20260831 CHRISTIAN FAITH IS A PERSONAL ENCOUNTER WITH CHRIST
31 August 2026, 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!
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.
CHRISTIAN FAITH IS A PERSONAL ENCOUNTER WITH CHRIST
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [1 COR 2:1-5; LK 4:16-30]
How does one come to faith in Christ? There are two main approaches: by way of understanding and by way of faith. Both are acceptable, though neither is complete on its own. We can understand to believe, as St. Thomas Aquinas suggested, or believe to understand, as St. Augustine taught. It is not wrong to try to understand before we believe; otherwise, we might be judged irresponsible or overly credulous. Yet, there is another way to reach truth: through faith itself–surrendering first, and then seeking to grasp the teachings deeper.
Most people think that the way to know God is through an intellectual understanding of Him. They think that once they fully comprehend God, they will be able to surrender in faith. Consequently, they immerse themselves in research, using apologetics and proofs to convince others. Yet, mere cerebral knowledge cannot bring about real conversion. In times of trial, those whose faith relies strictly on theology often fall away because they find a silent God incomprehensible, since He does not seem to be very much concerned with the plight of humanity.
Indeed, a real dichotomy often exists between faith and intellectual knowledge, particularly among Catholics. Statistics show that many young people who have been instructed in the doctrines of the faith from kindergarten through adolescence still lack a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Their faith remains purely notional, leading to a lack of fervour and disengagement from Church life. Sadly, many gradually stop attending Sunday Mass after receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation. In traditional Catholic regions, reports reveal that fewer than 20% of students taking theology courses attend Sunday services. In some places, catechists with degrees in religious education teach in schools without practicing the faith themselves.
This explains why St. Paul, a brilliant scholar and intellectual himself, refused to rely on human philosophy to win converts for Christ. He wrote: “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.”
The truth is that when we try to argue over our faith, the rationalistic mind naturally becomes defensive and focuses on winning the argument rather than sincerely seeking the truth. As St. Paul notes, the wisdom of God far surpasses human understanding. Ultimately, God remains a mystery even after revealing Himself, as no one can fully understand His mind unless He chooses to reveal those truths to us.
This does not mean an intellectual grasp of our faith is unimportant. Rather, it serves as a preliminary step and a natural corollary to faith. Once we truly believe in God, we naturally desire to explore and master the evidence of what we believe about Christ as handed down by the Church.
Truly, what brings a person to faith is a personal encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ, who is God’s love in person. Pope Benedict XVI, in his encyclical God is Love, wrote: “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). This aligns with what St. Paul said: “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.”
It was through St. Paul’s personal encounter with the Risen Lord on the road to Damascus–where he was travelling to persecute Christians–that he became convinced of God and His love for us, a love that is unconditional and unmerited. As he contemplated God’s love revealed in the Crucified Christ, he was brought to the humble realisation of how deeply God loved him. He wrote, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal 2:20). And again, he wrote, “For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again” (2 Cor 5:14-15).
Jesus in the Gospels also demands faith in Him before performing any miracles. Unfortunately, the people of His hometown knew Him too well as a human being and could not accept that He was different from them. Their pride and prejudice prevented them from listening to His message, as they viewed Him merely as the son of Joseph, the carpenter. As Jesus remarked from His own experience of rejection, “I tell you solemnly, no prophet is ever accepted in his own country.” Like many of His contemporaries who could not comprehend how a crucified Jesus could be the Messiah, His townspeople ultimately rejected Him, even though His preaching initially won their admiration. Similarly, the ancient Greeks with their rational minds could not accept that God, who represents perfection, could undergo suffering, believing that a God who suffers would be susceptible to human influence.
Once again, the same message is underscored: the wisdom of God is folly to man. We cannot fully comprehend God’s wisdom or His ways. If we wish to come to God, it must be on His terms, not ours. God is sovereign in His ways and love. His transcendence does not permit us to manipulate and control Him. To illustrate this truth, Jesus pointed to the examples of Elijah performing a miracle for the widow of Zarephath–a Sidonian town–when she and her son were facing starvation, and Elisha healing Naaman, the Syrian commander, of his leprosy. Both were healed because they surrendered to God in faith. Faith, therefore, is the essential condition for encountering the living God.
How then can we acquire this faith in Him? St. Paul invites us to contemplate the mercy and love of God revealed in Christ Jesus. The Gospel shows that Jesus is the living embodiment of God’s compassion and love, as the prophet Isaiah aptly describes in predicting the Messiah’s mission: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.” When we truly recognise His love for us, our hearts and minds open to His word. This was precisely the case with Naaman–once he experienced God’s mercy through healing, he was deeply moved to believe.
To find faith, we must first experience His love. We must take that initial step by surrendering ourselves as much as our human capacity allows. When we demonstrate a sincere desire to believe in Him–even when our faith feels weak–God responds by giving us the Holy Spirit to draw us close to Him. Only through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, who pours the love of God directly into our hearts, can we truly know with certainty that God is real and that He is love.
This faith in Christ, however, is not merely an emotional experience of God; it must lead to obedience. True faith expresses itself through obedience, as the psalmist declares in response to God’s love: “Lord, I love your commands. How I love your law, O Lord! It is my meditation all the day. Your command has made me wiser than my enemies, for it is ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers when your decrees are my meditation. I have more discernment than the elders, because I observe your precepts.” St. Paul wrote: “Through him and for his name’s sake, we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith” (Rom 1:5). He concludes his letter by reiterating the call to obedience demanded by faith: “Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might come to the obedience of faith” (Rom 16:25-26).
In the final analysis, we know that our faith in Christ is genuine only when we obey His commandments and bear the fruit of charity in our lives. As St. John remarks, “We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. Whoever says, ‘I know him,’ but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did” (1 John 2:3-6). Like St. Paul and our Lord, we too are called to proclaim the Good News through works of mercy, compassion, and liberation.
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.
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