Amos 6:1, 4-7 / 1 Timothy 6:11-16 / Luke 16:19-31
It is not too presumptuous to say that everybody likes to hear stories because stories are very appealing.
A story can be anything from a fairy tale to a real life story.
It also can be a happy or sad story, an inspiring or depressing story, a funny story or one that ends with this line, “the moral of the story is … “ which is a teaching story.
Stories capture the attention and the imagination, and the characters become alive in our minds as the story unfolds.
In a sense, it can be said that the Bible is like a book with many stories.
For the past few weeks, we heard of one story after another. For example there is the story of the dishonest but astute servant, the story of the prodigal son, the story of the shepherd who left the 99 in the wilderness to look for the lost sheep.
But it is not likely that we will hear of any “ghost stories” in the Bible, although these will capture more attention and generate more imagination, and maybe more interest in reading the Bible.
And the best time to tell ghost stories is at night and during funeral wakes. But most probably the purpose is to keep the children quiet and from running around.
So it is not likely that we will find any “ghost stories” in the Bible, although the Bible has many stories of angels and devils.
The parable that Jesus told in the gospel is certainly not a ghost story, but it does capture the attention and the imagination. After all, more than half the story is about the afterlife and about salvation and punishment.
And since it is Jesus who is telling the story, then we need to pay attention to it, because it gives us a glimpse of what our afterlife could be.
The story begins with the lives of two men on earth. One was a rich man, and he had all the luxuries of life - good food, good clothing, good housing and even good health and he was enjoying himself.
Then at the gate of his house, lay a man called Lazarus who was as down as the ground on which he laid. He was hungry, dirty and sickly. Dogs came to lick his sores not because he got some comfort from them but because he just couldn’t chase them away.
Then death came in for both of them and subsequently a reversal of fortunes in the afterlife.
Lazarus was carried by the angels to the bosom of Abraham, while that rich man was crying out in agony in flames. He was burning in pain and in a fire that does not go out.
Although it was a reversal of fortunes, the story is not saying that the poor will go to heaven and that the rich will go to hell. That is certainly not the point of the story.
Whether rich or poor, the question is about where is God in their lives.
For the rich man, luxury was his god. He loved his luxury and he used his luxury only for himself. He knows that Lazarus was at his gate, but there was nothing for him. The luxury was all for himself. His life on earth is about “me, myself and I”, and so in the afterlife he suffers and he suffers alone.
Lazarus may be among the poorest of the poor, but his name gives us an indication of where God is in his life.
His name, Lazarus, means “God-is-my-helper”. So that tells us that despite his poverty, he still looks to God for his help. And he is finally comforted and it was an everlasting comfort.
So the point is not about where the rich and the poor will go after death. The question is where God is in our lives.
If God is our helper, we would certainly want to help others in need. So if we are rich we will love God and use our riches to help those in need, and not to love our riches and use God for our needs.
And if we are poor, but if God is our helper, then we will still put our faith and our trust in God, and live according to His way, and not to resort to cheating and lying and dishonesty as a way out of poverty.
So the question is where is God in our lives? Is God our helper?
One of the evils of the world today is to tempt us to love our riches and use God for our needs, instead of loving God and using our riches to help those in need.
Today, 29th September, is the Feast of the Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael. There is this prayer to Saint Michael the Archangel composed by Pope Leo XIII in 1884:
St. Michael the Archangel,
defend us in battle.
Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the Devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray,
and do thou,
O Prince of the heavenly hosts,
by the power of God,
thrust into hell Satan,
and all the evil spirits,
who prowl about the world
seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.
There are a couple of stories of why he composed that prayer.
One story is that he had a vision of a legion of demons attacking the church. Another was that he heard a conversation between the devil and God.
The devil said that he could destroy the Church if given enough power and time, and God permitted the devil to do so and even let him pick his time, and the devil chose the 20th century.
But whether 20th century or 21st century, in every age and time, the devil is going all out to make us love our riches and use God for our needs.
But like Lazarus, may God be our helper, and let us pray to Saint Michael the Archangel to be our protector against the devil.
Let us remember that what we do now will have a bearing on our eternity.
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Saturday, September 28, 2019
Saturday, September 21, 2019
25th Ordinary Sunday, Year C, 22.09.2019
Amos 8:4-7 / 1 Timothy 2:1-8 / Luke 16:1-13
All of us have habits, and each of us have our own peculiar habits. Some habits have some common features while some can be quite unique.
Some need to sleep as early as 9 o’clock in the evening, while others can stay awake late into the night. Some must have breakfast in the morning, while others will combine breakfast and lunch and call it “brunch”.
And some habits are called good, while other habits are called bad.
It is said that mothers have this bad habit of talking when no one is listening. By the way priests also have this habit of talking even when people are sleeping.
But whether it is a good habit or a bad habit, most of our habits are formed when we were young and they stay with us.
So from young, we are told things like: don’t talk with your mouth full, do your homework, stand up straight, don’t bite your nails, comb your hair. These are old-fashioned good habits.
And along with that are habits that help in character and moral formation, like, be honest, don’t cheat, don’t lie.
In the gospel, Jesus tells a parable of a steward who was denounced for being wasteful with his master’s property, and so he was going to be dismissed.
The steward did some quick thinking and came up with an idea to have some means of livelihood after his dismissal.
He deliberately and dishonestly altered the debtors’ accounts to make it look like as if he was lowering what was owed to the master.
Up to here, our possible opinions about the steward’s character would be that he is dishonest, that he is cheating and that he is lying.
And also it was probably not the first time that the steward was doing it. He had probably done it before and gotten away with it. But he was found out and so he was denounced as being wasteful with his master’s property.
But what we don’t quite understand is that, why did the master praised the dishonest steward for his astuteness, and since it is Jesus who is telling the story, then that’s what He’s also saying.
But the next line might help to clarify what Jesus is saying, that the children of this world are more astute in dealing with their own kind than are the children of light.
To set the record straight the master did not praise the steward for his dishonesty. Rather the master praised the steward for his astuteness.
In telling the parable Jesus used this point to capture our attention and curiosity, and in doing so He’s also making us do some thinking.
Firstly, bad habits like dishonesty and cheating and lying don’t happen overnight. They usually start as a little bad habit but if it is not nipped in the bud, then they grow bigger and bigger and can have devastating effects.
That is the clear moral lesson from the gospel parable, and in the 1st reading the bad habits became serious issues as the needy were trampled upon and the poor was suppressed.
Yes, bad habits feed the bottomless pit of greed and selfishness. The result is obvious, there is injustice and that causes innocent people to suffer.
So much about the dangerous bad habits. What about the good habits then?
And here Jesus gets down to the point as He says: “The man who can be trusted in little things can be trusted in great; the man who is dishonest in little things will be dishonest in great. If then you cannot be trusted with money, that tainted thing, who will trust you with genuine riches? And if you cannot be trusted with what is not yours, who will give you what is your very own?”
Honesty and integrity are not just good habits, but they are precious values that build trust between people.
And more than that, honesty and integrity show our faith in God and that He is the top priority in our lives, and that He is above and over all others.
But good habits and values cannot be possible without prayer. Because when we come before the Lord, we cannot pray for blessings and yet play around with bad habits.
God has entrusted to us the power of prayer and we must use it faithfully and fervently so that goodness will prevail over evil.
Saint Paul would urge us in the 2nd reading:
My advice is that, first of all, there should be prayers offered for everyone - petitions, intercessions and thanksgiving - and especially for kings and others in authority, so that we may be able to live religious and reverent lives in peace and quiet. To do this is right, and will please God our Saviour He wants everyone to be saved and reach full knowledge of the truth.
Yes, prayer is a powerful gift from God. Let us use it to cultivate a good habits and values.
Let us also use prayer faithfully and devotedly so that there can be peace in this world and that there will be salvation in the next.
All of us have habits, and each of us have our own peculiar habits. Some habits have some common features while some can be quite unique.
Some need to sleep as early as 9 o’clock in the evening, while others can stay awake late into the night. Some must have breakfast in the morning, while others will combine breakfast and lunch and call it “brunch”.
And some habits are called good, while other habits are called bad.
It is said that mothers have this bad habit of talking when no one is listening. By the way priests also have this habit of talking even when people are sleeping.
But whether it is a good habit or a bad habit, most of our habits are formed when we were young and they stay with us.
So from young, we are told things like: don’t talk with your mouth full, do your homework, stand up straight, don’t bite your nails, comb your hair. These are old-fashioned good habits.
And along with that are habits that help in character and moral formation, like, be honest, don’t cheat, don’t lie.
In the gospel, Jesus tells a parable of a steward who was denounced for being wasteful with his master’s property, and so he was going to be dismissed.
The steward did some quick thinking and came up with an idea to have some means of livelihood after his dismissal.
He deliberately and dishonestly altered the debtors’ accounts to make it look like as if he was lowering what was owed to the master.
Up to here, our possible opinions about the steward’s character would be that he is dishonest, that he is cheating and that he is lying.
And also it was probably not the first time that the steward was doing it. He had probably done it before and gotten away with it. But he was found out and so he was denounced as being wasteful with his master’s property.
But what we don’t quite understand is that, why did the master praised the dishonest steward for his astuteness, and since it is Jesus who is telling the story, then that’s what He’s also saying.
But the next line might help to clarify what Jesus is saying, that the children of this world are more astute in dealing with their own kind than are the children of light.
To set the record straight the master did not praise the steward for his dishonesty. Rather the master praised the steward for his astuteness.
In telling the parable Jesus used this point to capture our attention and curiosity, and in doing so He’s also making us do some thinking.
Firstly, bad habits like dishonesty and cheating and lying don’t happen overnight. They usually start as a little bad habit but if it is not nipped in the bud, then they grow bigger and bigger and can have devastating effects.
That is the clear moral lesson from the gospel parable, and in the 1st reading the bad habits became serious issues as the needy were trampled upon and the poor was suppressed.
Yes, bad habits feed the bottomless pit of greed and selfishness. The result is obvious, there is injustice and that causes innocent people to suffer.
So much about the dangerous bad habits. What about the good habits then?
And here Jesus gets down to the point as He says: “The man who can be trusted in little things can be trusted in great; the man who is dishonest in little things will be dishonest in great. If then you cannot be trusted with money, that tainted thing, who will trust you with genuine riches? And if you cannot be trusted with what is not yours, who will give you what is your very own?”
Honesty and integrity are not just good habits, but they are precious values that build trust between people.
And more than that, honesty and integrity show our faith in God and that He is the top priority in our lives, and that He is above and over all others.
But good habits and values cannot be possible without prayer. Because when we come before the Lord, we cannot pray for blessings and yet play around with bad habits.
God has entrusted to us the power of prayer and we must use it faithfully and fervently so that goodness will prevail over evil.
Saint Paul would urge us in the 2nd reading:
My advice is that, first of all, there should be prayers offered for everyone - petitions, intercessions and thanksgiving - and especially for kings and others in authority, so that we may be able to live religious and reverent lives in peace and quiet. To do this is right, and will please God our Saviour He wants everyone to be saved and reach full knowledge of the truth.
Yes, prayer is a powerful gift from God. Let us use it to cultivate a good habits and values.
Let us also use prayer faithfully and devotedly so that there can be peace in this world and that there will be salvation in the next.
Saturday, September 14, 2019
24th Ordinary Sunday, Year C, 15.09.2019
Exodus 32:7-11, 13-14 / 1 Timothy 1:12-17 / Luke 15:1-32
One of the things that children love to do is to play games. We are not talking about those video games that are in the hand phone or computer.
We are talking about those interactive games that are played with others, and children have that kind of imagination to make a game out of nothing.
For example, in the game of “Catching” no equipment is used, but that will be laughing and shouting and even screaming as children run around and try to catch each other. They can have so much fun just doing that.
And when they get tired and want to change to another game then that is “Hide-and-seek”.
All the children would go hiding, and then the seeker, after the countdown, will go looking for them.
It is quite an interesting game, in the sense that those children who are hiding would always want to peek out of their hiding place to see where the seeker is.
So the purpose is not to hide until the seeker cannot find anyone. Rather those who are hiding will somehow give away their hiding place, and the seeker will somehow be able to find those who are hiding.
Hide-and-seek is a simple game, but so much human dynamics and emotions are involved, such that we can say that it is quite as sophisticated game.
In the three Parables that Jesus told in the gospel, there are also elements of the “Hide and Seek” game.
He talked about the shepherd leaving the 99 in the wilderness and going after the missing one till he found it.
He talked about a woman who lost a drachma, and would light a lamp and sweep out the house and search thoroughly till she found it.
And of course the last Parable, which we are quite familiar with, the parable of the Prodigal Son, or parable of the lost son.
We may think that those three Parables are more like “lost and found” rather than “hide and seek”, especially the parable of the lost son.
Yet the interesting thing about those who are lost in the maze of life, or lost in their sins or whatever, are not just wanting to stay lost, or that they are quite happy about being lost.
In fact just like the game of hide-and-seek, those who are lost may be hiding and silently calling out to be found.
We can see this in the Book of Genesis. When Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit and fell into sin, they hid themselves from God.
God came to visit them and God called, “Where are you?” Only then did Adam and Eve came out of their hiding place. So it can be said that Adam and Eve were hiding, but they were also waiting to be found.
God seeking the sinner is a recurring theme in the Bible. We see that in the first reading as God said to Moses, “Go down now, because your people whom you brought out of Egypt have apostasised. So God sent Moses to seek the people when they had sinned.
And in the second reading, Saint Paul said that he used to be a blasphemer and did all he could to injure and discredit the faith.
But when he was blinded on the way to Damascus, it was Jesus who sent Ananias to heal him and baptized him.
And in the gospel, the tax collectors and sinners were all seeking the company of Jesus to hear what He had to say.
But it was Jesus who first looked for them when He said that He came to seek and to save those who are lost.
So those who are hiding in sin are not contented with hiding on in sin. Whether silently or crying out aloud, they want to be found. Just that they are not saying outright that they want to be found.
But those sinners may not be easy to handle, and we might just want to be a Pharisee or a scribe and tell them to get lost.
But let us remember that the greater the resistance, the deeper the conversion. The resistance is essentially a struggle with their own sins and they are fighting a battle within.
Saint Monica had to pray 30 years for the conversion of Saint Augustine, but what a great saint he became.
Jesus sends us out to those who are hiding in their sins so that He can seek and save those who are lost.
Let us be kind and compassionate and gentle in seeking out sinners.
When we meet with resistance or even hostility, let us remember what Jesus said: there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one repentant sinner than over ninety-nine virtuous men who have no need of repentance.
One of the things that children love to do is to play games. We are not talking about those video games that are in the hand phone or computer.
We are talking about those interactive games that are played with others, and children have that kind of imagination to make a game out of nothing.
For example, in the game of “Catching” no equipment is used, but that will be laughing and shouting and even screaming as children run around and try to catch each other. They can have so much fun just doing that.
And when they get tired and want to change to another game then that is “Hide-and-seek”.
All the children would go hiding, and then the seeker, after the countdown, will go looking for them.
It is quite an interesting game, in the sense that those children who are hiding would always want to peek out of their hiding place to see where the seeker is.
So the purpose is not to hide until the seeker cannot find anyone. Rather those who are hiding will somehow give away their hiding place, and the seeker will somehow be able to find those who are hiding.
Hide-and-seek is a simple game, but so much human dynamics and emotions are involved, such that we can say that it is quite as sophisticated game.
In the three Parables that Jesus told in the gospel, there are also elements of the “Hide and Seek” game.
He talked about the shepherd leaving the 99 in the wilderness and going after the missing one till he found it.
He talked about a woman who lost a drachma, and would light a lamp and sweep out the house and search thoroughly till she found it.
And of course the last Parable, which we are quite familiar with, the parable of the Prodigal Son, or parable of the lost son.
We may think that those three Parables are more like “lost and found” rather than “hide and seek”, especially the parable of the lost son.
Yet the interesting thing about those who are lost in the maze of life, or lost in their sins or whatever, are not just wanting to stay lost, or that they are quite happy about being lost.
In fact just like the game of hide-and-seek, those who are lost may be hiding and silently calling out to be found.
We can see this in the Book of Genesis. When Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit and fell into sin, they hid themselves from God.
God came to visit them and God called, “Where are you?” Only then did Adam and Eve came out of their hiding place. So it can be said that Adam and Eve were hiding, but they were also waiting to be found.
God seeking the sinner is a recurring theme in the Bible. We see that in the first reading as God said to Moses, “Go down now, because your people whom you brought out of Egypt have apostasised. So God sent Moses to seek the people when they had sinned.
And in the second reading, Saint Paul said that he used to be a blasphemer and did all he could to injure and discredit the faith.
But when he was blinded on the way to Damascus, it was Jesus who sent Ananias to heal him and baptized him.
And in the gospel, the tax collectors and sinners were all seeking the company of Jesus to hear what He had to say.
But it was Jesus who first looked for them when He said that He came to seek and to save those who are lost.
So those who are hiding in sin are not contented with hiding on in sin. Whether silently or crying out aloud, they want to be found. Just that they are not saying outright that they want to be found.
But those sinners may not be easy to handle, and we might just want to be a Pharisee or a scribe and tell them to get lost.
But let us remember that the greater the resistance, the deeper the conversion. The resistance is essentially a struggle with their own sins and they are fighting a battle within.
Saint Monica had to pray 30 years for the conversion of Saint Augustine, but what a great saint he became.
Jesus sends us out to those who are hiding in their sins so that He can seek and save those who are lost.
Let us be kind and compassionate and gentle in seeking out sinners.
When we meet with resistance or even hostility, let us remember what Jesus said: there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one repentant sinner than over ninety-nine virtuous men who have no need of repentance.
Saturday, September 7, 2019
23rd Ordinary Sunday, Year C, 08.09.2019
Wisdom 9:13-18 / Philemon 9-10, 12-17 / Luke 14:25-33
One of the main themes of science fiction movies is about future. We may even say that science fiction movies is about the future.
As much as the future is mystery, science fiction movies depict the future with fantasy.
One way to put this fantasy into the movie is having a time machine that can transport human beings back to the past or into the future.
One such movie, and its sequels, is the movie “Back to the Future” where the characters time-travel from the present to the past and then to the future.
Of course all that is fantasy, but at the same time it is also interesting to see how the present or the future can be changed by changing the past. But again, all that is fantasy.
The past is history, and we cannot change that. The future is mystery, and we are curious about that.
We are curious about the future, so that we can be careful about the present.
And some will even have recourse to horoscopes and fortune-tellers in order to have a glimpse of the future.
There is this joke about young man who is single and was unhappy about his life.
So he went to a fortune teller to see what his future will be like.
Fortune teller read his palm and said, “You will be unmarried and unhappy till you are 45.” So the young man asked, “After that?” The fortune-teller replied, “After that you will get used to it.”
Of course we should not consult horoscopes or fortune-tellers. Because the first reading tells us this: What man indeed can know the intentions of God? Who can divine the will of the Lord? The reasonings of mortals on unsure and our intentions unstable. Who then can discover what is in the heavens?
Yes we do not know what lies ahead, and for those who are obsessed about the future, they live in constant anxiety and feel unhappy about the present.
In the gospel, Jesus does not talk about the future. Rather He talks about the demands of discipleship and about carrying the cross.
We might be thinking: That’s the usual stuff, so what else is new?
Then Jesus tells us two parables. One is about building a tower, and another about fighting a war.
The two parables may tell us something about our present as well as something about our future.
So for all that we are planning and labouring, what are we building actually? For all the skyscraping towers that we want to build, will they actually help us get to heaven? After all, the monuments of today are the ruins of tomorrow.
With the gift of wisdom, we will come to see that what we should be building are not towers of achievements but bridges of relationships.
Yes, it is the relationships that we build with Jesus and with each other that will form the bridges to the future as well as to eternity.
And about the parable of fighting a war. We may remember that Saint Paul tells us to fight the good fight. In other words we must choose wisely what battles to fight, so that we will fight for God and not end up fighting against others.
Fighting for what God wants will give us victory in eternity. Fighting against others will only bring us agony and misery.
So Jesus has given us a glimpse of the future as well as a glimpse of eternity with those two parables.
And besides that, the Bible tells us that our future is in the hands of God, and Heaven is our eternal home.
We all have a seat in the eternal banquet that God has prepared for His children.
In order to have that hope of a glorious future and eternity, then we must listen to what Jesus is telling us.
We must give up our curiosity and obsession of the future, carry our cross today, be disciples of Jesus and follow Him into eternity.
One of the main themes of science fiction movies is about future. We may even say that science fiction movies is about the future.
As much as the future is mystery, science fiction movies depict the future with fantasy.
One way to put this fantasy into the movie is having a time machine that can transport human beings back to the past or into the future.
One such movie, and its sequels, is the movie “Back to the Future” where the characters time-travel from the present to the past and then to the future.
Of course all that is fantasy, but at the same time it is also interesting to see how the present or the future can be changed by changing the past. But again, all that is fantasy.
The past is history, and we cannot change that. The future is mystery, and we are curious about that.
We are curious about the future, so that we can be careful about the present.
And some will even have recourse to horoscopes and fortune-tellers in order to have a glimpse of the future.
There is this joke about young man who is single and was unhappy about his life.
So he went to a fortune teller to see what his future will be like.
Fortune teller read his palm and said, “You will be unmarried and unhappy till you are 45.” So the young man asked, “After that?” The fortune-teller replied, “After that you will get used to it.”
Of course we should not consult horoscopes or fortune-tellers. Because the first reading tells us this: What man indeed can know the intentions of God? Who can divine the will of the Lord? The reasonings of mortals on unsure and our intentions unstable. Who then can discover what is in the heavens?
Yes we do not know what lies ahead, and for those who are obsessed about the future, they live in constant anxiety and feel unhappy about the present.
In the gospel, Jesus does not talk about the future. Rather He talks about the demands of discipleship and about carrying the cross.
We might be thinking: That’s the usual stuff, so what else is new?
Then Jesus tells us two parables. One is about building a tower, and another about fighting a war.
The two parables may tell us something about our present as well as something about our future.
So for all that we are planning and labouring, what are we building actually? For all the skyscraping towers that we want to build, will they actually help us get to heaven? After all, the monuments of today are the ruins of tomorrow.
With the gift of wisdom, we will come to see that what we should be building are not towers of achievements but bridges of relationships.
Yes, it is the relationships that we build with Jesus and with each other that will form the bridges to the future as well as to eternity.
And about the parable of fighting a war. We may remember that Saint Paul tells us to fight the good fight. In other words we must choose wisely what battles to fight, so that we will fight for God and not end up fighting against others.
Fighting for what God wants will give us victory in eternity. Fighting against others will only bring us agony and misery.
So Jesus has given us a glimpse of the future as well as a glimpse of eternity with those two parables.
And besides that, the Bible tells us that our future is in the hands of God, and Heaven is our eternal home.
We all have a seat in the eternal banquet that God has prepared for His children.
In order to have that hope of a glorious future and eternity, then we must listen to what Jesus is telling us.
We must give up our curiosity and obsession of the future, carry our cross today, be disciples of Jesus and follow Him into eternity.
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