20190529
WHEN
THE LIMITS OF DIALOGUE HAVE BEEN REACHED, FAITH TAKES OVER
29 MAY, 2019,
Wednesday, 6th Week of Easter
Readings at Mass
Liturgical Colour:
White.
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First reading
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Acts 17:15,22-18:1 ©
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I proclaim the God you already worship
without knowing it
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Paul’s escort took him as far as Athens,
and went back with instructions for Silas and Timothy to rejoin Paul as soon as
they could.
So
Paul stood before the whole Council of the Areopagus and made this speech:
‘Men
of Athens, I have seen for myself how extremely scrupulous you are in all
religious matters, because I noticed, as I strolled round admiring your sacred
monuments, that you had an altar inscribed: To An Unknown God. Well, the God
whom I proclaim is in fact the one whom you already worship without knowing it.
‘Since
the God who made the world and everything in it is himself Lord of heaven and
earth, he does not make his home in shrines made by human hands. Nor is he
dependent on anything that human hands can do for him, since he can never be in
need of anything; on the contrary, it is he who gives everything –
including life and breath – to everyone. From one single stock he not only
created the whole human race so that they could occupy the entire earth, but he
decreed how long each nation should flourish and what the boundaries of its
territory should be. And he did this so that all nations might seek the deity
and, by feeling their way towards him, succeed in finding him. Yet in fact he
is not far from any of us, since it is in him that we live, and move, and
exist, as indeed some of your own writers have said:
“We are all his children.”
‘Since we are the children of God, we have
no excuse for thinking that the deity looks like anything in gold, silver or
stone that has been carved and designed by a man.
‘God
overlooked that sort of thing when men were ignorant, but now he is telling
everyone everywhere that they must repent, because he has fixed a day when the
whole world will be judged, and judged in righteousness, and he has appointed a
man to be the judge. And God has publicly proved this by raising this man from
the dead.’
At
this mention of rising from the dead, some of them burst out laughing; others
said, ‘We would like to hear you talk about this again.’ After that Paul left
them, but there were some who attached themselves to him and became believers,
among them Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman called Damaris, and others
besides.
After
this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm 148:1-2,11-14 ©
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Your glory fills all
heaven and earth.
or
Alleluia!
Praise the Lord from the heavens,
praise him in the heights.
Praise him, all his angels,
praise him, all his host.
Your glory fills all
heaven and earth.
or
Alleluia!
All earth’s kings and peoples,
earth’s princes and rulers,
young men and maidens,
old men together with
children.
Your glory fills all
heaven and earth.
or
Alleluia!
Let them praise the name of the Lord
for he alone is exalted.
The splendour of his name
reaches beyond heaven and
earth.
Your glory fills all
heaven and earth.
or
Alleluia!
He exalts the strength of his people.
He is the praise of all his
saints,
of the sons of Israel,
of the people to whom he comes
close.
Your glory fills all
heaven and earth.
or
Alleluia!
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Gospel Acclamation
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Col3:1
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Since you have been brought back to true
life with Christ,
you must look for the things that are in
heaven, where Christ is,
sitting at God’s right hand.
Alleluia!
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Or:
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Jn14:16
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Alleluia, alleluia!
I shall ask the Father,
and he will give you another Advocate
to be with you for ever.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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John 16:12-15 ©
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The Spirit of truth will lead you to the
complete truth
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Jesus said to his disciples:
‘I still have many things to say to you
but they would be too much for you now.
But when the Spirit of truth comes
he will lead you to the complete truth,
since he will not be speaking as from
himself
but will say only what he has learnt;
and he will tell you of the things to
come.
He will glorify me,
since all he tells you
will be taken from what is mine.
Everything the Father has is mine;
that is why I said:
All he tells you
will be taken from what
is mine.’
WHEN THE LIMITS
OF DIALOGUE HAVE BEEN REACHED, FAITH TAKES OVER
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ ACTS 17:15, 22-18:1; JOHN 16:12-15 ]
How should we proclaim
Christ to the world? Should we follow the evangelical way of simply
announcing Christ as the unique and only Saviour of the world without
compromising our words as
what Peter said to the Sanhedrin, “Let it be known to all of you, and to all
the people of Israel, that this man is standing before you in good health by
the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised
from the dead. This Jesus is ‘the stone that was rejected by you, the
builders; it has become the cornerstone.’ There is salvation in no one else,
for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be
saved.” (Acts 4:10-12) In
this instance, the Word of God is simply proclaimed without any attempt at
inculturation. Of course, in the case of Peter, he was addressing the
Jewish religious leaders and so they knew what and who he was talking about.
Or should we follow that
of Paul in Athens when he spoke “before the whole Council of the Areopagus”
through natural theology or reason? St Paul appealed to the intelligentsia of
Athens, the academics, intellectuals and philosophers by using reason to bring
them to faith in Christ. He began his speech by underscoring what they
had in common. He commended them on their search for the Unknown
God. He said, “Men of Athens, I have seen for myself how extremely
scrupulous you are in all religious matters, because I noticed, as I strolled
round admiring your sacred monuments, that you had an altar inscribed: To An
Unknown God.” Such a common starting point opens up the possibility of
dialogue because the truth is that all of us, regardless whether we are
believers of any religion or not, are seeking for the ultimate truth and love
in life.
Next, he went on to show
that this Unknown God was already in their midst as He is the creator of all. He said, “Well, the God whom I
proclaim is in fact the one whom you already worship without knowing it. Since
the God who made the world and everything in it is himself Lord of heaven and
earth, he does not make his home in shrines made by human hands. Nor is he
dependent on anything that human hands can do for him, since he can never be in
need of anything; on the contrary, it is he who gives everything – including
life and breath – to everyone. From one single stock he not only created the
whole human race so that they could occupy the entire earth.” God, therefore,
is not domesticated in statues or shrines because He transcends all that He has
created.
Furthermore, the one God
not only created the world but He created us and we are all called His
children. “From one single
stock he not only created the whole human race so that they could occupy the
entire earth, but he decreed how long each nation should flourish and what the
boundaries of its territory should be. And he did this so that all nations
might seek the deity and, by feeling their way towards him, succeed in finding
him. Yet in fact he is not far from any of us, since it is in him that we
live, and move, and exist, as indeed some of your own writers have said: ‘We
are all his children.’ Since we are the children of God, we have no
excuse for thinking that the deity looks like anything in gold, silver or stone
that has been carved and designed by man.”
Until this stage, what
St Paul said made sense and resonated with the intellectuals. This is
also the approach the Church in the Vatican offers us in our outreach to
non-Christian religions. Following
Paul’s speech at Areopagus, Vatican II in this “Declaration on the Relation of
the Church to Non-Christian Religions” began by acknowledging that we are one
people seeking God in our own ways. “One is the community of all peoples,
one their origin, for God made the whole human race to live over the face of
the earth. One also is their final goal, God. His providence, His
manifestations of goodness, His saving design extend to all men.
Men expect from the various religions answers to the unsolved riddles of the
human condition.” (NA 1) “From
ancient times down to the present, there is found among various peoples a
certain perception of that hidden power which hovers over the course of things
and over the events of human history; at times some indeed have come to the
recognition of a Supreme Being, or even of a Father. This perception and
recognition penetrates their lives with a profound religious sense.” (NA 2)
The question is, does
dialogue bring about conversion to the Lord? Critics have said that the
method of Paul in this instance was a failure. In fact, we read “at this mention of
rising from the dead, some of them burst out laughing; others said, ‘We would
like to hear you talk about this again.'” Of course, “there were some who
attached themselves to him and became believers, among them Dionysius the
Areopagite and a woman called Damaris, and others besides.” So the
philosophical dialogue did not bring about much conversion at all.
Indeed, reason and intellectual debate, whether it is on religious doctrines or
moral issues, will not change people’s minds. Hence, on issues like
same-sex union or abortion and euthanasia, no amount of argument will convince
the person who has already made up his or her mind to change his or her stand.
This is true for those who are believers in their religions.
So it must be clear that
inter-religious dialogue does not aim at conversion of other believers. Inter-religious dialogue is to strengthen
harmony, appreciation and respect for each other’s religions. Those who
are engaged in inter-religious dialogue are already staunch believers in their
own religions. So, what then is the objective of inter-religious
dialogue? Nostra Aetate sets out the purpose, “In her task of promoting unity
and love among men, indeed among nations, she considers above all in this
declaration what men have in common and what draws them to fellowship.” (NA 1) Hence, “the Church, therefore,
exhorts her sons, that through dialogue and collaboration with the followers of
other religions, carried out with prudence and love and in witness to the
Christian faith and life, they recognize, preserve and promote the good things,
spiritual and moral, as well as the socio-cultural values found among these
men.” (NA 2)
So which is a better
approach? Should we use the evangelical approach that is hard selling and
even seen as coercive and imposing to proclaim the gospel, or that of dialogue
which seems ineffective other than in maintaining the status quo and harmony
among believers of other religions? If
that were the case, how could we be faithful to the Lord’s command to make disciples
of all nations, proclaiming Him as the Lord and Saviour, the Way, the Truth and
the Life? Before we dismiss completely the approach of Paul at Areopagus,
we must also consider that at times, we need to inculturate our message so that
the audience could be more receptive to the gospel. St Paul used
different strategies, depending on his audience. He even had Timothy
circumcised for the work of the mission so that he could be more acceptable to
the Jews even though it was not a religious necessity for Timothy to be
circumcised. (Acts 16:3) When he
was put on trial before the Sanhedrin, he divided them by appealing to the
Pharisees on their common belief in the resurrection against the Sadducees who
did not. (cf Acts 23:6-10) It means,
therefore, the approach we use will depend on the circumstances. There is
no right or wrong approach.
Yet, at the end of the
day, we must recognize that there are limits to an intellectual approach to
faith. This is why
Christianity and other religions are called “Faiths”. Arguments as to
which religion is true or not cannot be agreed on the basis of reason
alone. This is equally true for atheism and humanism as well. In
the final analysis, it boils down to faith. Hence, the Athenians laughed
when they heard Paul speaking about the resurrection. Even the
resurrection of our Lord cannot be proven but it requires faith. Without
faith, one cannot see the Risen Lord or believe in Him. This is not to
say that we are asking someone to commit himself to faith blindly without
showing credibility in what we believe and why we believe. “Blessed are
those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”
So what is the best
approach to announcing Jesus? Reason might bring some to conversion but
by far the most effective way is personal testimony of what Christ has done for
us and how we have encountered His power, love and mercy in our life, whether in prayer, worship,
relationships, work or in our trials. John concluded the gospel saying,
“But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the
Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in
his name.” (Jn 20:31)
Yet, let us not forget
that faith ultimately comes from the Holy Spirit. “Jesus said to his disciples: ‘I
still have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you now.
But when the Spirit of truth comes he will lead you to the complete truth,
since he will not be speaking as from himself but will say only what he has
learnt; and he will tell you of the things to come.” Only the Holy Spirit
can open the hearts and minds of those with whom we share our faith.
Conversion ultimately is the work of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes, He opens
the minds of those who hear the gospel through a discourse, sometimes through a
sharing or testimony; and other times still, through works of love and mercy.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All
Rights Reserved
