[stephenkhoo]

Scripture Reflections
Monday, 04 June, 2012, 9th Week, Ordinary Time
GROWING AND STRENGTHENING OUR FAITH
SCRIPTURE READINGS: 2 PETER 1:2-7; MARK 12:1-12

Salvation is a free gift from God. We are saved not by our good works but through the precious blood of Christ. It is purely God’s mercy and love that has saved us from our destruction. But God has not only saved us, He wants us to continue to grow in the faith. The experience of salvation, whether this is at our Baptism or at a renewal retreat, is only the beginning of a new life. The real danger occurs when those who have encountered the Lord and had a conversion experience think that they have arrived. Many who have received their first and deepest encounter with the Lord stops at that experience and think that their relationship with the Lord will grow naturally from there. On the contrary, once the seed germinates, we must continue to tend to the plant, otherwise in the process it can be destroyed by weeds or storms. Likewise, those Catholics who have a renewal in the Spirit must continue to grow and not become complacent.

In the journey to grow to maturity of faith, God does not leave us alone. Rather, He provides us the means for life and growth. St Peter wrote, “By his divine power, he has given us all the things that we need for life and for true devotion, bringing us to know God himself, who has called us by his own glory and goodness.” So we have no excuse that we do not have the means to grow in our spiritual life. We have the Word of God. We have two thousand years of spiritual tradition for us to deepen our prayer life, both the ascetical and mystical life. We have the guidance of the Church, in her doctrines and morality. Most of all, we have the sacraments which are the efficacious and sure means of grace. It is therefore not true, as some Catholics claim, that the Church has nothing to offer those who desire to grow and deepen their love and understanding of the Word of God or in their prayer life.

Through these available means, we keep ourselves pure and holy, uncontaminated by the world. Again, St Peter wrote, “In making these gifts, he has given us the guarantee of something very great and wonderful to come: through them you will be able to share the divine nature and to escape corruption in a world that is sunk in vice.” Only by living the life of Christ, can we continue to share in the divine life of God and free ourselves from the evils of the world. Indeed, we must never take the life of grace for granted, as if we are guaranteed of salvation without cooperation with His grace simply because we are baptized.

This was what happened to the Jewish leaders during the time of Jesus. Israel had been chosen to be the vineyard of the Lord. The tenants refer to the leaders, political and religious leaders of Israel who were supposed to guide and protect the vineyard. Unfortunately they took the grace of God for granted. Instead of using their privilege of being God’s chosen people for service, they were more concerned about their own selfish interests. They manipulated the Word of God for their own pleasure. Instead of being grateful to the prophets that God sent to warn them of the impending destruction if they did not change, they killed the prophets one after another. Undeterred by such persecutions and ingratitude, the Lord chose to send His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to call them to repentance. But like the rest, they betrayed, manipulated and put Him to death.

Like the leaders of Israel, we too keep on rejecting the call to an ongoing conversion. We do not listen to what the leaders say, but like stubborn and spoilt children, insist on going our own way. We pay no heed to their warnings, which is for our good growth and happiness. Instead, we try to circumvent the message of repentance so that we can continue to do what we like without restrictions. Although baptized as sons and daughters of God, we do not uphold the dignity of our identity as sons and daughters. Truly, we have taken our election as God’s children for granted. We have taken our faith for granted as well.

If we find that our faith is not empowering us or giving us a real focus in life and that we lacking in evangelical zeal in spite of our commission at Pentecost to go out and proclaim the Good News, then it shows that we are not living or growing in the life of the Spirit. Concretely, what does it means to grow in the life of the Spirit? St Peter parallels what St Paul gave us in his own list of the fruits of the Holy Spirit. He wrote, “But to attain this, you will have to do your utmost yourselves, adding goodness, self-control to your understanding, patience to your self-control, true devotion to your patience, kindness towards your fellow man to your devotion, and, to this kindness, love.”

To grow in Christian maturity, we must show the fruits of the Spirit. The fruits of the Spirit cannot be produced without our cooperation with His grace. In order to bear the fruits of holiness we must, before everything else, make every effort to grow in our Christian life. The godly characteristics listed by St Peter must be virtues that we desire. But they cannot grow automatically without our diligent effort in working with the grace of God.

Secondly, we must focus on developing these virtues in our lives. We are called to develop goodness in the first place. Goodness is best understood as living an upright and virtuous life. It means living a moral life. It does not mean being prudish but rather, it seeks to cultivate a balanced life. It is the fruit of one who is emotionally and socially mature. St Peter insists that we support our faith with goodness, and goodness with knowledge. This means a greater awareness of God’s love for us and this is accompanied by self-awareness. Christian maturity demands that we come to understand ourselves more and more each day so that we can heal those areas in our lives that are still wounded. Holiness entails a growing knowledge of our true selves and motives in what we do. Otherwise, we cannot grow in goodness. Our salvation is the result of God’s goodness. What we do must manifest God’s goodness as well.

Besides, goodness, St Peter says that we grow in self-control as well. This is one of the most difficult virtues to cultivate as it involves personal self-discipline, not just in what we do but in the way we manage our relationships with people. Self-control is simply the ability to control one’s behavior, especially one’s impulsive reactions to situations. A mature person does not react to his or her emotions as he or she likes without considering the impact on others. Again, like goodness, self-control demands knowledge of oneself and of others. Hence, closely connected with self-control is the virtue of patience. This entails the capacity to endure wrongs and difficulties. Patience is tantamount to long-suffering when one has the capacity to suffer quietly. Only those in control of themselves can suffer in silence and carry the cross of Christ in a most intimate manner. As the word suggests, long-suffering means the patience to suffer for a long time, especially when we have to suffer humility and suffer due to the sins of others.

Besides patience, we need to grow in kindness and love. Again like the other virtues, these do not stand alone. They are aided by other virtues. We can be kind and loving only because of our devotion to our fellowmen. The gift of piety, that is our devotion to God and our fellowmen in service, is what empowers us to remain patient in love and gentleness towards those whom we love and serve. When we demonstrate these fruits of the Spirit, we grow in holiness.

Of course, these fruits can only be produced in us when we root our lives in Jesus Christ as the cornerstone. Virtues are not produced merely by diligence and one’s efforts. We need the grace of the Holy Spirit especially the seven gifts of wisdom, knowledge and understanding; fortitude, counsel, piety and fear of the Lord. It therefore requires that we truly be convicted that Jesus is the center of our lives. From the time we wake up and till the time we get to bed and during sleep – we must focus on Jesus and allow Him and His Holy Spirit to direct our lives, so that we live in the power of His Spirit.

This is what the gospel reminds us, “Have you not read this text of scripture: It was the stone rejected by the builders that became the keystone? This was the Lord’s doing and it is wonderful to see.” This is to remind us of the need to graft ourselves onto Jesus the Vine. It is also a stark warning to those who continue to reject the call to conversion and responsibility for Jesus said, “Now what will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and make an end to the tenants and give the vineyard to others.” We must deepen our love for the Word of God and the Eucharist especially.

To make Jesus as the cornerstone in our lives means that there should be a unity of life between faith and what we do each day. To say that Jesus is our cornerstone means that everything in our lives, every aspect of it, regardless, whether it is politics, work, business, relationships, family, sex, time, pleasure, entertainment and holidays – must be in accordance with the values of the gospel. Faith must permeate our human existence and culture, for anyone who loves Christ must be affected by Him to the very core of his personality. His behavior, values, conduct, perspectives of life, the world and humanity are influenced by Christ. There can be no dichotomy between what we believe and how we live. Christ is the center of our lives just like in a building. To remove the cornerstone will result in the collapse of the building. Because of our faith in Christ, we will see everything in life from the perspective of faith; through the eyes of Christ, and His heart. Hence, a businessman must not view his business as making money for himself, but for the development of the economy and the people. Work must not be seen as drudgery but to fulfill our role of being good stewards in developing the world for the good of humanity. Sex must not be reduced to pleasure but a true celebration of total giving in love and in marriage.

In this way, our life and faith envelops each other, mutually penetrating each other so much so that faith is expressed in life and our life expresses what we believe. Through such a life, we are sanctified not merely in prayer and worship but in every area of our lives. Life is therefore sanctified when all that we do give glory to God and show to others that the Christian life is one of love, joy and peace in the Holy Spirit. Through us, the world too becomes glorified.