The real test of worthiness

Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A

Is it justifiable to defend unity at any costs? For many, keeping the peace and maintaining unity should be the main priority of any group, community or family. And if this is so, then we must be prepared to sacrifice our personal preferences, values, and even the truth, to preserve the group’s cohesiveness.

Today, our Lord challenges this belief. Group cohesion and communal unity are important but they cannot be our ultimate goals. As Christians, our ultimate goal is to grow deeper in our relationship with Christ and all other relationships, no matter how good or praiseworthy, must ultimately be subject to, and take its cue from this relationship with Christ.

Our Lord explains that His gospel will inevitably force us to choose and this choice will be the cause of division. The proclamation of the kingdom will cause division not because the message is divisive or hateful but because of the ways people will receive it. Responses will vary from full and open reception, to hostile rejection, and this will lead to discord - even hostility - within families, communities and among friends.  So, the “worthiness” of His disciples will be tested. The “worthy” disciple does not love father, mother, son or daughter more than Christ. That does not mean that we Christians should not love our parents or family members. We should. But what our Lord is insisting here is that loyalty to Him even before one’s family, is the hallmark of true discipleship. The relationship offered to us in Christ is something which goes further and deeper than even the very closest human relationship.

The gospel of Jesus is not only about an ethical way of life founded on love and mercy, but it is above all about the person of Jesus Himself. We are “Christians” not only because of our words and deeds, but because our entire lives have been reshaped and transformed into “another Christ.” As St Paul in today’s second reading tells us, “when we were baptised in Christ Jesus we were baptised in His death; in other words, when we were baptised we went into the tomb with Him and joined Him in death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the Father’s glory, we too might live a new life.” Because we are “joined” to Him in baptism, our Lord claims a special place in our lives, more important than our dearest ones and biological kin. Being a disciple is not a marginal aspect of my life, it is central.

If our relationship to Christ is what defines us, then our fate too is ultimately intertwined with His. That is why the next test of our “worthiness” is to be found in our willingness to take up the cross. “Anyone who does not take his cross and follow in my footsteps is not worthy of me. Anyone who finds his life will lose it; anyone who loses his life for my sake will find it.”

The idea of taking up a cross in today’s context has been sanitised and trivialised. It is often used as a metaphor to describe bearing with life’s daily burdens and inconveniences, like a long wait in traffic, being subjected to the blistering heat, putting up with a difficult boss or spouse, enduring aches and pains. This is so far from the reality of the cross which our Lord had to endure. No, when Jesus says that the true disciple must “take up his cross,” He is not merely calling for acceptance of life’s little inconveniences and hardships. He is calling His disciples to give up everything, even their lives if necessary, to follow Him.

The cross is a radical call to die to oneself. Taking up one’s cross or denying oneself is not something optional to Christianity. In fact, it is the defining action of Christianity. Denying self is not to be confused with denying something to oneself, whether material things, food, pleasure, or whatever. Wicked people often deny themselves many things in order to achieve their selfish goals or conquer their enemies. What Jesus meant by self-denial is far more radical than denying something to oneself. He meant that one must say no to oneself. All man’s sin and self-destruction centers in self-love, self-trust, and self-assertion. The cross means the opposite, it means “no” to self and “yes” to God.

But self-denial is not without value. Our Lord promises His faithful disciples, “If anyone gives so much as a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is a disciple, then I tell you solemnly, he will most certainly not lose his reward.” In this following of Christ, this union with God, we will ultimately share in the reward which Christ has won for us. It is true that now we must endure the trial of discipleship by having a share in His cross but later we will have a share in His glory, as St Paul assures us, “What we suffer in this life can never be compared to the glory, as yet unrevealed, which is waiting for us.” (Rom 8:18)

Do not be afraid of being "cancelled"

Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A

One of my greatest fears is waking up to find that the comments section of my social media posting has been inundated with people calling me out for something problematic that I posted. There was a time when social media was a relatively innocent, peaceful and harmless virtual platform where you could post just about anything and get away with it. This is no longer true especially if you are a high profiled personality. Every word or thought or opinion which you express would be thoroughly scrutinised by keyboard warriors. The fear of being “cancelled” can cripple us to the point that nowadays, we find it hard to share our opinions honestly in public.

This phenomenon is what we call “cancel culture” which involves public denouncement of those who dare to express an opinion that is different from the position of a particular group. What makes them such a fearful force to contend with is that, they often act in a pack - like a pack of wolves or a school of piranhas. For actually expressing your opinion, you will be labelled with all sorts of names, depending on which end of the spectrum your critics belong to. One begins to see how the majority can be held ransom by a small but loud militant minority and eventually be forced to placate the latter by giving in to their demands. It is no longer Truth which motivates us but fear.

But today, our Lord repeatedly tells us, “do not be afraid.” Do not be afraid of speaking the Truth; do not be afraid of intimidation from those who wish to silence you: do not be afraid of opposition, persecution and even martyrdom at the hands of your enemies; do not be afraid because we are of great worth in the eyes of God. At the end of the day, do not be afraid of proclaiming the gospel.

There is no denying that it is tempting to stop preaching the gospel or to soften the message in order to make things easier and protect ourselves from suffering and opposition. It may seem for now that whatever is the Truth may be passed off by society as a lie, but we are assured by the Lord that those who bravely proclaim and defend the Truth will experience vindication one day. Even if the Truth seems obfuscated in our lifetime, one day, “everything that is now covered will be uncovered, and everything now hidden will be made clear.”

Therefore, despite all the opposition and vilification which we will receive, Christians must continue to speak “in the daylight” and proclaim the gospel “from the housetops.” Such bold proclamations may lead to martyrdom, there is no denying that. But our Lord reminds us that the goal of a Christian witness is not just survival and personal safety but salvation. “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; fear him rather who can destroy both body and soul in hell.” Therefore we should fear God more than our persecutors. Tell the truth and risk the wrath of the mob. But tell a lie and risk the wrath of God. We should prefer the former to the latter.

At the end of the day, the real motivation for our decisions, our actions and our speech should not be the fear of public reaction but rather, the judgment from God. Our Lord tells us that He will acknowledge us before His Heavenly Father, if we stand resolutely to acknowledge Him before His enemies. His enemies may harm our bodies, but God will save our souls. We may be “cancelled” by the angry mob, but we will be affirmed by our loving God. But be warned, less we take God’s patience and mercy for granted. God will not hesitate to “cancel” us, if we choose to placate the mob for our political survival, rather than stand for what is true and good and morally right, and be saved from eternal damnation.

If we really understood, we would die with joy

Solemnity of Corpus Christi

Let’s be honest. Out of all the teachings of the Catholic Church (and we have quite a number of teachings to defend; for example, the Holy Trinity, the infallibility of the Pope, the cult of Mary and the saints) by far one of the most outrageous, unimaginable, and seemingly ludicrous is the dogma of Jesus Christ’s true presence in the Eucharist. We are not just stating that it is merely a symbolic presence that flows out of our sentimental attachment to the actions and words of Jesus, but that He is really truly present in the Eucharist. In light of such a seemingly ridiculous claim, it should at least pique one’s interest how so many millions of people, including some of the most brilliant minds in all of history, have believed it. Do we all need to have our heads checked?

What is it that we Catholics believe in or should believe in? The Council of Trent dogmatically defined it in this way: “After the consecration of the bread and wine, our Lord Jesus Christ…is truly, really, and substantially contained under the species of [the bread and wine]” because the “whole substance of the bread [is turned] into the Body, and the whole substance of the wine [is turned] into the Blood.” It is not just enough to state that we believe that Jesus is “really” present, we have to use a string of adjectives to emphasise this truth beyond any shadow of doubt.

This means that after the consecration, there is no longer bread or wine but only Jesus’ whole Person: His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. The Church teaches this not as a metaphor, sign, or symbol but as literally true. Any person, therefore, who has gone to a Catholic Mass can say just as truly as any of the Apostles who personally walked, talked, and ate with Him,  that they have been in the same room as Jesus.

Although it is relatively easy to understand this dogma, what becomes difficult is explaining how to make sense of it. To do this, a bit of philosophy is needed. Aristotle asserts that every changeable being has a “substance” and “accidents.” Substance is that which remains the same about a thing even after it undergoes change. It is what is essential to it, what the thing truly is. A thing’s substance is its “what-ness.” The accidents, on the other hand, are all those characteristics that exist in a substance, but that are not essential to what it truly is. For example, I am substantially a human person. I have been a human person from the time I was conceived in my mother’s womb. I was born human. I was human when I was 12 years old. Now at 53, I am still human (I hope). But I look quite different now than when I was 12 years old or when I was a baby. I’ve grown in size. Perhaps, I possess less hair on my head. My shape has also changed. But, all of these are accidents. Even though these accidents may change, my substance as a human person has not.

Using these distinctions to explain the Eucharist, St. Thomas Aquinas explains at the consecration, the substance of bread and wine—what the thing really is—ceases to be and is replaced by Jesus Himself. This is why the dogma is called “Transubstantiation,” meaning a “change of substance.” However, unlike all other substantial changes, this change does not also involve a change in accidents. After the priest has consecrated the bread and wine, it still looks like bread and wine, tastes like bread and wine, smells like bread and wine. But this is the amazing truth about this miracle – we say that it is no longer bread and wine. It is the Body and Blood, soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ. The accidents or non-essential characteristics of bread and wine remain the same. They have not changed. But the substance has changed. It is no longer bread and wine, but Christ truly, really, substantially present.

That is the reason why Saint Thomas Aquinas could confidently insert these words in the first two lines of his Eucharistic Hymn, Adoro Te (the popular English version is known as Humbly we adore thee), “I devoutly adore you, hidden deity, Who are truly hidden beneath these appearances.” Imagine that: God who hides in plain sight – “hidden deity … hidden beneath these appearances” of bread and wine. Although this might sound crazy, remember the religion we follow. We believe that the infinite God became man, the Word became flesh, the Invisible Deity became visible in our Lord Jesus Christ.  Although no doctor with any microscope could discover God hiding in the consecrated bread and wine, He still is. And why should we believe this? Because our Lord expressly says so, “‘I am the living bread which has come down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live for ever; and the bread that I shall give is my flesh, for the life of the world.” St. Cyril of Jerusalem wrote, “Since then [Jesus] Himself declared and said of the Bread, ‘This is My Body,’ who shall dare to doubt?”

Once we come to accept this great truth of transubstantiation, we realise in a new way God’s humble and immense love for us. Not only did He become man in the Incarnation, but He also instituted the Eucharist so that until the end of time He would never be separated from us. God who became one of us, allows Himself to be consumed by us, so that He may truly be one with us, and we with Him. Although He knew that in the Eucharist He would be abused, trampled, and disgraced countless times, yet He saw it as a small price if even one humble and contrite person would receive Him in faith. In the face of such a beautiful mystery, then, it is no wonder Saint Thomas Aquinas would cry while elevating the host at Mass, knowing the greatest love story of all time lay before him. As Saint John Marie Vianney reminds us, “if we really understood the Mass, we would die with joy.”

The Holy Trinity sends greetings

Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

People often ask me, “Why start the Mass with a ritual greeting? This sounds so stiff-and-official-like. Why not just start with a warm and friendly greeting like ‘Good Morning’?” Good question. This would, indeed, be the right approach if the Mass were nothing more than a meal with family and friends, but, in reality, it is infinitely more than that. The Mass is not an informal gathering of a group of people.  It is a sacred moment before God.  This is why the Missal gives the formal, stylised greeting that the priest is expected to use.  If we believe the Mass is a representation of the Holy Sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross, you wouldn’t appreciate being greeted with a happy chirpy “Good morning” as you contemplate our Lord’s suffering and death on Good Friday, would you? Since it is a sacred moment before God, then the formality and solemnity of the words should be befitting God, for the Eucharist is an anticipation of the heavenly wedding banquet which God Himself prepares for us. The Most Holy Trinity, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, is now inviting us to enter into their inner circle, into their intimate communion which is the basis and foundation of all other communions.

As far as liturgical greetings are concerned, there are three options available.  Each option highlights the special nature of our gathering for Mass. Today, I would like to consider the first option, the Trinitarian option. The priest utters these words immediately after the sign of the cross. “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” As warm and as friendly as a “good morning” greeting sounds to common folks, the liturgical greeting is far more superior. It all makes absolute theological sense. We come for Mass not because of the priest (although truth be told, many people choose their priests. Fr Friendly Smile is always preferred over Fr Prune face). We come for Mass not just to see each other. We come for Mass because of God. And it is only proper that the priest, the minister of God, should greet us in the name of God, the Most Holy Trinity.

These words are the last words of Saint Paul’s second letter to the Church of Corinth, which we heard in the second reading. Since Saint Paul refers to God the Father simply as “God”, this blessing is clearly Trinitarian. It expresses the Church’s belief in one God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It briefly sums up the very essence of the Christian life. This is a good reminder that the Trinity is not primarily the subject of intellectual discourse. No, the Most Holy Trinity is first and foremost, the object of our worship, of our liturgy. To grasp the Mystery of the Most Holy Trinity, we must do so on our knees, in humble adoration and worship.

In this greeting, Saint Paul does not follow the order in which we normally name the divine persons of the Trinity. Rather, he first mentions Jesus, who is the Son before he names God the Father. This very unusual word order, unlocks for us the theology of Saint Paul about how we are saved. Paul begins the greeting by saying “the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ”. He uses the word “grace” to express the salvation event. Through the death and resurrection of Jesus, our sins are forgiven and we are reconciled with God. Thus, it is through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ that we come to the Father. As Jesus Himself said, “No one comes to the Father except through me” (Jn 14:6).

Paul ends the greeting with the words “the communion of the Holy Spirit”. In the translation of the third edition of the English translation of the Roman Missal, “communion” replaces the word “fellowship”. Both words translate from the Greek word “koinonia.” It’s good to unpack this word because the word “fellowship” and the word “communion” have taken on very different meanings from the original “koinonia.”

First of all, the expression “the communion of the Holy Spirit” reminds us of the intimate relationship that every believer has with the Holy Spirit. The Risen Lord pours out His Holy Spirit on each of us. It is because of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us, that we can call Jesus “Lord” (I Cor 12:4); and, it is in the power of the Holy Spirit that we call God “Father” (Gal 4:6).

Second, the expression “the communion of the Holy Spirit” also reminds us that the Holy Spirit gives to each of us different gifts for a purpose. Using these different gifts, we are to work together for the good of the whole Church and thus form one body, one communion of faith (I Cor 12:7; Gal 5:22).

Something else needs to be said about the syntax of this greeting. In the original Greek found in Saint Paul’s letter, the word “be” is missing, so it can be understood both as a statement of fact and as a wish. But now with our liturgy adding the verb “be” in the greeting, the Church is confident in declaring her faith in the Trinity – it is not just a wish but a statement of fact, a statement of faith. She is confident of the love of the Father who has called together His children into His Church and who has sent His Son so that by His sacrifice we may be gathered into a communion whose inspirer and unifier is the Holy Spirit. This is what happens at every Mass. In the liturgy, all three persons of the Trinity are taking us up into their life as the one God, and forming us here on earth as the Body of Christ.

So, the next time you are tempted to walk up to the priest and ask him to change the wording of the Mass, so that it would sound less off-putting, less formal, more familiar, remember this simple truth – the Mass is not about you, it’s not even about the priest, it is first and foremost about God, the Most Holy Trinity, whom we worship, and the very same Holy Trinity who now invites us, unworthy though we are, into the community of Persons, where each is distinct and yet perfectly united. “Unity in diversity” is not just a pretty slogan. It is already a reality in the three persons whom we call God. The deeper we grow in union with God, the deeper and more authentic would our communion be.