[stephenkhoo]

BUILDING SUPERFICIAL UNITY THROUGH SHORTSIGHTED MEANS

SCRIPTURE READINGS: 1 Maccabees 1:10-15, 41-43, 54-57, 62-64; LUKE 18:35-43

All of us seek unity and peace. But should we seek unity at all costs? Someone once asked me, “Is it more important to seek justice and righteousness or to maintain peace?” Which would you choose? This question is erroneous in the first instance because there can be no peace without true justice. “Peace is not merely the absence of war. Nor can it be reduced solely to the maintenance of a balance of power between opposing forces. Instead it is rightly and properly called ‘the effect of justice.’ Peace is the fruit of the harmony built into human society by its divine founder, and is brought about by men as they strive to attain an even more perfect justice.” (Gaudium et spes N. 78)

But that’s what we all want to have; peace without justice. If we try to preserve peace without justice, that peace is superficial and illusory. We might have external peace with respect to our relationship with our enemies, but there is no interior peace because we know that we have not been faithful to the truth of God spoken in our hearts. No matter how hard the world tries, they cannot silence the voice of God within us, especially when we arrive at our deathbed.

Truly, peace and unity cannot be sought apart from truth. This is what the world is seeking to do. The world advocates peace and unity without truth, since ethical relativism is the absolute truth today. It becomes an absolute principle to live and let live. As a consequence there is an even greater division in society today. This is the result of moral decay.

This was the same temptation of the Jews when some of them chose to imbibe in the Gentiles’ values as a way of seeking unity and integration. Today we term this perverted inculturation as “secularization”, when Christians shed or compromise their Christian and gospel values for that of the world’s. In order to feel accepted by society, many of our Catholics hide their faith and identity as Catholics and even adopt worldly values and lifestyles. Isn’t this the same reason why some Jews turned away from their faith? “’Come’ they said ‘let us reach an understanding with the pagans surrounding us. For since we separated ourselves from them many misfortunes have overtaken us.’ This proposal proved acceptable, and a number of the people eagerly approached the king, who authorised them to practise the pagan observances.” Why would anyone desire to become Catholic if how we live our lives is not very different from how the rest of the world lives? If we do not make a difference in the lives of others, we will not be able to attract them to join us.

Another attempt at superficial unity is to impose man-made religion. The evil king sought unity by creating his own religion so that all could be one. This man-made religion today takes the form of the worship of man, humanism, economy and technology. Even churches seek to become and act like corporations, with values taken from the world such as productivity and utility, or creating impact with visually attractive worship leaders and state-of-the-art settings. Quite often, pastors today behave more like CEOs rather than pastors with a heart of the Good Shepherd. We treat our workers and our staff with the same yardstick that the world regards their staff. The world values its staff by their productivity and the bottom line is profit. But the ways of the Church are different. We value compassion before justice; forgiveness before penalty; effectiveness before efficiency. We do not hire and fire. Our staff are not measured by performance indicators but by the beatitudes of the gospel, which is to give their best, namely, the widow’s mite. Nor do we resort to using human means alone to proclaim the gospel; relying instead on the power of the Holy Spirit. We do not think that techniques are the means to attract people to Christ. Rather, it is our sincerity and conviction in Christ and the proclamation in the power of the Holy Spirit. This is not to say that we cannot employ modern means of engagement, but we must learn to rely more on God’s graces and power than to trust in human ingenuity and efforts alone.

Another way of creating superficial unity and peace is by suppressing those who disagree with us. This was the way of King Antiophanes when he killed those who refused to submit to his religion. This was what the crowd tried to do for the sake of peace and order in today’s scripture; they tried to silence the cries of the blind man. This is the form taken by the old communism and that of religious extremists and fanatics. All these are superficial ways and will not lead to real peace. Such peace is illusory. It creates pride and fear. Anything that is suppressed will eventually lead to revolt. Again, Gaudium et spes reiterates that peace cannot “arise out of government by tyranny.” (GS 78)

What, then, is the way to real and lasting peace? Today, the gospel shows us the way. Firstly, the way to peace must be founded on the way of truth. It is the way of the blind man who said to the Lord, “that I may see.” We must be ready to seek the truth as well. The truth can only be found by those who seek it. Where can we find the truth today since everything is so grey? The truth is found only in God; and Christ is the truth and wisdom of God. Ironically, only the blind man could see Jesus as the truth. To see the truth we must hear the voice of God. To reject God is to reject the truth. This is the whole problem with the secular world today. It wants to find the truth without faith in God as the absolute truth. As a result we are misled by our ignorance and subjective judgment as we do not have the total truth as man. That is why we must not allow the noise of the world to suppress the voice of God. We are reminded of those who stood firm in truth even at the cost of their own lives. “Yet there were many in Israel who stood firm and found the courage to refuse unclean food. They chose death rather than contamination by such fare or profanation of the holy covenant, and they were executed.”

Secondly, truth can only be fully understood by the way of faith. Like the blind man, we must cry out to the Lord, “’Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me.” We must make the leap of faith in Jesus as the Son of David, the Messiah. Only those who are willing to surrender in faith like the blind man will see Jesus. Without spiritual sight, we cannot see the truth which transcends the reason of man. This faith is principally faith in the peace that Christ brings by His death and resurrection.

Thirdly, we must follow the path of Jesus, which is the way of love and compassion. In response to the blind man’s cries, Jesus called out to him even when others rejected him and considered him a nuisance. Jesus’ empathy for the man led Him to notice the blind man and heal him of his physical blindness. Love heals blindness to the truth. Very often, although we speak the truth, we may fail to speak the truth in love. Or our recipients are unable to hear us as they do not see that we are speaking the truth for love of them. Thus before truth can be spoken, we must first win over those whom we want to be enlightened by our love. Again Gaudium et spes says, “This peace on earth cannot be obtained unless personal well-being is safeguarded and men freely and trustingly share with one another the riches of their inner spirits and their talents. A firm determination to respect other men and peoples and their dignity, as well as the studied practice of brotherhood are absolutely necessary for the establishment of peace. Hence peace is likewise the fruit of love, which goes beyond what justice can provide.” (GS 78)

Finally, the way of dialogue is necessary because dialogue requires openness and truthfulness. Jesus did not heal the man immediately but asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” Why did he ask the man an obvious question? Because it was necessary for Jesus to help the man to search himself as to whether he really wants to be healed, and to be subjected to the implications and obligations of the gift of sight. When he was ready, the Lord healed him. We are told that when his sight was restored, “He followed him praising God, and all the people who saw it gave praise to God for what had happened.” Ironically, although many of us can see, we do not wish to see. We do not desire to know the truth because we are reluctant to change. That is why we will never find the truth. For if we really see, it rightfully follows that we must also act. To know the truth implies the obligation to act accordingly. This is the reason why all Christians are urgently summoned to practice the truth in love and to join with all true peacemakers in appealing for peace and working to achieve it.” (GS 78)

Yes, today, if we want to establish peace in our community, homes and parishes, we must pay heed to the example set for us by Jesus and the blind man. We must imitate the blind man in persevering in the path to peace. It is a difficult journey marked by rejection and disappointments. But if we are attentive to the Lord and remain patient, He will hear us and heal us of our ignorance and blindness so that upon seeing the truth, we can walk the way of love and compassion.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh