Faithfulness and Love

Monthly Archives: November 2015

Tuesday of the 1st Week of Lent

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Throughout our lives, some of us would have asked our parents for something. When we ask for something, some of us could have sounded quite whiny and some of us even started using baby-like noises, hoping that our parents would give in to our requests. Sometimes, some of us may even start bargaining with our parents, promising to behave, do better in school, or some other thing, hoping to convince our parents that we deserve what we are asking for. But do we really need to do or say such things? When we ask God for things, help, healing or something else, would we resort to such tactics, hoping that God would give in to our wants and needs, just like how some of our parents may do?

In today’s Gospel, we are reminded not to “babble as the pagans do, for they think that by using many words they will make themselves heard.” Instead of having to sound whiny or say so many things to God, Jesus taught us a simple but significant prayer: The Lord’s Prayer or the Our Father. If we observe the way the prayer is prayed, we are actually asking for things which would give God the glory. Also, we are asking that God would help us to change, to be more loving and forgiving, and that truth and justice would increase in the world. Perhaps when we pray the Lord’s Prayer with sincerity and conviction, the Lord may grant us our wants and needs, since what we are asking for is not for our own personal glory, gratification or to boost our ego, but for the greater glory of God.

Monday of the 1st Week of Lent

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We sometimes take for granted the small issues or matters in life. We think that such small issues or matters are insignificant or not worth too much of our effort or time. We sometimes hear of people telling us: “Don’t sweat the small stuff.” But sometimes, small issues could lead to big issues, if we do not deal with them, or take appropriate action, or throw caution to the wind and make necessary preparations. For example, you have a minor toothache, and the pain subsides. This does not mean that the toothache is no longer there. It simply means that the affected tooth is temporarily not giving you any pain, but the pain could flare up at any time, and sometimes the pain we experience could get worse compared to the first few times we experienced it. If we do not go to the dentist for proper treatment, we may experience even greater pain and discomfort.

In today’s reading, the Israelites were reminded of the many small issues that needed to be observed. These many small issues are the dos and don’ts that helped the Israelites to learn how to love their neigbour as themselves, in an effort to “Be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy.” Likewise, in the Gospel, Jesus also talked about paying attention to the many small issues of Christian life, issues like feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, welcoming the stranger, clothing the naked and visiting those in prison. If we do not pay attention to these small issues mentioned in the reading and the Gospel, if we become complacent and neglect them, if we procrastinate and think that we have plenty of time to act later, then we may suddenly find ourselves faced with a big issue, and that big issue could involve our eternal future. Are we willing to take the risk and lose it all? After all, there is a Malay saying: “sedikit-dikit lama lama menjadi bukit” (roughly translated as: “little by little a hill is formed”). Let us do our part today, even if it is little by little, and let our God guide us and help us grow closer to Him.

Friday after Ash Wednesday

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I find it quite interesting to observe how fasting has become like a commercial opportunity or a show of so called piety for some people. What do I mean, you might say? Take for example, when the time for fasting arrives for certain people, we begin to see lots of advertisements on television or radio, inviting and enticing people to break fast in a restaurant or hotel, with a huge buffet of exquisite dishes to savour. I have also seen some of such people waiting hungrily and longingly for the time to break fast at a food court or restaurant, with the food all ready in place, and when the time comes to break fast, these people attack the food with such ferociousness like lions that have not eaten for days. Is fasting meant to be an excuse for people to eat lavishly when the time to break fast comes? Or is fasting such a torture or hassle that some folks just cannot wait to break fast, instead of giving thanks to God for the privilege and opportunity to fast? Why do such people fast in the first place?

In today’s reading, we see that there are some people who fast just to put on a show. The reading tells us: “Why should we fast if you never see it, why do penance if you never notice?’ Look, you do business on your fast-days, you oppress all your workmen; look, you quarrel and squabble when you fast and strike the poor man with your fist. Fasting like yours today will never make your voice heard on high. Is that the sort of fast that pleases me, a truly penitential day for men? Hanging your head like a reed, lying down on sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call fasting, a day acceptable to the Lord?” When we fast just to put on a show, or we are mean or nasty towards others, then are we really fasting in the first place? Is our fasting helping us to grow closer to God, and to love God and neighbour, or are we making a joke or mockery of fasting, through our actions, behaviour and conduct? May we not fall into hypocrisy when we fast, since we ought to be doing so not to boost our ego or for our personal gratification, but to give glory to God.

Thursday after Ash Wednesday

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Every once in a while, we are faced with choices. Sometimes the choices we are given are straightforward and clear-cut, and making a choice is easy. Sometimes the choices given may be quite difficult, and choosing one could cause us to lose the other and vice versa. For example, some of us may have faced a difficult situation where we can choose to listen and obey our parents, but in doing so we may be going against God’s commandments; but if we obey God’s commandments, we may risk losing our parents (one possible outcome from the choice made could be to be disowned by our parents). If we are faced with such choices, where there is no middle ground or third option, where it is either one or the other, what would you choose?

In today’s reading, the Israelites were given a choice: “choose life and you will live and increase; choose death and you will most certainly perish.” There was no middle ground or alternative; only one or the other. In the Gospel, Jesus gives us a choice: “For anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake, that man will save it. What gain, then, is it for a man to have won the whole world and to have lost or ruined his very self?” If we are asked to choose now, what would we choose? Would we choose life as in the reading, or choose to lose our life for Jesus’ sake as in the Gospel? Or would we choose otherwise? Remember, there is no middle ground, it is one or the other. May we make our choice wisely, as there is no turning back or alternatives.

Ash Wednesday

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Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the season of Lent. When we think of the season of Lent, what are some of the things we think of? Some of us think about going to church to receive the imposition of ashes on our forehead on Ash Wednesday, some think about abstinence and fasting on certain days, some think about the Way of the Cross which is usually held on Fridays during Lent, some even think about making a confession at one of the churches having penitential service. All these thoughts are practices and they are good. But what sort of practices are these? These are outward forms or external practices of piety, and if we get caught up with only such external practices, we may end up losing the whole point of Lent, and that is to lead us to reconciliation with God and with each other, and eventually lead us to an inner conversion. But are these practices already mentioned enough? Perhaps we need to relook at three practices which we often hear about especially during Lent, but we may not have fully comprehended or understood what they mean. The three practices are prayer, fasting and giving alms.

When we speak of prayer, we are talking about establishing a closer relationship with God. Sometimes we may have become so used to rattling out prayers such as the rosary, the divine mercy, prayer to the Sacred Heart, or some other form of devotion, that our prayer is prayed out of habit or out of a tradition that was passed down to us from our elders. But by praying such prayers, are we really growing closer to God? Prayer should change us and lead us to trust more in God and to place our lives in His control. Are our prayers enabling us to do so? Or have our prayers become a form of babbling, saying so many things but without meaning?

When we speak of fasting, we are fasting not because we want to torture or punish our bodies, and fasting is not meant to be used as an excuse or a means to lose weight. We fast because we want to thirst for God, and place God first in our lives. Fasting helps us reconsider our values in life, and guides us to reject and deny the lures of temptations, especially to satisfy our own wants. Fasting sets us free from greed, and makes us more sensitive to the needs of others.

When we give alms, we do so not because we pity the poor or those who are less fortunate. We give alms because it reminds us of the need to be in solidarity with all, especially with the poor. Giving alms reminds us that all things come from God, nothing really belongs to us, and thus we should not cling on to these things selfishly. Giving alms remind us that people are far more important than things.

As we begin the season of Lent, let us take courage and let the Lord help us deepen our prayer life, and help us to be humble and docile in our fasting and also in our generosity to share with the poor. Let us do these things not because they are merely external practices, or to show off, but because we want to grow closer to God, walk in His ways, and let Him be our providence and guide.

Tuesday of Week 5 Year 2

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Why do we call ourselves Christians? Are we Christians only in name? Or do we really follow the ways and teachings of Christ? Sometimes we come across people who call themselves Christians, but they follow their own version or understanding of Christianity. Such people have laws, rules and regulations which have been formulated to suit their purposes and convenience. Could we have become like such people?

In today’s Gospel, we come across the scribes and Pharisees who essentially were good people trying to follow God’s laws. Their problem was they were following God’s laws according to what they think was right, not according to the actual teachings, rules and regulations that God had given them from the beginning. God’s laws can be summarised into love God and love neighbour, and as Jesus taught and showed in many ways, one’s neighbour is not restricted only to one’s friends or acquaintances, but also others, including one’s enemies. In today’s Gospel, we see how the Pharisees were so engrossed in maintaining and obeserving their numerous traditions and practices, that they put aside the commandment of God. This is why Jesus admonished them when He said: “This people honours me only with lip-service, while their hearts are far from me.”

We too could fall into the same trap, if we start treating our own rules and regulations as more important than God’s commandments. We could be like the scribes and Pharisees, when we begin to pick and choose only those laws and regulations that suit us or benefit us or are convenient to us, instead of observing them entirely, in the form of loving God and loving neighbour completely. Are we still stubbornly clinging on to our own ways, or are we willing to change and follow Jesus’ ways?

Monday of Week 5 Year 2

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Do you believe in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist? Do you believe in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist at all times, including when we receive the Eucharist during Holy Communion, when we have adoration before the Blessed Sacrament, when the Blessed Sacrament is taken out of the tabernacle or exposed and put back in the tabernacle or deposed? As Catholics, we say we do, but if we say we do, then how are we showing proper respect and decorum towards the Eucharist? For example, are we properly dressed, gone for confession to clear our sins before receiving Holy Communion, maintain sacred silence at proper times in church?

In the 1st reading, we read that “the cloud filled the Temple of the Lord, and because of the cloud, the priests could no longer perform their duties: the glory of the Lord filled the Lord’s Temple.” For king Solomon and the people, it was clear that God was indeed present in the Temple and among His people, and the priests showed proper respect by not performing their duties. In the same way, we believe that God is present in the church and among us in the Eucharist, and if God is present in church and among us, then how do we show proper respect towards Him? If we are in the presence of a king or sultan or emperor or some important dignitary, surely we would make every effort to ensure that the way we look, the way we dress, our mannerisms and practices, would give honour and respect to the VIP (Very Important Person). But what about our being in the presence of our VVVIP, that is our loving God? Do we give even more honour and respect?

Friday of Week 4 Year 2

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I have conducted many funerals throughout my ministry, and in some of the funerals, a family member of the deceased or in some cases, even a close friend, may come forward after the end of the funeral Mass or service, to say a few words. Quite often, the person saying a few words would talk about the good things the deceased had done, or how wonderful he or she was, or some other positive statements about the deceased. While such gracious or kind words are being uttered, I sometimes wonder… what sort of words or statements would I like to be remembered by, when the time comes? How would I like others to think of me?

In today’s reading, we come across plenty of praises and nice words about king David. Such praises and nice words seem to sound like an eulogy or at the very least to pay tribute and to honour king David. Even though king David had sinned by committing adultery and then committing murder on Uriah to try and hide his misdeeds, king David was still humble, contrite and repentant, and with the Lord’s forgiveness and help, he rose to great heights. On the other hand, we come across king Herod in the Gospel, who is portrayed as being a weak king, egoistic, proud, and easily duped into having John the Baptist beheaded merely for the price of seeing the daughter of Herodias dance.

King David left a legacy behind and people had plenty of praises towards him. King Herod, on the other hand, only left behind scorn and ridicule, for having chosen to remain unrepentent and proud. Would we end up like king David, being remembered fondly with plenty of praises? Or would we end up like king Herod instead?

Thursday of Week 4 Year 2

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Most of us would have taken a flight from one point to another at some time during our lives. Some of us may have taken a flight to go for a holiday, others for work, others for studies, and others to visit friends and relatives. No matter what reason we are taking a flight, there are some limitations which are imposed on us so that the flight would be safe and free from potentially dangerous situations or delays. For example, we know that liquids cannot be brought into the cabin and must be stored in suitable bottles or containers in our checked-in luggage, and even so, with a limitation as to how much liquid that can be checked-in (usually about 100ml). Even the checked-in luggage has got a weight limit. For example, for the economy class, it is usually 20kg. Some of us may think that 20kg seems like a lot of stuff, but if we pack our luggage for a trip, we would soon find out how easy it is to exceed this weight limit.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus has also set a weight limit as to how much his disciples are allowed to bring with them as they embark on their mission. Why did Jesus impose such a weight limit? Some may say that Jesus is doing so, so that his disciples would not be encumbered with too many things. But there is a deeper meaning to that: Jesus is actually teaching His disciples, and us too, that to be a disciple, God’s grace is sufficient. The rest of what we want or need are less essential things or peripherals, and will be provided for when the time comes. Would we be willing to shed away the many things that we have come to depend on, and depend more on God’s grace, knowing that He will provide for us?

Wednesday of Week 4 Year 2

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Some of us may have allowed success and talent to get over our heads. When we feel that we have achieved something or are capable of doing something amazing or spectacular, we begin to think that we have done so through our own efforts. Some of us may even begin to feel proud and our ego may inflate. But is such success or talent merely from our own effort? Could we emulate such success or attain such talent in every circumstances?

In today’s reading, king David, with the help of God, had subdued all his surrounding enemies and Israel became the greatest power in the region at that time. When this happened, success went over king David’s head, and he thought that he had achived such feats through his own effort and through the effort of the Israelites. What king David failed to realise is that God was helping them in their endeavours, and in a rash act of pride and to boost his ego, king David did a census of the people. He apparently wanted to know the strength of his army and to flaunt the might and splendour of his kingdom. As a result, king David and the Israelites encountered the wrath of God and were punished for it.

At the end of the day, let us not forget that all the successes we have had and all that we have achieved is actually with help from God. We cannot claim total credit, since our abilities, talents and gifts are from God meant to be used for His glory, not for our own personal gratification or to boost our ego. May we learn to walk humbly before God and be thankful to Him, and in all things give Him the glory.