Isa 2:1-5/ Eph 3:2-11/ Mk 16:15-20
The term “social media” is a relatively new term.
We understand what social means. And we understand what media means.
But when these two words are put together, there is a new meaning to it.
We may not understand its full meaning, just like we do not realize fully the impact of camera-phones, which play a huge role in the rise of social media.
In the past, a camera was just a camera, and a phone was just a phone.
Then the phones, the mobile phones, began to have cameras, and with that what was personal became social and that became media for mass consumption, or what is called social media.
Not that anyone is complaining (though some parents might be…)
We get to see people on Youtube and Facebook and Instagram, and the pictures and photos and videos tell a thousand words (and sometimes they tell too much).
And one new term that has come up in social media is this word called “selfies”.
You might think that I am trying to say “selfish” but didn’t get the pronunciation right.
Well what I am saying is “selfies”, as in S-E-L-F-I-E-S.
What is done in “selfies” is that you take photos of yourself while holding a camera phone at an arm’s length. (definition from urban dictionary)
And then you post your self-portraits on whatever social media you are on. In other words, you broadcast yourself.
The purpose for this is to just share with your friends, and the entire world, through photos, about what you are wearing, eating, or where you are going or how you are looking.
And these are not just ordinary photos. Some are even very slick glamorous shots, maybe even photo-shopped.
Yet with every photo that is posted on the social media, there is a purpose.
Of course, it is obvious that we want to let others see us.
But more than that every photo has a message, because a picture tells a thousand words, or more.
A person who puts a personal photo on social media wants to give others a message.
It may be about lifestyle, about likes and dislikes, about beliefs, about character; in short, it is about something personal.
We heard in the gospel that Jesus told His eleven apostles to go out to the whole world and proclaim the Good News.
Putting it in social media terms, Jesus has posted eleven photos of His apostles, each of them with a message about the Good News.
One might be a photo of an apostle baptizing a person.
Another photo might show an apostle casting out devils from someone who is possessed.
Another might show an apostle picking up a poisonous snake with his bare hands.
Another might show an apostle laying his hands on the sick and healing them.
But Jesus wants to post one more photo because He has twelve apostles.
And that photo will be about each of us. So what would that photo be about? What would that photo show us doing?
Today, as the Church celebrates Mission Sunday, Jesus is asking us what we are doing to proclaim the Good News.
So as we think about it, we may remember that St. Therese, our patron saint, is also the Patroness of the Missions.
Yet, as we know, St. Therese never left her convent in Lisieux. So how could she be the Patroness of the Missions?
It all began with a man by the name of Henri Pranzini. He was among the most notorious criminals of his time and also one of the most brutal.
On the morning of March 17, 1887, the bodies of 2 women and a child were all found brutally murdered in an apartment.
The motive was robbery and a few days later, Pranzini was caught and convicted of the triple murder.
Shocking as it was, Pranzini would have been executed and forgotten, if not for Therese Martin (St. Therese) who was only 14 years old at that time.
She felt compelled to intervene for him. As she recounts in her autobiography, “The Story of a Soul”, she stormed Heaven for a man, whom many thought was beyond redemption.
St Therese wrote: Everything led to the belief that he would die unrepentant. I wanted at all costs to keep him from falling into hell, and to succeed, I employed all means imaginable, and feeling that of myself I could do nothing, I offered to God all the infinite merits of our Lord Jesus.
As Pranzini’s fate approached, St. Therese increased her prayers until he was brought before the guillotine on Aug 31.
The next day, St. Therese read in the papers that recorded what happened, how when Pranzini was about to put his head under the guillotine, he turned, took hold of the crucifix the priest was holding out to him, and kissed the sacred wounds three times!
Then his soul went to receive the merciful sentence of Jesus who declared that in heaven there will be more joy over one repentant sinner than over ninety-nine who have no need of repentance.
St. Therese was convinced her prayers had helped save the forsaken Pranzini from damnation, and the experience strengthened her conviction to become a Carmelite nun, and intercede for others who are in desperate need of God’s love.
So there we see, one picture of St Therese praying for a condemned soul to be saved from the fires of hell.
Yes, her mission as a Carmelite nun began with prayer.
Each of us has a mission. But that mission must begin with prayer.
Because with prayer, our mission picture will slowly begin to form, and with that mission picture, we will proclaim the Good News to the world.
So by all means take a selfie, and make it a mission: let others know, by our photos, that we are praying that the world will hear the Good News of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Click the links under My Blog List to get to Chinese and English weekday homilies.
Saturday, October 19, 2013
Saturday, October 12, 2013
28th Ordinary Sunday, Year C, 13.10.2013
2 Kings 5:14-17/ 2 Timothy 2:8-13/ Luke 17:11-19
The year 1917 sounds like it is a long time ago. In fact, it is about a hundred years ago.
Most of us have not come into existence yet, and maybe it was a good thing that we didn’t live during that time.
Because the world was torn apart with WW I, and when it ended, the Great Depression followed, and not long after that, nations were fighting with each other in WW II.
Certainly, it was a terrible time to live in and it would seemed to be like end times.
Yet, on this very day, 13th October back in year 1917, something spectacular, astonishing and beautiful happened in a small village called Fatima in Portugal.
It was an event which was called “The Miracle of the Sun”.
In a spectacle witnessed by 70,000 to 100,000 people, the dark rain clouds opened up, revealing the sun as an immense silver disk.
It shone with an intensity never seen before, but was not blinding.
Then that immense silver disk (or the sun) began to dance. It began to spin rapidly like a gigantic circle of fire.
It even became scarlet and scattered red flames across the sky. All that lasted for about 10 minutes and then the sun returned to its original place, and once again became still and brilliant and shining brightly as before. Thus the miracle of the sun ended.
But it was not just some kind of miracle or phenomenon. Rather it was a sign that was promised by Mary on her last apparition to the three shepherd children Francisco, Jacinta and Lucia.
It all began during WWI when the then Pope Benedict XV made repeated but unheeded pleas for peace.
Finally, and desperately, at the beginning of May 1917, he made a direct plea to Mary, to intercede for peace in the world.
And Mary responded (as she always did), just after a week, with her first apparition at Fatima on the 13th May to the three children.
She made six more apparitions, all on the 13th of each month, and she told the children to pray the Rosary, and do penance for the sins of the world.
There were other revelations, including the famous Fatima secrets, but we must not miss the message of the apparitions.
On the last apparition on the 13th October, Mary revealed to the children (and to the world), that she is the Lady of the Rosary and she asked that Russia be consecrated to her Immaculate Heart so that Russia will be converted and there will be peace.
If not, evil will continue to spread and the Church will face persecutions and undergo trials.
Almost a hundred years later, on this very same day, 13th October 2013, Pope Francis is calling upon the Church to remember the message of Fatima.
Today, Pope Francis is calling the Church to prayer and to consecrate the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary for the New Evangelization.
Like what Pope Benedict XV did in 1917, Pope Francis is making a direct appeal to Mary for the Church and for the world.
The Church had undergone, and is still undergoing, turmoil and distress.
Even though the Church had divine origins and apostolic foundations, she has also been afflicted with spiritual leprosy.
We have heard about all the bad news and the scandals that have rocked the Church.
We are left bewildered and disappointed with the clergy as well as with the people serving in Church ministry, and our faith begin to become lukewarm and slowly drain away.
Hence the New Evangelization is first and foremost for the Church.
Like the ten lepers in the gospel who daringly approached Jesus for a cure, we must turn to Mary and consecrate ourselves to her Immaculate Heart.
To consecrate ourselves to her Immaculate Heart means that we want to have a heart like Mary’s, a heart that is pure and holy, a heart that is thankful and joyful.
To have a pure and holy heart, to have a thankful and joyful heart already means that we are proclaiming the Good News, because to evangelize means to proclaim the Good News of salvation.
Just like that one leper in the gospel, who was cured and who turned back praising God at the top of his voice and threw himself at the feet of Jesus and thanked Him.
Jesus had this to say to him : Stand up and go on your way. Your faith has saved you.
So, that man was not just cured; he was saved. And that’s the difference.
The other nine were cured, certainly! Did they think of thanking Jesus? Maybe they did, but maybe they said “later” and that later became never.
On the 7th September (that was just a month back, and which was the eve of our Lady’s birthday), Pope Francis called on the Church to offer a day of prayer and fasting for the volatile situation in the Middle East, and particularly for Syria.
About 100,000 people gathered in St. Peter’s Square (and many more others around the world) joined the Pope in prayer and fasting.
There was no apparition, no dancing or spinning sun. But a quiet miracle did happen.
Did we notice that soon after the worldwide vigil of prayer and fasting for peace in Syria, more opportunities for nonviolent solutions were considered and taken up?
Yes, a quiet miracle happened.
The New Evangelization is for us the Church to have faith in the power of prayer and to give thinks with joyful hearts for what wonders the Lord has done for us and for the marvels that He will do for us.
The New Evangelization is also for the world, that as we proclaim the Good News of salvation to the world, we pray with Mary, the Lady of the Rosary, that the world will no longer offer holocaust or sacrifice to the gods of money, sex and power.
Rather, may the world come to acknowledge the one true God, and that Jesus is the Saviour.
That may sound like a miracle (maybe even impossible!) but with faith and with prayer, nothing is impossible.
Because with God, there can be miracles.
The year 1917 sounds like it is a long time ago. In fact, it is about a hundred years ago.
Most of us have not come into existence yet, and maybe it was a good thing that we didn’t live during that time.
Because the world was torn apart with WW I, and when it ended, the Great Depression followed, and not long after that, nations were fighting with each other in WW II.
Certainly, it was a terrible time to live in and it would seemed to be like end times.
Yet, on this very day, 13th October back in year 1917, something spectacular, astonishing and beautiful happened in a small village called Fatima in Portugal.
It was an event which was called “The Miracle of the Sun”.
In a spectacle witnessed by 70,000 to 100,000 people, the dark rain clouds opened up, revealing the sun as an immense silver disk.
It shone with an intensity never seen before, but was not blinding.
Then that immense silver disk (or the sun) began to dance. It began to spin rapidly like a gigantic circle of fire.
It even became scarlet and scattered red flames across the sky. All that lasted for about 10 minutes and then the sun returned to its original place, and once again became still and brilliant and shining brightly as before. Thus the miracle of the sun ended.
But it was not just some kind of miracle or phenomenon. Rather it was a sign that was promised by Mary on her last apparition to the three shepherd children Francisco, Jacinta and Lucia.
It all began during WWI when the then Pope Benedict XV made repeated but unheeded pleas for peace.
Finally, and desperately, at the beginning of May 1917, he made a direct plea to Mary, to intercede for peace in the world.
And Mary responded (as she always did), just after a week, with her first apparition at Fatima on the 13th May to the three children.
She made six more apparitions, all on the 13th of each month, and she told the children to pray the Rosary, and do penance for the sins of the world.
There were other revelations, including the famous Fatima secrets, but we must not miss the message of the apparitions.
On the last apparition on the 13th October, Mary revealed to the children (and to the world), that she is the Lady of the Rosary and she asked that Russia be consecrated to her Immaculate Heart so that Russia will be converted and there will be peace.
If not, evil will continue to spread and the Church will face persecutions and undergo trials.
Almost a hundred years later, on this very same day, 13th October 2013, Pope Francis is calling upon the Church to remember the message of Fatima.
Today, Pope Francis is calling the Church to prayer and to consecrate the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary for the New Evangelization.
Like what Pope Benedict XV did in 1917, Pope Francis is making a direct appeal to Mary for the Church and for the world.
The Church had undergone, and is still undergoing, turmoil and distress.
Even though the Church had divine origins and apostolic foundations, she has also been afflicted with spiritual leprosy.
We have heard about all the bad news and the scandals that have rocked the Church.
We are left bewildered and disappointed with the clergy as well as with the people serving in Church ministry, and our faith begin to become lukewarm and slowly drain away.
Hence the New Evangelization is first and foremost for the Church.
Like the ten lepers in the gospel who daringly approached Jesus for a cure, we must turn to Mary and consecrate ourselves to her Immaculate Heart.
To consecrate ourselves to her Immaculate Heart means that we want to have a heart like Mary’s, a heart that is pure and holy, a heart that is thankful and joyful.
To have a pure and holy heart, to have a thankful and joyful heart already means that we are proclaiming the Good News, because to evangelize means to proclaim the Good News of salvation.
Just like that one leper in the gospel, who was cured and who turned back praising God at the top of his voice and threw himself at the feet of Jesus and thanked Him.
Jesus had this to say to him : Stand up and go on your way. Your faith has saved you.
So, that man was not just cured; he was saved. And that’s the difference.
The other nine were cured, certainly! Did they think of thanking Jesus? Maybe they did, but maybe they said “later” and that later became never.
On the 7th September (that was just a month back, and which was the eve of our Lady’s birthday), Pope Francis called on the Church to offer a day of prayer and fasting for the volatile situation in the Middle East, and particularly for Syria.
About 100,000 people gathered in St. Peter’s Square (and many more others around the world) joined the Pope in prayer and fasting.
There was no apparition, no dancing or spinning sun. But a quiet miracle did happen.
Did we notice that soon after the worldwide vigil of prayer and fasting for peace in Syria, more opportunities for nonviolent solutions were considered and taken up?
Yes, a quiet miracle happened.
The New Evangelization is for us the Church to have faith in the power of prayer and to give thinks with joyful hearts for what wonders the Lord has done for us and for the marvels that He will do for us.
The New Evangelization is also for the world, that as we proclaim the Good News of salvation to the world, we pray with Mary, the Lady of the Rosary, that the world will no longer offer holocaust or sacrifice to the gods of money, sex and power.
Rather, may the world come to acknowledge the one true God, and that Jesus is the Saviour.
That may sound like a miracle (maybe even impossible!) but with faith and with prayer, nothing is impossible.
Because with God, there can be miracles.
Saturday, October 5, 2013
St Therese, Parish Feast Day, 06.10.2013
When a loved one passes away, the common practice in Singapore is that the body is cremated (of course, there is still the practice of burial).
And the usual practice is that after cremation, the ashes are collected and put in an urn.
After which the urn is interned into a niche in the columbarium as its final resting place.
One of the questions that sometimes arises is whether the ashes (in the urn) can be kept at home.
Well, if we check at the NEA (National Environment Agency) website under the FAQ column, “Can I keep the cremated ashes of the deceased at home?” There is just a one word answer: Yes.
So would we want to keep the ashes of our loved ones at home? If yes, then why would we do so?
Certainly, the reason cannot be that the niche in the columbarium is too expensive so better and cheaper to put at home.
If people were to think like that then the columbarium can close down already.
But by and large, people would place the ashes of their deceased loved ones in the niches of the columbarium.
Certainly, the columbarium is a more proper and respectable place for the ashes.
Also, people may feel a bit uncomfortable to keep ashes at home, even though it is their deceased loved ones.
Maybe there is no proper place at home to keep it, or maybe they might wonder if the deceased will make their presence felt!(Oops!)
But if the deceased had experienced the warmth and love at home during their lifetime, then there is certainly nothing to be afraid of.
But of course, please don’t take out the urns of your loved ones from our columbarium; I will be in trouble!
But having said that, the Catholic Church has this practice of the veneration of the relics of saints.
The word “relic” comes from the Latin word “relinquo”, literally meaning “I leave behind”.
A relic is a piece of the body of the saint, or an item owned or used by the saint, or an object that has been touched to the tomb of the saint.
The veneration of sacred relics has a long history in the Church.
And it is a well-known fact that altars in the churches, when they were consecrated, were inserted with a relic of a saint which is called the altar-stone.
Although the word “relics” does not appear in Scripture, there were many instances when the remains of holy persons were venerated and held in high esteem.
For example, in the book of Exodus (13:19) when the Israelites left Egypt, they took the bones of Joseph along with them.
And then in 2 Kings 13:21, when a dead man was thrown into the tomb of the prophet Elisha and came into contact with the bones of the prophet, the dead man came back to life.
There is no doubt that the veneration of the relics of saints have brought about answers to prayers, cures sicknesses and other signs and miracles.
But of course a warped thinking would also lead to abuse and superstition, and even in the sale of relics.
Putting that aside, the relics of saints and their veneration help us to appreciate more deeply the holy men and women and even children, who followed and served Jesus their Master and all their heart.
Their relics also serve as a visible sign of their communion with us in our own journey of faith towards holiness.
And here in this parish of St. Therese of the Child Jesus, we are very privileged to have a great saint who is watching over us.
And along with this great privilege, we are also blessed to have her relics with us. We have three of her relics.
One is a tiny bit of her flesh; another is a fragment of her bone; and the other is the ashes from her grave.
All these three relics are encased in reliquaries, which are vessels to contain the relics.
And in the celebration of her feast-day, we have displayed her relics for public veneration and we are in the process of making this a permanent feature in this parish.
The relics are not just holy objects. They are visible and concrete signs of her presence among us.
In her famous book “The Story of a Soul”, she said that she will spend heaven doing good on earth.
We see this goodness in her relics, which point to her presence, as well as to the power of her intercession for us.
But her relics are not just for our curiosity. We come before her relics to offer her our needs and our petitions, and she in turn will offer it to Jesus on our behalf.
And we have needs. We need peace of heart and forgiveness. We need strength to face the stress and anxieties of life. We need to believe and to strengthen our faith in God.
In other words, we need to be loved by God, so that like St. Therese, we will also do little things with great love.
And as we venerate her relics, let us also take up the Novena Rose Prayer to St Therese that is printed in the cards.
With that prayer, let us offer our needs and petitions to St Therese, and as she promised, she will let fall from heaven a shower of roses.
St Therese is spending her heaven doing good for us. May we in turn spend our lives on earth doing good for others.
And the usual practice is that after cremation, the ashes are collected and put in an urn.
After which the urn is interned into a niche in the columbarium as its final resting place.
One of the questions that sometimes arises is whether the ashes (in the urn) can be kept at home.
Well, if we check at the NEA (National Environment Agency) website under the FAQ column, “Can I keep the cremated ashes of the deceased at home?” There is just a one word answer: Yes.
So would we want to keep the ashes of our loved ones at home? If yes, then why would we do so?
Certainly, the reason cannot be that the niche in the columbarium is too expensive so better and cheaper to put at home.
If people were to think like that then the columbarium can close down already.
But by and large, people would place the ashes of their deceased loved ones in the niches of the columbarium.
Certainly, the columbarium is a more proper and respectable place for the ashes.
Also, people may feel a bit uncomfortable to keep ashes at home, even though it is their deceased loved ones.
Maybe there is no proper place at home to keep it, or maybe they might wonder if the deceased will make their presence felt!(Oops!)
But if the deceased had experienced the warmth and love at home during their lifetime, then there is certainly nothing to be afraid of.
But of course, please don’t take out the urns of your loved ones from our columbarium; I will be in trouble!
But having said that, the Catholic Church has this practice of the veneration of the relics of saints.
The word “relic” comes from the Latin word “relinquo”, literally meaning “I leave behind”.
A relic is a piece of the body of the saint, or an item owned or used by the saint, or an object that has been touched to the tomb of the saint.
The veneration of sacred relics has a long history in the Church.
And it is a well-known fact that altars in the churches, when they were consecrated, were inserted with a relic of a saint which is called the altar-stone.
Although the word “relics” does not appear in Scripture, there were many instances when the remains of holy persons were venerated and held in high esteem.
For example, in the book of Exodus (13:19) when the Israelites left Egypt, they took the bones of Joseph along with them.
And then in 2 Kings 13:21, when a dead man was thrown into the tomb of the prophet Elisha and came into contact with the bones of the prophet, the dead man came back to life.
There is no doubt that the veneration of the relics of saints have brought about answers to prayers, cures sicknesses and other signs and miracles.
But of course a warped thinking would also lead to abuse and superstition, and even in the sale of relics.
Putting that aside, the relics of saints and their veneration help us to appreciate more deeply the holy men and women and even children, who followed and served Jesus their Master and all their heart.
Their relics also serve as a visible sign of their communion with us in our own journey of faith towards holiness.
And here in this parish of St. Therese of the Child Jesus, we are very privileged to have a great saint who is watching over us.
And along with this great privilege, we are also blessed to have her relics with us. We have three of her relics.
One is a tiny bit of her flesh; another is a fragment of her bone; and the other is the ashes from her grave.
All these three relics are encased in reliquaries, which are vessels to contain the relics.
And in the celebration of her feast-day, we have displayed her relics for public veneration and we are in the process of making this a permanent feature in this parish.
The relics are not just holy objects. They are visible and concrete signs of her presence among us.
In her famous book “The Story of a Soul”, she said that she will spend heaven doing good on earth.
We see this goodness in her relics, which point to her presence, as well as to the power of her intercession for us.
But her relics are not just for our curiosity. We come before her relics to offer her our needs and our petitions, and she in turn will offer it to Jesus on our behalf.
And we have needs. We need peace of heart and forgiveness. We need strength to face the stress and anxieties of life. We need to believe and to strengthen our faith in God.
In other words, we need to be loved by God, so that like St. Therese, we will also do little things with great love.
And as we venerate her relics, let us also take up the Novena Rose Prayer to St Therese that is printed in the cards.
With that prayer, let us offer our needs and petitions to St Therese, and as she promised, she will let fall from heaven a shower of roses.
St Therese is spending her heaven doing good for us. May we in turn spend our lives on earth doing good for others.
Saturday, September 28, 2013
26th Ordinary Sunday, Year C, 29.09.2013
Amos 6:1, 4-7/ 1 Timothy 6: 11-16/ Luke 16:19-31
I wonder how many of us ever thought of going into business.
And if we ever thought about that, then what kind of business would we go into?
For those stallholders who are selling food at the fun fair outside, they might have thought of going into the food business.
Well, it may be good profits, but it is certainly a lot of sweat and fret.
Going into retail business might be easier and maybe safer.
We just need to know what is the consumer demand and we get the right supply.
And if you were to ask me what small retail business is in demand now, I would suggest this: handphone covers.
Yes, handphone covers, and screen protectors, and those kind of accessories.
Why that kind of business? Well, just the other day, I happened to pass by a “pasar malam” (those temporary night market that are set up in the neighbourhood).
I was surprised at the number of stalls that were selling handphone covers and I was also amazed at the variety of designs on the covers.
There are all sorts of colours, all sorts of designs like “Hello Kitty” and “Minions” for the teenagers and smart leather covers for the stylish and sophisticated.
It might sound strange, but to have only one cover for a phone is too boring.
And the funny thing is that the handset companies spend millions of dollars in R & D to make the phone light and slim.
And then people buy some cheap cover to make it thick and bulky again. That’s so strange and ironic.
The parable that Jesus told in the gospel has got nothing to do with phone covers.
Yet, in a certain sense it does refers to covers.
There was Lazarus, the poor man outside at the gate, and he was covered with sores.
Inside the gate was a rich man, covered in purple and fine linen, and it can also be said that he “covered” himself with rich food.
It was a parable of two human beings of the same species, but with two totally different so-called “covers”.
One had a rich luxurious cover and the other had an ugly repulsive cover.
But as the parable goes, the covers will be taken away.
Because when death comes upon the two characters in the parable, there is a reversal of situations.
The rich man is now in agony and covered with flames, whereas the poor man Lazarus is now safely covered in Abraham’s bosom.
Jesus directed this parable to the Pharisees who thought that externals were all important.
So they wore long tassels and phylacteries to give the impression that they were pious and religious.
And they despised those sinners whose sin is public knowledge, and they would not go near them or even look at them.
And that was what Jesus was pointing out at in the parable.
As much as the rich man did not abuse or ill-treat or drive Lazarus away, he did not look at him; he chose not to look at him. He did not care at all about him.
We may not be rich (or that rich!) but when it comes to the poor, we may also look away and not bother or care about them. Or we simply put covers over our eyes.
As the 1st reading says of the rich and affluent: about the ruin of Joseph, they do not care at all.
Similarly, we may not be that pious or religious, but when it comes to the sinners of society, we rather not look at them, or bother about them. Better to keep them out of sight so that they will be out of mind.
So, how different are we from that character of the rich man in today’s gospel parable?
Of course, it is uncomfortable, and even repulsive, to look at or think about the sinners of society, like those gangsters whose bodies are covered with tattoos.
It would be better that these “public sinners”, these gangsters and criminals, be imprisoned and kept out of sight and better still, be forgotten.
Yet some good-hearted people, and they are doctors, have gone to Changi Prison to volunteer in a tattoo-removal program.
The tattoo-removal program is for those prisoners who want to have their tattoos removed, as a demonstration of their desire to renounce their former gang affiliations.
One of the doctors, Dr. Lam Bee Lan, said that the prisoners have to undergo an excruciating procedure.
She added : I’ve seen muscular and tough men wince and tear in pain when I use the laser to remove the tattoos. Tattoo removal is much more painful than making one.
But despite the agony the inmates undergo, they thanked the doctors afterwards for helping them leave their gang identifications behind.
Yes, those doctors chose to look, and to help those prisoners remove their tattoos, to heal their “sores”, to remove their ugly “covers”, so that they can reintegrate into society.
We may not be able to do what those doctors did for those prisoners, but we can certainly do something for the poor and needy.
We only need to remove the “covers” from our eyes and see the face of Jesus in the poor and needy and to reach out to help them.
Well, we may get cheated, and we have been cheated before.
But it might be better to be fooled a thousand times by people who may be taking advantage of us, than to miss the chance just once to help a genuinely poor person. (St. Robert Bellarmine)
Saturday, September 21, 2013
25th Ordinary Sunday, Year C, 22.09.2013
Amos 8:4-7/ 1 Timothy 2:1-8/ Luke 16:1-13
There are some phrases that we can just remember easily, and they come from various sources.
It’s not as difficult as that game show “Don’t Forget the Lyrics” because these are phrases that we heard since young and they are easy to remember.
For example, “Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall” and we can easily continue with “Humpty Dumpty had a great fall” (It’s from a nursery rhyme).
And how about this: Mirror, mirror on the wall…who’s the fairest of them all? And that is from the fairy tale “Snow White”.
That popular phrase was from the evil queen who had a magic mirror and she would ask the mirror “Mirror mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?”
And the mirror would reply: You, O queen, are the fairest of them all.
All was well until one day, when she asked the mirror that question and she was shocked to hear this reply: Snow white is fairer than you, O queen, and she is the fairest of them all.
And of course we know how the story went on from there, with the 7 dwarfs coming in.
Well, we don’t talk to mirrors (or maybe we do?) but we will surely look at the mirror whenever we have the opportunity.
Whether we do it out of necessity or out of vanity, we look into the mirror so as to get something out of it.
We want the mirror to “tell” us how we look like, and from the mirror, we will also know what we want to look like.
In other words, when we look at the mirror, we want to get something out of it.
But it is not only from the mirror that we want to “get something”.
The greedy tendency in us will always make us ask this question: What can I get out of it?
So we will tend to ask: What can I get out of my job/company? What can I get out of the people working under me? What can I get out of my friends/children/spouse?
In today’s gospel, the dishonest steward knew what he could get from his master and he went about with dishonest gains from his
master.
But as it is, dishonesty will be discovered, sooner or later, and the dishonesty steward was to be removed from his job.
But instead of repenting, that dishonest steward turned to his master’s debtors and now he was looking at what he could get from them.
He went about securing their favours with yet more dishonest means at his master’s expense.
Yes, that dishonest steward was very shrewd and crafty.
He knew where to look, how to look, and who to look, in order to get something and to gain something.
And even his master, whom he had cheated, was impressed with his astuteness.
Jesus told us such an astounding parable to show us this – when it comes to gaining an advantage, the people of this world will spare no effort to get what they want and to feed their greed.
And the 1st reading shows how people may be practicing religion, and yet at the same time they were also looking forward to swindling and cheating.
What was disgusting was that it was the rich and the greedy who were cheating and trampling on the poor and needy.
Essentially, it was the same old human story – we look at others to see what we can get from them, to see what we can gain from them.
And the greedy tendency can even make people go so far as to cheat and trample upon the poor and the needy.
Here we get another famous saying: The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
And the Lord says this in the first reading: Never will I forget a single thing you have done. (That is something that we must not forget!)
Yes, for better or for worse, the Lord God never forgets.
It is said that elephants have a good memory and they also seem to never forget.
There is this incredible but true story of the elephant’s memory.
We may not remember or know who Lawrence Anthony was.
He was a legend in South Africa. He bravely rescued wildlife and rehabilitated elephants all over the world from human atrocities, including the courageous rescue of Baghdad Zoo animals during the US invasion in 2003.
On March 7, 2012, Lawrence Anthony died. He is remembered and missed by his wife, his 2 sons and his 2 grandsons, and by the elephants he had rescued.
Two days after his passing, the elephants that he rescued showed up at his home.
They came to say goodbye to their “man-friend”.
A total of 31 elephants had walked over 12 miles to get to his South African home.
The people who witnessed this were awed by the sense of those elephants over the passing of Lawrence Anthony.
They were also awed by the profound memory and emotion those elephants had for their friend.
The elephants obviously wanted to pay their respects and honour their friend who had saved their lives.
They came, stayed for two days and two nights, without eating anything, and then they left. Incredible but true story.
Yes, the elephant remembers. The poor and the needy will also remember when we help them.
People will also remember how we look at them, whether out of greed, or to help them in their need.
And the Lord will also remember. Like the elephants He created, He will never forget! May we also not forget this.
There are some phrases that we can just remember easily, and they come from various sources.
It’s not as difficult as that game show “Don’t Forget the Lyrics” because these are phrases that we heard since young and they are easy to remember.
For example, “Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall” and we can easily continue with “Humpty Dumpty had a great fall” (It’s from a nursery rhyme).
And how about this: Mirror, mirror on the wall…who’s the fairest of them all? And that is from the fairy tale “Snow White”.
That popular phrase was from the evil queen who had a magic mirror and she would ask the mirror “Mirror mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?”
And the mirror would reply: You, O queen, are the fairest of them all.
All was well until one day, when she asked the mirror that question and she was shocked to hear this reply: Snow white is fairer than you, O queen, and she is the fairest of them all.
And of course we know how the story went on from there, with the 7 dwarfs coming in.
Well, we don’t talk to mirrors (or maybe we do?) but we will surely look at the mirror whenever we have the opportunity.
Whether we do it out of necessity or out of vanity, we look into the mirror so as to get something out of it.
We want the mirror to “tell” us how we look like, and from the mirror, we will also know what we want to look like.
In other words, when we look at the mirror, we want to get something out of it.
But it is not only from the mirror that we want to “get something”.
The greedy tendency in us will always make us ask this question: What can I get out of it?
So we will tend to ask: What can I get out of my job/company? What can I get out of the people working under me? What can I get out of my friends/children/spouse?
In today’s gospel, the dishonest steward knew what he could get from his master and he went about with dishonest gains from his
master.
But as it is, dishonesty will be discovered, sooner or later, and the dishonesty steward was to be removed from his job.
But instead of repenting, that dishonest steward turned to his master’s debtors and now he was looking at what he could get from them.
He went about securing their favours with yet more dishonest means at his master’s expense.
Yes, that dishonest steward was very shrewd and crafty.
He knew where to look, how to look, and who to look, in order to get something and to gain something.
And even his master, whom he had cheated, was impressed with his astuteness.
Jesus told us such an astounding parable to show us this – when it comes to gaining an advantage, the people of this world will spare no effort to get what they want and to feed their greed.
And the 1st reading shows how people may be practicing religion, and yet at the same time they were also looking forward to swindling and cheating.
What was disgusting was that it was the rich and the greedy who were cheating and trampling on the poor and needy.
Essentially, it was the same old human story – we look at others to see what we can get from them, to see what we can gain from them.
And the greedy tendency can even make people go so far as to cheat and trample upon the poor and the needy.
Here we get another famous saying: The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
And the Lord says this in the first reading: Never will I forget a single thing you have done. (That is something that we must not forget!)
Yes, for better or for worse, the Lord God never forgets.
It is said that elephants have a good memory and they also seem to never forget.
There is this incredible but true story of the elephant’s memory.
We may not remember or know who Lawrence Anthony was.
He was a legend in South Africa. He bravely rescued wildlife and rehabilitated elephants all over the world from human atrocities, including the courageous rescue of Baghdad Zoo animals during the US invasion in 2003.
On March 7, 2012, Lawrence Anthony died. He is remembered and missed by his wife, his 2 sons and his 2 grandsons, and by the elephants he had rescued.
Two days after his passing, the elephants that he rescued showed up at his home.
They came to say goodbye to their “man-friend”.
A total of 31 elephants had walked over 12 miles to get to his South African home.
The people who witnessed this were awed by the sense of those elephants over the passing of Lawrence Anthony.
They were also awed by the profound memory and emotion those elephants had for their friend.
The elephants obviously wanted to pay their respects and honour their friend who had saved their lives.
They came, stayed for two days and two nights, without eating anything, and then they left. Incredible but true story.
Yes, the elephant remembers. The poor and the needy will also remember when we help them.
People will also remember how we look at them, whether out of greed, or to help them in their need.
And the Lord will also remember. Like the elephants He created, He will never forget! May we also not forget this.
Saturday, September 14, 2013
24th Ordinary Sunday, Year C, 15.09.2013
Exodus 32: 7-11, 13-14/ 1 Timothy 1:12-17/ Luke 15:1-32
Children love to play games. Yet the image that may come to our minds when we say that children love to play games could be that of a child having a handphone or a tablet in the hand and playing some kind of computer game.
Or for the older children, it may be at the laptop or desktops playing some kind of serious online games.
But when it comes to children playing games, we may want to go retro and recall the games that we play when we were children.
And those games are usually very interactive. For example, in the game of “catching” there will be laughing and shouting and screaming as the children run around and try to catch each other.
And then there is “hantam-bola”. In those days, there was only the soft rubber ball. I can’t imagine if we used golf balls to play “hantam-bola”. (OUCH!)
And then there is the game of “hide-and-seek”. All the children would go hiding and the seeker, after the countdown, would go looking for them.
It is quite an intriguing game in the sense that those children who were hiding would always want to peek out of their hiding place to see where the seeker was.
Somehow they won’t just be contented with hiding and concealing themselves until the seeker can’t find them.
In other words, those who are hiding will somehow give away their hiding place.
So the seeker will somehow be able to find those who are hiding.
But that is where the fun is. The children can hide but the seeker can find them.
It is not going to be that much fun if the children hide and cannot be found.
Well, the fun of “hide-and-seek” is to hide so as to be found. Strange isn’t it? That’s why it is rather intriguing.
In the gospel, Jesus told two parables about something that went missing, something that was lost.
There was a parable about lost sheep and another one about the lost coin.
It is obvious that the sheep and the coin did not play hide and seek. They were lost, they went missing.
And then there was the puzzling and ridiculous search for what was lost and missing.
The shepherd leaving the 99 behind to look for the missing sheep; and the woman lighting a lamp and sweeping out the house just to find a lost coin.
Yes, puzzling and ridiculous, just to look for that one lost sheep and that one missing coin.
Yet, Jesus is telling us how puzzling and ridiculous God is. It is quite difficult to believe that God will go all out just for one that is missing or lost.
But Jesus told these two puzzling and ridiculous parables in response to the criticisms against Him.
The Pharisees and scribes complained that He welcomed sinners and ate with them.
But the fact is that Jesus came to seek and to find what was lost and missing.
In a way it is like some kind of spiritual hide-and-seek.
The tax collectors and sinners, were hiding from public view because of their sin and yet Jesus came looking for them.
But this hide-and-seek drama was first played out in the Book of Genesis.
After Adam and Eve fell into sin, the Lord God came walking in the garden and they hid themselves.
Then the Lord God called out: Where are you?
Well, Adam and Eve did not go into deeper hiding; they responded to the Lord God.
As for the tax collectors and sinners in the gospel, they too responded to the call of Jesus.
In fact, they were all seeking the company of Jesus to hear what He had to say.
Yet there may be many others who don’t know how to respond to the call of Jesus.
They may be lost in the troubles and difficulties and anxieties of life. Jesus calls out to them but they may not know how to respond or that they may have lost the voice to respond.
Well, exam time is coming (only secondary and P6) and the students are all hyped up and stressed out with the studies.
Not only the students are stressed, their parents, are also stressed out. Students and parents seem to be taking exams. (In Singapore, exam is a family affair!)
Today, we have called the students, to come for this Mass to pray for their exams and we too will pray for them.
Yet there may be other students who are not here. Some may even skip Mass to mug for their revision.
We need to pray for them too, because they have lost the voice to call out to the Lord for help.
But more than just praying for the students for their exams, we the Church have to be the voice for the world to call upon the help of the Lord God.
Last Saturday, Pope Francis called upon the Church for a day of prayer and fasting for peace in the world and especially for Syria.
More than 100 000 people joined the Pope in a prayer vigil at St. Peter’s Square, and the Church throughout the world also heeded the call of the Pope.
The Pope is leading the Church to be the voice for the world to call upon God for His saving help.
Let us join our voices in prayer to cry out to God for His help, be it for the students preparing for exams or for peace in the world.
Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. Our voices in prayer will tell Him where we are and that we desperately need Him to find us and save us.
Children love to play games. Yet the image that may come to our minds when we say that children love to play games could be that of a child having a handphone or a tablet in the hand and playing some kind of computer game.
Or for the older children, it may be at the laptop or desktops playing some kind of serious online games.
But when it comes to children playing games, we may want to go retro and recall the games that we play when we were children.
And those games are usually very interactive. For example, in the game of “catching” there will be laughing and shouting and screaming as the children run around and try to catch each other.
And then there is “hantam-bola”. In those days, there was only the soft rubber ball. I can’t imagine if we used golf balls to play “hantam-bola”. (OUCH!)
And then there is the game of “hide-and-seek”. All the children would go hiding and the seeker, after the countdown, would go looking for them.
It is quite an intriguing game in the sense that those children who were hiding would always want to peek out of their hiding place to see where the seeker was.
Somehow they won’t just be contented with hiding and concealing themselves until the seeker can’t find them.
In other words, those who are hiding will somehow give away their hiding place.
So the seeker will somehow be able to find those who are hiding.
But that is where the fun is. The children can hide but the seeker can find them.
It is not going to be that much fun if the children hide and cannot be found.
Well, the fun of “hide-and-seek” is to hide so as to be found. Strange isn’t it? That’s why it is rather intriguing.
In the gospel, Jesus told two parables about something that went missing, something that was lost.
There was a parable about lost sheep and another one about the lost coin.
It is obvious that the sheep and the coin did not play hide and seek. They were lost, they went missing.
And then there was the puzzling and ridiculous search for what was lost and missing.
The shepherd leaving the 99 behind to look for the missing sheep; and the woman lighting a lamp and sweeping out the house just to find a lost coin.
Yes, puzzling and ridiculous, just to look for that one lost sheep and that one missing coin.
Yet, Jesus is telling us how puzzling and ridiculous God is. It is quite difficult to believe that God will go all out just for one that is missing or lost.
But Jesus told these two puzzling and ridiculous parables in response to the criticisms against Him.
The Pharisees and scribes complained that He welcomed sinners and ate with them.
But the fact is that Jesus came to seek and to find what was lost and missing.
In a way it is like some kind of spiritual hide-and-seek.
The tax collectors and sinners, were hiding from public view because of their sin and yet Jesus came looking for them.
But this hide-and-seek drama was first played out in the Book of Genesis.
After Adam and Eve fell into sin, the Lord God came walking in the garden and they hid themselves.
Then the Lord God called out: Where are you?
Well, Adam and Eve did not go into deeper hiding; they responded to the Lord God.
As for the tax collectors and sinners in the gospel, they too responded to the call of Jesus.
In fact, they were all seeking the company of Jesus to hear what He had to say.
Yet there may be many others who don’t know how to respond to the call of Jesus.
They may be lost in the troubles and difficulties and anxieties of life. Jesus calls out to them but they may not know how to respond or that they may have lost the voice to respond.
Well, exam time is coming (only secondary and P6) and the students are all hyped up and stressed out with the studies.
Not only the students are stressed, their parents, are also stressed out. Students and parents seem to be taking exams. (In Singapore, exam is a family affair!)
Today, we have called the students, to come for this Mass to pray for their exams and we too will pray for them.
Yet there may be other students who are not here. Some may even skip Mass to mug for their revision.
We need to pray for them too, because they have lost the voice to call out to the Lord for help.
But more than just praying for the students for their exams, we the Church have to be the voice for the world to call upon the help of the Lord God.
Last Saturday, Pope Francis called upon the Church for a day of prayer and fasting for peace in the world and especially for Syria.
More than 100 000 people joined the Pope in a prayer vigil at St. Peter’s Square, and the Church throughout the world also heeded the call of the Pope.
The Pope is leading the Church to be the voice for the world to call upon God for His saving help.
Let us join our voices in prayer to cry out to God for His help, be it for the students preparing for exams or for peace in the world.
Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. Our voices in prayer will tell Him where we are and that we desperately need Him to find us and save us.
Saturday, September 7, 2013
23rd Ordinary Sunday, Year C, 08.09.2013
Wisdom 9:13-18/ Philemon 1:9-10, 12-17/ Luke 14:25-33
One characteristic of most Singaporeans when they travel overseas, especially when they travel out of the Asian region, is that they will bring along a particular spice.
And that particular spice is none other than chilli.
For most Singaporeans, or at least a number of Singaporeans, chilli is the spice of life.
So into the luggage will go a bottle of chilli, be a dried chilli, or chilli powder, or sambal chilli or whatever chilli.
If there is such a thing as chilli perfume, it will also be brought along. (Not to spray on the body but on the food! : P )
Yes, in Singapore, chilli is the spice of life. So if you are a Singaporean, and you don’t eat chilli, then it may mean that you have a crisis of identity.
Having said all that, chilli after all, is only a spice. And spices are used to add flavor to food or to preserve food.
We don’t eat chilli as food, or consume spices as food!
Food will still be food, with or without spices. And when we are very hungry, we will eat whatever food there is, even without the chilli or the other spices.
In other words, without chilli we won’t die. Even without the other spices of life, we also won’t die.
And the spices of life is not just about what we put into our food.
Broadly speaking, there are many things that can spice up our lives.
For example, there was the “Spice Girls”, though they are not so hot now. There is also a smartphone model called “Desire”.
Oh yes, these kind of spices certainly fuel our desires and make us forget our essential needs, just like how too much chilli can make us forget the original taste of food.
When there is too much of these spicy flavoring in our lives, then the 1st reading has this to say: The reasonings of mortals are unsure, and man’s intentions become unstable.
Then like the examples that Jesus gave in the gospel, we will build but we won’t be able to finish. We can fight with all our might but we won’t be able to win.
When there is too much clutter in our lives, then we lose the clarity of our vision, and hence our reasoning become unsure and our intentions become unstable.
In today’s gospel, Jesus gave a rather severe teaching on discipleship.
Jesus makes it clear to us that if we want to be His disciple, then He must be over and above what we treasure most.
And that means that He must be above father, mother, spouse, children, brothers and sisters.
And as if that is not tough enough, He asks for where it will hurt most – and that is our very own life!
And that is where Jesus brings in the cross.
As we all know, and for those who are listening to Him knew it as a reality, the cross was the ultimate punishment for those who are sentenced for rebellion or subversion.
Hence, His listeners know, as a matter of fact, what crucifixion was, how horrible it was, how gruesome it was and shockingly cruel.
And yes, Jesus said that anyone who does not carry his cross and come after Him cannot be His disciple.
Certainly the cross meant pain and shame. And along with that it also means fears and tears.
So the cross challenges us in a very shocking way.
The cross challenges our fears of losing our loved ones – father, mother, spouse, children, brothers and sisters.
The cross challenges our fear of pain and suffering.
And finally the cross challenges our fear of dying to ourselves and giving up our lives for others.
Because our understanding of the survival of the fittest is that the one who has the most and who possess the most, will survive.
It is so unnatural to let go and sacrifice and give ourselves for others.
Here is where we can learn something from the grey squirrel. As we know, the grey squirrel would run around gathering nuts for food for the winter.
It would hide the nuts in a few places. Yet very often it would also forget where it has hidden the nuts so in the end it would only consume about 10% of the nuts that it had gathered.
Well, as for the rest of the 90% of the nuts, after winter, they will germinate and bear fruit for the next cycle.
So unintentional and out of forgetfulness, the squirrel helps in the reproduction of the food cycle.
Like the grey squirrel, we too will gather, but as a disciple carrying the cross, what we gather we must scatter and give to others.
The cross is painful because it challenges us to give up ourselves for others.
The cross will cut away all that we spice up our lives with, but when all the spice of life is cut away, we will get the real taste of life.
No doubt, the cross will bring tears to our eyes, but very often tears are the lenses we need to see Jesus (quote from Pope Francis); yes, to see Jesus clearly and to continue to carry our cross and follow Him as His disciple.
One characteristic of most Singaporeans when they travel overseas, especially when they travel out of the Asian region, is that they will bring along a particular spice.
And that particular spice is none other than chilli.
For most Singaporeans, or at least a number of Singaporeans, chilli is the spice of life.
So into the luggage will go a bottle of chilli, be a dried chilli, or chilli powder, or sambal chilli or whatever chilli.
If there is such a thing as chilli perfume, it will also be brought along. (Not to spray on the body but on the food! : P )
Yes, in Singapore, chilli is the spice of life. So if you are a Singaporean, and you don’t eat chilli, then it may mean that you have a crisis of identity.
Having said all that, chilli after all, is only a spice. And spices are used to add flavor to food or to preserve food.
We don’t eat chilli as food, or consume spices as food!
Food will still be food, with or without spices. And when we are very hungry, we will eat whatever food there is, even without the chilli or the other spices.
In other words, without chilli we won’t die. Even without the other spices of life, we also won’t die.
And the spices of life is not just about what we put into our food.
Broadly speaking, there are many things that can spice up our lives.
For example, there was the “Spice Girls”, though they are not so hot now. There is also a smartphone model called “Desire”.
Oh yes, these kind of spices certainly fuel our desires and make us forget our essential needs, just like how too much chilli can make us forget the original taste of food.
When there is too much of these spicy flavoring in our lives, then the 1st reading has this to say: The reasonings of mortals are unsure, and man’s intentions become unstable.
Then like the examples that Jesus gave in the gospel, we will build but we won’t be able to finish. We can fight with all our might but we won’t be able to win.
When there is too much clutter in our lives, then we lose the clarity of our vision, and hence our reasoning become unsure and our intentions become unstable.
In today’s gospel, Jesus gave a rather severe teaching on discipleship.
Jesus makes it clear to us that if we want to be His disciple, then He must be over and above what we treasure most.
And that means that He must be above father, mother, spouse, children, brothers and sisters.
And as if that is not tough enough, He asks for where it will hurt most – and that is our very own life!
And that is where Jesus brings in the cross.
As we all know, and for those who are listening to Him knew it as a reality, the cross was the ultimate punishment for those who are sentenced for rebellion or subversion.
Hence, His listeners know, as a matter of fact, what crucifixion was, how horrible it was, how gruesome it was and shockingly cruel.
And yes, Jesus said that anyone who does not carry his cross and come after Him cannot be His disciple.
Certainly the cross meant pain and shame. And along with that it also means fears and tears.
So the cross challenges us in a very shocking way.
The cross challenges our fears of losing our loved ones – father, mother, spouse, children, brothers and sisters.
The cross challenges our fear of pain and suffering.
And finally the cross challenges our fear of dying to ourselves and giving up our lives for others.
Because our understanding of the survival of the fittest is that the one who has the most and who possess the most, will survive.
It is so unnatural to let go and sacrifice and give ourselves for others.
Here is where we can learn something from the grey squirrel. As we know, the grey squirrel would run around gathering nuts for food for the winter.
It would hide the nuts in a few places. Yet very often it would also forget where it has hidden the nuts so in the end it would only consume about 10% of the nuts that it had gathered.
Well, as for the rest of the 90% of the nuts, after winter, they will germinate and bear fruit for the next cycle.
So unintentional and out of forgetfulness, the squirrel helps in the reproduction of the food cycle.
Like the grey squirrel, we too will gather, but as a disciple carrying the cross, what we gather we must scatter and give to others.
The cross is painful because it challenges us to give up ourselves for others.
The cross will cut away all that we spice up our lives with, but when all the spice of life is cut away, we will get the real taste of life.
No doubt, the cross will bring tears to our eyes, but very often tears are the lenses we need to see Jesus (quote from Pope Francis); yes, to see Jesus clearly and to continue to carry our cross and follow Him as His disciple.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)