Category Archives: Thursday

I believe most of us would not want to appear unkempt or smell bad, especially when we are outside. Even in our homes, we would want to keep clean. We spend a lot of time and effort in our personal hygiene, so that our bodies would remain fresh, clean and healthy. But all these efforts are only concerning our bodies. How clean have we been keeping our soul? Have we been keeping our soul clean by going for confession regularly, to remove the sins we have committed?

In today’s reading, God cleansed His people from their iniquity and sins: “I shall pour clean water over you and you will be cleansed; I shall cleanse you of all your defilement and all your idols. I shall give you a new heart, and put a new spirit in you; I shall remove the heart of stone from your bodies and give you a heart of flesh instead. I shall put my spirit in you, and make you keep my laws and sincerely respect my observances. You will live in the land which I gave your ancestors. You shall be my people and I will be your God.” By doing so, God took the initiative to help His people remove their uncleanness and shepherd them so that they would grow and prosper as His people. In the same way, God is also wanting to remove the uncleanness from our soul, and we are invited and urged to do so by going for confession and doing penance. Are we going to allow God to cleanse us, or would we prefer to remain dirty?

How do we treat our family members and friends? What about our enemies? How do we treat them? Do we treat them as persons, to be loved, respected and with dignity; or do we treat them as things, to be used, abused, and discarded? Unfortunately, some of us treat different people differently according to who and what they are, even though we claim to be Christians. For example, we treat our family members well, but how do we treat the maid or servant in our homes? Do we treat them as persons, or do we make them work our monies worth?

In today’s Gospel, the king initially treated the servant as a thing, and since the servant could not pay his debt, the king thought he had every right to sell of the servant and the servant’s family, to repay the debt. The servant was just like any other thing or commodity, to be bought and sold at leisure. But when the servant pleaded to the king for mercy, the king had a change of heart and treated the servant as a person, with compassion and mercy. So the servant was given back some dignity, and he should have done the same for his fellow servant. But this servant was ungrateful, since the dignity restored to him was not shared with his fellow servant, and in the end, this servant ended up worse than before, for failing to treat his fellow servant with the same dignity his master had treated him.

What about us? Are we treating others with the same dignity that God treats us? Do we treat the people who serve us, who work in our homes as maids, who do many things to make our lives comfortable, with love and dignity? God treats all of us with love and dignity regardless of who we are or what sort of status we have in society; may we too learn to do the same.

It is not easy for some of us to forgive others, especially if these others have done something very serious or caused us great pain or harm. The easiest thing for some of us would be to seek retribution or revenge, since some of us think that we deserve justice and the person who has wronged us should get his or her just desserts. But how many of us are willing to forgive such persons, despite the amount of hurt and pain the person has caused us? Are we willing to forgive and move on? Or are we forgiving but still harbouring the hurt in us?

In today’s reading, God is willing to forgive the Israelites their iniquity and never call their sin to mind. This means that God is not going to hold anything against the Israelites, and He is willing to guide them as His people. Likewise, God is willing to forgive us too for the many sins we may have committed against Him and against others. If God is willing to forgive and move on, why can”t we do the same? Are we too proud or egoistic to let go of the hurt and move on? When we forgive, we are not allowing the hurt to control us any longer, and we are freed from further hurt and pain. May we learn to forgive others, just as God forgives us, and let God help us become better persons.

As children, some of us may have played with mud or clay before. We may have tried to make an object with mud or clay, so that we could use such an object to play perhaps with our friends or even imaginary friends. Sometimes we would try to make an object which could be used as a decorative item. When we are not too happy with what we made, we just roll the whole thing into a big ball of mess, and start over, until we are satisfied with what we have made.

In today’s reading: “I went down to the potter’s house and there he was, working at the wheel. Whenever the object of clay which he was making turned out badly in his hand, he tried again, making of the clay another object of whatever sort he pleased. Then the word of the LORD came to me: Can I not do to you, house of Israel, as this potter has done? says the LORD. Indeed, like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, house of Israel.” God constantly worked on the Israelites and tried to help them come back to Him. Likewise, God is also constantly working on us, inviting us to turn back to Him and depend on Him. Sometimes we are resistant to His moulding, and we may not turn out according to what He likes, but He is still willing to try again until we are moulded into something better. Are we willing to let God, like the potter, mould us into the best we can be?

We sometimes take for granted what God has done for us. We may have received many blessings and gifts from God, but how many of us are truly grateful or thankful to God for His providence? When times are good, some of us may even begin to think that all the blessings and gifts we received are from our own effort. But when times are bad, then only some of us may turn to God and beg for His help. Why do we behave in this way? Do we not realise where all our blessing and gifts are really coming from?

In today’s reading, the Israelites had become too full of themselves, even to the point of forgetting God. The reading tells us: “The priests have never asked, “Where is the Lord?”. Those who administer the Law have no knowledge of me. The shepherds have rebelled against me; the prophets have prophesied in the name of Baal, following the things with no power in them.” Even though the Lord had brought His people out of slavery into a fertile country to enjoy its produce and good things, they took it all for granted and even abandoned and rebelled against God who provided for them. Because of this, the Israelites eventually lost all these gifts and blessings, and ended up in exile.

In a way, we too could be in the same situation as the Israelites, if we take for granted God’s blessings and gifts. Let us never forget that what God has given is could be lost or taken away, and let us always be grateful and thankful for His generosity and bounty.

How do you train a buffalo or lighten its load? By putting another buffalo next to it so that the other buffalo would help to drag the load, or to pull the cart, or to plow a field. If one buffalo were to do the task on its own, the task may be completed but it may take a longer time to do so. To enable a buffalo to do these tasks, the buffalo needs to be fitted with a device called a yoke. When we see a yoke designed with two openings to be placed on the shoulders of buffalos, then we would know that the yoke is meant for two buffalos, to enable the task to be done faster or more efficiently.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus invites us to “Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Yes, my yoke is easy and my burden light.” The yoke that Jesus is speaking of obviously has two openings: one for us, and the other for Jesus to shoulder. Jesus is inviting us to join Him in carrying the yoke, so that we can learn how to be like Him and carry out His call to proclaim the Good News. Are we willing to be humble and docile, and let Jesus be our partner in shouldering the yoke? After all, two “buffalos” are better than one, and we have a “buffalo” who is patient and loving towards us.

When we go for a vacation trip abroad, one of the things that concerns us is whether our luggage is too heavy, or whether we have packed too many things, or whether we really need so many things. We seem to fret over so many things concerning our trip, that we may end up becoming stressed or preoccupied with such things, and end up not really enjoying our trip after all. If this is the case, why do we go for the trip in the first place? We say that we go because we need a break or a vacation, but how are we going to have a proper vacation or break if we are fretting or getting stressed out?

In today’s Gospel, Jesus instructed the Twelve as follows: “As you go, proclaim that the kingdom of heaven is close at hand. Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out devils. You received without charge, give without charge. Provide yourselves with no gold or silver, not even with a few coppers for your purses, with no haversack for the journey or spare tunic or footwear or a staff, for the workman deserves his keep. Whatever town or village you go into, ask for someone trustworthy and stay with him until you leave. As you enter his house, salute it, and if the house deserves it, let your peace descend upon it; if it does not, let your peace come back to you.”

Jesus wanted us to be free from so many unnecessary worries and concerns, so that we would concentrate more on preaching the Good News. Just as we are advised to travel light and bring only essential things, so that we can enjoy our vacation trip, Jesus is inviting and encouraging us to learn to depend on our loving God, who will provide us with what we need. Do we not trust in God’s generosity and providence?

Most people do not like to hear or experience bad news. Those who do are often ridiculed and people would ask them whether they are crazy, or are “gluttons for punishment” which basically means to “willfully take on disagreeable or uncomfortable tasks.” However, sometimes it is necessary for us to hear and experience bad news, since such bad news could help us learn to be humble, to learn from our mistakes and become better persons, to be more dependent on God, not to be complacent, and not to be too confident or proud of one’s wealth, achievements and success.

In today’s reading, the prophet Amos had been warning the Israelites of the impending doom which would happen to them if they did not change their ways and return to the Lord’s path. But Amaziah the priest of Bethel, tried to curry favour with the king of Israel and tried to chase away the prophet Amos, saying that “this is the royal sanctuary, the national temple.” By saying so, Amaziah thought that God would not allow the temple to be desecrated or destroyed, since he believed that God was present in the temple. But what Amaziah failed to realise is that God is not confined only to the temple, and that the prophet Amos had been sent by God to warn the Israelites. Sometimes, pride, as in the case of Amaziah, could lead persons to think that God is on their side, when in reality, that is not the case.

What about us? Could some of us have become like Amaziah, refusing to listen to God’s warning? Are we fooling ourselves into thinking that nothing would happen to us? May we take heed and change our ways, and return to God’s ways, before it is too late.

When we do something wrong or displeasing towards our parents, what happens? Quite likely some of us may get a scolding, some of us may even get smacked. When we do something wrong or commit a traffic violation, what happens? We may be fined for the offence committed. But what if we do something wrong or sin against God? God may be merciful and patient with us, but some of us may have taken for granted God’s mercy and patience, and sometimes we may be caught off-guard when we are called to face Him for judgement. Then what would happen to us then?

In today’s reading, king Jehoiachin did what is displeasing to the Lord, just as his father had done. Already many of his ancestors had committed offences against God, and God had been so merciful and kind towards them. But king Jehoaichin failed to change his ways and make amends with God. Then what happened? Because of the infidelity of the Israelites, because of the continuous displeasing acts committed, king Jehoaichin and the Israelites ended up in exile, a humiliating and painful consequence of not taking action in making amends with God while they had plenty of opportunities to do so.

What about us? Some of us seem to think that we have plenty of time to change our ways and return to God’s path. But we forget that God can call us any time to give an account of our lives. Are we going to jeopadise our eternal future through our own inaction and false sense of security?

If you observe the way young children play and interact, you would find that, in many cases, such children find it easier to forgive among themselves and move on. From time to time, such children may encounter wrongdoings or misbehaviour, but rather than holding a grudge or getting angry over words and deeds, sometimes for a certain period of time, we could notice that after a while, they would continue playing and having fun, as if nothing had happened. Why is this so? It is because of pride and ego. Such children have not yet developed the level of pride and ego which some of us adults may have.

Today we come across the Lord’s Prayer or the Our Father in the Gospel. I suppose the hardest line to follow is: “And forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven those who are in debt to us.” Moreover, the Gospel cautions us: “Yes, if you forgive others their failings, your heavenly Father will forgive you yours; but if you do not forgive others, your Father will not forgive your failings either.” If children can and are willing to forgive others quite easily, why do some of us find it so difficult to forgive? When we do wrong or said some unkind words, do we seek forgiveness too, or do we hold on to our pride and ego? Why do we allow our pride and ego to take control of us completely? May we come to realise that forgiveness is not just a one way street, where we expect to be forgiven but we refuse to forgive. Instead, may we learn to forgive others, and be humble enough to seek forgiveness from others. Like children, let us set aside our pride and ego, and learn to be more like our loving God.