20260904 BEING ENTRUSTED WITH THE MYSTERIES OF GOD CALLS FOR INTEGRITY
04 September 2026, Friday, 22nd Week in Ordinary Time
First reading |
1 Corinthians 4:1-5 |
The Lord alone is our judge
People must think of us as Christ’s servants, stewards entrusted with the mysteries of God. What is expected of stewards is that each one should be found worthy of his trust. Not that it makes the slightest difference to me whether you, or indeed any human tribunal, find me worthy or not. I will not even pass judgement on myself. True, my conscience does not reproach me at all, but that does not prove that I am acquitted: the Lord alone is my judge. There must be no passing of premature judgement. Leave that until the Lord comes; he will light up all that is hidden in the dark and reveal the secret intentions of men’s hearts. Then will be the time for each one to have whatever praise he deserves, from God.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 36(37):3-6,27-28,39-40 |
The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.
If you trust in the Lord and do good,
then you will live in the land and be secure.
If you find your delight in the Lord,
he will grant your heart’s desire.
The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.
Commit your life to the Lord,
trust in him and he will act,
so that your justice breaks forth like the light,
your cause like the noon-day sun.
The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.
Then turn away from evil and do good
and you shall have a home for ever;
for the Lord loves justice
and will never forsake his friends.
The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.
The salvation of the just comes from the Lord,
their stronghold in time of distress.
The Lord helps them and delivers them
and saves them: for their refuge is in him.
The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.
Gospel Acclamation | cf.Ps18:9 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Your words gladden the heart, O Lord,
they give light to the eyes.
Alleluia!
Gospel | Luke 5:33-39 |
When the bridegroom is taken from them, then they will fast
The Pharisees and the scribes said to Jesus, ‘John’s disciples are always fasting and saying prayers, and the disciples of the Pharisees too, but yours go on eating and drinking.’ Jesus replied, ‘Surely you cannot make the bridegroom’s attendants fast while the bridegroom is still with them? But the time will come, the time for the bridegroom to be taken away from them; that will be the time when they will fast.’
He also told them this parable, ‘No one tears a piece from a new cloak to put it on an old cloak; if he does, not only will he have torn the new one, but the piece taken from the new will not match the old.
‘And nobody puts new wine into old skins; if he does, the new wine will burst the skins and then run out, and the skins will be lost. No; new wine must be put into fresh skins. And nobody who has been drinking old wine wants new. “The old is good” he says.’
BEING ENTRUSTED WITH THE MYSTERIES OF GOD CALLS FOR INTEGRITY
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [1 CORINTHIANS 4:1-5; LUKE 5:33-39]
St. Paul reminds us in today’s First Reading of our identity and our vocation in life. Firstly, we are Christ’s servants. Indeed, this is who we are, lest we think too highly of ourselves simply because we are “somebody” in society. We might think we have authority over others or that people are at our beck and call. We might think that just because we are famous or popular, we are better than others. In truth, St. Paul reminds us that we are all servants of Christ. In the previous chapter, St. Paul said, “So let no one boast about human leaders. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future–all belong to you, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.” (1 Cor 3:21-23)
In the way we conduct ourselves, we must never forget that we are servants of Christ. In the Gospel, Jesus tells us a parable about the dutiful servant, saying, “So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, ‘We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!'” (Lk 17:10) As servants of Christ, we are called to serve humbly because, as St. Paul reminded the Corinthians earlier, “Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God.” (1 Cor 1:26-29) So, we should remain humble, especially when God has blessed us with positions of leadership and authority. We are all unworthy, but God has chosen us and qualified us to lead.
Although we are servants, we are also “stewards entrusted with the mysteries of God.” We have been given the mysteries of God, which refer to matters concerning God and His plan of salvation for the world through Christ. The great mystery of salvation, as Paul mentioned earlier, is our redemption through the passion, death, and resurrection of our Lord. In other words, it is our duty to proclaim Christ crucified. These mysteries are not hidden secrets; they have been revealed in and through Christ, and we have the responsibility of sharing them with those who are seeking meaning and purpose in life. Being stewards while remaining servants means we are given authority over those entrusted to our care. Being stewards means that we are called to be trustees of God’s mysteries, sharing with others what we have received from Him–particularly our faith and knowledge of Christ.
St. Paul also reminds us that “what is expected of stewards is that each one should be found worthy of his trust.” We are held accountable not just to our fellowmen, but to God, who has entrusted us with the Good News. In other words, there is accountability for what we have received. This is particularly true of the faith we have received from our parents, friends, and the Church. This explains why it is an obligation for every Christian to spread the Gospel by virtue of their baptism. It is not an option, because failing to share God’s divine plan in Christ Jesus means we are acting as irresponsible stewards. Faith in Christ is not given to us solely for our individual salvation, but to share with others as the Lord commands us in the Gospel: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.” (Mt 28:19-20)
In the proclamation of the Gospel, the Lord tells us that we need to be consistent in the way we transmit the Good News. Today’s Gospel text concerns the debate on fasting. There is a real danger in how we transmit the Good News to non-believers or to those who are infants in their faith. We risk turning the Good News into bad news when we become more concerned with obeying the secondary laws of the Church–which are merely guidelines to help us remain faithful–than with the primary law of the Gospel as taught in the Word of God. The issue at hand during the time of Jesus was that the Pharisees and the scribes were deeply troubled that Jesus’ disciples were not meticulous in observing fasts. They said, “John’s disciples are always fasting and saying prayers, and the disciples of the Pharisees too, but yours go on eating and drinking.” In our time, many Catholics squabble over secondary matters of Church discipline and liturgical laws to the extent that they lose sight of the spirit behind them: helping us fulfil the principal teachings of the Gospel found in the Beatitudes, the Sermon on the Mount, and the Decalogue given to Moses.
This is not to say that such observances should be taken lightly. Rather, we must observe them in the right spirit and with the right intention. Hence, Jesus told the religious leaders, “Surely you cannot make the bridegroom’s attendants fast while the bridegroom is still with them? But the time will come, the time for the bridegroom to be taken away from them; that will be the time when they will fast.” This is the crux of the issue. The Good News is about being with Jesus, our bridegroom. What matters most is that we share the joy of our relationship with God and with our brothers and sisters. It is not so much about fasting, but about feasting with the Lord and with our fellow human beings. It is about fellowship, sharing, and caring.
The purpose of fasting is to help us regain our focus when we allow life’s distractions and selfish ambitions to pull us away from God, others, and even with ourselves. Instead of using our resources and work to build happy, loving families and communities, we become selfish and inward-looking. We care only about ourselves, our enjoyment, and our personal comforts, lacking a heart for others. When we close ourselves off to our brothers and sisters, we close our hearts to God as well.
This is why we must be consistent in how we proclaim the Gospel. It is not about merely observing rules and requirements; it is about living a life that is consistent with our faith in Christ and in the Word of God. It is about living a life based on the Beatitudes so that we can “put on Christ.” Integrity between our faith and our life is what brings true peace and joy. This is why the Lord said, “No one tears a piece from a new cloak to put it on an old cloak; if he does, not only will he have torn the new one, but the piece taken from the new will not match the old. And nobody puts new wine into old skins; if he does, the new wine will burst the skins and then run out, and the skins will be lost. No; new wine must be put into fresh skins.” When we live lives of contradiction–when our faith and our actions do not match–it simply means we are being hypocritical. We do not truly believe what we claim to believe if it is not demonstrated in our actions.
Unfortunately, many of us are afraid to change. We lack the courage to surrender our lives fully to the Gospel. Few people have the grace to surrender so completely. We are so accustomed to our old ways of life that we do not truly want to give them up. As the Lord remarked, “And nobody who has been drinking old wine wants new. ‘The old is good,’ he says.” Not many possess the grace of St. Paul, St. Francis Xavier, or St. Francis of Assisi, who, upon hearing the Gospel, gave up everything to follow Jesus and spread the Good News.
God will be our judge as to whether we have tried our best to share the Good News entrusted to us. Each one of us is called according to our circumstances, talents, position in society, and opportunities to share the Word of God. It is not for us to judge whether another person has done their duty or not; God will reveal and expose the true sincerity of our hearts. This explains why St. Paul wrote, “Not that it makes the slightest difference to me whether you, or indeed any human tribunal, find me worthy or not. I will not even pass judgment on myself. True, my conscience does not reproach me at all, but that does not prove that I am acquitted: the Lord alone is my judge.”
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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