Faithfulness and Love

Author Archives: Andrew Kooi

Monday of Week 31 Year 1

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Could we ever understand why certain things happen in life? For example, could we ever understand at what point a child is conceived? Some couples would have tried for weeks, months or even years to have a child, and still have no success. Yet some couples are able to have children so easily. Also, could we ever understand why certain people have been inflicted with certain illnesses? Some of us may claim that our genes and family background could play a part, but we are only speculating, since there have also been cases where persons had no issues in their family history and they had been living as healthily as possible, could still be stricken with certain illnesses.

In today’s reading, we are reminded: “How rich are the depths of God – how deep his wisdom and knowledge – and how impossible to penetrate his motives or understand his methods! Who could ever know the mind of the Lord? Who could ever be his counsellor? Who could ever give him anything or lend him anything?” If we cannot even understand why many things happen on earth, then how are we able to understand God? We could get some glimpses of who God is, but ultimately, it all bears down to faith, trust and joyful obedience. When we learn to have more faith and trust in God, even if we do not understand why certain things happen does not matter that much, since things happen for a purpose, for His glory.

31st Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A

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If you look at society, what do you see? Many of us see that society seems to be made up of two categories. One category is what we call leaders, the other is what we call followers. The leaders are those who govern and the followers are those who follow and obey the leaders. When it comes to our church, do we see a similar pattern? For many of us, we think that the church is also made up of two categories. One category is what we call church leadership, which is made up of clergy, that is the church hierarchy consisting of bishops, priests and deacons, together with lay leaders who help the clergy in different capacities. The other category is what we call followers, which are generally lay persons who may not hold any significant leadership role. Once again, in a church setting, many seem to think that the leaders govern and the followers just obey.

But if we ponder for a moment, is it really true that we are made up of such categories? Actually, no. We may have different functions in church, but we are actually belonging to only one category, that is, we are disciples of Christ. As disciples of Christ, we are not called to be just passive followers, merely obeying and following, but active leaders in our own different ways. Today’s readings tell us how we should carry out our responsibilities as disciples of Christ, as Christian leaders in our own different ways. The readings refer to all of us, whether we are clergy or laity. So what can we glean from today’s readings concerning Christian discipleship and leadership?

Firstly, we must listen to God as the prophet Malachi warns us in the first reading.This means that we must be concerned with doing His will and not ours. When we listen to God, we recognise that all authority and power comes from God alone. Whatever talents that we may have, comes from God, and have been entrusted to us for the good of the community. Secondly, our Christian discipleship and leadership must be pastoral, that is, we must love the community whom we serve. In the second reading, St. Paul uses the image of the love of a mother to describe his love for the Church. We too must always be motivated by love in all we do. Thirdly, our Christian discipleship and leadership must always be one of service instead of power and prestige. In the Gospel, Jesus condemned the Pharisees for abusing their leadership, by seeking to control the people and by trying to gain power, prestige and benefits from their position. As Christian disciples and leaders, we are called to be servants, to humble ourselves, and to serve the needs of our brothers and sisters, instead of looking for glory, or expecting places of honour, or demanding recognition or fringe benefits.

Ultimately, as Christian disciples and leaders, our goal is to be like Christ, our model and our teacher. We are called to follow Jesus’ example in preaching the Good News to all, with joy, humility, patience, perseverance, compassion, mercy, and a good dose of love. May we make every effort to fervently and enthusiastically carry out our duties and responsibilities as Christian disciples and leaders, for the greater glory of God.

Friday of Week 30 Year 1

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Extremism can come in many forms, and these days, we see more and more of religious extremism and intolerance happening. Extremists give the religion a bad name, since what they do and their way of thinking is actually distorted and diverted from what is the actual teaching of the particular religion. Such people take simple and straightforward teaching and make it complicated and radical. Sometimes, such extremists do such things to draw attention to themselves, and to attract especially the young to join their cause.

In today’s Gospel, we come across a bunch of extremists who are the lawyers and the Pharisees. These folks held an extreme view, among many things, about keeping the sabbath. To them, keeping the sabbath means absolutely no work can be done, not even good deeds. But Jesus caught them in an embarassing situation when He said: “‘Which of you here, if his son falls into a well, or his ox, will not pull him out on a sabbath day without hesitation?’ And to this they could find no answer.”

When we are dealing with extremists, their minds are so warped and they have become so stubborn and obstinate, that even doing good and merciful acts are prohibited. This is why the lawyers and Pharisees could not and dared not answer Jesus’ challenge, since they would be conflicting their absurd position if they were to agree that such a good or merciful deed is permissable and commendable. What about us? Are some of us extremists in one way or another? Have we put people off or caused disharmony in our community with our extreme views through our behaviour, attitude and conduct? Let us do away with such extreme views, so that we may learn to live and love according to the ways of the Lord once again.

Tuesday of Week 30 Year 1

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Every once in a while, we come across people who think that their salvation is already guaranteed. Such persons think that their “saved” status can never be revoked, no matter what they have said or done. Some have even claimed that only a certain number of people would be saved, and they conveniently misquote scripture to support their views. But what is a Christian understanding of salvation? Are we really saved or not?

In today’s reading, St. Paul reminds us: “For we must be content to hope that we shall be saved – our salvation is not in sight, we should not have to be hoping for it if it were – but, as I say, we must hope to be saved since we are not saved yet – it is something we must wait for with patience.” What does this mean to us? It means that we still need to continue living good Christian lives, as we await our hope for salvation. It also means that we cannot do as we please, thinking that we can get away with it, expecting to still be saved when what we have done is against God’s commandments. May we be consistent with our behaviour, conduct and attitude, as we await our hope for salvation, and inspire others to do the same.

Monday of Week 30 Year 1

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If you have a heart attack and you need to get to the hospital quickly for treatment, and the day when your heart attack happened is on the sabbath, would you go to the hospital quickly as planned, or would you say, “It’s the sabbath, so I will go the next day”? Or if your house is on fire and you need to rescue your family, but the fire is raging on the Sabbath, would you go ahead and rescue your family? Or would you say: “Oh no! It’s the Sabbath. I will rescue the family tomorrow.”? Or supposing it is the sabbath and your son has been bitten by a snake, and he will die if you do not bring him to the hospital quickly for immediate treatment, would you still insist that it is the sabbath, and you would rather observe the sabbath come what may, even if it means your son will die?

These examples and many more show us the hypocrisy and absurdness of the synagogue official and the Pharisees in today’s Gospel, when it comes to observing the sabbath. Common sense would tell us that we should take action and perform works of mercy and do good things on the sabbath, since lives are in mortal danger as can be seen in the examples above. And yet, the synagogue official and the Pharisees could be still covered with confusion when such emergencies happen. What does this show us? It shows that the synagogue official and the Pharisees have become so distorted and extreme in their thinking, that it is illegal or sinful to be merciful, loving and compassionate even on the sabbath.

If we look at ourselves, have some of us become like the synagogue official and Pharisees? Are we washing our hands of our responsibilities as Christians, when there is an emergency or great need for help on the Lord’s Day? May we come to realise the real and true meaning of the sabbath, and in all we say and do, give glory to God.

Friday of Week 29 Year 1

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It seems that many of us are becoming more reluctant to deal with issues which we may have with certain other persons. Sometimes we just ignore the person or walk away, not wanting to have anything to do with the person or addressing the issue. Sometimes we go straight to the person’s boss, leader and superior, even though the issue may not be that great initially, because we lack the patience or courage to deal with the person directly. Why do we do these things? It is precisely because we have allowed our pride and ego to take control, so much so that we are only concerned about ourselves, and not interested in practicing love, mercy and compassion towards ourselves and towards others.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells us: “Why not judge for yourselves what is right? For example: when you go to court with your opponent, try to settle with him on the way, or he may drag you before the judge and the judge hand you over to the bailiff and the bailiff have you thrown into prison. I tell you, you will not get out till you have paid the very last penny.”

Have some of us become so self-righteous or conceited that we think we are faultless and right, demanding that others admit their faults? Or have we come to a point that we are not bothered about others anymore, causing ill-feelings, anger or even hatred to simmer and boil over? As Christians, we pray that God would forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Are we practising what we pray, or are we saying it blindly, without meaning, just to put on a show?

Thursday of Week 29 Year 1

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Some of us may have heard of the term “filial piety.” Filial piety basically means to be good to one’s parents; to take care of one’s parents; to engage in good conduct not just towards parents but also outside the home so as to bring a good name to one’s parents and ancestors; to perform the duties of one’s job well so as to obtain the material means to support parents. When we observe filial piety, we would try to keep the peace, especially in our family and with our parents, siblings and other loved ones. We would try not to get into major arguments as far as possible, and sometimes we learn to give and take so as to avoid ill feelings, as we would not want our family to break up and drift apart. But sometimes, we are put into a difficult situation. If your parents, siblings or other family members demand that you to do something which would keep the family united and at peace, but would cause you to break God’s commandment and commit sin, what would you choose? Would you listen to your family, or listen to God?

This is why Jesus in today’s Gospel tells us: “Do you suppose that I am here to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. For from now on a household of five will be divided: three against two and two against three; the father divided against the son, son against father, mother against daughter, daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law, daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.” It may seem good to try and maintain family unity and happiness, but by doing so, we could be doing something which would cause us to commit sin. It is indeed a difficult choice, but it may be one we may need to make. May we choose what to do wisely, because what we choose would lead to certain consequences.

Wednesday of Week 29 Year 1

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I believe most people would not want to be associated with evil. However, our negligence and failure to take action may lead us towards sin and evil. For example, we neglect to be loving and charitable towards others, we think only about ourselves, we allow pride and our ego to get the better of us, we steal or kill either directly or indirectly because we desire something which we want but cannot easily have, or we are unable or refuse to forgive others. When we do these things and more, we may be dragging ourselves on a path towards evil.

In today’s reading, St. Paul reminds and cautions us: “You must not let sin reign in your mortal bodies or command your obedience to bodily passions, you must not let any part of your body turn into an unholy weapon fighting on the side of sin; you should, instead, offer yourselves to God, and consider yourselves dead men brought back to life; you should make every part of your body into a weapon fighting on the side of God; and then sin will no longer dominate your life, since you are living by grace and not by law.”

It seems challenging and difficult, humanly speaking, to overcome evil, because the ways of the world tempts us with so many attractions. But this is not an excuse for us to give up or despair, since we are helped by God’s grace, and when we go for confession regularly, we are actually making effort to keep our soul clean. May we make every effort to change our ways, our attitudes and our behaviour, and fight on the side of God, for our eternal future.

Tuesday of Week 29 Year 1

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Some of us are used to putting off to tomorrow what could be done today. We can come up with many excuses as to why we are not getting the task done. For example, we say that there is still plenty of time, or that the task seems not that important, or the task needs extra time to prepare, even though in reality it is not that difficult to do, or we feel lazy or unmotivated at the moment. Sometimes we procrastinate for so long, that when the deadline for the task is approaching, then we begin to panic and work feverishly on it to get it done, or if the task does not seem so urgent, we may just forget about it altogether. But what we thought to be not so urgent today, may turn out to be critical tomorrow. For example, we think that servicing the car is not so urgent, even though the time to service has come, because we mistakingly believe that the car can still run for some time before it really needs servicing. But are we going to wait until the car breaks down and is in bad shape, then only we become frantic and get it serviced? By then, we may end up paying more for repairs, compared to if we had serviced regularly and according to schedule.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus reminds us of the need to be prepared: “See that you are dressed for action and have your lamps lit. Be like men waiting for their master to return from the wedding feast, ready to open the door as soon as he comes and knocks. Happy those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes.” Just as we should not procrastinate in getting a task done, even though it may not seem so urgent at first, we should also not procrastinate in building our spiritual life. May we not find ourselves caught off-guard when the time suddenly comes for us to meet the Lord.

Monday of Week 29 Year 1

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What is avarice? Avarice means extreme greed for wealth or material gain. It makes the getting and keeping of money, possessions, and the like, a purpose in itself to live for, instead of seeing that these things are valuable only as instruments for the conduct of a rational and harmonious life. When a person is infested by avarice, the person treats as if wealth or material gain are all that matters, and relationship, including family and even God, become secondary or even insignificant. Sometimes a person who is filled with avarice begins to treat such wealth or material gain as god.

In today’s Gospel,  Jesus cautions us: “Watch, and be on your guard against avarice of any kind, for a man’s life is not made secure by what he owns, even when he has more than he needs.”When we allow avarice to fester in our lives, we are distancing ourselves from God, thinking that we are self-sufficient and self-reliant. But what we fail to realise is that all that we have and own are merely temporary things which we cannot bring with us when we die. May we avoid allowing ourselves to end up in eternal ruin, and make every effort to be “rich in the sight of God.”