20260606 PROCLAIM THE GOSPEL, WELCOME OR UNWELCOME
06 June 2026, Saturday, 9th Week in Ordinary Time
First reading | 2 Timothy 4:1-8 |
I have run the race to the finish; I have kept the faith; it is time for me to be gone
Before God and before Christ Jesus who is to be judge of the living and the dead, I put this duty to you, in the name of his Appearing and of his kingdom: proclaim the message and, welcome or unwelcome, insist on it. Refute falsehood, correct error, call to obedience – but do all with patience and with the intention of teaching. The time is sure to come when, far from being content with sound teaching, people will be avid for the latest novelty and collect themselves a whole series of teachers according to their own tastes; and then, instead of listening to the truth, they will turn to myths. Be careful always to choose the right course; be brave under trials; make the preaching of the Good News your life’s work, in thoroughgoing service.
As for me, my life is already being poured away as a libation, and the time has come for me to be gone. I have fought the good fight to the end; I have run the race to the finish; I have kept the faith; all there is to come now is the crown of righteousness reserved for me, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that Day; and not only to me but to all those who have longed for his Appearing.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 70(71):8-9,14-17,22 |
My lips will tell of your justice, O Lord.
My lips are filled with your praise,
with your glory all the day long.
Do not reject me now that I am old;
when my strength fails do not forsake me.
My lips will tell of your justice, O Lord.
But as for me, I will always hope
and praise you more and more.
My lips will tell of your justice
and day by day of your help
(though I can never tell it all).
My lips will tell of your justice, O Lord.
I will declare the Lord’s mighty deeds
proclaiming your justice, yours alone.
O God, you have taught me from my youth
and I proclaim your wonders still.
My lips will tell of your justice, O Lord.
So I will give you thanks on the lyre
for your faithful love, my God.
To you will I sing with the harp,
to you, the Holy One of Israel.
My lips will tell of your justice, O Lord.
Gospel Acclamation | cf.Lk8:15 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Blessed are those who,
with a noble and generous heart,
take the word of God to themselves
and yield a harvest through their perseverance.
Alleluia!
Or: | Mt5:3 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
How happy are the poor in spirit:
theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Alleluia!
Gospel | Mark 12:38-44 |
This poor widow has put in more than all
In his teaching Jesus said, ‘Beware of the scribes who like to walk about in long robes, to be greeted obsequiously in the market squares, to take the front seats in the synagogues and the places of honour at banquets; these are the men who swallow the property of widows, while making a show of lengthy prayers. The more severe will be the sentence they receive.’
He sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the treasury, and many of the rich put in a great deal. A poor widow came and put in two small coins, the equivalent of a penny. Then he called his disciples and said to them, ‘I tell you solemnly, this poor widow has put more in than all who have contributed to the treasury; for they have all put in money they had over, but she from the little she had has put in everything she possessed, all she had to live on.’
PROCLAIM THE GOSPEL, WELCOME OR UNWELCOME
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [2 TIM 4:1-8; MK 12:38-44]
“Beware of the scribes that like to walk about in long robes, to be greeted obsequiously in the market squares, to take the front seats in the synagogue and the places of honour at banquets; these are the men that swallow the property of widows, while making a show of lengthy prayers.” Before we condemn the religious leaders for their hypocrisy and ulterior motives of serving God, we must also recognise that these words apply equally to us. Many of us claim that we are serving God and/or our people, but whether it is in our capacity as religious, political or corporate leaders, if we are to be honest with ourselves, our motives are seldom pure.
Unadulterated altruistic love is rare. This is shown by our need for affirmation, recognition, and honour. We too seek to be respected and recognised. Those who serve hope to receive recognition from the Church, their country, or their organisation. And if we are in authority, we want to be treated with deference and given special privileges. Some of us are also very proud of our titles and offices. For others, it is not just about recognition and honour, but they have their eyes on material benefits as well. Indeed, our hypocrisy is revealed whenever we are slighted by people who do not know who we are. Consciously or unconsciously, we too behave like the religious leaders.
Should we be surprised? No! We are all insecure beings. We are fallen creatures. We desire love. We want to be accepted. We seek popularity in place of love when love is not forthcoming. We are desperate for human approval rather than the approval of God. We are always checking how many are reading and commenting on our Instagram, Tik-Tok, YouTube, and Facebook posts. Our self-esteem is determined by the number of likes and dislikes. For many people today, this is their only way to find validation and self-esteem.
As a result, more than just compromising our integrity, we compromise the proclamation of the Gospel. For the sake of political correctness, we couch our speech for fear of hurting anyone and causing offence. As a result, we dare not proclaim the truth. Quite often, people lament that today many priests only say things that people like to hear. When we dilute the truth of what the Gospel challenges us to be, we are actually doing a great disservice to society. This is what secularisation has done. In trying to be nice to the world, we accommodate the values of the world so much so that we have lost our distinctive contribution to it. However, this does not mean we need to be antagonistic. Indeed, St Paul exhorts us to “proclaim the message and, welcome or unwelcome, insist on it. Refute falsehood, correct error, call to obedience but do with all patience and with the intention of teaching.” If we only say what people desire to hear, then we are not proclaiming the Gospel.
Timothy, who was the leader of the Christian community at Ephesus, was reminded to proclaim the Gospel, welcome or unwelcome. This certainly feels like a tall order for us today. Many of us are afraid to say anything that can offend the sensitivities of people in the world who are advocating for selfish, self-centred, materialistic and sensual satisfaction. Indeed, many of us fear receiving negative public opinion, so we do what is popular. Few people today dare to call a spade a spade for fear of being hated or attacked. So we only say things that people are happy to hear, like “God loves us all”, “It doesn’t matter if we do right or wrong, His love is there for us”, or, “He accepts everyone, so there is no need to change”. These are but half-truths of the Gospel. We only speak and preach about the nice bits of the Gospel, but not the entire message. We fear rejection and losing our popularity.
We would be failing in our duty if we do not proclaim the truth of the Gospel and call people to repentance and obedience. As leaders and guardians of our faith, it is our duty to instruct the ignorant and to teach them the truth. The call to minister truth to our people is even more relevant today than ever before, just as Paul advised Timothy: “The time is sure to come when, far from being content with sound teaching, people will be avid for the latest novelty and collect themselves a whole series of teachers according to their own tastes; and then, instead of listening to the truth, they will turn to myths.” Many of our young people are ignorant simply because they listen to the world and are influenced by their secular friends and the values the world promotes through the internet and social media. They absorb all the secularistic arguments of the world because they lack faith in the Lord.
It is difficult to stay on course as St Paul advised Timothy. St Paul was a man of integrity, true to himself and true to his beliefs. He was consumed by the truth. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. Hence, Paul does not mince his words when it comes to speaking the truth. To compromise the truth of the Gospel is to take a slippery road to self-destruction.
For this reason, St Paul urges us thus, “Be careful always to choose the right course; be brave under trials; make the preaching of the Good News your life’s work, in thoroughgoing service.” Throughout his life and ministry St Paul was true to himself, even when he was ignorantly persecuting Christians before his conversion. St Paul was a man totally committed to his convictions. Once he was convinced of something, he would zealously carry out his mission to the end without wavering, even under persecution. Indeed, his whole life was given to the service of the Lord.
What, then, is the secret of his passion and fearless ministry? Firstly, he only feared God, not men. He wrote, “Before God and before Christ Jesus who is to be judge of the living and the dead …” He knew that, in the final analysis, he was accountable to God. He was not working for man, but for God, who was His only and real master. Because he was at the service of His Majesty, the King of Kings and Lord or Lords, St Paul gave his whole life to God. If only we were conscious that we are serving God rather than men, we would give ourselves fully to whatever we do. How many of us really believe that, in whatever we do, we consciously do for the glory of God and see ourselves as loyal servants of our Lord? This is exemplified by the widow in the Gospel. She loved God more than her life. Her sincerity and generosity earned Jesus’ admiration. He said, “this poor widow has put in more than all who have contributed to the treasury; for they have all put in money they had over, but she from the little she had has put in everything she possessed, all she had to live on.”
Secondly, St Paul truly loved Christ and his people more than himself. This selfless love of St Paul was expressed in his writing to Timothy, “As for me, my life is already being poured away as a libation.” St Paul gave his all, his whole heart, into whatever he did for Christ and His Church. He would relentlessly go from city to city to proclaim the Gospel, regardless of the reception he received. He never stayed back in a city just because he was honoured and loved. He refused to submit to the temptation of building his own kingdom and niche in a particular place. For those of us in service, do we truly place Christ and His people above our own needs? We do not give our entire selves but just a little from the abundance we have, just like the rich people in the temple. So we cannot truly say that we are giving the widow’s mite, which was her security and life. Most of the time, we give from our excess, not from what we actually need ourselves.
Thirdly, if St Paul was so passionate and courageous, it was because he knew where his true security lay. He said, “I have kept the faith; all there is to come now is the crown of righteousness reserved for me, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that Day; and not only to me but to all those who have longed for his Appearing.” At the end of the day, he would have to appear before God to give an account for all that he had done with the Lord’s blessings. And he was equally confident that God will reward him with the crown of righteousness. His security truly lay in God, just like the psalmist in today’s Mass. We prayed, “My lips will teach of your justice and day by day of your help, though I can never tell it all.”
Today, the Lord is inviting us to be faithful to the Gospel He has entrusted to us all. We are called to be true to our identity as disciples of Christ. We are called to proclaim the Gospel in and out of season. Failure to be true to our identity and calling will result in self-condemnation. Indeed, Jesus warns us, “The more severe will be the sentence they receive.” It will not be God who condemns us; rather, we will not be able to face the Judge when we appear before Him to render an account of how we lived our vocation in life. When we know that we have short-changed our Lord, especially in the proclamation of the truth of the Gospel, we will have to suffer the regret and the consequences we see in our fellowmen. For not being true prophets of God, our people will suffer for our sins, neglect, and cowardice.
Best Practices for Using the Daily Scripture Reflections
- Encounter God through the spirit of prayer and the scripture by reflecting and praying the Word of God daily. The purpose is to bring you to prayer and to a deeper union with the Lord on the level of the heart.
- Daily reflections when archived will lead many to accumulate all the reflections of the week and pray in one sitting. This will compromise your capacity to enter deeply into the Word of God, as the tendency is to read for knowledge rather than a prayerful reading of the Word for the purpose of developing a personal and affective relationship with the Lord.
- It is more important to pray deeply, not read widely. The current reflections of the day would be more than sufficient for anyone who wants to pray deeply and be led into an intimacy with the Lord.
Note: You may share this reflection with someone. However, please note that reflections are not archived online nor will they be available via email request.
Written by His Eminence, Cardinal William SC Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
No comments:
Post a Comment