Insecurity The Cause Of Our Downfall - Archbishop W. Goh (Abridged Homily Extract - 20 Jan 2022)

Insecurity is a cause of all our resentment, our fears. And we tend to exaggerate these fears in our minds more than what they really are. That's why when we are envious, insecure, we tend to misperceive. We don't judge correctly. We are blinded by our envy. And we tend to think that our friends are our enemies. Today, the Gospel tells us that Jesus withdrew His disciples to the lakeside. Jesus knew that He was not welcome in the synagogue anymore. The religious leaders felt that He was a threat to their status quo, to their popularity, to their positions in society. They were trying to find a way to kill Him. And so, what did Jesus do? He withdrew. Instead of preaching in the synagogue, now He preached at the lakeside, in the fields. Now, He has a bigger audience. Actually, the synagogue was not very big, very few people He could reach out to. But now, His audience was immense. So, Jesus now was, so to speak, no longer confined to the synagogue. By driving Jesus out of the synagogue, they were actually helping Jesus to spread the Good News even more effectively. All because of jealousy, envy. They thought they could destroy the ministry of Jesus. Actually, they were helping Him. My dear brothers and sisters, this is the irony of insecurity. Insecurity, envy, misjudgement. And so, that is why many of us, sometimes we all suffer, because we have people working with us who are insecure. We want to help them, but they feel threatened and try to stifle us. We have actually many good people wanting to serve the Church. But because those in charge of them feel that they are a threat, then they go elsewhere. And some of them are doing very well, actually, not working in the Church, but working in NGOs (non- government organisations). That is the irony of it. Since they are not wanted in the Church, they go somewhere else to offer their services. And so, today, we need to learn from Jesus. Jesus was very confident of Himself. When the unclean spirits said, "You are the Son of God", He told them not to make Him known. Jesus does not need the publicity of the evil spirits, because the evil spirits will give a wrong connotation of His Messiah as a political Messiah. So, Jesus silenced them. He would dictate to the people. He would show the people what kind of Messiahship His was; through the cross, through death, through suffering. Jesus would not allow himself to be manipulated, to be controlled, because He knows Himself. He knows what the Father wants. He knows His mission. He didn't feel threatened by anyone, not even by the religious leaders. Let us pray that we will be as wise as Jesus.

Channel: Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Singapore

Views: 2,075

Keywords: Catholic, Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Church, Archdiocese of Singapore, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Singapore, Archbishop William Goh, William Goh, Homily, Sermon, Scripture Reflection, Singapore, Proud2BCatholic, ArchComms, Homily Extracts, Short Sermons, Message of the day, Daily Bread, Mass, Jesus, Eucharist, Evangelisation, Gospel, Vocation, Faith, Homilies, Homily for today, Daily Mass, Ordinary Time, Weekday Mass, Insecurity, Life, Jealousy, Envy, Mission, Fear, Manipulation, yt:cc=on

Id: oycPfTXbmXU

Length: 3min 53sec (233 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 20 2022