Faithfulness and Love

Category Archives: Monday

Monday of the 4th Week of Lent

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How much do you trust God? Some people say that they trust God, and yet go to shamans, witch doctors, or even medicine men, thinking that these can help them or cure them. Some people say they trust God, but at the back of their mind, they doubt whether God is really listening and whether God would really heal them or help them. How many of us trust God unreservedly and wholeheartedly?

In today’s Gospel, a court official whose son was ill at Capernaum believed what Jesus had said and started on his way, trusting that Jesus would heal his son. When he received news that his son was healed, he and all his household believed. If we were put in a similar situation, would we believe that Jesus would heal us? Sometimes healing may take place immediately, at other times, gradually. Are we expecting Jesus to heal us according to our time-frame? Or are we willing to be patient and wait, knowing and trusting that Jesus would do what is best for us?

Monday of the 3rd Week of Lent

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Some people say that familiarity breeds contempt. When you think you know a person well enough, you may be less likely to listen to him or her, and you may think that that person is not that great or wonderful. In today’s Gospel, Jesus said, “I tell you solemnly, no prophet is ever accepted in his own country.” To a certain extend, this seems true. This is one of the reasons why a priest or a religious is rarely sent to his or her home town, as the local people there may be less willing or open to listen and work with the local boy or girl.

However, familiarity does not necessarily breed contempt. The issue at stake is whether we are willing to see a person with neutral eyes and hearts. Yes, the person may have been born and raised at that place, we may have known the person and seen the person grow through the years. But that does not mean we know the person absolutely, 100%, completely. The person may have gifts, talents, or abilities which may have escaped our attention due to our personal pride, prejudice and coloured vision. Are we willing to open the eyes of our hearts and be humble enough to support our local boys and girls, who for one reason or another have been sent back to home territory to serve and care for us? Let us do our part and grow in love with all.

Monday of the 2nd Week of Lent

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Some people may be stingy with their time and finances when it comes to church and helping others. However, these people may not be so when it comes to their own needs. Sometimes I hear of some people asking the church for this, for that, but these same people are very reluctant to contribute a fair amount of time or money. During parties or functions, these people would rush for the best pieces or the largest quantity, only to throw away or pack home what they have grabbed, but it is unfortunate to note that these people would be so inconsiderate to either bring very little to share, or they would not bring anything at all. Greed and selfishness seems to be their way of doing things.

Today’s Gospel reminds us: “Be compassionate as your Father is compassionate. Do not judge, and you will not be judged yourselves; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned yourselves; grant pardon, and you will be pardoned. Give, and there will be gifts for you…” Some people may think that they can get away with their behaviour and attitude, but they fail to realise that they are answerable for what they have done. Let us learn to be responsible, loving and caring, just as we pray and hope for God to be loving and merciful towards us.

Monday of the 1st Week of Lent

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The way we live our lives would give us a glimpse of what would happen to us ultimately when we die. Until then, we are given lots of opportunities to repent and change our lives. Are we taking such opportunities to grow closer to God and love our neighbour impartially?

Today’s Gospel presents us with two final options: eternal life or eternal punishment. Most of us would want eternal life, but are we loving God and neighbour consistently and continuously that would lead us to eternal life? There are so many obstacles along the way, and a more challenging obstacle which we face is loving our neighbour, since we can see our neighbour daily. Loving our neighbour is indeed not an easy thing, as there are many aspects of loving our neighbour which we may have neglected. Today’s Gospel gives us some examples of loving our neighbour: “I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you made me welcome; naked and you clothed me, sick and you visited me, in prison and you came to see me.” We may have neglected to love our neighbour in some of these examples, and if we realise this, what are we doing about it? How can we say we love God, if we pick and choose how and whom we love? God is loving to all, regardless of who they are and what they have done. Are we doing the same?

Monday of Week 8 Year 2

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Some of us may be attached to certain things, way of life, people, habits, etc. We seem to be unable to let go of these attachments, since we may feel that these attachments belong to us and us alone. One form of attachment which people tend to fall into is wealth, be it money and/or property. A person could be so attached to wealth that sharing it or giving it away could pose a problem. Wealth becomes like a god to some, as they think that their happiness depends on what and how much they have.

When wealth becomes more important to us, then we may fall into the same trap as the rich man in today’s Gospel. Like the rich man, we may have forgotten what is more important to us. In another part of the Gospel, we are reminded that we cannot serve 2 masters, God and wealth. In today’s Gospel, the rich man may seem to have observed the commandments, but his heart is not attached to God, his heart is attached to the vast wealth he has. What about us? Have we become like the rich man, only concerned about our wealth, and forgotten or ignoring God? Can we bring our wealth with us when we die? Certainly not! But sometimes some of us only realise this when it is too late and we are about to leave this earth. Are we setting ourselves up for eternal happiness or otherwise?

Monday of Week 7 Year 2

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The minds of people are not easy to understand and discover. People can sometimes play games or pretend by putting up a front, hoping that others will not realise who they really are. Even people who appear to be respectable or upright could have a hidden side. There is more than meets the eye for some people, and unless one is very observant, one could be misled by such people.

Today’s reading reminds us that “If there are any wise or learned men among you, let them show it by their good lives, with humility and wisdom in their actions.” How many of us are genuinely wise or learned? We may have plenty of degrees, doctorates or other qualifications, but does that really make us wise? Sometimes we see such people with so called high qualifications behaving in a manner quite the opposite. Are we living good lives, with humility and wisdom in our actions? Or are we hiding behind our intellect, while in actual fact our hearts remain darkened and cold?

Monday of Week 2 Year 2

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If God were to instruct you to do something, would you do it? Most of us would say yes immediately, but whether we follow through with what we say and get the task done is a different matter. Sometimes God may be asking us to do something which we find unpleasant or not according to our hopes and dreams. When such a situation happens, how would we respond? It is easy to say that we love God and would obey Him, but in reality, how many of us really and honestly do so?

In today’s reading, Samuel warned Saul that Saul had disobeyed God’s command. Samuel said: “Is the pleasure of the Lord in holocausts and sacrifices or in obedience to the voice of the Lord? Yes, obedience is better than sacrifice, submissiveness better than the fat of rams. Rebellion is a sin of sorcery, presumption a crime of teraphim.” Because of Saul’s disobedience, God rejected Saul as king, since Saul had rejected the word of the Lord. We too could fall into the same situation if we refuse to listen and obey God’s command. Are we ready to change our stubborn ways and walk humbly in God’s presence? Or have our hearts become so hardened and obstinate?

Monday of Week 1 Year 2

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In certain societies, a woman may be showered with lots of affection and gifts from her husband, but if she is unable to bear him a child, she may be looked down upon or ridiculed. Even though her husband may not be bothered about her condition and love her nonetheless, the ill-treatment by others around her can be quite demeaning and painful to bear. Hannah in today’s reading was facing such a situation. Some other women may have despaired due to their situation, but Hannah chose to cry out to the Lord and the Lord was mindful of her, and she conceived and gave birth to a son.

Sometimes in our lives, we too may face difficult situations similar to what Hannah faced. Are we able to continue to hold our heads up high and depend on the Lord’s mercy and providence, knowing that the Lord would provide for us in His time, just as He provided for Hannah? Perhaps our prayer may not be answered quickly or in the manner we expect, but let us persevere and not lose heart, knowing that God would be mindful of us and help us.

Monday after Epiphany

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Every once in a while we hear someone preaching something which seems to be about Christ. They appear to be gaining lots of followers and soon they have mega-churches or big buildings, property and land to be used for so called evangelisation. However, today’s reading warns us to be careful and not be easily influenced by such people. The reading tells us:

“It is not every spirit, my dear people, that you can trust; test them, to see if they come from God, there are many false prophets, now, in the world. You can tell the spirits that come from God by this: every spirit which acknowledges that Jesus the Christ has come in the flesh is from God; but any spirit which will not say this of Jesus is not from God, but is the spirit of Antichrist, whose coming you were warned about.”

Not everything which people do in Jesus name is true. Sometimes there is deception in what appears to be true, so we need to discern carefully and see whether these people are genuine or just trying to lure us away from the Gospel. Many tragedies, forms of cheating and other evil have been committed, under the pretext of preaching the Gospel. Let us be careful and not be so easily influenced.

Monday of the 3rd Week of Advent

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“Jangan cari pasal,” is a Bahasa Malaysia phrase which is translated as “Don’t look for trouble.” In today’s Gospel, we see the chief priests and the elders of the people trying to “cari pasal” with Jesus, hoping to find some excuse to trap Him. They challenged Him by asking: “What authority have you for acting like this? And who gave you this authority?” They knew who Jesus was but refused to admit and acknowledge Him. When Jesus questioned them back, they themselves fell into the very trap which they had tried to set on Jesus.

In our lives, we too may be guilty of trying to “cari pasal” with others, especially when we think we are smarter, better qualified, or better off than they are. We think we can put other people down or belittle them and get away with it. But, as Jesus has shown us, sometimes we may just end up eating humble pie or we may end up making a fool of ourselves. Are we allowing our ego to swell and take control of our lives? Or are we willing to walk humbly in God’s presence?