05-12-2014, 10:32 AM
BE SHEPHERDS AFTER THE HEART OF CHRIST FOR MISSION
SCRIPTURE READINGS: ACTS 11:1-18; JN 10:11-18
http://www.universalis.com/20140512/mass.htm
The reality of the church today is that we are not missionary minded. We hardly talk about the need to be more evangelical or missionary minded. Even if we do, it is all lip service. Sometimes, we participate in mission trips, but more often than not, these are disguised outings, or at best, done so for the novelty of the experience. Indeed, the indication of maturity and faith of the faithful is not to be measured by their involvement in church activities but by the extent and depth of their missionary zeal.
What could be the reason? The cause of our apathy today springs from a lack of missionary zeal. We do not think that as laity, we have a duty to mission. We believe that the call to mission applies only to religious people and missionaries.
Hence, our churches are rather parochial minded. We are more concerned with issues like how to make the parish grow, what other activities we can introduce and how to increase participation rates. Our measure of success in the ministry is the number of people coming for Mass and the vibrancy of our church. Consequently, we measure our spirituality in terms of activities in the parish as well. For some parishes, the concern is with maintenance rather than growth. The plain truth is that if the Church is not growing, then it is dying. There is no such thing as a maintenance church. A static faith is itself a dying faith.
The Charismatic renewal at one stage was growing, but today the renewal appears to have slackened. One of the reasons could be because what began as a charismatic movement with an evangelical focus has become institutionalized. Even the prayer meetings have become platforms for fulfilling one’s personal needs. As a consequence, we have lost the vibrancy and the evangelical zeal that was once characteristic of the movement.
Yet today the scripture readings remind us of the need to reach out to the gentiles beyond our church confines. But like the early church, we have much resistance in thinking globally. We always think in terms of parish and diocese. At the bottom is fear and therefore a protectionist mentality prevails. Such narrow minded perspective can result in a shrinking church.
This was the reaction of the early church leaders. We read that “the apostles and the brothers in Judaea heard that the pagans too had accepted the word of God, and when Peter came up to Jerusalem the Jews criticised him.”
However God revealed that the Good News is not the preserve of the Jews, but also given to the gentiles. Peter realized this and he said, “God was giving them the identical thing he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ; and who was I to stand in God’s way?” Thanks be to God, they came to concur with Peter and “they gave glory to God. God can evidently grant even the pagans the repentance that leads to life.”
The world today needs to be evangelized and as Christians we must also be re-evangelized. We must recover the urgency of mission today. If not, secularism will eventually marginalize the influence of religions on society and become the culture of the day.
However, vocations can only thrive from a community that is missionary minded. The more conscious we are about the need to evangelize, the more we will see the need for vocations. The moment we lose the evangelical zeal, not only will we be short of priests to serve the people of God, but we will eventually lose the flock as well. Hence, the Holy Father, Pope Emeritus Benedict, in his vocation message wrote, “Vocations to the ministerial priesthood and to the consecrated life can only flourish in a spiritual soil that is well cultivated. Christian communities that live the missionary dimension of the mystery of the Church in a profound way will never be inward looking.”
In order to renew our evangelical zeal, we must mould our hearts after the heart of the Good Shepherd. Jesus in the gospel declares, “I know my own and my own know me.” Whilst there is no doubt that Jesus knows us but do we know Him? Unless we know Him, unless we are intimate with Jesus, we cannot share in His passion and love for those lost to the world.
Only those who know Jesus intimately can give their lives for the service of the mission of the Church in the world. Generosity comes from one who has come to know the Father’s love as Jesus did when He said, “The Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me; I lay it down of my own free will, and as it is in my power to lay it down, so it is in my power to take it up again; and this is the command I have been given by my Father.”
Otherwise, there is a real danger that our vocation, be it as priest, teacher, parent, volunteer or community leader, will be reduced to that of a hired worker. We know that has happened when we become calculative, when we do the minimum, always thinking of how much we can get out of what we do rather than how much we can give; always fighting for our rights and wanting to do our own will. In a nutshell, a hired worker puts his self-interest above others. Necessarily so as Jesus remarked, “The hired man, since he is not the shepherd and the sheep do not belong to him, abandons the sheep and runs away as soon as he sees a wolf coming, and then the wolf attacks and scatters the sheep; this is because he is only a hired man and has no concern for the sheep.”
Finally, we need to pray for more priests and the religious with hearts zealous for the mission as they will also influence hearts of the laity for the same mission of Christ. If not, the lay faithful will not catch the enthusiasm or fire for the mission.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh
SCRIPTURE READINGS: ACTS 11:1-18; JN 10:11-18
http://www.universalis.com/20140512/mass.htm
The reality of the church today is that we are not missionary minded. We hardly talk about the need to be more evangelical or missionary minded. Even if we do, it is all lip service. Sometimes, we participate in mission trips, but more often than not, these are disguised outings, or at best, done so for the novelty of the experience. Indeed, the indication of maturity and faith of the faithful is not to be measured by their involvement in church activities but by the extent and depth of their missionary zeal.
What could be the reason? The cause of our apathy today springs from a lack of missionary zeal. We do not think that as laity, we have a duty to mission. We believe that the call to mission applies only to religious people and missionaries.
Hence, our churches are rather parochial minded. We are more concerned with issues like how to make the parish grow, what other activities we can introduce and how to increase participation rates. Our measure of success in the ministry is the number of people coming for Mass and the vibrancy of our church. Consequently, we measure our spirituality in terms of activities in the parish as well. For some parishes, the concern is with maintenance rather than growth. The plain truth is that if the Church is not growing, then it is dying. There is no such thing as a maintenance church. A static faith is itself a dying faith.
The Charismatic renewal at one stage was growing, but today the renewal appears to have slackened. One of the reasons could be because what began as a charismatic movement with an evangelical focus has become institutionalized. Even the prayer meetings have become platforms for fulfilling one’s personal needs. As a consequence, we have lost the vibrancy and the evangelical zeal that was once characteristic of the movement.
Yet today the scripture readings remind us of the need to reach out to the gentiles beyond our church confines. But like the early church, we have much resistance in thinking globally. We always think in terms of parish and diocese. At the bottom is fear and therefore a protectionist mentality prevails. Such narrow minded perspective can result in a shrinking church.
This was the reaction of the early church leaders. We read that “the apostles and the brothers in Judaea heard that the pagans too had accepted the word of God, and when Peter came up to Jerusalem the Jews criticised him.”
However God revealed that the Good News is not the preserve of the Jews, but also given to the gentiles. Peter realized this and he said, “God was giving them the identical thing he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ; and who was I to stand in God’s way?” Thanks be to God, they came to concur with Peter and “they gave glory to God. God can evidently grant even the pagans the repentance that leads to life.”
The world today needs to be evangelized and as Christians we must also be re-evangelized. We must recover the urgency of mission today. If not, secularism will eventually marginalize the influence of religions on society and become the culture of the day.
However, vocations can only thrive from a community that is missionary minded. The more conscious we are about the need to evangelize, the more we will see the need for vocations. The moment we lose the evangelical zeal, not only will we be short of priests to serve the people of God, but we will eventually lose the flock as well. Hence, the Holy Father, Pope Emeritus Benedict, in his vocation message wrote, “Vocations to the ministerial priesthood and to the consecrated life can only flourish in a spiritual soil that is well cultivated. Christian communities that live the missionary dimension of the mystery of the Church in a profound way will never be inward looking.”
In order to renew our evangelical zeal, we must mould our hearts after the heart of the Good Shepherd. Jesus in the gospel declares, “I know my own and my own know me.” Whilst there is no doubt that Jesus knows us but do we know Him? Unless we know Him, unless we are intimate with Jesus, we cannot share in His passion and love for those lost to the world.
Only those who know Jesus intimately can give their lives for the service of the mission of the Church in the world. Generosity comes from one who has come to know the Father’s love as Jesus did when He said, “The Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me; I lay it down of my own free will, and as it is in my power to lay it down, so it is in my power to take it up again; and this is the command I have been given by my Father.”
Otherwise, there is a real danger that our vocation, be it as priest, teacher, parent, volunteer or community leader, will be reduced to that of a hired worker. We know that has happened when we become calculative, when we do the minimum, always thinking of how much we can get out of what we do rather than how much we can give; always fighting for our rights and wanting to do our own will. In a nutshell, a hired worker puts his self-interest above others. Necessarily so as Jesus remarked, “The hired man, since he is not the shepherd and the sheep do not belong to him, abandons the sheep and runs away as soon as he sees a wolf coming, and then the wolf attacks and scatters the sheep; this is because he is only a hired man and has no concern for the sheep.”
Finally, we need to pray for more priests and the religious with hearts zealous for the mission as they will also influence hearts of the laity for the same mission of Christ. If not, the lay faithful will not catch the enthusiasm or fire for the mission.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh