Wednesday of Week 9 in Ordinary Time
Tob 3:1-11;16-17
Mk 12:18-27
Jesus said to them, “Is not the reason why you go wrong, that you understand neither the scriptures nor the power of God?“
I am one of those parents with a very Singaporean problem — coaching my child through primary school mathematics. If you know, you know. If you don’t, you will never be able to understand why we are tearing our hair out. Essentially, the problem is a fundamental one — their not being able to grasp the concepts due to a less than strong understanding of the basics of mathematics. It seems as though I am explaining and re-explaining the same concept over and over. I keep correcting her mistakes. And here lies the kicker — she usually insists that I am doing it wrongly because her teacher said/did it another way (which is clearly wrong).
So the situation is that she holds on to a belief in a certain idea that she claims is from her teacher. Now, I have to wonder if her teacher is truly qualified to teach, or perhaps my daughter misheard or misunderstood, or had simply not paid attention in class. Either way, she is getting the wrong idea, holding fast to it, and going down the wrong path. And this is very difficult to correct. And so it is with our faith. How much of what we believe in, or think we know, is due to a misunderstanding of what the Church really teaches? Did we intentionally misunderstand and ignore? Were we poorly catechised? Did we get misled along the way by false teachings and false teachers?
Bishop Fulton Sheen once wrote: “There are not over a hundred people in the United States who hate the Catholic Church. There are millions, however, who hate what they wrongly believe to be the Catholic Church.” (The rest of it deserves to be read as well so do visit the link at the end). There is certainly still a lot of anger and vitriol directed at the Church today. Even on an individual level, many people leave the church whether in anger, or due to lukewarmness that turned cold. To be fair, there are some who do have very compelling reasons to leave the Church in order to get away from its people; some have valid reasons to hate the people in Church. And we can certainly say that those who have caused such pain are not living the faith at all.
Why do the others stray then? I have known some people who are lapsed Catholics. Either they find the Church gives them nothing, or they find Church teaching backward and onerous to follow. In both cases, there is clearly a misunderstanding about the faith, coupled with an obstinacy to have everything done in accordance with their own will. While it is frustrating and heartbreaking to hear about these stories, there is a limit to what we can do. God is the one that ultimately changes hearts, and He will do that in His own time.
It is one thing to leave the Church. It is quite another to find something else to take its place. Some weeks back, our parish priest gave a fiery sermon against the rise of new age and occult practices rampant even amongst Catholics. While I have thankfully not encountered straight up satanic practices, there was a period of time when some fellow students were dabbling in the ‘pen spirit’ in school — a Catholic school — no less. I also know people, including family, who hold on to superstitions and who believe in the power of talismans and deities. I do wonder why their faith in God is not as strong as their faith in crystals. Or perhaps their faith in both is weak and they want to cover all bases?
Do they not know their faith or the power of God? During my PER (Prayer Experience Retreat), a priest related an encounter by a man who had been ensnared by some spirit. That man, a lapsed Catholic, had gone to a medium for help, but somehow that medium had sensed that he was in fact a Christian, and asked him why he had not asked God for help instead, since God is way more powerful than any medium. Everyone else seems to know the power of God; so why do we have trouble trusting God? Is it because we tend to want a god that will bend to our will? A god that will give us what we want? Our God is not going to make deals with us in exchange for our souls. Actually yes, God does want our souls but not in that way. All we need to do is to trust God and take up His offer of salvation. Then our souls will be safe in His hands.
How then do we trust in God, to understand our faith properly, in order to not err? We need discernment and to be led by the Holy Spirit. At mass today (Pentecost, at the time of writing this), Father talked about a charismatic renewal. He also emphasised that ‘charismatic’ does not only refer to praise and worship and speaking in tongues. It was because of this that I always avoided anything described as charismatic, and I still don’t know which charismatic gift I have (I’m perfectly fine not knowing or having one). I had held this misunderstanding until well into adulthood, when someone asked me if I thought cloistered nuns who took vows of silence are never in tune with the Holy Spirit? Oh. To surrender to the Holy Spirit is to surrender to the power of God and to let Him guide you. That is charismatic. First and foremost, allow yourself to be guided by the Holy Spirit. Then you can start discerning, learning and studying about the faith if possible, to get a better understanding of it.
It is not easy to fully understand the faith. It is difficult to explain and instruct in the faith. It is hard to live out the faith so others may see and learn correctly. We do, however, need to try. But first, we must be led by the Holy Spirit, so as not to err in our endeavours. The Holy Spirit is God himself, and there is no better guide.
Link: https://aleteia.org/2016/06/20/father-fulton-sheen-the-millions-who-hate-the-catholic-church/
(Today’s OXYGEN by Felicia Zou)
Prayer: Most High, glorious God, enlighten the darkness of my heart, and give me true faith, certain hope, and perfect charity, sense and knowledge, Lord, that I may carry out your holy and true command. Amen.
- St Francis of Assisi’s prayer of discernment
Thanksgiving: Dear Lord, we thank You for patiently waiting for us to discern Your will. We thank You for Your wisdom and guidance. Thank You for Your redeeming Love for us.
OXYGEN 
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