20241228 SILENT WITNESSING
First reading | 1 John 1:5-2:2 |
The blood of Jesus Christ purifies us all from sin
This is what we have heard from Jesus Christ,
and the message that we are announcing to you:
God is light; there is no darkness in him at all.
If we say that we are in union with God
while we are living in darkness,
we are lying because we are not living the truth.
But if we live our lives in the light,
as he is in the light,
we are in union with one another,
and the blood of Jesus, his Son,
purifies us from all sin.
If we say we have no sin in us,
we are deceiving ourselves
and refusing to admit the truth;
but if we acknowledge our sins,
then God who is faithful and just
will forgive our sins and purify us
from everything that is wrong.
To say that we have never sinned
is to call God a liar
and to show that his word is not in us.
I am writing this, my children,
to stop you sinning;
but if anyone should sin,
we have our advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ, who is just;
he is the sacrifice that takes our sins away,
and not only ours,
but the whole world’s.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 123(124):2-5,7-8 |
Our life, like a bird, has escaped from the snare of the fowler.
If the Lord had not been on our side
when men rose up against us,
then would they have swallowed us alive
when their anger was kindled.
Our life, like a bird, has escaped from the snare of the fowler.
Then would the waters have engulfed us,
the torrent gone over us;
over our head would have swept
the raging waters.
Our life, like a bird, has escaped from the snare of the fowler.
Indeed the snare has been broken
and we have escaped.
Our help is in the name of the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.
Our life, like a bird, has escaped from the snare of the fowler.
Gospel Acclamation | cf.Te Deum |
Alleluia, alleluia!
We praise you, O God,
we acknowledge you to be the Lord;
the noble army of martyrs praise you, O Lord.
Alleluia!
Gospel | Matthew 2:13-18 |
The massacre of the innocents
After the wise men had left, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Get up, take the child and his mother with you, and escape into Egypt, and stay there until I tell you, because Herod intends to search for the child and do away with him.’ So Joseph got up and, taking the child and his mother with him, left that night for Egypt, where he stayed until Herod was dead. This was to fulfil what the Lord had spoken through the prophet:
I called my son out of Egypt.
Herod was furious when he realised that he had been outwitted by the wise men, and in Bethlehem and its surrounding district he had all the male children killed who were two years old or under, reckoning by the date he had been careful to ask the wise men. It was then that the words spoken through the prophet Jeremiah were fulfilled:
A voice was heard in Ramah,
sobbing and loudly lamenting:
it was Rachel weeping for her children,
refusing to be comforted because they were no more.
28 December 2024, Saturday, The Holy Innocents
SILENT WITNESSING
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [1 John 1:5-2:2; Ps 124:2-5,7-8; Matthew 2:13-18]
At Christmas, we celebrate Jesus as light that has come into a world in darkness. This is why Christmas is also a celebration of lights. Indeed, Christmas was set against the darkness of the night, when everyone was sound asleep. He is the star in the night and the rising sun. When the whole world was sleeping, Jesus the Son of God quietly came into this world, born in a stable. He was welcomed by the shepherds who were the poor of society. Darkness represents evil and ignorance as well. We all fear the dark because we do not know what is before us. We all prefer to be in the light. But this preference should also be in the way we live our life. We seek to live in the truth and to walk in love.
Jesus is the Light. He shows us the way to God through humble love and self-emptying. He emptied Himself of His divinity to assume our humanity so that He could identify with us in our struggles, pain and suffering; our hopes and aspirations. But He was not just one of us and one with us; He was the Son of God. He showed us the way to live an authentic life. This was what the second reading from the letter of Titus at the Midnight mass says, “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all, training us to renounce impiety and worldly passions, and in the present age to live lives that are self-controlled, upright, and godly while we wait for the blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. He it is who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify for himself a people of his own who are zealous for good deeds.” (Titus 2:11-14)
In contrast, Herod was in darkness and ignorant. He felt threatened by the coming of Christ into the world. He thought that Jesus was a threat to his power and status. So he took steps to eliminate Jesus from his life, just as he eliminated many of his officials as he was a man of deep insecurity. If he saw anyone who was a threat to his throne and power, he would have him killed. So it was not surprising that when he heard from the Magi that the king of the Jews was born, the Messiah that was to come, he was disturbed. He tried to get more information from the Magi and his officials and “when he realised that he had been outwitted by the wise men, and in Bethlehem and its surrounding district he had all the male children killed who were two years old or under, reckoning by the date he had been careful to ask the wise men.” Herod sought to snuff out the light that came to enlighten him.
Jesus is the king of kings. Jesus did not come to seek power for Himself. Jesus was that humble king who rode on a donkey, a king of peace. Jesus came to empower us. In the book of Revelation, we read, “Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, and made us to be a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” (Rev 1:5f) Herod did not know that if only he had accepted Christ, he would have been the best king in the world. No one would be a threat to his throne because the people would recognize him as a good king, a king that served his people generously and selflessly. When people recognize leaders who truly serve the people, they will be faithful and loyal to them. Only tyrants and leaders who serve themselves and put their interests before others will be deposed and removed. The problem is that most leaders begin well serving the people, but then they get used to their privileges, power and glory, and begin to think highly of themselves and become more concerned for their own interests.
On this feast of the Holy Innocents, we are called to be witnesses to Christ through silent witnessing. On the feast of St Stephen, the Church celebrated his courageous public witnessing of the gospel and his testimony to Christ. But not all are gifted with teaching and defending the truth like Stephen. Sometimes, we are called to witness in a silent manner. We can do this like St John whose feast we celebrated yesterday, by living a life of love and service. This is what he wrote, reminding us of the relationship between faith in Christ and a life of truth and charity, “This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not live according to the truth; but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.”
To live according to the truth is to live a life of charity. St John in the same letter wrote, “All who hate a brother or sister are murderers, and you know that murderers do not have eternal life abiding in them. We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us – and we ought to lay down our lives for one another. How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?” (1 Jn 3:15-17) Indeed, “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 4:20f)
However, silent witnessing is more than just actively doing good, living a life of charity and service, but it also entails innocent suffering. This is what we are called to learn from the infants that were slaughtered by King Herod’s cruelty. They died innocently for Christ even though they did nothing wrong. They were killed on account of Christ and because of the insecurity of King Herod. This is why they are recognized in the liturgy of the Church because they died for Christ. They were innocent and did not deserve death. But Christian love requires of us to suffer innocently on account of Christ as well. Christians are often persecuted because of our love for Christ and for humanity. We want to share the gospel of life and truth. But because the world sees us as a threat to their selfish, individualistic and worldly lifestyle, they seek to destroy Christianity, by discrediting it or cancelling out the Christian gospel and message from society. Being Christians today quite often means being seen as a sore thumb in society. So much so, many of us are afraid to even be known as Christians, for fear of being attacked by social media and being marginalized by our colleagues and friends.
But let us not forget the words of St Peter. “For it is a credit to you if, being aware of God, you endure pain while suffering unjustly. If you endure when you are beaten for doing wrong, what credit is that? But if you endure when you do right and suffer for it, you have God’s approval. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps. ‘He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.’ When he was abused, he did not return abuse; when he suffered, he did not threaten; but he entrusted himself to the one who judges justly.” (1 Pt 2:19-23) Truly, we are called to be like our Lord to bear our unjust sufferings humbly.
But the responsorial psalm reminds us that we do not suffer alone. God will see to it that we triumph in the end. “If the Lord had not been on our side when men rose up against us, then would they have swallowed us alive when their anger was kindled. Then would the waters have engulfed us, the torrent gone over us; over our head would have swept the raging waters. Indeed, the snare has been broken and we have escaped. Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” God will vindicate us if we are faithful to Him as He did with Christ and His saints. We, too, on this Feast of the Holy Innocent, must be ready to witness to Christ by living a life that is blameless. We must have the courage and strength to suffer patiently and silently for our Lord. But if we fail out of weakness, the Lord also understands us. We only need to turn to Him for forgiveness. “If any one does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the expiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.” In this way, we keep ourselves pure and spotless in His sight, imitating the Holy Innocents and those innocent people who are killed in wars, infants in abortion, and those who suffer bravely for Christ.
Written by His Eminence, Cardinal William SC Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
