Trinity Sunday, Year C, 26.05.2013

Proverbs 8:22-31/ Romans 5:1-5/ John 16:12-15


There are many laws and principles that govern nature, and it is these laws and principles that help to make the world go round in an orderly and logical manner.

Many of these laws and principles have been discovered and thereafter they were put into a scientific and mathematical formulation.

For eg, we have heard of the Archimedes Principle. It is a simple formulation of fluid mechanics, which states that an immersed object is buoyed up by a force equal to the weight of the fluid it actually displaces.

It is said that Archimedes discovered this principle when he immersed himself in a bathtub.

It is an everyday occurrence and can be so obvious, and yet it has to be discovered.

Another law of nature is the law of gravity and it was Isaac Newton who discovered it.

The story was that Isaac Newton was sitting under an apple tree and an apple fell on his head and thereafter he thought of the Law of Gravity.

Again that is an everyday occurrence and it is an obvious fact, and it has to be discovered.

But besides mathematical and scientific formulations, there are also a whole slate of laws and principles that give a reflection of the reality of life.

We would have certainly heard of Murphy’s Law. It’s that famous formulation: What can go wrong will go wrong. (We will certainly agree!)

And besides that, there are also funny and humorous “laws”.

Law of the queue: If you change queue, the one you have left will start to move faster than the one you are in now.

Law of telephone: When you dial a wrong number, you never get an engaged tone.

Law of the bath: When your body is coated with soap lather, the doorbell will ring.

Law of encounters: The probability of meeting someone you know increases when you are with someone you don’t want to be seen with (a warning for those who are two-timing).

Law of coffee: As soon as you sit down to a cup of hot coffee, your boss will ask you to do something which will last until your coffee is cold.

Enough of humorous reflections about the “laws” of life.

But whether it’s the law of gravity or the Archimedes Principle or Murphy’s Law, it is about the reality of life.

And the reality of life has a fundamental truth to it. When we discover and understand this truth, then we will be able to handle life and be at peace.

In the gospel, Jesus told His disciples that He still had many things to say to them but it would be too much for them.

But He will send the Spirit of truth to lead us to the complete truth.

Today, as the Church celebrates Trinity Sunday, that is the one truth that has been revealed to us.

The fact is that in the whole Bible, we can never find the word “Trinity”.

Nor is it said anywhere in the Bible that God is three Persons, Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.

Yet, that is the truth about God, and it is revealed to us by God Himself. But we need to reflect on it and discover the meaning of it in our lives.

But the essential truth of the Trinity is that God is united in a loving relationship of the three Persons, Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.

That is the truth about God. And what about ourselves? What is the truth about ourselves and our lives?

One of the golden rules about life is that whatever you do to something, it does back to you, ie. An action follows with a reaction.

It may be people, it may be situations, it may be objects.

There is a story of a father and his son walking on the mountains.

Suddenly, his son falls, hurts himself and screams, “Aaahhhh!!!” To his surprise, he hears a voice repeating, “Aaahhhh!!!”

Curious, he yells, “Who are you?” He receives the answer, “Who are you?”

Angered at the response, he screams, “Coward!” He receives a reply, “Coward!”

He looks to his father and asks, “What is going on?”The father smiles and says, “My son, pay attention.”

Then he shouts to the mountain, “I admire you.” And the voice answers, “I admire you.”

Again the man shouts, “You are good.” The voice answers, “You are good.”

The boy is surprised and does not quite understand. Then the father explains:

People call this the Echo, but really this is life. It gives you back everything you say or do. Our life is simply a reflection of our actions.

If you want more love in this world, then have more love in your heart. If you want more peace in this world, then have more peace in your heart.

This fact applies to everything, in all aspects of life. Life will give you back everything you have given to it.

The Law of Echo is so obvious; it has been discovered and yet we need to be reminded of it.

God who is Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, loves each other and they are united in love.

The echo of Their love resonates constantly in our hearts so that we can love others in the same way that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit loves each other.

So on this Trinity Sunday, let us remember the Law of Echo. 

Life gives back to us what we have given to it. 

So, let us be loving, and love will be given back to us.

Pentecost, Year C, 19.05.2013

Acts 2:1-11/ 1 Cor 12:3-7, 12-13 or Rom 8:8-17/ John 20:19-23 or John 14:15, 23-26


In today’s feast of Pentecost, the focus is none other than the Holy Spirit.

As we heard in the 1st reading, on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit descended on the apostles like a powerful wind from heaven and in tongues of fire.

That day was a great happening for the Church and they began to speak in foreign languages as the Holy Spirit gave them the gift of speech.

Another occasion that we hear about the Holy Spirit is during the celebration of the Sacrament of Confirmation for the teenagers.

The bishop will be there, relatives and friends will be there, the teenagers are all dressed up, many photographs will be taken.

But after that, something strange happens. The teenagers seem to go into secret service or they go undercover. Because they don’t seem to be around anymore.

It’s like the story about the two Christian pastors and a Catholic priest having a discussion about the problem of birds in their churches.

The first pastor said that he covered up all the holes in the roof of the church but the birds still managed to come in.

The second pastor said that he called the pest control company but the problem persisted.

Then they asked the Catholic priest how he handled the problem, and he said, “Oh, I confirmed them, and they never come back.”

So, the Sacrament of Confirmation seemed to have a strange effect on Catholic teenagers; they seem to disappear after that.

Maybe the name of the Sacrament can be changed to something like “Sacrament of Confirmation and Last Rites”.

Yes, we lament that our teenagers seem to disappear after Confirmation.

For those of us who are concerned enough, we ask what is being done and who should be doing that.

Well, those are not new questions, and yet we also know that we need help in order to help these teenagers after Confirmation.

And God knows we need help, not just for the teenagers, but in all matters actually. And that help is already given.

In today’s gospel, Jesus said that He will ask the Father to send another Advocate to be with us forever.

The word “Advocate” had several meanings. An advocate comes to the defense of another person. An advocate also pleads for and on behalf of another person (as in intercession). And in the court of law, an advocate defends the cause of another person.

So more than just a helper, an advocate pleads the cause of another person.

So more than just a helper, an advocate defends us and fights for us and intercedes for us.

The Advocate that Jesus is talking about is none other than the Holy Spirit who will teach us everything and remind us of all that Jesus taught us.

But more often than not, the Holy Spirit does not manifest Himself in dramatic and spectacular ways, like we heard in the 1st reading.

Instead, the Holy Spirit seems to be in secret service and He operates undercover.

But as the 2nd reading puts it, when we are interested in spiritual things, then the Holy Spirit will make His home in us and reveal to us how He works and how He helps us.

And as the Advocate, the Holy Spirit helps us by inspiring and prompting others to come to our help.

In other words, the Holy Spirit engages 3rd party intercessors and 3rd party intervention to manifest His help.

Take the case of St Therese of the Child Jesus, the patron saint of our parish.

At the tender age of 14, she already wanted to enter the Carmelite convent.

She asked permission from her father but her father was reluctant initially, but that was because he loved her the most and wanted her by his side.

She then asked her uncle who was her guardian then, and he also refused her, but later he relented and asked her to see the bishop.
So she went to see the bishop and he gave her a flat no!

At this point, we might think that enough is enough, better give up. But not for St. Therese.

After some time, she followed her father to Rome on a pilgrimage. There they went for an audience with the Pope.

They were forbidden to speak to him, but that did not stop St. Therese. She ignored all protocol and directly voiced her request to the Pope, begging him to let her enter the convent.

All the Pope said was: If God wants you to enter, the you will. 
(Effectively speaking, that was a “No!”) and the guards immediately led her out.

So it seemed like a gone case. Or so it seemed. 

While they were in Rome, her father went to visit a religious by the name of Bro. Simeon. 

The Vicar General Fr. Reverony happened to be there too, and he knew about St. Therese’s request, and like the bishop, he too was not in favour of it.

But when her father told her story to Bro. Simeon, he listened and even took notes. Finally with much emotion, Bro. Simeon said: One doesn’t see this kind of faith in Italy!

That statement made a great impact on the VG Fr. Reverony. It was like a mighty wind blew on him and he was enlightened.

Afterward, he strongly advocated St. Therese’s entry into the convent, and the rest was history.

So in St. Therese’s case, she had many intercessors – her father, who told her story to Bro. Simeon, who made a simple statement that made such an impact on the VG Fr. Reverony.

There was no drama or anything spectacular, no mighty wind or tongues of flames, but the Holy Spirit quietly moved people to be His instruments and intercessors for others.

What seemed impossible became possible. That is what the Holy Spirit, our Advocate can do. So whether it is about disappearing teenagers or old-timers, saints or sinners, the Holy Spirit is here to help us. 

The Holy Spirit want to help us become aware of the spiritual things and to make our hearts the home of God. 

When God makes His home in us, then we will become the instruments of the Holy Spirit, so that others will experience the power of God’s help.                                   

7th Sunday of Easter, Year C, 12.06.2013

Acts 7:55-60/ Apocalypse 22:12-14, 16-17, 20/ John 17:20-26


One of the objects in the sky (actually it’s in outer space) that catches our imagination and fantasy is the moon.

Before man landed on the moon (1969), and even after that, the moon remains mysterious and also romantic to us.

There are songs about the moon – “Blue Moon”, “Fly Me to the Moon”, etc. 

Having said that about the moon, we would have seen the photographs of Earth taken from the moon or from outer space.

To say the least, Earth is beautiful, and from the photos, it looks like a big round blue marble with shades of white.

Yes, Earth is beautiful, as seen from outer space.

But is it like one of those things that are like nice from far, but far from nice?

For us who live on Earth, do we think that it is that beautiful and nice?

There is no denying that we want our world to be beautiful and nice.

So we would set about cleaning up our world in the ecological sense. Yes we must care for our world.

That would make our world beautiful and nice.

Yet, instead of beautifying and cleaning up our world in the ecological sense, some have tried to make it their own world in their own sense.

They do this by pushing people that they don’t like out of their way.

Better still, if they can push those people out of this world.

And if pushing does not do the job, then it will be the ultimate – and that is killing.

And this is how the beauty of our world turns ugly and bloody.

That is what we heard about in the 1st reading.

The deacon Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit, saw the beauty and the glory of God.

But that made the crowd angry; so angry that they turned ugly and pushed Stephen out of the city and then they killed him by stoning him to death.

Stephen’s death was ugly and bloody. Yet even in death, there was the beauty and the glory of God.

Because Stephen prayed for the forgiveness of his executioners – “Lord do not hold this sin against them.”

The beauty of forgiveness, no matter what, cannot be pushed out of this world by the ugliness of hatred.

Stephen saw the beauty and the glory of God and was able to radiate the beauty and the glory of God by forgiving his executioners.

In the gospel, Jesus also prayed that we will be able to see the beauty of love in unity.

Jesus prayed that we may all be one, just as He and the Father are one.

And how can we not see that we are one? We all live in the one world, the only one Earth.

No matter what, we can’t push others out of this Earth.

In an affectionate sense, we call Earth our Mother Earth.

Indeed, Earth is like a mother who gathers her children as one and united in love.

Today we celebrate Mothers’ Day. Mothers are also like the Earth. 

They hold all of us together and they want us to live in peace so that this world, this Earth, will be beautiful and loving.

And no matter how far apart we may be, we still live in the one Earth, and no distance is too great to show love.

There is a story of a man who stopped by a flower shop to order some flowers to be sent to his mother who lived 200 miles away.

As he got out of the car, he noticed a young girl sitting by the curb and sobbing away.

He asked her what was wrong and she replied, “I wanted to buy a rose for my mother. But I only have 75 cents. And a rose cost $2.”

The man smiled and said, “Come on in with me. I will buy you a rose.”

He bought the little girl her rose and he ordered the flowers for his mother.

As they left the shop, he offered the girl a ride home.

She said, “Yes, please. You can take me to my mother.”

She directed him to a cemetery, where she placed the rose on a freshly dug grave.

After that, the man immediately returned to the flower shop, cancelled the order, bought a bouquet of roses, and drove the 200 miles to deliver the flowers personally to his mother.

Just a story to remind us that love knows no distance and that no matter how far apart we are, we are all living in the same Earth.

Not only must we not push people out of this world, we must also remember that God so loved the world that He sent His only Son into the world to show His love for us.

Yes, God loves us and He also loves our world, our Earth.

If God came into this world to love us, then all the more we need to love one another and live in peace and make this a beautiful world for everyone.

We don’t have to go to the moon or to outer space to realize that.

6th Sunday of Easter, Year C, 05.05.2013

Acts 15:1-2, 22-29/ Apocalypse 21:10-14, 22-23 or Apocalypse 22:12-14, 16-17,20/ John 17:20-26

It can be said that Singapore is a relatively safe country.

It is also a “fine” country – for speeding, you will be fined; for spitting, you will be fined; for littering, you will be fined; for jay-walking, you will be fined for breeding mosquitoes, you will be fined.

Still, Singapore is a relatively safe country.  We have a low crime rate. It is also safe to go out at night, so we are relatively safe and secure.

Yet, danger lurks even in safe places. Low crime does not mean no crime. In fact it is when things seem safe and secure that danger can just spring up suddenly.

As it is, our safe and secure country is facing an unexpected and a surprising kind of danger.

Singapore is a highly urbanized country. Yet, despite the fact that we so highly urbanized, we are facing a biological danger –Dengue Fever!

That is quite surprising and unexpected as well. If there are swamps and polluted areas that will be understandable.

But for an almost concrete jungle like Singapore, where did the dengue come from? Where did those Andes mosquitoes come from? It is almost like a mystery!

And the situation has become critical enough, so much so that the NEA has set up a website (www.dengue.gov.sg) to identify the dengue clusters and the number of cases.

And the enemy that is causing this deadly threat is just that small mosquito (Sigh – Why did God create mosquitoes?).

Let us hope that there are no mosquitoes in Church. But we have to be careful.

It is said that mosquitoes are quite religious, because they prey on you.

Having dengue fever is no laughing matter because it can be fatal.
The posters that the NEA has put up have warnings like this: “Danger can be this close”; “It is your life. It is your fight”.

So the danger is not an external danger. The danger is very close because the enemy is very close, and lurking around.

And the enemy does just not suck your blood, it will also suck away your life!

So we have been warned. So we have been told. So are we going to fight it seriously, or are we going to take it lightly?

Yes, danger lurks even in safe places. On the biological level, there is the dengue fever that is caused by those small and tiny Andes mosquitoes!

But what about on the spiritual level? Is there a danger? Where is the danger? What is the danger?

In the gospel, Jesus tells us about this danger in just one line: “Those who do not love me do not keep my commandments”.

It is just one line but it tells us whether we are safe, or in danger.

Jesus said that if we love Him then we will keep His word and God will make His home in our heart.

And where God has made His home, there will be peace in the heart. The heart will feel safe.

Our hearts are made to be God’s home, our hearts are made for peace, our hearts are made for love.

Hence, we have to keep our hearts clean. We have to keep our hearts pure.

St. Teresa, the Patron Saint of our parish has this to say: “A pure heart knows no evil.”

Yet the danger here is that when we are not careful or vigilant, then our hearts can slowly become polluted.

When we are not careful and vigilant, then we let small sins into our hearts.

We may not think much about small sins, but they are like those small little mosquitoes that carry the dengue fever, and they will cause havoc in our lives.

There is this story about the famous painting of the Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci.

Leonardo da Vinci used live models to paint the figures representing Christ and the 12 apostles.

Leonardo da Vinci wanted to paint the figure of Christ first, and he searched laboriously until he found a young man who had a face and a personality that exhibited innocence and beauty.

Thus he painted the figure of Christ. Thereafter, he chose fitting persons to represent each of the eleven Apostles.

Finally, after about three years, Leonardo da Vinci set about to paint the figure representing Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed Christ.

Leonardo da Vinci searched for man with a hard callous face.
The face would be one that was marked with avarice, deceit, hypocrisy; a face that would represent vicious betrayal.

Finally, among the prisoners in a jail, he found such a man and he asked for that man to be the model for the figure of Judas Iscariot.

After he had finished painting, the prisoner asked Leonardo da Vinci: “Do you recognize me?”

Leonard da Vinci looked hard at him, and the prisoner said: “So you can’t recognize me. Look at me again. I was that same man that you used as the model for painting the figure of Christ.”

The story was that after modeling for the figure of Christ, that man fell into a life of sin and crime, so much so that his countenance was contorted into a face of sin and he looked completely different from before.

The point of the story is that sin has this devastating effect that can change a pure and loving heart into a vicious and polluted pool of evil.

Yes, danger lurks even in safe places. Just as we have to guard against breeding those small mosquitoes that can cause the devastating dengue, so must we guard ourselves against committing those small sins.

Let us cleanse our hearts constantly by going for the Sacrament of Reconciliation, for a pure heart knows no evil.

And as the famous hymn says this: Through many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come. ‘Twas grace that brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.

Similarly, may the peace of Christ keep us safe, and may the peace of Christ keep our hearts pure, so that God will make His home in us.