PROCLAIMING THE MYSTERIES OF FAITH


FRIDAY, SIXTEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

Jer 3:14-1; Jer 31:10-13; Mt 13:18-23

Grasping the Mysteries of Heaven

One characteristic feature of God is presence. God is a presence, and his name, I AM, means presence or existence. Presence is an alternative presentation of God who is existence. By creating us, he brings us to share in his being, for God is existence. Life, especially human life, is characterised by awareness. The object of our awareness determines the quality of our life. It follows, therefore, that to be aware of God is the highest form of existence or life. However, God is not immediately present to our awareness in mortal life. Our awareness of God’s presence is mediated until we develop our spiritual faculties to a level where we can apprehend spiritual realities directly. The role of the mysteries is to relate the divine presence and operations to us. Hence, the mysteries of faith are the events in time that God has immortalised by his presence and operations, such that they become pivotal in our connection and reconnection with the divine presence and will. These mysteries are related to the grace of our salvation because grace is the presence of God with us, enabling us to accomplish his holy will. The Church proclaims and teaches the mysteries of our salvation to open the spiritual doors for people to encounter God and gain salvation.

God desires that we return to his presence from where we have all strayed; it is for this reason that he revealed the mysteries. Prophet Jeremiah prophesied about the opportunities that the revelation of God’s mysteries will provide for all nations. “Come back, disloyal children—it is the Lord who speaks—for I alone am your Master. I will take one from a town, two from a clan, and bring you to Zion. I will give you shepherds after my own heart, and these shall feed you on knowledge and discretion.” The knowledge of God comes by feeding on the mysteries of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Of the new Jerusalem he built for all nations through his sacred life, death, and resurrection, the prophecy continues: “When that time comes, Jerusalem shall be called: The Throne of the Lord; all the nations will gather there in the name of the Lord and will no longer follow the dictates of their own stubborn hearts.” The doing of our own sinful wills had caused us to stray from God. The reception of the mysteries of our Lord will cause us to gather again before his saving presence.

Because he gathers us and feeds us on the mysteries of our salvation in his Church, which is the new Jerusalem, Jeremiah calls the Lord our shepherd. As our God and Shepherd, he is present in the mysteries to guard and guide us; He also feeds us through the same mysteries. So, to allow anything to distract us from feeding on the mysteries of our salvation is to miss out on the eternal life he gives us. Our Lord clarified this when he explained the parable of the sower. “When anyone hears the word of the kingdom without understanding, the evil one comes and carries off what was sown in his heart: this is the man who received the seed on the edge of the path. The one who received it on patches of rock is the man who hears the word and welcomes it at once with joy. But he has no root in him, he does not last; let some trial come, or some persecution on account of the word, and he falls away at once.” Similarly, he explains that worries of this world choke the word of God as thorns choke a seed to death. By the parable, the Lord encourages us to give our attention to the mysteries of our salvation, so that we may bear good and heavenly fruits. Again, because God is the supreme awareness or presence, it is only through awareness that we connect and receive him. May your love be upon us, O Lord, for we have put all our hope in you.

Let us pray: Show favour, O Lord, to your servants and mercifully increase the gifts of your grace, that, made fervent in hope, faith and charity, they may be ever watchful in keeping your commands. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.      

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