Category Archives: Sunday

Is it wrong to be wealthy or rich? Of course not. It is not so much whether you are rich or poor, but it is how you lived your lives; our words and conduct; as well as what sort of attitude and behaviour you have towards others; these are things that matter. One could be an extremely wealthy person, but at the same time one could be humble, unassuming and generous with one’s time and wealth. Also, one could be not too well off, and could pretend to be wealthy, snobbish, rude and aloof.

In today’s Gospel, we come across the parable of Lazarus and the rich man. Lazarus, the poor man, went to heaven, and the rich man went to hell. Did Lazarus go to heaven because he was poor and the rich man ended up in hell because he was rich? Of course not. If that were the case, many rich persons in the world, past and present, would have been condemned to hell already. So why did the rich man end up in hell? The sin of the rich man was not because of his wealth, and not because he was cruel, wicked or selfish. The sin of the rich man was his indifference, his “tidak kisah or tidak peduli” attitude (translated to “don’t care or not my problem” attitude). The rich man did not care about what happened to Lazarus, he did not care about what was happening around him, he did not care about anyone else except himself. By the time he learnt to care for someone, his brothers in this case, it was too late. In fact, while he was still alive, the rich man did not even really care about what happened to his brothers. It is ironic that at least the dogs took notice of Lazarus and his condition, whereas the rich man remained indifferent to all around him.

In our lives, some of us may have been thinking that it is better to mind our own business and not poke our noses into other people’s business. Some of us think that it is not for us to get involved, even though what is happening is obviously wrong or a serious issue, and something should be done and done quickly. Many people choose to be deaf and blind, and pretend that everything is fine as long as our lives and our family life is not affected. But the fact is, complacency or indifference is one of the greatest ills of our society, since by not getting involved, by not helping, by ignoring the situation; nothing will change, the problem remains, and we could be accomplices to the problem or be a part of the problem. In fact, St Paul in the second reading reminds us that it is not enough to just take care of our own affairs and ignore others, since he writes: “As a man dedicated to God, you must aim to be saintly and religious, filled with faith and love, patient and gentle. Fight the good fight of the faith and win for yourself the eternal life to which you were called when you made your profession and spoke up for the truth in front of many witnesses.” This means that we need to do something, we need to take action, we cannot just sit idly and not be bothered. Each of us is called to saintliness and holiness, and we cannot just be mediocre or do the minimum.

Today, let us pray for the grace to be able to see with eyes and hear with ears of compassion. Let us follow Jesus’ example in reaching out and helping all in need. May we not waste our eternal future away with our indifference, and end up like the rich man, while we still have opportunities here on earth to do our part and make a difference.

Are you a slave? Or are you truly free? Some of you may be thinking: “This padre has really gone nuts or crazy. Of course I am free! How could I possibly be a slave?” But the reality is, unfortunately, many people indeed become slaves of one thing or another. We become trapped or addicted to the thing that we want to be free of. How can this be so? After all, we are free to do many things in this world, so how can we be enslaved even though we think we are free?

God invites us to depend on Him and learn from His ways, but He does not force us to do so. To be his servant, to put our entire trust and faith in him, we must do it freely without compulsion. But when we begin to place our trust in other things or persons other from God, we soon see ourselves losing our freedom to these things. We become slaves to these false gods. They begin to take control of our lives and take away our freedom. Take for example, money and wealth. We need to make a living and we need money to survive and function in this world, but when we begin to make money, some of us may begin to long for more and more of it, to the point that our entire efforts are in making money. We begin to neglect or pay less attention to other things, including our health, our family, even our relationship with God. When this happens, are we not enslaved or slaves to money? Has not money become like a false god to us?

That is why, in today’s Gospel, we are reminded that we cannot serve God and false gods at the same time. To serve God is to be truly free, whereas to serve other false gods would mean losing this freedom. We cannot be free and not free at the same time. We must never forget that we were created to know, love and serve God. The attractions of life can draw us away from living as sons and daughters of God, and slowly take away our inner freedom and we become slaves to them; we become addicted, attached and dependent on them, so much so that they have become our false gods. When we allow this to happen, when we become totally immersed to the ways of the world and the attractions of life, then we are actually breaking the first commandment: “I am the Lord your God. You shall not have strange gods before me.”

Today, let us  pray for the strength to truly know, love and serve God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. Today’s second reading reminds us: “For there is only one God, and there is only one mediator between God and mankind, himself a man, Christ Jesus, who sacrificed himself as a ransom for them all.” Let us always remember that we cannot serve two masters, and make every effort to cast off all our false gods and place our trust in God. Let us depend on our God, and regain our freedom to become sons and daughters of God.

People in love have the capacity of doing the craziest things. If you observe a person in love, you would notice the amount of time and effort the person would spend towards the one the person loves. For example, a mother would go through great extent to ensure that her child is well cared for and well provided, regardless whether the child is grateful to the mother or not. A father would not hesitate to rescue his child who fell into a pool, even though he does not know how to swim and may be at risk of drowning. A teacher spends lots of time helping a child to gain a better grasp of his lessons, as the child is a slow learner, and the teacher loves the child and wants him to do well in life, without caring about what others think. Love can certainly make people do crazy things.

In today’s Gospel, we see examples of how love can make people do crazy things. In the Gospel, we are told that a shepherd leaves ninety nine sheep to go after the one that is lost. We are also told that a woman goes in search for the lost tenth drachma by “light a lamp and sweep out the house and search thoroughly till she found it.” A person attuned to the ways of the world or a business person may be thinking: “Are you crazy? Have you gone nuts? Why risk losing the other sheep just to look out for one? Why go through all the trouble looking to that one drachma when you already have the other nine?” But the fact is, God’s ways are different from our ways. God loves without limit, and He is prepared to go all out and endure suffering, seek and find that one which is lost.

Some of us may think that the best thing to do would be to let these sort of people carry on with whatever they’re doing, and we too carry on with our own lives. We wash our hands off such people, because we don’t feel it worthwhile or necessary to bring them or rescue them. But this is where God shows us the true meaning of love. God never gives up even when we choose to give up; He never stops working or trying even though we have long ceased all efforts; He never stops loving even when we may feel as if it is impossible to love anymore. Such is our God: the most compassionate, the most loving, and the most merciful. Seeing that we have such a God, what does this tell us? This tells us that each of us is very important; has a special dignity; is unique; is priceless and worth saving. The problem is, we sometimes fail to recognise our own dignity, and we forget who we are. Because of this, we easily get angry with others when we are made to feel small; or become jealous and selfish because we feel that we are not good enough. But the point is, God is telling you: “You are beautiful! You are precious! Why let others put you down? God loves you so much that He sent His Son Jesus to die for you and to save you from your sins!” Are we doubting God?

Today, let us hold our heads up high, knowing with trust and confidence that God is there to help us and guide us. Each and every one of us is more precious and valuable than anything else, so we should not feel down or give up. Let us always remember that God will never abandon us; that He loves us unconditionally, and that we too should learn to love the way He loves us.