13th Ordinary Sunday, Year A, 28.06.2020

2 Kings 4:8-11, 14-16 / Romans 6:3-4, 8-11 / Matthew 10:37-42

That is a story titled “Whose job is it?”, but it is known by its more popular title “The story of Everyone, Someone, Anyone and No-one”. 

This is how the story goes: There was an important job to be done and Everyone was sure that Someone would do it. Anyone could have done it, but No-one did it. 

Someone got angry about that, because it was Everyone’s job. Everyone thought that Anyone could do it, but No-one realized that Everyone wouldn’t do it.

It ended up that Everyone blamed Someone when No-one did what Anyone could have done. 

The story may be candid but the message is clear, and that is, no one wanted to take responsibility so nothing was accomplished. 

Although it is just a story, the reality of the problem exists in organizations, companies, teams and in society. 

And we also know that at one point in time, we have been that “Everyone”, “Someone”, “Anyone” and “No-one”. 

In the gospel, there is a word that Jesus mentioned a number of times, 9 times to be exact. 

In a short gospel passage, the word “anyone” appears nine times and hence there is an emphasis on it. 

What Jesus said about what anyone can do ranged from anything that is difficult to that which is rather ordinary. 

But it also means that anyone could do it. It is not something that is impossible or out of this world. 

But like in that story, someone thought that anyone could do it, but no one realize that everyone wouldn’t do it. 

As disciples of Jesus, we are called to be responsible and accountable. We are called to be that “anyone” and to do what is right and just. 

To be that “anyone” may mean ending up with a messy thankless task that everyone will take for granted with no one coming to help and even with someone giving comments and criticisms. 

Let us be that “anyone” for the glory of God and for the good of others. 

Jesus knows what we are doing for Him and He will reward us.

12th Ordinary Sunday, Year A, 21.06.2020

Jeremiah 20:10-13 / Romans 5:12-15 / Matthew 10:26-33
Whenever we talk about fear, we are talking about something that affects all of us. Fear has no respect for status or personages. 

And fear is also not something that can be rationalized with. Because it is a natural and a powerful human emotion. 

The cause of fear can be anything from physical to psychological. Our response can also be anything from physical to psychological. 

Some people have a fear for creeping and crawling insects, or snakes, or even cats and dogs. 

Some have fears of the dark, or being alone, or of persons having certain looks and mannerisms. 

Some also have fears of failures, or being laughed at, or being gossiped about, or fear of public speaking or of being on stage. 

Whatever it is, the fear is a real emotion and it also makes us behave in a way that is not our usual and natural self. 

In the gospel Jesus tells His disciples and He also tells this: Do not be afraid. 

Jesus knows that we are afraid. But do we know what we are afraid of? 

Of course we are afraid of many things. We are afraid of the future especially in the midst of these times. We are afraid of losing our jobs, afraid of financial difficulties, afraid of serious illnesses or being infected by the virus. 

But when Jesus tells us not to be afraid, there is one person that He has in His mind, and that is, the evil one. 

Because the evil one will stir up our fears and the evil one will also use his agents to stir up our fears.

When we begin to fear, our faith gets shaken, we begin to act in an unloving way and we lose the hope of anything good that can come out of a bad situation. 

Just as in the 1st reading, the Lord God protected the prophet Jeremiah from his enemies, and Jeremiah was able to declare the justice of God and he even said: Sing to the Lord, praise the Lord, for He has delivered the soul of the needy from the hands of evil men. 

Jesus tells us not to be afraid of the evil one and those who do evil. 

Jesus tells us not to fear the worst case scenario but to have faith in Him and to have hope for the best case scenario. 

Let us ask the Lord Jesus to strengthen us with His love, so that we will be able to declare to others: Sing to the Lord, praise the Lord, for He will deliver us and save us.

Corpus Christi, Year A, 14.06.2020

Deuteronomy 8:2-3, 14-16 / 1 Cor 10:16-17 / John 6:51-58

The Feast of Corpus Christi, or otherwise known as the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ, can be said to be the feast that expresses the fundamental doctrines of the Catholic faith. 

This feast expresses the truth of the discourse by Jesus in the Gospel, which is taken from the Gospel of John. The whole of Chapter 6 of the Gospel of John is dedicated to the “Bread of life” discourse. 

The feast is also an expression of the teachings, Traditions, practices and devotions of the Catholic Church. 

The doctrine of this feast can be found in the Mass, the teaching on the Real Presence in the Blessed Sacrament, Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, Holy Hour and other Catholic devotions. 

Jesus instituted the Eucharist at the Last Supper, which started off as the Passover meal. 

But the Last Supper became uniquely the Institution of the Holy Eucharist when Jesus gave the Church His Body and Blood for the salvation of the world. 

So instead of a Passover lamb, Jesus is the Lamb of God who was sacrificed to take away the sins of the world. 

But going earlier than the Passover event in Egypt, we may remember that at the beginning of Creation, there were two trees in the Garden of Eden. One was the tree of Life, and the other was the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil. 

Adam and Eve were instructed by God not to eat of the fruit of those two trees. 

But they fell into the temptation of the devil and ate of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil. 

God drove them out of the Garden of Eden and in order to prevent them from eating of the Tree of Life, God set an angel to guard it. 

There was no further mention of that tree of Life after that. 

When Jesus was crucified on the Cross, the Cross was often referred to as a tree. (Acts 5:50) 

The connection between the Cross and the tree becomes profound when Jesus died on the Cross to save us and to give us a new life. 

Jesus now invites us to partake of the fruit of the Tree of Life. And that fruit of the Tree of Life is none other than His Body and His Blood. 

Through the saving death of Jesus, we now have life and salvation through His Body and Blood. 

On this Feast of Corpus Christi, let us give thanks for such a great Divine Gift of Life.

May we always treasure this gift and may we never take this Gift for granted.

Trinity Sunday, Year A, 07.06.2020

Exodus 34:4-6, 8-9 / 2 Cor13:11-13 / John 3:16-18

The word “online” is not a new word. 

When Information Technology came into the scene more than 20 years ago, it was a technological advancement that made a great impact on the world. 

With that many resources began going online and there was no turning back. 

Nowadays, instruction manuals and hard copy materials have gone online. 

In fact, any product that does not have an online resource and information availability is either outdated or would not be around for long. 

But recently, the word “online” has taken over almost every aspect of our lives. 

So there are online meetings, online teaching, online shopping, online buying and selling, online praying, online worship services, online social gatherings and online entertainment. 

If one hasn’t gone online in the past couple of months, then we might think that that person is certainly not in touch with reality. 

But with that being said, it cannot be denied that online is just a virtual reality. 

Although there is audio and visual, there is no physical reality presents. 

The doctrine of the Holy Trinity in which we celebrate this Sunday, is certainly not an abstract reality. 

As we heard in the gospel, God loved the world so much that He gave His only Son. God sent His Son into the world so that everyone who believes in Him may not be lost but be saved and have eternal life. 

God is not a virtual reality. Jesus Christ His Son is the image of the unseen God, and to have seen Him is to have seen God the Father. 

The Holy Spirit is given to us so that we can be in union with the Father and Son and to be members of the Mystical Body of the Church in which Jesus Christ is the Head. 

For the love and union of the Holy Trinity is a spiritual as well as a physical reality that is manifested in the Church.

The celebration of the mystery of the Holy Trinity is also acknowledged in the reality of our faith in God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 

The union and love of the Holy Trinity is also to be reflected in our lives and more so when we gather as the Church. 

Love and Union is what the Holy Trinity is all about. 

It is also what we are all about. 

Our mission is to go forth and proclaim that that is what the world should be all about.

Pentecost Sunday, Year A, 31.05.2020

Acts 2:1-11 / 1 Cor 12:3-7 / John 20:19-23

It is said that everything happens for a reason. But it also leaves the statement rather open-ended. Is it for a good reason? 

If only we can know how good the reason is, then maybe we will be able to accept what is happening around us and what is happening to us. 

But more often than not, the reason is discovered only much later, and it is only on hindsight that we might be able to see the good reason. 

So, when we look at what is happening around us and what is happening to us, just how do we feel about it? 

Some see the good reason in all this, but most of us just end up sighing and grumbling and hoping that what is happening will end soon. 

But with faith, we must believe that everything that happens has a good reason for it. It is with faith and hope that we can continue to live on with love. 

For example, when Jesus told His disciples at the Last Supper that He was going away, they were sad. But He also told them that if He does not go, the Holy Spirit will not come. 

So His going away is for a good reason but His disciples could not understand it then. 

In the gospel, Jesus appeared to His disciples for the first time after His Resurrection. Then He said to them, “As the Father sent me, so am I sending you.”

Then He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” 

It was probably then that the disciples understood that all that had happened, the suffering and death of Jesus, happened for a good reason. 

And with the Holy Spirit upon them, they began to understand how good the Spirit was, and as we heard in the 1st reading, the disciples went forth to proclaim the marvels of God. 

As we celebrate the Feast of Pentecost, and as the Holy Spirit descends into our hearts, the Holy Spirit will lead us to discover the good in what is happening around us and what is happening to us. 

And more so, as the 2nd reading puts it, “The particular way in which the Spirit is given to each person is for a good purpose.”
Over this period of time, we have discovered many areas of growth and we are learning new things to cope with and accept a fast-changing situation. 

With the help of the Holy Spirit, we will be able to turn trials into triumphs, and obstacles into opportunities.

But we must pray to the Holy Spirit and be open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, as He guides us to learn and to grow and to see the good in every situation, so that we will be able to experience the marvels of God.

7th Sunday of Easter, Year A, 24.05.2020

Acts 1:12-14 / 1 Peter 4:13-16 / John 17:1-11

An ordinary dictionary for the English language would have more than 150,000 words in common usage. 

But whether it is a common dictionary or a comprehensive dictionary, the number of words in any dictionary is not the same as the number of words in the use of the English language. 

Being an evolving and dynamic language, there are slang and jargon, and specialized words used by professionals like in the medical, technical and scientific fields. 

Though there is an abundance of words, we use only a certain amount of words daily, whether spoken or written. 

And some words are repeated here and there, which are also known as high frequency words. 

The words that we usually use are common and understandable. 

To use bombastic or sophisticated words could result in misunderstanding and the listeners would also not be too receptive to what we are saying. 

In the gospel passage, Jesus was the only person talking, and He spoke a lot of words. 

As much as the words He used were simple enough to understand, it would certainly take a lot more to comprehend. 

The gist of what Jesus said is about a union and a unity. 

It is also the first part of a long prayer in the whole of chapter 17 of the Gospel of John. 

Jesus talked about the union between Him and God the Father when He said this: Now Father, it is time for you to glorify me with the glory I had with you before ever the world was. 

And from that union between the Father and Him, Jesus moved on to talk about those that the Father has given to Him. 

Jesus not only talked about those that the Father had given to Him, He also prayed for them, so that in them, the Father and Jesus will be glorified. 

Certainly, this may not seem to be so easy to understand or comprehend. 

We may want to call that a mystery, which can be understood initially, but there is much more to comprehend. 

But mystery is not without reality. In fact, mystery is manifested in reality. 

We see that in the 1st reading and in just one sentence: All these were joined in continuous prayer, together with several women, including Mary, the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.

That was the last mention of Mary in the Bible, and it was a profound statement.

Mary showed what union and unity is. She understood the prayer of Jesus. She lived out that prayer of Jesus. May we also do likewise.

6th Sunday of Easter, Year A, 17.05.2020

Acts 8:5-8, 14-17 / 1 Peter 3:15-18 / John 14:15-21

It is said that Singapore is a fine country and we are certainly proud of that. 

But another aspect is a play on the word “fine”, and it is in the penal sense. 

If Singapore is a fine country, then it is because of its strict rules and regulations. 

If ever a rule or regulation is broken, a fine is certainly to be expected. And needless to say, the more serious the offense, the heavier will be the fine or the punishment. 

And recently, many new prohibitions have been enforced, like wearing masks, no socializing, no dining at food outlets and restaurants, etc. 

Failure to comply with these rules and regulations will result in a hefty fine, and it would be really foolish to throw away money like that. 

But we should know by now what is the purpose of those rules and regulations. It is for our safety as well as the safety of others. 

To flout those rules and regulations would mean that we are socially irresponsible and defiant and also immature. 

Mature people should be able to see the rationale of the rules and regulations, as well as question those that are impractical or archaic. 

As for us Christians, what would be the basis of discernment when it comes to rules and regulations? 

In the gospel, Jesus said to His disciples: If you love me, you will keep My Commandments. 

So the basis of our discernment about rules and regulations and about our faith and our morals is our love for Jesus and keeping to His Commandments and to what He has taught us. 

And to help us to love Jesus and to keep his Commandments, Jesus also sends us the Spirit of Truth to help us understand the truth of God and the truth about ourselves. 

It is with love and truth that we will be able to keep the commandments of Jesus and love as He has loved us. 

One of the fundamental teachings of Jesus can be found in the Beatitudes. 

When Jesus says that the poor in spirit will inherit the kingdom of heaven, we know in practical terms that God blesses the humble and the happiest people are the givers and not the getters. 

When Jesus says that happy are the gentle, we will also realize that being gentle is a God-given strength. On the other hand, the first victim of our temper is ourselves. 

When Jesus says that happy are the merciful, we are reminded to be kind and careful with our words. The tongue has no bones but it is strong enough to break a heart with harsh and hurting words. 

So our love for Jesus will help us to understand the truth of life, and the Spirit of truth will help us grow in our love for Jesus. 

When we can love others as Jesus has loved us, then we have become fully matured as disciples of Jesus.