Pt. Vũ Hiến

BE COMPLETENESS

Lev 19:1-2, 17-18, 1Cor 3:16-23, Mat 5:38-48

Over a thousand years before Christ, God said to His people through Moses, “Be holy, for I am holy.” Undoubtedly, the kingdom of God is the kingdom of holiness. To get into this kingdom, we need to come to God as close as we can be. Our ultimate purpose of being Christians is to grow closer to God. What does God demand from us? How do we live a holy life in the midst of the chaos of the temporal world? How can a lowly creature like me be perfect just as the heavenly Father is perfect?

 While driving on the street, I saw a popular sticker that says, “Don’t get mad, get even!” Even if it is a joke; it reminds me of the reality of modern life. Things can quickly become ugly when someone is hurt and strikes back, and the cycle of revenge begins. Our Lord Jesus demands us to have mercy and loving kindness for our enemies. To follow Him, to grow closer to God, our hearts must have no room for retaliation. We must not only avoid returning evil for evil, but we must seek the good of those who wish to harm us. We should not avenge ourselves, since God says “Vengeance is mine, I will repay.” Do we accept insults, as Jesus did, with no resentment and hatred? When someone demands us to do more thing than we want to do, do we insist on our rights, or do we respond with grace and cheerfulness?

When I was in the Holy Land, the word “Holy” bothered me a lot. Sometimes I wanted to say this land is not the holy land, it is an ugly land. I will tell you why. Coming from America, a safe and secure society, I was shocked and scared to see the presence of the soldiers with guns everywhere in Jerusalem. While staying at the Ecce Homo campus in the Muslim Square, in east Jerusalem, I often heard guns shooting day and night. Looking over Bethlehem from Jerusalem city, about 5 miles away, I saw the huge and tall wall which divided Israel and the territory of the West Bank. On the top of the wall were many high army towers equipped with machine guns, video cameras, and loud speakers. These towers are spaced very closed together, one after the other. A few steps away from the other side of the wall was the Palestine Refugee Camp. Visitors could see many traces of bullets with signatures and hateful words expressing peoples’ frustration, fear and anger. I felt deep sorrow for people living on both sides, for their sufferings with doubts, division, and a long-standing feud from generation to generation.

Living in this chaotic world, what does God ask from us? Carrying God’s image in our hearts means we are expecting to be like Him. Growing closer to God means imitating God. If God is merciful, then be merciful to others. If God is kind to all of us, be likewise kind to all. If God is love, be love even toward our enemies and those who persecute us. In order to live Godly, Jesus told us be merciful and have compassion for one another. When we believe and practice His teaching, He will fill our hearts and we will find joy and happiness in life.

Last Saturday, I assisted the Bishop for the Wedding Anniversary Mass for the Diocese of San Jose. After the homily, every married couple was invited to stand up so the assembly could recognize their successful marriages. It began with 25-year anniversary-couples (23), then 50-years anniversaries (over 50), then 60-years anniversaries (7). Finally, when two couples with over 70-year’s anniversaries stand up, the whole congregation stood up to applaud and celebrate them. Looking at all of them, I found the hope, love, joy, and the compassion in them. I am sure they must give up and forgive a lot for one another. I see the value of Jesus’ teaching in them. Certainly, their marriages are vindicated by their holy lives. Holiness takes time and practice. Holiness needs mercy and forgiveness. Without these virtues as they were present in those couples, and here in you today, there will be no holy future. 

In the Gospel, Jesus said we must be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect. In the Aramaic language, the word “perfect” means “completeness” or “wholeness,” or lacking nothing. We might think that perfection cannot exist in our ordinary and weak human lives. Yet, Saint Peter confirmed that, God gives us every good gift in Jesus Christ so that we may not lack anything we need to do his will and to live as his sons and daughters. Jesus knows our weakness and sinfulness better than we do. And He assures us of his love, mercy, and grace to follow in His ways. If we want to grow in our love for God and for our neighbor, we need to ask the Holy Spirit to change and transform us in the image of the Father that we may walk in the joy and freedom of the gospel. We will likely never be sinless, but with Jesus in our heart we can be “complete,” we can be “whole,” we can be “Holy.” May the love of God strengthen us, so we can growcloser to Jesus in all our relationships of love, so we can live peacefully and joyfully with people around us.