Category Archives: Friday

In ancient times, there was no such thing as social security or a “welfare” state. People survived by depending on their spouse and children. This made it even more difficult for especially women to survive, should they have no husband, or should they lose their husband, and also should they lose their sons. If a woman was in such a terrible situation, she would need to depend on the generosity of neighbours and others who may help her according to their means, especially if the woman was elderly and no longer able to do some work to make ends meet.

In today’s reading, we come across one such woman named Naomi. She had lost her husband, and then lost both her sons. As she no longer had any immediate family, she felt that her two daughters-in-law Orpah and Ruth were no longer under any obligation to stay with her and help care for her. Perhaps she did not want them to see her as a burden to them, perhaps she felt that they were still young enough to go back to their people and perhaps find another husband. But whatever the reason was, Naomi was willing to let them go. Orpah chose to go back to her people, but Ruth was determined to stay with Naomi and together face an uncertain future. Because of her generosity and willingness to keep Naomi company, we will later see how through Ruth, the lineage of David would eventually lead to our Lord, Jesus Christ.

If you were in Ruth’s shoes, would you choose to stay, or would you choose to go? Either way, we are not at fault or wrong in our choice. But sometimes, our love and generosity could lead to better and greater things. It is a question of how much we are willing to give, since God could use the little we give to work wonders. May we consider our options carefully, and do what is right for the greater glory of God.

Different people have got different views about what a marriage is all about. Some think that it is ok for people to marry, and then if they find that they have differences that they supposingly cannot resolve, then they should divorce. Others, including the Catholic Church, insist that there is no such thing as a divorce and that couples should make every effort to reconcile their differences and seek help where necessary to maintain their marriage. Why is the Catholic Church so strict about marriages where some other denominations have relaxed the rules?

In today’s Gospel, Jesus reminded the Pharisees and reminds us too: “Have you not read that the creator from the beginning made them male and female and that he said: This is why a man must leave father and mother, and cling to his wife, and the two become one body? They are no longer two, therefore, but one body. So then, what God has united, man must not divide.”

This is why, when it comes to marriages, the Catholic Church pays particular attention to the pre-marital preparation and the pre-marital course, as well as other programmes to help couples in their married lives. Getting and staying married is not like changing clothes, so the couple should be fully aware of themselves, each other, and what they are getting themselves into. Sometimes, in the process of attending a pre-marital course and making the necessary pre-marital preparations with the parish priest, the couple may discover things about each other which may not have surfaced previously. This gives the couple a chance to decide whether they are still willing to remain united with each other before the marriage takes place. After all, a wedding is only a moment in time, but a marriage is for a lifetime. So, do not play play with marriage, unless one is ready and prepared to work at it and stay committed, united and remain in love with the other, no matter what happens.

Many people call themselves Christians or claim to be followers of Christ. But are these people really following Christ? Or are they merely Christians in name only? Are we following and practicing Jesus’ teachings, or are we only picking and choosing what suits us or what is convenient to us? It is easy to call ourselves Christians, but it is a different matter altogether to remain faithful in following and practising His teachings, not just a portion or a part of His teachings which appeal to us, but all that He has taught us, even those parts which are difficult or challenging to observe. What exactly does Jesus expect of us then?

In today’s Gospel, we read: “Jesus said to his disciples, ‘If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me. For anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake will find it. What, then, will a man gain if he wins the whole world and ruins his life? Or what has a man to offer in exchange for his life? For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and, when he does, he will reward each one according to his behaviour.’

Being a follower of Christ basically means we are willing to renounce ourselves, renounce our old ways, our pride, our ego and our prejudices, and be willing to put on new ways in Christ. It means we are to follow the law of love which sums up what Christ has taught us; not just loving God, but loving neighbour as well. Have we truly been faithful disciples of Christ in word and deed?

Supposing one day your parish priest gets transferred to another parish, and you are to receive a new parish priest. Or supposing a religious sister who has been working with the parish community for years is transferred elsewhere and a new religious sister is coming to take her place. Would you be excited or anxious? Perhaps some of us may be quite excited about the prospect of working with “new blood” or with a different style of leadership. Some of us may be somewhat anxious, since we have not received news about who is coming to succeed the parish priest or the religious sister. Then the day comes, and guess who has come to take over? A son or daughter of the parish, that is, someone whose origins are from the parish he or she is now being posted to. What happens then? Some people may be become quite disappointed. Some may begin to feel resentment and frustration that the bishop or superior seems to have “played them out” so to speak, by sending someone they are familiar with, perhaps too familiar with.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells us: “‘A prophet is only despised in his own country and in his own house’, and he did not work many miracles there because of their lack of faith.” The people did not accept Jesus because he was a son of that community, people there thought they knew Him too well, and they already had preconceived opinions and ideas about Him. Their hearts were closed and they did not think Jesus had anything to offer them. As a result, they had rejected Jesus upfront, without even giving Him a chance to help and guide them.

Some of us too may have this attitude problem. Some of us think that a son or daughter of the parish is just not good enough to be our shepherd and guide. We know that we are short of vocations, and yet when we have a son or daughter of the parish in our midst, our preconceived ideas and opinions surface and rear their ugly heads, making it difficult for some to accept a familiar face. The question is: are we willing and docile enough to change our attitude and work with the son or daughter of the parish? Who knows, he or she may turn out to be an amazing and loving shepherd and guide. May we be willing to let go of our coloured vision and journey together even with someone we are familiar with, for God can use him or her as an instrument to transform the parish into something better.

As children, we would have learnt about the ten commandments at some point of our lives at Religious Education or catechism classes. Our teachers may have come up with creative ways for us to try and remember the ten commandments by heart, and many of us would have been able to recite the ten commandments with ease after a while. But did we understand what we were reciting? Perhaps to some degree, but as we grew older, some of us may have begun to forget the ten commandments.

In today’s reading, we are reminded once again of the ten commandments. Jesus summarised the ten commandments to two: love God and love neighbour. For many of us, loving God seems easier as we do not need to deal with Him directly face to face. But Jesus has also reminded us that we cannot love God if we do not love our neighbour. Loving our neighbour is certainly not easy, especially since we often encounter difficult people, or people who have hurt us or have been hurt by us, or people who seem so unlovable. But if we consider and ponder for a while, Jesus came and died on the cross for all of us and to save us from our sins. That is why we need to be constantly reminded of how we should live our lives by observing faithfully the ten commandments, which is basically the law of love. Are we able to put aside our pride, ego, self-centredness and selfish ways, and love all, God and neighbour alike, the way God loves us all?

Every once in a while, we come across people who are extreme in their religious views. Such people seem to believe that only their view of a particular religion is the correct or accepted view, and everyone else is deviant or heretical. Some of these people may even go to extremes by committing acts of violence to try and force others to adhere to their views. We have seen countries torn apart by such extremists, who have no qualms of executing or exterminating even people who share the same faith, but hold a different view of the faith they profess.

In today’s Gospel, we come across a group of people who are extreme in their religious views. We call these people the scribes and the Pharisees, who have become so extreme in their interpretation of the law or torah. When it comes to the sabbath, these scribes and Pharisees have gone to the extreme in ruling that no work whatsoever can be done. Even doing a good deed, or caring for someone, or helping someone, is forbidden to them during the sabbath. But Jesus reminded them: “And if you had understood the meaning of the words: What I want is mercy, not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the blameless.” It is pointless to keep the sabbath by only showing the external practices just as the scribes and Pharisees did, but our attitude, behaviour and conduct is unbecoming of a Christian. May we take heed of what Jesus said, and observe the sabbath with the right intentions, so that in all we say and do, God is glorified.

How many of us are able to withstand pain? For some of us, just a little pain could cause us to whine and complain, some even begin to have all sorts of strange thoughts. Then after all the drama, and the pain is gone, we carry on as if nothing happened. Some of us are able to withstand a great deal of pain without complaining, and we are able to carry on with our lives by managing the pain as best we can. But what about persecution? How many of us are able to withstand persecution, even to the point of death? Would we try to save our skin or would we be willing to stick to our beliefs and principles, come what may?

In today’s Gospel, we read: “Jesus instructed the Twelve as follows: ‘Remember, I am sending you out like sheep among wolves; so be cunning as serpents and yet as harmless as doves. Beware of men: they will hand you over to sanhedrins and scourge you in their synagogues. You will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the pagans. But when they hand you over, do not worry about how to speak or what to say; what you are to say will be given to you when the time comes; because it is not you who will be speaking; the Spirit of your Father will be speaking in you. Brother will betray brother to death, and the father his child; children will rise against their parents and have them put to death. You will be hated by all men on account of my name; but the man who stands firm to the end will be saved.'”

If we were persecuted for our faith today, would we be willing to suffer and even die for our faith? Some of us may have gotten so used to peace and prosperity in this world, that we may have become complacent of what it means to be a Christian. May we choose to do what is right and just in God’s eyes, and “be cunning as serpents and yet as harmless as doves” as Jesus instructed us, while being courageous and steadfast in witnessing to the Gospel for the glory of God.

When we are sick or having some sort of trouble, we would try to find help from the various options available in modern medicine. Different doctors may give us different prognosis and suggest different kinds of treatment, some cheap, some quite expensive. In our efforts to be cured, what if, after all the different medical procedures have been attempted, we are still not well? How would we respond to such a predicament?

In today’s Gospel, the leper had suffered much, since at that time, lepers were ostracised from society and had to live on their own or within a leper community, as they were considered unclean. There seemed to be no cure and the leper, in desperation and with hope, dared to venture towards Jesus, bowed low in front of Him, and pleaded to Jesus for a cure. Even then, the leper did not force Jesus to cure him, as he merely said: “Sir, if you want to, you can cure me.” The leper had placed his full confidence and trust in Jesus, and as a result, he was cured.

How many of us are like that leper in today’s Gospel, willing to have full confidence and trust in God? Sometimes in our efforts to find a cure, we may have forgotten or neglected to seek God’s help, thinking that we can find a solution or a cure on our own. But let us not forget that God can and will heal us, if we are willing to be patient and place our trust in Him. Are we willing to be humble and let God care for us according to His time and for His glory?

As Christians, we are often tempted to be attracted to wealth, riches and property. The advertisements that we see on television or hear on the radio, the various posters and billboards that we see next to the road, all seem to bombard us with the message that wealth ought to be our ultimate purpose and goal in life. How do we survive and avoid such constant attacks and temptations?

In today’s Gospel, Jesus said to his disciples, “Do not store up treasures for yourselves on earth, where moths and woodworms destroy them and thieves can break in and steal. But store up treasures for yourselves in heaven, where neither moth nor woodworms destroy them and thieves cannot break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Jesus reminds us that all the wealth, riches and property in the world are temporary, can be corrupted, can be stolen, and merely illusions. Such riches do not satisfy or bring us happiness, since we will never have enough of it. Instead, we should be focusing more on building a good relationship with God, since being with Him should be our ultimate goal. The question is: are we merely looking for that which is temporary, or are we looking for that which is eternal?