A Hiatus

It is coming to July and the long awaited annual priests’ retreat will be conducted.  I have not posted anything of late because I have not been able to make good enough reflections on the Sunday readings.  I must admit and confess that I have been affected very much by many of the things in the the last few weeks.  Both overseas and locally, there have been several incidents that affected me.  As a catholic priest, I have subscribed to the principle of judging the act and not the person.  As I was preparing the scripts for my blog posts, I discovered that there were points I had written that was contrary to the principle above.  I realised that I had to take a little break to settle what was in me before posting.  Thus, I am taking a hiatus, at least until after the priests’ annual retreat.

10th Sunday in Ordinary Time: What makes a prophet?

Hans von Aachen [Public domain], Raising of the son of the widow of Nain, via Wikimedia Commons

When Jesus brought the widow’s son back to life, I am sure that the people were reminded of Elijah pleading for another widow’s son and how the Lord saved him from death’s door.  It is thus not surprising that the people considered Jesus a prophet. This distinction is important because of what a prophet is.  In the first reading, from the First Book of Kings, we hear the widow saying that she finally considered Elijah a man of God and “the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth itself.” (1 Kgs 17:24, Jerusalem Bible) 

We are often pressured by worldly standards of beauty and perfection, and other worldly values.  In this pressure, we often end up wearing masks, pretending to be perfect when we know we are not.  We fail to see the real beauty that God sees in us and pursue an external beauty that has no value in the eyes of God. We fear to let people see who we are for fear of not being accepted. Then we live lives where God’s truth is not valued.  Our use of words, our actions and our attitudes start to align themselves with what is worldly, straying away from the Lord. Our lives become burdened and shackled.  That is why Jesus would teach, “and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:32)

When I consider that at my baptism, I was made priest, prophet and king, participating in the priestly, prophetic and kingly offices of Jesus: Son of God and Son of Man. I am baptised to utter the word of the Lord as a Christian.  This word has to be truth itself. In my sinfulness I have not been exemplary in being a prophet. The questions I must keep asking myself is: Is the word of the Lord an intrinsic part of my life? Is truth a part of my life as well? Do I utter the word of the Lord? Am I living in the truth because I am a prophet? Am I truly a prophet of the Lord?

Corpus Christi 2016

Picture by John Synder

In the most blessed sacrament of the Eucharist “the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the whole Christ is truly, really, and substantially contained.”[Council of Trent (1551): DS 1651.] “This presence is called ‘real’ – by which is not intended to exclude the other types of presence as if they could not be ‘real’ too, but because it is presence in the fullest sense: that is to say, it is a substantial presence by which Christ, God and man, makes himself wholly and entirely present.”[Paul VI, Mysterium Fidei 39]— from Catechism of the Catholic Church 1374

This is something that all Catholics are to believe.  We believe in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharistic species. I know that there are times when I give in to the temptation of ritualism and do not treat the Eucharistic sacrament with the honour and respect that it deserves. I am so caught up in making sure that the gestures at Mass are properly made and the prayers properly recited that I forget that the risen Jesus is really present. As a priest. if I truly believe that the risen Jesus is really present, then, I need to show it by the way the Mass is celebrated.

When the scriptures speak of the Eucharist as real food and real drink (John 6:47-58), it means that the Eucharist as Body and Blood of Christ gives us spiritual nourishment.  In the liturgy, the Word and the Eucharist provide us full spiritual nourishment.  To receive one without the other would lead to an ‘unbalanced meal.’ Yet I have observed that there are many who come in to Church just before the Sanctus is sung and leave almost immediately after receiving communion. Yet the precepts of the Church are as follows (Catechism of the Catholic Church 2042):

The first precept (“You shall attend Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation.”) requires the faithful to participate in the Eucharistic celebration when the Christian community gathers together on the day commemorating the Resurrection of the Lord. 

The second precept (“You shall confess your sins at least once a year.”) ensures preparation for the Eucharist by the reception of the sacrament of reconciliation, which continues Baptism's work of conversion and forgiveness. 

The third precept (“You shall humbly receive your Creator in Holy Communion at least during the Easter season.”) guarantees as a minimum the reception of the Lord's Body and Blood in connection with the Paschal feasts, the origin and center of the Christian liturgy.

Notice that the first precept speaks of attendance at Mass, (i.e. from its beginning to the end) and not the reception of Holy Communion on Sundays. While it is best to receive communion at the Mass one attends, the reception of communion without being present at the Mass does not satisfy the first precept.  Aha! Father, you might say, you are being Pharisaical; you are too legalistic.  Yes, I agree.  However, wanting to do the minimum just to satisfy the law can be seen as legalistic as well.  When we think that just receiving communion on a Sunday means that we have fulfilled the precept come  to Church on Sundays, are we not being legalistic as well? When we celebrate Mass as a community, the sign of communion becomes meaningful.  To receive communion just as food without giving any attention to community worship robs communion of its meaning.  In fact, when we bring communion to the housebound, it is seen as the extension of Mass.  Because they are not physically with us at Mass (for a very valid reason), they should be doing their best in prayer with an attitude of wanting to be with the community.  Communion given to them then becomes the sign that they are indeed one with the community at worship even when they cannot be physically present.  That argument cannot be used with the able bodied, especially when they do not have a valid reason for not being with the community in worship.

Corpus Christi is the celebration of the Body and Blood of Christ.  The sacramental Body and Blood of Christ becomes meaningful in the context of the Mystical Body of Christ (the Church present as community) at worship at Mass.  The Mystical Body of Christ receives the real Body of Christ in the Eucharist expressing the sign that they are indeed in communion as one body.

This week, as we celebrate Corpus Christi, I pray that we may all be able to reflect a little of how each of us is expressing the communion one has with the Church, the Mystical Body of Christ.  Receiving communion is important in our Catholic life.  However, the communion we live in the community, the Church, is more important. Let us pray that we will be able to authentically express our communion with others in the Church by our actions in life so that when we receive the real Body of Christ at Mass this week, we give it the proper significance it has.

Trinity Sunday

The revelation of Christ that the one God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, must have caused many to scratch their heads in wonder.  How can one God be three at the same time?  I believe what Christ wanted us to focus on is not the ‘how’ but ‘why’. Why is God a Trinity? God is love and love demands relationships. If God is eternal, then within God there must be the dynamic of relationships between persons because God is love.  The ‘how’ we must consider is not how God is one and three, but how we can love the way God wants us to love. The love of God concerns three persons.  It is not a simple family of three but of three equals.  When I was very young, before I was baptised as a Catholic, I remember an older Catholic boy I knew telling me that the Trinity was Joseph, Mary and Jesus.  During my catechesis before baptism, I realised that he was wrong.  The Trinity is not analogous to a human family.  God is community.  That is why Christ had trained his apostles to live as community from the beginning.  The apostles knew what their master had taught them.  Thus, they began to live in community.  We see this in the Acts of the Apostles.  At the same time, the Christian community is not a inward-looking community. It is a community with a mission. Thus, we see how Paul moved with his companions from place to place, forming Christian communities.  How apt it is that after the feast of Pentecost, the first manifestation of the Christian community (the Church) in the world, we celebrate the feast of the model of community: the Holy Trinity.  Following this feast, we celebrate the means by which we sustain the community, the feast of the great Sacrament left us by Christ: His Body and Blood.  It is not incidental that when we receive Christ’s Body and Blood, we say we receive Holy Communion.  The sacrament is a sign to show that we are, together, the one Body of Christ.  Thus, holy communion is meant for us to sustain our community life.  Whatever spiritual nourishment we receive, it is not solely for the individual.  The spiritual nourishment is meant to fuel the love we have as we engage one another in the community.

Trinity Sunday: the Feast that is the foundation of the what we celebrate the week before it and the celebration after it. Let us thank God for gracing us with way we are to love as Christians.

Postscript:  I apologise for not posting for the last three Sundays.  Rather than posting something for the Sunday past, I thought it would be more appropriate to post a reflection for the Sunday to come so that when one enters the celebration of the Eucharist, there is something already being reflected in mind.  

Step by Step (5th Sunday of Easter)

In the Gospel today, Jesus gave a new commandment, “love one another, as I have loved you.”  The apostles, in the first reading, were sharing a new direction in spreading the Good News: preaching to the Gentiles.  The second reading, from the Apocalypse of John, narrates the forming of a new Jerusalem.

Often, when we talk about new things, we think of throwing out with the old.  In fact, whenever there is spring cleaning to be done, I hear those helping me saying, “Throw these out!”  Yet for all the newness mentioned with in the readings today, it is not asking us to disregard the old altogether.  What is new is built upon the old.  The new commandment of Jesus is built upon an older commandment, “you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Lev 19:18)  Without an idea of what the old Jerusalem stood for, how could John recognise the new Jerusalem.  It could have been called by another name.  It was because he knew what the old original Jerusalem was that he recognised the new Jerusalem.

In any journey, we take a new step and leave the old behind.  However, the old should neither be forgotten nor destroyed.  I am sure that we have seen this before: children running up an escalator that is descending.  Every step we take to move up is hindered by the steps behind disappearing and in effect we are back on the first step.

Yes, we have to leave the old behind to move forward but we need also to remember that we have left it behind.  A love that is merciful will be forgiving.  Yet I am very wary of the axiom, “Forgive and forget.”  We should forgive and yet we should remember that we have forgiven.  St. Peter was forgiven  by Jesus.  Jesus did not mention the sin again.  However, he remembered that St. Peter needed to know he was forgiven.  It has been suggested that the three times Jesus questioned St. Peter in John 21 corresponded to the three times St. Peter had denied his Lord.  In the legend of St. Peter leaving Rome during the persecutions (the Quo vadis legend), Jesus told St. Peter that he was going back to Rome to be crucified again.  I am sure that although Jesus did not mention his sin, St. Peter remembered what he had done before.  By remembering his past, St. Peter was able to take up the courage to bear witness to his Lord by giving his life.  Jesus did forgive but I believe that He used what was remembered to fortify His Apostle.

So, I believe that we must leave behind the past, not allowing it to overwhelm us.  However, the other extreme of forgetting it totally would also be detrimental.  We must forgive and remember that we have forgiven.  We are forgiven and must remember that we are forgiven and loved.

Good Shepherd Sunday (4th Sunday of Easter)

Jesus tells us that His sheep listen to His voice and follow Him. We are His sheep.  While He is the Good Shepherd, are we good sheep?  Do we trust our Shepherd?

I know that one of the things that prevents me from trusting the Lord is my ego.  My ego will convince me that I know myself better than God knows me.  If I am so sure of my strengths and weaknesses, how could I trust the Lord who might be calling me to something that is beyond me?  I had assumed, when I had first sensed the call, that it was too difficult for me to enter the priestly or religious life.  I valued my independence too much and I knew it. How could I be able to keep the promise of obedience to the authority of the bishop?  I was eager to start a family of my own.  How could I begin to live the vow of celibacy?  I trusted much in my self knowledge so much that I could not trust that the Lord can grace me with the gifts of obedience and celibacy.  It was only when I was able to trust like sheep trust their shepherds that I was able to say "Yes" to the Lord.  My struggles with obedience and celibacy are struggles between my ego and my submission to God's grace. This I know: the Lord has never failed me; only I have failed the Lord.  Despite my failures, the Lord has neither condemned me nor abandoned me.

Of corse, proper discernment is needed in any consideration of one's vocation. Discernment is not merely Is God really calling me?  It is also Am I truly listening to the Lord and following Him?

My prayer this week will be that I will continue to be a good sheep to the Lord, the Good Shepherd. 

God’s call (3rd Sunday of Easter)

Despite all the other things found in John 21, this is the part that struck me today:

‘I tell you most solemnly,

when you were young

you put on your own belt

and walked where you liked;

but when you grow old

you will stretch out your hands,

and somebody else will put a belt round you

and take you where you would rather not go.’ (John 21:18, Jerusalem Bible)

When I think of my vocation, I identify with the words above.  In the beginning, when I was first discerning the call, I was full of fervour.  It was easy to follow the call, I wanted what God wanted. Thus, I was able to obey without condition.  Now as I grow older and some years into the priesthood, I find myself having the tendency to be cynical.  Is what the authority asking for what God wants?  In the end, obedience is just compliance — going where I rather not go.  Yet I have to keep struggling to change that from compliance to obedience.  Though I rather not go, I am going because I have to want what God wants.  In other words, I have to allow my heart to let God take the lead without any questions or conditions.  It is not easy.

In my conversations with young men thinking of the priestly vocation, I would occasionally meet one who feel that they are called to a specific way of life but their preferences get in the way.  I think I am being called to be a Benedictine but I don't really like singing in Latin.   [Okay, that is really lame, I admit.  I did not want to use the example of a religious congregation or order that exists in Singapore.]

I believe that we have to answer God’s call because that is what He wants of us.  In answering God’s call, we have to accept all that comes.  Religious congregations change the way they do things in time although the charisms remain the same.  Yet, if one slowly allows the heart to move from God’s will to one’s preference, then we will end up deciding to leave.  One should not be thinking about the situation or circumstances at the time when I first answered.  Rather, the focus should be on God who called me. That way, where we “would rather not go” becomes “where I am willing to be led to by God.”

Low Sunday: Witness

The skeptic among us would likely be nicknamed Doubting Thomas.  Yet St. Thomas the Apostle exonerated himself by being the first among the Apostles to call Jesus God in his acclamation, “My God and my Lord!” (John 20:28)  Jesus’ beatitude, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe,” implies that belief is based on the testimony of witnesses.  In this day and age, the beatitude refers to all of us who believe in the Risen Christ.  We have not seen, yet we believe.  How do we know what to believe?  We rely on the witness of the Gospels.  The Gospel and the scriptures show us what to believe.  Yet, we also rely on the witness of Christians who are still on earth.  Without a living person to tell us, the words in the Bible are simply words.  It is by the behaviour of people that we ask questions and search for truth.  This is what Pope Paul VI expressed in Evangelii Nuntiandi 21 (To see what he wrote, click here and scroll down to number 21).  Furthermore, as Christians, we are relied upon as witnesses for those who will come to believe.  The Samaritan woman at the well (see John 4) was definitely a witness to the people in the village but after experiencing Jesus himself, the villagers said, “It is no longer because of your words that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.” (John 4:42)  Like the Samaritans, we first believe because we were struck by someone who had been a witness.  As we enter into a relationship with Christ or with God, we gain experiences that show us that He is indeed real and that Christ is indeed alive.  Armed with that experience, we become witnesses ourselves.

That is the key for being a witness: we need to enter into a relationship with Him.  It has to be a real relationship.  Christ cannot be simply an acquaintance.  Christ cannot be someone we know about.  Christ must be a person we relate with.  That is why prayer is so important.  Prayer allows us to deepen our relationship with Christ.  With a solid relationship with Christ, we become witnesses in our daily Christian life.  The witness we give will begin to elicit queries.  Most of the time, it is informal and wordless.  There will be times, of course, when we would be asked to witness formally by giving testimonies.  However, these occasions are a result of the informal and wordless witness we give.  Let us pray during the week that we can become true witnesses, helping others to come to know Jesus.

Blessed Easter!!

My apologies for not posting anything this week.  I was left very tired after all the services during the Holy Triduum.  Just a picture below from Wikimedia Commons of a liturgical celebration in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.  The Easter experience brought forth the Christian faith community.  That’s where it all started: at the tomb or sepulchre of the crucified Jesus.

When a Palm is not a Palm

This year, the parish was supplying real palms for Palm Sunday.  The so-called palms used when I was first baptised were actually not palms but cycads.  Cycads are seed plants that do not have flowers.  Palms are seed plants that have flowers.  Cycads are closer to conifers than to the coconut trees.  Yet, in Singapore, people prefer cycad leaves because they are hard and keep longer than the young and supple palm leaves that we had used in the parish this year.  When I was younger, I was quite upset that we use leaves that are obviously not palms during Palm Sunday.  It was only when I studied in Rome that I realised that Singapore was more privileged than our brothers and sisters in Italy.  In Italy, young olive branches are used during Palm Sunday.  Palms are not readily available there.

A Cycad Plant

A Palm Plant

The problem I had was that I was concerned with the wrong details regarding Palm Sunday.  In the Missal, the title for the Liturgy on Palm Sunday is “Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord.”  What is really important is that we are celebrating the Lord’s entry into Jerusalem with a view of His Passion.  Jesus entered into Jerusalem triumphant, yet knowing that there was a Passion waiting for Him.  Jesus’ conviction of His mission was not due to a simple human courage.  He was able to enter Jerusalem because He totally loved His Father and nothing could prevent Him from obeying His Father, not even death.  As we read in the Passion Narrative that forms a significant part of the Liturgy, Jesus was afraid.  Despite His fear, He was determined to do His Father's will.  Jesus is thus an example to us of Christian moral courage: we act due to the fact that we want to do the Father's will, that we love the Father by obeying Him.  For example, when we give alms, are we doing it because it is expected of us, or because we want to love the Father through loving the brothers and sisters in our midst?

The same people that waved palm leaves to welcome Jesus into Jerusalem became the ones that would later shouted “Crucify him!” Are we like them?  Let us pray that the love and grace that God gives us would lead us to be more like Jesus than to those who called Him King on one day and condemned Him on another.

Joy in Mercy

I did a meditation years ago on the episode of Jesus confronting the crowd with the woman caught committing adultery in John 8:1-11.  I have still not forgotten what happened at the end of that meditation.  I was filled with a joy that I had never felt before.

When one considers the feelings of the woman, perhaps we can begin to realise the joy she felt when Jesus uttered the words, “neither do I condemn you.”  After all, she was probably terrified when she was dragged out of the place where she was caught.  Where was her partner in crime?  Either he had run off, leaving her alone, or he was let off as she was hauled away.  For the former, she must have been extremely disappointed.  He cared only for himself and not for her.  For the latter, she must have been feeling confused.  She could not understand why her captors, who were from the law-abiding sector of Jewish society would take only her.  Then, to her horror, she was dragged into the temple where everyone was.  Her sin would be made public.  Further terror awaited her as she saw that they were leading her to Jesus, this great teacher, whom some people call a prophet.  She was not innocent, she knew.  How could this person not convict her of her sin?

Yet, it was this teacher that would forgive her and give her inner joy.   The teacher had asked that the first person to throw a stone was one who had no sin.  The usually self-righteous Pharisees and scribes moved away one by one.  Then he had looked up and saw no one.  He asked if no one had condemned her.  He took the decision of the majority: He would not condemn her as well.  However, he did acknowledge that she had sinned.  He said, “…and do not sin again.”  A few simple words but powerful ones because he acknowledged that she was not innocent.  She was forgiven, not exonerated.

The feeling that I identified with at the end of that meditation was joy.  I understood it to be joy but not a joy due to relief.  It was a joy that came when one was valued as a human being.  One was not rendered worthless by sin but that by mercy, one’s life had value in a dignity restored.  

Envious of the Prodigal?

I have often asked myself which character I feel the most affinity to in the Parable of the Prodigal Son (Lk 15:11-32).  I wish I could say the father, but I know that I can never measure up to the standard that Jesus had set in the character of the Father.  After all, who can measure up to the mercy of God Himself?!  So, I was left with two: the older son and the younger son.  I am the oldest among my brothers and so there are times I can understand how the elder brother in the parable felt.  However, except for my earliest memories (of which I have very little recall), I do not think I had ever felt jealous of my younger brothers.  Being selfish or stingy was strictly frowned upon as far as I can remember.  There was sibling rivalry but not so much for our parents’ attention.  We had rows over which channel to watch on TV (all rather quiet, of course, for the times when the row was discovered, the television set had stayed switched off), who had higher marks, could run faster, among other things.  Did I have times when I resented having a brother?  I can recall once, when I was probably five years old?  We each had a toy Boeing plane with lights that blinked at the engines of the aeroplane.  My brother, three that time, had plucked out the lights of his plane and his interest gravitated towards mine who still had the lights blinking.  I still remember both my parents telling me to share.  No prizes for knowing what happened next: the lights on my toy aeroplane had their lights plucked out as well.  I was angry with my parents and with my brother.  That feeling was so great that I still remember the incident.  Am I still angry?  I go to my younger brothers for advice without a second thought now.

(You can see a YouTube video of a similar toy here.  It is an advertisement, so I cannot embed it here.)

So, what about the Prodigal Son?  I believe we take on both roles.  When we take on the role of the elder son, we become the envious and self-righteous one.  When we realise that we have been envious and self-righteous, we need to take a step back and look honestly at our lives.  Jesus had said, “Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?” (Mt. 7:3)  I believe that this applies for good and bad things.  Why do you see the one speck of good that your brother has that you do not have, and do not notice the log of good that God has given in your life?  We tend to focus on the ills, the bad experiences and the things we lack in our life.  Knowing the above can motivate us to better our lives but focussing on them without the balance of the blessings, good experiences and things we already have, can cause us to have a really warped view of life.  Furthermore, if we confuse needs with wants, the situation becomes worse.  Do you think that God allowed the smart phone to be invented so that it can become something we cannot do without?  The smart phone is usually a want and seldom a real need.  I know of one person who has survived till today without ever having the need to use WhatsApp.  God allowed the smart phone to be invented to help us make life easier but not to take His place in our lives.

Thus, let us take a step back and look honestly at our lives.  Balance the good with the bad, distinguish between what is really a need and what is simply a want or desire, and then, consider if the Lord really has a few selected favourites.  We will be very surprised to see that while he treats each person differently, each of us is special in His eyes because He created each of us unique.

Transfiguration?

From WikiMedia Commons. Saint Catherine's Monastery, Sinai (Egypt) / K. Weitzmann: "Die Ikone"

Jesus was transfigured.  His appearance changed.  I believe he became other worldly in appearance.  Many commentators state that the transfiguration is a view into the glory Jesus has as Son of God and will receive in his resurrection from the dead.¹  This is the glory that God wants to give us.  This is the glory we participate in because we are part of the Body of Christ, the Church. (See Col 1:18; Eph 5:23)

During this week, we are reminded that we are not merely creatures.  God has a purpose for us: We are to have the glory that the resurrection provides.  Our prayer, penance and almsgiving should bring us closer to the glory of God.  Although what we do does not earn us God’s love and salvation simply by prayer, penance and almsgiving, our Lenten practices do prepare us to receive the grace of God.  Like when we pound on a piece of beef so that the marinade can permeate it, our Lenten practices  (when done in the right spirit) allows the graces of God to permeate our being.  When we allow the grace of God to be a part of us, we also allow the glory of God to be manifested in us.

In St. Luke’s version of the transfiguration (which we read this weekend), the voice says that Jesus is the Chosen, unlike the versions (of Ss. Matthew and Mark) which say that Jesus is the Beloved.  Because Jesus is chosen, he is to be listened to.  God chose Jesus to carry out His Will and proclaim His Word.  God’s offer of salvation is made through Jesus.  Thus, to listen, that is, to hear and put into practice what Jesus teaches is paramount.  When we are able to listen and then do what the Chosen One has proclaimed, we also prepare ourselves to receive the glory that God wants to give.  Thus, prayer, penance and almsgiving must include that which Jesus teaches and commands: love.  After all, love is the reason we were made and the reason we were saved.

Let us pray this week to persevere in our Lenten preparations.


1.  See, for example, Luke Timothy Johnson, The Gospel of Luke, Sacra Pagina Series Volume 3 (Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, 1991), 152-153.

Our Temptations

(Apologies: I had neglected to post this on the First Sunday of Lent.  I only realised this when I began to prepare for my post for the Second Sunday of Lent.)

Temptations are not to be trifled with.  They can be a serious problem in our lives, especially when we are making a great effort to be at rights with God.  The problem is that we have made temptations less to do with the spiritual and supernatural, and more to do with the physical world.  That is the evolution of language, I suppose.  However, we must not mix up the temptations from the evil one with the non-supernatural kinds.  Of course, the evil one can tempt using non-supernatural or non-spiritual means.  However, we must trace the non-supernatural and non-spiritual to the supernatural and the spiritual to know the danger the evil one poses.

Let me provide a simple example:

I was tempted to eat ice cream.

Ice Cream Dessert by Lotus Head. From WikiMedia Commons.

Why is eating ice cream wrong?

1. Am I unhealthily overweight?
1. Am I being indifferent to my health?
2. Am I being a glutton?


2. Am I trying to look slim?
1. I want to look good.  Am I being vain?
2. I want to fit back into my clothes.  Do I regret going on a binge?

When I say “I was tempted to eat ice cream”, what is actually happening?  From the above list of possible answers, I have to consider whether eating ice cream was the actual temptation.  Wanting to look one’s best might be due to wanting to show respect for the person we are meeting or simply to impress, in other words, to raise our standing with that person.  The actual temptation for 1A above is more about not treasuring the gift of our bodies and health and less about eating the ice cream itself.  Gluttony is a capital sin and vanity is part of pride, another capital sin.  In 1B, the eating is wrong because it is linked to gluttony.  In 2A, it is the result of not eating that is dangerous.  2B needs more questions and discernment to get to the spiritual meaning of the main sentence: I was tempted to eat ice cream.

As we can see, in most cases, the real temptation was not directly about eating the ice cream but the reasons and motivations behind the act of eating.  If I struggle with temptations that are from spiritual or supernatural origins, I should not despair.  It is an indication to me that I am clear with what is of God and what is not.  What should be worrying to me is when there is no struggle.  Have I given up trying to be closer to God?  Or perhaps, I do not even recognise that I am drifting away from the Lord.  After all, the devil will not need to do anything to me if I am on my way to hell.  

As we begin Lent, let us pray that our hearts might be graced to be open to Him who aids us when we struggle with temptation to sin.  The spiritual activities of prayer, penance and almsgiving help us in being open to him.

Our Call to be Disciples

(Apologies: I had forgotten to publish this and the next post after writing them.  Only discovered my negligence when I started to prepare the post for the Second Sunday of Lent)

Our call to be Christ’s followers is meant to elevate us to be truly children of God.  Many people remark that they did not choose their parents.  I believe that it is the same way when it comes to God: we did not choose to be made by Him nor called by Him.  However, it is our response that we choose.  Just as we can choose to treat our parents as parents, we can choose to respond to God’s call with a Yes or a No.  If we say Yes, it is not because we were good enough to choose to be God’s child but that God makes us good enough when we respond with a Yes.  Here lies the mystery of the grace of God and His gift of free will.  In history, there have been many who have struggled to understand this mystery.  In our limited human capacity to reason, we cannot seem to understand how the human will is dependent on the grace of God and yet remain really free.  (If you are interested in this, you can refer to New Advent's article on Pelagianism and the summary of St. Augustine’s treatise on Grace and Free Will.)

The earliest portrait of Saint Augustine in a 6th century fresco, Lateran, Rome.
From WikiMedia Commons

Let us get back to our call to be disciples.  Observing the First Reading of this Sunday’s Liturgy (5th Sunday in Ordinary Time), we discover the truth that God makes us worthy to be His Son’s disciples. It was and will never be because we were worthy in our own right.  So, if we feel we deserve to be Christian, perhaps we need to revisit our understanding regarding the virtue of humility.  If we feel unworthy, we should need to continue to humbly pray to the Lord to help us, with a prayer not  unlike the father of a boy who was possessed by a dumb spirit (Mark 9:14-27) who exclaimed, “I believe; help my unbelief!” (v. 24).  The paradox of the disciple is that it is that it is when we are aware of our unworthiness that we are able to totally depend on the grace of God.  As St. Paul wrote, “for when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Cor 12:10)  The temptation is for us to think that because we are made worthy, we become worthy in ourselves.  We should then take note of next week’s Gospel reading on the Temptations of Christ.

Let us continue to bask in the grace of God and ask God to keep us humble so that we can do great things for God, just like St. Peter, who became a true fisher of men.

Jesus, a celebrity?

Jesus was viewed as a celebrity in the Gospel today. The villagers of Nazareth had heard of the things that Jesus had done in other places. So, the homecoming of Jesus to his home village had caused excitement.  The local boy had made it big. So he has returned and had proven himself to be an eloquent speaker, or else he would not have “won the approval of all.” (As the Jerusalem Bible states.). Then Jesus proceeds to tell them that they would not get what they were hoping for: a demonstration of his powers. Of course, after his rather long discourse, the villagers were riled up.

Are we not like the villagers from Nazareth?  We gravitate to the spectacular. We would prefer the eloquent speaker to the less eloquent. Retreats and talks: do we regard the retreat masters and speakers like celebrities?  Whilst I understand that we want to be enriched spiritually by a meaningful retreat or talk, there are times I would pick and choose on the basis of whether the speaker meets my expectations.  At those times I recognise the villagers of Nazareth in me.  It is not the speaker I should be concerned about, but whether I am open to the message if Christ that is transmitted via the speaker.  If we are open to the Lord, He can speak to us with the plainest of statements.  There are many times when I chide myself for not delivering a homily well. Yet,someone would come to me and share how something I said during the homily was significant to them.  This does not excuse me from preparing for my homilies but it does indicate to me that it is God who matters, not me, the one who delivers the message.

Let us pray this week that we would stop being groupies or fans of particular speakers.  Rather, let us be followers of Chrst Jesus, the Son of God. Let us remember not to turn our priests and religious into celebrities. 

To be healed

What struck me in this week’s Gospel is the passage of scripture Jesus read in Nazara, his hometown. He was sent to “bring the good news to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives and to the blind new sight.” (from the Jerusalem Bible)  For Jesus to do that to us, we need to admit that we are poor, captive and blind.  It is easy for us to admit those things when we are in crisis, personal or otherwise.  However, when we find ourselves in pleasant times, can we admit them as well?

We can be materially comfortable yet poor in our spirit, poor in our emotional dealings with others, or poor in our relationship with God, just to name a few examples.  We can be held captive by sin.  We can be held captive by bad habits.  We can be held captive by our pride, not being able to see that there may be more than one way of looking at things besides our own.  We can be blind in the sense that we are not sensitive enough to the things that are happening around us, even with the people we love, the people we are most familiar with.  The converse can be true: we pay attention to the little things that we become blind to the larger picture.  Was there not a saying: Cannot see the forest for the trees?  Can we admit that even with a 20/20 sight, we can be blind?

This is where the good news come in.  Jesus has come to bring us out of our poverty, captivity and blindness.  The thing is, unless we can admit our being poor, being held captive and being blind, we will not be able to accept the help of Jesus.  And if we cannot accept help from Jesus, can we truly help others in need?  Can we truly be able to continue the mission of Jesus as Christians?

Let us take the time to consider our poverty, captivity and blindness.  Then by admitting that we are, open our hearts to the aid, healing and grace of Christ.

“Do whatever he tells you”

These are the words Mary tells the servants when the wedding celebration was out of wine.  Jesus seemed to have protested but yet Mary did not seem not to have heard.  Was Mary being difficult?  Did she not hear what Jesus said?

I can picture it.  Mary knows that there was a difficulty and her son had some of his companions with him.  Her son should be able to do something to help the couple celebrating their wedding.  I believe she heard Jesus.  Just like most mothers, I suspect, she did not understand completely.  Yet she did respect Jesus’ answer that it was not his hour.  It was probably like, see what you can do to help.  So it was not Jesus' hour, yet there is definitely more than one way to help them, right?  Perhaps, Mary thought that her son could get his companions together to carry the jugs of wine from the vineyard in the next village.  Whatever it was, Mary must have had the confidence that Jesus would be able to help in some way.  That was why she did not specify the help.  She simply said, “They have no wine.”  Her instructions to the servants were just as simple: “Do whatever he tells you.”

Unlike Mary, we might not be so simplistic when we encounter a crisis.  We would probably specify what God needs to do.  Instead of saying, “Lord, I am in trouble,” and then listen for his instructions, we probably would say things like, “Lord, I need to get out of this mess I am in.  Can you get me out of this mess?”  When the Lord tells us what to do, we would probably not understand anything because we have got in our heads the solution we want.  His instructions would be left unheard and then we would complain that the Lord had not heard our prayers.  Ironic isn't it?

The Baptism of Jesus

One question regarding Jesus’ baptism had struck me many years ago: Why did He, who had no sin, need to be baptised?  Of course, after 20 years of priesthood, I have given a standard answer every time this question comes up.  Jesus wanted to be identified with sinful humanity even though he was sinless.  Saint Paul would say this, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Cor 5:21)

This idea of identification brings to mind what our attitude should be in this Jubilee Year of Mercy.  We need to identify ourselves with our brothers and sisters before we can truly be merciful as God has been merciful to us.  One of the ways of identifying ourselves with our brothers and sisters is to feel with them: to have sympathy.  In the Gospels, Jesus is said to have had compassion on the people around him.  He is able to have compassion because he sympathised with the people.  Let us not talk about mercy from a top-down perspective: Those people are less fortunate than me and since I am able, I will help them.  God’s mercy is not like that.  God knows our weaknesses and difficulties.  He sent His Son to become one of us to live in this weakness.  His compassion is not one of I’ve got the means and so I’ll help you.  Rather, it is one of I’m helping you because I’m with you.  Of course, we must have the means to help or else we cause more trouble.  Yet when we have God, we have the means.  He will indicate to us the means to help.  He will indicate to us how to help.

I remember many years ago, I was told this little principle: Don't just give fish, show how to fish.  Sometimes we have to just give fish.  Most of the time, after giving fish, we teach how to fish.  We can only know when to do which when we are with the people we serve.  When we give fish, we do not need to know the people we help; we simply provide.  To teach how to fish, we need to encounter and interact with the people; we must be with the people.  This calls to mind the little problem in an European country some time back regarding helping the refugees from the Middle East.  The refugees complained that they were given food that they were not allowed to eat.  Whilst it could have been a simple misunderstanding, I believe that the situation could have been avoided if those who wanted to help by providing food took some time to be with the refugees.

Thus, may I humbly suggest that the next time we are given the opportunity to help, we take a short time to discern.

First Sunday in 2016: Epiphany of the Lord

Nativity Scene, East Malaysia, 2006.  I cannot remember where I took this.

One hymn that is a favourite at Mass on this feast is We Three Kings.  Whilst we know today that the wise men who visited the Holy Family were probably not kings, we still sing the hymn.  Furthermore, we assume that there were three because of the three gifts.  However, the scriptures do not mention a number.  It is not the number that is significant but that they were from the East and outside Israel.  They were not Jews.  Let us consider John 1:11-12 :

He came to his own home, and his own people received him not.

But to all who received him, who believed in his name,

he gave power to become children of God; 

Herod, who was a Jew, was not only not receptive to Jesus, he was positively hostile.  Is it not what the passage above is saying?  The Jewish Herod did not accept Jesus but the non-Jewish wise men did.  Like Joseph, God communicated to them in dreams.  They were given the power to become “children of God”.

Like the Jews, we, who have accepted Jesus, have a special relationship with God.  Yet, we could be like Herod, when we take that relationship for granted.  Herod was not one who had abandoned his faith.  He knew his scriptures and made sure to ask the experts where the new king was to be born.  He probably still professed the Jewish faith and fulfilled all the requirements for sacrifices and other rituals but his life was not really one with God.  When we take our relationship with God for granted, assuming that our ritual practices are enough, we are in danger of becoming like Herod.  We come to Church to fulfil the obligation for Sunday worship but that is not enough.  We have to live our lives as Catholics.  Are we actually convinced of the values that Christ has given through the Church?

The wise men, instead, had probably not come to know God in the same way the Jews knew Him.  However, their hearts were open to him and they obeyed him when he communicated with them.  Perhaps we do not receive dreams everyday from the Lord.  However, we do have the Scriptures and the Catechism of the Catholic Church.  Do we refer to them for our own personal formation as Catholics?  Do we try to understand the values that God wants us, who believe in his Son, to have?

So, the question for reflection for today and maybe the week ahead is: Am I living the values of the Lord I say I believe in?