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Saturday, February 22, 2014

7th Ordinary Sunday, Year A, 23.02.2014

Leviticus 19:1-2, 17-18/ 1 Corinthians 3:16-23/ Matthew 5:38-48

Whenever we look at nature, what comes to mind are beauty and majesty.

We would think of misty sunrise and sunsets, animals with their young moving in herds and the wonder of the animal kingdom.

But there is also the other side of nature and the animal kingdom.

There is the dark and devastating tornado or typhoon and there are also predators hunting down their prey.

And some animals and insects have in their nature the ability to inflict pain and even death – scorpions sting, snakes bite, bees sting.

And there are animals that we don’t want to cross into their paths, eg, tiger, leopard, grizzly bear. 

There is this story of an atheist taking a walk through the woods and admiring nature with its majestic trees, powerful rivers and beautiful animals.

As he was walking along, he heard a rustling in the bushes behind him. He turned to look and saw a huge grizzly bear charging at him.

He quickly ran ahead with the bear closing in. He tried to run even faster but as he ran he suddenly tripped and fell.

He rolled over to pick himself up but saw the bear right on top of him, reaching for him with the left paw and raising the right paw to strike him.

At that instant, the atheist cried out, “Oh my God!” Time stopped. 

The bear froze. The forest was silent. Even the river stopped flowing.

A bright light shone on the man and a voice came out of the sky, “You deny my existence all these years, teach others I don’t exist and even credit creation to a cosmic accident. Do you expect me to help you out of this predicament? Am I to count you as a believer?”

The atheist looked directly at the light. “It would be hypocritical of me to suddenly ask you to treat me as a believer now. But perhaps you could make the bear a believer and a Christian?”

“Very well then,” the voice said. Then the light went out, the river ran again, and the sounds of the forest resumed.

And the bear dropped its right paw and then joined both paws together, as if it was praying.

It bowed its head and said, “Bless me, O Lord and this Your gift which I am about to receive from Your goodness. Amen.”

We believe in God. We also believe that Jesus Christ came to save us.

Oh yes, we need Jesus to protect and save us. This world can be dark and dangerous.

More than just scorpions that sting and snakes that bite,  we face wicked and evil people who cross into our paths.

And when they sting and bite and claw at us, what did Jesus say that we should do?

Well, these are His words in today’s gospel passage: Offer the wicked man no resistance. Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.

That sounds difficult, and it is indeed difficult. We would rather pray that the wicked will be whacked, and our persecutors be persecuted.

This is profoundly expressed in a moving and stunning book titled “The Railway Man” by Eric Lomax.

Eric Sutherland Lomax (30 May 1919 - 8 October 2012) was a British Army officer who was sent to a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp in 1942. 

He was captured when the Japanese conquered Singapore. He was then transported 1,200 miles to Kanchanaburi, Thailand, and forced to work on the notorious Burma-Siam Railway.

At Kanchanaburi, he was starved, viciously beaten and horribly tortured.

Amongst all his torturers, Lomax was especially consumed with hatred for Takashi Nagase, an interpreter with the Japanese army. 

In Lomax’s mind, Nagase personified all the atrocities committed by the Japanese.

During the interrogations, Lomax memorised every feature of Nagase’s face: the dark eyes, the small nose, the broad forehead. 

He wanted to remember him, and someday find him and make him pay.

The war left Lomax with severe psychological problems which he never fully recovered from.

After more than 40 years, he eventually sought treatment. 

But, he remained darkly obsessed with his torturers, especially that interpreter.  

Then, in October 1989, a friend gave Lomax a newspaper clipping of a book written by Takashi Nagase.

In the decades after the war, Takashi has become a devout Buddhist and has dedicated his life to atoning for the treatment of Japanese Prisoners of War.

Almost 50 years after their first encounter, Lomax and Nagase agreed to meet at the World War 2 museum in Kanchanaburi on 26 March 1993 . 

The two men only came for this meeting because, almost after 50 years, on reading that Takashi Nagase felt he had been ‘forgiven’, Lomax became so enraged that he was determined to tell him that no, he hadn’t been. That he still hated him. That, even as an old man, he dreamt of strangling him.

But at the famous bridge over the River Kwai, Lomax made peace with Nagase, and it was a deeply moving moment for them.

Over the next three days, the two men talked about their lives since the war.  Their rapport grew easier with time.

On the day before they were to part, Lomax gave Nagase a letter, in it he wrote:  Although I can’t forget the ill treatment at Kanchanaburi, taking into account your change of heart, your apologies, the work you are doing, please accept my total forgiveness.

Both men were deeply moved to tears at their farewell.

And Lomax said, “I’ve learned that hate is a useless battle, and it has to end sometime.”

It is part of the human condition that somewhere on earth, at any time, there is a place as dark as Kanchanaburi, 1943. 

The world today is no stranger to torture. That the potential for unimaginable cruelty lurks in all of us, is certainly borne out by the evidence.

The Railway Man shows us something rarer; that a capacity for forgiveness - equally unimaginable – stirring in the depths of our hearts, and it cannot be extinguished, even if we want it to be.

And if God lets the sun rise on bad men as well as good, and the rain fall on honest and dishonest men alike, then the Christian response to evil and wickedness can be none other than mercy and forgiveness.

In the face of what is beautiful and what is ugly, let us do the one exceptional thing that the Lord God is calling us to. 

We hear that call in the 1st reading: Be holy, as I the Lord your God is holy.

And what does that mean? It means that we must not bear hatred in our hearts, and we must not exact vengeance or bear a grudge.

As Eric Lomax said: I have learnt that hatred is a useless battle, and it has to end somehow.

To be holy as the Lord God calls us to be holy means that we do that exceptional thing of loving our enemies and praying for our persecutors.

So that the response we give to what is ugly can only be love, and then forgiveness and reconciliation can begin.

Saturday, February 15, 2014

6th Ordinary Sunday, 16.02.2014

Ecclesiasticus 15:16-21/ 1 Corinthians 2:6-10/ Matthew 5:17-37

In the month of February, there is one particular day when the prices of certain things will go up.

The price of flowers will go up, especially that species called roses. 

Having a meal on that day in a classy restaurant will probably burn holes in your pocket. The number of marriages on that day will also be exceptionally higher.

That day that we are talking about is the 14th February, which is also Valentine’s Day.

Last Friday, the 14th February, which is Valentine’s Day, a record number of 243 couples in Singapore tied the knot, the highest in five years, according to the Registry of Marriages.

So having a wedding dinner on that day is going to be costly. And buying flowers, especially roses, for your beloved is also going to be costly.

In short, love is costly. Falling in love is costly. Staying in love is also costly.

There is this joke about a woman who woke on the morning of Valentine’s Day and said to her husband: Hubby, I just dreamt that you gave me a diamond necklace for Valentine’s Day. What do you think it means?

The husband replied: You will know later today.

So in the evening when the husband came back from work, he gave a small package to his wife.

Delighted, she opened it. In that package was a book entitled “The meaning of dreams”.

Moving on from jokes and dreams, we come to some serious teachings from Jesus in today’s gospel passage.

He began by telling His disciples that if their virtue goes no deeper than that of the scribes and Pharisees, they will never get into the kingdom of heaven.

The scribes and the Pharisees make a big deal about keeping the laws and commandments. So, as long as one doesn’t kill or steal or commit adultery or break an oath, then one can go to heaven already, or at least almost there. That was what they say.

But now Jesus is telling us something more, something deeper and also something higher.

As it is, killing or murder is already the far end – it is forbidden! 

And we don’t even go there. For some of us, killing a cockroach or a lizard is traumatic enough and we can lose sleep over it.

But getting angry at others and keeping that anger and letting it burn and boil within us seems to be one of our favourite pastimes.

And we let that anger boil and burn into resentment and bitterness and even hatred.

It’s like drinking poison and hoping that the other person will die. 

And it’s like cutting yourself with a knife and hoping that the other person will bleed in pain.

We somehow know it is ridiculous and futile. And Jesus has to tell us that it is ridiculous and futile.

Our anger is not killing anyone; it is only killing ourselves. And Jesus wants to save us from that.

And neither do we go around committing adultery just like that. Certainly not!

But how about flirting? And there is a new form of flirting called “sexting”.

It is about the exchanging of saucy sexually explicit messages and images with another person using mobile phones.

Such forms of flirting have harmed marital relationships and marriages have broken down because of that.

We have this notion that if we are not caught then it is not wrong. 

But we also forget that what is done in the dark will be brought into the light, sooner or later.

Again Jesus wants to free us from this kind of improper and immoral relationships. He wants us to live in the freedom of the light and not in the darkness of fear.

Jesus tells us that whatever is causing us to sin, we have to cut it out. It would be better for us to cut off that sinful thing than to go to hell with everything.

There is this story about the big boys of the Information Technology who came for a meeting and they began to brag.

Wikipedia said: I know everything. Google said: I have everything. Facebook said: I know everybody. Internet said: Without me you are nothing. Sitting at one corner, Electricity said: Talk some more, talk some more …

Well we know what has been said. We have also learnt how it was said – thou shall not kill, thou shall not commit adultery, thou shall not bear false witness.

Today we hear something more from Jesus. He is telling us this: If your virtue goes no deeper than what is said, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven.

In other words, our love for God and for others must go deeper than just not killing, or not committing adultery or not telling lies.

Our love for God and for others must make us strive for forgiveness and reconciliation, for purity and holiness, for truth and beauty.

And this brings us back to the story of Valentine’s Day and the person behind it – St. Valentine.

He was a priest who lived during the 3rd century, and at that time the Roman emperor forbade marriages because he wanted the young men to join the army, as he had this thinking that unmarried soldiers would be better soldiers as they would not have to think about their wives or children.

But St. Valentine secretly officiated marriages for Christian couples who wanted to get married.

Well, he was caught and thrown into prison and tortured. But he forgave his tormentors and while in prison he even prayed for and healed the jailer’s daughter from her blindness.

Before he was executed, he sent a note to that jailer’s daughter, urging her to be pure and holy, and to speak the truth always.

He signed off that note with the famous words – From your Valentine.

Today we also heard from our Valentine. Jesus loves us and He wants us to strive for the higher virtues of love – forgiveness and reconciliation, purity and holiness, truth and beauty.

Yes, love is costly, falling in love is costly, staying in love is costly.
But Jesus paid the price on the cross for loving us. May we listen to what He is telling us and put it into action.

Saturday, February 1, 2014

Presentation of the Lord, Year A, 02.02.2014

Malachi 3:1-4/ Hebrews 2:14-18/ Luke 2:22-40
Today is the third day of the Chinese New Year. Actually the more correct term is the Lunar New Year.

Here in Singapore and elsewhere, it is a big celebration for the Chinese, so it is often referred to as Chinese New Year.

But whether Lunar New Year or Chinese New Year, it is a celebration of culture and traditions that are uniquely Chinese.

And there are also some strange taboos that have somehow become traditional practices.

For example, there must be no washing of hair on the first day of Chinese New Year. It can be before or after but not on the day itself. It has something to do with the washing away of luck. So washing hair cannot, but bathing can!

Also on the first day of Chinese New Year, there must be no sweeping or mopping of the house. And all brooms and mops must be kept out of sight. Again it has something to do with luck.

Well, my family is not a strict traditionalist family, but this year, we broke the tradition.

Because my brother and his family wanted to go away for a holiday during the Chinese New Year and they want to leave on the eve of Chinese New Year.

And the eve of Chinese New Year is the day for that all important Reunion Dinner.

So it means that we have to bring forward the Reunion dinner, which is something my family had not done before.

Thus, I had to go home on Tuesday for the Reunion Dinner, which was two days ahead of the eve of Chinese New Year. Anyway it was done and we had a good dinner.

Then came the question of the eve of Chinese New Year, the traditional day for the Chinese New Year Reunion Dinner.

Should I go home for dinner with my parents? After all, it’s just going to be my parents and myself. So to go home or not to go home – that’s the question.

Well, in the end, I went home on the eve of Chinese New Year and had a simple dinner of leftovers with my parents.

After dinner we just sat around, the three of us, and we brought out the family photo albums and we talked about the past and how my parents struggled along with the children growing up, about the present and the challenges, and about the future with our hopes and dreams.

To put it simply, I was glad I went home to keep the traditional day of the Reunion Dinner. Otherwise, I would have missed out a good family time with my parents.

In a way, the gospel of today is about the keeping of traditions.

Mary and Joseph kept the traditions of the Law of the Lord and took Jesus up to Jerusalem for the purpose of purification and to consecrate Jesus to the Lord since He was their firstborn.

Mary and Joseph were just doing their duty and keeping to the tradition of the Law. It was significant for them and for Jesus but it was nothing exceptional.

Little did they know that in that simple act of keeping the traditions of the Law of the Lord, many things were waiting to happen.

First there was Simeon who was looking forward to set his eyes on the Christ of the Lord.

He had been waiting and waiting for that day, and it finally came when Mary and Joseph brought in the child Jesus to do for Him what the Law required.

And then there was Anna, that 84 year old widow, a prophetess, who was waiting to make that last prophecy, and preparing herself with fasting and prayer.

She came by just at that moment, and it was to be her moment of fulfillment. We may call it her “five minutes of heaven”.

As for Mary and Joseph, it may have been a revelation beyond their expectation to hear all that being said about Jesus.

And especially for Mary, what Simeon said to her may have left her bewildered and forlorn.

She and Joseph came to fulfill their duty for Jesus, and yet in doing so they have fulfilled the longings of Simeon and Anna.

But the central figure in all this is Jesus. With His revelation, Mary, Joseph, Simeon and Anna knew where to move on to.

For Simeon and Anna, they can finally close their eyes to this world and move on to meet God in the next.

For Mary, she must prepare for that day when the sword will pierce her heart.

For Joseph, he now knows that his task is to watch over and care for mother and child to meet their destiny in life.

And for us in this feast of the Presentation, there may be a revelation for us.

We too, have come here to keep the tradition of the Law of the Lord in the Sunday Eucharist.

What will the Lord reveal to us, that will be between Him and each of us.

Keeping to a religious tradition, like coming for Mass every Sunday may not be always exciting and inspiring.

Yet, the Lord is always revealing something to us so that we can have a beautiful way of looking at things.

There is this story of a father who was trying to read a magazine but his little daughter was distracting him.

On a page of the magazine was printed the map of the world. So, to keep her busy, he tore out the page and there tore it into many pieces and asked her to go and put them together to make the map again.

He was quite sure that she would take the whole day to get it done.

But the little girl came back within a few minutes with the perfect map.

He was surprised that she did it so quickly and asked her how she did it.

The little girl said: Oh, there is a man’s face on the other side of the paper. I just have to put the face right to get the map together.

With that, she ran outside to play, leaving the father bewildered.

We too, may not understand the pieces of map of our lives.

But Jesus will reveal His face to us so that we can put our map together and have a beautiful way of looking at things and at life.

So as we celebrate this feast of the Presentation of Lord, let us also offer our lives to the Lord.

And may the Lord reveal His plans for us.

Then, like Mary and Joseph, Simeon and Anna, we will be able to move on in life and fulfill our destiny.