Reflection on Ps 145 (Bro Samuel Lim)

[Dedicated to our beloved Carmelite Sisters]

We’re all crazy!
We’re crazy because the way we think doesn’t make sense; our flow of thoughts is illogical, irrational.

We’re like the sick man who wants to be cured of his illness, and he knows for a fact that only the doctor can help him. But instead of looking for the doctor, he went to look for the nurse. Well, perhaps it is because she’s pretty and more attractive – but the fact remains: she cannot help him. Remember, the man’s initial intention was to be cured from his sickness. So not only did he look for the wrong person, he focused on the wrong thing.

We, too, sometimes can catch ourselves looking at the wrong place for the wrong thing. We know for a fact that only God can help us, but we turn to people and things. Instead of turning to God, we put our trust in ourselves, in others, in worldly ideas, in human suggestions. It really doesn’t make sense at all; it’s illogical – because we know all these cannot help us.

Psalm 145 (146) reminds us to “Put no trust in princes; in mortal men in whom there is no help.” Instead, the Psalmist says that a happy man is the one “who is helped by Jacob’s God, whose hope is in the Lord his God.”

Deep down within us, we know all these already, but as mentioned earlier – we’re crazy. We know that our God can do everything, but we don’t seem to trust him for anything – so in the end, we’re left with nothing.


Today, as the Church celebrates the Memorial of St Teresa of Avila, let us remember and pray for the Carmelite nuns who have been praying for all of us unceasingly and unconditionally. They, too, are crazy. It doesn’t make sense at all that one would freely choose to leave the world and lock herself behind the walls of the monastery… for life! In the eyes of the world, that’s insanity!

But here’s the big difference. They may be crazy, but it is because they are in love. For them, their greatest joy is to give their whole lives to the One whom they were madly in love with.

So, my dear friends, either way, we are all crazy. But at least, let us be crazy for the right reason, for the right Person.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Stay tuned for the next post by Bro Alphonsus Dominic on 17th Oct 2009.