Gospel Reflection 2020/2021

With the advancement of information technology, we can easily and quickly access almost anything and everything on the internet. We are constantly loaded and overloaded with tonnes of information as well as misinformation. They are just a click away, being forwarded and re-forwarded – in the form of text messages, hyperlinks, pictures, audio and video files – served to us daily on silver platters.

Information technology is both a blessing and a curse to humanity. Overwhelmed by information and misinformation, we are tempted to think we know it all and we know best. It must be cautioned that the first casualties of information and misinformation were our First Parents, Adam and Eve [cf. Gn 3: 1-24]. They listened to the ancient serpent. And in their devilish pride, Adam and Eve rebelled against God – they had wanted to be like God, knowing good from evil. Therefore, as watchful Christians, we need to be guided by the Holy Spirit to sieve through the information and misinformation, to distinguish between the wheat and the weed [cf. Mt 13: 24-30].

Sincerity does not guarantee objectivity. Even Peter, who has received the first-hand information from Jesus and enjoyed personal relationship with our Lord, could still get it wrong. No matter how sincere we are, we are not infallible after all.

We all know Jesus, at least that is what we think. Perhaps we do not really know Him after all. We can have all the bible verses, dogmas and doctrines engraved in our minds and proclaim with our lips that “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” But in our heart and in our life, perhaps there is no place and no space for the real Jesus at all. Our slothful selves want the easy way out: faith without work, wisdom without experience, growth without pain, love without commitment, freedom without responsibilities, Gospel without discipleship, salvation without repentance, Church without discipline, Communion without confession, resurrection without the cross, and heaven without God. [Adapted from Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the Cost of Discipleship.] So, consciously or subconsciously we have created our own counterfeit version of 'Jesus' that will, in our fallacy, bend to our every beck and call, and save us.

Whenever we place ourselves above God, deliberately defying and controlling Him, we are worshiping the ‘unholy trinity’ of ‘I, Me and Myself’. The ‘unholy trinity’ of ‘I, Me and Myself’ is another name for the evil spirit – or at least they are bedfellows.

The only weapon against the ‘unholy trinity’ is true humility: to acknowledge that we are sinners in need of our Saviour; to faithfully take up our cross and humbly walk behind Jesus (to follow Him) and not before Him (to lead Him); to patiently learn to bend our will to His divine will; to swallow our pride and admit that we do not get it right all the time; and to know that we are ‘Satan’ every time we play God. And perhaps true humility is also to say “I am sorry” from the heart and mean it, to God and to those whom we have wronged.

There are so much information and misinformation outside and inside of us. However, what people are saying might not be true; and what we perceive as truth might not be true as well. May Jesus Christ the true light of the world help us sieve through the information and misinformation so that we can eventually arrive at the Ultimate Truth.

Let our fervent prayer be:

“Lord Jesus Christ, teach me Your Truth that I may believe it and live it.”