LOST IDENTITY

20170103 LOST IDENTITY

Readings at Mass

Liturgical Colour: White.

First reading

1 John 2:29-3:6 ©

You know that God is righteous –

then you must recognise that everyone whose life is righteous

has been begotten by him.

Think of the love that the Father has lavished on us,

by letting us be called God’s children;

and that is what we are.

Because the world refused to acknowledge him,

therefore it does not acknowledge us.

My dear people, we are already the children of God

but what we are to be in the future has not yet been revealed;

all we know is, that when it is revealed

we shall be like him

because we shall see him as he really is.

Surely everyone who entertains this hope

must purify himself, must try to be as pure as Christ.

Anyone who sins at all

breaks the law,

because to sin is to break the law.

Now you know that he appeared in order to abolish sin,

and that in him there is no sin;

anyone who lives in God does not sin,

and anyone who sins

has never seen him or known him.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 97(98):1,3-6 ©

All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

Sing a new song to the Lord

  for he has worked wonders.

His right hand and his holy arm

  have brought salvation.

All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

All the ends of the earth have seen

  the salvation of our God.

Shout to the Lord, all the earth,

  ring out your joy.

All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

Sing psalms to the Lord with the harp

  with the sound of music.

With trumpets and the sound of the horn

  acclaim the King, the Lord.

All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

Gospel Acclamation

Alleluia, alleluia!

A hallowed day has dawned upon us.

Come, you nations, worship the Lord,

for today a great light has shone down upon the earth.

Alleluia!

Or

Jn1:14,12

Alleluia, alleluia!

The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us.

To all who received him he gave power to become children of God.

Alleluia!

Or

Heb1:1-2

Alleluia, alleluia!

At various times in the past

and in various different ways,

God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets;

but in our own time, the last days,

he has spoken to us through his Son.

Alleluia!

Gospel

John 1:29-34 ©

Seeing Jesus coming towards him, John said, ‘Look, there is the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. This is the one I spoke of when I said: A man is coming after me who ranks before me because he existed before me. I did not know him myself, and yet it was to reveal him to Israel that I came baptising with water.’ John also declared, ‘I saw the Spirit coming down on him from heaven like a dove and resting on him. I did not know him myself, but he who sent me to baptise with water had said to me, “The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and rest is the one who is going to baptise with the Holy Spirit.” Yes, I have seen and I am the witness that he is the Chosen One of God.’

LOST IDENTITY

SCRIPTURE READINGS: [1JN 2:29–3:6; PS 97(98); JN 1:29-34 ]

Many people in the world no longer know their identity.  Indeed, even something so simple and clear, like sexual identity, is an issue today.  We do not know who we are.  A fundamental question is the nature of man.  Although the world speaks so much of human rights and the importance of life and the dignity of the human person, what is the basis for their claim?  What is the foundation of the dignity of the human person?  Why is the life of a human being more precious than that of animals and plants?  If it is true that we are just material beings, that is, simply matter without an immortal soul, why is human life so precious compared to other forms of life?  In the final analysis, this question can only be answered if we know our identity.

How is it that many people do not know their identity or are confused about their identity? St John gives us the reason. “Think of the love that the Father has lavished on us, by letting us be called God’s children; and that is what we are. Because the world refused to acknowledge him, therefore it does not acknowledge us.”   If we do not know that God is our Father, how can we know that we are His children?  Our identity is therefore dependent on our knowledge of God.  So acknowledgement of God as the source of life is the starting point of understanding our dependence on God as our creator.  We do not simply exist but we come from God who is the origin of life.

Why is it then that the world cannot acknowledge God as their creator or their Father?  This is because they are blinded by sin.  St John says, “Anyone who sins has never seen him or known him.”  Sin blinds us to the truth.  St Paul in his letter to the Romans diagnosed the sin of impiety as the cause of all other sins. “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of men who by their wickedness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.”  (Rom 1:18f)  God gave us up to sin because He respects our freedom to reject Him.  “So they are without excuse;  for although they knew God they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking and their senseless minds were darkened.”  (Rom 1:20bf)

How then can we overcome our blindness and ignorance of our sins?  We need Christ to save us from our sins.  Christ “appeared in order to abolish sin, and that in him there is no sin,” Only the Son of God, St John says, can reveal God to us.  “No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known.”  (Jn 1:18)  Accordingly, John the Baptist points out to us the One who would save us from our sins.  Of Jesus, he said, “Look, there is the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. This is the one I spoke of when I said: A man is coming after me who ranks before me because he existed before me.”  In describing Jesus as the Lamb of God, St John was thinking of the Passover when the Passover Lamb was sacrificed in atonement for their sins.  So Jesus as the Passover Lamb is the One who will save us from our sins and give us eternal life.

But how does Christ take away our sins?  He shows us the misery and evil of sin.  Sin is destructive.  There can be no joy for those who sin and break the law.  St Paul says, “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither the immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor robbers will inherit the kingdom of God.”  (1 Cor 6:9-10)  We cannot be living in sin and darkness and yet live in the kingdom of light and love.

Secondly, Christ reveals to us our true dignity as the sons and daughters of God.  We must not behave like the Jews during the time of Christ who have the devil as their Father.  “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” (Jn 8:44)  Rather “we are already the children of God but what we are to be in the future has not yet been revealed.”  This is our great dignity. It is for this reason that we cannot kill other human beings because they are children of God.  They belong to God, not to us.  Only God who is the author of life can decide our destiny.  We cannot take life into our own hands.  Abortion, destruction of human embryos, euthanasia and all forms of killing are evil, including wars and terrorism.

Thirdly, Jesus shows us the way out of this mess and confusion.  It is the way of love.  If we want to see God, St John says, “Surely everyone who entertains this hope must purify himself, must try to be as pure as Christ.”  To purify ourselves is more than ritual or obedience to the law.  “Anyone who sins at all breaks the law, because to sin is to break the law.”  To purify ourselves is to be purified in love.  Not breaking the law is not good enough but we must be sincere in love.  St Paul says, “Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with brotherly affection; outdo one another in showing honor.”  (Rom 12:9f)  So anyone who loves like Christ will be able to see God.  “No man has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.”  (1 Jn 4:12)  Who is God if not the fact that God is love.   “Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God, and he who loves is born of God and knows God.  He who does not love does not know God; for God is love. (1 Jn 4:7f)

How can this love of God be in us then, so that we can see God?  It is through the Lamb of God.  His suffering and death on the cross reveals to us the love and mercy of God.  “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.  In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins.”  (1 Jn 4:9f)  That is why, John the Baptist proclaimed Christ as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.  By contemplating on the love of God, we too can then love each other.  “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”  (1 Jn 4:11)  Only because Christ has loved us that He could also command us to love like Him.  He said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”  (Jn 13:34f)

Christ is more than an exemplar of the love of God and His love of humanity, but He also gives us the inner capacity to love by sending us the Holy Spirit. John also declared, “I saw the Spirit coming down on him from heaven like a dove and resting on him. I did not know him myself, but he who sent me to baptize with water had said to me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and rest is the one who is going to baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ Yes, I have seen and I am the witness that he is the Chosen One of God.”  Christ is the One who will give us the Holy Spirit, that same Spirit of the Father that gave Him the capacity to love and give Himself totally for us.  We too must therefore come to Jesus and ask for the Holy Spirit.  He Himself told us, “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”  (Lk 11:13)

So as we continue to contemplate on the meaning of the Incarnation, we cannot but also rejoice with the psalmist.  We too declare, “Sing a new song to the Lord for he has worked wonders. His right hand and his holy arm have brought salvation.   All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. Shout to the Lord, all the earth, ring out your joy.”  In Christ, we know our identity.  In Christ we are forgiven and redeemed.  In Christ, we receive the Spirit of His Father.  In Christ, we recover our identity as God’s children.

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

DISTORTED TRUTHS IS THE CAUSE OF DIVISION

20170102 DISTORTED TRUTHS IS THE CAUSE OF DIVISION

Readings at Mass

Liturgical Colour: White.

First reading

1 John 2:22-28 ©

The man who denies that Jesus is the Christ –

he is the liar,

he is Antichrist;

and he is denying the Father as well as the Son,

because no one who has the Father can deny the Son,

and to acknowledge the Son is to have the Father as well.

Keep alive in yourselves what you were taught in the beginning:

as long as what you were taught in the beginning is alive in you,

you will live in the Son

and in the Father;

and what is promised to you by his own promise

is eternal life.

This is all that I am writing to you about the people who are trying to lead you astray.

But you have not lost the anointing that he gave you,

and you do not need anyone to teach you;

the anointing he gave teaches you everything;

you are anointed with truth, not with a lie,

and as it has taught you, so you must stay in him.

Live in Christ, then, my children,

so that if he appears, we may have full confidence,

and not turn from him in shame

at his coming.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 97(98):1-4 ©

All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

Sing a new song to the Lord

  for he has worked wonders.

His right hand and his holy arm

  have brought salvation.

All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

The Lord has made known his salvation;

  has shown his justice to the nations.

He has remembered his truth and love

  for the house of Israel.

All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

All the ends of the earth have seen

  the salvation of our God.

Shout to the Lord, all the earth,

  ring out your joy.

All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

Gospel Acclamation

Jn1:14,12

Alleluia, alleluia!

The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us.

To all who received him he gave power to become children of God.

Alleluia!

Or

Heb1:1-2

Alleluia, alleluia!

At various times in the past

and in various different ways,

God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets;

but in our own time, the last days,

he has spoken to us through his Son.

Alleluia!

Or

Alleluia, alleluia!

A hallowed day has dawned upon us.

Come, you nations, worship the Lord,

for today a great light has shone down upon the earth.

Alleluia!

Gospel

John 1:19-28 ©

This is how John appeared as a witness. When the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, ‘Who are you?’ he not only declared, but he declared quite openly, ‘I am not the Christ.’ ‘Well then,’ they asked ‘are you Elijah?’ ‘I am not’ he said. ‘Are you the Prophet?’ He answered, ‘No.’ So they said to him, ‘Who are you? We must take back an answer to those who sent us. What have you to say about yourself?’ So John said, ‘I am, as Isaiah prophesied:

a voice that cries in the wilderness:

Make a straight way for the Lord.’

Now these men had been sent by the Pharisees, and they put this further question to him, ‘Why are you baptising if you are not the Christ, and not Elijah, and not the prophet?’ John replied, ‘I baptise with water; but there stands among you – unknown to you – the one who is coming after me; and I am not fit to undo his sandal-strap.’ This happened at Bethany, on the far side of the Jordan, where John was baptising.

DISTORTED TRUTHS IS THE CAUSE OF DIVISION

SCRIPTURE READINGS: [1 JOHN 2:22-28;  JOHN 1:19-28 ]

It is said that half-truths are worse than lies.  It is more insidious because falsehood is rejected outright but apparent truths are often mistaken as the full truth.  This is also the case of relativism.  Community is divided because of such half-truths.  It creates confusion, distrust and misleads members, pitting them one against another.  That is why the world is also so divided because of half-truths about life.

This was the case of the early Church.  It is significant that the division started as early as the foundation of the Church.  St John was battling against the heresies that were spreading among Christians.  Heresies are precisely half-truths.  They were saying that Jesus was not the Christ.  Some said that Jesus was the Christ but that He was only human.  Others said that He was only divine but not human.  The half-truths therefore surrounded the identity of Jesus, the “who” and the “what” of Jesus.  To doubt the divinity and humanity of Jesus will affect our salvation because if Jesus were not God, then we would never know God.  If He were not man, then we cannot follow Him in doing the will of God.

And sad to say, such half truths originated from among the Christians.  The most dangerous enemy is never outside the Church but within.  They sow seeds of division by confusing and misleading others.  This is true of any organization.  Many organizations and communities are destroyed by enemies from within; not from without.  This is true also of the Church.

Hence, St John made it clear that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.  Anything less will not do.  Profession of faith is nothing less than this.  That is why today’s celebration is a continuity of the Solemnity of the Mother of God, which is clearly designed to underscore that Jesus is one Divine Person with a full human nature, distinct and unmixed.  Jesus is truly God and truly man in one person.  And this person is the Divine Word.  The baby Jesus is important to us not because He is simply a man but the Son of God.  Because of Him, we know the Father and share in His life.

St John reiterates, “The man who denies that Jesus is the Christ – he is the liar; he is Antichrist; and he is denying the Father as well as the Son, because no one who has the Father can deny the Son, and to acknowledge the Son is to have the Father as well. Keep alive in yourselves what you were taught in the beginning: as long as what you were taught in the beginning is alive in you, you will live in the Son and in the Father; and what is promised to you by his own promise is eternal life.”

Only then can we, with the psalmist, say we have seen the salvation of our God. “All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. The Lord has made known his salvation; has shown his justice to the nations. He has remembered his truth and love for the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. Shout to the Lord, all the earth, ring out your joy.”

Consequently, we must ask ourselves, ‘who is Jesus to us’?  Is He still unknown to us, as in the time of Jesus when the Pharisees asked John the Baptist his identity?   Jesus is clearly the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.  “Now these men have been sent by the Pharisees, and they put this further question to him, ‘Why are you baptising if you are not the Christ, and not Elijah, and not the prophet?’ John replied, ‘I baptise with water; but there stands among you –  unknown to you – the one who is coming after me; and I am not fit to undo his sandal strap.’ This happened in Bethany, on the far side of the Jordan, where John was baptising.”

Only in believing in the divinity of Jesus can we know the Father and be given the Holy Spirit.  This is the anointing that St John spoke about.  Only the Holy Spirit can help us to remain in Jesus.  “This is all that I am writing to you about the people who are trying to lead you astray. But you have not lost the anointing that he gave you, and you do not need anyone to teach you; the anointing he gave teaches you everything; you are anointed with truth, not with a lie, and as it has taught you, so you must stay in him.”  Only the Holy Spirit can enlighten us with the grace of God.

Let us be like John the Baptist in being the light and witness of Christ in proclaiming the truth.  He could have cheated the people using his popularity.  But he did not confuse them and spoke the truth.  “This is how John appeared as a witness.  When the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, ‘Who are you?’ he not only declared , but he declared quite openly, ‘I am not the Christ’. ‘Well then,’ they asked ‘are you Elijah?’ ‘I am not’ he said.  ‘Are you the Prophet?’ He answered, ‘No.’ So they said to him, ‘Who are you? We must take back an answer to those who sent us.  What have you to say about yourself?’ So John said, ‘I am, as Isaiah prophesied: a voice that cries in the wilderness:  Make a straight way for the Lord.’”  We too must found our faith in Him so that we can be a witness to the Lord.  Can we say that He is the one whom we have touched with our hands, and seen with our own eyes, and heard with our ears?

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

PEACE IS POSSIBLE WHEN WE SEE THE FACE OF GOD IN MAN

20170101 PEACE IS POSSIBLE WHEN WE SEE THE FACE OF GOD IN MAN

Readings at Mass

Liturgical Colour: White.

First reading

Numbers 6:22-27 ©

The Lord spoke to Moses and said, ‘Say this to Aaron and his sons: “This is how you are to bless the sons of Israel. You shall say to them:

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

May the Lord let his face shine on you and be gracious to you.

May the Lord uncover his face to you and bring you peace.”

This is how they are to call down my name on the sons of Israel, and I will bless them.’

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 66(67):2-3,5,6,8 ©

O God, be gracious and bless us.

O God, be gracious and bless us

  and let your face shed its light upon us.

So will your ways be known upon earth

  and all nations learn your saving help.

O God, be gracious and bless us.

Let the nations be glad and exult

  for you rule the world with justice.

With fairness you rule the peoples,

  you guide the nations on earth.

O God, be gracious and bless us.

Let the peoples praise you, O God;

  let all the peoples praise you.

May God still give us his blessing

  till the ends of the earth revere him.

O God, be gracious and bless us.

Second reading

Galatians 4:4-7 ©

When the appointed time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born a subject of the Law, to redeem the subjects of the Law and to enable us to be adopted as sons. The proof that you are sons is that God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts: the Spirit that cries, ‘Abba, Father’, and it is this that makes you a son, you are not a slave any more; and if God has made you son, then he has made you heir.

Gospel Acclamation

Heb1:1-2

Alleluia, alleluia!

At various times in the past

and in various different ways,

God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets;

but in our own time, the last days,

he has spoken to us through his Son.

Alleluia!

Gospel

Luke 2:16-21 ©

The shepherds hurried away to Bethlehem and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger. When they saw the child they repeated what they had been told about him, and everyone who heard it was astonished at what the shepherds had to say. As for Mary, she treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds went back glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen; it was exactly as they had been told.

  When the eighth day came and the child was to be circumcised, they gave him the name Jesus, the name the angel had given him before his conception.

PEACE IS POSSIBLE WHEN WE SEE THE FACE OF GOD IN MAN

SCRIPTURE READINGS: [NUM 6:22-27; GAL 4:4-7; LK 2:16-21 ]

Today, we celebrate World Day of Peace.  This day is celebrated because there is no peace!  We are living in troubled times.  There is so much tension in the world.  We hear of religious fundamentalist groups killing people mercilessly in the name of God.  We hear of political and cultural divide in many countries. There is always the danger of civil war because of injustices, corruption and political oppression.  There is also the economic divide that separates the rich from the poorer countries.

What is the cause of injustice?  Why do human beings discriminate their fellowmen when we all have a shared humanity?  Aren’t we the same in everything except the role we play in life?  All of us have the same emotional, physical, material and spiritual needs.  We need love and to be accepted.  We need to be respected and given dignity.  All of us need food, accommodation, clothing, education and some luxuries in life.   Most of all, we need freedom to express ourselves, a freedom of course that does not impinge on the rights of others.  Surely, we all know what it means to lose our loved ones, what it means to be hungry or sick or unwanted!  We all know what grief we will suffer if our loved ones are killed innocently.  Yet, why is it then, that we who have the same needs and suffer the same wants lack compassion for our brothers and sisters?  How could terrorists kill so many people without thinking that those very people they killed could be their loved ones or their relatives and friends?  Have we forgotten that we are all of the same stock, called humanity?

There is no peace in the world because man is not at peace within himself. Humanity is divided only because the individual is divided within.  He is not at peace.  This is because he lives in fear of others.  He is afraid to suffer or to die.  So the natural instinct in all animals including human beings is to protect oneself from others. All others are seen as competitors and enemies.  In our insecurity, we tend to grab more and more of the world’s resources for ourselves.  We are not generous in sharing our abundance with others.  Anyone who stands in our way, we seek to eliminate.  We seek power for fear that others will dominate us.  We seek control over others so that we can be free to do what we want.  In truth, the more we seek to possess, the more we seek to control others, the more insecure we become. Misers are most miserable and the world’s most powerful, rich and influential people are those without real freedom in the world.

How can man be at peace within himself?  He needs to see the face of God! It is significant that the first reading speaks of God’s blessings on the People of Israel through seeing the face of God.  “This is how you are to bless the sons of Israel. You shall say to them: May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord let his face shine on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord uncover his face to you and bring you peace.”   Twice, God told Moses that unless He revealed His face to the people and let His face shine on them, they would not be blessed.

So if we want to peace and security in the midst of this passing world, we need to see God’s face in the first place.   When we see God as the ultimate truth in life and the goal of every human person, then we will no longer be afraid of death.   In seeing God, we find our goal and destiny.  God is our fulfillment.  A man of God does not fear death.  In fact, he welcomes death as his entry into the fullness of life.  He knows that this world is transient.  He does not hoard.  He does not live for this world alone.  He lives the life of God here and now. In seeing the face of God, he finds a certain peace.

But how can we see God’s face?  It seems that only Moses was given the great privilege of speaking to God face to face as a friend. (cf Ex 33:11)   Even then, no one can see the face of God and live.  (cf Ex 33:20)  The Good News is that in Christ, we see the face of God.  In the face of Christ, who is truly man, we see the face of God who is pure Spirit.  In celebrating the Solemnity of Mary the Mother of God, we are celebrating the face of God in Christ Jesus that Mary brought us.   Indeed, Mary was the first to gaze on the face of God in Jesus.  In giving birth to Jesus, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, we can now see the face of God veiled in man.  So much so that Jesus told Philip that “to see me is to see the Father.”  (Jn 14:9)

Consequently, to see the face of Jesus is to see God!  Jesus is the face of God for us.  At His birth, we saw the innocent and vulnerable face of God in the baby Jesus.  As He grew up, we saw the face of God in the child Jesus, the way He lived out His childhood days in obedience to His earthly parents.  In His public ministry, we saw more and more the face of God in His works of compassion, miracles of healing and exorcism.  Most of all, it was in His passion, crucifixion, death and resurrection that we saw the full glory of God in Christ Jesus crucified.  In His weakness and lowliness, humility and vulnerability, we saw the face of God.  Indeed, that was how all the people saw Him.  Already at His birth, they gave Him the name ‘Jesus’, which means ‘God saves’.  

In seeing Jesus as the face of God, we recognize His face also in our fellowmen because by assuming our humanity, He became one with us.  It also means that God is identified with us.  “The proof that you are sons is that God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts: the Spirit that cries, ‘Abba, Father’.”  In Christ, we have become God’s adopted children of our heavenly Father.  Our dignity therefore is that we are all children of God.  We belong to God and no one has a right over the life of others, except God alone.  This is the basis of human rights and respect for others.

Only when we realize what it means to be an adopted son and daughter of God and the brother and sister of our Lord Jesus Christ, can we begin to treat our fellowmen with respect and dignity.  Every one, regardless whether we are rich or poor, ordinary or influential, young or old, healthy or sick, is a child of God and therefore we are brothers and sisters to each other.  When we see the face of Christ in our fellowmen, then we will refrain from doing harm to them because to hurt them is to hurt our Lord, for He said, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”  (Mt 25:40)

It is for this reason that this feast in honour of the divine motherhood of Mary is so important to the Church, to proclaim that Christ who is divine has become man.  The dogma of Mary as the Mother of God, the theotokos is not primarily a statement about Mary but about Christ who is one person with two natures, divine and human.  Because there is only one person in Christ, there can be no division in Him.  Both the divine and human nature although distinct and yet inseparable are contained in the one person, Jesus Christ.  When the Council of Chalcedon proclaimed Mary as the Mother of God, it intended to underscore that Mary is the mother of the whole person, called Jesus, who is truly man born of her and yet truly divine as the Second Person of the Holy Trinity.  

Indeed, Christ is the future of humanity.  He shows us our true identity as children of God.  He assures us that our destiny is with God, here and hereafter.  By His death, He shows that love is greater than hatred, forgiveness, not violence, is the way to win over our enemies, compassion is the way to be identified with our brothers and sisters, and eternal life is life with God in the world to come.  With Christ overcoming suffering and death, we should no longer live in fear or anxiety about this world.  All we need to do is to live out our humanity in solidarity with our fellow brothers and sisters, identifying with them in their joys and sorrows, reaching out to them in compassionate love and selfless service.  By so doing, we would have entered the life of God and found peace, joy, love and happiness on this earth.

What is asked of us today is that like Mary, we contemplate on the face of God in Christ Jesus.  This is what Mary did. “As for Mary, she treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart.”  It is not enough to be amazed when we see something so wonderful and let it pass.  In the case of Mary, she continued to ponder all that happened and drew out the depth of this great mystery of the Incarnation for herself and humanity.  We too must continue to ponder the meaning and implication of the incarnation.  If God has become man for us and lives with us, how should we regard each other?  Yes, we are exhorted to speak to God, face to face, for by so doing, we will be transformed in His likeness and image. We will then be at peace within ourselves because we know that God loves us, have forgiven us in Christ and continues to provide for us.  Only then can others see the face of God in us; and we in them.   May our contemplation with Mary on this feast of the Mother of God bring us closer to our Lord and our brothers and sisters.

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