09-03-2013, 03:23 PM
Scripture Reflections
03 September 2013, Tuesday, 22nd Week, Ordinary Time
REGAINING THE SPIRITUAL AND MORAL AUTHORITY OF THE CHURCH
SCRIPTURE READINGS: 1 TH 5:1-6, 9-11; LK 4: 31-37
What is the greatest challenge of the Church in this century? It is moral decadence. This is not surprising, considering how history has developed in the last few centuries. In the 19th century, the Church was faced with the challenge of atheism, which sprang from an intellectual denial of God and an emotional anger at the presence of evil, sin and innocent suffering in the world. Atheism, which is a rejection of the idea of God, in turn led to the absence of God in the world. The 20th century was an era of secularization, where people lived their lives as if God is dead. Without a conscious recognition of God’s presence in our lives and in society, we have arrived at a culture without morality and values. The rejection of God as the absolute will necessarily lead to amorality, since there is no longer any basis for truth. From being amoral, the next stage would be immorality.
For this reason, the first reading from St Paul is a stark reminder of the need to be alert to the presence of sin and evil in our lives. St Paul warns us that darkness and evil are real. They come into our lives in a subtle way, “like a thief in the night.” So, too, in the gospel we see Jesus combating with the devil and exorcising the possessed man.
Indeed, even the Church has not been spared. We are living in trying times. From members to Church leaders, we have become insensitive to sin and goodness. Living in the world, we cannot but also be influenced by the secular, amoral and materialistic values of the world. So insidious is the presence of evil that even Church leaders have been led astray due to greed, lust and relativism. When the devil attacks Church leaders and when we fail, then the moral authority of the Church is eroded. That is what the world wants. This explains why the Catholic Church is being singled out, in particular for its sex scandals, as if such problems are peculiar to the Catholic Church alone. By using us as the scapegoat for the world, there will no longer be any moral force able to deal with those who choose falsehood and selfishness over truth and love.
Why is it that we are living in darkness when we are supposedly the “sons of light and sons of the day”? According to St Paul, it is because we are asleep. We are so intoxicated by the world that we go on sleeping. Thus, he exhorts us, “we do not belong to the night or to darkness, so we should not go on sleeping, as everyone else does, but stay wide awake and sober.” Indeed, to recover our spiritual and moral authority, we must stay awake and be alert to what is happening in the world and to ourselves. We must be watchful and not be deceived, like those who said, “’How quiet and peaceful it is” for that is when “the worst suddenly happens, as suddenly as labour pains come on a pregnant woman; and there will be no way for anybody to evade it.”
If we are to regain our authority we must turn to Jesus our Master. The gospel tells us that He taught with authority and “his teaching made a deep impression” on His listeners. To teach with authority does not mean that He preached eloquently. Rather, it is when He preached with conviction, both in words and in His life, that the effects were seen in the lives of those who heard Him. Even the devil obeyed Him. Hence, the people exclaimed, “‘what teaching! He gives orders to unclean spirits with authority and power and they come out.’”
The question we need to address is, where was the source of Jesus’ authority? It lies in His consciousness. Jesus knew who He was and where He came from and what His mission was. He was conscious firstly of His Father. The gospel tells us that it was Jesus’ Abba experience that gave Him His identity and mission. This is described in the Baptism of Jesus at the beginning of the gospel. Such intimacy with the Father was already present in the life of Jesus at an early age. At the temple of Jerusalem, He told His mother that He had to be in the Father’s house doing His Father’s business. Being so identified with the Father in His being, Jesus could say that He and the Father are one. He knew He came from Him and that His goal was to return to Him. Because the identification with the Father was perfect, He knew that He is the unique son of the Father. Consequently, even the devil admitted, “I know who you are: the Holy One of God.”
Consciousness of sonship of course implies a sense of mission. To be the Son of the Father and to share in His life and being implies that there is mutual willing and knowing. This is brought out so clearly in the gospel of John when Jesus said that His food is to do the will of the Father and that whatever the Son sees, He would do. Many times too, in the gospel, the Father was the One who had sent Him.
Finally, it was through the anointing of the Holy Spirit, which we read in yesterday’s gospel, that the dynamism and effectiveness of Jesus’ mission was made clear. Without the Holy Spirit, He would have been powerless in His mission. It was the Holy Spirit in Him that empowered Him to act on behalf of the Father, giving Himself completely for the mission even unto death.
If this was the case for Jesus in His ministry, then we too must be conscious of who we are. In order to stay awake and be sober, we must first follow Jesus by intensifying our communion and union with the Father. For us, the way is through intimacy with Jesus who will lead us to the heart of the Father. So intimacy and communion is vital.
Secondly, we must treasure our sonship in Christ given to us at baptism. Quite often we do not realize the privilege that has been given to us. We take our sonship for granted. In some Catholic countries, they try to emphasize the dignity of our baptism and adopted sonship by celebrating their baptism day rather than their birthday. This is because eternal life given to us at baptism is even greater than simply the physical life given to us by God. Unless we are aware of our sonship, we will not be able to live our lives “as sons of light and sons of the day.”
Through our sonship, we are called upon to share in the mission of Christ. Being heirs with Christ in baptism, we also share in His mission, suffering and glory. This means that a true Christian would be one who would give himself completely to the mission. For Jesus, He had only one mission in life, which was to do the will of the Father by proclaiming the kingdom of God. For us as baptized Christians, we should have only one mission in life, which is to give ourselves completely to the mission of Christ and the Church. There must be no other mission or interest in our lives except to proclaim Christ to the world.
Thus, it is important that we pray for a renewal of anointing of the Holy Spirit today. The Holy Spirit which empowered Jesus in His ministry is the same Spirit that will also help us to grow in holiness and give us power in our mission. Only through the conscious recognition of the Holy Spirit in our lives, can we become more identified with Jesus in the way we live our lives and in our whole being, so that when others see us they could say, “we have seen the Holy one of God.”
03 September 2013, Tuesday, 22nd Week, Ordinary Time
REGAINING THE SPIRITUAL AND MORAL AUTHORITY OF THE CHURCH
SCRIPTURE READINGS: 1 TH 5:1-6, 9-11; LK 4: 31-37
What is the greatest challenge of the Church in this century? It is moral decadence. This is not surprising, considering how history has developed in the last few centuries. In the 19th century, the Church was faced with the challenge of atheism, which sprang from an intellectual denial of God and an emotional anger at the presence of evil, sin and innocent suffering in the world. Atheism, which is a rejection of the idea of God, in turn led to the absence of God in the world. The 20th century was an era of secularization, where people lived their lives as if God is dead. Without a conscious recognition of God’s presence in our lives and in society, we have arrived at a culture without morality and values. The rejection of God as the absolute will necessarily lead to amorality, since there is no longer any basis for truth. From being amoral, the next stage would be immorality.
For this reason, the first reading from St Paul is a stark reminder of the need to be alert to the presence of sin and evil in our lives. St Paul warns us that darkness and evil are real. They come into our lives in a subtle way, “like a thief in the night.” So, too, in the gospel we see Jesus combating with the devil and exorcising the possessed man.
Indeed, even the Church has not been spared. We are living in trying times. From members to Church leaders, we have become insensitive to sin and goodness. Living in the world, we cannot but also be influenced by the secular, amoral and materialistic values of the world. So insidious is the presence of evil that even Church leaders have been led astray due to greed, lust and relativism. When the devil attacks Church leaders and when we fail, then the moral authority of the Church is eroded. That is what the world wants. This explains why the Catholic Church is being singled out, in particular for its sex scandals, as if such problems are peculiar to the Catholic Church alone. By using us as the scapegoat for the world, there will no longer be any moral force able to deal with those who choose falsehood and selfishness over truth and love.
Why is it that we are living in darkness when we are supposedly the “sons of light and sons of the day”? According to St Paul, it is because we are asleep. We are so intoxicated by the world that we go on sleeping. Thus, he exhorts us, “we do not belong to the night or to darkness, so we should not go on sleeping, as everyone else does, but stay wide awake and sober.” Indeed, to recover our spiritual and moral authority, we must stay awake and be alert to what is happening in the world and to ourselves. We must be watchful and not be deceived, like those who said, “’How quiet and peaceful it is” for that is when “the worst suddenly happens, as suddenly as labour pains come on a pregnant woman; and there will be no way for anybody to evade it.”
If we are to regain our authority we must turn to Jesus our Master. The gospel tells us that He taught with authority and “his teaching made a deep impression” on His listeners. To teach with authority does not mean that He preached eloquently. Rather, it is when He preached with conviction, both in words and in His life, that the effects were seen in the lives of those who heard Him. Even the devil obeyed Him. Hence, the people exclaimed, “‘what teaching! He gives orders to unclean spirits with authority and power and they come out.’”
The question we need to address is, where was the source of Jesus’ authority? It lies in His consciousness. Jesus knew who He was and where He came from and what His mission was. He was conscious firstly of His Father. The gospel tells us that it was Jesus’ Abba experience that gave Him His identity and mission. This is described in the Baptism of Jesus at the beginning of the gospel. Such intimacy with the Father was already present in the life of Jesus at an early age. At the temple of Jerusalem, He told His mother that He had to be in the Father’s house doing His Father’s business. Being so identified with the Father in His being, Jesus could say that He and the Father are one. He knew He came from Him and that His goal was to return to Him. Because the identification with the Father was perfect, He knew that He is the unique son of the Father. Consequently, even the devil admitted, “I know who you are: the Holy One of God.”
Consciousness of sonship of course implies a sense of mission. To be the Son of the Father and to share in His life and being implies that there is mutual willing and knowing. This is brought out so clearly in the gospel of John when Jesus said that His food is to do the will of the Father and that whatever the Son sees, He would do. Many times too, in the gospel, the Father was the One who had sent Him.
Finally, it was through the anointing of the Holy Spirit, which we read in yesterday’s gospel, that the dynamism and effectiveness of Jesus’ mission was made clear. Without the Holy Spirit, He would have been powerless in His mission. It was the Holy Spirit in Him that empowered Him to act on behalf of the Father, giving Himself completely for the mission even unto death.
If this was the case for Jesus in His ministry, then we too must be conscious of who we are. In order to stay awake and be sober, we must first follow Jesus by intensifying our communion and union with the Father. For us, the way is through intimacy with Jesus who will lead us to the heart of the Father. So intimacy and communion is vital.
Secondly, we must treasure our sonship in Christ given to us at baptism. Quite often we do not realize the privilege that has been given to us. We take our sonship for granted. In some Catholic countries, they try to emphasize the dignity of our baptism and adopted sonship by celebrating their baptism day rather than their birthday. This is because eternal life given to us at baptism is even greater than simply the physical life given to us by God. Unless we are aware of our sonship, we will not be able to live our lives “as sons of light and sons of the day.”
Through our sonship, we are called upon to share in the mission of Christ. Being heirs with Christ in baptism, we also share in His mission, suffering and glory. This means that a true Christian would be one who would give himself completely to the mission. For Jesus, He had only one mission in life, which was to do the will of the Father by proclaiming the kingdom of God. For us as baptized Christians, we should have only one mission in life, which is to give ourselves completely to the mission of Christ and the Church. There must be no other mission or interest in our lives except to proclaim Christ to the world.
Thus, it is important that we pray for a renewal of anointing of the Holy Spirit today. The Holy Spirit which empowered Jesus in His ministry is the same Spirit that will also help us to grow in holiness and give us power in our mission. Only through the conscious recognition of the Holy Spirit in our lives, can we become more identified with Jesus in the way we live our lives and in our whole being, so that when others see us they could say, “we have seen the Holy one of God.”