Acts 5:12-16 / Apocalypse 1:9-13, 17-19 / John 20:19-31
It has been a week since we celebrated Easter Sunday. It would certainly be nice to take a break and have a little rest.
Because Lent is a spiritually packed season, with a sharp emphasis on prayer, penance and almsgiving, along with the Way of the Cross, Confessions, etc.
All that reaches its peak with Holy Week and especially at the Holy Triduum, where Maundy Thursday moves on to Good Friday and into Easter Vigil and then Easter Sunday.
We can imagine the physical state of the priests on Easter Sunday evening, almost like a state of spiritual comatose. It was a long week with a busy weekend.
There is this so-called Easter joke, of a boy who came home after a long day at school. He told his mother that he has a stomach ache.
His mother told him, “That’s because there is nothing in your stomach. You’ve got to put something in it.” And she quickly prepared some food which he ate and he felt better.
On Easter Sunday, the boy went with his parents for the evening Mass. After Mass, they met the priest at the entrance. The priest shared with them that it was a long and tiring weekend and that he was having a headache.
Then the boy remembered what his mother told him and he said to the priest, “Father, you are having a headache because there is nothing in your head. You need to put something into your head.”
Stomach ache or headache or backache, if it’s not serious, can be cured and we can get better quickly if there is the correct medicine.
But there are some pains that are difficult to cure. It is not so much a physical pain like a headache or stomachache, but rather spiritual, like a heartache.
Heartaches are difficult to cure because there is no medication for it, and what is needed is not so much a cure but more of a healing.
It can be said that the disciples in the gospel were suffering heartaches from a number of causes. There was guilt from betraying and denying and deserting Jesus, there was the fear of the Jews, their faith was broken and the future was just blank hopelessness.
It was a heartache that no medicine can cure because it was more than a physical pain – it was a spiritual pain that required a spiritual healing.
It was in this state of utter despair that the Risen Lord Jesus came and stood among them, and His first words were “Peace be with you”.
And that was what the disciples needed most. Jesus came not to settle scores but to sooth the sore and painful hearts that were broken with guilt and pain.
And Jesus even came back again eight days later just for Thomas, who had said, “Unless I see the holes that the nails made in His hands and can put my finger into the holes they made, and unless I can put my hand into His side, I refuse to believe.”
We can understand how the disciples and especially Thomas felt. With a shattered faith and blank hopelessness, it was very difficult to believe, especially in something like the Resurrection.
Just a week ago, on Easter Sunday, when the whole Church was celebrating the joy of the Resurrection, terrorists attacked and bombed three churches and four luxury hotels in Sri Lanka, leaving more than 250 people dead.
One of the targets of the horrendous Easter Sunday bombings was St. Anthony’s Church, which is renowned as a place of worship open to all faiths. But the bombings have shut its doors for now. For the first time in its 175-year history, people can’t go into the church. In fact, all worship services have been suspended throughout Sri Lanka.
The church is fondly called a “miracle church” because her patron, St. Anthony, has a reputation of a “miracle worker”, and no prayer request, no matter how big or small or strangely specific, is left unanswered by St. Anthony, as the people would testify.
But on Monday, despite the church grounds being cordoned off and no one was allowed to enter the church, still a large crowd gathered around the perimeter, staring at the building, praying perhaps. Faith is shaken and broken, like the disciples in the gospel.
They have witnessed horrendous carnage and the loss of innocent lives. So will the horror erode the people’s faith in the power of God and of the Church?
Fr. Leo Perera, a Sri Lankan priest has this to say: You cannot keep people away from here just because of something like this. They will keep coming back because this is the time they need the presence of God in their lives. In no way this will affect the state of the Church and the faith of her believers.
Maybe this explains why many people still came together to stand in front of the church. Yes, they come to express sadness and horror at what took place at the church. Yet they came to express hope.
In the darkness of the hour, the church continues to be a symbol of hope, with many Sri Lankans choosing to stand together despite the terror and horror that have unfolded before their eyes.
And with the church closed and worship services suspended for the time being, the Risen Lord Jesus now goes out to stand amongst the people.
The Risen Lord Jesus stands among them to heal their heartaches and despair and to bring them peace.
We too must stand with the Church and the people of Sri Lanka and to offer prayer for them, since they can’t even go to church to pray.
And let us also learn from them and see how the Risen Lord Jesus will heal their heartaches with His peace.
Their heartaches are also a mirror of our own heartaches. Their healing will also give us hope that our own heartaches will be healed.
That is the power of the Risen Lord Jesus. His peace and His mercy is what is needed to heal our heartaches and the heartache of the world.
Click the links under My Blog List to get to Chinese and English weekday homilies.
Saturday, April 27, 2019
Sunday, April 21, 2019
Easter Sunday, Year C, 21.04.2019
Acts 10:34, 37-43 / Col 3:1-4 or 1 Cor 5:6-8 / John 20:1-9
Whenever we are told that “what you see is what you get”, the meaning is almost as clear as the sentence.
What we see is almost all that we get to see and there is nothing more to it and we don’t expect anything more than it.
For example, a 5-room flat is a 5-room flat. There are no hidden rooms or extra rooms. A $10 bill is a $10 bill and there is no extra hidden value to it.
But as much as what you see is what you get, there is also the other side of things, and that is “there is more than meets the eye”.
The so-called reality that we see before us may not be all that it is. Because in everything, there is a mystery, in the broadest sense of the word.
And this mystery reveals the reality to what the eye can see, and yet this mystery may also have something more to reveal, such that the mind may take a while to comprehend and to understand.
In the mystery of the Incarnation, God became man in the person of Jesus, people saw Jesus in the flesh, the outward reality.
The people, as well as His disciples, saw how He suffered and died on the cross, as we heard in the readings on Good Friday.
And then in the Resurrection accounts, no one really saw the Risen Jesus. There were accounts of the stone that was rolled away from the tomb and it was an empty tomb.
There were accounts of angels telling the women not to look among the dead for the one who is alive.
The women ran back to tell the apostles but their story was dismissed as pure nonsense and no one believed them.
And then Peter ran to the tomb, saw the binding cloths, but nothing else, and he was just amazed.
Till then, the disciples failed to understand that Jesus must rise from the dead.
And as we gather to celebrate this great feast of Easter, the mystery of the Resurrection comes to us, just as it came to the disciples in the gospel accounts.
We too did not see the Risen Jesus, but we believe from the gospel accounts that He is risen. And blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.
And for the 11 candidates for baptism, they too believe and they are requesting for baptism, and to join us in the family of faith.
Yet the mystery of the Resurrection continues to unfold and to reveal to us who believe that Jesus is risen from the dead.
These 11 candidates for baptism will be baptized with water, and after that when we renew our baptismal promises, we too will be sprinkled with holy water.
The outward sign is that we are sprinkled with holy water, but the inward reality and mystery is that the Risen Jesus comes to wash and cleanse our hearts of all sin and defilement so that we too can rise with Jesus to new life and a higher life.
An imagery that can help in understanding this is that we are like ducks in the pond. On the surface everything is calm and graceful.
But under the water, the duck’s feet are paddling furiously to keep it floating and going.
So there is nothing dramatic about being baptized with holy water or being sprinkled with holy water.
It is all smiles, and everything is peaceful and graceful.
But in our hearts, the Risen Jesus is stirring and waking us up from the slumber of sin and shining the light of His Resurrection into our hearts so that we can turn away from sin and rise with Him to the new life.
That is the reality and the mystery of the Resurrection. Let us believe and we will be amazed at what the Risen Jesus can do for us.
Whenever we are told that “what you see is what you get”, the meaning is almost as clear as the sentence.
What we see is almost all that we get to see and there is nothing more to it and we don’t expect anything more than it.
For example, a 5-room flat is a 5-room flat. There are no hidden rooms or extra rooms. A $10 bill is a $10 bill and there is no extra hidden value to it.
But as much as what you see is what you get, there is also the other side of things, and that is “there is more than meets the eye”.
The so-called reality that we see before us may not be all that it is. Because in everything, there is a mystery, in the broadest sense of the word.
And this mystery reveals the reality to what the eye can see, and yet this mystery may also have something more to reveal, such that the mind may take a while to comprehend and to understand.
In the mystery of the Incarnation, God became man in the person of Jesus, people saw Jesus in the flesh, the outward reality.
The people, as well as His disciples, saw how He suffered and died on the cross, as we heard in the readings on Good Friday.
And then in the Resurrection accounts, no one really saw the Risen Jesus. There were accounts of the stone that was rolled away from the tomb and it was an empty tomb.
There were accounts of angels telling the women not to look among the dead for the one who is alive.
The women ran back to tell the apostles but their story was dismissed as pure nonsense and no one believed them.
And then Peter ran to the tomb, saw the binding cloths, but nothing else, and he was just amazed.
Till then, the disciples failed to understand that Jesus must rise from the dead.
And as we gather to celebrate this great feast of Easter, the mystery of the Resurrection comes to us, just as it came to the disciples in the gospel accounts.
We too did not see the Risen Jesus, but we believe from the gospel accounts that He is risen. And blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.
And for the 11 candidates for baptism, they too believe and they are requesting for baptism, and to join us in the family of faith.
Yet the mystery of the Resurrection continues to unfold and to reveal to us who believe that Jesus is risen from the dead.
These 11 candidates for baptism will be baptized with water, and after that when we renew our baptismal promises, we too will be sprinkled with holy water.
The outward sign is that we are sprinkled with holy water, but the inward reality and mystery is that the Risen Jesus comes to wash and cleanse our hearts of all sin and defilement so that we too can rise with Jesus to new life and a higher life.
An imagery that can help in understanding this is that we are like ducks in the pond. On the surface everything is calm and graceful.
But under the water, the duck’s feet are paddling furiously to keep it floating and going.
So there is nothing dramatic about being baptized with holy water or being sprinkled with holy water.
It is all smiles, and everything is peaceful and graceful.
But in our hearts, the Risen Jesus is stirring and waking us up from the slumber of sin and shining the light of His Resurrection into our hearts so that we can turn away from sin and rise with Him to the new life.
That is the reality and the mystery of the Resurrection. Let us believe and we will be amazed at what the Risen Jesus can do for us.
Saturday, April 13, 2019
Palm Sunday, Year C, 14.04.2019
Isaiah 50:4-7 / Philippians 2:6-11 / Luke 22:14 – 23:56
The full title of today’s liturgical celebration is: “Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord”.
So it is not just Palm Sunday or just Passion Sunday. It is both, with one leading to the other.
We began with the Palm Sunday gospel passage of the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem.
Then we heard a long gospel passage about the suffering and death of Jesus.
The contrast between the two passages is obvious.
And as we think about it, so are our lives – there is joy as well as sorrow, success as well as failure, peace as well as chaos, health as well as sickness.
So the contrast between the two gospel passages of today is also a reflection of our experience of life.
But as much as there is a contrast, there is also a similarity.
When Jesus made His triumphant entry into Jerusalem, the people hailed him as king.
When He was crucified on the cross, there was a notice with an inscription: This is the King of the Jews.
So in life and in death, Jesus held on to His identity as the King of kings.
And in our contrasting experiences of life, may we always have our eyes fixed on Jesus, so that we know who we are and that we belong to Him and that He will always be with us.
For now, let us be with Jesus and be with Him in His suffering and death, and keep faith in Him as we await for Him to raise us to new life.
The full title of today’s liturgical celebration is: “Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord”.
So it is not just Palm Sunday or just Passion Sunday. It is both, with one leading to the other.
We began with the Palm Sunday gospel passage of the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem.
Then we heard a long gospel passage about the suffering and death of Jesus.
The contrast between the two passages is obvious.
And as we think about it, so are our lives – there is joy as well as sorrow, success as well as failure, peace as well as chaos, health as well as sickness.
So the contrast between the two gospel passages of today is also a reflection of our experience of life.
But as much as there is a contrast, there is also a similarity.
When Jesus made His triumphant entry into Jerusalem, the people hailed him as king.
When He was crucified on the cross, there was a notice with an inscription: This is the King of the Jews.
So in life and in death, Jesus held on to His identity as the King of kings.
And in our contrasting experiences of life, may we always have our eyes fixed on Jesus, so that we know who we are and that we belong to Him and that He will always be with us.
For now, let us be with Jesus and be with Him in His suffering and death, and keep faith in Him as we await for Him to raise us to new life.
Saturday, April 6, 2019
5th Sunday of Lent, Year C, 07.04.2019
Isaiah 43:16-21 / Philippians 3:8-14 / John 8:1-11
To say that someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed is to mean that he had a bad day and probably was still having a bad day.
Come to think of it, waking up on the wrong side of the bed is still better than waking up on the floor and in shock. Yes, waking up on the wrong side of the bed is still better than falling off from the bed.
Whatever it might be, a good king-size bed can assure us of a good night’s sleep with no worries of falling off the bed.
But what happens when we wake up and get out of bed can be quite another story. We don’t know what kind of day awaits us.
A priest celebrated Mass with a big plaster on his chin. He told the people that he was thinking about the homily while he was shaving and accidentally cut his chin, hence the plaster. It was a careless start to the day.
When the priest got back to his office, there was an email in the computer that read: Dear Father, please be careful. In future, think about your shaving and cut the homily!
We know that it is one of those bad days when we expected to get sympathy and some people turn our misery into a comedy.
And some people will even say that if we think we are having a bad day, we better be prepared that it might just get worse. What a consolation when we are in our desolation!
Of course we can prepare ourselves for a bad day, but we won’t know when it will happen and we won’t know what to expect.
In the gospel, it seemed to be just another day for Jesus. He was at the Mount of Olives, a popular place for prayer and meditation. Then at daybreak, He appeared in the Temple and as the people came to Him, He sat down and began to teach them.
All seemed well, until the scribes and Pharisees dragged in a woman who had been caught committing adultery. In full view of everybody, they asked Jesus for His judgement on her. And as the Gospel added, they asked Him this as a test, looking for something to use against Him.
Whenever the scribes and the Pharisees appear, they bring bad news, and it seems like it’s going to be another bad day for Jesus. So how is He going to handle this tricky situation?
We should know by now that not every day is a good day, but there is something good in every day.
And that is what Jesus wants to teach us. Every day He had to face the plotting of the scribes and Pharisees, and yet through it all, He teaches us something good.
And in this instance, Jesus taught us that He was not too concerned about the trickery of the scribes and the Pharisees and the trouble that He was facing.
Rather His concern was for that woman caught for committing adultery, shamed in public, and probably would be executed by stoning. It was a bad day for that woman and seems like it was only going to get worse.
But if her day was bad, her life was probably tragic. How did she end up in such a bad state, and now she is being used to trap Jesus and after that she will be disposed of. Hers was a sad life and coming to a sad end.
But Jesus took up the sinfulness of that woman and brought out the sinfulness of the others when He said, “If there is one of you who have not sinned, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”
And just as that statement stopped them in their tracks, that statement should also stop us at our thoughts.
When things go wrong and turn bad, are we the first to throw stones? Or are we going to drop the stones to do something good?
Last week there was this story of an aircraft that was forced to make an emergency landing in a remote small airport that was 100 miles away from the destination.
Stranded in an empty airport, in the middle of nowhere, many passengers became irritated (who wouldn’t?) with the crew and airline staff. They were going to throw stones.
Among the passengers was this well-known actor, Keanu Reeves. While the airline staff was trying to solve the problem, Keanu decided to do what he could to keep the situation under control.
He kept the passengers updated about the situation, and he was cool and furthest thing from being upset.
He told the passengers where to pick up their luggage, and the travel options to get to their destination. He even advised them to take the shuttle bus instead of waiting for the plane to be fixed.
In between, he posed for pictures with the passengers at the airport and made it a moment to be remembered.
As much as he had the means to arrange for private transportation, he took the shuttle bus provided by the airline for the stranded passengers and he turned it into a fun ride for everyone on board, with trivia games and all.
The passengers were amazed at how Keanu Reeves would think of ways to keep people engaged and entertained. More than just a good actor, Keanu Reeves is a down-to-earth person who tries to bring out the good in a bad situation. May God bless him for that.
This reminds us that not every day is a good day but there is something good in every day.
Just as in the gospel scene, not everyone in it is a good person, but Jesus brought out that something good in each person - the woman caught in adultery, the scribes and Pharisees, the crowds.
And through this gospel passage, Jesus also wants to bring out the goodness in each of us.
Then we will truly understand what Jesus meant when He said: If there is one of you who had not sinned, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.
To say that someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed is to mean that he had a bad day and probably was still having a bad day.
Come to think of it, waking up on the wrong side of the bed is still better than waking up on the floor and in shock. Yes, waking up on the wrong side of the bed is still better than falling off from the bed.
Whatever it might be, a good king-size bed can assure us of a good night’s sleep with no worries of falling off the bed.
But what happens when we wake up and get out of bed can be quite another story. We don’t know what kind of day awaits us.
A priest celebrated Mass with a big plaster on his chin. He told the people that he was thinking about the homily while he was shaving and accidentally cut his chin, hence the plaster. It was a careless start to the day.
When the priest got back to his office, there was an email in the computer that read: Dear Father, please be careful. In future, think about your shaving and cut the homily!
We know that it is one of those bad days when we expected to get sympathy and some people turn our misery into a comedy.
And some people will even say that if we think we are having a bad day, we better be prepared that it might just get worse. What a consolation when we are in our desolation!
Of course we can prepare ourselves for a bad day, but we won’t know when it will happen and we won’t know what to expect.
In the gospel, it seemed to be just another day for Jesus. He was at the Mount of Olives, a popular place for prayer and meditation. Then at daybreak, He appeared in the Temple and as the people came to Him, He sat down and began to teach them.
All seemed well, until the scribes and Pharisees dragged in a woman who had been caught committing adultery. In full view of everybody, they asked Jesus for His judgement on her. And as the Gospel added, they asked Him this as a test, looking for something to use against Him.
Whenever the scribes and the Pharisees appear, they bring bad news, and it seems like it’s going to be another bad day for Jesus. So how is He going to handle this tricky situation?
We should know by now that not every day is a good day, but there is something good in every day.
And that is what Jesus wants to teach us. Every day He had to face the plotting of the scribes and Pharisees, and yet through it all, He teaches us something good.
And in this instance, Jesus taught us that He was not too concerned about the trickery of the scribes and the Pharisees and the trouble that He was facing.
Rather His concern was for that woman caught for committing adultery, shamed in public, and probably would be executed by stoning. It was a bad day for that woman and seems like it was only going to get worse.
But if her day was bad, her life was probably tragic. How did she end up in such a bad state, and now she is being used to trap Jesus and after that she will be disposed of. Hers was a sad life and coming to a sad end.
But Jesus took up the sinfulness of that woman and brought out the sinfulness of the others when He said, “If there is one of you who have not sinned, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”
And just as that statement stopped them in their tracks, that statement should also stop us at our thoughts.
When things go wrong and turn bad, are we the first to throw stones? Or are we going to drop the stones to do something good?
Last week there was this story of an aircraft that was forced to make an emergency landing in a remote small airport that was 100 miles away from the destination.
Stranded in an empty airport, in the middle of nowhere, many passengers became irritated (who wouldn’t?) with the crew and airline staff. They were going to throw stones.
Among the passengers was this well-known actor, Keanu Reeves. While the airline staff was trying to solve the problem, Keanu decided to do what he could to keep the situation under control.
He kept the passengers updated about the situation, and he was cool and furthest thing from being upset.
He told the passengers where to pick up their luggage, and the travel options to get to their destination. He even advised them to take the shuttle bus instead of waiting for the plane to be fixed.
In between, he posed for pictures with the passengers at the airport and made it a moment to be remembered.
As much as he had the means to arrange for private transportation, he took the shuttle bus provided by the airline for the stranded passengers and he turned it into a fun ride for everyone on board, with trivia games and all.
The passengers were amazed at how Keanu Reeves would think of ways to keep people engaged and entertained. More than just a good actor, Keanu Reeves is a down-to-earth person who tries to bring out the good in a bad situation. May God bless him for that.
This reminds us that not every day is a good day but there is something good in every day.
Just as in the gospel scene, not everyone in it is a good person, but Jesus brought out that something good in each person - the woman caught in adultery, the scribes and Pharisees, the crowds.
And through this gospel passage, Jesus also wants to bring out the goodness in each of us.
Then we will truly understand what Jesus meant when He said: If there is one of you who had not sinned, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.
Sunday, March 31, 2019
4th Sunday of Lent, Year C, 31.03.2019
Joshua 5:9-12 / 2 Cor 5:17-21 / Luke 15:1-3, 11-32
Generally speaking, human beings have five senses – sight, smell, hearing, taste and touch.
These five senses provide the brain with the necessary data for perception and interaction with the surroundings.
Then there is the sixth sense, which may be termed as intuition, or it could be some kind of awareness that cannot be explained in terms of normal perception.
Of course what must not be forgotten is “common sense” which we are supposed to have but somehow we seem to be unaware of it or we don’t seem to use it that much.
Common sense tells us what is obvious about life but somehow we don’t pay much attention to it.
For example, no matter how tall we are, we won’t be able to see what is going to happen tomorrow.
No matter how big a car we drive, we still need to walk to the bed.
Yes, that is the common sense about the reality of life, but somehow our awareness and our perception of it seem to get dimmed by the busyness and anxieties of life.
And that’s why we need to be constantly reminded of the basic common realities of life, the “common sense” of life so to speak, because we do forget and then we let “nonsense” be the direction of our lives.
The gospel begins by saying that the tax-collectors and sinners were all seeking the company of Jesus to hear what He had to say.
But why did those sinners want to seek the company of Jesus and hear what He had to say?
Could it be that they realise that their way of life is not making any sense and that what Jesus was saying was bringing them back to their senses and awakening in them the love of God for them?
The parable that Jesus told, often called the parable of the Prodigal Son, may seem rather irrational and even nonsensical. But that’s the purpose of a parable, because a parable is about a divine revelation in a human situation.
So it is not the divine revelation that is irrational or nonsensical. Rather it is the human situation that is irrational and nonsensical.
What the younger son did was totally irrational and nonsensical. He asked for his share of the property and he got it. He did the stupid thing of leaving his father for a distant country where he squandered his money on a life of debauchery.
And when he was totally down and out, he did the unthinkable of going against his Jewish tradition of hiring himself out to look after pigs.
But it was in that pigsty that all his senses rebelled against him – the sight, the stench, the sound, the filth and the hunger – and then, as the parable puts it, he came to his senses.
And as his senses awakened, common sense and all, he decided to leave that place and go back to his father.
We may have heard this parable countless of times, but we have to admit that what the father did was very surprising and unexpected.
And this is the divine revelation in the human situation. No matter how gravely we have sinned or how far we have turned away from God, God is like the father who saw his son while he was still a long way off and ran to him, clasped him in his arms and kissed him tenderly.
Indeed, that is God’s revelation in a human situation, and that may also leave us with a question. Can it be possible that God can forgive just like that? Maybe it is possible for God but not for us.
Because forgiveness is so difficult. And even if we can forgive, then we still cannot forget.
That was what the Pharisees were saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” They cannot accept sinners, much less forgive them.
That’s also the elder son, when he said, “This son of yours, when he comes back after swallowing your property … “ The elder son can’t forgive his younger brother.
But unforgiveness is actually irrational and nonsensical. Because unforgiveness is a spiritual disease and it is manifested physically in our health issues.
Unforgiveness is also manifested emotionally, as we become angry easily and we burn with resentment and bitterness.
But through the gospel parable, a profound divine revelation comes into a profane human situation.
God forgives, He is merciful and compassionate, He runs towards us even though we have sinned, He takes away our shame, He clasps us in His arms and He wants to heal us of the wounds of our sins.
So let us join those tax-collectors and sinners in the gospel and listen to what Jesus has to say to us.
May we come to our senses, be healed and forgiven, and be ambassadors of Jesus to bring about reconciliation, forgiveness and healing.
Saturday, March 23, 2019
3rd Sunday of Lent, Year C, 24.03.2019
Exodus 3:1-8, 13-15 / 1 Cor 10:1-6, 10-12 / Luke 13:1-9
One of the reasons for accepting and embracing a religion is this age-old need for protection and security in a world where violence and hostility seem so common.
And the violence and hostility have often resulted in the shedding of innocent blood. So the violence and hostility are directed at innocent and defenseless people who have no means to avert it or to stop it.
That makes people realise that they need God to watch over them (despite whatever human security measures there might be) and protection from unforeseen dangers and snares.
But in recent times, even places of prayer and worship don’t seem to be safe any longer. Churches have been bombed and attacked and worshippers were killed.
Last week, in New Zealand, two mosques were attacked by gunmen and a number were killed and wounded.
So where once it was unthinkable, now the evil of hostility and violence has attacked the sacred spaces of prayer and worship and also shed innocent blood.
Putting it plainly and starkly, evil has attacked the House of God and shed blood on holy ground. Where once it was unthinkable, now that is the reality and it is causing anxiety and fear and the faith is shaken. Just yesterday, a priest was stabbed during Mass at a Canadian church and it was live-streamed on TV. It was shocking, but thanks be to God, the priest only suffered minor upper body injuries.
So can we feel safe anymore as we come to church to pray and worship. Will God protect us from the evil of hostility, violence and terrorism? Does God know? And if He knows, why is He not doing anything to stop this evil and those who are doing it?
In the gospel, we hear of something very disturbing and disgusting. Some people told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with that of their sacrifices.
There were not many details about it but it can be certain that it was an occult ritual.
But Jesus didn’t seem to address this aspect of evil. Rather, He addressed the aspect of sin. He said that those Galileans who were killed were not more sinful than the rest of the other Galileans, nor were those 18 who were killed when the tower of Siloam collapsed on them.
The Galileans and those 18 were killed not because they were more sinful than the rest. Nor were those who died from terrorism attacks. They were certainly not more sinful than the rest.
And then Jesus gets to the point as He says: But unless you repent, you will all perish as they did.
And we should be bewildered. So here we are telling Jesus about this rampant evil of hostility, violence and terrorism, and He tells us that we should repent.
Of course we will protest. Jesus should make those evil people repent, and maybe tell us to forgive them. But why is He telling us to repent?
And here is where we have to turn back to the 1st and 2nd readings to understand why Jesus is telling us to repent.
The 1st reading tells us that God saw the miserable state of His people in Egypt. He heard their appeal to be free of their slave-drivers. He was aware of their sufferings and He intended to do something.
So He called out to Moses and gave him the mission to deliver His people out of the hands of the Egyptians and bring them to the Promised Land.
So God sees, God hears, God knows and God will act. And He told Moses that the people just had to invoke the name of the Lord God and He would come to their help and deliver them and be their Protector.
So all was well and good until the 2nd reading tells us that though God led His people through the desert and provided food and drink for them as they went, most of them failed to please God and their corpses littered the desert.
The 2nd reading continues: These things all happened as warnings for us, not to have the wicked lusts for forbidden things that they had. You must never complain as some of them did, and they were killed by the Destroyer.
It ends off by giving us this warning: The man who thinks he is safe must be careful that he does not fall.
So what God wants of us is our obedience and faithfulness. But when we sin, we create openings for evil to enter into our lives and in doing so, we become like those who complained and then perished in the desert.
Our sins will also weaken the faith of the Church and the threats of the evil of hostility, violence and terrorism becomes greater. It can be observed that as the faith of the Church grows weaker, the threat of the evil of terrorism becomes stronger.
Our safety is not just in tight security measures or having heavily-armed security personnel. Our safety and security lies in our obedience and faithfulness to God who is our Protector and Saviour.
It is said that evil can only thrive when the good do nothing about it. And evil will thrive as long as the faith of the Church is weak.
So let us heed the call of Jesus to repent. Let us renounce our sins, go for Confession, be faithful and obedient and call upon the name of the Lord to protect us and God will protect us and save us. That is His promise to us.
One of the reasons for accepting and embracing a religion is this age-old need for protection and security in a world where violence and hostility seem so common.
And the violence and hostility have often resulted in the shedding of innocent blood. So the violence and hostility are directed at innocent and defenseless people who have no means to avert it or to stop it.
That makes people realise that they need God to watch over them (despite whatever human security measures there might be) and protection from unforeseen dangers and snares.
But in recent times, even places of prayer and worship don’t seem to be safe any longer. Churches have been bombed and attacked and worshippers were killed.
Last week, in New Zealand, two mosques were attacked by gunmen and a number were killed and wounded.
So where once it was unthinkable, now the evil of hostility and violence has attacked the sacred spaces of prayer and worship and also shed innocent blood.
Putting it plainly and starkly, evil has attacked the House of God and shed blood on holy ground. Where once it was unthinkable, now that is the reality and it is causing anxiety and fear and the faith is shaken. Just yesterday, a priest was stabbed during Mass at a Canadian church and it was live-streamed on TV. It was shocking, but thanks be to God, the priest only suffered minor upper body injuries.
So can we feel safe anymore as we come to church to pray and worship. Will God protect us from the evil of hostility, violence and terrorism? Does God know? And if He knows, why is He not doing anything to stop this evil and those who are doing it?
In the gospel, we hear of something very disturbing and disgusting. Some people told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with that of their sacrifices.
There were not many details about it but it can be certain that it was an occult ritual.
But Jesus didn’t seem to address this aspect of evil. Rather, He addressed the aspect of sin. He said that those Galileans who were killed were not more sinful than the rest of the other Galileans, nor were those 18 who were killed when the tower of Siloam collapsed on them.
The Galileans and those 18 were killed not because they were more sinful than the rest. Nor were those who died from terrorism attacks. They were certainly not more sinful than the rest.
And then Jesus gets to the point as He says: But unless you repent, you will all perish as they did.
And we should be bewildered. So here we are telling Jesus about this rampant evil of hostility, violence and terrorism, and He tells us that we should repent.
Of course we will protest. Jesus should make those evil people repent, and maybe tell us to forgive them. But why is He telling us to repent?
And here is where we have to turn back to the 1st and 2nd readings to understand why Jesus is telling us to repent.
The 1st reading tells us that God saw the miserable state of His people in Egypt. He heard their appeal to be free of their slave-drivers. He was aware of their sufferings and He intended to do something.
So He called out to Moses and gave him the mission to deliver His people out of the hands of the Egyptians and bring them to the Promised Land.
So God sees, God hears, God knows and God will act. And He told Moses that the people just had to invoke the name of the Lord God and He would come to their help and deliver them and be their Protector.
So all was well and good until the 2nd reading tells us that though God led His people through the desert and provided food and drink for them as they went, most of them failed to please God and their corpses littered the desert.
The 2nd reading continues: These things all happened as warnings for us, not to have the wicked lusts for forbidden things that they had. You must never complain as some of them did, and they were killed by the Destroyer.
It ends off by giving us this warning: The man who thinks he is safe must be careful that he does not fall.
So what God wants of us is our obedience and faithfulness. But when we sin, we create openings for evil to enter into our lives and in doing so, we become like those who complained and then perished in the desert.
Our sins will also weaken the faith of the Church and the threats of the evil of hostility, violence and terrorism becomes greater. It can be observed that as the faith of the Church grows weaker, the threat of the evil of terrorism becomes stronger.
Our safety is not just in tight security measures or having heavily-armed security personnel. Our safety and security lies in our obedience and faithfulness to God who is our Protector and Saviour.
It is said that evil can only thrive when the good do nothing about it. And evil will thrive as long as the faith of the Church is weak.
So let us heed the call of Jesus to repent. Let us renounce our sins, go for Confession, be faithful and obedient and call upon the name of the Lord to protect us and God will protect us and save us. That is His promise to us.
Saturday, March 16, 2019
2nd Sunday of Lent, Year C, 17.03.2019
Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18 / Philippians 3:17 – 4:1 / Luke 9:28-36
The season of Lent is indeed a spiritual season. It puts before us the three spiritual disciplines that will help us to respond to the call of repentance and prepare us for the renewal of faith.
The three spiritual disciplines are prayer, penance and almsgiving. Practically speaking, all the three spiritual disciplines are “do-able”, i.e. they can be done. The question is the level of difficulty in each of them.
Let us look at “almsgiving”. This weekend, the “Charities Week” envelopes are distributed to us to help us respond to the call of almsgiving.
There are a couple of things that we can do with these envelopes. We can leave it at the pews. Or we can put in some money and drop it immediately into one of the donation boxes and then forget about it.
Or we can bring it home and leave it lying around and slowly let it disappear from our sight and from our conscience.
Or we can look at it and think about it and count our blessings, in the sense that we have to honestly ask ourselves how much God has blessed us with, either materially or financially.
Will we consider the Old Testament practice of offering back to God one-tenth of what we have received from Him?
So the “Charities Week” envelope is not a piece of paper for us to put in some money. It is for us to do some thinking and to do some generous giving.
When it comes to penance, what comes to mind especially in the season of Lent is fasting and abstinence from certain kinds of foods.
While fasting and abstinence have health benefits for the body, what do they do for the soul? Certainly, food and drink are the basic necessities of life.
But when we fast and abstain, we will come to see that as much as we want to eat till our hearts content, we only need that little to get through the day.
So it is a want versus a need. And as we fast and abstain, we will come to see that God has blessed us with enough for everyone’s need, but there will never be enough for everyone’s greed.
So fasting and abstinence are forms of prayer through which God tells us that as much as food and drink can satisfy a hungry stomach, only He can fill an empty and thirsty heart.
In the gospel, we heard that Jesus brought Peter, James and John up the mountain not for any other purpose but to pray.
And for Peter, James and John, praying on that mountain was no ecstasy. In fact, they were sleepy.
And that too is our experience. And we even beat the 3 apostles in some areas of prayer. Besides being sleepy during prayer, we get distracted with our gadgets, we speed up our prayer so that we say what we need to say quickly, we skip our prayers although we won’t skip our meals.
Yet, in the presence of those three sleepy-heads, something wonderful happened. As Jesus prayed, the aspect of His face was changed and His clothes became brilliant as lightning.
This event is called the Transfiguration, and it is important enough that the three gospels have recorded it and in Singapore there is also a church named after it.
Essentially, the Transfiguration is a revelation. The Transfiguration reveals Jesus in His glory, His glory that is hidden in the ordinary.
The Transfiguration also reveals the identity of Jesus as the Son of God, the Chosen One, the one who we must listen to.
So as we listen to the account of the Transfiguration, what does God wants to reveal to us?
One thing for sure is that God reveals to us in the ordinary things and events of our lives. So with the Lenten spiritual disciplines of prayer, penance and almsgiving, they reveal to us who we are and also who God is in our lives.
Besides those three spiritual disciplines, the ordinary things of life can also reveal to us who God is in the ordinary people around us.
A man was late for Mass and he hurried to church and got to his pew just in time for the opening prayer. But as he bowed his head, he noticed the shoe of the old man next to him touching his own shoe. He sighed to himself, “So much room. WHY must he let his dirty shoe touch mine?”
This bothered the man greatly but it didn’t seem to bother the old man at all.
He tried to pay attention to the Mass but his thoughts kept going to the old man’s dirty shoes that were touching his nice looking shoes.
The old man sang the hymns loudly, but the man with the nice shoes was irritated. He grumbled to himself, “Wear dirty shoes still want to sing so loud.”
After Mass, the man wanted to have a word with the old man about entering the church in his dirty shoes. He tried to be polite so he began with, “Hi, how are you?”
The old man’s face brightened up and he said, “You know, I have been coming here for a few months already and you are the first to say “Hi” to me. The old man continued, “I know that my appearance is not like all the rest of you, but I really do try to always look my best. I try to look my best and clean my shoes before I come to church, but my long walk to church made my clothes wet with sweat and my shoes become dirty and dusty.”
When the man heard this, he could only bow his head and look at the old man’s dirty shoes. And the old man continued, “I am sorry if my dirty shoes touched your nice shoes. I am sorry.”
The man managed to say, “Oh please don’t say sorry. Your shoes are not that dirty.” And he said silently to himself, “My heart is dirtier …”
Well, ordinary shoes, maybe a bit dirty, but through it God makes a revelation and a heart receives a transfiguration.
So as we continue climbing the mountain of Lent, let us look for the signs of revelation from God. It is in those revelations that our hearts will receive a transfiguration.
The season of Lent is indeed a spiritual season. It puts before us the three spiritual disciplines that will help us to respond to the call of repentance and prepare us for the renewal of faith.
The three spiritual disciplines are prayer, penance and almsgiving. Practically speaking, all the three spiritual disciplines are “do-able”, i.e. they can be done. The question is the level of difficulty in each of them.
Let us look at “almsgiving”. This weekend, the “Charities Week” envelopes are distributed to us to help us respond to the call of almsgiving.
There are a couple of things that we can do with these envelopes. We can leave it at the pews. Or we can put in some money and drop it immediately into one of the donation boxes and then forget about it.
Or we can bring it home and leave it lying around and slowly let it disappear from our sight and from our conscience.
Or we can look at it and think about it and count our blessings, in the sense that we have to honestly ask ourselves how much God has blessed us with, either materially or financially.
Will we consider the Old Testament practice of offering back to God one-tenth of what we have received from Him?
So the “Charities Week” envelope is not a piece of paper for us to put in some money. It is for us to do some thinking and to do some generous giving.
When it comes to penance, what comes to mind especially in the season of Lent is fasting and abstinence from certain kinds of foods.
While fasting and abstinence have health benefits for the body, what do they do for the soul? Certainly, food and drink are the basic necessities of life.
But when we fast and abstain, we will come to see that as much as we want to eat till our hearts content, we only need that little to get through the day.
So it is a want versus a need. And as we fast and abstain, we will come to see that God has blessed us with enough for everyone’s need, but there will never be enough for everyone’s greed.
So fasting and abstinence are forms of prayer through which God tells us that as much as food and drink can satisfy a hungry stomach, only He can fill an empty and thirsty heart.
In the gospel, we heard that Jesus brought Peter, James and John up the mountain not for any other purpose but to pray.
And for Peter, James and John, praying on that mountain was no ecstasy. In fact, they were sleepy.
And that too is our experience. And we even beat the 3 apostles in some areas of prayer. Besides being sleepy during prayer, we get distracted with our gadgets, we speed up our prayer so that we say what we need to say quickly, we skip our prayers although we won’t skip our meals.
Yet, in the presence of those three sleepy-heads, something wonderful happened. As Jesus prayed, the aspect of His face was changed and His clothes became brilliant as lightning.
This event is called the Transfiguration, and it is important enough that the three gospels have recorded it and in Singapore there is also a church named after it.
Essentially, the Transfiguration is a revelation. The Transfiguration reveals Jesus in His glory, His glory that is hidden in the ordinary.
The Transfiguration also reveals the identity of Jesus as the Son of God, the Chosen One, the one who we must listen to.
So as we listen to the account of the Transfiguration, what does God wants to reveal to us?
One thing for sure is that God reveals to us in the ordinary things and events of our lives. So with the Lenten spiritual disciplines of prayer, penance and almsgiving, they reveal to us who we are and also who God is in our lives.
Besides those three spiritual disciplines, the ordinary things of life can also reveal to us who God is in the ordinary people around us.
A man was late for Mass and he hurried to church and got to his pew just in time for the opening prayer. But as he bowed his head, he noticed the shoe of the old man next to him touching his own shoe. He sighed to himself, “So much room. WHY must he let his dirty shoe touch mine?”
This bothered the man greatly but it didn’t seem to bother the old man at all.
He tried to pay attention to the Mass but his thoughts kept going to the old man’s dirty shoes that were touching his nice looking shoes.
The old man sang the hymns loudly, but the man with the nice shoes was irritated. He grumbled to himself, “Wear dirty shoes still want to sing so loud.”
After Mass, the man wanted to have a word with the old man about entering the church in his dirty shoes. He tried to be polite so he began with, “Hi, how are you?”
The old man’s face brightened up and he said, “You know, I have been coming here for a few months already and you are the first to say “Hi” to me. The old man continued, “I know that my appearance is not like all the rest of you, but I really do try to always look my best. I try to look my best and clean my shoes before I come to church, but my long walk to church made my clothes wet with sweat and my shoes become dirty and dusty.”
When the man heard this, he could only bow his head and look at the old man’s dirty shoes. And the old man continued, “I am sorry if my dirty shoes touched your nice shoes. I am sorry.”
The man managed to say, “Oh please don’t say sorry. Your shoes are not that dirty.” And he said silently to himself, “My heart is dirtier …”
Well, ordinary shoes, maybe a bit dirty, but through it God makes a revelation and a heart receives a transfiguration.
So as we continue climbing the mountain of Lent, let us look for the signs of revelation from God. It is in those revelations that our hearts will receive a transfiguration.
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