04-30-2014, 05:39 PM
EFFECTIVE WITNESS TO THE RESURRECTION OF THE LORD THROUGH THE SPIRIT OF POVERTY
SCRIPTURE READINGS: ACTS 4:32-37; JN 3:7-15
http://www.universalis.com/20140429/mass.htm
In the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, we are told that “the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus with great power, and they were all given great respect.” Like them, we too are called to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus with great power in our lives. The question is, how can we be such convincing witnesses of the Risen Christ that command respect from others, especially unbelievers, like the apostles?
Certainly, if the apostles were looked upon with great respect, it was not simply because they were bold and convincing in their preaching of the resurrection of Christ, but because their preaching was confirmed by the transformation of their own lives. This transformation was however seen only when the apostles carried in themselves the crucified Christ in their lives. In other words, the Risen Lord cannot be seen in us unless we manifest the crucified Christ in our lives.
This is precisely what Jesus meant when He said, “the Son of Man must be lifted up as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.” This lifting up, as we all know, refers both to His passion on the cross and the exaltation through His passion in the resurrection. Consequently, we must never forget this intrinsic connection between passion and resurrection. A resurrection without the cross would be a power without love; and a cross without the resurrection would be a love without power.
Consequently, we must ask ourselves how, as witnesses of the resurrection, we are testifying to the crucified Christ in our lives. The way that is proposed to us is that of the early Christian community in the first reading. We read that “the whole group of believers was united, heart and soul; no one claimed for his own use anything that he had, as everything they owned was held in common.” Concretely, the most visible sign of the crucified Christ in us is to manifest the spirit of poverty. This is the way of Christ. His death on the cross is the ultimate sign of being stripped for the sake of others, emptying Himself for others and for God. Jesus’ death on the cross is the ultimate sign of trusting in divine providence and divine power. So if poverty is underscored in the early Christian community, it is because it was the way to be so closely identified with the crucified Christ in His passion.
Of course, we must not reduce the spirit of poverty to simply living a simple lifestyle. It can even be misinterpreted as niggardliness and attachment in disguise. It is not even enough to be generous and give away our riches. Certainly, it presupposes a life of simplicity and generosity. Poverty is to share not only our material things with others but to give our time, resources, talents and energy as well. Even then, this generosity cannot be said to have observed the spirit of poverty unless we are clear of the real objective of poverty.
What, then, is the objective of observing poverty in our lives? The early Church made it clear that if they sold their property and presented the money to the apostles, it was for the distribution “to any member who might be in need.” Only in this way, “none of their members was ever in want.” So the purpose of poverty is not simply to live a simple life nor giving ourselves, our time, resources, energy and money, but it is to be given to those who are more in need than us. So giving our money to those who are rich so that we win their favour; giving our time to those who want to gossip; giving our talents in order to draw attention to ourselves, would not be real poverty or generosity. Nay, the spirit of poverty is practised only because we want to identify ourselves with the crucified Christ who is found in the poor and the marginalized.
Unless this is clear, we might fall into the trap of a false spirit of poverty. For poverty is not simply the pooling of resources so that we can all enrich ourselves, rather, it is because we want to share ourselves with those who are worse off than us. By so doing, we will build a more fraternal, just and equal society. Consequently the spirit of poverty is for the sake of fraternal living, to build a community of love.
Unless this objective is understood, the vow of poverty can actually lead to injustices because some lazy members of the community might live on others instead of contributing to the community. Indeed, we know that this happened already at the very beginning of the early Church. Abuses set in and the community became divided, as we read later on in the Acts of the Apostles. Gentiles and widows were being discriminated. So instead of creating a climate of love and unity, there was resentment as a result of perceived injustices.
Because of such dangers, there was a counter measure to prevent such abuses from happening, although, unfortunately, it was never carried out. We are told that whatever they sold, the money was presented to the apostles for distribution. However, the apostles were not managers or financial controllers and perhaps did not do the job effectively and hence, the appointment of deacons. But the trust they gave to the apostles also give us another hint that the spirit of poverty is expressed through obedience to the apostles.
So what do we gather from the liturgy of the Word today? If we put all these facts together, we find in the early Christians, the model of a truly religious community that is built on the evangelical vows of poverty in terms of sharing with the poor, celibacy in terms of brotherhood, obedience in terms of acceptance of the leadership of the apostles. This explains why consecrated religious life is vital to the witnessing of the Church because it goes beyond simply being a priest, since the latter is basically a ministerial function, whereas being a religious is to live out the life of Jesus in its fullness. Without consecrated religious in the Church, we cannot testify effectively to the Risen Lord. Of course, not all are called to Religious Life, yet this does not exempt us from observing the evangelical vows in our own ways.
If religious life is held as the apex of the holiness of life in the Church, being an anticipation of the life of the kingdom, then it means that all members of the Church, lay or clerical, are called to live this spirit of poverty according to their state of life through sharing their resources with those in need, fostering brotherhood and fraternal love in their communities and most of all, surrendering themselves to the rightful and legitimate authority that has been placed over them. Above all, the spirit of poverty is an invitation to trust in God who provides for our needs, empty ourselves for others, including them in our embrace of fellowship and be obedient to His holy will
How then can we cultivate such a spirit of poverty, celibacy and obedience? The response of Jesus is simply this, “You must be born from above … born in the Spirit.” Indeed, if we have read yesterday’s gospel, then we know that the context of Jesus’ teaching is the question of how can a grown man be born again. To this query of Nicodemus, Jesus said, “unless a man is born through water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God; what is born of the flesh is flesh; what is born of the Spirit is Spirit.” In other words, to be born of the water is simply to be baptized in the death of Jesus; to be born of the Spirit is to acquire the Spirit of the Risen Christ in us. Only when we participate in Christ’s death and resurrection, could the evangelical counsels of poverty, inclusive love and obedience be lived.
Let us therefore pray for the renewal of Spirit of the Risen Christ given to us at baptism. As we co-operate with the Lord in dying to ourselves for the love of others, we also ask for the Spirit of the Risen Christ to empower us, to blow in us so that we can transcend our earthly attachment and selfishness and be one with the heavenly plan of God revealed in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Indeed, Nicodemus said rightly when he remarked to Jesus, “No one could perform the signs you do unless God were with him.”
Yes, if we live this life, then we will be united in heart and soul. The bonds of unity will be strengthened because we will be truly concerned with each other and less with ourselves. In this way, the Risen Christ is seen in the transformed life of love and service that we live. Consequently, people will look at us with great respect because they see simultaneously the death of Jesus and the Risen Lord in us.
Written by The Most Rev Msgr William Goh
Archbishop of Singapore
SCRIPTURE READINGS: ACTS 4:32-37; JN 3:7-15
http://www.universalis.com/20140429/mass.htm
In the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, we are told that “the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus with great power, and they were all given great respect.” Like them, we too are called to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus with great power in our lives. The question is, how can we be such convincing witnesses of the Risen Christ that command respect from others, especially unbelievers, like the apostles?
Certainly, if the apostles were looked upon with great respect, it was not simply because they were bold and convincing in their preaching of the resurrection of Christ, but because their preaching was confirmed by the transformation of their own lives. This transformation was however seen only when the apostles carried in themselves the crucified Christ in their lives. In other words, the Risen Lord cannot be seen in us unless we manifest the crucified Christ in our lives.
This is precisely what Jesus meant when He said, “the Son of Man must be lifted up as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.” This lifting up, as we all know, refers both to His passion on the cross and the exaltation through His passion in the resurrection. Consequently, we must never forget this intrinsic connection between passion and resurrection. A resurrection without the cross would be a power without love; and a cross without the resurrection would be a love without power.
Consequently, we must ask ourselves how, as witnesses of the resurrection, we are testifying to the crucified Christ in our lives. The way that is proposed to us is that of the early Christian community in the first reading. We read that “the whole group of believers was united, heart and soul; no one claimed for his own use anything that he had, as everything they owned was held in common.” Concretely, the most visible sign of the crucified Christ in us is to manifest the spirit of poverty. This is the way of Christ. His death on the cross is the ultimate sign of being stripped for the sake of others, emptying Himself for others and for God. Jesus’ death on the cross is the ultimate sign of trusting in divine providence and divine power. So if poverty is underscored in the early Christian community, it is because it was the way to be so closely identified with the crucified Christ in His passion.
Of course, we must not reduce the spirit of poverty to simply living a simple lifestyle. It can even be misinterpreted as niggardliness and attachment in disguise. It is not even enough to be generous and give away our riches. Certainly, it presupposes a life of simplicity and generosity. Poverty is to share not only our material things with others but to give our time, resources, talents and energy as well. Even then, this generosity cannot be said to have observed the spirit of poverty unless we are clear of the real objective of poverty.
What, then, is the objective of observing poverty in our lives? The early Church made it clear that if they sold their property and presented the money to the apostles, it was for the distribution “to any member who might be in need.” Only in this way, “none of their members was ever in want.” So the purpose of poverty is not simply to live a simple life nor giving ourselves, our time, resources, energy and money, but it is to be given to those who are more in need than us. So giving our money to those who are rich so that we win their favour; giving our time to those who want to gossip; giving our talents in order to draw attention to ourselves, would not be real poverty or generosity. Nay, the spirit of poverty is practised only because we want to identify ourselves with the crucified Christ who is found in the poor and the marginalized.
Unless this is clear, we might fall into the trap of a false spirit of poverty. For poverty is not simply the pooling of resources so that we can all enrich ourselves, rather, it is because we want to share ourselves with those who are worse off than us. By so doing, we will build a more fraternal, just and equal society. Consequently the spirit of poverty is for the sake of fraternal living, to build a community of love.
Unless this objective is understood, the vow of poverty can actually lead to injustices because some lazy members of the community might live on others instead of contributing to the community. Indeed, we know that this happened already at the very beginning of the early Church. Abuses set in and the community became divided, as we read later on in the Acts of the Apostles. Gentiles and widows were being discriminated. So instead of creating a climate of love and unity, there was resentment as a result of perceived injustices.
Because of such dangers, there was a counter measure to prevent such abuses from happening, although, unfortunately, it was never carried out. We are told that whatever they sold, the money was presented to the apostles for distribution. However, the apostles were not managers or financial controllers and perhaps did not do the job effectively and hence, the appointment of deacons. But the trust they gave to the apostles also give us another hint that the spirit of poverty is expressed through obedience to the apostles.
So what do we gather from the liturgy of the Word today? If we put all these facts together, we find in the early Christians, the model of a truly religious community that is built on the evangelical vows of poverty in terms of sharing with the poor, celibacy in terms of brotherhood, obedience in terms of acceptance of the leadership of the apostles. This explains why consecrated religious life is vital to the witnessing of the Church because it goes beyond simply being a priest, since the latter is basically a ministerial function, whereas being a religious is to live out the life of Jesus in its fullness. Without consecrated religious in the Church, we cannot testify effectively to the Risen Lord. Of course, not all are called to Religious Life, yet this does not exempt us from observing the evangelical vows in our own ways.
If religious life is held as the apex of the holiness of life in the Church, being an anticipation of the life of the kingdom, then it means that all members of the Church, lay or clerical, are called to live this spirit of poverty according to their state of life through sharing their resources with those in need, fostering brotherhood and fraternal love in their communities and most of all, surrendering themselves to the rightful and legitimate authority that has been placed over them. Above all, the spirit of poverty is an invitation to trust in God who provides for our needs, empty ourselves for others, including them in our embrace of fellowship and be obedient to His holy will
How then can we cultivate such a spirit of poverty, celibacy and obedience? The response of Jesus is simply this, “You must be born from above … born in the Spirit.” Indeed, if we have read yesterday’s gospel, then we know that the context of Jesus’ teaching is the question of how can a grown man be born again. To this query of Nicodemus, Jesus said, “unless a man is born through water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God; what is born of the flesh is flesh; what is born of the Spirit is Spirit.” In other words, to be born of the water is simply to be baptized in the death of Jesus; to be born of the Spirit is to acquire the Spirit of the Risen Christ in us. Only when we participate in Christ’s death and resurrection, could the evangelical counsels of poverty, inclusive love and obedience be lived.
Let us therefore pray for the renewal of Spirit of the Risen Christ given to us at baptism. As we co-operate with the Lord in dying to ourselves for the love of others, we also ask for the Spirit of the Risen Christ to empower us, to blow in us so that we can transcend our earthly attachment and selfishness and be one with the heavenly plan of God revealed in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Indeed, Nicodemus said rightly when he remarked to Jesus, “No one could perform the signs you do unless God were with him.”
Yes, if we live this life, then we will be united in heart and soul. The bonds of unity will be strengthened because we will be truly concerned with each other and less with ourselves. In this way, the Risen Christ is seen in the transformed life of love and service that we live. Consequently, people will look at us with great respect because they see simultaneously the death of Jesus and the Risen Lord in us.
Written by The Most Rev Msgr William Goh
Archbishop of Singapore