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The other day I was out for breakfast with a group of people. The Koay Teow Soup had already arrived but everyone was chatting, oblivious of the bowls on the table. What I did was to tap my forehead continuously hinting that we should make the sign of the Cross to say Grace before Meal. But no one noticed me. After a while I indicated to them that my forehead was already turning red from the non-stop tapping. They laughed because they had thought I was tapping because I was ruminating or having a headache.
Last Sunday, the theme was centred on discipleship. Translated, it means that when we follow Christ, there is cost to it. That cost has to be borne by us as Jesus Himself said: “Take up your cross and follow me”. Incidentally, the 24th Sunday this year has given way to the Exaltation of the Cross. For Catholics, the Cross, be it the Sign we make or the Crucifix holds a central place of reverence for us. Today’s feast honours Christ’s Cross as it commemorates the finding of the True Cross by St Helena, the mother of Emperor Constantine. Apart from the cross as the price of discipleship, there is also another reality that belongs up to the Exaltation of the Cross. It is our sinfulness and thus the Cross also symbolises the power of Christ’s sacrifice which brought about our redemption and salvation.
The fact that we are sinners is brought out clearly in the three parables if we were to follow the actual 24th Sunday’s Gospel taken from Luke. Sin is analogous to being lost like the sheep, the coin and the son. In each case, redemption is demonstrated through searching,finding and looking out for. The shepherd searching for his lost sheep, the house-holder finding for his lost coin and finally the father looking out for the return of his son.
Sin may drive us away whereas the Cross draws us back by redeeming and saving us. In fact, to be lost is never the end of a chapter unless one intends it. It means that one must consciously reject God’s desire to save and as such be lost eternally in perdition. Thus, the son’s return to the father and in both the cases of the lost sheep and coin, the recovery is filled with joy and ecstasy. There is great rejoicing when sinners repent or return to the fold.
What should draw us towards God is that He is madly in love with us since He seems to long for our return. Therefore, the Exaltation of the Cross is not highlighting our need to suffer for our sins or even the necessity to suffer because we follow Christ. Instead, it is to recall the extent God will go to in order to ransom our souls. This theme radiates through the three readings today. The bronze serpent foreshadowed Christ lifted up on the Cross. St Paul reminds us how far Christ would descend in order to lift us up. In the Gospel, Christ on the Cross is the Saviour of the world.
If that be the case, should not an awareness of God’s yearning for us make humanity turn to Him in droves. Yet for a long time, the response has been lukewarm. What might be the problem?
Would it be true to state that even though we may be conscious that God loves us, it is still not attractive enough? Just like my cat which does not respond to me at all. She only searches for me when she needs food but otherwise there is no relationship at all, not when I call her. In other words, we need God when we are desperate and the only proper response He has is to grant us what we have asked for.
This less-than-attractive quality about God may be explained by our sense of sufficiency which is ironical as there exists a great hunger in us. The evidence of our immense longing is found in how much we are driven to accumulate. Have you noticed all the online shopping available to us? Lazada, Shein, Taobao, Shopee are merely material versions of the spiritual heaven that we actually desire. Apart from these online shopping channels, we are bombarded by some visions of “material” completion or satisfaction through the houses, latest electronic gadgets, club memberships or modes of travel we acquire. Actually, the notion of sin can be explained by this desire or hunger for God. We are looking for Him but in the wrong places.
At the same time, there is a phenomenon which might help us appreciate the cross. This year, there seems to be a positive uptick in Catholic membership in France as witnessed by the higher number of baptisms or increased Church attendance in the UK amongst men. What might be a plausible explanation for this change or this increase? Could it be that Covid Pandemic clarified our vision by pointing out the emptiness of materialism as it uncovers the nagging truth that material accumulation cannot truly satisfy the human thirst for God?
Interestingly, a parallel and observable phenomenon took place in the 19th century. France underwent the upheaval of the Revolution that brought in “egalite, fraternite et liberte” (equality, brotherhood and freedom) and swept away the “ancien regime” of the monarchy. The catastrophe visited upon the Church in France, even though it was witnessed through the wave of de-Christianisation at the same time was paralleled by the rise in religious life. A good example is the Congregation of the Little Sisters of the Poor which was founded post—French Revolution.
Perhaps, what is most revealing is that the human spirit will languish when unchallenged. When our hearts are coarsened by materialism, our spirits will lose their vitality. A lack of challenge will result in a faith which is tepid or lukewarm. What is necessary for the Church to become vibrant is when we have challenges to face and obstacles to overcome. We should not be afraid of challenges but instead look at them as opportunities for growth in our holiness. In other words, to follow Jesus, we need to carry our crosses. Having said that, the Cross does not need us for its own validation. We need the Cross not merely because it is the instrument that saves us from our sins. Rather, we need the Cross if our souls were not to languish from the lack of challenge, impoverished by an absence of courage and character to bear the Cross.
I like that Jesus has set his face like flint. He is halfway through His journey to Jerusalem. There is a resoluteness in His behaviour. Crowds follow Him and in the context of this pilgrimage, He calculated for them the true cost of what it means to be a disciple.
The price of discipleship is the Cross.
What does it mean to take up the Cross and follow Him. Our collective consciousness usually prices or costs it as suffering and our embrace of it. Yet it simply does not make sense within modernity to hold up an ideal from which our culture is trying so hard to escape from. We are terrified of pain. How many women no longer give birth naturally but have to depend on epidural to relieve the pain of childbirth? This is not a derogatory statement about the fear of pain but an observation that there exists a contradiction. It is a challenge because on the one hand, we emphasise a pain-free philosophy of life while at the same time hold up a suffering Christ as an ideal to embrace.
The 2nd Reading might open a way to appreciate better the cost of a discipleship which is unbloody. St Paul was already in prison and possibly had need for the services of Onesimus, a slave. Yet he decided to return Onesimus to his former owner, Philemon. He sent him back not as a slave but rather as a brother. Paul exhorted Philemon to accept Onesimus like he would accept Paul himself.
This is one meaning of the Cross. It is not measured in suffering per se but it calls for us to prioritise our values etc. In a way prioritisation will involve giving up ideas which we hold to be important in order for us to embrace better values. The adage that “in the Kingdom of grace, the good can be the enemy of the better” illustrates this perfectly. What we have hitherto held to be a good may sometimes even be a hinder to our perfection. It happens in many situations where and when we are emotionally invested.
For example, I have an idea of who I am and I like myself because I have cultivated this image for the longest time and it has served me well. There will be self-denial involved, which is painful, when I need to give up my cherished notion of who I am because I have been called to something better. Like Philemon who may, before his baptism, believed in possessing Onesimus as slave. Now he has to treat him as an equal which would require adjustment in his worldview and in the treatment of Onesimus. Having to change one’s mindset can be emotionally distressing and even more painful than physical suffering.
A Chinese father who must accept that his daughter will marry an Indian son-in-law or a Malayalee father who must welcome a Tamil daughter in law. Racism or all kinds of “-ism” are lenses or prejudices which inform the manner we view world. These may have to change just like the Israelites, who in order to enter the Promised Land, must depart from Egypt.
Conversion is precisely leaving Egypt for the Holy Land—a turning away from sin in order to live a life of grace. This is where the Cross is to be found. The use of strong language helps to illustrate the cost. It is not a glorification of pain or suffering. If so, it would be masochistic. Rather, growth will involve the pain of forsaking what does not give life in order to embrace a purposeful life.
However, the idea that discipleship is costly is not the issue here. Rather our greatest challenge is to create the condition for a person to embrace discipleship no matter the cost. At the most basic level, we use fear like the threat of punishment to command behaviour. Countries regularly use their penal system to elicit proper behaviour. At best, fines can corral behaviour but what happens when punishment cannot be enforced. Fear of hell can be a motivation. But look at our children. As they reach 15 or 16, when threats no longer work, then what happens to good behaviour?
Our enticement or motivation should go beyond fear to love. A divinely-inspired spirituality comes from a space whereby we are drawn rather than driven toward giving up what is good for the better. And that kind of a draw can only come from an experience of the love of God. It springs from a growing awareness or consciousness of what pulls me away from life and what makes me edge towards life.
What can we do to make sure each person can come into contact with this loving God? How can we secure the space where God can reach out to a person? This is no set formulary that when it is applied will guarantee a positive outcome.
What might be helpful is faithfulness on the part of the Church with regard to the patrimony she has received. She safeguards the Sacraments and provides them because every Sacrament is the action of Christ Himself mediated through the Church He founded. If the Eucharist is how Jesus feeds His people through the Sacrament of Holy Orders, then the Church must provide access to Holy Communion. The space for the encounter with Christ can be facilitated through the beauty of the liturgy, the architecture and our behaviour and these provide the proper condition for people to encounter and experience God.
God is not a watch-maker Deity who is distant from His creation. But neither is He involved in such a manner as to imposed Himself on us. Instead He is a God who invites us to share His life and be filled with Him. His Son, Jesus, on the Cross, opened His side, not only to pour upon humanity the cleansing waters of the Sacrament of Baptism and feed the Church with the Sacramental Food of His Body and Blood but He opened His side to invite us to a part of His life. This year’s theme of Hope is exactly what the Church wants to do with regard to allowing people to encounter the Lord’s mercy and love and be drawn to Him. Once we have fallen in love with Him, then like Mary and John, we will have the courage to stand beneath the Cross whether it is bloody or not.
Today the Gospel speaks of charity and humility. These virtues remind me of an experience and a conversation. The experience was in the Jesuit noviciate. My fellow novice’s father was a self-made multi-millionaire. Sometimes his family would invite me to join their dinners at swanky hotels. The elderly man never forgot his roots. He made sure that the porters who served him were properly tipped.
A conversation I had the other day centred on the current manpower shortage etc. The reality is that parents all have great dreams for their children. The usual success path usually revolves around the familiar and tangible professions—doctors, engineers, lawyers, accountants etc. No parent, if they truly care and love their children, would aim low. Everyone aims for one of these exalted careers. Perhaps these are already outdated as youths today prefer to be tech-titans or have ambitions to build their online empires.
Can anyone picture a society consisting only of doctors, surgeons, accountants, engineers, lawyers or Elon Musks? In other words, what happens if everyone in the world were a leader. The Chinese proverb rings true—a mountain cannot have two tigers. Therein a disturbing idea that suggests fatalism or determinism. It might even reveal the sort of God we worship. For example, “Does God ever will a person to be a rubbish collector?” which begs the question of what sort of a rubbish God we have. Furthermore, does it sound like predestination to say that someone is born to be a rubbish collector?
The reality is we do need rubbish collectors. We need “slaves” whose lives are dispensable because they carry out the “D” works for us. Dirty, dangerous, demanding, demeaning or difficult. There are jobs which fall within these descriptions. Who is going to be performing all these work? Would it be patronising if the answer is “foreigners”? Does that not suggest that these people are fated and condemned?
The virtue of humility is not really associated with the menial work that needs to be done. What is there to be humble about when it is already servile. Rather, humility is for those who have moved up the ladder of social hierarchy and who are recognised as leaders. Like the father of the Jesuit who arrived in Malaysia penniless and subsequently becoming one of the richest men in the country. He rose up but he never forgot his roots.
Not forgetting where we come from is helpful because there will be people who are born to serve. It is fairly reasonable to conclude that not everyone will be a leader. Leaders must never forget to look after those who may have to remain at the bottom of the rung.
Genuine leadership is sorely lacking in an era of immense wealth and prosperity. Furthermore, we are suffering a crisis of leadership. As leaders falter, society instinctively clings to moral credibility as a standard. It is fascinating that much of this crisis is centred on the personal failure of leaders, to the point that moral failure has become a cause for depression. Take the example of the octogenarian politician who stepped up, seemingly to put an end to “kleptocracy” but he was just a replay of the politics of race, religion and self-enrichment. How not to be depressed if we cannot escape the culture of corruption?
Disappointment with poor leadership can be an excuse for some to abandon the personal duty toward excellence. For example, feeling betrayed by their religious leaders, we have a cadre of young people who has publicly stated that they are spiritual but not religious. While they retain a personal belief in God, they shy away from any form of external affiliation. It could be self-protection, a kind of insurance against the failure of leadership. Succumbing to spiritual suicide, families have stopped going to Church because they are disgusted by a priest or are disappointed by the treatment they had received. Our relationship with God or affiliation with Christianity cannot be premised on whether or not someone else is living up to standard.
Furthermore, the response to excellence gives meaning to the readings. True leadership is a vocation to humility and a calling to remember the poor. It is not just about lowering oneself or making oneself less prominent. We are living in an age where the generation of wealth is phenomenal. There are people who are not just rich but uber rich. The gap between the rich and the poor has widened into an invincible chasm. And the ease of wastage is scandalous in the light of those who are poor and have no access to proper nutrition etc.
Leaders must shepherd humbly and charitably. Wealth may be a blessing but it is also burden of responsibility. The irony of human aspiration is that it is based on an aversion towards poverty. We desire plenty because we fear destitution, as if, being poor were a condemnation or a curse. Hence, the Gospel proposes a divine compensation.
Do not look for material reward because God Himself will provide. In other words, trust that God will never fail us and secondly, earthly poverty is only temporary. It may last one’s entire lifetime but it cannot stretch into eternity. Even though, there will be times when it will feel as if one has lost everything on earth. However, what is true is that God who sees all things done even in secret, will compensate for what we lack in this life.
In a way, both charity and humility reveal how fleeting or contingent life can be. There is a quality of temporality in which fortunes can change hands in the blink of an eye. It would do well for us to remember that. Here today, gone tomorrow. Rich today, poor tomorrow. Store up our treasures in heaven and not on earth. The higher we go, the more we should love and be mindful of those whom God has placed under our care.
In general, if we follow the mind of the Church, ideally, a Catholic should marry a Catholic. It is preferable because complications may arise from a union known as a mixed marriage or a disparity of worship. Firstly, the statement does not mean that a Catholic-Catholic marriage would be problem-free. Secondly, the complications are associated with the possibility of defection from the faith. Even then, the law does not prohibit a Catholic from marrying a baptised non-Catholic, that is, a Protestant, in which case, the union is called a mixed marriage. The law also does not prohibit a Catholic from marrying a non-baptised person, in which case, the union is known as disparity of worship or cult. In both these cases, for a marriage to be contracted, dispensation has to be sought.
At the prenuptial enquiry, I often remark to the non-Catholic party (Protestant or otherwise) that he or she is “sway” (unlucky) to marry a Catholic because he or she has to be “subjected” to Catholic laws. It is unfair but there is an explanation for it.
Today’s Gospel may help us understand this unfairness. Christ tells us that the road to salvation is via a narrow gate. This requirement suggests a Catholic or anyone who claims to be His follower is called to a higher standard. Easy discipleship is not our vocation. At times, people believe that conversion, that is, baptism is the doorway to a better or “blessed” (material-wise, that is) life.
It is not. Baptism is just a decision to follow Christ. There is no easy way to take up the Cross and to follow Him. The vocation to follow the Lord must be seen in the larger context of the 1st Reading. God intends everyone’s salvation. He will gather into His fold, humanity from all the nations to witness to His glory and be saved. The 2nd Reading also makes sense in light of the universal vocation to move towards God. Human that we are, we are subject to the struggles of being faithful to our vocation. Right now we are bombarded by imageries of the conflict and hunger in Gaza. They are graphic and shocking because they are visible. But there is a battlefield far more latent or hidden and it is the human heart where the true struggles between good and evil take place.
Thus the 2nd Reading addresses this truth of our struggles. The author of the Hebrews looks at punishment from God as a form of discipline and rehabilitation. Sadly we have an aversion towards punishment and this distaste arises possibly from a mistaken notion that love should be permissive tolerancecoupled with the absence of prohibition.
What might not be apparent for most is that within the Church’s legal system, punishment or penalty is actually an expression of love that balances both the criteria of justice and mercy. Justice requires that we be accountable for our actions. Mercy is articulated through compassion for those who have fallen.
Excommunication for example. It sounds forbidding and even punishing. But it is not as condemnatory as it is to allow one to recognise the wrong, the sin or the evil committed and to seek reconciliation through the Sacrament of Penance. It is never meant to be a complete or utter separation of a person from the community. It allows sinners to repent, to restore relationship and to return to the community. In fact, an excommunicated person is still under obligation to attend Mass on Sunday, just that he or she is prohibited from receiving Holy Communion.
Love is not permissive. The system of sanction in the Church is medicinal for aperson to come to his or her senses because the true nature of love is that it draws boundaries. It is not tolerance or acceptance of anything and everything. Boundaries are created by love because there are behaviours which are harmful to the lover as well as to the beloved. A man loves his wife and in order for his love to be true, he draws lines which he will not cross. The love he has will never visit upon another woman.
It is the same for how God loves us. He desires our good which allows us to look at His salvific will for humanity. It is universal and as such the Gospel does not discuss or label who will be saved except that salvation depends on a person following Christ. Our behaviour should mirror Christ in the acceptance of God’s will. It means that we will follow Him closely without counting cost or reward.
This is perhaps one of the greatest challenges we face because of our hesitation with regard to suffering. It is a natural inclination to shy from pain because of the innate mechanism of self-preservation. Like gold, we need to be tested by fire and purified because those who claim discipleship are not automatically saved. Those who call out “Lord, Lord” will not necessarily be admitted into heaven. As the Gospel says, others will come to take our place if we are not careful about the state of our souls. That is the standard of God’s invitation.
More than ever, now that we have lost our social net, to follow Christ has to be a conscious personal choice. In the past, we could in some ways depend on religion being a social phenomenon. I know of a housing area near to a neighbouring parish where almost every household is Catholic. The shared commonality in terms of rites and festivals can buoy a person up, even a lukewarm Catholic. But as more of our social fabric is weakened by individualism, now one has to make a conscious choice to live according to what the faith teaches.
Without that commitment, one can be swept away easily by prevailing winds. Fundamental to the conscious choice of following Christ is to understand what it entails. We will have to sacrifice in order to follow Him. Is it worth it that one should deny oneself, give up sin and follow Him? For example, why are you here? To fulfil an obligation? Is that enough? In other words what makes it worth our while to sacrifice? The conundrum of St Augustine highlights a truth of an existence caught between now and eternity. He prayed, “Lord make me chaste but not yet”. We instinctively desire heaven but the allurement of this world is too much to give up.
It might help to recognise that whatever deal the world gives, it is always a bad deal when compared to a life with Christ in heaven. That is the only way we can overcome the world and it is to know that nothing measures up to a life withChrist our Lord. Our completed prayer room is named after Saint Carlos Acutis. He died at the age of 16. Even at his tender age he already knew what it meant to give everything up for Christ. In fact, he gave up his earthly life. He said this “Everyone is born as an original but many people end up dying as photocopies”. The aboriginality that we have been created in should give us a clue why we ought to live for Christ for He is the reason why we are here in the first place and that giving all for Him is the only logical action we can take.
To be baptised with the Holy Spirit and fire is awesome. It can be so amazing that at times nobody wants to stand close to us. The 1st Reading shows Jeremiah filled with zeal for the Lord’s Kingdom. It is fantastic that he was enthusiastically taken up by God’s cause and yet he was punished for that. Many do not like to stand next to a prophet because he or she can make us feel inadequate. Much like being in the company of “holy” people, those of us who are unholy will instinctively feel unworthy.
It is fitting that the author of the Hebrews in the 2nd Reading exhorts Christians to recognise the race for which they have entered and to persevere in running towards the final goal. And Jesus reminds His disciples that there will be frictions and rejections when one embraces His vision. It is a journey of faith for it is fraught with difficulties and rejection.
Human that we are, we have been trying to tame the Gospel. Christ’s warned the disciples that His message would bring about conflict. Christ did not come as much to establish a “new” Kingdom as to restore God’s values in this world. But we are innovative as well as resourceful. As a result, we try to mould or shape Jesus according to pragmatic and relevant criteria. In short, we need to bring Jesus up to speed to keep up with our times or to make Him more like us.
Chesterton was right when he pointed out a painful reality that “the Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried”. As uncomfortable as that sounds, he hit the nail on the head. We continue to dumb Jesus down so that He becomes more palatable since we are unable to rise to the occasion. A saccharine Jesus is pleasant enough to swallow.
It could be true that we fear the cost of Christianity to be too high to pay. The highest price is paid with our lives. It is a known fact that true discipleship will lead to rejection. Jesus repeatedly warned His disciples that this was to be the case. “If they have treated Me shabbily, do you not think that they will treat you badly?”.
This is the objective reality of what it means to follow Christ and to speak His truth. But subjectively, there could be ways for a prophet who dares to speak the truth. Raining down fire and brimstone could be one way of doing it. We tell it like it is. Perhaps what is true and what needs to be said does not necessarily make us right. St Teresa of Avila, the great reformer of the Carmelites, apparently prayed to God to spare us from gloomy saints. Amongst the holy nuns she lived with, there were some who were serious with holiness that they had forgotten to laugh.
There must be a way to be prophetic that embraces both the seriousness of the message we stand for and yet at the same time not impose our righteousness on others. There may be a way to be authoritative without sending out an authoritarian vibe.
Perhaps we begin by not taking ourselves too seriously. St Laurence whose feast is in August held fast to the faith and for that he was martyred. According to his executioner, he was burnt on top of a gridiron. At one point, he told the executioner, “Turn me over, I am done on this side”. Whether or not he said that he embodied a spirit that was at once steadfast and yet cheeky. He was audacious as if he were in control but more profoundly, his brazenness came from a confidence that his story would not end with his death.
There is a Gospel waiting to be proclaimed. The Christian message is true and just living out our Gospel values is prophetic already. We will stand out even without attempting to. What has happened is that given the different ideological bents there are, when we believe that we own the truth, we may have to shout louder because everyone is dug into his or her position or we might apply pressure, overt or covert, in making sure that others toe the line of what we hold to be true. A good example is Laudato si. We may be facing a climate crisis of cosmic proportion. What is not helpful is the pressure, openly enforced or stealthily applied, for us to subscribe to all the climate initiatives that are put out and also the guilt-tripping for failure to comply. People can either be excluded or shamed for not embracing the ecological gospel.
To be prophetic, the question is how we inspire rather than shame people to action. In other words, how to keep our faith without compromising and yet without being self-righteous?
It is endurance with a spirit of joyfulness. A person with terminal cancer is visited by a friend. There is really a gloom surrounding a person whose death is imminent and it is easy to be sucked into the cloud of depression. Drawing a person out of that gloom does not cure the cancer but it can help the person not to waste whatever time he or she has left oppressed by the thought of imminent death but to spend every minute available joyfully.
Life is tough, and yet our faith calls us to live it heroically. However, this heroism does not have to be sad. The joy of the Gospel is such that maybe it is not the truth that attracts others. It is an ability to be joyful that gives hope to others who are looking for a reason to believe. The RCIA or OCIA has begun. It is a programme which centres on the truth of Christ’s Gospel. In itself, should that not be attractive enough? Do we not hold truth to be a paramount desire? And yet, what is most attractive for seekers is to encounter the joy of those who are taken up by the truth of what they believe in. We are naturally uneasy with judgementalism which is a form of being right that overbearingly makes others feel bad. Thus our genius is to hold on to truth but at the same time inspire others simply because we love the truth and are happy to live it to the full.
It sounds cliché or vacuous even to state that we live in the greatest era of human history. After all, is not every present moment or each “now” or “latest” supposedly the best that time has to offer? Maybe ours is the “greatest” age because we are poised to take off with artificial intelligence, that is, if we have not already reached that point of singularity. Much like when Google arrived at the scene, we have since adapted or inserted ourselves into ChatGPT or the likes without second thoughts and without resistance. In fact, like Pandora’s Box, the Genie is out of the bottle and there may not be any turning back.
The journey towards this singularity where machines can determine the future of the human race, did not start with the internet. In fact, humanity began this journey when alchemy became chemistry, magic gave way to science and mystery yielded its secrets to technology. The process of demystification corresponded to the distancing of God. Or more accurately, we moved away from God because for man to be big or for him to be great, God must be small.
Freed from the shackles of magic and mystery, man can now determine his own destiny and chart his own future. In order for that to happen, there is a need to cut God down to size. But the Assumption reveals to us what it means that our prominence and God’s eminence are not mutually exclusive, that one does not have to come diminishment of the other.
The Assumption shows how great Mary is only because she acknowledges God’s greatness. In the Gospel, Mary sings the Magnificat not just to glorify God but to illustrate that a confession and recognition of God’s glory does not come at the expense of man but instead God’s grandeur guarantees man’s dignity.
According to Pope Benedict, Original Sin came about because Adam and Eve felt that God’s presence is an intrusion into their lives that would take away their agency or restrict their freedom. But the Parable of the Prodigal Son may provide a solution to clear our misguided notion. Both brothers were not aware of the freedom they aboriginally possessed precisely because they were with their father. The older son felt unappreciated because the father welcomed and celebrated the useless younger brother’s return. In response to his resentment, the father replied, “All I have is yours”. The older brother did not recognise his exalted place as a son of a loving father. Instead he perceived himself only an obedient slave rather than a beloved son. The younger brother who believed his freedom could be expanded when he left the father, only found himself enslaved and his humanity reduced to the dignity or status of pigs.
Thus our freedom is rooted in the Father. The notion that freedom is independence from God is misguided. Today we celebrate the Assumption simply because Mary trusted in God fully. She never had to exercise her freedom away from God. Instead, in God she found the greatest expression of humanity’s desire to be free.
Human freedom expands when we remain in close proximity to God. John Paul II, who titled his first encyclical, Redemptor hominis, stated that Jesus Christ shows us what it truly means to be human by revealing man to himself and as a man, He brings to light man’s true vocation which is to be with God. The emphasis on Jesus’ humanity should be mirrored in Mary’s own humanity. Why? Through her total obedience and her sheer embrace of God’s will, her humanity was magnified rather than diminished.
In this sense, Mary is true man because she embodies the fullness of what it means to be a human person. Her fullness of grace was not of her own. Rather, her title as Mother of God embodies and models what it is to live fully and to act in a human manner as intended by God for us all. To err is human, we hear this repeated a lot but to be human is actually to be like Christ, that is, if we follow the inspiration of John Paul II. Christ reveals who we are supposed to be to ourselves. Hence, the Assumption is a confirmation that the highest degree of human freedom is reachable and achievable only when we give ourselves entirely to God.
I love the quote by William Wordsworth, the English poet whose remark points to Mary as our tainted nature’s solitary boast. It feels like we are saying to God, “Hey God, we have someone which can face you unashamed”. We can hide behind her and she is our pride. But actually, she is loved by the saints not because she is our boast. Rather, she is honoured because she is God’s greatest gift to us. No wonder Satan is fearful of her.
This Assumption, apart from celebrating Mary’s triumph, we should actively pray and petition the Lord that we may regain our true freedom which is to be found when we embrace God’s will. Freedom is not merely possessing the ability to choose as if both good and evil were equal in their substance and consequence. Instead, freedom is the ability to always choose the beauty of goodness and to always reject the glamour of evil. Mary’s ability to choose Godwas the expression of her true humanity. We who have been damaged by sin can also choose like Mary did. But for that, we need to pray not to be put to the test. And through the powerful intercession of the Mother of God and the man Jesus, we ask her to pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.
We continue with the broad theme of conversion. The stewardship that we are called to embrace can only be sustained by a vision of heaven where the Risen Lord is. From last Sunday we have now arrived at a point where faith is necessary to sustain the conversion to a vision of Christ in heaven. It is impossible to be converted without faith, let alone find our way to heaven.
In the 2nd Reading, the author of the Hebrews charted out the journey of faith that Abraham and Sarah made by trusting God even when they did not know what to expect. There is always an element of uncertainty when it comes to faith in the Lord. But leaving their familiar homeland is by no means revolutionary when we think about it. Our ancestors who departed both India and China for these shores, they too would have had faith of some kind. They left optimistic that they will be met by fortune rather than misfortune. Perhaps we can appreciate how many undocumented migrants today also left their countries hoping that they might strike it big than remain wasting away in their homeland.
Faith grants strength to seize that moment when we have to take the first step. As the Hebrews remark, “Only faith can guarantee the blessings that we hope for or prove the existence of the realities that at present remain unseen. It was for faith that our ancestors were commended”.
How do we get to that level of trust? One condition that creates the possibility of walking in faith is to change to the way we look at blessings. In terms of what we have and possess, the perspective changes when our focus shifts from a fascination with the gifts of the lover to the Lover Himself. Devotion to Christ is necessary for a life of faith. What does that entail?
We have always operated on the basis of “mine” or “ours”, right? But how about “His”? Last Sunday, I quoted Pope St Gregory the Great who declared that giving to the poor is not an act of charity, a merciful largesse on our part but rather a debt of justice we pay. Since we all work under the basis of “mine” or “ours”, it is easy to see why we view giving to the poor as an act of generosity for which the poor should be grateful.
Unfortunately, wealth has a corroding effect on faith or on how one trusts in the Lord. The conversion we seek is not a once-off event but rather a life-long process and it is mostly slow and incremental. Firstly, we need to realise that the idea of conversion is more than not sinning. The traditional Act of Contrition provides a clear window to what true conversion should be. “… I detest my sins because they deserve your just punishment but most of all because they offend you my God whom I should love with all my heart …”.
If our reason for avoiding sin springs from a fear either of being condemned to hell or of the loss of heaven, that is classified as an imperfect contrition. No doubt, it will help us get to heaven. However, since God has invited us into His life, should our motivation not come from our love for Him and flow from a profound sorrow for offending Him whom we should love with all heart. Conversion is always seeking the face of the Lord and faith is trusting that God will always be where we are.
Thus, watchfulness is important because we can be trapped behind a materialistic worldview. Our possessions can blind us to the reality of God’s presence. A glaring form of materialism is an expectation flowing from a familiar model that informs the pattern of our relationship. How many of us feel that just because we have sacrifice so much for God, should He not be bound to reward us? How many of us who have given time to the Church, which is considered a kind of rendering to God His due, feel dumbstruck when a tragedy hits us?
The common question raised is “Why me, Lord?”. The point is whenever bad things happen, we immediately feel done to or victimised because the basis for our engagement with God is based on a reward—punishment model. It is even reflected in the familiar Christmas carol: “Santa Claus is coming to town”. “You better watch out because God is making a list of who is naughty or nice”.
I am fascinated by the love that St Bernadette had for the Lord. She was given a great gift to share with the world but she herself was never to profit from the gift of healing. She suffered greatly from the tuberculosis of the lungs and bones. Imagine how she would have felt? For many of us, there will be a deep sense of betrayal, a sense that our God has no loyalty at all. It is a bit like how St Teresa of Avila felt when she was climbing out of the ditch in her religious regalia muttering about Jesus inconveniencing her.
How do saints love God?
They love God or rather their love for God has never been a matter of reward. There is, without a doubt, a reward that follows from our love for God. We will gain eternal life when we keep the commandments of Christ. And yet, this still falls within the realm of the “material” gain for the good that we are. To be rewarded should be, in other words, a by-product for loving God and never the main focus.
We live in an age where self-care is considered central to one’s mental health. How often do we hear that “health is wealth”? Or we should find space for rest and etc. In fact, some might hold a view that the Prayer for Generosity is really dangerous as it is inimical to self-care. “Lord, teach me to serve and not to count the cost, to fight and not to heed the wounds”. The freedom to embrace such a life that pays scant attention to one’s well-being can only come from someone has fallen deeply in love with Jesus and are enamoured by Him so much so he or she is willing to pour out or lay down his or her life for Him. When St Paul stated this, it was not because the sacrifice of Christ was incomplete, but rather because he has come to live for Christ alone. “I complete in my body the suffering lacking in the body of Christ”. Here was a disciple in love with His Lord.
It makes sense that Christ asks His disciples to be watchful because His coming would be unannounced. This alertness carries with it an attitude of detachment and whilst the reward may be great, one remains attentive independent of what the reward is like. The faith that we are called to must be buoyed or supported by a loving relationship very much like a lover waiting for the beloved to return. In other words, in a time of uncertainty and waiting, what remains for the disciple is a longing, a kind of aching for the Lord to come. Come what may and even though nothing is certain, what is enough for the disciple is that Christ will come and that is sufficient for the disciple to keep faith and to love whilst waiting for Him.
