubbornness than we are with our fellowmen. We must be ever ready for ongoing conversion, whether we are clergy or lay. Everyone is in need of personal and pastoral conversion.
Hence, each of us must take our calling to holiness seriously by using whatever resources the Lord has given to us. We must use them for the glory of God and the service of our fellowmen. We use them to build the Church of Christ. But we cannot do without being connected with Christ as the head of the Church. Intimacy with Him is necessary for Him to provide us the direction, inspiration and passion in building up His body. Only in this way can we produce men and women formed in the likeness of Christ so that in us, Christ lives on in the world. This is what it means to be a saint in the final analysis. He or she is one in whom Christ lives in Him. When we make Christ present in our lives, we can then be said to have attained the goal of full maturity “with the fullness of Christ himself’, perfect Man in Him.
Written by His Eminence, Cardinal William SC Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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