In today’s Gospel we could see fasting in two different perspectives: The first perspective is that of John’s disciples and the second perspective is that of Jesus. According to the first perspective, fasting is viewed as an obligation, or something which has to be done, whether one likes it or not. This is why John’s
I still remember at one parish I served: there was this man who had been ill for quite sometime. His family and he were non-Catholics and not even Christians. I was quite surprised when his family came to ask me to pray over him because they believed that prayers are very powerful for his recovery.
How many of us can really rely on our leaders or even kings and royalty in our country? If there is trouble and our country is on the verge of being overrun or conquered by enemy forces, would our leaders, kings or royalty be willing to stick with us and defend our country to the
I believe many of us would have tried our level best to remember by heart the many things we learnt at school, such as certain phrases in a language, or certain mathematical formula, or some other matter, especially when we were told that such things may come out during the exams. However, more often than
One of the challenges we face when dealing with persons of different cultures is that in some cultures, speaking plainly and clearly is expected; whereas in other cultures, the ‘face’ is so important that persons of such cultures would try their level best not to cause another to ‘lose face.’ When the ‘face’ is important,
One thing we need to be careful about is when we come across certain church teachings which seem too good to be true, or sound strange. When we come across such teachings, we need to discern whether such teachings end up appealing to our needs, wants and desires, instead of what the church actually teaches.
Being a Christian is never easy. Anyone who claims that being a Christian is easy is either not really living a Christian life, or they may be lying. This is because as Christians the ways of Christ quite often do not agree or do not comply with the ways of the world. For example, as
Among the Jews, the most common title for the ‘Christ’ was, ‘Son of David.’ In today’s Gospel, the purpose why Jesus then said “The Lord said to my Lord: Sit at my right hand and I will put your enemies under your feet.” (which is actually Psalm 110:1), is to show to the crowds and
Growing in holiness is not something we can do in an instant. We may be used to getting so many other things done instantly; such as withdrawing money from an ATM, or making a cup of coffee; but when it comes to growing in relationship with God and growing in holiness, it takes time and
It is easy for us to give a lot of comments and suggestions for improvement or changes in church. But sometimes, such comments and suggestions are just that: merely comments and suggestions, without any commitment to take action or to offer oneself to see such comments and suggestions through. For example, some people like to
