Reflection: Am I the Big “C” or the Big “G”? (Br Alphonsus Dominic)

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.

Reflection: On the Road to Victory (Br Samuel Lim)

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 Jerusalem even though he knew that he would be handed over, condemned, mocked, scourged and crucified. I’m not proposing that we discuss high theology here on his obedience to the Father or his salvific act on the cross or the necessity of his death for the sake of the sin of humanity etc etc. Being fully human himself, I’m sure his decision to carry on their journey to Jerusalem was one of the toughest decisions he had to make.

When I was a little boy, I enjoyed family holidays. I remember going to Kuala Lumpur when I was in primary school. The experience on the plane was an enjoyable one, though I was suffering from motion sickness. When I was 21, I was on another flight to KL. However, that was a totally different experience. It was the same journey, from Sabah to KL, on the same airline, and they were probably serving similar kind of in-flight meal. But that two and half hours’ flight was possibly the worst in my life because I was on my way to KL for a heart treatment in the National Heart Institute – so it wasn’t for holiday this time. Although the journey seems to be the same as my previous journeys to KL, the destination and the purpose of the trip essentially change the journey. Knowing our end and purpose determines our whole disposition before we even embark on the path of reaching the end.

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!

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Stay tuned for the next post by Br Alphonsus Dominic on 31st Mar 2011.

Reflection: Mary and the Lenten Practices (Br Joseph Zhang)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, during the season of Lent, the bible and the Church exalt us to pray, to fast and to give alms. The bible not only asks us to do so but also offer us models for such practices. Today let us take a look at Mary and learn from her how to exercise the Lenten practices of praying, fasting and almsgiving. Now let us turn our eyes onto the visitation scene, examine what happened, and what the visitation account teaches us about Mary and the Lenten practices.

The first lesson we can learn from Mary is her sensitivity to others’ need. Before we do any charitable deeds to anyone, first we need to be aware of their need. Mary was so sensitive to others’ needs. When she heard that her cousin, in her old age, had conceived and in her sixth month, she realized her cousin’s need. Immediately she rose up and went to serve her.

There are many needy people around us if we open our eyes and see. They may be one of our family members, or one of our relatives, or one of our neighbours. They need people to help them, to listen to them, to support them emotionally or materially. Are we like Mary being sensitive to others’ needs? Do we feel the need, pain, anxiety, and fear of those people who are being affected by the earthquake and the tsunami in Japan? Although they are far away from us, we cannot render immediate help. We can still support them by donating and praying for them.

The second lesson we learn from Mary is the spirit of fasting. Upon hearing the news of her cousin’s conception, Mary rose up at that time and went with all haste to a town of Judah, in the hill country where Zachariah and Elizabeth dwelt. In order to help her cousin, Mary came out of her comfort zone and went into a hill country. A hill country, we can imagine, two thousand years ago, how difficult it would have been to travel on the bumpy road. Yet Mary was willing to endure all the unpleasantness of the journey to give assistance to Elizabeth. This is the spirit of fasting, fasting by giving up one’s own pleasure and comfort for God and others, to be God and other centered.

The third lesson we can learn from Mary is about prayer. After greeting her cousin, upon hearing Elizabeth’s response of praise, Mary responded spontaneously by saying, “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord …” What a natural prayer of praise! Mary did not go into a prayer room to pray. She could pray at any place and time because she was always conscious of God’s presence. Prayer filled her life. During the season, we are exalted to pray constantly. We need to learn to make every moment of our life a time of prayer.


The fourth lesson we learn from Mary is about almsgiving. According to St. Luke’s account, Mary stayed with her cousin for three months. We know that three in the bible is a complete number. Therefore, we can say that Mary stayed and served Elizabeth till everything completed. The alms that Mary gave to her cousin was not money but care and time. We may be poor in material things but we can be like Mary to give our time, care and concern to those who are needy and lonely.

Therefore, let us learn from and emulate Mary in this Lenten season, to grow in sensitivity to peoples’ needs; to have a true spirit of fasting, to be willing to give up our personal pleasure and comfort for God and others; to pray always and fill our daily life and activities with prayer. Through these Lenten practices, like Mary, we will also be able to bring Jesus to other peoples’ lives.

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Stay tuned for the next post by Br Samuel Lim on 29th Mar 2011.

Reflection: Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord (Br David Arulnatham)

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

The Angel of the Lord declared to Mary:
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.

The Celebration of this solemnity, the incarnation of our Lord – the Word becoming flesh, invites us to recall God’s continuous faithfulness which is reciprocated in the faithfulness, obedience and humility of Mary the Star of the Sea who embodied the Son of God Jesus in her womb to be born as fully human for our salvation. Mary’s readiness to say ‘YES’ to the will of the Father and to let go of all her own dreams and plans to fulfill the Father’s will, reflects the virtues of faithfulness, obedience and humility in her. Celebrating this solemnity, we are called to imitate these great virtues of faithfulness, obedience and humility in our very own life and give thanks and Glory to God as we journey our life back to the arms of our Father in heaven.

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.

Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God,

that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

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Stay tuned for the next post by Br Joseph Zhang on 27th Mar 2011.

Reflection on Psalm 95 (Br Aloysius Tan)

During the period of Lent, we have an alternative Invitatory antiphon for Lauds taken from Psalm 95: “O that today you would listen to his voice: harden not your hearts.” Images that occur in my mind when I pray this verse often include the people of Israel turning away from God or people in the contemporary world who are great sinners and forget about God. In other words, these are times I struggle to identify myself with the people who refused to listen to God and have a heart of stone as described by the psalmist. Why? I guess I always identify myself with the people of God who are close to the Church, may have sinned but never do turn away from God for a long period. Also, I see myself as a seminarian striving to be His minister, which once again belongs to another category of people who are not far off from God.

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.

Annual Retreat break

Dear friends,


Thank you for your continued support for our blog.

We shall be taking a short break from our postings in view of our upcoming annual retreat from 16-20 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.

Stay tuned for our next posting on 23rd Mar 2011.

Once again, thank you and God Bless !

The Blogmaster

Reflections on Ephesians 6:10-18 (Br Nicholas Lye)

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!"