If I could describe an experience that brought me close to an experience of Christ's resurrection, it would be this:
While I was suffering from a fever AND diarrhoea double-hit combo some weeks ago, I had been eating porridge for 4 days. Not that the porridge was bad - in fact, it was so good, I didn't even know I had been eating it for FOUR days already. But still, when I had my last bowl of porridge delivered to me on the day when I was almost on the brink of recovery, I saw this piece of 'siew mai' in the bowl. At that instant, it was as if heaven's gates flung open! As I'm the kind who likes to save the best for last, I waited patiently till I finished my last scoop of porridge. Then I slowly raised up the piece of 'siew mai' with my spoon, gazed at its soft, yellow flesh for a moment, before finally sinking my teeth into its sweet, juicy flesh.
And for those brief seconds that seemed like eternity, I said to myself, "Now THIS is Heaven!"
One thing I've learnt from my sickness - while cooped up in my seminary room for 4 terrible days save for the love, care and concern from my seminary brothers - is that, in the midst of our busy, jam-packed schedules that we so often get so caught up in, the "interruptions" of sickness or suffering, can actually be part of God's agenda to slow us down in order to sharpen our senses, not just to the heavenly taste of 'siew mai', but more importantly, to the taste of God. When my tired, sickly body caused me to slow down my movements around the room or in performing simple tasks like bathing or brushing my teeth; when having to eat alone made me slow down each spoonful I placed in my mouth such that it heightened my taste buds and I was more conscious of the variety of taste that my hardly noticed taste buds now seem to be able to savour; when my lack of activity during my solitary confinement left me more time to stare at the view of nature outside my room, allowing me to more deeply admire and appreciate its beauty and even smell the fresh air that came with it; all these experiences increased my sense of God's presence and action in my daily life, increased my sense of awe and wonder at His creation and works - something that have not been too apparent to me in the hustle and bustle of my daily routines.
As we come to the end of our liturgical year, as well as our calendar year, let us not wait for the "interruptions" of sickness or suffering in our life, but start right now to slow down and take stock of how we have lived our Christian lives, how we have been conscious of God's presence and action in our lives, how we have been living in His Resurrection!
Only when we learn to slow down our lives, can we learn to heighten our sense of God who has been right before us all our lives, watching over us, working in us, and all around us, non-stop, all throughout the year. It is only up to us whether or not we are conscious enough to savour every taste of that Godly experience, even a deeper experience of His resurrection each day, which He is all ready to give us, once we are ready to sloooow... doooown...
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No one goes through the Pearly gates
Without St. Peter’s holy nod.
Nobody is allowed access
To the Heavenly Throne of God.
So he was stopped at Heaven’s gate
And told that to atone for sin,
He must name good things he had done
To earn enough points to get in.
He said that he had been married
To his wife for fifty years,
And had been a faithful husband
Through times of strife and sometimes tears.
“That’s worth three points,” St. Peter said,
And entered it into his book.
The man complained, “Only three points?”
And gave St. Peter quite a look.
“Well, I have always paid my tithes,
And always given to the poor.
And when a stranger needed help,
I always had an open door.”
“Well, that’s good for another point.”
St. Peter wrote it as he said,
“And I will add another point
For all the hungry souls you fed.”
The man asked, “How am I doing?”
How many points to enter in?”
St. Peter said, “One hundred points
Are needed to atone for sin.”
The startled man said, under breath,
“Well that would take the Grace of God!”
“Bingo!” St. Peter told the man,
And then gave him the holy nod.
The video clip can't be embedded, because it is copyrighted. So click on this link to view it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXaTcZWBfC0| Xerxes / Devil | Leonidas / Christ |
| - would gladly kill any of his own men for victory | - would die for any one of his men |
| - has slaves | - has warriors who were free men |
“In you is the source of life, and in your light we see light.” Psalm 36:9
Change. Sometimes we desire it, and sometimes we do not desire it. Yet sometimes even when we desire change, especially those that affects us externally, we tend to shrug it off or give up changing it, because it is just not worth the effort. Even if we pray for change, nothing may change much today. There is still the likelihood of us falling asleep during our prayers, meditation, lessons or work. There would also still be that wonderfully irritating person whom we rather not encounter as well. Despite all the good intentions on our part to change, nothing seems to change, as a matter of fact; all seems to remain the same.
“In you is the source of life, and in your light we see light.” This particular verse in Psalm 36 is something which I have prayed over many times during Divine Office, and yet if we see its message, it is simply amazing. “In your light we see light” simply means that only when God who is light, gives us light, would then thus enable us to behold all things in light. Imagine if there is no light coming from your natural surroundings, or if there isn't any of idea of light, this article would not be able to be written nor read. “In your light, we see light!”
We may not be able to change the surroundings, the situations or even the brother or sister whom we encounter, but we can encounter all these through the light of our eyes which is given us by God the Father. Let us pray that the Lord of light will cast His light on all that and all whom we encounter, so that we too may be a source of life and light to those who are gifted to us and whom we are gifted to.
In the very first hour we watched, fascinated at how the Architect Brunelleschi designed and built the Dome of the Cathedral of Florence. Hundreds of years before, the Emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire, Justininan commissioned another architectural wonder, the Hagia Sophia, which was constructed from a series of domes, with its highest and biggest raised twenty-one feet above the others. These architectural feats show how man wanted to honour God, and wasted no time and effort in constructing magnificent, lofty, edifices where they could worship Him in His house.
Psalm 121 opens joyously:
When I was reflecting on the life of St Charles Borromeo, somehow I was reminded, to some extent, of St. John Baptist De La Salle, the Founder of the Lasallian Schools.
St. La Salle was born in Rheims in France while St. Borromeo was from Arona, Italy. It seems to me that both life stories may not be as interesting to children as compared to the life of St. Francis of Assisi. But they are certainly very inspiring for the adults.
Both Saints La Salle and Borromeo lost their fathers while they were still young and had to take responsibility in the management of their family affairs which would include looking after their younger siblings. This must have prepared them for heavier responsibilities and commitment as required of them later on. Both had their studies disrupted for a while but were able to continue later on leading to doctoral degrees.
St. La Salle’s maternal family, the Moet, were well known vineyard owners while Borromeo’s maternal family was the powerful Medici from Florence. Both men had uncles who supported their involvement in the Church by providing exposures to some of the church’s offices. Saints La Salle and Borromeo became priests, though the latter eventually became the Archbishop of Milan.
It was significant that both observed or experienced abuses in the church and responded by serving the Lord with all their might. St La Salle accepted his bishop’s ban on celebrating mass publicly and so continued focusing on his ministry of providing education to the young, especially the poor, and with the formation of teachers. St. Borromeo on the other hand believed that abuses in the church arose from clergy ignorance and swung into action by establishing seminaries, colleges and communities for the education of candidates for holy orders. As Archbishop of Milan, he was credited in the re-organising of diocesan administration; calling of provincial and diocesan synods, made regular and systemic pastoral visits; opened a seminary entrusted to the Jesuits and to the Oblates of St Ambrose. He also promoted religious renewal in his archdiocese.
As I reflected on their lives, I realized that both Saints La Salle and Borromeo were single-minded and very mature in their faith. They did not allow the weaknesses and sins of the church to destroy their faith and zeal in working for God. Instead they focused solely on doing God’s will, spreading God’s grace as they toil from place to place. In the end, they made a difference in the lives of many.
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Stay tuned for the next post by Br Gregory Chan on 11th Nov 2010.
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Stay tuned for the next post by Br Benedict Chng on 07th Nov 2010.
God saw all that he had made and indeed it was very good
I suggested that maybe for a change instead of pointing fingers and feeling miserable why don’t we look into ourselves and speak of the goodness within us. Everyone became very silent and occasionally nudging the other to speak up. After some moments I added if that is difficult maybe we could try affirming each other in this group of their goodness for I am sure you all know each other quite well and have been engaged in some form of relationship for a while. Well, this turned out to be very successful, there were beautiful stories, experiences shared, joy being expressed, a display of emotions and even tears streaming down on their faces. It was simply a wonderful time. God’s immanent presence among us was felt. He was mentioned, acknowledged, praised and glorified.
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In spite of our dedication and absorption in daily chores, these are in themselves, vain pursuits whereby we should actually aspire for true riches which are found only in heaven…with God. Well let me illustrate with a story to show how wealth can make us unhappy as it is when God is absent in our lives.
There was once a poor shoemaker who was always in a good mood. He was so happy that he sang from morning to night. There were always children standing at his window and listening to him sing.
Next door to him lived a very rich man. He spent entire nights counting his money, and then went to bed in the morning, but he could not sleep because of the shoemaker’s singing. One day he figured out how he could keep the shoemaker from singing.
So he invited the shoemaker to come over and see him. He did. To his great surprise, the rich man gave him a little a bag filled with gold coins. When the shoemaker got back home, he opened the little bag. Never in his life had he ever seen so much money. He counted it all out carefully and the children watched him. It was so much that the shoemaker was afraid to let it out of sight and so he took it along to bed at night. But even there he kept thinking about the money and could not sleep.
So then he got up and took the bag of money up to the attic. But on second thought he was afraid it was not safe there. So the next morning he brought the money downstairs again.
He then thought of hiding it in the fireplace. “But I’ll just put it in the chicken coop. no one would look for it there,” he decided.
But he was still nervous about the money and so he dug a deep hole in the garden and hid it there. He was so preoccupied with the money that the never got back to making shoes. Nor could he sing any more. He was so worried that he could not produce a single note. And worst of all, the children did not come around to visit him any longer.
Finally the shoemaker was so unhappy that he dug up the money and hurried back to his neighbor with it. “Please take this money back,” he said. “Worry about it has made me sick, and even my friends do not come to see me anymore. I would rather be a shoemaker, like I was.”
Soon the shoemaker was again as happy and contended as before and he sang and worked the whole day.
Have you ever craved for a plate of char kway teow so bad that you just got to have a nice meal of it... the succulent kway teow and mee.... the crunchy tau gay and chai sim... the bouncy lap cheong... the fresh see hum... all bound together by the slightly charred egg and fried to perfection in its sweet sauce and with a hint of the aroma of lar pok... Mmmm!!!
Recently, my sister made some cupcakes for a friend's wedding. There were many who came to tell me how great & irresistible they were. As I listened to their comments, and seeing how much they enjoyed eating the cupcakes, I wondered why I did not have the same enjoyment that they had.Praise the name of the Lord...Let us not take out blessings for granted, and be grateful to the Lord for all that he is doing in our lives. I'm sure that the blessings that we have here on earth, are just a foretaste of what we will experience in heaven. If that is the case, I'm looking forward to the chocolate fountains, chocolate roads and chocolate houses in heaven.
Praise the Lord for the Lord is good...
Sing a psalm to his name for he is loving...
For I know the Lord is great...
