Is there more?

 Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B

The words of Job in the first reading, spoken after he had lost everything - his children, his home, his wealth and his friends - and as he sits on a dung heap ruminating in self-pity, can resonate with so many of us as we are similarly weighed down by the drudgery of our daily routine. A bitter irony of modern life is just when computers and robots should give people more time for creativity and relaxation, the opposite is often the case for many, a continued life of drudgery.

To paraphrase Job’s rhetorical question, “is there more to life than this?” What is the purpose of life? If drudgery stems from finding no purpose in our work, in our relationships or even in our existence, finding purpose in life would be its antidote. This is the reason why people experience listlessness and boredom in life. When they no longer see a purpose for what they are doing - whether it is in the form of better remuneration, or reciprocated love, or positive appraisal from others, or greater power and influence - they lose interest.

Today, both St Paul and our Lord in the gospel we’ve just read, spell out the purpose for our Christian life - it is to preach the gospel and work for the salvation of souls. And unlike other kinds of work, the work of evangelisation, as St Paul reminds us “is a duty which has been laid on” us; “it is a responsibility which has been put into (our) hands.”

In the gospel reading, we find our Lord being pressed by His own disciples to resume the work of performing miracles, healing the sick and delivering the possessed from demonic affliction. It is a tiring job, to say the least. But this is not the reason why our Lord refuses to accede to His disciples’ request and meet people’s expectations. He is ultimately guided by a higher purpose: “Let us go elsewhere, to the neighbouring country towns, so that I can preach there too, because that is why I came.”

Our Lord could have been tempted to continue His works of healing and attending to the needs of the crowd, but this would only be an excuse to become more popular. Staying to meet the needs of the people would only be an excuse for meeting His own need for recognition and love. But He understood that His mission laid elsewhere, even though this may prove to be unpopular with His disciples and the crowds.

As Christians, how do we stay motivated? Our Lord provides us with three essential coordinates to stay focused on our goal and remain steadfast in our resolve.

The first coordinate is that the will of God must always be our starting point and our point of reference. All other things are constantly in flux - health, relationships, work, emotions - but only one thing remains constant - it is God. As St Teresa of Avila wisely puts it: “all things passes, only God remains.” Since God is the eternal constant, the anchor and safe harbour we possess in this tumultuous sea of life, He must be the measure of everything we do and say.

In this light, we must remember that it is never enough to do good, even if it is good done to and for others. The starting point cannot just be the needs of the other; the starting point cannot just be our assessment of what is convenient or expedient; the starting point cannot just be based on the opinions of the masses, even if it may be that of the majority. Ultimately, we must always choose to do what God wants of us. This criterion points to God’s mission and vocation for us. Sometimes, doing what God wants of us can be unpopular and may even go against our personal likes and interests.

The second coordinate is that of prayer. Note that our Lord went off into the hills to pray. How can we possibly know the will of God unless we are also persons rooted in prayer? Prayer is the life-giving link between God and His people. Prayer provides us with a moral compass and direction in life. Prayer ensures that we are not lost in the mess of activism nor allow ourselves to be distracted and tempted by the competing voices of the world and self. Prayer helps us to purify our motives and intentions so that we may not deceive ourselves into believing that we are acting in the interests of others, whereas it is our own interests which are being advanced.

The last point is that all our activities must ultimately be orientated to work for the salvation of souls. Today, very little is often said about salvation, what more salvation of souls. Too often, the Christian message has been reduced to some ‘feel good’ gospel which provides a mixture of pop psychology and spirituality for our earthly lives. And during a pandemic, safety seems to have replaced salvation. But, if one were to recall the answer to the second question contained in the old Penny Catechism, one will be reminded that salvation is man’s ultimate purpose – we are created by God “to know Him, love Him and serve Him and be with Him in Paradise forever.”

The last canon of the Code of Canon Law, canon 1752 has often been erroneously cited as the ‘pastoral canon’, a perfect excuse to dispense with every rule, restriction, prohibition and responsibility laid out in the Code. Any simple reading of canon 1752 will tell you that this canon has no intention of doing this. If one were to study this canon, one may be surprised to see that the word ‘pastoral’ or ‘pastoral reasons’ does not appear at all. Fr Dominic is fond of saying that when we priests cite this canon or “pastoral reasons” to break the law, the real motive is not “pastoral reasons,” but “Pastor’s reasons.” This is what the canon actually says: that “the salvation of souls, which must always be the supreme law in the Church, is to be kept before one’s eyes.’ St. Paul in today’s second reading affirms this truth by telling his readers that he deliberately chose to be “all things to all men” so that “some may be saved.”

It is not enough to choose to help people who are in need. We may just be providing temporary relief. It is not enough that we are able to provide some human solution to poverty, because we will always have the poor in a society which remains indifferent to injustice. Ultimately, the objective of salvation must come to play in every important decision that we make. Salvation must be the ultimate criteria for us offering to help those in need, the sick, the poor, the despondent and the lost. No form of human altruism can be an adequate substitute for salvation.

Very often we are tempted to forget this important mission of ours – to preach the gospel of salvation and give glory to God in all matters. We are more concerned with what others think of us – we want to be crowd-pleasers. We are more concerned with what makes us happy – even if that happiness is only temporary – whether it is in the form of riches, popularity, power or convenience. If our life purpose is based on these factors rather than on the will of God, we will soon find ourselves disillusioned and tired. Only by living and doing things according to God’s will can we truly escape from drudgery.