29 APRIL, 2019, Monday, 2nd Week of Easter
CHRISTIANITY IS NOT A PHILOSOPHY BUT THE POWER OF GOD
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ACTS 4:23-31; JOHN 3:1-8 ]
Some people, including Christians, want to reduce Christianity into a philosophy and a way of life. They become Christians because they embrace the values of the gospel. They are edified by the high moral standards of charity in truth, compassion and forgiveness of the Christian gospel. Whilst Christianity certainly provides a guide to living – the early Church was called the Way and baptism was called the Sacrament of Illumination – yet Christianity is not basically just a philosophy of life. Pope Benedict XVI in his first encyclical wrote, "We have come to believe in God's love: in these words the Christian can express the fundamental decision of his life. Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction. Saint John's Gospel describes that event in these words: 'God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should … have eternal life.'(3:16)"
Indeed, if we reduce Christianity to a philosophy of life, then it is comparable to other religions. All religions teach us to do good, to love, forgive and to care for the poor. Their scriptures also teach their followers about the Sacred, continuity between life on earth and life after death, detachment from this world and how to live an enlightened life. Indeed, "Religions, however, that are bound up with an advanced culture have struggled to answer the same questions by means of more refined concepts and a more developed language.
Thus Hinduism … seeks freedom from the anguish of our human condition either through ascetical practices or profound meditation or a flight to God with love and trust.
Again, Buddhism … realizes the radical insufficiency of this changeable world; it teaches a way by which men, in a devout and confident spirit, may be able either to acquire the state of perfect liberation, or attain, by their own efforts or through higher help, supreme illumination.
Likewise, other religions found everywhere try to counter the restlessness of the human heart, each in its own manner, by proposing 'ways,' comprising teachings, rules of life, and sacred rites. The Catholic Church rejects nothing that is true and holy in these religions." (Nostra Aetate, 2)
Nevertheless, the Church believes that Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life. While the Church "regards with sincere reverence those ways of conduct and of life, those precepts and teachings which, though differing in many aspects from the ones she holds and sets forth, nonetheless often reflect a ray of that Truth which enlightens all men. Indeed, she proclaims, and ever must proclaim Christ as 'the way, the truth, and the life' (John 14:6), in whom men may find the fullness of religious life, in whom God has reconciled all things to Himself." (Ibid)
Of course, we cannot expect others to believe what we believe because as Jesus in the gospel says, "I tell you most solemnly, unless a man is born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Just by reasoning alone, even if we could accept the teachings of Christ and the Church, will not lead us to faith unless we are born again in the Spirit of Jesus. Even Nicodemus, the wise rabbi could not understand what the Lord was saying. When he inquired, "'How can a grown man be born? Can he go back into his mother's womb and be born again?'
Jesus replied: 'I tell you most solemnly, unless a man is born through water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God: what is born of the flesh is flesh; what is born of the Spirit is spirit."
In other words, we cannot understand the things of God unless the Spirit of Jesus lives in us.
St Paul wrote, "Those who are unspiritual do not receive the gifts of God's Spirit, for they are foolishness to them, and they are unable to understand them because they are spiritually discerned." (1 Cor 2:14)
Precisely, faith in Jesus as the Son of God is possible only in faith through baptism when the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples. Whilst the Holy Spirit cannot be seen, it can be felt. The Lord said, "Do not be surprised when I say: You must be born from above. The wind blows wherever it pleases; you hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. That is how it is with all who are born of the Spirit." We know that Christ is the Son of God only in the power of the Holy Spirit. St Paul wrote, "no one can say 'Jesus is Lord' except by the Holy Spirit." (1 Cor 12:3)
The sign that Christianity is more than just a human philosophy of life is the divine element in our faith. Nicodemus said to the Lord, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who comes from God; for no one could perform the signs that you do unless God were with him."
The truth about our claims with regard to Christ is not through mere reasoning alone.
This was what St Paul wrote, "My speech and my proclamation were not with plausible words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God." (1 Cor 2:4f)
We know that Jesus is the Son of God because of the signs that He showed when He was on earth, through the working of miracles, exorcism, His way of life and most of all, by His resurrection.
The vindication of Jesus' death at His resurrection is confirmed not just by the sightings of His disciples of the Risen Lord but by the extension of Jesus' healing ministry in the life of the disciples and of the Church. Indeed, that was what the Christians prayed when they found themselves at loggerheads with the religious authorities. "And now, Lord, take note of their threats and help your servants to proclaim your message with all boldness, by stretching out your hand to heal and to work miracles and marvels through the name of your holy servant Jesus."
Through the preaching accompanied by the miraculous signs of healing and exorcism, including the works of charity, they opened the hearts of non-believers to accept Christ. This was how the Lord instructed His disciples in the proclamation of the Good News. He said, "these signs will accompany those who believe: by using my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes in their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover." (Mk 16:17f)
Consequently, building the Church of God cannot be merely the work of man's ingenuity, intelligence and convincing philosophical arguments with the world. Otherwise, we might as well employ some intelligent and great leaders to increase the membership of the Church. Rather, the building of God's kingdom is the work of grace and the work of the Holy Spirit.
Only Christ can establish His kingdom in our hearts when we are receptive to His grace, which is the Holy Spirit. And this can happen only in and through prayer. We read that "as they prayed, the house where they were assembled rocked; they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to proclaim the word of God boldly." Unless and until we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we cannot proclaim the Word of God with conviction and with power, not just in preaching and teaching but also in the ministry of healing and deliverance.
Indeed, no human power can fight against God. This is our conviction. That was what gave the disciples strength and perseverance in the face of persecutions. Citing from the psalm, they prayed, "'Why this arrogance among the nations, these futile plots among the peoples? Kings on earth setting out to war, princes making an alliance, against the Lord and against his Anointed.' This is what has come true: in this very city Herod and Pontius Pilate made an alliance with the pagan nations and the peoples of Israel, against your holy servant Jesus whom you anointed, but only to bring about the very thing that you in your strength and your wisdom had predetermined should happen."
Indeed, as St Paul remarked, "Yet among the mature we do speak wisdom, though it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to perish. But we speak God's wisdom, secret and hidden, which God decreed before the ages for our glory." (1 Cor 2:6f) So let us proclaim the gospel by praying to the Holy Spirit for wisdom and fortitude and perseverance.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved
Saint John of the Cross (1542-1591)
Carmelite, Doctor of the Church
The Ascent of Mount Carmel, Book 2, ch 5.5-7 (trans. ©Institute of Carmelite studies Publications)
*"What is born of spirit is spirit"*
We read in Saint John: «No one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit.» To be reborn in the Holy Spirit during this life is to become most like God in purity, without any mixture of imperfection. Accordingly, pure transformation can be effected - although not essentially - through the participation of union.
Here is an example that will provide a better understanding of this explanation. A ray of sunlight shining on a smudgy window is unable to illumine that window completely and transform it into its own light. It could do this if the window were cleaned and polished... The extent of illumination is not dependent on the ray of sunlight but on the window. If the window is totally clean and pure, the sunlight will so transform and illumine it that to all appearances the window will be identical with the ray of sunlight and shine just as the sun's ray. Although obviously the nature of the window is distinct from that of the sun's ray, even if the two seem identical, we can assert that the window is the ray or light of the sun by participation.
The soul on which the divine light of God's being is ever shining, or better, in which it is ever dwelling by nature, is like this window. A soul makes room for God by wiping away all the smudges and smears of creatures, by uniting its will perfectly to God's; for to love is to labor to divest and deprive oneself for God of all that is not God. When this is done the soul will be illumined by and transformed in God.
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Monday, 29th APRIL
St Catherine of Siena, virgin and Doctor of the Church
John 3:1-8
Jesus answered to Nicodemus, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God."
Nicodemus said to him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?"
Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."
The reference to water and the spirit here becomes the official presentation of the Sacrament of Baptism. St John the Baptist declared, 'I baptise with water,' and the Messiah will baptise 'with the Holy Spirit.' Water, then, is now no longer enough.
The Holy Spirit is brought to our attention in a special way during Eastertide. The Risen Jesus is preparing everything to entrust His Church to the care of the Holy Spirit. And now, the Holy Spirit is at work. You don't see Him, as you don't see the wind, but you see his effects. St John XXIII said: "The saints are the masterpieces of the Holy Spirit." Those who have been baptised with water have the Holy Spirit at work inside.
On Tuesday November 8 1932, St Josemaría's spiritual director told him: _"Make friends with the Holy Spirit. Don't speak: listen to him."
That was a new discovery.
"Until now I knew that the Holy Spirit was dwelling in my soul to sanctify it," St Josemaría wrote later that day, "but I hadn't really grasped this truth about his presence. I feel the Holy Spirit's Love within me, and I want to talk to him, to be his friend, to confide in him. I want to facilitate his work of polishing, uprooting, and enkindling. I wouldn't know how to set about it. He will give me strength. He will do everything, if I so want. And I do want! Divine Guest, Master, Light, Guide, Love, may I make you truly welcome inside me and listen to the lessons you teach me. Make me burn with eagerness for you, make me follow you and love you. Resolution: to 'keep up', without interruption as far as I can, a loving and docile friendship and conversation with the Holy Spirit. Veni Sancte Spiritus!... Come, Holy Spirit!"_ (St Josemaría).
Mary, Spouse of the Holy Spirit, help me to remain faithful to my resolution.
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