Acts 15:1-2, 22-29 / Apocalypse 21:10-14, 22-23 / John 14:23-29
Our one main desire in life is to be happy. But that desire has also created an anxiety.
We can’t call it happy-anxiety. It sounds odd and rather contradictory. There is nothing so happy about anxiety.
For example, we want to have children, but with pregnancy comes anxiety. There are morning sickness, check-ups, gender of the baby, development of the baby. All this can be termed as pregnancy anxiety.
The current trade war between the two largest economies has brought about many anxieties.
One casualty in this economic dispute is a particular brand of mobile phone. It means that will be no more software updates for the operating system of the new models of this brand, leaving customers in a state of separation anxiety.
The pun about this is that although this brand has a hand-phone model with a camera that can zoom 50 times – it can even take clear pictures of the moon, but it didn’t see this coming. Well, what will this turn out eventually, we wait in anxiety.
The 1st reading recalled an anxiety in the early church over the issue of circumcision. That issue caused disturbance and unsettled minds.
That issue was critical enough for the apostles and elders to look into it and eventually resolved it.
So generally speaking, anxiety is a human problem and the problems are caused by humans themselves.
But in the gospel, we sense another kind of anxiety – a divine anxiety.
Jesus is anxious that we keep to His Word so that He can make His home in us. He is anxious to send the Holy Spirit who will teach us everything. He is anxious to give us His peace so that our hearts would not be troubled or afraid.
Yes, Jesus is anxious to fulfill what He has promised us. Because when He can fulfill what He has promised then we are able to believe; then we will be happy.
But this divine anxiety must also create in us an urgency, an urgency for true happiness and peace. The strange thing about human beings is that as much as we desire for peace and happiness in our lives, we don’t seem to be too anxious about it, there seems to be no urgency for it.
Call it indifference or procrastination, there is no urgency or anxiety because there is no scorching pain being felt immediately.
But whether we feel it or not, whether we are aware of it or not, the pain is growing within, and it is disturbing our peace and draining away our happiness.
And the pain can burn for a long time – 40, 50 or 60 years even – and yet the symptoms are there – we don’t feel peace in our hearts and no happiness in our lives.
Andrea Roncato is an Italian actor and comedian, known in his home country for being a playboy living the wild life. At the age of 80, he has apparently left drugs and the other vices behind.
He recently gave a moving pro-life testimony during a television interview. Roncato, who is childless, said this:
“I miss having a child. It was the worst mistake of my life that when I was very young, I had the chance to become a father, to have a child, but I had him aborted. Now, I’ve become very strongly against abortion.”
He also admitted that he constantly asks God to forgive him.
Roncato has had a change of heart, and has come to appreciate life.
The following is a moving poem he wrote for the child he aborted so many years ago:
I would have liked you to be small, so I could hug you.
I would have liked you to be big, so I could lean on you.
I would have liked you to be looking out the window in winter, watching the snow falling.
I would have liked you to be lying under the covers during a storm, silent so you could hear the sound of the rainfall.
I would have liked you to be kind to dogs, so you could pat them,
and affectionate with the elderly, so you could love them.
I would have liked you to be handsome, so I could brag about you,
with big eyes, like your mother’s.
I would have liked to sing to you, to make you fall asleep, and continue the dream that woke you up.
I would have liked you to be shy, so I could see you blush,
and stubborn, so I could argue with you.
I would have liked you to be at my side, so the two of us could walk in silence,
trying to understand what the other was thinking inside but couldn’t manage to say.
I would have liked to teach you all the things I know how to do.
I would have liked you to leave someday, so I could have the pleasure of seeing you come back home.
I would have liked you to experience your first love.
I would have liked you to be near me on the day I must leave this world.
I wish I had wanted you, that time when I didn’t want you …
It was a long wait, maybe 50 or 60 years, but eventually the father and his aborted son were reconciled on the spiritual realm, and peace and happiness can now happen for them.
Jesus wants to give us peace and happiness in life. But we block it out with our sins of unforgiveness, bitterness, resentment, hatred, jealousy, revenge and lustful desires.
All these and other sins feed the fire of pain in our hearts and yet we say that there is no peace and happiness in our lives.
But then the Lord Jesus continues to love us, so that one day when we realize the pain of our sins, then we will want to be reconciled with God and with others.
Then Jesus will make His home in our hearts, and then we will have peace and happiness in our lives.
With Jesus in our hearts, we will then realize that there is nothing to worry or to be anxious about.
Click the links under My Blog List to get to Chinese and English weekday homilies.
Saturday, May 25, 2019
Saturday, May 18, 2019
5th Sunday of Easter, Year C, 19.05.2019
Acts 14:21-27 / Apocalypse 21:1-5 / John 13:31-35
There are these four words that are often printed on parcels, on packages and on boxes. These four words are “Fragile, handle with care”.
It obviously means that the contents in the parcel, or package, or box, needs to be handled carefully, otherwise it might be damaged or broken.
So if there are things in life that are fragile and they are to be handled with care, then, the same can be said about life.
Indeed, life is fragile and to be handled with care. More than just to be handled with care, life is fragile and must also be handled with prayer.
In life, there are health issues and illnesses, there are worries about financial sufficiency, there are troubles in family relationships and marriages, and the list goes on and on.
And there is literally nothing in life that is absolutely firm and secure. Even mighty fortresses are laid to ruins over the passage of time, and everything that is deemed strong and mighty will be put to the test.
We know that Jesus personally chose His 12 apostles; the Twelve were handpicked by Him. And yet despite being personally chosen, they all failed, all Twelve of them failed, when they were put to the test.
Today’s gospel passage began with these words “When Judas had gone…” With those four words, what came after showed how fragile and weak the 12 Apostles were.
One betrayed Jesus to His enemies, another denied Him, and the rest deserted Him in His hour of suffering.
Jesus had foretold all this, and as the crumbling began with the departure of Judas, Jesus did not launch into crisis management or damage control.
Rather, He looked beyond the fragility and the failure of the Apostles, and gave them a direction in the form of a commandment, a new commandment: “love one another just as I have loved you”.
So even when the fragility of the Apostles were eventually exposed and they were broken down by their fears, they still had to remember that new commandment that Jesus gave them.
They had to remember that it was Jesus who loved them first, and they had to move on by loving others, in spite and despite their own fragilities, failures and brokenness.
Nonetheless, the new commandment of loving others as Jesus loved them cannot be possibly carried out unless there is prayer.
That’s why the early Christian community was always at prayer. They needed to be healed and strengthened by the love of Jesus in and through prayer.
Indeed life is fragile, it has to be handled with care. And for us, life is fragile, and it has to be handled with prayer.
A parishioner called up the priest and related this incident to him. He knew of this business associate who was suddenly stricken with a critical illness.
When he came to know of the man’s condition, he called him up to express his concern and said that he will pray for him although he knew that the business associate wasn’t a Christian.
The man was depressed and desperate as he could no longer continue working. He told the parishioner that yes, he needed prayers.
Then the man asked the parishioner, “I also want to learn to pray. How do I pray?”
The parishioner, like any good Catholic, told him, “Let me ask my priest.” And so that was the purpose of him calling the priest.
So the parishioner asked the priest, “What prayers to teach him?” The priest had to think. With Catholics, it is easy to teach them prayers like “The Lord’s Prayer”, the “Hail Mary” etc., but what to teach a non-Catholic who had almost no knowledge about the faith?
The priest thought for a while, and then he remembered the two shortest prayer from the gospels.
One was “Lord, help me.” That was said by the Syro-Phoenician woman to Jesus as she begged Him to heal her possessed daughter.
The other is “Lord, save me” which was by Peter as he was sinking into the water.
So the priest told the parishioner, “Teach this to your friend ‘Jesus, help me. Jesus, save me.’ Tell him to pray this when he feels the pain and when he is anxious about the future.”
It is a simple prayer “Jesus, help me. Jesus, save me” Calling upon the name of Jesus for help in time of need and for His saving grace in the fragilities of life will certainly bring about an outpouring of His love.
Yes, life is fragile, handle with care. Life is fragile, handle it with prayer. The prayer can be as simple as “Jesus, help me. Jesus, save me.”
There are these four words that are often printed on parcels, on packages and on boxes. These four words are “Fragile, handle with care”.
It obviously means that the contents in the parcel, or package, or box, needs to be handled carefully, otherwise it might be damaged or broken.
So if there are things in life that are fragile and they are to be handled with care, then, the same can be said about life.
Indeed, life is fragile and to be handled with care. More than just to be handled with care, life is fragile and must also be handled with prayer.
In life, there are health issues and illnesses, there are worries about financial sufficiency, there are troubles in family relationships and marriages, and the list goes on and on.
And there is literally nothing in life that is absolutely firm and secure. Even mighty fortresses are laid to ruins over the passage of time, and everything that is deemed strong and mighty will be put to the test.
We know that Jesus personally chose His 12 apostles; the Twelve were handpicked by Him. And yet despite being personally chosen, they all failed, all Twelve of them failed, when they were put to the test.
Today’s gospel passage began with these words “When Judas had gone…” With those four words, what came after showed how fragile and weak the 12 Apostles were.
One betrayed Jesus to His enemies, another denied Him, and the rest deserted Him in His hour of suffering.
Jesus had foretold all this, and as the crumbling began with the departure of Judas, Jesus did not launch into crisis management or damage control.
Rather, He looked beyond the fragility and the failure of the Apostles, and gave them a direction in the form of a commandment, a new commandment: “love one another just as I have loved you”.
So even when the fragility of the Apostles were eventually exposed and they were broken down by their fears, they still had to remember that new commandment that Jesus gave them.
They had to remember that it was Jesus who loved them first, and they had to move on by loving others, in spite and despite their own fragilities, failures and brokenness.
Nonetheless, the new commandment of loving others as Jesus loved them cannot be possibly carried out unless there is prayer.
That’s why the early Christian community was always at prayer. They needed to be healed and strengthened by the love of Jesus in and through prayer.
Indeed life is fragile, it has to be handled with care. And for us, life is fragile, and it has to be handled with prayer.
A parishioner called up the priest and related this incident to him. He knew of this business associate who was suddenly stricken with a critical illness.
When he came to know of the man’s condition, he called him up to express his concern and said that he will pray for him although he knew that the business associate wasn’t a Christian.
The man was depressed and desperate as he could no longer continue working. He told the parishioner that yes, he needed prayers.
Then the man asked the parishioner, “I also want to learn to pray. How do I pray?”
The parishioner, like any good Catholic, told him, “Let me ask my priest.” And so that was the purpose of him calling the priest.
So the parishioner asked the priest, “What prayers to teach him?” The priest had to think. With Catholics, it is easy to teach them prayers like “The Lord’s Prayer”, the “Hail Mary” etc., but what to teach a non-Catholic who had almost no knowledge about the faith?
The priest thought for a while, and then he remembered the two shortest prayer from the gospels.
One was “Lord, help me.” That was said by the Syro-Phoenician woman to Jesus as she begged Him to heal her possessed daughter.
The other is “Lord, save me” which was by Peter as he was sinking into the water.
So the priest told the parishioner, “Teach this to your friend ‘Jesus, help me. Jesus, save me.’ Tell him to pray this when he feels the pain and when he is anxious about the future.”
It is a simple prayer “Jesus, help me. Jesus, save me” Calling upon the name of Jesus for help in time of need and for His saving grace in the fragilities of life will certainly bring about an outpouring of His love.
Yes, life is fragile, handle with care. Life is fragile, handle it with prayer. The prayer can be as simple as “Jesus, help me. Jesus, save me.”
Saturday, May 11, 2019
4th Sunday of Easter, Year C, 12.05.2019
Acts 13:14, 43-52 / Apocalypse 7:9, 14-17 / John10:27-30
In a world of sights and sounds, the combination of audio and visual is a powerful form of communication to catch the attention.
So whether it is advertisement or entertainment, for presentation or for relaxation, the audio and video will create an impact.
One without the other may not have the full effect as compared to the combination of both. But it also depends on the situation.
If we see the boss, and we cannot detour, then it would be better if he doesn’t say anything to us. Because if we were to see him and he says to us, “I want to talk to you” then it may not be sweet talk.
Or if we see the priest coming our way, he may not say anything, but we will tell our children “Father is coming, don’t be naughty.”
So sometimes, only the visual will do, no need for the audio.
But at other times, the audio is more effective than the video. Babies may be sound asleep with people around talking, but they will wake up when the mother calls out to them.
And even our pet dogs. They respond to our voice when we call out to them. Dogs as we know have a keen sense of hearing. That’s our experience.
In the gospel, Jesus said, “The sheep that belong to me listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me.”
We don’t know much about sheep and shepherds. But when we do some reading up, what we will come to know is that sheep have a keen sense of hearing. They know the shepherd, not so much by sight (they seem to have poor eyesight) but by the voice of their shepherd.
It is said that three flocks of sheep may be mingled together and there is no distinction as to which sheep belongs to which flock.
But when the time comes to separate them, the shepherd of each flock calls out to the sheep and the sheep will follow the respective shepherd.
So when Jesus said “the sheep that belong to me listen to my voice” He is talking about an experiential reality.
But for us who have no experience of sheep and shepherds, then this background information will be certainly helpful.
An interesting question at this point is that will a sheep ever follow another shepherd? A shepherd’s answer to this is that it is not likely that a sheep will follow another shepherd, unless it is sick, then it will follow anything that moves. And because of its poor eyesight it does not really know what it is following.
And that’s why Jesus said that the sheep that belongs to Him listen to His voice. Jesus calls us His sheep. So where is His voice, and how do we listen to His voice?
Today is also Vocation Sunday, and we also celebrate Mother’s Day. Vocation Sunday is about the promotion of priestly vocations, and Mother’s Day is linked to it in a profound way.
But just as babies respond to their mother’s voice, mothers have a deep influence over their children in what they say to them.
Mothers say a lot to their children (some call it nagging) and at times mothers don’t think that their children are listening.
But the children are listening and we bear testimony to that whenever we say “my mother once told me…”
So the mother’s mission is to be the voice of Jesus to her children, to do the right and just and the good thing.
The mother has to be the voice of Jesus to lead them to Jesus and to teach them to follow Jesus. And mothers can also consider saying this to their children: “if God wants you to be a priest or religious, then think about it”.
My mother didn’t tell me to be a priest when I was young. She only told me to say my prayers and study hard, the two things which I didn’t like to do.
But she prayed for me, and her words were prophetic enough. Because when I was in the Seminary I had to study real hard, and when I became a priest, I had to pray real hard.
So mothers, keep the faith and be the voice of Jesus to your children. Teach them to pray and to always do what is right and just and good.
For your children will remember what you tell them, and if they ever become a priest or a religious, your blessings will be great, on earth as in heaven
In a world of sights and sounds, the combination of audio and visual is a powerful form of communication to catch the attention.
So whether it is advertisement or entertainment, for presentation or for relaxation, the audio and video will create an impact.
One without the other may not have the full effect as compared to the combination of both. But it also depends on the situation.
If we see the boss, and we cannot detour, then it would be better if he doesn’t say anything to us. Because if we were to see him and he says to us, “I want to talk to you” then it may not be sweet talk.
Or if we see the priest coming our way, he may not say anything, but we will tell our children “Father is coming, don’t be naughty.”
So sometimes, only the visual will do, no need for the audio.
But at other times, the audio is more effective than the video. Babies may be sound asleep with people around talking, but they will wake up when the mother calls out to them.
And even our pet dogs. They respond to our voice when we call out to them. Dogs as we know have a keen sense of hearing. That’s our experience.
In the gospel, Jesus said, “The sheep that belong to me listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me.”
We don’t know much about sheep and shepherds. But when we do some reading up, what we will come to know is that sheep have a keen sense of hearing. They know the shepherd, not so much by sight (they seem to have poor eyesight) but by the voice of their shepherd.
It is said that three flocks of sheep may be mingled together and there is no distinction as to which sheep belongs to which flock.
But when the time comes to separate them, the shepherd of each flock calls out to the sheep and the sheep will follow the respective shepherd.
So when Jesus said “the sheep that belong to me listen to my voice” He is talking about an experiential reality.
But for us who have no experience of sheep and shepherds, then this background information will be certainly helpful.
An interesting question at this point is that will a sheep ever follow another shepherd? A shepherd’s answer to this is that it is not likely that a sheep will follow another shepherd, unless it is sick, then it will follow anything that moves. And because of its poor eyesight it does not really know what it is following.
And that’s why Jesus said that the sheep that belongs to Him listen to His voice. Jesus calls us His sheep. So where is His voice, and how do we listen to His voice?
Today is also Vocation Sunday, and we also celebrate Mother’s Day. Vocation Sunday is about the promotion of priestly vocations, and Mother’s Day is linked to it in a profound way.
But just as babies respond to their mother’s voice, mothers have a deep influence over their children in what they say to them.
Mothers say a lot to their children (some call it nagging) and at times mothers don’t think that their children are listening.
But the children are listening and we bear testimony to that whenever we say “my mother once told me…”
So the mother’s mission is to be the voice of Jesus to her children, to do the right and just and the good thing.
The mother has to be the voice of Jesus to lead them to Jesus and to teach them to follow Jesus. And mothers can also consider saying this to their children: “if God wants you to be a priest or religious, then think about it”.
My mother didn’t tell me to be a priest when I was young. She only told me to say my prayers and study hard, the two things which I didn’t like to do.
But she prayed for me, and her words were prophetic enough. Because when I was in the Seminary I had to study real hard, and when I became a priest, I had to pray real hard.
So mothers, keep the faith and be the voice of Jesus to your children. Teach them to pray and to always do what is right and just and good.
For your children will remember what you tell them, and if they ever become a priest or a religious, your blessings will be great, on earth as in heaven
Saturday, May 4, 2019
3rd Sunday of Easter, Year C, 05.05.2019
Acts 5:27-32, 40-41 / Apocalypse 5:11-14 / John 21:1-19
Whenever we talk about walking down memory lane, we talk about recalling the good old times and getting that warm nostalgic feeling.
We talk about how things used to be when life was simpler and slower. Whether it was better or not, that’s quite difficult to say. But life was certainly simpler and slower.
Depending on whether you are the “pioneer” or the “merdeka” generation, or the millennial or strawberry generation, you may have differing views on the past and the present.
A story has it that a youngster asked his grandfather: Grandpa, how did you people live before without technology, no airplanes, no internet, no computers, no air con, no cars, no mobile phones?
Grandpa replied: It’s just like how your generation live today: no prayers, no compassion, no honour, no respect, no character, no shame.
This must really be just a joke, because to say that to the youngsters, a war will start.
But whatever the present situation is, it would be nice to recall and reminisce about the times past and the days gone by, and to see things then and now.
In the gospel, we hear of a group of rather aimless and directionless disciples who still seem to be spiritually asleep, even though the Risen Lord Jesus had appeared to them twice.
In that dull state , Simon Peter wanted to go fishing and the rest followed. Maybe with nothing much to do, they just want to go back to the past.
And especially for Simon Peter, he wanted to go back to his former trade as a fisherman, and to think about how it was before and how life has changed.
But it was like a “déjà vu” for him, with so many things that brought back memories of the past.
First, was the night of futile fishing, when once upon a time he too worked hard all night and caught nothing.
Then at the stranger’s prompting, there was a miraculous catch of fish and he remembered that first encounter with Jesus and the mission of being “fishers of men”.
And then that charcoal fire certainly brought back vivid memories. It was not that long ago and over another charcoal fire that Peter denied knowing Jesus, not once but three times.
So it was on that shore of the Sea of Tiberius that many memories came alive for Peter, and for the other disciples too.
And there at the centre of those memories is none other than the Risen Lord Jesus Himself.
And with the past coming alive in the present, Jesus put the question to Peter: Do you love me? It is not a question about the past, but more for the present as well as for the future.
It is a question not just for Peter to answer, it is also a question for us to answer.
And before we answer with “Yes, Lord, you know I love you”, let us recall a bit about the past, especially when our love for Jesus was put to the test and how we have responded to the challenge.
No matter how we have responded in the past, there will always be troubled times and the trials of life.
But whether in troubled times or in times of trials, let us have a faith direction and may these four words help us in our direction. The four words are: First, Next, Then, Last.
First – It is God who has brought me to this situation. The will of God will never take me to where the grace of God will not protect me. In that I will be at peace.
Next – God will keep me in His love to behave as His child in this trial. God will never give us more than we can take. He will let us bend, but He will never let us break.
Then – He will turn the trial into a blessing and teach me lessons that He wants me to learn. God doesn’t just want us to go through it. He wants us to grow through it.
Last – In God’s good time, He will bring me out of it and let me rise and shine. Then we will realise that in order for the light to shine brightly, the darkness must be present.
So just four words to give us a direction so as to make a decision – First, Next, Then, Last
We pray that like Peter, we will also say decisively: Yes, Lord, You know that I love You.
So whether in troubled times or in times of trial, may we know that it’s all God’s time.
And so with each time, may it always be: Yes, Lord, You know I love You.
Whenever we talk about walking down memory lane, we talk about recalling the good old times and getting that warm nostalgic feeling.
We talk about how things used to be when life was simpler and slower. Whether it was better or not, that’s quite difficult to say. But life was certainly simpler and slower.
Depending on whether you are the “pioneer” or the “merdeka” generation, or the millennial or strawberry generation, you may have differing views on the past and the present.
A story has it that a youngster asked his grandfather: Grandpa, how did you people live before without technology, no airplanes, no internet, no computers, no air con, no cars, no mobile phones?
Grandpa replied: It’s just like how your generation live today: no prayers, no compassion, no honour, no respect, no character, no shame.
This must really be just a joke, because to say that to the youngsters, a war will start.
But whatever the present situation is, it would be nice to recall and reminisce about the times past and the days gone by, and to see things then and now.
In the gospel, we hear of a group of rather aimless and directionless disciples who still seem to be spiritually asleep, even though the Risen Lord Jesus had appeared to them twice.
In that dull state , Simon Peter wanted to go fishing and the rest followed. Maybe with nothing much to do, they just want to go back to the past.
And especially for Simon Peter, he wanted to go back to his former trade as a fisherman, and to think about how it was before and how life has changed.
But it was like a “déjà vu” for him, with so many things that brought back memories of the past.
First, was the night of futile fishing, when once upon a time he too worked hard all night and caught nothing.
Then at the stranger’s prompting, there was a miraculous catch of fish and he remembered that first encounter with Jesus and the mission of being “fishers of men”.
And then that charcoal fire certainly brought back vivid memories. It was not that long ago and over another charcoal fire that Peter denied knowing Jesus, not once but three times.
So it was on that shore of the Sea of Tiberius that many memories came alive for Peter, and for the other disciples too.
And there at the centre of those memories is none other than the Risen Lord Jesus Himself.
And with the past coming alive in the present, Jesus put the question to Peter: Do you love me? It is not a question about the past, but more for the present as well as for the future.
It is a question not just for Peter to answer, it is also a question for us to answer.
And before we answer with “Yes, Lord, you know I love you”, let us recall a bit about the past, especially when our love for Jesus was put to the test and how we have responded to the challenge.
No matter how we have responded in the past, there will always be troubled times and the trials of life.
But whether in troubled times or in times of trials, let us have a faith direction and may these four words help us in our direction. The four words are: First, Next, Then, Last.
First – It is God who has brought me to this situation. The will of God will never take me to where the grace of God will not protect me. In that I will be at peace.
Next – God will keep me in His love to behave as His child in this trial. God will never give us more than we can take. He will let us bend, but He will never let us break.
Then – He will turn the trial into a blessing and teach me lessons that He wants me to learn. God doesn’t just want us to go through it. He wants us to grow through it.
Last – In God’s good time, He will bring me out of it and let me rise and shine. Then we will realise that in order for the light to shine brightly, the darkness must be present.
So just four words to give us a direction so as to make a decision – First, Next, Then, Last
We pray that like Peter, we will also say decisively: Yes, Lord, You know that I love You.
So whether in troubled times or in times of trial, may we know that it’s all God’s time.
And so with each time, may it always be: Yes, Lord, You know I love You.
Saturday, April 27, 2019
2nd Sunday of Easter, Year C, 27.04.2019
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.
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.
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.
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