21st Ordinary Sunday, 23.08.09

1st Reading: Josh 24:1-2a, 15-17, 18b
2nd Reading: Eph 5:21-32
Gospel: Jn 6:60-69

If you are to stand here, where I am standing, and look at what I’m looking at, then, like me, you would also say it’s awesome.

And to know that there are so many pairs of eyes looking your way, and so many pairs of ears listening to what you are going to say, you can be sure that this is not child’s play.

In fact, some of the visiting priests have commented that the size of the congregation, especially at the 11.30am Mass, can be quite overwhelming.

Yes, we are proud that this parish community is big, and still growing, and at times overwhelming.

But let’s say that the Church lifted this thing about the Sunday obligation.

Let’s just say that coming for Mass on a Sunday is not obligatory but optional.

Now, if that’s the case, would we still want to come to Church for Mass on Sunday?

We have to consider the fact that there are so many other things that we want to do on Sunday.

We can sleep in till noon, and then wake up for this thing called “brunch”, a word now found in the dictionary.

For some people, Sunday can be the laziest day, or the busiest day.

You can sleep right into the late afternoon and wake up for a combination of lunch and dinner. (I don’t know what to call that. If breakfast and lunch is called brunch…)
Or if you have young children, you may not even have time to eat because you will be busy bringing them around from enrichment classes to your parents’ places. (Oh, I forgot, of coz, Sunday catechism classes, how can I forget huh)

So for some, it’s “Thank God it’s Friday”, for some it’s “Thank God it’s Monday”.

But whatever it is, for us, Sunday is to come to church to thank God.

But for us who come to church on Sunday, we also know of someone who does not come to church anymore.

There many reasons why they don’t come to church anymore.

Some are valid reasons; others are just excuses.

Whatever it is, they have made their choice, which is also their decision.

The readings we have heard earlier, also have this underlying aspect of the freedom of choice, and it’s a choice that expresses a decision.

In the first reading, Joshua asked the people – choose today whom you wish to serve.

In the 2nd reading, St Paul urged his people to choose the way of love so as to be obedient to Christ.

In the gospel, when people began leaving Jesus because they could not take what he said about eating His flesh and drinking His blood, He turned to His apostles and asked: What about you, do you want to go away too?

It is said in three different ways, but essentially it is about exercising the freedom of choice, and the choice is decisive.
So, to reply the question of Jesus: What about you, do you want to go away too? We might just give the textbook answer of St Peter and said: Lord, who shall we go to?

But let’s just say, that Jesus would ask this next question: So why do you want to stay?
How are we going to answer that?

We just can’t have a textbook answer for this. We are not going to find the answer in “Facebook”either.

The answer has got to come from your own book, and my own book.

Yes, it has to be a personal answer. And we have to make that personal choice, and it’s a choice that is decisive.

Let me share with you a story of a salesman, a salesman was dealing with audio equipment and accessories.

His basic pay was not much and neither was his commission, but because his clientele was large, so he could make ends meet.

Then came along a competitor company, and it offered him three times his current salary, as will as a higher commission from the sales.

It was certainly a more than attractive offer, but what was unwritten but understood, was that he would have to bring his clientele along.

For this salesman, the monetary benefits would be enough reason for him to leave his present company.

But as he thought about it, he painfully decided not to leave his present company.

So what made him stay on? It is a matter of integrity.

Because to bring his clientele along to the next company would mean that he would be the talk of the town and end up with a bad name.

So it was a choice between a quick gain or a good name, and his choice was a decision for integrity.

We might say; Ya… but integrity will only keep you hungry…”
Well, not the end of story yet. As things turned out, a few years later, that competitor company, due to bad management, began firing its sales personnel and executives.

That salesman could only give thanks to God for helping him make the good and right choice.

Talking about choices, when I was a seminarian, people often asked me about my calling and why I wanted to become a priest.

Now that I am a priest, not many people have asked me why I want to stay on as a priest.

Of course, if I am asked that question, I can always resort to the textbook answer that the priesthood is indelible, as in “once a priest, always a priest”, much like baptism and marriage.

But why do I want to stay on as a priest? Of course there is the joy of seeing people experiencing the love of God and growing in love for the Lord as I carry out my priestly ministry.

Yet there are also the trials and challenges of meeting the expectations as well as demands of the people.

Some people may even think that a priest is like some kind of holy superman, always smiling, always saying Yes to any requests, wont be angry and wont scold people.
Of coz, I want to be a holy man, but a superman ….???

But what is the primary reason that I want to stay on as a priest?

Well, its all about integrity and responsibility.

I have made my choice to answer God’s call. That is my decision. I will be responsible for my decision and I will be faithful to my decision. For me, there will be no other options.

In many ways, I learnt integrity and responsibility from my own father.

My father is an easy going simple family man. He works hard although his salary was not much.

He stays at home to be with his wife and children and goes to church with them.

In short, my father is a simple, responsible man, who is faithful to what he has committed himself to.

Yes, from my father, I learnt responsibility and faithfulness to commitment.

And one more thing, and that is I don’t want to entertain any other options. It is either I stay on, or I stay on.

May you also stay on in whatever good decisions that you have made in life. Let there be no other options.

Let God be our only option. When we choose God and God alone, then we choose life, as well as eternal life.

18th Ordinary Sunday Yr B, 02.08.09

1st Reading: Ex 16:2-4, 12-15
2nd Reading: Eph 4:17, 20-24
Gospel: Jn 6:24-35

If we had read the papers, or browsed the internet on the 20th July (which was just about 2 weeks ago), we would have surely come across this prominent news.

And along with this piece of news, is also the recalling of a very famous historical statement.

Now, I have recorded it for you. It goes like this: This is just one small step for man, but a giant leap for humankind.

Yes, the voice of Neil Armstrong, the American astronaut, the first man to step on the surface of the moon, on the 20th July 1969, a historical moment for him, and also for the world.

And 2 weeks ago, was the 40th anniversary of that historical moment, that historical landing on the moon.

Yes, it was a great moment for science and technology.

The 3-man space team landed on the moon, 2 of them walked on the moon, 1 of them circled round the moon in the spacecraft.

Yes, they reached the moon, but none of them ever wanted to stay on the moon.

So even with all that rocket science that enabled them to break free from the gravitational pull of the earth, they still wanted to come back to earth.

Actually, they had no choice; they had to come back to earth.

But let’s say, they had a choice, as in, the moon was like the earth, and they can stay there.

There is fresh air, clean waters, the sea teeming with fish, the land filled with fruit trees. Almost like the biblical Garden of Eden, unpolluted, but uninhabited.

Would they have stayed on there and lived on the moon? How about you? Would you want to go to the moon and stay there? Would I want to go to the moon and stay there?

Well, can consider. It’s a nice idea, being the 1st priest on the moon. Can even be the 1st pope of the moon.

But I think that if we considered all the options, all the opportunities, as well as all the challenges, I think we would still want to come back to earth.

Even though, we might be able to break free from the gravitational pull of the earth, something else will be pulling us back to earth.

I would call it the sentimental pull.

A classic example of this so-called sentimental pull, can be seen in the 1st reading, which was the book of Exodus.

Now we all know the Exodus story, how Moses led the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, into freedom and towards the Promised Land.

But the strange thing was that although freed from the clutches of slavery in Egypt, the Israelites kept looking back at Egypt.

The sentimental pull was just too strong, especially when they faced the hunger and thirst of the desert.

Almost immediately, they became nostalgic about the past, and they dreamed about the pans of meat and eating bread till their hearts content when they were in Egypt.
And then they grumbled, they complained, and they began to say ridicules things like wishing to die as slaves in Egypt rather than be free and die in the desert.

Somehow in the hunger and thirst of the desert, even slavery looks good, compared to freedom in the desert, but no food.

Such is the powerful tempting illusion created by the sentimental nostalgic pull.

That’s why, it probably took one day for Israel to get out of Egypt, but it took 40 years to get Egypt out of Israel.

So if the Israelites were asked: Are you happy now that you are free? It won’t be surprising to hear them say ‘No, life in Egypt was better.’

And that’s also a question to ask ourselves : Are we happy with life, … now?

Or are we thinking that life in the past was better. Somehow it is the sentimental nostalgic good old days.

But the question remains. Are we happier now, or were we happier in the past?

This question can be put to the various situations of our lives.

For eg, are we happier in the new job? Or do we think we were happier in the old job.

Are we happier after marriage? Or do we think we were happier before marriage?

Are we happier now that we are older? Or do we think that we were happier when we were younger?

In the gospel, Jesus tells us not to work for food that cannot last, but to work for food that endures to eternal life, the food that Jesus is offering us in the Eucharist.

Indeed Jesus is the bread of life, He is the bread of fulfillment, He is the bread of joy and happiness.

Let’s face it, if we come for Mass, and we receive Jesus the bread of life, and then we are still not happy, then we will not find happiness anywhere else on earth.

No point going even to the moon to search for happiness, because as long as we are not happy on earth, even if we go to heaven, we might think it is hell.

The purpose of receiving Jesus the bread of life, is to open our eyes to life, and to see where are the areas of our lives that we can grow in happiness.

God made all things good, and He made man the best, because man is made in the image and likeness of God.

But we might become like the Israelites in the desert, grumbling and complaining about life.

But God still uses His beautiful creation to remind us of the beauty of our lives, and how to be happy.

Let me share with you some images of creation, images of happiness, so that we can see for ourselves, what we need to be, in order to be happy.

Be like the sun.
Arise early, and do not go to bed late.

Be like the moon.
Shine in the darkness, but submit to the greater light.

Be like the birds.
Eat, sing, drink, and fly free.

Be like the flowers,
Loving the sun, but faithful to your roots.

Be like the faithful dog,
but only to your Lord.

Be like the fruit.
Beautiful on the outside, and healthy on the inside.

Be like the day,
which arrives and leaves without boasting.

Be like the oasis.
Give your water to the thirsty.

Be like the firefly,
although small, it casts its own light.

Be like the water,
Good and transparent

Be like the river,
always moving forward

And above all things,
be like the heavens:
A home for God.

If any of these images caught your attention, then just act on it.

Let that image be your inspiration and motivation in your journey towards happiness.

It may be one small step, but it will also be a giant leap.