Dear friends,
Yours is the day and yours the night,
you caused sun and light to exist,
you fixed all the boundaries of the earth,
you created summer and winter.
Psalm 74:16-17
Do I know this?
Do I truly know who the boss in my life is?
Do I ask and rely on God in my daily living?
In the face of the contradiction between the ways of the world and Gospel values, have I lost heart?
When everything in this world shouts of threats and foolishness, where does my true loyalty lie?
Arise, God, champion your own cause,
and remember how fools blaspheme you all day long!
Do not forget the shouting of your enemies,
the ever-mounting uproar of your adversaries.
Psalm 74:22-23
Am I aware that He is listening to our prayer this very instance? I try hard to talk to the other self, who doubts so easily at times. I have to meet him halfway at times and not to talk high up on the pedestal. I have to talk to him in terms of my limited knowledge. The other self falls so easily and the Gospel values seem at times so unreal. The other self demands for tangible answers, and craves insurance from the trials of tomorrow.
How can I make the other self see beyond this material world, and set his eyes solely on an eventual judgment?
How can I convince him that judgment will be accompanied with much grace, which flows into eternity?
His Holiness, Pope Benedict, is right. In his “Light of the World”, I know that I have much to grow in faith and knowledge to help the other self in breaking through my sound barrier of finitude.
Help us, Lord, to break this barrier and set our eyes beyond the flesh.
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Stay tuned for the next post by Br Simon Anand on 3rd May 2011.
Thank you and God Bless !
The Blogmaster
Whenever people are facing difficulties, they may seem to think that there is no way for them to come out from these difficulties. They tend to imagine themselves in the dark moments of their lives. As a result, they will try every means desperately to cope with their difficulties. Some seek help from fortune tellers; some try their luck through lottery; some even go for 'Ah Long' (loan shark) or other means which eventually cannot solve their difficulties.
We will not be able to come out from our difficulties unless we turn to Jesus our saviour. It may sound unrealistic to the world. Yet for us His believers, Jesus is the Lord who loves us and gives us Hope in the dark moments of our lives. Similarly in the eyes of the world, the passion and death of Jesus were His darkest moments of His life. Yet, He shows us His believers that His resurrection brings us hope. Indeed, passion and death without resurrection is tragedy. Jesus Christ, who has died and resurrected, is the light that shines in the darkness. He shows us the way when the world says to us that there is no way. Indeed, “anyone who follows me will not be walking in the darkness; he will have the light of life,” says the Lord.
As we are approaching Holy week, let us not only anticipate Christ’s passion and death, but above all His resurrection which gives us sure hope for all who have faith in Him. He will not put us down if we believe in Him. He is the light that the darkness cannot overcome – even the darkness of death! Let us continue to ask ourselves, “How can I be another Christ to bring His light to those who lives in darkness?” Indeed, there are many wounded souls who are unable to come out of their darkness unless they receive the light of Christ and are touched by His love.
“My Father still goes on working, and I am at work, too.” (John 5:17)
Amidst the many challenges and difficulties of life, it is easy to wonder where God is in all this. When we encounter difficult people who seem to constantly get on our nerves, when we have been praying for situations in our lives which doesn’t seem to be resolved even after much perseverance or when we constantly have to face our own brokenness and sinfulness as we are often do when we go deep within ourselves during this holy season of Lent, it is easy to wonder if there is any hope in all this ever being put in order.
Jesus’ declaration that the Father goes on working and so does he in John 5:17 is a strong statement that should give all who are growing weary and burdened in life much hope because God’s work is still in progress. God is the one who has the final say in our lives and it is not over until He says so. As difficult as it may be for us to truly grasp the fact that God is at work in our lives amidst the darkness and gloom, we have to trust that we can hold Him by His Word and believe that He is truly at work in our ordinary lives.
The most silent moment in the life of Jesus was when he hung lifeless on the cross of Calvary. His last words were, “It is accomplished”. Indeed, his salvific work is accomplished upon the cross of Calvary and we will revel in this victory in the days to come when Christian all over will celebrate the passion and death of our Lord on Good Friday. However, the Church also reminds us that even at his death, our Lord descended to the dead where he preached the Good News to all who were awaiting the Good News of salvation. The Father goes on working even whilst his Son slept in the silence of the tomb because He vindicated him on that Easter morning when he rose glorious from the dead. Indeed, we can be sure that even the pain and gloom of Holy Week, there was not a moment when God was not at work. The ancients believed that if God were to stop “working” even for a second, the whole world would crumble upon itself because it is God who continues to sustain the world and hold it in existence.
Thus, as we approach Holy Week, we can take heart that God is certainly at work in our lives even amidst the mundane routines that may overtake Holy Week. God is at work and maybe, if we stopped for a moment and realise the gravity of this fact, we would then realise that we are indeed work-in progress and thus, there is always hope. We are not the only work-in-progress but so are our spouses, our children, our parents, our in-laws, our colleagues, our neighbours and most importantly, so are our enemies. God is at work in every person’s lives and what hope this must stir up in all of us.
Let us take heart in the words of St. Paul in his letter to the Philippians, “Keep on working, with fear and trembling, to complete your salvation, for God is always at work in you to make you willing and able to obey his own purpose.” (Phil 12b -13)
About two years ago, I met this young lady Cecelia (not her real name). In getting to know her, I realised that she was always complaining, never satisfied or appreciative about anything or anyone, whether be it her family, friends, colleagues and even her ministry members. Even if it was to her benefit, she would still find fault with something to just complain about. Her friends nicknamed her the big “C” (big complainer)
Recently, I met her again. To my surprise, I saw a complete transformation in her. She no longer grumbled or complained. I affirmed and complemented her for her positive outlook of life and inquired the reason for her transformation.
She then shared with me that she went on a mission trip to India and there stayed with the Missionaries of Charity. In her two weeks stay, she realised how blessed she was compared to the sick and the destitute. She came to realise how good God was to her and His love for her. Despite her perpetual complaints and lack of gratitude and appreciation of God’s goodness to her through the events and people in her life, God has always been faithful and blessed her.
Reflecting on Cecelia’s transformation from the big “C” to big “G” (gratitude), let us look at ourselves today, how often do we also complain when things do not go our way? Are we grateful for what God has blessed us with – the gifts, the talents, the comfortable way we live, for the people around us in our life who love and support us? Let us be encouraged us to give thanks and praise to God. Let us be reminded of the Lord’s goodness for His love for us endures forever. Let us be encouraged to always praise God for His greatness and His mighty works of blessings. Let us remember this awesome God of ours who loves, consoles, affirms and blesses us in abundance despite our lack of gratitude.
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Stay tuned for the next post by Br Benedict Chng on 2nd Apr 2011.
When we come across a cross-junction and are faced with a few paths to choose from, our immediate intuition tends to make us choose the path that is the easiest and most pleasurable, automatically rejecting those paths that involve inconveniences and difficulties.
Towards the end of Jesus’ public ministry, we read in the Gospels:
Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, and on the way he took the Twelve to one side and said to them, “Now we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man is about to be handed over to the chief priests and scribes. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the pagans to be mocked and scourged and crucified; and on the third day he will rise again.”
Matt 20:17-19
Jesus willingly continued his way to
When I was a little boy, I enjoyed family holidays. I remember going to
Jesus, although he knew he would not enjoy any moment of it, willingly went through those pains and sufferings because he was convinced of his purpose (to show the depth of God’s love for humanity) and end (that he would rise again on the third day – Matt 20:19).
In life we come face to face with many difficult and painful situations. Nobody wants to go through these but we know most of these are inevitable. But how we go through these and how we make sense of life are determined by knowing our purpose and end. Just to mention briefly, our ultimate purpose is to love [cf. Matt 22:37-39] and our end is to be in relationship with God [cf. John 17:3]. However, my reflection is not about our destination but our journey, and the importance of our knowing our destination since that essentially changes our journey.
Recently, I was just talking to a young man who wants to make some radical decisions to commit his life to God. But saying ‘Yes’ to God entails saying ‘No’ to many other aspects of his life and all these No’s have their own difficult consequences – and he is experiencing all these consequences. Going through all these is painful, but how much more painful it is if he cannot see the purpose and the end of where he’s headed to. In times like these, one is invited to be single-minded and whole-hearted, to focus on the essentials and most importantly not to lose sight of Jesus for he is our ultimate reason and he is the one who is seeing us through.
“I can do all things with Christ who strengthens me.” Phil 4:13.
Jesus is not only our ultimate destination; he walks with us every step of the way. So choose life, choose Christ!
Today as the church celebrates the mystery of the Incarnation of the Lord, the whole church kneels at the words of the creed, “Et incarnates… and was made man”. This solemnity recalls the announcement of the Word taking flesh to be born through the person of Mary. “The Word became flesh, he lived among us, and we saw his Glory, the Glory that he has from the Father as only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth” John 1:14. This is the moment in time in Salvation History where God endows Mary with an over abundance of grace to prepare her to play the role of the divine motherhood – the mother of God. Jesus the awaited Messiah from the line of David is to be born to redeem humanity back to the Father which was alienated from him as a consequence of the sin of Adam and Eve. We recall today the Almighty and most Merciful Father stooping down to humanity in his faithfulness and Mary’s “YES” to the will of the Father.
The church acknowledges this by reciting the “Angelus” throughout the year at the break of the day, at noon and at sunset with the exception of the Easter season where during this time the “Regina Coeli” is prayed. For those of us who are not aware of the Angelus, I have inserted the whole prayer below.
The Angelus
And she conceived of the Holy Spirit.
Hail Mary . . .
Behold the handmaid of the Lord:
Be it done unto me according to Thy word.
Hail Mary . . .
And the Word was made Flesh:
And dwelt among us.
Hail Mary . . .
Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God,
that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
-Let us pray:
Pour forth, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts;
that we, to whom the incarnation of Christ, Thy Son,
was made known by the message of an angel,
may by His Passion and Cross
be brought to the glory of His Resurrection,
through the same Christ Our Lord.
Amen.
Let us continue to pray the Angelus daily and fervently so that it becomes incarnate in us changing us to become the self intended by God the Father for each us. Let us in our daily living live the image and likeness of God so as to earn ourselves eternal life with the Father Son and the Holy Spirit in his eternal kingdom.
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Stay tuned for the next post by Br Joseph Zhang on 27th Mar 2011.
In this season of Lent, I have been trying to figure out what I should do or not do to have a meaningful Lent. Again, looking back at my disposition, I seem to do things in order to live out the “invitation” of God and to listen to his voice.
Last week’s Conversion Experience Retreat (CER) at the Catholic Spirituality Center (CSC) indeed gave me new insight when I pray this psalm. The hardened heart in fact not only refers to the heart that strayed from God but also a heart that is insensitive to His words, a heart that does not grief over sins and is indifferent. The process of the retreat invited me to consider the compassionate love of God, my relationship with Him and the sins which separated me from God. It challenged me:
Firstly, to acknowledge my weaknesses and sins in a “plain” way. What is this “plain way”? When I (or perhaps many of us) confess my sins or when I acknowledge my wrongdoings, it doesn't always come as a simple sentence. It comes with a whole packaging of words, adjectives to describe it, to justify it or to water it down. I was made aware that the word “packaging” caused by the hardened heart meant not “fully” acknowledging my fault but confessing it half heartedly. Didn’t the Israelites in Meribah also do the same?
Secondly, to see how my pride contributed in “helping” me build an invisible wall which blocked me from being vulnerable in the presence of God. I became more and more immuned to my sins, telling myself I do not commit BIG sins and thereby trapping myself under the plan of the devil. The pride of self-righteousness is indeed a “stepping stone” that leads me to fall into greater sins.
I thank God for this great awareness which reveals to me that I am indeed very much like the Israelites who did not listen wholeheartedly to God’s voice, and my heart has gradually become hardened through my self-righteousness and my inability to confess: “Lord, have mercy on me for I have sinned." I seem to water it down with “because, maybe or perhaps......”.
After this awakening experience, I thank God for the grace to make a good confession. The best gift for me is to continue my Lenten journey. It is the gift of realising how the words “O that today you would listen to his voice: harden not your hearts” are the words God spoke to me clearly and loudly. I pray that this word will continue to lead me in my journey towards God and in my ministry of following the heart of my Shepherd.
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Stay tuned for the next post by Br David Arulanatham on 25th Mar 2011.
Please pray for us that we will have a deeper encounter with the Lord and grow in faith and love during the retreat.
War is inevitable. Whether our battlefields are in school, the workplace, at home, or even in our hearts, whether our opponents are strangers, enemies, friends or even ourselves, everyday we face the possibility of getting ambushed, attacked, wounded, or thrown into a cloud of confusion.
In the midst of our daily battles, we sometimes try to flee - by denying, ignoring, or drowning ourselves in other distractions that may give temporary relief, but we never really succeed in finding any sense of peace. We try to fight with clenched teeth and fists, angry and spiteful of the whole situation, trying to throw blame on our opponents who 'started the war', and hope to put an end to war by putting an end to our opponents, but we eventually end up even more tired, frustrated, defeated.
But do we know who we are fighting against really? Do we know who is on our side of the battle really? Do we know how best to prepare ourselves for the inevitable war in our daily lives?
"Finally, be strong in the Lord with his energy and strength. Put on the whole armour of God to be able to resist the cunning of the devil. Our battle is not against human forces but against the rulers and authorities and their dark powers that govern this world. We are struggling against the spirits and supernatural forces of evil. Therefore put on the whole armour of God, that in the evil day, you may resist and stand your ground, making use of all your weapons." (Ephesians 6:10-13)
Whenever I got angry with someone, for whatever the person may have done wrong in my eyes, I set up my war zone against the person, thinking that the person started the war in the first place. Little that I know that the real enemy was putting these evil thoughts in my head, without realising I was raging war with someone on the same side! As much as I thought that the war was with another individual, I was actually unknowingly battling against the evil one who was using my emotions to hurt my fellow brother-in-Christ, or worse, to unknowingly cause harm to my own self.
Yet, we need not flee, for the Lord is calling us to resist and stand our ground, standing firmly in the truth that we are His soldiers, that we all belong to God's army. We need not clench our teeth, but open our mouths and make a (war) cry to our Lord to lead us in our battles. We need not clench our fists, but open our hands to surrender to the (battle) plans of our Lord, to surrender to the power and might of our King of Kings, and receive the weapons that He places upon us to fight the inevitable war of our lives.
"Take truth as your belt, justice as your breastplate, and zeal as your shoes to propogate the Gospel of peace." (Ephesians 6:14-15)
Truth as your belt
Whenever I get ambushed by an event or person that makes me yearn for marriage, or resentful of what I have been called to give up as a result of my priestly calling, what holds me together, keeps me from falling apart and losing myself in the midst of the frustration and turmoil, is the Truth that the Lord "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you hope and a future" (Jeremiah 29:11), the truth that God remains faithful to me, giving me something greater each time He takes away someone dear to me, the truth that I am a beloved child of God whom God will always want the best for me.
It is in these trying moments when we find ourselves falling apart, or losing a part of ourselves, it is when we turn to these 'anchor points' of truth in our lives, the truth of God's faithfulness, mercy and love revealed in past events or situations or revelations or experiences, that we can rely on this TRUTH to hold us together, and bind us to the love and faithfulness of Christ.
Justice as your breastplate
Whenever I find myself caught in cross-fire, caught in an unfavourable or awkward situation, or deeply misunderstood or unintentionally hurt by another person, the 'misfire' can truly sink deep through the chest and into the heart, causing a searing pain of anguish and bitterness. Yet, often when I am reminded to rely on God's justice and righteousness, and not on my own act of fighting for justice for myself, eventually things get resolved into a happy ending, but only when I allow God to work in His time, for His justice to prevail at the appropriate time. Mother Mary herself, forewarned of a sword that will pierce her heart, had justice as her breastplate to protect her and allow her to continue surrendering to the plans of God, even while seeing her Son dying on the cross, trusting that God's justice and righteousness will prevail in time to come - and sure enough in His resurrection!
It is never easy to be misunderstood or hurt. But when we build our trust and dependance on the Lord's justice, we build a protection over our hearts, preventing ourselves from getting hurt too deeply, but allowing truth and righteousness to prevail in God's time.
Zeal as your shoes
Very often, it is in my most troubled times and hurting situations that I become prone to hurting others out of my own mood swings or temperament. Only with Truth to hold me together in times of turmoil, and justice to protect me from hurting blows, will I then be able to maintain inner peace in my heart, channel God's love into my life, and thereby put on zeal and enthusiasm in propogating and promoting this great peace of God to all around me, all who may be similarly wounded or affected by the war in their lives. It is in keeping peace in my heart that I can then keep on tirelessly spreading God's great peace to others.
"Always hold in your hand the shield of faith to repel the flaming arrows of the devil. Finally, use the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, that is, the Word of God." (Ephesians 6:16-17)
Shield of faith
"Faith is the way of holding onto what we hope for, being certain of what we cannot see." (Hebrews 11:1) In my constant battles when flaming arrows of doubt and discouragement rain down on me, faith can sometimes seem to be the only way out, or what I call the 'easy way out', where even when it doesn't seem to make sense, even when it sounds most ridiculous, even when it goes against my human desire, I just cover myself with the shield of faith and simply hide in the total care, protection and comfort of my Lord, trusting fully in faith that He will watch over me, He will protect me, and He will lead and guide me out not only to safety, but to the best possible plan for me, even if I am unable to see or be certain of what's ahead of me.
Helmet of salvation
When I only focus on the kind of earthly life I want to lead, the kind of earthly comforts or securities I want to have, I begin to miss out or shortchange myself of the heavenly life prepared for me. I get caught up with the petty defeats or losses on the ground until I put on the helmet of salvation and bring to my mind the greater life God wants me to have in His heavenly kingdom. And this is a kingdom I don't have to wait til I die, for so long as I keep my thoughts and mind focused on the heavenly life meant for me, "thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." When I begin to live life with the heavenly kingdom in mind, I no longer get easily troubled by the earthly things I miss out or am deprived of, but can more fully claim the heavenly blessings that will stay with me deep in my heart, where no claymore mine or tripflare can ever surprise me and blow it away from me.
Sword of the Spirit
"For the word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword." (Hebrews 4:12) Under the darkest of days or gloomiest of skies filled with overhead missiles flying across my head, it has always been the Word of God that continues to comfort me when I'm down, encourage me when I'm tired, assure me when I feel doubtful, embrace me when I feel alone, heal me when I get hurt, lift me when I am defeated, and the list goes on. If not for the daily readings I try to keep to, I may not be holding my head up high towards the gloomy war scene and release my clenched teeth to cry out to my God, release my clenched fists to surrender to His divine plan, and open my hands to receive Victory in my life.
"Pray at all times as the Spirit inspires you. Keep watch, together with sustained prayer and supplication for all the holy ones." (Ephesians 6:18)
Even if at this present moment, our lives seem to be at peace, St Paul warns the Ephesians that peace is only provisional, for the evil one is waiting for his hour to bring about war. And so in whatever battle we find ourselves fighting or not fighting, we are together still standing on the side of Christ in the inevitable war against Good and Evil. Let us continue to persevere in prayer for one another, especially those caught in the midst of their own battles, that we may depend on the weapons of Christ bestowed on us, put on the armour that God personally places upon us, and stand our ground with open hands, surrendering not to the Enemy, but to the love of Christ that will make us cry out with conviction and strength:
"This is War. But this is our Victory!"
In relation to the process and the importance of discernment, or in layman terms, the process of decision making particularly with regards to our spiritual growth, three elements: the Mountain, the Temple and the Throne, have been situated very significantly in the biblical history of salvation.
The Mountain has commonly been perceived as a place where God dwells in order to convey His Teachings. This is very clear in the scenes of the Ten Commandments (Ex 20) and the delivery of the Beatitudes (Mt 5:1). The Temple, on the other hand, has the aspect of sacrifice. Again, both the Old and New Testaments advocate this point to great heights especially when Jesus constantly focuses on Jerusalem where the Temple is located as His climax in relation to His own sacrifice of Self (Lk 19: 28-48). Lastly, the Throne is a symbol of authority of a judge or Judgement. And needless to say, this is evident especially in the Book of Revelation which communicates to us in rather a metaphorical way of Christ’s Second Advent (Parousia) to judge all the nations on earth. (Rev 20:11)
Thus, the need to listen to God’s Teaching, respond in the form of sacrifice (might not necessarily be physical or literal sacrifice), and judge to bring about Metanoia seem to be key to discernment. Were we to examine when these three elements flow smoothly in our lives, we own conviction and conversion as our standpoint. However, complacency and loss of the sense of direction could be the result of elimination or disregard of one or all of these three elements. Having said so, it is crucial to reckon that all of these aforementioned roles should bridge from being a mere knowledge in our Intellect to a passion in our life. Otherwise, it provides nothing more than a proper epistemological definition.
To add on, if Eucharist is the source and the summit of our lives, I can understand now why in the celebration of the Liturgy of the Mass, we keep our focus on the Lectern from where the Word of God is proclaimed, the Altar where Christ’s sacrifice of the cross is “re-presented” and the Presiding Chair, the throne on which God sits in a sacramental sense.
So, let us pray for this grace today that God may continue to open our hearts and our whole being in order to welcome the guidance of the Holy Spirit in every decision we make especially as we share the divinity of Christ as Prophet to proclaim God’s Word, as Priest to offer sacrifice and as King to make proper judgment of our lives in accordance to the promptings of the Spirit.
In psalm 50, King David pleads to God for mercy and forgiveness for his sins, and he begs to be reconciled with God. He recognizes his faults and longs to be in God’s loving embrace. Therefore, he turns to God because he recognizes the constant love of God as he cries out:
A pure heart create for me O God
Put a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from your presence
Nor deprive me of your Holy Spirit.
"How do you tell the difference between a person in heaven and a person in hell?"While this riddle takes what Jesus said in the Gospel (Mt 5:38-48) literally, it does help us visualize the difference between the life of love and the life of hatred. The life of hatred allows hatred and vengeance to perpetuate which will result in a world full of blind and toothless people. But in a world of love and forgiveness, the one who receives injury or insult, puts a stop to it by not taking revenge. He in fact tries to further eradicate hatred by "going that extra mile", by loving the enemy. In loving the enemy, it is not so much doing something good to gain our own salvation, but by loving the enemy, we are trying to help change the person to be better person.
"One has a halo and wings, the other has horns?"
"No. The one in heaven has rosy cheeks and is fit and muscular, the one in hell is blind and bogay (no teeth)".
"How is that so?"
"Because the one in hell takes a tooth for a tooth and an eye for an eye. The one in heaven has rosy cheeks because he offers the other cheek when he is slapped, and fit because he walks two miles when others walk one."
