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In the 1st Reading, Amos stands as a figure of justice for he fought for the poor and condemned those who took advantage of them. He also warns that God will not forget those who have been unjust. Today we have a particular kind of Amos who apparently stands on the side of justice. The SJWs or Social Justice Warriors. Depending on the context, the definition carries a negative connotation. On the positive side, it refers to a passionate campaign on behalf of those who suffer injustice. Just like what Amos stood for. For others, whilst it describes advocacy for the voiceless, it frequently takes a superior position that cancels those who do not share the same viewpoint.
Amos remains a relevant figure in today’s world for there exists a gap between rich and poor which is not just abysmal but also quite unbridgeable. Jeff Bezos or people in the same shade of wealth like him and the common man or woman on the street might as well be existing in different universes.
On the one hand, standing up for justice is laudable. What we need to be conscious of is the phenomenon of being a sour grape. It describes a negative attitude towards wealth only because it is unattainable to the person who is seemingly fighting for justice. In fact, Glaucon, a character in Plato’s Republic, gave a cynical definition of justice. According to him, there are some who fight for justice not because they love justice but because they do not possess the power to be unjust and to get away with it.
Think about it. Some of our political leaders are corrupt because they have the power to be corrupt and best of all, they believe themselves to be untouchable. However, there is also the type who stood against corruption becoming corrupt as soon as they come into power. In the struggle for justice, we may want to be mindful or watchful of our relationship with wealth and power.
Both power and wealth are ordinary measures of success for us. The present philosophy of life is driven very much by production and performance. A cursory glance at our marketing communications confirms this theory. They are centred on access provided by wealth to a lifestyle which makes the wealthy an envy for those who are poor. The engine that drives our notion of a good life is very much powered by envy. Keeping up with the Jones is what they call it.
Thus, the Gospel provides a way to reflect on how we should treat in particular our relationship with prosperity and material plenty. In the parable Jesus brings out the idea that God must come first in our consideration.
The steward is praised for his astuteness. How? He had been caught wasteful and for that, he would be punished with the loss of employment. Somehow, he managed to secure for himself a future by renegotiating the debt owed to his master. That astuteness, and not his dishonesty, earned the praise of Jesus.
Even though money was involved but what the steward did was even better. He was able to manoeuvre and in a way brought to fore two points to consider. First, Jesus brought up the issue that it is basically impossible to serve God and mammon. Second, it is our duty and our salvation to prioritise one over the other, which is, to put God first over wealth. If God comes first, then wealth will have a role to play in our lives.
Years ago I read a quote attributed to St Teresa of Avila but now I am no longer sure if she did say this. Still it bears repeating because it shows us how we should treat money for what it is. “Money may be the Devil’s excrement, but it is certainly a good fertiliser”. If St Teresa did say that, then she knows what money is and what it is good for. In other words, how can we possess money or wealth without being possessed by it?
Our relationship with money is never in terms of possession but as the Gospel reminds us, the material universe is ours only in terms of stewardship. Thus the quantum we possess is basically the amount we are looking after and not the amount we “own”. The African proverb best illustrates this. “We do not inherit the world from our ancestors. We borrow it from our children”. We are basically stewards and servants.
This truly sounds like a communist manifesto which aims to centralise or “collectivise” wealth. But it is not. Rather it is to understand how wealth should serve us rather than be worshipped. We should neither fear wealth nor be controlled by it. And if we desire heaven, God has to come first whereas wealth has to serve us. It is not and never the other way around. This is the long-term view to take if we want to secure our place in eternity.
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.
