Isaiah 50:4-7 / Philippians 2:6-11 / Mark 14:1 -15:47
During the last couple of days of national mourning for the founding father of our nation, there were long queues to the Parliament House where the body of the late Mr. Lee Kuan Yew is lying in state.
On Friday when the numbers swelled by the thousands, there was an astonishing announcement by the State Funeral Organizing Committee.
Singaporeans were “strongly advised” not to join the queue to pay their last respects as the waiting time in the queue could be as long as 8 hours or even 10 hours!
Then on Friday night the queue to pay last respects to the late Mr. Lee Kuan Yew was suspended until further notice for the safety and wellbeing of those in line.
What was astonishing was that Singaporeans were advised NOT to join the queue to pay their last respects.
It was astonishing because the higher the number of people paying respect, the more impressive it would be in terms of publicity.
But the huge crowds made it too overwhelming for crowd control.
But it is understandable that Singaporeans want to pay their last respects to the man who made what Singapore is today.
In the gospel we hear of another man whom the people had cheered and then later on jeered at.
In the gospel passage on the entrance to Jerusalem, the people spread their garments on the road and others spread leafy branches which they had cut from the fields as Jesus rode on a colt.
The crowds cried out “Hosanna!” to acknowledge Jesus as the Saviour.
But Jesus didn’t ask for the adulation of the crowds or for their tribute.
Then in the long gospel passage on the suffering and death of Jesus, we heard of the crowd again. And this time they cried out “Crucify him!”
The crowd had turned against Jesus and even His disciples had abandoned Him.
In the depths of His distress, Jesus even cried out “My God, my God, why have you deserted me?”
The man who sacrificed His life to save humanity was abandoned, mocked and humiliated to a shameful death on the cross.
Today, we the Church honours and praise Jesus for saving us through His dying on the cross.
As we enter into Holy Week and into the Holy Triduum, what Jesus is asking of us is to stay close to Him as we recall His suffering and death.
If our nation can be overwhelming in paying respect and tribute to the man for what he did for us and for our country, then all the more we must unite ourselves more fervently with Jesus in recalling His suffering and death.
Jesus suffered and died to save us because of His love for us.
Suffering and dying without love is futile and worthless.
In meditating and uniting ourselves with Jesus in His suffering and death, may we also offer up our lives to Jesus and die to ourselves so that we will discover the meaning of love and sacrifice.
May the love of Jesus overwhelm us so that we will be able to offer our lives for the salvation of others.
Jesus did it. The late Mr. Lee Kuan Yew did it too. Will we be willing to do it too?
(The Roman Catholic Church, along with the rest of Singapore, mourns the loss of our nation’s founding father, the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew. In memory of the late Mr Lee, Archbishop William Goh celebrated Mass at St Joseph’s Church (Victoria St) on Friday, 27 March. A copy of his homily "The Founding Father as a Befitting Title Given to Mr Lee Kuan Yew" can be found here)
Click the links under My Blog List to get to Chinese and English weekday homilies.
Saturday, March 28, 2015
Saturday, March 21, 2015
5th Sunday of Lent, Year B, 22.03.2015
Jeremiah 31:31-34 / Hebrews 5:7-9 / John 12:20-33
Whenever we come across this phrase “life-threatening situation” what would we think it would be?
It would certainly be one that would cause bodily harm or that our life is in danger from an external hostile and aggressive force.
One typical example would be that when we are walking alone in a dark alley and a robber jumps out and points a knife at us and growls with that typical line: Your money or your life!
In a situation like this we will have to make a snap decision as to whether it is our money or our life. We won’t have time to say – Let me think about it …
Or if the robber were to say – Give me all your money or I will cut off both your ears, we are certainly not going to bargain by saying “Does it have to be both?”
Whatever it is, let us pray that we won’t have to undergo such a traumatic experience of a life-threatening situation.
It is certainly not a joke when life is being threatened with a mortal danger.
We may not know when we are going to die but if death were to jump at us like a robber and stare at us in the face, then we have to make snap decisions.
It is then that we will realize how precious life is.
Today’s gospel passage begins with some Greeks approaching Philip with the request that they would like to see Jesus.
Probably those Greeks have heard about the great things that Jesus was doing and so they want to see who He is.
And so Philip and Andrew went to tell Jesus about this request.
And from there on we got a bit lost. Because Jesus didn’t give an answer to the request. He didn’t say yes or no, or that He was busy or that He will see them later.
He practically went on a monologue that begins with “Now the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified”.
If we were those two disciples, we would have reacted as they might have, with that “Huh?” kind of look. Just what are they going to tell those Greeks.
If those two disciples were confused by what Jesus said, then we have the advantage of context and perspective.
Because by now we should understand that Jesus was facing a life-threatening situation.
His hour has come and He says that His soul is troubled. It is the agony in the garden told in a different way.
He was like talking to Himself and asking Himself if He should ask the Father to save Him from this hour.
And He answered His own question – But it was for this very reason that I have come to this hour.
So by now we should understand what Jesus meant by saying that unless a wheat grain falls on the ground and dies, it remains only a single grain.
By now we should understand what Jesus meant when He said that anyone who loves his life loses it and anyone who hates his life in this world will keep it for the eternal life.
For Jesus, His life was precious to Him. And as He sees death approaching, His soul is troubled. He is distressed by it.
But as He teaches us to die to ourselves, then He too must show us how to do it.
Jesus indicated the kind of death he would undergo when He said – And when I am lifted up from the earth, I shall draw all men to myself.
Indeed by dying on the cross, Jesus showed us the meaning of life.
A wise man was asked this question – What is the greatest difficulty in life?
His answer is this – To have no burden to carry.
It may sound rather intriguing, but not to have any burdens in life to carry is like saying that life has no meaning to live for.
Over the past week, we would be anxious, or at least concerned over the medical condition of a politician.
Known as the founding father of the nation, Mr. Lee Kuan Yew’s medical condition had deteriorated and many Singaporeans had expressed their well-wishes and prayers for him.
There is a line that he wrote in his book “Hard Truth”: I have spent my life, so much of it, building up this country. At the end of the day, what have I got? A successful Singapore. What have I given up? My life.
A Singaporean posted this reflection – “My late father raised me. My Church fathers guide me. The founding father had given me a nation to call home.
The first gave me life. The second teach me to live. The third, he gave me a living.”
The point is clear. When we give up our lives for others, when we carry their burdens, and offer our lives as a sacrifice for others, then we are indeed following Jesus who came to serve and not to be served.
The life-threatening danger is that we choose otherwise – we want to be served and not to serve.
To have no burdens to carry is indeed the greatest life-threatening danger.
There is no need to think about it. If we truly believe in Jesus, then we will do like He did.
We will offer our lives for the salvation of others, as well as for our own salvation.
Whenever we come across this phrase “life-threatening situation” what would we think it would be?
It would certainly be one that would cause bodily harm or that our life is in danger from an external hostile and aggressive force.
One typical example would be that when we are walking alone in a dark alley and a robber jumps out and points a knife at us and growls with that typical line: Your money or your life!
In a situation like this we will have to make a snap decision as to whether it is our money or our life. We won’t have time to say – Let me think about it …
Or if the robber were to say – Give me all your money or I will cut off both your ears, we are certainly not going to bargain by saying “Does it have to be both?”
Whatever it is, let us pray that we won’t have to undergo such a traumatic experience of a life-threatening situation.
It is certainly not a joke when life is being threatened with a mortal danger.
We may not know when we are going to die but if death were to jump at us like a robber and stare at us in the face, then we have to make snap decisions.
It is then that we will realize how precious life is.
Today’s gospel passage begins with some Greeks approaching Philip with the request that they would like to see Jesus.
Probably those Greeks have heard about the great things that Jesus was doing and so they want to see who He is.
And so Philip and Andrew went to tell Jesus about this request.
And from there on we got a bit lost. Because Jesus didn’t give an answer to the request. He didn’t say yes or no, or that He was busy or that He will see them later.
He practically went on a monologue that begins with “Now the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified”.
If we were those two disciples, we would have reacted as they might have, with that “Huh?” kind of look. Just what are they going to tell those Greeks.
If those two disciples were confused by what Jesus said, then we have the advantage of context and perspective.
Because by now we should understand that Jesus was facing a life-threatening situation.
His hour has come and He says that His soul is troubled. It is the agony in the garden told in a different way.
He was like talking to Himself and asking Himself if He should ask the Father to save Him from this hour.
And He answered His own question – But it was for this very reason that I have come to this hour.
So by now we should understand what Jesus meant by saying that unless a wheat grain falls on the ground and dies, it remains only a single grain.
By now we should understand what Jesus meant when He said that anyone who loves his life loses it and anyone who hates his life in this world will keep it for the eternal life.
For Jesus, His life was precious to Him. And as He sees death approaching, His soul is troubled. He is distressed by it.
But as He teaches us to die to ourselves, then He too must show us how to do it.
Jesus indicated the kind of death he would undergo when He said – And when I am lifted up from the earth, I shall draw all men to myself.
Indeed by dying on the cross, Jesus showed us the meaning of life.
A wise man was asked this question – What is the greatest difficulty in life?
His answer is this – To have no burden to carry.
It may sound rather intriguing, but not to have any burdens in life to carry is like saying that life has no meaning to live for.
Over the past week, we would be anxious, or at least concerned over the medical condition of a politician.
Known as the founding father of the nation, Mr. Lee Kuan Yew’s medical condition had deteriorated and many Singaporeans had expressed their well-wishes and prayers for him.
There is a line that he wrote in his book “Hard Truth”: I have spent my life, so much of it, building up this country. At the end of the day, what have I got? A successful Singapore. What have I given up? My life.
A Singaporean posted this reflection – “My late father raised me. My Church fathers guide me. The founding father had given me a nation to call home.
The first gave me life. The second teach me to live. The third, he gave me a living.”
The point is clear. When we give up our lives for others, when we carry their burdens, and offer our lives as a sacrifice for others, then we are indeed following Jesus who came to serve and not to be served.
The life-threatening danger is that we choose otherwise – we want to be served and not to serve.
To have no burdens to carry is indeed the greatest life-threatening danger.
There is no need to think about it. If we truly believe in Jesus, then we will do like He did.
We will offer our lives for the salvation of others, as well as for our own salvation.
Saturday, March 14, 2015
4th Sunday of Lent, Year B, 15.03.2015
2 Chronicles 36:14-16, 19-23 / Ephesians 2:4-10 / John 3:14-21
If we were to look at the little red book that is in the pews, it is called "The Order of the Mass". And at the bottom, in smaller letters it reads “New English Translation”.
The artwork on the cover is a symbol of the cross, and on the spaces in between the arms of the cross are the letters IC, XC, NI and KA.
IC, XC are the initials for Jesus Christ.
But what about NI and KA? Actually it is one word NIKA. It is a Greek word, and it means victor or conqueror.
So the letters around the cross stands for Jesus Christ the Victor or Jesus Christ the Conqueror.
We may not have known what NIKA stands for because it is a foreign word. But we know of a word that is derived from it “NIKE” a famous brand in sports.
So we know what NIKA stands for and what Nike might mean (besides the “Just do it”). But we may not know what the name Nicodemus means.
It is a foreign sounding name, and not many people have that name, and maybe for a good reason.
In today's gospel, the man who came to look for Jesus at night is called Nicodemus. He was also a Pharisee.
But what does the name Nicodemus stands for?
There are two parts to the name : nico and demus.
Nico means "victory", and demus means "the people".
So Nicodemus means "he is the victory of the people", or "he who claims victory for the people".
So it is actually a meaningful and also a powerful name.
Yet the Nicodemus in the gospel came to see Jesus under cover of darkness because he was afraid for his reputation and status as a Pharisee.
The man whose name means “victory of the people” has come to see the man who is the Victor and the Conqueror.
And out of the strange meeting in the night, a very profound and enlightening truth is proclaimed.
In fact, this truth is often called the summary of the whole Bible, the very gist of the good news of salvation.
And it is this: God loved the world so much that He gave His only Son, so that anyone who believes in Him may not be lost but may have eternal life.
For God sent His Son into the world not to condemn the world but so that through Him the world might be saved.
That is the powerful and profound truth. That is also the truth about God and His deep love for us.
Jesus shines His light on us so that we live in the light of truth and love.
Some of us are afraid of the dark. The dark can be quite frightening.
But are we afraid of the light? We may not think so. But our reaction to the light can tell us otherwise.
We shield ourselves from the light; we squint or even close our eyes from the light.
“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” (Plato)
When men are afraid of the light, then tragedy happens as what we heard in the 1st reading.
The heads of the priesthood right down to the people added infidelity to infidelity and defiling the Temple that the Lord had consecrated for Himself in Jerusalem.
The Lord God tirelessly sent them messenger after messenger since He wished to spare His people and His house.
But they ridiculed the messengers of God, they despised His words, they laughed at His prophets, until at last the wrath of God rose so high against His people that there was no further remedy.
Their enemies burned down the Temple of God, demolished the walls of Jerusalem, set fire to all its palaces, and destroyed everything of value in it.
It was a national tragedy that went down into history.
As Jesus said in the gospel – though the light has come into the world, men have shown they prefer darkness to the light because their deeds were evil.
An interesting fact is that “where the light is brightest, the shadows are deepest” (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe).
This coming Friday evening, our parish is having the Reconciliation service. The priests of the City District are coming to our parish to hear our confessions.
An often-asked question is this - Should I go to confession if I haven’t committed any sins since my last confession?
A rather candid answer given is this - No, you should stay at home and wait for your canonization papers to arrive!
But seriously, if it’s been several weeks since your last confession, you have probably not examined your conscience very carefully.
“The just man falls seven times a day” (Prov 24:16). So if we’re thinking that we don’t have any sins to confess, then Jesus has got nothing to conquer and there will be no victory for Him.
But we know that under the light, there will be shadows, and the brighter the light, the deeper the shadows.
Jesus is the light that will scatter the shadows of our sins.
When we confess our sins and are reconciled to God, we turn away from tragedy and with Jesus we march into the light of victory.
If we were to look at the little red book that is in the pews, it is called "The Order of the Mass". And at the bottom, in smaller letters it reads “New English Translation”.
The artwork on the cover is a symbol of the cross, and on the spaces in between the arms of the cross are the letters IC, XC, NI and KA.
IC, XC are the initials for Jesus Christ.
But what about NI and KA? Actually it is one word NIKA. It is a Greek word, and it means victor or conqueror.
So the letters around the cross stands for Jesus Christ the Victor or Jesus Christ the Conqueror.
We may not have known what NIKA stands for because it is a foreign word. But we know of a word that is derived from it “NIKE” a famous brand in sports.
So we know what NIKA stands for and what Nike might mean (besides the “Just do it”). But we may not know what the name Nicodemus means.
It is a foreign sounding name, and not many people have that name, and maybe for a good reason.
In today's gospel, the man who came to look for Jesus at night is called Nicodemus. He was also a Pharisee.
But what does the name Nicodemus stands for?
There are two parts to the name : nico and demus.
Nico means "victory", and demus means "the people".
So Nicodemus means "he is the victory of the people", or "he who claims victory for the people".
So it is actually a meaningful and also a powerful name.
Yet the Nicodemus in the gospel came to see Jesus under cover of darkness because he was afraid for his reputation and status as a Pharisee.
The man whose name means “victory of the people” has come to see the man who is the Victor and the Conqueror.
And out of the strange meeting in the night, a very profound and enlightening truth is proclaimed.
In fact, this truth is often called the summary of the whole Bible, the very gist of the good news of salvation.
And it is this: God loved the world so much that He gave His only Son, so that anyone who believes in Him may not be lost but may have eternal life.
For God sent His Son into the world not to condemn the world but so that through Him the world might be saved.
That is the powerful and profound truth. That is also the truth about God and His deep love for us.
Jesus shines His light on us so that we live in the light of truth and love.
Some of us are afraid of the dark. The dark can be quite frightening.
But are we afraid of the light? We may not think so. But our reaction to the light can tell us otherwise.
We shield ourselves from the light; we squint or even close our eyes from the light.
“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” (Plato)
When men are afraid of the light, then tragedy happens as what we heard in the 1st reading.
The heads of the priesthood right down to the people added infidelity to infidelity and defiling the Temple that the Lord had consecrated for Himself in Jerusalem.
The Lord God tirelessly sent them messenger after messenger since He wished to spare His people and His house.
But they ridiculed the messengers of God, they despised His words, they laughed at His prophets, until at last the wrath of God rose so high against His people that there was no further remedy.
Their enemies burned down the Temple of God, demolished the walls of Jerusalem, set fire to all its palaces, and destroyed everything of value in it.
It was a national tragedy that went down into history.
As Jesus said in the gospel – though the light has come into the world, men have shown they prefer darkness to the light because their deeds were evil.
An interesting fact is that “where the light is brightest, the shadows are deepest” (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe).
This coming Friday evening, our parish is having the Reconciliation service. The priests of the City District are coming to our parish to hear our confessions.
An often-asked question is this - Should I go to confession if I haven’t committed any sins since my last confession?
A rather candid answer given is this - No, you should stay at home and wait for your canonization papers to arrive!
But seriously, if it’s been several weeks since your last confession, you have probably not examined your conscience very carefully.
“The just man falls seven times a day” (Prov 24:16). So if we’re thinking that we don’t have any sins to confess, then Jesus has got nothing to conquer and there will be no victory for Him.
But we know that under the light, there will be shadows, and the brighter the light, the deeper the shadows.
Jesus is the light that will scatter the shadows of our sins.
When we confess our sins and are reconciled to God, we turn away from tragedy and with Jesus we march into the light of victory.
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