THE PARADOX OF FINDING IN LOSING OURSELVES

20160904 THE PARADOX OF FINDING IN LOSING OURSELVES

Readings at Mass

Liturgical Colour: Green.

First reading

Wisdom 9:13-18 ©

What man indeed can know the intentions of God?

Who can divine the will of the Lord?

The reasonings of mortals are unsure

and our intentions unstable;

for a perishable body presses down the soul,

and this tent of clay weighs down the teeming mind.

It is hard enough for us to work out what is on earth,

laborious to know what lies within our reach;

who, then, can discover what is in the heavens?

As for your intention, who could have learnt it, had you not granted Wisdom

and sent your holy spirit from above?

Thus have the paths of those on earth been straightened

and men been taught what pleases you,

and saved, by Wisdom.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 89:3-6,12-14,17 ©

O Lord, you have been our refuge from one generation to the next.

You turn men back to dust

  and say: ‘Go back, sons of men.’

To your eyes a thousand years

  are like yesterday, come and gone,

  no more than a watch in the night.

O Lord, you have been our refuge from one generation to the next.

You sweep men away like a dream,

  like the grass which springs up in the morning.

In the morning it springs up and flowers:

  by evening it withers and fades.

O Lord, you have been our refuge from one generation to the next.

Make us know the shortness of our life

  that we may gain wisdom of heart.

Lord, relent! Is your anger for ever?

  Show pity to your servants.

O Lord, you have been our refuge from one generation to the next.

In the morning, fill us with your love;

  we shall exult and rejoice all our days.

Let the favour of the Lord be upon us:

  give success to the work of our hands.

O Lord, you have been our refuge from one generation to the next.

Second reading

Philemon 1:9-10,12-17 ©

This is Paul writing, an old man now and, what is more, still a prisoner of Christ Jesus. I am appealing to you for a child of mine, whose father I became while wearing these chains: I mean Onesimus. I am sending him back to you, and with him – I could say – a part of my own self. I should have liked to keep him with me; he could have been a substitute for you, to help me while I am in the chains that the Good News has brought me. However, I did not want to do anything without your consent; it would have been forcing your act of kindness, which should be spontaneous. I know you have been deprived of Onesimus for a time, but it was only so that you could have him back for ever, not as a slave any more, but something much better than a slave, a dear brother; especially dear to me, but how much more to you, as a blood-brother as well as a brother in the Lord. So if all that we have in common means anything to you, welcome him as you would me.

Gospel Acclamation

Jn15:15

Alleluia, alleluia!

I call you friends, says the Lord,

because I have made known to you

everything I have learnt from my Father.

Alleluia!

Or

Ps118:135

Alleluia, alleluia!

Let your face shine on your servant;

and teach me your decrees.

Alleluia!

Gospel

Luke 14:25-33 ©

Great crowds accompanied Jesus on his way and he turned and spoke to them. ‘If any man comes to me without hating his father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, yes and his own life too, he cannot be my disciple. Anyone who does not carry his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

  ‘And indeed, which of you here, intending to build a tower, would not first sit down and work out the cost to see if he had enough to complete it? Otherwise, if he laid the foundation and then found himself unable to finish the work, the onlookers would all start making fun of him and saying, “Here is a man who started to build and was unable to finish.” Or again, what king marching to war against another king would not first sit down and consider whether with ten thousand men he could stand up to the other who advanced against him with twenty thousand? If not, then while the other king was still a long way off, he would send envoys to sue for peace. So in the same way, none of you can be my disciple unless he gives up all his possessions.’

THE PARADOX OF FINDING IN LOSING OURSELVES

SCRIPTURE READINGS: [  WIS 9:13-18; PHIL 9-17; LK 14:25-33 ]

The gospel reading today seems rather harsh and impossible to accept.  For according to Jesus, discipleship requires that we give up everything and everyone for Him.  Indeed, Jesus told the crowd who wanted to follow Him that if we want to be His disciples, we must first hate our father, mother, wife, children and brothers; in other words, all the people that we love dearly and most.  But that is not all; we are also to hate ourselves as well.  As if that is not all, Christ demands that we give up all our possessions.  At face value, such exacting conditions for following Christ would seem not only impossible to fulfill but also ludicrous as well.

Before we write off the words of Jesus as utter nonsense, we need to reconsider them carefully.  We begin by considering the first condition of Jesus; which is to hate all our loved ones.  Now why did Jesus ask us to hate our loved ones?  As we all know, between hate and love, there is only a thin line.  Those we hate are really those we love; and those we love would turn out to be those whom we hate.  What is worse than hate is actually indifference.  When we are indifferent to someone, that someone does not even exist in our sight and on our mind.  But when we love someone or hate someone, that person is constantly on our mind.  Thus, if Jesus asks us to hate our loved ones, it is not so much to keep them away from our minds, but to be totally detached from them, though not to the extent of being indifferent.  To hate is simply a way of Jesus asking us to love in a detached manner.  A better word would be compassion.  In other words, we are called to love without attachment.  Hence the word ‘hate’ is used in relation to love.

Within this context the picture is now clearer.  The truth is that if we love our loved ones in a slavish manner, then we make ourselves slaves to our loved ones.  As if that is not enough, we will also try to make them slaves of us.  That is why lovers and spouse quite often try to manipulate each other.  When they are insecure in themselves, they will play the guilt game so that their partners will feel responsible towards them.  How often do we hear couples controlling each other’s life to the extent that life becomes stifling and crippling, so much so that love becomes impossible, since love is only possible in freedom?  In forcing someone to love us, we immediately lose that love.   This is the paradox of love.  Isn’t it true that those who are stifled in relationships feel extremely relieved when that relationship has ended?

When we love people without enslaving them, we make it possible for them to love us.  Because they are free to go and free to stay, they would not feel pressurized into loving us.  Without any obligations to love, we can be certain that their love for us would be free, unconditional and genuine.  Only such kind of love can truly be liberating both for the lover and the loved.  Thus when Jesus asked us to hate our loved ones, He was simply asking us to love them in such a manner so that such love, especially among family members and friends, would be real, strong, lasting, joyful and liberating. When we are not loved unconditionally or freely, there is no way of finding happiness in life.  This is the way God loves us and this must be the way we love others as well.  So in order to love, we must hate.  This is the fact of life.  We must love in a detached manner.  So this is the first condition of following Jesus.

The second condition laid down by Jesus was that we must hate ourselves.  Again on the surface, such a demand is simply intolerable.  How can we be happy if we hate ourselves?

The truth is that when we love ourselves, we actually hate ourselves.  People who are too concerned about themselves will end up hurting themselves.  Ego-centered and self-centered people cannot be happy.  Happiness must be shared if it is to be genuine.  The consequence of selfishness is that we would be left alone by ourselves.  People would avoid, hate or make use of us. They would see us as their competitors.  We will also feel miserable within ourselves.  Due to our obsession with oneself, we become paranoid, fearful, insecure and anxious.  We begin to imagine that everyone is against us and a threat to our happiness.  This will lead to further scheming and manipulation.  Eventually, we will make even more enemies.

However, when we stop loving ourselves, that is, when we are not too concerned about our needs and instead focus on others, we begin to love ourselves.  In forgetting about ourselves, we have no self to worry about.  When there is no ego, no self, then there are no problems, since worries and problems do not exist in the abstract but are attached to our ego.  Consequently, in loving others, we begin to find the real meaning of life.  We experience true love, which is loving and being loved in return.  So in forgetting ourselves, we actually find ourselves in others.  Yes, this is the paradox of life.

That is why we must always remember that to find oneself is to lose oneself.  God never gives to us but through us.  We cannot love ourselves directly.  We can only love ourselves indirectly.  We can love ourselves only through loving others and being of service to others.  But when we try to love ourselves directly, we become our own prisoners and we lose all joy and happiness in life.  Narcissism will lead to self-destruction because the worship of self is the worship of false gods, of nothingness.  Hence, we can now see the truth of Jesus’ teaching: to hate self is to love self authentically.

Lastly, we examine the third condition of Jesus, which is the giving up of all our possessions.  What is the reality behind our possessions?  Isn’t it true that the more we cling to our possessions, the more we are possessed by them?  Instead of being master over things we allow things to usurp our place.  Yes, we become slaves of our possessions the moment we cannot let them go; when they exercise control over our happiness.  Take drug addicts for example.  They cannot live without drugs.  Deprived of drugs, they become restless, edgy and even violent.  All of us are addicted to our possessions in some ways.  Some of us cannot be happy without a car; some cannot be happy without wearing jewelry and expensive clothes; some cannot live without smoking or drinking.  So isn’t it true that our possessions are masters of our lives?

Hence, we must ask ourselves seriously this question: is it better to have more possessions and lose our happiness and peace, our family, our health and our life, or is it wiser to have less so that we can have more?  When we learn to let go the non-essentials in life, we will be happier because we come to possess what is really vital for life and happiness.  In giving up our useless and fathomless pursuit of wealth, glory and power, we find ourselves living a more simple life – but a life that is more profound because it is lived intensely and meaningfully.

In the final analysis, happiness is not dependent on how much we have but how we are.  Happiness is not to be measured in material terms but in personal terms.  The determinant of happiness is whether we are personally enriched rather than materially enriched.  A rich life cannot be exchanged for a life of riches.  Many people who live simply, live a rich life – rich in love, peace, joy, health and freedom.  Those who are slaves to wealth and power and glory will find it impossible to be happy in life because they will always live in fear, anxiety, competition, envy, bitterness and restlessness.

Today, Jesus invites us to consider carefully whether we want to live, or simply to exist.  If we really want to live fully, then we must die.  But perhaps, we still have not been able to grasp fully what the gospel is speaking about.  If that is the case, we must take time off for prayer to be more in touch with divine wisdom.  Unless we see life in its deepest depth and reality through the eyes of God and the mind of Jesus, we will always be shortsighted in life.  The outcome of our lack of foresight is that we will eventually destroy ourselves.  Prayer is the key to divine wisdom and divine life.  In coming to know the real meaning and essentials of life, we will experience tremendous joy and freedom, a joy and freedom as Jesus tells us in John’s gospel, the world cannot give.  Let us pray for this grace to be free from our undue possessiveness either of our loved ones, ourselves or of our possessions.  Yes, instead of being a prisoner of all these, let us, like Paul, become a prisoner of Christ Jesus. Paradoxically, in being Christ’s prisoner, we attain the ultimate true freedom and joy.  Like him, we transcend the world and ourselves.

Written by The Most Rev William Goh Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved

KEEPING THE SABBATH HOLY

20160903 KEEPING THE SABBATH HOLY

Readings at Mass

Liturgical Colour: White.

First reading

1 Corinthians 4:6-15 ©

Take Apollos and myself as an example and remember the maxim: ‘Keep to what is written.’ It is not for you, so full of your own importance, to go taking sides for one man against another. In any case, brother, has anybody given you some special right? What do you have that was not given to you? And if it was given, how can you boast as though it were not? Is it that you have everything you want – that you are rich already, in possession of your kingdom, with us left outside? Indeed I wish you were really kings, and we could be kings with you! But instead, it seems to me, God has put us apostles at the end of his parade, with the men sentenced to death; it is true – we have been put on show in front of the whole universe, angels as well as men. Here we are, fools for the sake of Christ, while you are the learned men in Christ; we have no power, but you are influential; you are celebrities, we are nobodies. To this day, we go without food and drink and clothes; we are beaten and have no homes; we work for our living with our own hands. When we are cursed, we answer with a blessing; when we are hounded, we put up with it; we are insulted and we answer politely. We are treated as the offal of the world, still to this day, the scum of the earth.

  I am saying all this not just to make you ashamed but to bring you, as my dearest children, to your senses. You might have thousands of guardians in Christ, but not more than one father and it was I who begot you in Christ Jesus by preaching the Good News.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 144:17-21 ©

The Lord is close to all who call him.

The Lord is just in all his ways

  and loving in all his deeds.

He is close to all who call him,

  who call on him from their hearts.

The Lord is close to all who call him.

He grants the desires of those who fear him,

  he hears their cry and he saves them.

The Lord protects all who love him;

  but the wicked he will utterly destroy.

The Lord is close to all who call him.

Let me speak the praise of the Lord,

  let all mankind bless his holy name

  for ever, for ages unending.

The Lord is close to all who call him.

Gospel Acclamation

cf.Ps26:11

Alleluia, alleluia!

Instruct me, Lord, in your way;

on an even path lead me.

Alleluia!

Or

Jn14:6

Alleluia, alleluia!

I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, says the Lord;

No one can come to the Father except through me.

Alleluia!

Gospel

Luke 6:1-5 ©

One sabbath Jesus happened to be taking a walk through the cornfields, and his disciples were picking ears of corn, rubbing them in their hands and eating them. Some of the Pharisees said, ‘Why are you doing something that is forbidden on the sabbath day?’ Jesus answered them, ‘So you have not read what David did when he and his followers were hungry how he went into the house of God, took the loaves of offering and ate them and gave them to his followers, loaves which only the priests are allowed to eat?’ And he said to them, ‘The Son of Man is master of the sabbath.’

KEEPING THE SABBATH HOLY

SCRIPTURE READINGS: [  1 COR 4: 6B-15; LUKE 6:1-5 ]

For those of us unfamiliar with the customs of the Jews, we find it incomprehensible, even ludicrous, that they were so sticky on the observance of the Sabbath Law.  Why the big fuss and petty squabbles over Jesus’ breaking the Sabbath Law?  This was because the Sabbath law was given by God Himself through Moses and therefore it is held to be sacrosanct.

But the crux of the problem, or contention, lies in the divergent way of applying this law concretely in daily life. The Sabbath Law can be interpreted widely or narrowly. The Ultra-orthodox Jews dictated the details of what constituted “work”, and hence, infringement of the law, in every imaginable scenario.  The day is supposed to be kept holy and consecrated entirely to God by reading the Torah.  Unfortunately, in their anxiety to observe the letter of the law, they overlooked the spirit of the Law.  So intent were they in making sure that they did not break the law on the Sabbath Day that they would not even lend a hand to someone who might be in trouble, because that was considered “work”.

It was this total disregard for their fellowmen in the name of giving honour to God that irked Jesus, as it is against the sin of charity.  To state His case, Jesus deliberately healed the sick on the Sabbath day, and in today’s instance, He also defended His disciples for “picking ears of corn, rubbing them in their hands and eating them.”  The intention of the Sabbath is to help them and us to remember that God is our Lord; that He is the provider of all our needs, so that we will learn to trust in His Divine providence.  It is also a time for us to deepen our bonds and relationships with our loved ones, besides giving rest to our physical bodies. The observance of the Sabbath was not intended to become a hindrance to helping those in need, or be the cause of our neglect of the essential things in life.  So in truth, Jesus did not break the Sabbath Law, but He rejected the extremist interpretation of the law.

Indeed, St Paul warned the Corinthians about being judgmental and having self-importance.  He wrote, “it is not for you, so full of your own importance, to go taking sides for one man against another. In any case, brother, has anybody given you some special right? What do you have that was not given to you? And if it was given, how can you boast as though it were not?” Even if we could observe the Sabbath Law, we should not allow pride to take the better of us.  Although holiness requires our cooperation, it is itself the grace of God.  So if we are living a holy and righteous life, rather than acting smug, we should praise and thank God in humility for His grace and pray that others who are living in sin would be able to respond to His grace as well.

St Paul exhorted the Christians to put the unity of the community and the love of Christ above all else.  Indeed, we must not act and behave like the Christians at Corinth, who were proud of their wisdom, superior knowledge and their spiritual gifts.  St Paul reminded them that all these gifts that they had received came from God; hence there was no basis for them to feel proud or superior to others.

However, the real problem today is laxity rather than strict observance of the Sabbath.  For many Catholics, the practice of the Sabbath, if it is observed at all, is often reduced to attending Sunday Mass.  Many have the impression that this is what the observance of the Sabbath is all about.  On the contrary, giving time to God is not to be confined to a Church service.  We are called to give reverence to God the whole day.   Sabbath is a day of rest so that instead of devoting ourselves to the mundane tasks of life, the non-essentials, we dedicate the day to what is truly essential, namely, the adoration of God who is our creator, and the fostering of relationships with our loved ones in the family and with friends and the Christian community.

Indeed, what does it mean to keep the Sabbath holy?   It means that we do not waste the day sleeping or idling, and engaging in frivolous activities, but to consecrate the day by living well and glorifying God in all that we do.  Of course, one should take some physical rest to recuperate from the week’s labour. But to rest our body without God is not complete.  We also need spiritual rest for the soul.  The Sabbath is a time when we are called to cultivate and strengthen our union with God and with our fellowmen.   It is a time to appreciate the wonders of creation, and especially a time to bask ourselves in the love of God and to transmit this love to our loved ones and friends and even the poor.

But to exclude God from Sunday and all our activities is contrary to the spirit of the Sabbath.  Some Catholic parents even demand that Catechism classes be held on Saturdays, so that they can “finish” their obligations by Saturday evening and have the whole Sunday free to do whatever they like. Even if we have activities, these activities must be wholesome and edifying, not activities that are worldly and worse still, a disgrace to the gospel life.

This also explains why works of love and essential services not only can, but must be performed, on the Sabbath day.  If Jesus was annoyed with the scribes and Pharisees in the way they observed the Sabbath, it was because they fulfilled the requirement at the expense of charity and compassion.  Hence we read in the first reading how St Paul worked tirelessly for the gospel day in and day out.  We too must use this day well for the service of the gospel.

How then should we observe the Sabbath?  It would be ideal to begin the day with prayer, especially going early to Church, at least half an hour before the service, to spend time in prayer, meditating on the scripture readings of the day, reviewing the week’s activities, the times when we have failed to manifest the love of God, the times when God revealed His love and mercy to us; and finally, consider how we want to live life anew in the new week ahead of us.  After the celebration of the Mass, we must then take the opportunity to spread the love of Christ received at the Eucharist, either by spending quality time with our loved ones, spouse, children, elders, or visiting the sick, or rendering service to the people of God.  Can you truly say at the end of the day that your day has truly been pleasing to the Lord and that God has been glorified in all that you said and did?  If you can, then the day has been kept holy.

Written by The Most Rev William Goh Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved

TENSION BETWEEN ORTHODOXY AND CREATIVITY

20160902 TENSION BETWEEN ORTHODOXY AND CREATIVITY

Readings at Mass

Liturgical Colour: Green.

First reading

1 Corinthians 4:1-5 ©

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 36:3-6,27-28,39-40 ©

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!

Or

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 5:33-39 ©

The Pharisees and 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.’

TENSION BETWEEN ORTHODOXY AND CREATIVITY

SCRIPTURE READINGS: [  1 COR 4:1-5; LK 5:33-39 ]

It is important to bear in mind the context of today’s first reading.  St Paul was addressing the divisive Christians at Corinth who were becoming sectarian, championing one leader over another.  He reminded both the Christians and the leaders that they must consider themselves “as Christ’s servants, stewards entrusted with the mysteries of God.”  Indeed, as leaders, whether religious, at home or in the corporate world, we are called to be Christ’s servants and administrators of His gifts.  We are meant to be at His service, especially in the proclamation of the gospel by both words and deeds, incarnating the values of the kingdom wherever we are.  Furthermore, we are accountable to the trust that Christ has given to us as St Paul noted, “What is expected of stewards is that each one should be found worthy of his trust.”

The implication therefore is that we, as servants of Christ and His Church, have no right to do or say anything other than what the Church of Christ expects of us.  Concretely, this means that as administrators and servants, our task is to proclaim what Christ taught and what the Church celebrates.  This implies that since whatever we have are for the sake of the gospel, we cannot say or act contrary to the gospel as taught by our Lord.  As Christ’s servants and administrators of Christ’s mysteries, we cannot be proclaiming or teaching our own opinions of what is right or wrong but according to what the Lord has instructed us in the Word of God and guided by the Church.

On the other hand, the gospel speaks of openness and receptivity to the newness of the kingdom message. The Pharisees and the scribes who 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”, were of course concerned about the orthodoxy of the Jewish Faith. Jesus’ disciples were breaking the tradition of fasting. The religious leaders’ mindset, which was so conditioned to that of Judaism, could not understand how Jesus, who claimed to be a rabbi, could allow His disciples to behave in that manner.  Just like the Jewish religious leaders, John the Baptist’s disciples perceived God as one who came to judge and punish the evil men and hence the need for repentance to earn the mercy of God.  For the Pharisees, fasting had been turned into a means of earning the merits of God.

Christ, however, broke away from such a tradition in understanding the nature of God.  In Christ’s understanding, God’s love is unconditional and unearned.  God wants to be intimate with us rather than be a judge who is ready to punish us and make our lives difficult.  Indeed, if we find that His love is not present in our lives, then certainly it is the time to fast because we should be awakened to the absence of love and joy in our lives.  But until then, it is a time of rejoicing.  This is Jesus’ understanding of the value of fasting as a means, not an end in itself.

Unfortunately, the Pharisees and Scribes had difficulty accepting this new teaching, this freshness of Jesus’ message and the surprising dimension of the kingdom message of Jesus. It contradicted the religious tradition which they had inherited.  In order to accept His message of the unconditional love of God, Jesus exhorts us to be open and to be adaptable.  The failure to adapt will result in the distortion of the message.  This is what the parables of the Patched Cloth and the Wine Skin teach us.  When we use a new cloak to put it on an old one, the new one, being still adaptable, will shrink when it comes into contact with water.  As a result, the new cloak will tear the old cloak, which can no longer be stretched further.  Similarly, it is also important for us to put new wine into new skins and not old skins.

Indeed, it is only normal, as Jesus says, that “nobody who has been drinking old wine wants new.  ‘The old is good’ he says.”  We are used to the old ways of understanding doctrines and worship so much so we fear new ventures and new ways of celebrating the liturgy and our beliefs.  We are so set in our ways of bringing the faith to young people that we have lost them as they can no longer connect with us.   Because we fail to be open to the new and surprising ways God is speaking to us, we might forfeit the Good News.  When the Good News becomes fossilized, it loses its freshness and appeal. So the message of Jesus is clear: our mindset must be sufficiently pliable to be ready to accept the novel ways that God wants to work in our lives.  This is the challenge He gave to the Pharisees and the Scribes and to all of us who are sticky about orthodoxy.

But does not the teaching of Jesus run against the institutional Church?  On one hand, St Paul and the apostles continue to remind us to be faithful to the deposit of faith which we have inherited from them.  On the other hand, the gospel invites us to accept the new that come our way. So whilst debunking the orthodoxy of Judaism, we insist our Catholics be faithful to the orthodoxy of the Church’s teachings.  This seems like we are adopting a double standard with regard to orthodoxy.  How then can we reconcile this tension of creativity and fidelity to the Church’s traditions?  What is the principle we should abide by when there seems to be an apparent opposition between fidelity to orthodoxy and the need to be open to the freshness of the kingdom of God?

The key seems to be consistency, integrity, coherency and appropriateness.  The same parables in today’s gospel speak of fidelity in precisely in these terms.  From another perspective of integrity and consistency, Jesus tells us that old wine must be stored in old wine skins; new wine in new wine skins, if not “the new wine will burst the skins and then run out, and the skins will be lost.”  And so it must also be said of that piece of cloth to be used as patch. It must match with the cloak, otherwise “not only will he have torn the new one, but the piece taken from the new will not match the old.”  The criteria of appropriateness and coherency are best brought out in the analogy of the bridegroom that Jesus gave to the scribes and Pharisees when he told them that festivity and fasting must be consistent with whether the bridegroom was around or not.  When we do things that are not appropriate to the situation or the principle of life, we become divisive within and without.

In other words, fidelity to orthodoxy does not mean traditionalism but appropriateness and integrity.  As servants and administrators of the mysteries of Christ, we must always consider whether innovations or reinterpretations of the Church teachings and the ways we reach out to Catholics and non-Catholics are faithful to the pristine faith of the Church and the intention of the doctrines and the liturgy.  Only when we are faithful to the fundamental principles of faith, can we consider ourselves to be trustworthy, that is, reliable and faithful to the orthodoxy of the Church’s proclamation of the gospel.

This fidelity to the pristine faith of the Church cannot be compromised.  We must give our total being, all our talents and will to continue to reveal the mysteries of Christ to all.  For as St Paul said, we are to be accountable to God and not simply to please man.  It was because of his consciousness of being called to serve Christ and the gospel at all cost and to keep the truth of the gospel that St Paul did not seek the approval of man.  So convicted was he of his responsibility to God that he said that it did not make “the slightest difference to me whether you, or indeed any human tribunal find me worthy or not.”  For him, being true to his conscience and to God was non-negotiable.

Nevertheless, prudence is to be exercised here.  St Paul immediately qualified that although whatever he did was always in good conscience, it did not prove that he was acquitted.  This is because the Lord alone is his judge.  “He will light up all that is hidden in the dark and reveal the secret intentions of men’s hearts.”  In other words, we must seek the truth.  St Paul urges us to give ourselves some room for error, even if we are so convinced that what we are doing is faithful to the gospel of Christ.  We may be deceived by our hidden fears, prejudices and ulterior motives in our decisions.

Consequently, even in our unflinching fidelity to the truth, we must at the same time have a mindset that is ready to discuss, ready to rethink and always to discern how the Spirit is speaking to us and inviting us anew to re-express or experience the Good News of the Kingdom in new and relevant ways. Indeed, we must use whatever talents and opportunities God has given to us for the sake of the kingdom and not for our selfish interests.  At the end of the day, we must sincerely ask ourselves whether we have been truly faithful and trustworthy servants of Christ and the gospel.  So long as what we do truly promotes a greater love for God and Christ and the full truth of the gospel, then we know that we are walking in the right direction.  This truth is concretely manifested in the fruits of our Christian living.  If what we teach truly enables our people to bear the fruits of the Spirit, namely, a deeper union with God and a life of charity, we are on surer ground that we are walking in the path of the gospel.

Written by The Most Rev William Goh Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved