04-13-2012, 05:55 PM
13 April, 2012, Friday within Octave of Easter
THEOLOGY OF THE OLD AND NEW ECONOMY
SCRIPTURE READINGS: ACTS 4:1-12; JN 21:1-14
Would you consider yourself as belonging to the Old or the New economy? Those who belong to the old economy are those who stand for continuity rather than change. They normally have a fixed mindset; conservative, cautious and parochial in approach. They tend to build on the present status quo, adding value to it and are contented with marginal growth. As for those in the New Economy, they are people who believe in creative destruction and creating value, which means taking risks as well. Their mindset is one of globalization and multi-tasking.
Today, the gospel wants to proclaim that Christianity belongs to the new economy. Indeed, this term “new economy” has been used in theological parlance for the last two thousand years; long before it was used in the secular sense. Yet, there are some similarities in terms of mindsets between the theological and secular meaning of the terms “old and new economy.”
Who, then, belong to the old economy of salvation? They were the Jews, especially the Jewish religious leaders, such as the priests, the scribes and the Pharisees in Jesus’ time. Some of these people are portrayed in the first reading as people who resist changes. They could not accept the new reality that was brought about by the healing of the crippled man and the resurrection of Jesus. Yes, they were people who stood for the old economy. For them salvation was simply to live by the laws and the traditions they had received from their ancestors. They dared not add or subtract anything from the Torah. They did not want to risk their status quo by accepting Jesus. Their narrow-mindedness and parochial mindedness prevented them from seeing that God is the Father of all and that salvation is given to all and not only to their race and nation. To some extent, the disciples of Jesus were also from the old economy. We are told in the gospel that St Peter and the apostles had gone back to fishing. They thought that their master had died and so there was nothing else to do except to return to their old trade.
Today, Jesus is challenging us to change our mindset and put on the new economy because He IS the new economy of salvation. He has come to make everything new. He is not contented to live in the past. Yes, in the healing of the crippled man, the latter was made perfectly healthy again. In the same way too, Jesus challenged Peter to reach out and go beyond his safe surroundings. Instead of simply catching fish, now he must catch men. This is the meaning of Jesus’ appearance to Peter at theSea ofTiberius. In challenging Peter to put his net out to starboard, he wanted to remind Peter of his initial calling when he first followed him, which was to be His disciple so that He could “catch men.” Yes, Peter who belonged to the old economy wanted to go back to the less risky way of living, catching fish instead of men.
For this reason, Christianity and the Church is missionary by nature. To be missionary minded is precisely to belong to the new economy. That is why in every Easter encounter, there is always a missionary charge: Go and tell. Yes, we are called to go and tell the world not only that the Lord is Risen but that because He is risen, He is the Lord and Saviour of our life. Hence, in the first reading, we have Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, proclaiming clearly that Jesus “is the stone rejected … but which has proved to be the keystone. For of all the names in the world given to men, this is the only one by which we can be saved.”
Hence, is to be missionary minded is to be global minded. The Good News is not meant for a certain group of people but is meant for all. This is illustrated in today’s gospel when we are told that it was Peter who “dragged the net to the shore, full of big fish, 153 of them.” Now, this text has been symbolically interpreted as Peter who is the head of the Church, represented by the net, drawing people from all nations into the kingdom, represented by the numerous fishes. Some commentators also say that the number 153 represents the one world, five continents or five loaves of bread broken for the world and brought together by the Holy Trinity. Whatever the interpretation, the point is clear; the Church is universal and is meant for all. And the fact that the net did not break means therefore that the Church has the capacity to contain all peoples.
If today the Church has lost its missionary zeal, it is because we are too intra-looking instead of extra-minded. This, I believe, is because when a Church becomes big and institutionalized, people tend to hide behind the secure and safe environment they are in. This is the problem of growth. We have become smug and self-sufficient. We see this particularly in Europe where Christianity is supposedly to be the dominant religion. And because we are all too inward-looking, we become caught up with the petty problems within our diocese, parishes and Church organizations. We quarrel over inconsequential things concerning our rubrics, organizational methods and material needs. If we were more missionary minded, we will realize that there are bigger problems in life and more real sufferings in the world than ours. Consequently, today we are called to go out from our comfortable confines and reach out to the world. In general, we are all too inward-looking, if we judge by the number of adult conversions of about a thousand we get every year out of a diocese that boasts of about 350,000 local and migrant Catholics.
But the new economy implies the need to not only change our mindsets, but it also means that we are called to take risks in proclaiming the Good News. Like the apostles, Peter and John, we are challenged to take risks even in the face of opposition and trials. But for Peter and John, they did not mind the risks. Instead they saw the risks as opportunities for them to proclaim the Good News even more. This is what the Church is called to do. We are called to take risks and to reach out even if such ventures entail suffering, because sufferings in themselves need not be obstacles to the mission of the Church. On the contrary, through suffering, we will grow in strength and we have occasions to manifest the power and the Spirit of God working in our lives. That is why the truth remains that the blood of the martyrs has always been the seed of the Church. If we want to grow, then we must take risks. We must be willing to change our mindsets and the ways we do things. We will have to find new ways to evangelize. We must employ Information Technology and the new communication tools so that we can reach out to the world with the gospel of Christ before they are influenced one-sidedly by the values of the world.
But the real problem is not even the question of cultivating a global mindset or taking risks. It is a question of whether we have encountered the Risen Christ in our lives. If we find ourselves and our Catholics lacking missionary zeal, it is simply because our encounter with the Risen Lord is not personal and deep enough to enlighten us or transform us. If we lack the Good News in us, how can we proclaim the Good News to others? That is why, a constant awareness and experience of the Risen Lord in our lives is vital to the proclamation of the Good News. This was true for the disciples and still remains true for us.
But to encounter the Lord requires us to be intimate with Him. This explains why in the gospel, it was the disciple that Jesus loved who first recognized Jesus as the Lord. Only a person who is in deep relationship with Jesus can recognize His Risen presence in His daily life. Because John, presumably the beloved disciple of Jesus, knew Jesus intimately, he was able to recognize Him immediately. Hence, today, Jesus is saying to all of us, “Come and have breakfast.” In other words, we are called to the Eucharist celebration where in the breaking of bread, we will come to experience His living presence in our hearts and in our midst. And truly, when He broke bread for the disciples, they knew that Jesus was the Lord. And with that experience, Peter was called to feed His sheep and feed His lambs. Yes, only with a deep relationship with the Risen Lord, can we share the power of proclaiming the Good News of liberation to others, just as Peter and John did in healing the crippled man. Let us therefore during this Eucharistic meal come to experience Him in our lives, for this is the place where true intimacy with our Lord takes place.
THEOLOGY OF THE OLD AND NEW ECONOMY
SCRIPTURE READINGS: ACTS 4:1-12; JN 21:1-14
Would you consider yourself as belonging to the Old or the New economy? Those who belong to the old economy are those who stand for continuity rather than change. They normally have a fixed mindset; conservative, cautious and parochial in approach. They tend to build on the present status quo, adding value to it and are contented with marginal growth. As for those in the New Economy, they are people who believe in creative destruction and creating value, which means taking risks as well. Their mindset is one of globalization and multi-tasking.
Today, the gospel wants to proclaim that Christianity belongs to the new economy. Indeed, this term “new economy” has been used in theological parlance for the last two thousand years; long before it was used in the secular sense. Yet, there are some similarities in terms of mindsets between the theological and secular meaning of the terms “old and new economy.”
Who, then, belong to the old economy of salvation? They were the Jews, especially the Jewish religious leaders, such as the priests, the scribes and the Pharisees in Jesus’ time. Some of these people are portrayed in the first reading as people who resist changes. They could not accept the new reality that was brought about by the healing of the crippled man and the resurrection of Jesus. Yes, they were people who stood for the old economy. For them salvation was simply to live by the laws and the traditions they had received from their ancestors. They dared not add or subtract anything from the Torah. They did not want to risk their status quo by accepting Jesus. Their narrow-mindedness and parochial mindedness prevented them from seeing that God is the Father of all and that salvation is given to all and not only to their race and nation. To some extent, the disciples of Jesus were also from the old economy. We are told in the gospel that St Peter and the apostles had gone back to fishing. They thought that their master had died and so there was nothing else to do except to return to their old trade.
Today, Jesus is challenging us to change our mindset and put on the new economy because He IS the new economy of salvation. He has come to make everything new. He is not contented to live in the past. Yes, in the healing of the crippled man, the latter was made perfectly healthy again. In the same way too, Jesus challenged Peter to reach out and go beyond his safe surroundings. Instead of simply catching fish, now he must catch men. This is the meaning of Jesus’ appearance to Peter at theSea ofTiberius. In challenging Peter to put his net out to starboard, he wanted to remind Peter of his initial calling when he first followed him, which was to be His disciple so that He could “catch men.” Yes, Peter who belonged to the old economy wanted to go back to the less risky way of living, catching fish instead of men.
For this reason, Christianity and the Church is missionary by nature. To be missionary minded is precisely to belong to the new economy. That is why in every Easter encounter, there is always a missionary charge: Go and tell. Yes, we are called to go and tell the world not only that the Lord is Risen but that because He is risen, He is the Lord and Saviour of our life. Hence, in the first reading, we have Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, proclaiming clearly that Jesus “is the stone rejected … but which has proved to be the keystone. For of all the names in the world given to men, this is the only one by which we can be saved.”
Hence, is to be missionary minded is to be global minded. The Good News is not meant for a certain group of people but is meant for all. This is illustrated in today’s gospel when we are told that it was Peter who “dragged the net to the shore, full of big fish, 153 of them.” Now, this text has been symbolically interpreted as Peter who is the head of the Church, represented by the net, drawing people from all nations into the kingdom, represented by the numerous fishes. Some commentators also say that the number 153 represents the one world, five continents or five loaves of bread broken for the world and brought together by the Holy Trinity. Whatever the interpretation, the point is clear; the Church is universal and is meant for all. And the fact that the net did not break means therefore that the Church has the capacity to contain all peoples.
If today the Church has lost its missionary zeal, it is because we are too intra-looking instead of extra-minded. This, I believe, is because when a Church becomes big and institutionalized, people tend to hide behind the secure and safe environment they are in. This is the problem of growth. We have become smug and self-sufficient. We see this particularly in Europe where Christianity is supposedly to be the dominant religion. And because we are all too inward-looking, we become caught up with the petty problems within our diocese, parishes and Church organizations. We quarrel over inconsequential things concerning our rubrics, organizational methods and material needs. If we were more missionary minded, we will realize that there are bigger problems in life and more real sufferings in the world than ours. Consequently, today we are called to go out from our comfortable confines and reach out to the world. In general, we are all too inward-looking, if we judge by the number of adult conversions of about a thousand we get every year out of a diocese that boasts of about 350,000 local and migrant Catholics.
But the new economy implies the need to not only change our mindsets, but it also means that we are called to take risks in proclaiming the Good News. Like the apostles, Peter and John, we are challenged to take risks even in the face of opposition and trials. But for Peter and John, they did not mind the risks. Instead they saw the risks as opportunities for them to proclaim the Good News even more. This is what the Church is called to do. We are called to take risks and to reach out even if such ventures entail suffering, because sufferings in themselves need not be obstacles to the mission of the Church. On the contrary, through suffering, we will grow in strength and we have occasions to manifest the power and the Spirit of God working in our lives. That is why the truth remains that the blood of the martyrs has always been the seed of the Church. If we want to grow, then we must take risks. We must be willing to change our mindsets and the ways we do things. We will have to find new ways to evangelize. We must employ Information Technology and the new communication tools so that we can reach out to the world with the gospel of Christ before they are influenced one-sidedly by the values of the world.
But the real problem is not even the question of cultivating a global mindset or taking risks. It is a question of whether we have encountered the Risen Christ in our lives. If we find ourselves and our Catholics lacking missionary zeal, it is simply because our encounter with the Risen Lord is not personal and deep enough to enlighten us or transform us. If we lack the Good News in us, how can we proclaim the Good News to others? That is why, a constant awareness and experience of the Risen Lord in our lives is vital to the proclamation of the Good News. This was true for the disciples and still remains true for us.
But to encounter the Lord requires us to be intimate with Him. This explains why in the gospel, it was the disciple that Jesus loved who first recognized Jesus as the Lord. Only a person who is in deep relationship with Jesus can recognize His Risen presence in His daily life. Because John, presumably the beloved disciple of Jesus, knew Jesus intimately, he was able to recognize Him immediately. Hence, today, Jesus is saying to all of us, “Come and have breakfast.” In other words, we are called to the Eucharist celebration where in the breaking of bread, we will come to experience His living presence in our hearts and in our midst. And truly, when He broke bread for the disciples, they knew that Jesus was the Lord. And with that experience, Peter was called to feed His sheep and feed His lambs. Yes, only with a deep relationship with the Risen Lord, can we share the power of proclaiming the Good News of liberation to others, just as Peter and John did in healing the crippled man. Let us therefore during this Eucharistic meal come to experience Him in our lives, for this is the place where true intimacy with our Lord takes place.