[stephenkhoo]

Tuesday, 07 February, 2012, 5th Week in Ordinary Time, Cycle 2
DOMESTICATING GOD AS THE PATH TO SECULARIZATION
SCRIPTURE READINGS: 1KG 8:22-23; 27-30; MK 7:1-13

Most people think that secularization set in only in the last two centuries and gained momentum especially in this millennium. The truth is that secularization is as old as religion, including those that subscribe to the God of the Bible. How did this come about?

Today, in the scripture readings, we read of how Solomon was humbled by God’s presence in the Temple which he constructed. He said, “Lord God of Israel, not in heaven above nor on earth beneath is there such a God as you, true to your covenant and your kindness towards your servants when they walk wholeheartedly in your way. Yet will God really live with men on the earth? Why, the heavens and their own heavens cannot contain you. How much less this house that I have built!” Clearly, Solomon knew that even the Temple, which is the focal point of the Israelites’ faith, does not exclude the presence of God in creation and in humanity.

Similarly, the Mosaic Laws and its further elaboration which we read in today’s gospel readings are meant by God for the good of Israel. Jesus is not condemning the laws as such. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus assured His listeners that He had not come to abolish the laws but to complete them. In fact, if we pay attention to the gospel reading, we would realize that the laws were not just strictly concerned with liturgical life and its rubrics but they actually also include hygiene laws, diet, health prevention, harmonious living, right relationships, etc. Even circumcision and the washing of hands were for hygiene purpose but later given a religious legitimization. Nevertheless, although many of the laws deal with daily living and so to speak secular life, they were all seen in the context of God.

What can we surmise from what we have said above regarding the Temple and the Mosaic Laws? The most significant conclusion is that there is no dichotomy between faith and life. This dichotomy was never intended in the Old Testament; neither were they in the time of Jesus. In themselves, the laws and the Temple and all its rituals were good. Within this context, we can appreciate better why Solomon was so amazed that although God is the creator of heaven and earth, yet He condescended to dwell in His creation, especially in the works of human hands, as in the Temple.

Indeed, it never crossed the mind of Solomon that God only dwelt in the Temple. Nonetheless, the Temple was a beautiful reminder of the special presence of God, especially in the Ark of the Covenant, in spite of the fact that God is greater than the Temple. So too the laws of Moses were meant to regulate the lives of the Covenanted People so that they could live happy and fraternal lives in love and charity, thereby experiencing the presence of God. The intent of such objectivization of God therefore was intended to help human beings to be in touch with God.

But in time to come, this underlying motive was forgotten. Laws were observed for the sake of observance alone. As a consequence, they became legalistic. Instead of uniting the people, the laws became a tool used for marginalization, leading to self-righteousness. The Temple was regarded as the only place where true worship could be rendered. Here began the path to secularization.

The truth is that when God is privatized and compartmentalized and laws are separated from life, then we can get on with our daily lives without thinking of God. We only need to remember Him when we are in Church or at prayer. At other times, God is not present in our lives. This is what secularization is all about. It wants us to leave God out of our daily lives. It can tolerate the practice of religion so long as its believers pray to their own God or gods in the confines of their houses or temples. But let God not be seen in public life!

In this way, without the presence of God, we can live our lives without fear and without any restraint from anyone. Indeed, Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen once said, “Atheism is not the knowledge that God does not exist, but only the wish that He did not, in order that one could sin without reproach or exalt one’s ego without challenge.”

As a result, many of us are living lives without God for the most part of the day. We might be church goers but the moment we leave the church, we behave like everyone else. We fail to see the presence of God in the events of our daily life, our activities, relationships and work. We fail to realize that whether we are at work in the church or in the offices, we are serving God insofar as we contribute to the development of humanity. Serving God cannot be confined to doing “religious” work. However, even those of us who are serving in Church, whether as full time workers or volunteers, might be doing the work of the Lord and yet forget the Lord of the work. We can work for the people of God without seeing Christ in those whom we are serving, and loving them as persons in Christ. Priests and some fervent Catholics might be very sticky about observing the rubrics of the liturgy, giving great reverence to the celebration of the Eucharist and the Sacraments but have no real relationship with the Lord. We can preach the gospel and moral living so convincingly, but not practice what we preach.

There is a story of Mathama Ghandi regarding this dichotomy between life and faith. One day a woman came to seek advice from Ghandi as to how to stop her child from being addicted to sweets. Upon hearing this, he asked her to return home with the child and come back a month later. When she came back after a month, Ghandi explained to her why he asked her to wait for a month. The reason was because he himself liked to take sweets too and he had not yet conquered this attachment. Thus he did not feel right to tell her how to handle her child’s fondness for sweets when he himself had not found the way to conquer his desire.

Having underscored the importance of not separating life from faith, we must also not underestimate the significance of the Temple or Church or religious symbols and laws. This is because we need to be reminded of God’s presence, especially in a par excellence manner, which we identify with the Church or a Sacred Place for worship. However, before we can consecrate the profane and mundane to God, we must first of all consecrate ourselves to Him.

Empowered by His presence in worship, we can then bring Him with us to wherever we go and whatever we do during the day. This explains why the Church encourages us to pray throughout the day, especially in the Liturgy of the Hours. The whole day must be interspersed with moments for prayer so that our whole life can be consecrated to God, lest we forget about Him and His living presence in people and events. In the final analysis, we must ask whether our worship of God and obedience to the laws, either of the Church or the bible, bear the fruits of love, compassion, charity, faith and hope in how we live out our lives, especially towards our fellowmen.