Ecclesiasticus 3:17-20, 28-29 / Hebrews 12:18-19, 22-24 / Luke 14:1, 7-14
What we are sitting on are called pews. They look like benches but there is a difference between pews and benches.
The difference is that pews are found only in churches, whereas benches are found all around.
And there’s also a difference between one pew and another, because there is this unwritten, unspoken but understood “favourite” pew.
Oh yes, we have our favourite pews in church. We come to church, walk down the aisle and then plant ourselves there at our favourite pew. And if someone else is sitting on our favourite pew, then it is like as if someone has stolen our seat.
Anyway, there is no such a thing as “my pew” or “chope” pews by putting tissue paper or umbrella or plastic bag or whatever.
But whatever pew we are sitting on, we can be sure that there is something right in front of our feet. Yes, it is the kneeler.
These kneelers can be quite cumbersome at times especially when stepping in and out of the pews.
We use the pews for a few purposes - we rest our feet on it, we stand on it, we put our things on it.
But the primary purpose of the kneeler is none other than for the knees. It is for us to kneel at those parts of the Mass, or when we want to pray.
Going down on our knees on the kneeler is a humble act of reverence and worship to the Almighty God.
In the gospel, Jesus noticed that the guests were picking the seats of honour. We can be sure that those seats of honour do not have any kneelers in front of them.
Because the seats of honour are not for the lowly and the poor. Those who are at the seats of honour don’t need to kneel, and they also don’t want to.
To be at the seat of honour is to stand out among the rest and to be in the spotlight.
But what is rather disgraceful is that the guests were picking the seats of honour for themselves.
In other words, those guests want the honour for themselves, they want to be held up high, they want the attention.
But that is rather shameful isn’t it. Because honour cannot be demanded, it is to be earned.
And those who do not know what is shameful has a bigger issue within them, and that is pride.
The first reading has this to say about pride: There is no cure for a proud man’s malady since an evil growth has taken root in him.
Indeed pride is a very dangerous thing. It is dangerous because it was pride that turned angels into devils.
And pride comes before the fall. In the gospel parable, Jesus gives this embarrassing scene of the host telling a guest to give up the seat of honour to another person.
The price of pride is shame. And that shame is our own doing. Shame should teach us a lesson provided we are willing to learn from it.
We have heard of the story of the hare and the tortoise. The hare was so proud of his speed and strength and he made fun of the slow tortoise and he even challenged the tortoise to a race just to prove his point.
When the race started, the hare sped off but he stopped halfway to take a break. And then he decided to have lunch since he was way ahead of the tortoise.
But he ate too much and fell into a deep sleep. When he woke up he saw the tortoise was near the finishing line and so he huffed and puffed to the finishing line, but the tortoise crossed it first.
Shamed but still prideful, he challenged the tortoise to another race. He trained hard for the second race to make sure he will finish the race in no time.
The day of the race came and again the hare lost. Why? The hare ran in the wrong direction!
Yes, pride makes us blind and even though we might be shamed we still may not learn our lesson.
If the pride does not die in us, then nothing of heaven will ever live in us.
If it was pride that turned angels into devils, then it is humility that will turn men to be like angels.
The kneeler at the pew may be lowly and humble but it carries our knees as we kneel in reverence and adoration before the Lord.
And let us also remember what the first reading tells us:
The greater you are, the more you should behave humbly, and then you will find favour with the Lord. For great though the power of the Lord is, He accepts the homage of the humble.
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Saturday, August 31, 2019
Saturday, August 24, 2019
21st Ordinary Sunday, Year C, 25.08.2019
Isaiah 66:18-21 / Hebrews 12:5-7, 11-13 / Luke 13:22-30
It is a basic human desire to yearn for a better life. That is why human beings strive to develop and progress so that life can be better.
With development and progress the result will be an affluent lifestyle. But an affluent lifestyle and an affluent society have its challenges.
There is this picture of some tribal men, bare-bodied and getting ready for hunting. And the bottom of the picture there are these words:
No stress, no bombs, no homeless, no poverty, no junk food, no pollution. And some people call them … PRIMITIVE.
It is such a contradiction, isn’t it? We call ourselves an affluent and a civilized society and we have stress, wars, pollution, inflation, etc.
And that is one more thing. As we become an affluent society, we also become lazy.
And then the health issues begin to appear: high blood, high cholesterol, high blood sugar. And with all that scoring high that is also an added problem. Needless to say it is a heavy weight problem.
With expanding waistlines it is not easy to fit into our clothes and we become heavy and cumbersome. And of course, that is also not very healthy.
And there is no denying it, that we envy those slim and trim and healthy looking people.
In the gospel we heard of someone asking Jesus a rather strange question: Sir, will there be only a few saved?
Putting that question in another way, it is like asking how many good people will be saved? Or how many good people will go to heaven?
The presumption here is that the so-called good people are those who keep the rules, be in the right place at the right time and say the right thing.
Obviously the one asking the question is also presuming that he is one of those “right” people and so he wanted to know how many there are of these “right” people, since he thinks that he is also one of them.
Jesus addressed that question but not with a direct answer. He says, “Try your best to enter by the narrow door, because I tell you, many will try to enter and will not succeed.”
And we might be thinking. So those who do evil, those who are not good, those who don’t do the right thing, those who are bloated and heavy with the things of the world, the rich, the affluent, those who are overweight, they can’t go through that narrow door.
But before we go on speculating further, Jesus goes on to say this:
“Once the master of the house has got up and locked the door, you may find yourself knocking on the door, saying, “Lord, open to us” but he will answer, “I do not know where you come from.” Then you will find yourself saying, “We once ate and drank in your company; you taught in our streets” but he will reply, “I do not know where you come from. Away from me, all you wicked men!”
And we might be thinking: Hey, those are the so-called “right” people. They were in the right place and at the right time and said the right thing. But why did this happen to them?
Today’s Gospel sets us thinking. Jesus tells us that it is the narrow door, and many will try to enter and will not succeed.
It is said that if we want to go fast we go alone. If we want to go far then we go together.
But if we want to go fast, we might just end up last. The narrow door becomes narrower, and it maybe even closed for those who want to go in alone.
But if we want to go through that narrow door, then we have to go together. For where two or three go together, the Lord will open the door wider.
So the teaching point here is this - that we have to help each other on the road to heaven.
And we who are strong ought to journey with those who are weak.
Let us remember that the salvation of many depends on the sacrifice of a few.
With that sacrifice the door to heaven will be opened wide for those who want to go in together with the others.
It is a basic human desire to yearn for a better life. That is why human beings strive to develop and progress so that life can be better.
With development and progress the result will be an affluent lifestyle. But an affluent lifestyle and an affluent society have its challenges.
There is this picture of some tribal men, bare-bodied and getting ready for hunting. And the bottom of the picture there are these words:
No stress, no bombs, no homeless, no poverty, no junk food, no pollution. And some people call them … PRIMITIVE.
It is such a contradiction, isn’t it? We call ourselves an affluent and a civilized society and we have stress, wars, pollution, inflation, etc.
And that is one more thing. As we become an affluent society, we also become lazy.
And then the health issues begin to appear: high blood, high cholesterol, high blood sugar. And with all that scoring high that is also an added problem. Needless to say it is a heavy weight problem.
With expanding waistlines it is not easy to fit into our clothes and we become heavy and cumbersome. And of course, that is also not very healthy.
And there is no denying it, that we envy those slim and trim and healthy looking people.
In the gospel we heard of someone asking Jesus a rather strange question: Sir, will there be only a few saved?
Putting that question in another way, it is like asking how many good people will be saved? Or how many good people will go to heaven?
The presumption here is that the so-called good people are those who keep the rules, be in the right place at the right time and say the right thing.
Obviously the one asking the question is also presuming that he is one of those “right” people and so he wanted to know how many there are of these “right” people, since he thinks that he is also one of them.
Jesus addressed that question but not with a direct answer. He says, “Try your best to enter by the narrow door, because I tell you, many will try to enter and will not succeed.”
And we might be thinking. So those who do evil, those who are not good, those who don’t do the right thing, those who are bloated and heavy with the things of the world, the rich, the affluent, those who are overweight, they can’t go through that narrow door.
But before we go on speculating further, Jesus goes on to say this:
“Once the master of the house has got up and locked the door, you may find yourself knocking on the door, saying, “Lord, open to us” but he will answer, “I do not know where you come from.” Then you will find yourself saying, “We once ate and drank in your company; you taught in our streets” but he will reply, “I do not know where you come from. Away from me, all you wicked men!”
And we might be thinking: Hey, those are the so-called “right” people. They were in the right place and at the right time and said the right thing. But why did this happen to them?
Today’s Gospel sets us thinking. Jesus tells us that it is the narrow door, and many will try to enter and will not succeed.
It is said that if we want to go fast we go alone. If we want to go far then we go together.
But if we want to go fast, we might just end up last. The narrow door becomes narrower, and it maybe even closed for those who want to go in alone.
But if we want to go through that narrow door, then we have to go together. For where two or three go together, the Lord will open the door wider.
So the teaching point here is this - that we have to help each other on the road to heaven.
And we who are strong ought to journey with those who are weak.
Let us remember that the salvation of many depends on the sacrifice of a few.
With that sacrifice the door to heaven will be opened wide for those who want to go in together with the others.
Saturday, August 17, 2019
20th Ordinary Sunday, Year C, 18.08.2019
Jeremiah 38:4-6, 8-10 / Hebrews 12:1-4 / Luke 12:49-53
One of the things that we don’t really feel comfortable about, that we don’t feel at ease with, is the dark.
There is this primeval fear of the dark and it not only affects children, even adults would avoid the dark places.
So as much as we may not say that we are afraid of the dark, our actions often show otherwise.
That is this joke about a little boy who was always afraid of the dark. And he wouldn’t go outdoors alone after sunset.
One day he forgot to bring in his badminton racket from the garden, and since it was already dark, he asked his mother to bring it in for him.
His mother wanted to help him overcome his fear of the dark, so she told him, “Don’t be afraid of the dark. Jesus is out there even in the dark. So just go and bring your badminton racket back.”
So the little boy opened the door a bit, and then said in a loud voice, “Jesus, if you are out there, please bring in my badminton racket.”
Oh yes, Jesus is out there even in the dark, but what He will do about it depends on what we want to do about it.
And if we were ever thrown into a dark well and sinking slowly into the muddy bottom, it is not going to be very useful to keep cursing the dark.
In the first reading, we heard that the Prophet Jeremiah was thrown into a well which has no water in it, but only mud, and into the mud Jeremiah sank.
We weren’t told what Jeremiah did as he was sinking into the mud, but we know what he did before he got thrown into the well.
He was telling the soldiers and the people living in Jerusalem to give up and surrender to the enemy who were laying siege on Jerusalem.
Certainly, to surrender was quite unthinkable, but Jeremiah’s point was that it would be better to surrender rather than to be in for total disaster.
In other words, in surrendering, there could still be a little light in spite of the impending darkness.
But the king’s leading men could only think of Jeremiah as bad and dark news.
But Jeremiah, being a prophet, should be proclaiming the good news of God’s protection and salvation, and not the bad and dark news of surrendering to the enemy.
But Jeremiah saw what the king’s leading men refused to see, that the people had turned away from God and turned into a people of darkness.
So God let a greater darkness cover them and if they had listened to Jeremiah, then they will realize that even in the overwhelming darkness, the light will still shine. But only if they listened and believed in Jeremiah.
Today’s Gospel sounded more like dark news instead of good news.
Jesus talked about bringing fire and then about a baptism He must still receive, and how great was His distress till it was over.
And then instead of peace, He talked about division and distress, and we might wonder what was His point and what was He talking about.
It was certainly one of those hard and tough sayings of Jesus. But we may remember that Jesus called Himself the Light of the world.
That light was now turning into a fire as Jesus prepares Himself to face the persecutions from the people of darkness, a persecution similar to what the Prophet Jeremiah faced.
And the light from that blazing fire was going to burn way the false securities of a man-made peace and divided those who are in the light and those who are in the dark.
Because the Light of Christ will bring out the truth of who we are and where we stand.
Certainly we want to stand on the side of Truth and be in the light.
But we must also remember that when the light is brightest, the shadows are darkest.
The noblest of intentions can also be tainted with ulterior motives.
Just a couple of days ago, the Hong Kong tycoon Li ka-shing, put a full-page advertisement in the newspapers calling for a stop to the chaos and violence that are happening in Hong Kong.
The advertisement had an interesting header that said “the best of intentions can lead to the worst outcome”. It did not specify what “the best of intentions” referred to.
At the bottom, it said “stop anger and violence in the name of love”.
It was a reminder to all those involved to rethink their intentions as they look at what is happening.
But people can only look and see clearly when there is the Light of Christ.
We are called to bring the Light of Christ to others and be the light of Truth for them.
But what is to give light must endure the burning.
May we let the fire of God’s love burn away the darkness and impurities of our lives so that we can shine with truth and with love.
One of the things that we don’t really feel comfortable about, that we don’t feel at ease with, is the dark.
There is this primeval fear of the dark and it not only affects children, even adults would avoid the dark places.
So as much as we may not say that we are afraid of the dark, our actions often show otherwise.
That is this joke about a little boy who was always afraid of the dark. And he wouldn’t go outdoors alone after sunset.
One day he forgot to bring in his badminton racket from the garden, and since it was already dark, he asked his mother to bring it in for him.
His mother wanted to help him overcome his fear of the dark, so she told him, “Don’t be afraid of the dark. Jesus is out there even in the dark. So just go and bring your badminton racket back.”
So the little boy opened the door a bit, and then said in a loud voice, “Jesus, if you are out there, please bring in my badminton racket.”
Oh yes, Jesus is out there even in the dark, but what He will do about it depends on what we want to do about it.
And if we were ever thrown into a dark well and sinking slowly into the muddy bottom, it is not going to be very useful to keep cursing the dark.
In the first reading, we heard that the Prophet Jeremiah was thrown into a well which has no water in it, but only mud, and into the mud Jeremiah sank.
We weren’t told what Jeremiah did as he was sinking into the mud, but we know what he did before he got thrown into the well.
He was telling the soldiers and the people living in Jerusalem to give up and surrender to the enemy who were laying siege on Jerusalem.
Certainly, to surrender was quite unthinkable, but Jeremiah’s point was that it would be better to surrender rather than to be in for total disaster.
In other words, in surrendering, there could still be a little light in spite of the impending darkness.
But the king’s leading men could only think of Jeremiah as bad and dark news.
But Jeremiah, being a prophet, should be proclaiming the good news of God’s protection and salvation, and not the bad and dark news of surrendering to the enemy.
But Jeremiah saw what the king’s leading men refused to see, that the people had turned away from God and turned into a people of darkness.
So God let a greater darkness cover them and if they had listened to Jeremiah, then they will realize that even in the overwhelming darkness, the light will still shine. But only if they listened and believed in Jeremiah.
Today’s Gospel sounded more like dark news instead of good news.
Jesus talked about bringing fire and then about a baptism He must still receive, and how great was His distress till it was over.
And then instead of peace, He talked about division and distress, and we might wonder what was His point and what was He talking about.
It was certainly one of those hard and tough sayings of Jesus. But we may remember that Jesus called Himself the Light of the world.
That light was now turning into a fire as Jesus prepares Himself to face the persecutions from the people of darkness, a persecution similar to what the Prophet Jeremiah faced.
And the light from that blazing fire was going to burn way the false securities of a man-made peace and divided those who are in the light and those who are in the dark.
Because the Light of Christ will bring out the truth of who we are and where we stand.
Certainly we want to stand on the side of Truth and be in the light.
But we must also remember that when the light is brightest, the shadows are darkest.
The noblest of intentions can also be tainted with ulterior motives.
Just a couple of days ago, the Hong Kong tycoon Li ka-shing, put a full-page advertisement in the newspapers calling for a stop to the chaos and violence that are happening in Hong Kong.
The advertisement had an interesting header that said “the best of intentions can lead to the worst outcome”. It did not specify what “the best of intentions” referred to.
At the bottom, it said “stop anger and violence in the name of love”.
It was a reminder to all those involved to rethink their intentions as they look at what is happening.
But people can only look and see clearly when there is the Light of Christ.
We are called to bring the Light of Christ to others and be the light of Truth for them.
But what is to give light must endure the burning.
May we let the fire of God’s love burn away the darkness and impurities of our lives so that we can shine with truth and with love.
Saturday, August 10, 2019
19th Ordinary Sunday, Year C, 11.08.2019
Wisdom 18:6-9 / Hebrews 11:1-2, 8-19 / Luke 12:32-48
One of the things in life that is not nice to encounter are complains. That is simply because no one complains nicely.
In other words there is no such a thing as a nice complain; it is a contradiction of terms.
But whenever others complain, or when we complain, the cause of the complaints is that there is a disappointment.
Whether spoken or written, whether we hear it or we read it, the word “disappointed” tells us that it is not going to be something nice.
So it is not going to be nice when the boss tells the worker “I am disappointed with your performance”, or the parent tells the child “I am disappointed with your grades”.
And the litany goes on: I’m disappointed with your attitude; I’m disappointed with your progress; I’m disappointed with my spouse; I’m disappointed with my children; I’m disappointed with the Church; I’m disappointed with God.
And with the disappointments come all that sourness and bitterness that are the characteristics of complaints.
But as it is always said, disappointments come from expectations. So where there are expectations that will be disappointments, because the idea or the picture in our minds is not what it is in reality.
So the stoic way is to have no expectations, so that there will be no disappointments. But that is being like a robot. A robot has no expectations and hence it will never have disappointments.
But we are human, with feelings and emotions, with hopes and dreams. And of course with some expectations. Only thing is just to keep our expectations at a realistic level.
Because expecting life to treat you well just because you are a good person is like expecting an angry bull not to charge at you because you are vegetarian. Well, you will be painfully disappointed.
In the gospel Jesus tells us a parable to give us an idea of what to expect in life. He tells us to be dressed for action and to have our lamps lit.
So what does that mean? It means to be like the servants waiting for the master to return from the wedding feast, ready to open the door as soon as the master comes.
So the servants are expecting their master. The question is when will the master arrive? Is it at second watch or the third watch? Is it that night or is it going to be another night?
And happy those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Yes happy the servants if he finds them ready, for they shall be rewarded.
And so we can actually have our expectations in life and have our expectations in God. God will reward us for being faithful and for being prayerful.
But at the same time, we have to be prepared to expect the unexpected. Even Jesus would tell us that we have to stand ready because He will come at a time that we do not expect.
So for example in our prayer we pray for an urgent need. We put our faith in God as we believe that every prayer uttered is also every prayer answered.
Yes God will hear our prayers and answer our prayers. The question is how are we expecting God to answer our prayers.
Well to keep our expectations at a realistic level, let us remember how God generally answers prayers.
Generally speaking, God gives us three answers to our prayers:
“YES” - our prayers are answered immediately.
“NOT YET” - we need to have faith in God and be patient.
Or, God says, “I have something better for you”.
So God doesn’t say “NO”. Rather He tells us to always expect the unexpected, so that instead of disappointment, that will be amazement.
There’s this story of a man who was catching fish by the river and he caught quite a number of fish.
A young boy came along to watch the man catching fish. The man looks at the boy and he says, “Hey boy, you can take all the fish back home.”
But the boy replied, “I don’t want the fish. I want the fishing rod so that I can catch fish everyday.”
Sounds like a smart answer from a clever boy, right? But the story is not finished yet.
The man said, “You can have the fishing rod but you would not be able to catch any fish.” The boy asked, “Why?” The man replied, “Because you need to learn from me the skill of catching fish.”
The point here is that the boy thought that if he had the fishing rod then he will be able to catch a lot of fish. That was his expectation and that will also be his disappointment.
So let us not put our expectations on things or on people. Let us put on expectations in God, and also be prepared to expect the unexpected, because God always have something beyond our expectations.
So that we will be amazed and marvel at the wonders that God will do for us.
19th Sunday OT C-2019 11-08-19
Wisdom 18:6-9 / Hebrews 11:1-2, 8-19 / Luke 12:32-48
One of the things in life that is not nice to encounter are complaints. That is simply because no one complains nicely.
In other words there is no such a thing as a nice complaint; it is a contradiction of terms.
But whenever others complain, or when we complain, the cause of the complaints is that there is a disappointment.
Whether spoken or written, whether we hear it or we read it, the word “disappointed” tells us that it is not going to be something nice.
So it is not going to be nice when the boss tells the worker “I am disappointed with your performance”, or the parent tells the child “I am disappointed with your grades”.
And the litany goes on: I’m disappointed with your attitude; I’m disappointed with your progress; I’m disappointed with my spouse; I’m disappointed with my children; I’m disappointed with the Church; I’m disappointed with God.
And with the disappointments come all that sourness and bitterness that are the characteristics of complaints.
But as it is always said, disappointments come from expectations. So where there are expectations there will be disappointments, because the idea or the picture in our minds is not what it is in reality.
So the stoic way is to have no expectations, so that there will be no disappointments. But that is being like a robot. A robot has no expectations and hence it will never have disappointments.
But we are human, with feelings and emotions, with hopes and dreams. And of course with some expectations. Only thing is just to keep our expectations at a realistic level.
Because expecting life to treat you well just because you are a good person is like expecting an angry bull not to charge at you because you are vegetarian. Well, you will be painfully disappointed.
In the gospel Jesus tells us a parable to give us an idea of what to expect in life. He tells us to be dressed for action and to have our lamps lit.
So what does that mean? It means to be like the servants waiting for the master to return from the wedding feast, ready to open the door as soon as the master comes.
So the servants are expecting their master. The question is when will the master arrive? Is it at second watch or the third watch? Is it that night or is it going to be another night?
And happy those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Yes happy the servants if he finds them ready, for they shall be rewarded.
And so we can actually have our expectations in life and have our expectations in God. God will reward us for being faithful and for being prayerful.
But at the same time, we have to be prepared to expect the unexpected. Even Jesus would tell us that we have to stand ready because He will come at a time that we do not expect.
So for example in our prayer we pray for an urgent need. We put our faith in God as we believe that every prayer uttered is also every prayer answered.
Yes, God will hear our prayers and answer our prayers. The question is how are we expecting God to answer our prayers.
Well to keep our expectations at a realistic level, let us remember how God generally answers prayers.
Generally speaking, God gives us three answers to our prayers:
“YES” - our prayers are answered immediately.
“NOT YET” - we need to have faith in God and be patient.
Or, God says, “I have something better for you”.
So God doesn’t say “NO”. Rather He tells us to always expect the unexpected, so that instead of disappointment, there will be amazement.
There’s this story of a man who was catching fish by the river and he caught quite a number of fish.
A young boy came along to watch the man catching fish. The man looked at the boy and he said, “Hey boy, you can take all the fish back home.”
But the boy replied, “I don’t want the fish. I want the fishing rod so that I can catch fish everyday.”
Sounds like a smart answer from a clever boy, right? But the story is not finished yet.
The man said, “You can have the fishing rod but you would not be able to catch any fish.” The boy asked, “Why?” The man replied, “Because you need to learn from me the skill of catching fish.”
The point here is that the boy thought that if he had the fishing rod then he would be able to catch a lot of fish. That was his expectation and that would also be his disappointment.
So let us not put our expectations on things or on people. Let us put our expectations in God, and also be prepared to expect the unexpected, because God always have something beyond our expectations.
So that we will be amazed and marvel at the wonders that God will do for us.
One of the things in life that is not nice to encounter are complains. That is simply because no one complains nicely.
In other words there is no such a thing as a nice complain; it is a contradiction of terms.
But whenever others complain, or when we complain, the cause of the complaints is that there is a disappointment.
Whether spoken or written, whether we hear it or we read it, the word “disappointed” tells us that it is not going to be something nice.
So it is not going to be nice when the boss tells the worker “I am disappointed with your performance”, or the parent tells the child “I am disappointed with your grades”.
And the litany goes on: I’m disappointed with your attitude; I’m disappointed with your progress; I’m disappointed with my spouse; I’m disappointed with my children; I’m disappointed with the Church; I’m disappointed with God.
And with the disappointments come all that sourness and bitterness that are the characteristics of complaints.
But as it is always said, disappointments come from expectations. So where there are expectations that will be disappointments, because the idea or the picture in our minds is not what it is in reality.
So the stoic way is to have no expectations, so that there will be no disappointments. But that is being like a robot. A robot has no expectations and hence it will never have disappointments.
But we are human, with feelings and emotions, with hopes and dreams. And of course with some expectations. Only thing is just to keep our expectations at a realistic level.
Because expecting life to treat you well just because you are a good person is like expecting an angry bull not to charge at you because you are vegetarian. Well, you will be painfully disappointed.
In the gospel Jesus tells us a parable to give us an idea of what to expect in life. He tells us to be dressed for action and to have our lamps lit.
So what does that mean? It means to be like the servants waiting for the master to return from the wedding feast, ready to open the door as soon as the master comes.
So the servants are expecting their master. The question is when will the master arrive? Is it at second watch or the third watch? Is it that night or is it going to be another night?
And happy those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Yes happy the servants if he finds them ready, for they shall be rewarded.
And so we can actually have our expectations in life and have our expectations in God. God will reward us for being faithful and for being prayerful.
But at the same time, we have to be prepared to expect the unexpected. Even Jesus would tell us that we have to stand ready because He will come at a time that we do not expect.
So for example in our prayer we pray for an urgent need. We put our faith in God as we believe that every prayer uttered is also every prayer answered.
Yes God will hear our prayers and answer our prayers. The question is how are we expecting God to answer our prayers.
Well to keep our expectations at a realistic level, let us remember how God generally answers prayers.
Generally speaking, God gives us three answers to our prayers:
“YES” - our prayers are answered immediately.
“NOT YET” - we need to have faith in God and be patient.
Or, God says, “I have something better for you”.
So God doesn’t say “NO”. Rather He tells us to always expect the unexpected, so that instead of disappointment, that will be amazement.
There’s this story of a man who was catching fish by the river and he caught quite a number of fish.
A young boy came along to watch the man catching fish. The man looks at the boy and he says, “Hey boy, you can take all the fish back home.”
But the boy replied, “I don’t want the fish. I want the fishing rod so that I can catch fish everyday.”
Sounds like a smart answer from a clever boy, right? But the story is not finished yet.
The man said, “You can have the fishing rod but you would not be able to catch any fish.” The boy asked, “Why?” The man replied, “Because you need to learn from me the skill of catching fish.”
The point here is that the boy thought that if he had the fishing rod then he will be able to catch a lot of fish. That was his expectation and that will also be his disappointment.
So let us not put our expectations on things or on people. Let us put on expectations in God, and also be prepared to expect the unexpected, because God always have something beyond our expectations.
So that we will be amazed and marvel at the wonders that God will do for us.
19th Sunday OT C-2019 11-08-19
Wisdom 18:6-9 / Hebrews 11:1-2, 8-19 / Luke 12:32-48
One of the things in life that is not nice to encounter are complaints. That is simply because no one complains nicely.
In other words there is no such a thing as a nice complaint; it is a contradiction of terms.
But whenever others complain, or when we complain, the cause of the complaints is that there is a disappointment.
Whether spoken or written, whether we hear it or we read it, the word “disappointed” tells us that it is not going to be something nice.
So it is not going to be nice when the boss tells the worker “I am disappointed with your performance”, or the parent tells the child “I am disappointed with your grades”.
And the litany goes on: I’m disappointed with your attitude; I’m disappointed with your progress; I’m disappointed with my spouse; I’m disappointed with my children; I’m disappointed with the Church; I’m disappointed with God.
And with the disappointments come all that sourness and bitterness that are the characteristics of complaints.
But as it is always said, disappointments come from expectations. So where there are expectations there will be disappointments, because the idea or the picture in our minds is not what it is in reality.
So the stoic way is to have no expectations, so that there will be no disappointments. But that is being like a robot. A robot has no expectations and hence it will never have disappointments.
But we are human, with feelings and emotions, with hopes and dreams. And of course with some expectations. Only thing is just to keep our expectations at a realistic level.
Because expecting life to treat you well just because you are a good person is like expecting an angry bull not to charge at you because you are vegetarian. Well, you will be painfully disappointed.
In the gospel Jesus tells us a parable to give us an idea of what to expect in life. He tells us to be dressed for action and to have our lamps lit.
So what does that mean? It means to be like the servants waiting for the master to return from the wedding feast, ready to open the door as soon as the master comes.
So the servants are expecting their master. The question is when will the master arrive? Is it at second watch or the third watch? Is it that night or is it going to be another night?
And happy those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Yes happy the servants if he finds them ready, for they shall be rewarded.
And so we can actually have our expectations in life and have our expectations in God. God will reward us for being faithful and for being prayerful.
But at the same time, we have to be prepared to expect the unexpected. Even Jesus would tell us that we have to stand ready because He will come at a time that we do not expect.
So for example in our prayer we pray for an urgent need. We put our faith in God as we believe that every prayer uttered is also every prayer answered.
Yes, God will hear our prayers and answer our prayers. The question is how are we expecting God to answer our prayers.
Well to keep our expectations at a realistic level, let us remember how God generally answers prayers.
Generally speaking, God gives us three answers to our prayers:
“YES” - our prayers are answered immediately.
“NOT YET” - we need to have faith in God and be patient.
Or, God says, “I have something better for you”.
So God doesn’t say “NO”. Rather He tells us to always expect the unexpected, so that instead of disappointment, there will be amazement.
There’s this story of a man who was catching fish by the river and he caught quite a number of fish.
A young boy came along to watch the man catching fish. The man looked at the boy and he said, “Hey boy, you can take all the fish back home.”
But the boy replied, “I don’t want the fish. I want the fishing rod so that I can catch fish everyday.”
Sounds like a smart answer from a clever boy, right? But the story is not finished yet.
The man said, “You can have the fishing rod but you would not be able to catch any fish.” The boy asked, “Why?” The man replied, “Because you need to learn from me the skill of catching fish.”
The point here is that the boy thought that if he had the fishing rod then he would be able to catch a lot of fish. That was his expectation and that would also be his disappointment.
So let us not put our expectations on things or on people. Let us put our expectations in God, and also be prepared to expect the unexpected, because God always have something beyond our expectations.
So that we will be amazed and marvel at the wonders that God will do for us.
Saturday, August 3, 2019
18th Ordinary Sunday, Year C, 04.08.2019
Ecclesiastes 1:2; 2:21-23 / Colossians 3:1-5, 9-11 / Luke 12:13-21
It is said that in order to understand what life is about, we may have to visit these three places: the hospital, the prison and the cemetery.
At the hospital, we will understand that nothing is more beautiful than health.
At the prison, we will see that freedom is a very precious thing.
At the cemetery, we will realize that the ground we walk on today will be our roof tomorrow.
Of these three places, the cemetery may be the quietest, but the message from the graves may be the loudest, if only we want to listen.
The words engraved on the tombstones, form an epitaph, and they tell us something about the now and the beyond. And here are some examples:
- Prepare yourself to follow me
- I was hoping for a pyramid
- He left behind a lot of stuff and no one knows what to do with it.
Of course, those are one of a kind epitaphs, a bit funny, but they tell us a lot about life and what happens after death.
But even with these messages from the graves, we live like as if we will never die, and we work like as if we want to build pyramids to reach the sky.
The 1st reading calls that the vanity of vanities, and even going on to say that all is vanity. For so it is that a man who has labored wisely, skillfully and successfully must leave what is his own to someone who has not toiled for it.
That’s a rather grim reminder for us that we came into this world naked and with nothing, and we won’t be able to bring anything with us when we have to leave this world.
So if one leaves behind a lot of stuff, useful or not, the epitaph might just read “Here lies the garang-guni man” (rag-and-bone collector)
Or if one leaves behind a lot of wealth and riches, now what would the epitaph read? “Here lies the Rich man”? or “Here lies the Miser”? or “Here lies the Hoarder”? There are so many nouns that can be used.
But the gospel tells us what such a person is called. Such a person is called “Fool”.
Jesus told a parable about a rich man who had a good harvest, and not having enough storage, he wanted to build bigger barns to store his crops.
He envisaged his barns to be like pyramids reaching sky-high. And then he dreams of enjoying life – taking things easy, eat, drink and having a good time.
But that dream turned into a nightmare when God said to him: Fool! This very night, the demand will be made of your soul, and this hoard of yours, whose will be it then?
So the epitaph on that rich man’s tomb will just have this 4-letter word – FOOL
It is such a sad end, but as Jesus warns us, so it is when a man stores up treasure for himself, instead of making himself rich in the eyes of God.
But the question is not about riches; rather the problem is greed, and Jesus tells us to be on our guard against avarice of any kind, for a man’s life is not made secure by what he owns, even when he has more than he needs.
Riches and wealth and possessions don’t give us security. And God wants us to live simply and humbly.
To live simply and humbly would be like what the 2nd reading tells us, that we have been brought back to true life in Christ, and that our thoughts are to be of things above, and not of the things of earth.
And when the demand is made of our souls, we pray that neither God nor anyone would call us “Fool”.
Well, one morning, something like 120 years ago, a man opened the newspapers and he happened to glance at the obituaries.
That was before they started putting photos in the obituaries.
He was shocked to see his name in the column.
The newspapers had carelessly reported his death in place of his brother who had just passed away.
Anyway, the man continued reading the obituary, and from shock, he became shell-shocked.
For the first time in his life, he saw himself as others saw him.
Because the obituary described him as the “dynamite king” who had spent his life making instruments of death and destruction.
That morning, that man, whose name is Alfred Nobel, resolved to change his image and his life.
His resolution resulted in the annual Nobel prizes in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature and world peace.
So, from meaningless death-dealing, Alfred Nobel became a life-giving person, and till today he is remembered for that.
So when life is over and done, may God nor others not call us “Fool”.
Rather may we be known as a person who is life-giving, who lived simply and humbly, and was rich in the eyes of God.
It is said that in order to understand what life is about, we may have to visit these three places: the hospital, the prison and the cemetery.
At the hospital, we will understand that nothing is more beautiful than health.
At the prison, we will see that freedom is a very precious thing.
At the cemetery, we will realize that the ground we walk on today will be our roof tomorrow.
Of these three places, the cemetery may be the quietest, but the message from the graves may be the loudest, if only we want to listen.
The words engraved on the tombstones, form an epitaph, and they tell us something about the now and the beyond. And here are some examples:
- Prepare yourself to follow me
- I was hoping for a pyramid
- He left behind a lot of stuff and no one knows what to do with it.
Of course, those are one of a kind epitaphs, a bit funny, but they tell us a lot about life and what happens after death.
But even with these messages from the graves, we live like as if we will never die, and we work like as if we want to build pyramids to reach the sky.
The 1st reading calls that the vanity of vanities, and even going on to say that all is vanity. For so it is that a man who has labored wisely, skillfully and successfully must leave what is his own to someone who has not toiled for it.
That’s a rather grim reminder for us that we came into this world naked and with nothing, and we won’t be able to bring anything with us when we have to leave this world.
So if one leaves behind a lot of stuff, useful or not, the epitaph might just read “Here lies the garang-guni man” (rag-and-bone collector)
Or if one leaves behind a lot of wealth and riches, now what would the epitaph read? “Here lies the Rich man”? or “Here lies the Miser”? or “Here lies the Hoarder”? There are so many nouns that can be used.
But the gospel tells us what such a person is called. Such a person is called “Fool”.
Jesus told a parable about a rich man who had a good harvest, and not having enough storage, he wanted to build bigger barns to store his crops.
He envisaged his barns to be like pyramids reaching sky-high. And then he dreams of enjoying life – taking things easy, eat, drink and having a good time.
But that dream turned into a nightmare when God said to him: Fool! This very night, the demand will be made of your soul, and this hoard of yours, whose will be it then?
So the epitaph on that rich man’s tomb will just have this 4-letter word – FOOL
It is such a sad end, but as Jesus warns us, so it is when a man stores up treasure for himself, instead of making himself rich in the eyes of God.
But the question is not about riches; rather the problem is greed, and Jesus tells us to be on our guard against avarice of any kind, for a man’s life is not made secure by what he owns, even when he has more than he needs.
Riches and wealth and possessions don’t give us security. And God wants us to live simply and humbly.
To live simply and humbly would be like what the 2nd reading tells us, that we have been brought back to true life in Christ, and that our thoughts are to be of things above, and not of the things of earth.
And when the demand is made of our souls, we pray that neither God nor anyone would call us “Fool”.
Well, one morning, something like 120 years ago, a man opened the newspapers and he happened to glance at the obituaries.
That was before they started putting photos in the obituaries.
He was shocked to see his name in the column.
The newspapers had carelessly reported his death in place of his brother who had just passed away.
Anyway, the man continued reading the obituary, and from shock, he became shell-shocked.
For the first time in his life, he saw himself as others saw him.
Because the obituary described him as the “dynamite king” who had spent his life making instruments of death and destruction.
That morning, that man, whose name is Alfred Nobel, resolved to change his image and his life.
His resolution resulted in the annual Nobel prizes in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature and world peace.
So, from meaningless death-dealing, Alfred Nobel became a life-giving person, and till today he is remembered for that.
So when life is over and done, may God nor others not call us “Fool”.
Rather may we be known as a person who is life-giving, who lived simply and humbly, and was rich in the eyes of God.
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