Category Archives: Tuesday

Sometimes life can be tough, especially in the present economic situation many of us are in. We begin to worry about making ends meet, and we become more and more engrossed with our work and trying to make a living, that we may have given less and less time for God. We think that this is real life, it is not fair, it is a struggle, and we have to go at it on our own. But sometimes, we come to a situation that we cannot seem to free ourselves from, or we are stuck and do not know how to resolve. What do we do? Some of us may try alternative forms of help, thinking that these would somehow help us through, but more often than not, these alternative forms may only land us into more problems than solutions. Then what?

In today’s Gospel, the disciples were in a boat battling with a heavy sea, for there was a head-wind.went towards them. We read: “When the disciples saw him walking on the lake they were terrified. ‘It is a ghost’ they said, and cried out in fear. But at once Jesus called out to them, saying, ‘Courage! It is I! Do not be afraid.’ It was Peter who answered. ‘Lord,’ he said ‘if it is you, tell me to come to you across the water.’ ‘Come’ said Jesus. Then Peter got out of the boat and started walking towards Jesus across the water, but as soon as he felt the force of the wind, he took fright and began to sink. ‘Lord! Save me!’ he cried. Jesus put out his hand at once and held him. ‘Man of little faith,’ he said ‘why did you doubt?’ And as they got into the boat the wind dropped.”

Each of us may have been experiencing heavy seas in our lives. We think that our problems are too difficult to solve. But if we put our trust in Jesus and let Him be our guide, then our problems are no longer problems but opportunities for us to grow closer to Jesus. We may not get everything we want, but Jesus can provide for us our needs, if we have faith and trust in Him. Let us not doubt any longer or think that Jesus has abandoned us, but continue to be patient and persistent in our trust and faith in Him, knowing that He will do what is best for us in His time and for His glory.

Some of us seem to be looking for quick solutions or instant gratification in this world. Some of us may become increasingly impatient when we do not get what we want or achieve what we desire. This could lead us to commit sin, especially when the options we think are open to us involve acts or practices which are wicked, mean, sinful or illegal. Some of us may have gone ahead and committed sin, because we allowed our pride and ego to take control of us. As we continue to try and satisfy our desires, we may find that we have drifted further and further away from God. But God is ever patient. He is constantly calling us to return to Him. In spite of the many sins we may have committed, God is willing to take us back if we are willing to repent, seek forgiveness and change our ways. The question is: are we allowing ourselves to be consumed by our pride and ego, or are we willing to let go and let God take control?

In today’s Gospel, we come across an explanation of the parable about the darnel. Jesus had cautioned us: “Just as the darnel is gathered up and burnt in the fire, so it will be at the end of time. The Son of Man will send his angels and they will gather out of his kingdom all things that provoke offences and all who do evil, and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth. Then the virtuous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Listen, anyone who has ears!” Have we become more and more worldly and committed all sorts of evil or offences to satisfy our desires, and feed our ego and pride? Are we refusing to change our ways and remain like the darnel, only to face eternal damnation at the end? God is ever patient and merciful, and He is waiting for us to turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel. It is up to us to make the decision to change, and do our utmost best to avoid any occasion of sin, with the help of God.

Some people seem to think that being related to a priest or a bishop gives them the right to demand special treatment or certain privileges. Just because such people are either the parents, sibling or related to the priest or bishop in some way, they think that others must kow tow to them or satisfy their demands. Some of such people even have the gall to threaten others by claiming that if their demands are not met, or if they don’t get the treatment they think they deserve, then they would complain to the priest or bishop, thinking that the priest or bishop would entertain their complaint. But is this the kind of “relationship” that Jesus expects of us?

In today’s Gospel, Jesus is reminding us that having a relationship with Him is more than just familial or blood-relationship. In the Gospel, He says: “‘Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?’ And stretching out his hand towards his disciples he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers. Anyone who does the will of my Father in heaven, he is my brother and sister and mother.'” Are we claiming “relationship” with Jesus only in name, while we lord it over others? Or have we learnt to be humble and do the will of God?

Sometimes we come across people who seem to be not bothered about many things, especially if it does not seem to affect them directly. They only are concerned about themselves, or how wealthy or financially secure they can become, or how popular they can become. But when it comes to others, such people are indifferent towards them (in Malay, it is known as “tidak apa” or :tidak peduli” attitude, or don’t care or don’t want to know or don’t want to get involved attitude). We sometimes see such indifferent attitude when it comes to, for example, parking a vehicle, where some people think the road belongs to them or that any place can be used to park their vehicle, and they park indiscriminately, causing congestion and a dangerous situation for other people and vehicles. It is only when such people are slapped with a traffic summons, or their vehicle is damaged, that they begin to take notice and work up a big fuss, even though they are obviously in the wrong but they choose to be arrogant and refuse to admit it.

In today’s reading, we come across the mother of Moses who could have been indifferent towards Moses and send him to his fate. But she did not allow such a thing to happen, and even managed to rescue him by letting him be adopted by Pharoah’s daughter. Then, Moses as an adult could have enjoyed his life and live a good life as a prince of Egypt and not bother about his countrymen. But Moses did not do such a thing. He did not look away or was indifferent to the violence an Egyptian inflicted on his countryman and even killed the Egyptian to save and protect his countryman.

What about us? Have some of us become so indifferent towards the sufferings and needs of others? Have some of us become self-centered, only thinking about our needs and wants? May we realise that the world is to be shared and cared for by all, and that as witnesses of the Good News, we should show our faith by helping and caring for others, just as God does for all.

If God were to ask you to do something, would you do it? Or would you find ways and means to try and avoid doing what God wants of you? Some of us say that we will do what God wants us to, but some may not be saying so wholeheartedly. Are we willing to do God’s will and have complete trust in Him, or have some of us doubted God and tried to look back or go back to our previous ways?

In today’s reading, the angels urged Lot: “Come, take your wife and these two daughters of yours, or you will be overwhelmed in the punishment of the town… Run for your life. Neither look behind you nor stop anywhere on the plain. Make for the hills if you would not be overwhelmed.” Lot managed to convince the angels to allow his family and he to escape to a town called Zoar. However, “the wife of Lot looked back, and was turned into a pillar of salt.” Why did she do so? The reading does not tell us specifically. Perhaps Lot’s wife had become too attached to her old life, and she looked back in regret for what she was losing. Perhaps she was curious and wanted to see whether everything would be totally destroyed. But whatever the reason may be, she had disobeyed God and suffered the consequences. As Jesus cautions us: “It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulphur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed. On that day no one who is on the housetop, with possessions inside, should go down to get them. Likewise, no one in the field should go back for anything. Remember Lot’s wife! Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it.” (Luke 17:28-33).

What about us? When we were baptised, we were supposed to have died to our old selves and put on a new self, becoming children of God and maintaining a good relationship with Him. But some of us, perhaps, may have been tempted to “look back” or doubted whether God would really provide for us. Let us not be fooled into thinking that God does not care for us or has abandoned us. Rather, let us continue to trust Him, knowing that He knows what is best for us and will provide for us according to His time and for His glory.

Many of us like to get things done as easily and as quickly as possible. We do not like to be stuck in a task or a situation for too long, and would try to find ways and means to get it done and get it over with. For example, when we are on the road and we notice a traffic jam coming up ahead, we would try to look for an alternative road to avoid the jam, so that we could reach our destination sooner. Many of us would use the highway to get to our destination quickly, since the highway usually has more lanes and is supposingly easier and faster to drive on. But if we consider for a moment, taking the highway or the alternative road may seem easier and faster to drive on, but it may not necessarily be safer. The alternative road may have much larger vehicles using it, and attempting to overtake such vehicles could be dangerous or even fatal, since it could be harder for us to see other incoming vehicles. The highway could tempt some of us to speed, and we may be at risk of getting a speeding ticket or even get into an accident.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus cautions us: “Enter by the narrow gate, since the road that leads to perdition is wide and spacious, and many take it; but it is a narrow gate and a hard road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” Just as taking the highway or the alternative road may not be good for us, taking the wide and spacious road may lead us to perdition. This is because we sometimes try to cut corners and look for shortcuts in our spiritual life and in our relationship with God. We forget, fail to realise or refuse to admit that the alternative road or the highway seems easy and convenient, but we may become complacent, become distracted with other things, or slack in our concentration towards consistently and faithfully maintaining a good and healthy relationship with God. May we take heed and be alert of what sort of road we are using, and change course accordingly, lest the road we take leads us to our doom.

As humans, we like to receive affection and assurance from others. When a person says nice things to us or praises us for something we had done, we feel good and feel happy. But if we consider for a moment, people who say nice things and praise us are often our friends or people who like us. What about those people who are our enemies, or have got something against us, or just plain dislike us for one reason or another? How do we respond to such people?

In today’s Gospel, Jesus reminds us: “You have learnt how it was said: You must love your neighbour and hate your enemy. But I say this to you: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you; in this way you will be sons of your Father in heaven, for he causes his sun to rise on bad men as well as good, and his rain to fall on honest and dishonest men alike. For if you love those who love you, what right have you to claim any credit? Even the tax collectors do as much, do they not? And if you save your greetings for your brothers, are you doing anything exceptional? Even the pagans do as much, do they not? You must therefore be perfect just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

If we are loving and good only to those who like us or who are our friends, then we are no different from others who do the same. As Christians, we are challenged to go beyond this and be loving and good to all, regardless of whether they like us or are friendly to us or otherwise. Who knows, by being good and loving to all, we may be helping our enemies and others who dislike us to have a change of heart, for God works in mysterious ways and can do wonders for us. May we continue to glorify God in all we do, and trust in His love and providence.

Throughout our lives, we would have used the words “yes” and “no” several times. Sometimes both words are used quite a bit in a day. We may say “yes” when the circumstances befits us or provides us with some benefit or advantage. However, saying “yes” does not necessarily mean we are in agreement or we are happy, because sometimes we say “yes” out of peer pressure, or to save one’s skin, or to fit in with the crowd. Thus, our “yes” may not always bring us peace and happiness.

However, there is a “yes” which is more satisfying and uplifting which we can never find on earth. That “yes” is from God and in God. Today’s reading tells us: “with Him (Jesus) it was always Yes, and however many the promises God made, the Yes to them all is in him. That is why it is ‘through him’ that we answer Amen to the praise of God. Remember it is God himself who assures us all, and you, of our standing in Christ, and has anointed us, marking us with his seal and giving us the pledge, the Spirit, that we carry in our hearts.” At our baptism, we said “YES” to Jesus, and we received the Holy Spirit to guide us and help us throughout our lives. As we continue to say “YES” to Jesus, we are assured by Him and there is no need for us worry or fear of anything else. Let us thus joyfully, consistently and confidently say “YES” to Jesus, for it is in Him that we can find true joy, happiness and peace.

In some ways, we really need to hand it to the scribes, Pharisees and chief priests, because their immense jealousy and hatred towards Jesus simply shows how we humans can sometimes degrade ourselves into committing all sorts of despicable and foolish acts. Pride and ego can colour our vision, and blind us from what is true, what is proper and just, what is truly holy and what is fair; just because we want to win at all costs, and we want to save face. At the end of the day, does it really matter? Actually, no. But some do not see it this way and stubbornly and vehemently insist in keeping to their ways and protecting their interests. But this is where some fail to realise that everything that we do, and everything that we have, be it wealth, fame, titles, recognition or whatever, is merely temporary and cannot be brought with us when we die.

In today’s Gospel, we see a classic example of how silly the scribes, Pharisees and the chief priests were behaving. Already they had tensions and serious disagreements with the Herodians, but when it comes to a common so called enemy (Jesus, in this case), they are willing to forgo their principles just to find a solution to get rid of Jesus. Their hypocrisy showed quite clearly when they asked the question: “Is it permissible to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Should we pay, yes or no?” These people asked not because they wanted to know, but because their intention (or in Bahasa Malaysia, “niat”) was merely to trap Jesus. Jesus answer: ‘Give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar – and to God what belongs to God.’ took them completely by surprise. But if we look deeper into Jesus’ reply, we can discover that Jesus was actually making fun of these folks. Does anything really belong to Caesar? No! Ultimately, everything actually belongs to God, whether we are willing to admit it or not. So the question these folks had asked was actually a non-question, but their jealousy and hatred towards Jesus blinded them to what is evidently truth.

When we look at our lives, have we become more like the scribes, Pharisees and the chief priests or even the Herodians, in the way we conduct ourselves and the way we treat others? Have we forgotten who we are? Let us be mindful and check ourselves from falling into the abyss of hypocrisy, lest we lose ourselves and lost sight of our eternal goal.