5th Sunday of Lent, Year B, 21.03.2021

 Jeremiah 31:31-34 / Hebrews 5:7-9 / John 12:20-33

When it comes to the basic needs of life, there is no need to refer to some theory of the hierarchy of needs to have an idea. 

We should know what the basic needs in life are. Essentially, they are food, clothing and shelter. We need food for sustenance, clothing for warmth and modesty, and a shelter that we can go home to. 

And when these needs are met, then what is next? And here it is where it may get a bit fuzzy. Because here is where needs and wants get a bit mixed up. 

When the basic needs in life are met, then what we may desire next is comfort and maybe even luxury. 

We may turn our attention to accumulating wealth so as to fulfil our desire for comfort and luxury. 

Well, the current situation that the world is facing has literally stripped us down to our bare essentials. 

All the wealth and prosperity, all the power and might, all the fame and fortune, all the science and technology, cannot guarantee the thing that we need most, and that is protection, and protection from a virus. 

So, what we need now is protection and safety, and it has to take a virus to make us realize that. 

So, safety and protection have become priorities for us, not just for us but for the world. 

So, we wear face masks, we avoid close contact, we get our vaccinations, we comply with contact tracing requirements, but still there can be no absolute guarantee. 

And that should make us realize that we must turn to God for safety and protection. Certainly God loves us and cares for us and He wants to protect us and keep us safe. 

And God only ask this of us, and that is to be humble and to obey. 

In the gospel, we hear Jesus saying, “Now my soul is troubled. What shall I say: Father, save me from this hour?” 

Jesus was troubled, He was feeling afraid, He may even be in distress. This is a side of Jesus that we don't often see, but we also know how fear gripped Him in His agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, that His sweat became like drops of blood. 

But then Jesus also said, “It was for this reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” 

So did God save Jesus and protected Him from suffering and death? 

The 2nd reading tells us that during His life on earth, Jesus offered up prayer and entreaty, to the One who had the power to save Him out of death, and He submitted so humbly that His prayer was heard. 

Although He was Son, Jesus learnt to obey through suffering, but having been made perfect, He became for all who obey Him the source of eternal salvation. 

So yes, we pray and ask God to protect us and keep us safe. And God is only asking two things from us, and that is to be humble and to be obedient. 

But to be humble and to be obedient goes against our human tendencies to be self-reliant and to think that we know better. 

There is this story of a man who went trekking. He wondered deep into the forest. But then he got lost and he tried to find his way back. 

It was getting dark and he was desperate and so he went on and on even when darkness had fallen. 

As he rushed on desperately in the darkness, he couldn't see what was ahead and he fell off the cliff. 

As he was falling, he tried to clutch at something and he managed to catch hold of a branch. 

As he hung on to the branch, he cried out, “Oh God, help me, help me!” And then he heard a voice saying, “You called me?” And the man said, “Oh Lord, is that you? Please save me!”

And the voice answered, “Yes I will. But you must do what I tell you.” And a man said, “Yes, yes, I will.” 

And the voice said, “Alright then, let go of the branch.” And there was silence. 

Now if we were that man, would we let go of the branch? Would we dare to trust in that voice, or would we trust in the branch and keep holding on to it? 

Well, as the story goes, the next morning, the rescuers saw a strange sight. The man was hanging on to the branch but he was frozen to death. And his feet were just a few inches from the ground. 

Well, just a story to let us know that letting go of our security is really difficult. 

But if we are humble and obedient to God and trust Him enough to let go, then we will fall not into empty darkness, but into the safety of God love. 

Jesus showed that to us through His Cross and Resurrection. In the cross is our safety and protection. May we also grow in humility and obedience.

4th Sunday of Lent, Year B, 14.03.2021

 2 Chr 36:14-16, 19-23 / Ephesians 2:4-10 / John 3:14-21

It is not too far-fetched to say that there are many mysteries in life, and some of these mysteries are really baffling and remained as unsolved mysteries. 

So there are stories of amazing coincidences, strange encounters and many other stories that either make us wonder or make us puzzled. 

While some stories can be really amusing, there are also other stories that can be rather creepy and disturbing. 

However mysterious a story may be, the fact is that while we know some of the details, the rest of it have unanswered questions. 

Even in the Bible, there are many mysteries that can be classified as “unsolved cases”. 

We may have heard about Noah's Ark in the Bible. It must have been a rather big ship to be able to hold all those animals. 

So where did the ark land after the flood? Were there any remains of the ark that are still around? Probably there are no more remains, but there are some people who are still looking for the remains of that Noah's Ark. 

From Noah's Ark we go to the Ark of the Covenant that was carried by the Israelites for 40 years in the desert. 

In that Ark were the two tablets, the 10 Commandments, that Moses brought down from Mt. Sinai. It was a revered object as it was a sign of God's presence among His people in their journey through the desert. 

The question is, where is it now? Was it captured by the enemies and destroyed? Or was it hidden from the enemies and the information of its whereabouts is lost? 

Many stories surround its whereabouts and even movies were made about it. But whether it still exist, no one really knows. 

Today's Gospel presents yet another mystery. And that is the bronze serpent that Moses put on a standard. 

The story was that the people complained against God, and to punish them, God sent fiery serpents to bite them and many died from the serpents’ bites. 

The people repented, and God told Moses to make a bronze serpent and put it on a standard, and anyone who was bitten by a fiery serpent just had to look at it, at that bronze serpent, and he would be cured. 

Whether that bronze serpent still exists or not, is not so much of the question, as to why is it such a strange thing that God ask Moses to do. 

The question is that, why make an object or something that caused pain and death, and then that very object becomes the source of remedy. 

It is certainly one of those mysterious ways of God that we are still trying to comprehend. 

But that mystery maybe clearer when Jesus said: The Son of Man must be lifted up, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him. 

When Jesus was nailed and lifted up on the cross, everybody thought that it was a tragic end. But with His Resurrection, the Cross became a sign of life and salvation. 

When Moses lifted up that bronze serpent, and when the people looked at it, they were reminded of their sins and punishment. 

It was only with repentance that they were cured. It was not the bronze serpent that cured them. Rather it was their repentance and God's mercy that cured them. 

When we look at the Cross, we are reminded that Jesus died to save us from our sins. 

Although it is said that our sins nailed Jesus to the Cross, but it was God's love that lifted Jesus high on the Cross. 

It was with Jesus on the Cross that God is proclaiming this: I love you. 

As the 2nd reading puts it: God loved us with so much love that He was generous with His mercy. When we were dead through our sins, He brought us to life with Christ, and raised us up with Him and gave us a place with Him in heaven. 

So the mystery of the Cross is this: it is a stumbling block, and foolishness for those who do not accept the cross. 

But for those who accept the Cross, it is the powerful love of God, a remedy for our sins, and a sign of salvation. 

If we want to be saved, let us carry our cross. If we want to love God and our neighbour, let us carry our cross. If we want to understand the mystery of life, let us carry our cross and follow Jesus.

3rd Sunday of Lent, Year B, 07.03.2021

 Exodus 20:1-17 / 1 Cor 1:22-25 / John 2:13-25

One of the most fascinating objects in this world is art. For some of us, or maybe most of us, art is just a piece of drawing or painting. 

Some art pieces are beautiful, some are ordinary-looking, some are abstract, and some are just mysterious. 

What is so fascinating about art pieces is the price of some of the paintings. Art pieces in the museums are termed as “priceless” as those art pieces are deemed as a national treasures or heritage. They are for exhibition only. 

Art pieces in the art galleries are for sale and the price ranges from a few hundred dollars to a few million dollars. 

What is fascinating, and intriguing, is that why would people pay a huge sum of money for a piece of painting by some renowned artist?

When we look at paintings like the “Mona Lisa” by Leonardo da Vinci, or “Sunflowers” by Vincent van Gogh, or paintings by Rembrandt and Picasso, we may wonder why the paintings are either priceless or so pricey. 

But let us listen to what some people say about art. 

“The aim of art is not to represent the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.” (Aristotle) 

“Art is not what you see but what you make others see.” (Edgar Degas)

So, art speaks where words are unable to explain. In other words, art is like a sign. It points to something else much deeper. 

Those who understand the art or the painting and what it is pointing to, or its significance and deeper meaning, will be willing to pay the price for it. 

In the gospel is the account of the occasion when Jesus cleansed the temple. It was an act that certainly angered those who are doing business there and hence they asked Jesus, “What sign can you show us to justify what you have done?”

The reply of Jesus was astonishing, and in intriguing, when He said, “Destroy this sanctuary and in three days I will raise it up.” 

Of course, at that moment, no one really understood what Jesus meant, until much later after His Resurrection. 

It is like looking at a priceless painting and wondering why it is so valuable. But those who have the insight will be able to understand and see the significance and meaning. 

There is this story of a wealthy man and his son who loved to collect rare works of art. They had everything in their collection from Picasso to Raphael. They would often sit together and admire the great works. 

Then the son was called up to go to war. He was very courageous and died in battle while rescuing another soldier. The father was notified and he grieved deeply for his only son. 

Sometime later, that was a knock at the door. A young man stood at the door with a large package in his hands. He said, “Sir, you don't know me, but I am the soldier for whom your son gave his life. He saved many lives that day and he was carrying me to safety when a bullet struck him in the heart and he died instantly. He often talked about you and your love for art.”

The young man held out his package. “I know this isn't much. I'm not really a great artist but I think your son would have wanted you to have this.” 

The father opened the package. It was a portrait of his son, painted by that young man. He stared in awe at the way the soldier had captured the personality of his son in the painting especially the son’s eyes. The father was so drawn to the eyes of his son in the painting. 

He thanked the young man and offered to pay him for the picture. “Oh no sir, I could never repay what your son did for me. It is a gift for you.” 

The father hung the portrait in the living room. Every time visitors came to his home, he took them to see the portrait of his son before he showed them the other works of art. 

Sometime later the father died. There was to be a great auction of his collection of paintings. Many influential people gathered, excited over seeing the great paintings and having an opportunity to purchase one for their collection. 

On the platform was the painting of the son. The auctioneer pounded his gavel. “We will start the bidding with this picture of the son. Who will bid for this picture?” 

There was silence. A voice from the crowd shouted, “We want to see the famous paintings. Skip this one!”

But the auctioneer persisted. “Will someone bid for this painting? $100, $200?” Another voice shouted angrily, “We didn't come to see this painting. We came to see the valuable paintings.” 

But still the auctioneer continued, “The painting of the son, the painting of the son, who will take the painting of the son? 

Finally, a voice came from the very back of the room. It was the long-time gardener of the man and his son. “I will give $10 for the painting.” Being a poor man, it was all he could afford.

The crowd shouted, “Give it to him for $10!” The crowd was becoming angry. They didn't want the picture of the son. They wanted to see the more valuable paintings. 

The auctioneer pounded the gavel. “Going once, going twice, sold for $10 to that gardener.” The crowd shouted, “Now let's get on with the collection.” 

The auctioneer laid down his gavel. “I'm sorry, but the auction is over.” “What about the paintings?” the crowd asked. 

“I'm sorry. When I was called to conduct this auction I was told of a secret stipulation in the will. I was not allowed to reveal that stipulation until this time. Only the painting of the son would be auctioned. Whoever bought that painting would inherit the entire estate, including the paintings. The man who took the painting of the son gets everything.”

This story reminds us that God sent His only Son to save us by dying on the Cross.

The Cross is certainly not a piece of art or an ornament. 

It is a sign of God’s saving love for us in the person of Jesus.

When we truly embrace the Cross, then we will experience the power and the wisdom of God.

If we truly believe in the Son of God, we will take up our cross and follow Him from the agony of life to the glory of the Resurrection.

2nd Sunday of Lent, Year B, 28.02.2021

 Genesis 22:1-2, 9-13, 15-18 / Romans 8:31-34 / Mark 9:2-10

There is something that we all hold highly valuable in life but it is not something tangible. 

Over and above all our belongings, possessions and whatever property we have, we treasure our freedom. 

Freedom is our right and we won’t give it up so easily. In fact, we would guard it fiercely, such that it can even be said that our freedom is our life. 

And that is where the challenge in life comes in.

To obey someone and to comply to instructions and rules can be challenging and difficult for us because we see it as an infringement to our right of freedom. 

But we also cannot deny that there are instructions, or regulations, or rules that are for our good. 

In that regard, when we don’t obey or comply, then there will be problems and there can be trouble. 

For example, the wearing of face mask is for our good. When we don’t comply then we will get into trouble with the law and even putting our health at risk. 

Or the news about wild boars intruding into residential places. One of the reasons was that people were feeding the wild boars, although feeding of wild boars is prohibited. Hence the problem was not created by the wild boars but by humans. 

But there are also certain things, both in the secular and religious realms, that seemed so difficult to understand and so difficult to comply or obey. 

The story in the 1st reading is one such example, where we heard that God put Abraham to the test and called him to offer his only son, Isaac, as a burnt offering. 

In our human understanding and reasoning, we will find it difficult to comprehend what God called Abraham to do. 

We would think that if God were to put Abraham to the test, why would God demand such a sacrifice, and it was clearly a human sacrifice. 

No doubt, it was God who gave Abraham the gift of a son, and God has the right to take it back, but why take it back in such a way. 

And we are surprised, to say the least, about Abraham’s stoic and emotionless obedience to God. 

Of course, there are spiritual reasons that will help us to understand the story in the 1st reading. 

One is that it is not so much the sacrifice of Isaac, but Abraham’s sacrifice of obedience to God. 

For Abraham, and as well as in the biblical understanding, sacrifice is offered so that one can draw nearer to God, who is above all other things. 

But the story becomes clearer with the gospel account of the Transfiguration of Jesus and the voice from Heaven that said, “This is my Son, the Beloved. Listen to him.” 

God sacrificed His only Son in order to save humanity from their sin and to draw humanity back to Him. 

The letter to the Philippians tells us that Jesus did not cling to His equality with God but was obedient, even unto death, and death on the cross. 

But God raised Jesus from death and exalted Him such that in heaven and on earth and under the earth, every knee must bend at the name of Jesus. 

Jesus, by His obedience, shows us two important aspects of our lives. 

That when we obey and comply to God’s ways, God draws nearer to us and it is we who will benefit from our sacrifice of obedience to God. 

Obedience is an expression of humility, and only those who are humble will understand the mysterious and yet wonderful ways of God. 

Obedience and humility are what Jesus is teaching us if we want to have true freedom in life. 

Let us listen to what Jesus is teaching us, and that is obedience and humility. 

In obeying God’s will and humbly walking in the ways of God, we will be blessed with the joy of true freedom.

1st Sunday of Lent, Year B, 21.02.2021

Genesis 9:8-15 / 1 Peter 3:18-22 / Mark 1:12-15

Nowadays, traveling out of the country is not as easy and not as convenient as before. 

Because when we enter into the other country, we will have to be quarantined for a number of days, and it is usually around 14 days. 

Similarly, for foreigners, or when we return to Singapore, we will have to serve a Stay-Home Notice of 14 days.

We may think that those 14 days should pass by quickly and all we need to do is just eat and sleep. That sounds quite easy-going. 

But for those who had served a Stay-Home Notice, they will say otherwise. In fact, they say it is quite depressing and they felt like they were in some kind of prison. 

Well, if 14 days is hard to go by, then how about 40 days? Actually, we had gone through a bit of that last year during the “Circuit breaker” which lasted for 1 month, 3 weeks and 4 days. 

That was tough, as we had to stay indoors, we can’t go out and also there was nowhere to go. We won’t want to go through that again, certainly. 

But if we think that was tough, how about spending 40 days in a big boat, and in an ark, with 8 persons and a whole lot of animals, and it was raining non-stop and there was nowhere to land. 

Certainly, our endurance, patience and tolerance are put to a stress test, with outside being wet and cold and inside being stuffy and smelly. The ark was certainly not a luxury cruise ship. 

Well, that was the situation with Noah’s ark and we heard about it in the first and second readings. That makes the “Circuit breaker” look like quite a piece of cake. 

In the gospel it was quite another situation. Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness without food, being tempted by the devil, there were wild beasts and the only consolation was that the angels looked after Him. 

Even so, the wilderness was far from comfortable. In fact, besides being all alone, life is also stretched to the edge. 

And with the devil coming in with the temptations, then Jesus had to call upon every ounce of strength to keep focused and firm.

The gospel did not say how the devil tempted Jesus. But going by our own “Circuit breaker” experience, we can guess what it was. 

It is the favourite tool of the devil and it is called despair. Despair comes from two Latin words, “de” which means down, and “sperare” which means hope. 

So, despair means to give up hope. Because when we give up hope, then there is nothing else to look forward to, and we lose faith and the devil will then use us. 

Yes, despair is scary. We can imagine if despair sets in Noah’s ark, and they give up being patient and tolerant and they go for each other’s throats. Then they will not see any rainbows at the end of the 40 days of rain. 

With Jesus, He could have given in to despair in the harsh surroundings of the wilderness and the disturbing temptations of the devil. 

If He had given up, then there will be no Good News to proclaim. 

But having gone through the 40 days and resisted the devil’s temptations, Jesus then set off to begin His mission with these words:  Repent and believe the Good News. 

And that is the shield to resist the devil’s temptations. Repentance is the answer to despair. Believing in the Good News gives us hope.

So, in our 40 days of Lent, let us persist in prayer, in fasting and in alms-giving. 

We repent of our sinfulness and put our hope in God’s forgiveness. 

Then we will be able to see the rainbow of God’s love and be filled with the Good News of joy.

6th Ordinary Sunday, Year B, 14.02.2021

 Lev 13:1-2, 45-46 / 1 Cor 10:31 -11:1 / Mark 1:40-45

There are four words which we have been hearing over the past few days and we’ll still be hearing it for the next few days. 

Those four words are Chinese words and they are “Gong Xi Fa Cai”. The translation means congratulations and wealth or prosperity. 

That is the usual and popular Lunar New Year greeting and it also expresses our desire and longing in life. 

We desire to be wealthy, or at least to always have money, so that we will be happy and have no worry. It’s as simple as that. 

Though it may sound as simple as that, yet we all know that it is not easy to be wealthy. 

Along the way we might realize that the only way to be wealthy is through hard work, and if we desire to be wealthy, then we will have to work hard for the money. 

But it is said that we use our health to gain wealth and then later on we spend our wealth to try to regain our health. 

So, what we really desire in life is health so that we can enjoy our wealth. 

But it seems that we always lack in one or the other. 

In the gospel, the leper came to Jesus and pleaded on his knees: If you want to you can cure me. 

Although there were no details about the leper’s background and how he contracted the disease or how long he has been suffering from it, yet it is clear that he was desperate. 

He pleaded with Jesus on his knees. He has lost everything - whatever wealth, family, friends, health, and he also knew he was losing his life. 

In that plea of desperation, Jesus responded with a divine proclamation: Of course I want to! Be cured! 

As we think about the gospel account, we will come to realize the essentials of life and what we really want. 

We want to be reasonably healthy in life so that we can live life happily. We don’t need to be that wealthy in order to be happy. We should realize by now that health is wealth.

We will certainly pray that we will not be in that kind of situation like the leper - in desperation, in isolation and in desolation.

And we pray that when we are afflicted with an illness or sickness, we will believe that Jesus will cure us and we will hear those words: Of course I want to! Be cured! 

A priest was relating this particular experience he had. He received a call to visit a terminally ill patient. 

He went to the hospital and came to the single bedded room that the patient was in. He knocked on the door and went in. He saw the patient and introduced himself and said that he came to pray for the patient and to give him the Anointing. 

But the priest was taken aback when the patient said: For what? Don’t you think I’ve been praying, but nothing is happening. I don’t need any more prayers. 

The patient turned around and didn’t want to look at the priest. The priest was stumped and he didn’t know what to do next. 

Then by sheer divine inspiration, he took the cross from his hospital kit and placed it on the drawer next to the patient’s bed. 

Then he said to the patient, “I am leaving this cross on the drawer. Maybe you ask Jesus why your prayers are not answered.” 

With that he left the hospital. 

A few days later, the priest received a call from the patient’s relative to inform him that the patient has passed on. 

The relative also said that after the priest had visited the patient, he was seen clutching the cross to his heart. 

There was also a strange transformation from anger to come calmness and the patient passed on peacefully. 

What can be said from all this is that the Cross of Christ has the power to transform desolation to consolation, from desperation to salvation. 

Because on the Cross, Jesus suffered to take away the pain of our infirmities. On the Cross Jesus died so that we can have life and be fully alive with the love of God. 

In the cross we hear again the words of Jesus: Of course I want to! Be cured! 

Let us embrace the Cross. In the Cross we will find healing, peace and salvation.

5th Ordinary Sunday, Year B, 07.02.2021

  Job 7:1-4, 6-7 / 1 Cor 9:16-19, 22-23 / Mark 1:29-39

One of the favourite Singaporean pastimes, besides eating, is shopping. Especially after indulging in delicious food, the next thing to do is to have a little exercise and go window shopping at the malls or shopping centres. 

But the style of shopping has also evolved over the years especially over the past one year. 

From window shopping in the brick-and-mortar stores, we have gone to online shopping out of curiosity, but now it is online shopping out of necessity. 

With safety measures and restrictions, online shopping has become a pastime and also a new norm. 

And with that comes the rise in prominence in the profession of delivery service, or for ease of speech, we call them the “delivery man”. 

From the time we place the order for an item online, we will have to wait, expectantly and even eagerly, for the delivery man to come. 

And when he calls and arrives with our items, we will be happy that the waiting is over. And we will be even happier if what we ordered is exactly what we received, otherwise this refund and exchange hassle can be quite troublesome and time-consuming. 

Well, in the past we will go to the store and get what we want and can get it almost immediately, but now we place an order online and then we have to wait for the delivery man to come with the goods.

So we should be thankful for those delivery service providers, or also known as “delivery man” and it would be good to compliment them when we see them. 

In the gospel, we could see that Jesus had a pretty busy day. From Simon’s mother-in-law, to those who came to Him in the evening, Jesus was doing some kind of delivery, well actually, He was doing deliverance. 

Jesus came to deliver the Good News of Salvation, and for those who were longing to be delivered from illness or sicknesses, from physical or spiritual torment, they saw in Jesus the one they were waiting and longing for. 

In the gospel, besides all that wondrous healing and deliverance from evil spirits, there is also the quiet moment of prayer for Jesus. 

And when His disciples looked around for Him and found Him and told Him that everyone was looking for Him, Jesus had this to say: 

Let us go elsewhere, to the neighbouring country towns, so that I can preach there too, because that is why I came. 

That was a profound statement of His mission. Jesus came to deliver the Good News of Salvation, and that was expressed in His ministry of deliverance from physical and spiritual torment and distress. 

But we must realize that we need Jesus to be our Saviour and to deliver us from our sins, just like we need the delivery man to deliver the items to us. 

We must realize and acknowledge that we cannot save ourselves, or heal ourselves, or protect ourselves from evil and danger. 

We need Jesus to be our Saviour, our Healer and our Protector. 

What we cannot do for ourselves, Jesus will do for us because that is why He came. 

Let us end off with a prayer for deliverance from the “nots” in our lives. We must believe that what we cannot do for ourselves, Jesus will do for us.

Dear Jesus,

Please untie the knots in my mind,

my heart and my life.

Remove the have nots, the can nots, and the do nots that I have in my mind.

Erase the will nots, may nots, might nots that may find a home in my heart.

Release me from the could nots, would nots and should nots that obstruct my life.

And most of all, dear Jesus, I ask that You remove from my mind, my heart and my life all of the “am nots” that I have allowed to hold me back, especially the thought that

I am not good enough. Amen.

Yes, what we cannot do for ourselves, Jesus will do for us, because that is why He came.