You are not logged in or registered. Please login or register to use the full functionality of this board...


Update

Contact me for download access



 
Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  
GLOW AS A COMMUNITY OF FAITH AND LOVE
05-01-2014, 05:30 PM
GLOW AS A COMMUNITY OF FAITH AND LOVE
GLOW AS A COMMUNITY OF FAITH AND LOVE

SCRIPTURE READINGS: GENESIS 1:26-2:3; MATTHEW 13:54-58

In the first reading, we read about the story of creation. In the first place, we are created in the image of God. “God said, ‘Let us make man in our own image, in the likeness of ourselves … God created man in the image of himself.” This is indeed a great privilege of humanity. That is why we are the last creatures to be created, that is, on the 6th day. We are called to be the summit of creation. We who are merely creatures of God are created in such a way that we share in His image, that is, His intellect and will. This explains why we are all seeking for truth and love. No one can be satisfied until he or she finds the fullness of truth.

But what is the fullness of truth? Truth is not a philosophical abstract idea. This was the temptation of Pilate when he asked Jesus, “What is truth?” Truth is love. For this reason too, all of us who love, want love to be true. And when we discover that the person who claims to love us is not sincere, we would be devastated. We cannot tolerate being cheated in love. We want true love. We always ask our partner, “Do you really love me?” If love is not true, then love is meaningless and empty. To see the truth is to seek authentic love. In finding true love, we find the fullness of life. Precisely, God is love and His love is true and faithful. Again and again, the bible tells us that God is faithful to His covenant.

In truth and love, we are to rule over the rest of creation. Hence, God said, “let them be masters of the fish of the sea, the birds of heaven, the cattle, all the wild beasts and all the reptiles that crawl upon the earth.” It is only when love and truth are abused, that we no longer use creation properly for the good of humanity. Indeed, quite often instead of using the gifts of creation for love, we make use of people and love things instead. We love our car more than our wife! We love our business and work more than our children. Most of all, we love our money and we worship our money and things, instead of using our resources for the service of love and the building of community.

The next thing to take note is that “in the image of God, he created him, male and female he created them.” God created us male and female. He did not make us all the same sex. He created us differently, so that we can truly share in the depth and intensity of His love. He created us differently so that we can love even more. Truly, the greater the differences, the more difficult it is to seek unity. That is why Singapore is so proud that we could live in harmony in spite of the fact that we are a cosmopolitan society comprising of different races, languages and religions. If we were a homogenous society, even if we have harmony, there is nothing much to boast about. Thus, God created each individual to be different and of different sexes. This is the way God teaches us, human beings, how to love selflessly and creatively. He could actually have created us all to be one sex. But He did not. He wants us to complement each other so that we learn how to give and receive. He wants us to learn to accept each other with all our differences, with our failings and defects. In this way, we truly grow in love and compassion, just the way God loves us and accepts our weaknesses and sinfulness. God is never judgmental or condemning but always merciful and understanding. Indeed, this is the depth of God’s love.

Truly, to share in the life and love of God is to love like Him in the Holy Trinity. The fullness of love is not when it is easy to love, because even pagans love each other. But true love is to love those who are different from us and even difficult people and our enemies. Thus to be created in His image is truly a great privilege. That explains why God is not a monad but a trinity. Christian monotheism is unlike other religions that believe in One God because although we believe that God is one, yet there are three persons in the One God. The Holy Trinity is our model of what love is all about. For the same reason, true love between husband and wife is always open to procreation. Love between a man and a woman brings about a child which is the fruit of that love. When we are in love and full of love, we want to share this love with the world. This was the case of the love between the Father and the Son. Because they love each other so deeply and fully, they pour their love to the world in the Holy Spirit.

In the final analysis, the love between a man and a woman is for the building of the community of love, the family of God. We are called to glow as a community of love. This is the intended plan of God as inscribed in creation when “God blessed them, saying to them, ‘Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and conquer it.’” So from two different persons in love, this circle increases to three and beyond. This is our calling. We are called to be good stewards of God’s love and gifts to us. For the Lord commanded us, “Be masters of the fish of the sea, the birds of heaven and all living animals on the earth.’”

But we cannot build a community of love without faith. That is what the gospel teaches us. The townsfolk of Jesus were astonished and said, “Where did the man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers? This is the carpenter’s son, surely? So where did the man get it all?” The answer is obvious. It was because Jesus was deeply in love with His Heavenly Father. His capacity to love and give selflessly even unto death springs from His experience of the Abba Father’s unconditional love. This was the basis of His strength. He could work the miracles only because He was totally confident that His Father would hear His prayers. With the faith of the psalmist, He would have prayed, “Give success to the work of our hands, O Lord. Before the mountains were born or the earth or the world brought forth, you are God, without beginning or end. You turn men back to dust and say: ‘Go back, sons of men.’ To your eyes a thousand years are like yesterday, come and gone, no more than a watch in the night.” He knew that His Father who is compassion and love would heal and work miracles to show forth His mercy and love.

Truly, we must never think that we can love selflessly or grow in love without God’s love and mercy. We are all selfish and wounded creatures. It is only natural and our human instinct to desire to protect ourselves first before others. We do not mind helping others but charity always begins at home. Of course, for some, it ends there. For this reason, we must never think that mere human endeavour to live together in love will suffice. We will always be tempted to sin, to commit the sins of the flesh , lust, or pride, the sin of the intellect.

More importantly, we need to die to ourselves, our sins, to forgive and to resolve our fears. There cannot be genuine openness to each other if there is no willingness to forgive the other person, to recognize that we are weak and sinful ourselves and hence in equal need of forgiveness and compassion. In the final analysis, communication is only a technique and a means to understand each other. But the deeper cause is that the individual needs healing and restoration. Each one of us suffers from a deeper wound, especially from our childhood. Unless the individual is healed first and foremost, how could he or she heal the other person or be open to the other person? His or her fears and hurts from the past relationships will inhibit and hinder him or her from opening his or her feelings. That is why the deepest healing is psychological and spiritual healing. Knowing what to do does not mean we can do it, as St Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans. The laws only tell us what is wrong but does not give us the power to obey.

Consequently, to glow as a community of love, we need to begin by being a community of faith in God’s love and divine providence. Mutual love alone is not sufficient as our love is limited. We need to rely on His love. We need to surrender our lives to Him because He is in charge. The theological meaning of God’s divine providence is expressed in the Sabbath. “God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on that day he had rested after all his work of creating.” In other words, the author is asking us not to depend too much on ourselves but on Him who provides us.

Truly, we must build our love for each in Christ. Only His grace and mercy for us will empower us to love each other. Love requires purification and patience. Let us learn from Joseph and Mary, the loving couple, to love sincerely like brothers and sisters, by being patient, caring, forgiving, attentive and feeling with and for each other. St Joseph, whose feast we celebrate today, was a man of devotion, in love with God and with man in Mary. He was a man of contemplation, who knew how to listen to God and to others. Joseph and Mary are that perfect couple the church invites us to imitate in love and relationship. Let us never stop encountering our partner and let their love grow and deepen, never taking each other for granted.

Written by The Most Rev Msgr William Goh
- See more at: http://www.csctr.net/reflections/#sthash.YL20A7ct.dpuf
 Quote

  



Thread options
[-]
Forum Jump:


User(s) browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)