tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-70413175731389528522024-03-18T08:03:50.303+08:00Your Grace is SufficientRev Michael Chuahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13295316323174276901noreply@blogger.comBlogger1069125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7041317573138952852.post-81847828148131699082024-03-18T08:03:00.001+08:002024-03-18T08:03:16.312+08:00A Week of Decisions<span style="font-family: times;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord </span></b><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiBIemw-5jXlr8juqVJeodFslGPdhwnHGMDDa7FbXJFz8CH-Mavl39ejTeKfQbeiHu4EjotgZsAm8wiT1sxM4nMSs6UBd4idOADn7H1hCcmlx8PrVQYqGFWtwYXObxHfU7AuLSxwcwMRkmIyIf5ZxD7NV3oyXU25UYiy_hoKVh5-dyC0LdW_9Zlg0zSWCS/s736/8cdb60db53c78450632b5cecf988eb91--giotto-bible-art.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="692" data-original-width="736" height="376" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiBIemw-5jXlr8juqVJeodFslGPdhwnHGMDDa7FbXJFz8CH-Mavl39ejTeKfQbeiHu4EjotgZsAm8wiT1sxM4nMSs6UBd4idOADn7H1hCcmlx8PrVQYqGFWtwYXObxHfU7AuLSxwcwMRkmIyIf5ZxD7NV3oyXU25UYiy_hoKVh5-dyC0LdW_9Zlg0zSWCS/w400-h376/8cdb60db53c78450632b5cecf988eb91--giotto-bible-art.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />Before the advent of sophisticated computer games, in a much simpler world, ordinary objects like sticks and stones, house furniture and flowers could be transformed into the most ingenious objects of play and entertainment. One simple single player game served as a kind of divination as to whether someone who is the object of our affection is willing to return the affection. As you pluck the petals of the flower, you alternately speak the following phrases with each petal representing one or the other proposition: “she loves me” or “she loves me not.” </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">If you had paid attention to today’s reading, you would be wondering how the crowds’ love-hate relationship with the Lord will eventually play out - will they love Him or love Him not? Today’s liturgy, especially the first gospel before our procession and the passion reading we’ve just heard, seems to give us an impression of the crowds that is bipolar. When it comes to Jesus - you will either love Him to bits or hate Him to the core. Sometimes, both at the same time and by the same folks. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">The crowd described in the gospel at the start of the procession and the one that gathers before Pilate during our Lord’s trial could very well have been made up of the same cohort. The same jubilant fan club that welcomed the Lord as a homecoming hero at the start of the story adds their blood thirsty voices to the lynching mob at the end. There is no way of avoiding the discomfort that comes with the whiplash of hearing shouts of “hosanna” one minute and “crucify him” the next. This day, like the week it begins, is all about the extremes. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">What could have transformed an excited jubilant welcoming committee into a bloodthirsty lynch mob? They had expected a Messianic king who will lead them in rebellion against the Roman Empire but instead Jesus proved to be a major disappointment since He refused to rally His supporters in open rebellion. For that they had turned Him over to the very authorities whom they despised. If our Lord was not willing to kill the oppressors, He will be left to die in their hands. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">How the Roman authorities got involved would also require a bit of explanation. The Roman prefect of Judea, Pontius Pilate, would travel to Jerusalem from his palace on the coast at Caesarea. He was there for a specific reason. It was the feast of Passover, one of the three major pilgrimage festivals which meant that Jerusalem’s population would have swelled from its usual 50,000 to many times its normal size. He came to be where the action is and to make sure the Jews didn’t start making any trouble. Passover was significant because it commemorates the Jews’ deliverance from Egypt. The Passover Seder commemorates the bitterness of slavery under an oppressive regime and a sweet taste of freedom from a reign of terror – and you can see why that made the Romans nervous. That’s why Pontius Pilate had to come to Jerusalem in all of his imperial majesty, to remind the Jewish pilgrims that Rome was in charge. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">In a city rife with trouble and rebellion, our Lord was caught in the crosshairs. He refused to bend to the crowds who demanded that He be a king of their design. Neither would He admit to Pontius Pilate that it was all a mistake. For this, He willingly accepted the second parade. This time there will not be admirers and supporters lining the path to wave Him on with expectant jubilation but a cruel angry mob mocking His passage and ushering Him to His humiliating death. Though the first parade seems to befit a king and the second a criminal, it was actually the second parade which highlights our Lord’s true glory and majesty. Here is a King who will not just inspire His subjects to die for Him. Here is a King who would willingly die for His people, even those who had rejected Him. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Just as you can’t have the resurrection on Easter without the cross on Good Friday, you can’t fully experience the Passion narrative without the rest of Holy Week. We need the story of the Palm Sunday parade that welcomed a King. But we also need to hear the parade to the place of execution, the way of the cross undertaken by a man condemned to suffer on our behalf. This is the king we are called to follow—humble, riding on a donkey, calling those who would follow Him to embrace the way of sacrifice, suffering, and servanthood. His call is not to a throne, but to a cross. Jesus isn’t waiting around for us to ask Him into our lives—He’s calling us to be in His life, to walk His way, to join His march to the cross. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">When we arrive at the cross, will we be like the crowds who would readily shout “we love you” when things are going our way but immediately turn our backs on Him when He fails to meet our expectations and declare with disdain: “we love you not”? </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">This is a week of decisions. This is a week of extremes: of highs and lows; of joys and sorrows, love and hate but it only works if we are willing to accept it all. You need to walk in the way of our Lord's suffering and live in the tension of His judgment, so that you can properly share the joy of His resurrection.</span></span>Rev Michael Chuahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13295316323174276901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7041317573138952852.post-92122814822497023712024-03-11T07:50:00.002+08:002024-03-11T07:50:50.231+08:00Deep within them I will plant my Law<span style="font-family: times;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Fifth Sunday of Lent Year B </span></b><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://aleteia.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/08/web-saint-aug-06-transfiguration-public-domain.jpg?quality=100&strip=all&w=760&h=450&crop=1" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="760" height="237" src="https://aleteia.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/08/web-saint-aug-06-transfiguration-public-domain.jpg?quality=100&strip=all&w=760&h=450&crop=1" width="400" /></a></div><br />In the traditional calendar, today would be the first Sunday of Passiontide, a more intense period of preparation for Holy Week. It is no wonder that we would be treated to a preview of an essential theme of the holiest week of the year. On Maundy Thursday, on the night when our Lord Jesus gathered with His disciples in the upper room to celebrate the inaugural Eucharist, He declared that through His blood, shed for His disciples, there would come into existence a “New” covenant. What is this “New” covenant which He is speaking of? If this is a “New” covenant, how about the “Old”? We can find the answer in the first reading. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">The prophet Jeremiah speaks of the time when God will make a “new covenant with the House of Israel (and the House of Judah)”, a covenant that would be unlike the covenants of old which had been broken due to Israel’s disobedience. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">What was wrong with the old covenant that necessitated a new one? Well, the old covenant was fundamentally good - an unprecedented blessing for the people of Israel. It assured them of God’s commitment to them. It gave them an identity - they were God’s Chosen People! It provided them with laws to govern their behaviour. It promised them spiritual and material and even military blessings if they obeyed that law and remained true to the covenant. God even instituted the office of high priest so that the people would have someone to offer sacrifices on their behalf and represent them in the presence of God. But it was flawed in three ways. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">First, although there was a high priest who would regularly offer an animal sacrifice for their sins, such sacrifices could never fully and finally secure their forgiveness. “For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (Heb 10:4). </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Second, the law of the Old Covenant that came through Moses was unable to supply the power that people needed to fulfill and obey it. The Law of Moses was very clear in stating, “You shall not” or “Do this and live” or “Be holy.” The Law of Moses told the people of Israel what they should and should not do but it was never capable of supplying them with the spiritual power to obey. It provided them the “means” but not the “grace.” </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Third, the Old or Mosaic Covenant was temporary and limited. It was designed by God with a shelf life. God never intended it to last forever nor to be the final revelation of His will for mankind. It was also limited to Israel and its descendants and not meant to encompass all nations whom God had promised to bless through Abraham. In Hebrew 8:5, we are told that everything Moses did in constructing the Old Covenant tabernacle, together with its rituals and sacrifices, was only “a copy and shadow of the heavenly things.” But God always intended to establish a new covenant with every single person - “the least no less than the greatest.” </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">What the old covenant lacked, our Lord Jesus supplies and perfects in His “new covenant”. He seals it not with the blood of bulls and goats, but His own blood shed on the cross for our atonement. He did not only show us the way to sanctification and salvation but provided us the means to attain it by pouring out grace upon grace through the sacraments which He instituted. As we heard in the second reading, “He became for all who obey Him the source of eternal salvation.” He not only gave us a covenant that was temporary and limited but one that is eternal and universal. We see evidence of this in the gospel when the Greeks come in search of Him. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Unlike the covenants which had been written in stone, this new covenant would be written in the hearts of the people and therefore accessible to all peoples: “Deep within them I will plant my Law, writing it on their hearts. Then I will be their God and they shall be my people.” It is interesting to note that the first set of commandments were written by God Himself by His own hand, but these were physically shattered by Moses when he broke them in rage after having discovered Israel’s apostasy (the incident of the golden calf). Moses, thereafter, was commanded by God to inscribe a second set which was kept in the ark of the covenant, which eventually went missing after the sack of Jerusalem and the exile of the Judaeans to Babylon. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">So, this new covenant would no longer be inscribed into something breakable and as flimsy as stone. The idea of God planting the covenant deep in the hearts of His people meant that this new covenant would no longer be an external set of laws requiring superficial observance but one which demanded true and radical repentance. We must literally die in order to live these commandments in our lives. “Unless a wheat grain falls on the ground and dies, it remains only a single grain; but if it dies, it yields a rich harvest”. It would be anchored to the very core of our being and not just tied to the foreheads or wrapped around the hands like the external phylacteries worn by the Jews. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">In the old covenant, man struggled to offer something worthy to God but in the new covenant, it is our Lord Jesus Christ, who offers Himself as the perfect sacrifice, the only worthy sacrifice, through His own death. There is no hint of agony or humiliation when our Lord speaks of His death. In fact, He tells us that this is the Hour of His glory because when He is lifted up on the cross, He will draw all men to Himself. God’s glory will be shown not in a covenant written in stone but in the living, suffering and dying of His Son. But that’s not the end of the story. God’s glory is in the raising of our Lord Jesus to new life, the final triumph of love over death. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">But before that new life can be born and bear fruit, the old life, like the grain of wheat, like the old covenant, has to die. So it is, with us. We have a choice. We can cling on to our old lives and all the broken promises we’ve made to God, afraid of what might happen if we say yes to God’s invitation to new life. Or we can begin again to let our old lives go as we renew our acceptance and commitment to the new Eternal Life found in the Risen Christ. This Passiontide, let’s enter fully into the mystery of the suffering of Jesus, let us renew our commitment to the new covenant which He has established with His death, so that we can also enter fully in the joy of His resurrection. “A pure heart create in me O God” and plant your Law deeply in our hearts.</span></span>Rev Michael Chuahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13295316323174276901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7041317573138952852.post-13048871316388877082024-03-04T07:55:00.002+08:002024-03-04T07:55:32.906+08:00God sends a Saviour<span style="font-family: times;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Fourth Sunday of Lent Year B</span></b></span><div><span style="font-family: times;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"></span></b><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Laetare Sunday<br /></b></span><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaZw3fcYDoAkSDl3RDnye7rxzcpLSmhqDlTgUebwt6apCSPNHhcxnHe9FjLCkZYJl81hUsmJpKctWeYTf3zd4jYWMDxxFL0WwlkU6EKGpEecWvvzgyGGpjhyuM1YufXZb90n1u2hpa58zUmzZwTyG3alMHgmbkjHUkhE679vx2W5ni-uBles6am0hCapzD/s1000/persia-ancient-1000%20Cyrus%20the%20Great.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="664" data-original-width="1000" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaZw3fcYDoAkSDl3RDnye7rxzcpLSmhqDlTgUebwt6apCSPNHhcxnHe9FjLCkZYJl81hUsmJpKctWeYTf3zd4jYWMDxxFL0WwlkU6EKGpEecWvvzgyGGpjhyuM1YufXZb90n1u2hpa58zUmzZwTyG3alMHgmbkjHUkhE679vx2W5ni-uBles6am0hCapzD/w400-h265/persia-ancient-1000%20Cyrus%20the%20Great.webp" width="400" /></a></div><br />Before we consider the Saviour who is God’s Son in the gospel, let’s turn to a type of saviour in the Old Testament. The first reading introduces an extremely strange “saviour” in the person of a pagan ruler - Cyrus the Great! Although a relatively minor biblical character, Cyrus is one of the most famous, and significant, historical figures to appear in scripture. In his time, he was the most powerful man on earth, leading the Persian empire in its expansion across vast swathes of the eastern world, sweeping away many of the previously dominant civilisations, including, crucially, the Babylonians. He was not a member of God’s people, as the Old Testament understood it. He had probably never heard of the God of Abraham. In fact, one of the reasons he is so well known is because he conquered not through military might alone but through more subtle politics and diplomacy. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">The last verse of 2 Chronicles records something similar, where Cyrus appears to acknowledge Israel’s God, and certainly allows his people to go home. Enlightened leadership? Maybe, but whether he knew it or not, there was One even greater than he, One who was truly in charge here. There are few cases in all history which better demonstrate how even when it appears otherwise, and when God’s people are few and far between, the Lord reigns. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Cyrus – the Lord’s anointed (Messiah or Christos - the Anointed One), a saviour? It seems extraordinary, there must be better qualified people around, the faithful few in Judah, the key leaders in Babylon, but no, this world leader is chosen … no-one, nor anything in the whole of the world, is beyond God’s jurisdiction. And so, it is God, rather than King Cyrus, whose real power is demonstrated and whose rewards are granted. After God used Nebuchadnezzar to punish His people, He raised Cyrus to deliver them from their captivity in Babylon and return them to their land. It is God’s plan and purpose that is being revealed. The Chronicler is actually saying to anyone who will listen, even when there is no hope, even when God’s prophets are scoffed at and His message rejected, even when the Temple which is the visible sign of God’s covenant is laid in rubble, even when there is seemingly no way forward, no remedy, there is God. When there is no-one around to help, all the heroes have gone, the prophets of old are dead and you are all alone, there is God. Wherever you are, despite appearances, in every place at every time, through all circumstances, there is God. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">This provides us with a beautiful prelude to the gospel which introduces us to the true Saviour of the World - the One who is God’s Son, not by attribution or by adoption like the kings and emperors of old, but the only begotten Son of God who is sent by God Himself because of His love for the world. This is not just a messiah, not just a saviour, but THE Messiah and THE Saviour, in which all other human saviours pale in comparison. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Our Lord uses a strange illustration from the Old Testament to introduce His point in Him being the Saviour whom God has sent. The antidote to the venom of sin and rebellion would be the very thing that threatens their wellbeing - the serpent. Such an image would have made sense when our Lord’s interlocutor, Nicodemus, had received word of our Lord’s death on the cross and would have stayed with Him for the rest of His earthly life. The cross would be the ultimate demonstration of God’s love and the very benchmark by which we would be judged. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">“Yes, God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost but may have eternal life.” In Christ, we see a love so intense, so sacrificial, so incomprehensible, it makes all human expressions seem frivolous in comparison. Here was a saviour that was different from every other saviour in human history, even those seemingly anointed by God, like Cyrus. Our Lord was not motivated by expansionist ambitions nor the heart of a benevolent and wise ruler. Our Lord’s sole motivation in saving us was love! And this is how He loved us: Through His death, Christ revealed what pure, unfathomable love looks like. But He did more than that. Through the cross, God proved the depths of His love. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">St Paul tells us in the second reading, “God loved us with so much love that he was generous with his mercy: when we were dead through our sins, he brought us to life with Christ – it is through grace that you have been saved – and raised us up with him and gave us a place with him in heaven, in Christ Jesus.” Such a passionate, self-sacrificing act is hard for any mind to comprehend. God reached out, expecting nothing in return, and emptied Himself completely, for the very ones who spurned Him. You and I included. Cyrus would have offered benevolence to good and loyal subjects, but our Lord showed mercy even to those who rebelled against Him. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">God sent Christ for one reason only, and here’s why: “So that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.” We receive God’s free gift of eternal life through faith, by believing Jesus is who He says He is—the sinless Son of God who paid for the world’s sins—and did what He said He did—died in our place to grant us entrance into eternity with Him. But to receive that precious gift, we must acknowledge that we need it. That’s hard because it pricks against our pride. We often take great satisfaction in our achievements and knowing we’ve progressed solely through our own merits. But the Holy Spirit helps us realise the futility of our efforts; we cannot earn grace, but we can accept it by the power of the Holy Spirit. To step out of the darkness and into the light, out of death and into life, all we need to do is to just accept the offer which our Lord gives us. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Despite common belief, the cruel execution by crucifixion was not invented by the Romans. It was the innovation of the Persians, and Cyrus may have also used it during his reign to punish rebels. But our Lord, unlike Cyrus, did not condemn any of us to be crucified. Rather, He chose to be crucified in our stead. And through the cross and by the cross, our Lord Jesus Christ revealed a beautiful picture of love, of grace, and the freedom of complete absolution. No more guilt. No more shame. Zero condemnation. Only freedom, light, and life, and all because God so loved this world. As St Paul reminds us in the second reading: “We are God’s work of art, created in Christ Jesus to live the good life as from the beginning he had meant us to live it.” For this reason alone, we should rejoice!</span></span></div>Rev Michael Chuahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13295316323174276901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7041317573138952852.post-17999865819172551982024-02-28T11:03:00.003+08:002024-03-03T07:59:32.142+08:00The New Temple<span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Third Sunday of Lent Year B </b></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5ul2YDryy19F57DAhNQK2AzP3Hq9Pd7sB7fBtb85ZrceBPq_j07H_fzC3tC0W_sk7vCOpAb2suS7zkp9h8VEx4zCro3n3VFJRcgJUgHER2yddrab7i957NhAOhbMEUxohT9MYqyb6zOT4F6bKlFZyo2B-Giq1PRtDHDAP8sSkR7cc4M6ayubYFddmXHMF/s900/christ-cleansing-the-temple-1655-bernardino-mei.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="657" data-original-width="900" height="293" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5ul2YDryy19F57DAhNQK2AzP3Hq9Pd7sB7fBtb85ZrceBPq_j07H_fzC3tC0W_sk7vCOpAb2suS7zkp9h8VEx4zCro3n3VFJRcgJUgHER2yddrab7i957NhAOhbMEUxohT9MYqyb6zOT4F6bKlFZyo2B-Giq1PRtDHDAP8sSkR7cc4M6ayubYFddmXHMF/w400-h293/christ-cleansing-the-temple-1655-bernardino-mei.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />For many Catholics, fund raising can sound like a dirty word. This aversion and resistance to fund raising activities is often justified by the following assumptions: </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">First, religion should stay clear of money matters and should be solely concerned with the spiritual welfare of its members. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Second, the Church already possesses a fortune evidenced by the size of the church and its many facilities. Somehow, the church has stashed away in some secret corner, a magical goose that can endlessly lay golden eggs. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Third, Jesus shows us a perfect example of how we Christians should abhor the commercialising of religion by His action of turning out all the merchants and traders from the Temple precinct and then accuses them of turning His Father’s house into a market. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Our gospel story is often interpreted as testimony against materialism in religious practice. Religion is to remain radically pure in regard to the corruptions of commerce. Christianity is solely about faith. Money plays no role whatsoever. So, was our Lord’s action in today’s gospel passage a call to keep things simple and cheap, that the Church should avoid any effort to raise funds for its maintenance and activities? You will be surprised with the answer. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">In case you may have noticed, the Gospel of John states that Jesus cleansed the temple early in His ministry, but the other gospels place the temple-cleansing near the end of His ministry. Only in John’s gospel do we have the Jews confront our Lord with this question: “What sign can you show us to justify what you have done?” And it is this question which opens the discussion on the significance of our Lord’s action in pointing to His own death and resurrection. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">The Temple was the focal point of every aspect of Jewish life and identity. From a theological and liturgical perspective, for a first-century Jew, the Temple was at least four things: </span><span style="font-size: medium;">(1) the dwelling-place of God on earth; (2) a microcosm of heaven and earth; (3) the sole place of sacrificial worship; (4) and where there is ritual sacrifice, you would also need the priesthood. Therefore, sacrifices offered to God could only be made at the Temple and never elsewhere. This is also the reason why there were traders selling animals in the Temple because these animals were meant for the Temple rituals, offering and sacrifices. The moneychangers also served a similar role of exchanging the profane Roman currency, which was considered idolatrous and unclean with Temple coinage, the only currency accepted in the Temple. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">But the temple was also a barometer of sorts for the health of the covenantal relationship between God and the people. Many of the prophets warned that a failure to uphold the Law and live the covenant would result in the destruction of the temple. In 587 B.C., the temple was destroyed by King Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians, marking the start of The Exile. Following the exile, the temple was rebuilt, then damaged, and rebuilt again. But even this second temple would be destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. Was it in this context that we can understand the words of our Lord, “Destroy this sanctuary, and in three days I will raise it up”? St John gives us the answer: “But He was speaking of the sanctuary that was His body, and when Jesus rose from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this …” </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Our Lord Jesus saw that all four aspects of the Temple were being fulfilled in Himself and in the community of His disciples. (1) His body is the dwelling place of God on earth - the meeting place between heaven and earth; (2) He is the foundation stone that would be the beginning of a new Temple and a new creation - the new heaven and earth; (3) He would offer Himself as the perfect sacrifice that will accomplish what previous animal blood sacrifices were unable to achieve - atonement for sin and communion with God; (4) and finally, Jesus is the High Priest of the new eschatological priesthood that could serve as the perfect mediator between God and man. Because of this, the old temple was destined to pass away, to be replaced by the new Temple “not made with human hands,” and the old priesthood with the new. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Was Jesus, in cleansing the temple, attacking the temple itself, and by extension, an attack on God as well? No. And did Jesus, in making His remark, say He would destroy the temple? No. But, paradoxically, the love of the Son for His Father and His Father’s house did point toward the demise of the temple. “This is a prophecy of the Cross,” wrote Joseph Ratzinger, who later became Pope Benedict XVI, “He shows that the destruction of His earthly body will be at the same time the end of the Temple.” </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">So, the new and everlasting Temple was established by the death and resurrection of the Son of God. Through our Lord’s death and resurrection, the place for encountering God will no longer be the temple but the risen and glorified Body of Jesus in the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, where all mankind is united. With His Resurrection the new Temple will begin: the living body of Jesus Christ, which will now stand in the sight of God and be the place of all worship. Into this Body He incorporates men. This is what the Catechism tells us: “Christ is the true temple of God, ‘the place where his glory dwells’; by the grace of God, Christians also become temples of the Holy Spirit, living stones out of which the Church is built” (CCC 1197). Through baptism we become joined to the one Body of Christ, and that Body, the Church, is the “one temple of the Holy Spirit” (CCC, 776). </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Finally, this story of the cleansing of the Temple also points to an important aspect of our spiritual lives, an element so relevant during this season of Lent - spiritual purification. Christ has come not only to “cleanse the Temple of Jerusalem,” but the temple of our own bodies, our lives. Our Lord’s purification of the Temple reminds us today of the need to purify our faith, to once again ground our lives on the God who shows us His power and infinite love on the Cross, the source of our salvation. Only by passing through the Cross will we reach the glory and joy of the Resurrection. The Lord Jesus comes into your life expecting to find a place ordered to the worship of the one true God, but what He finds is “a marketplace,” a heart that is divided by competing values and allegiances. Instead of a heart that is solely dedicated to God, Christ finds a place where things other than God have become primary. What rivals to the one true God have you allowed to invade the sacred space of your soul? Entertainment, leisure, material wealth, obsessions and addictions? How are these things enshrined in the sanctuary of your own heart leaving no room for God? During this Lent, let us reorientate our lives, consecrate our hearts solely to God and rid the temple of our own bodies of the idols to which we have foolishly given power and pride of place.</span></span>Rev Michael Chuahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13295316323174276901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7041317573138952852.post-79278894211149872802024-02-19T16:06:00.003+08:002024-02-25T10:49:51.565+08:00God will provide<span style="font-family: times;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Second Sunday of Lent Year B </span></b><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfaoO60Ii8kyIvj6ZGNe9xAeYDyPrACCTzyM1Y7amC0AH51jcvUmboGewQH4uIX-bUuZIFHz4F1dPsJ0ly9QwQ3Yyt8GzwbN7Rcnb1dr15Ri8jdBfhqH0YVPTB4F1JHqViLJPOsC70pXA07OawNvqgOxC5gz1d39-3j0j9Yf5D89JU1B_p5y6ghfM-d1qs/s813/Screen-Shot-2016-07-13-at-12.08.36-PM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="636" data-original-width="813" height="313" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfaoO60Ii8kyIvj6ZGNe9xAeYDyPrACCTzyM1Y7amC0AH51jcvUmboGewQH4uIX-bUuZIFHz4F1dPsJ0ly9QwQ3Yyt8GzwbN7Rcnb1dr15Ri8jdBfhqH0YVPTB4F1JHqViLJPOsC70pXA07OawNvqgOxC5gz1d39-3j0j9Yf5D89JU1B_p5y6ghfM-d1qs/w400-h313/Screen-Shot-2016-07-13-at-12.08.36-PM.png" width="400" /></a></div><br />The faith of the protagonist in the first reading is legendary, so much so that his faith has been used as a model for Christians in the New Testament. Abraham’s walk with God began when God found him living in a pagan land and called him to leave his home and family to go to the place God would show him. After decades of walking with God, Abraham’s small faith grew through each high and low. He learned to trust God with his dreams and with his disappointments, with his gains and with his losses, with his successes and with his flops. In each stage, God proved faithful and Abraham’s faith took roots. And when his faith was firmly rooted in the Lord, God tested Abraham’s faith by asking him to make the greatest sacrifice of all - his son Isaac. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">This is where we find ourselves in the story of Abraham. In the first reading, we have the moving account of God asking Abraham to offer his only son Isaac as a sacrifice. Abraham had waited decades for this miracle child. Right from the very start of his faith journey, God had promised to bless Abraham and to make his name great and blessed through his descendants. Now, how is this going to happen if God is going to take his only male heir? Abraham had been asking that same question for years when he and his wife Sarah remained childless until their old age. Yet, God has never disappointed in that first instance by giving him a child. So, now Abraham trusted that God will not disappoint him again. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">At first glance, the story of Abraham and Isaac seems disturbing. Why would a loving God ask Abraham to sacrifice his only son in a manner similar to his pagan neighbours? Was He bringing unnecessary torment to a man who had already waited so long for a child? Upon closer inspection, it’s clear that God’s request to sacrifice Isaac was not unloving or capricious. Instead, it is a beautiful picture of Abraham’s faithfulness and God’s provision. In the past, Abraham had doubted God. He had tried to have children in his own way instead of waiting on God. By asking him to sacrifice Isaac, God was testing Abraham to see if he trusted Him. </span><span style="font-size: medium;">And he did: Abraham’s faith in God was so great that he was willing to give Him his only son, trusting that God could bring him back from the dead. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">As God describes Isaac to Abraham, we hear Him describe His only Son, Jesus. The story of Isaac is both a picture of Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his only son and a foreshadowing of God’s willingness to sacrifice His only Son for us. This was the Son that truly died and was brought back from the dead. The story of Abraham’s sacrifice, like no other, gives us a glimpse into what it cost the heart of God to sacrifice His only Son for us. Abraham’s story of the sacrifice of Isaac parallels Jesus in many ways. Both were well loved sons; both carried wood to the place of the sacrifice; both were promised that a lamb would be sacrificed, only for Jesus there was no ram in the thicket to take His place. He is the Lamb of God that would be sacrificed, the Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">As we turn to the gospel, we see another set of parallels. This time, it is the disciples of the Lord who are being prepared for their greatest test - the passion and death of our Lord. The great reason for this transfiguration was to remove the scandal of the cross from the hearts of His disciples, that they will not lose faith and hope when they witness our Lord’s death. Unlike Abraham, their faith will falter. Unlike Abraham, they will flee the scene instead of accompanying our Lord to His great sacrifice. But because of the transfiguration and the resurrection, they will return. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">As far back as our liturgical sources take us, we find the Church beginning Lent with the Gospels of Jesus’ Temptation in the desert and His Transfiguration on the mountain. Hence Christians’ Lenten experience replicates the God-guided experience of the people of Israel: their forty years of journeying in the desert, which tested their fidelity, and the community-founding theophany at Sinai which endowed them with the Torah of grace. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">But there is also deliberate and stark parallelism between the story of the Transfiguration and our Lord’s Passion. The same three named disciples are handpicked by our Lord to be with Him and to witness both events, and on both occasions they remained confused. Our Lord was transfigured on one mountain and crucified on another. On both occasions, there is a revelation of our Lord’s identity as the Son of God. At the Transfiguration, it is God who speaks: “This is my Son.” But in the crucifixion, we find this idea finally taking hold and being repeated at last by a person. And what’s really remarkable, it’s not one of the disciples. It’s not even a Jew. He’s a Roman soldier. The enemy! The person, we least suspect. Declaring it at the point we least suspect. This Gentile centurion shows greater faith than even the disciples, because he alone witnessed the Lord’s death unlike His disciples. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">If you have ever doubted God’s wisdom or questioned your faith because of some crises, do not lose faith but continue to trust in the Lord. Abraham did and he was rewarded. Beyond the scandal of the cross is the glory of the resurrection. We are assured as Abraham was, that God always provides. Like Abraham, we should have confidence in God, trusting Him with everything and being willing to sacrifice our best to Him. St Paul reassured us with the rhetorical question: “With God on our side who can be against us?” And the answer is no one and nothing! God not sparing His own Son for our sake is the pledge of His fidelity and love for us. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Though we may not fully understand His plans, God in His providence, supplies all our needs. We should never lose faith in His promises and Providence. Abraham says, “God will provide the sacrifice.” Not only did God provide a ram as a sacrifice for Abraham, but He provided a lasting sacrifice through His Son — for Abraham, and for all of us. All our Lord asks is that we have a trusting heart and be willing to “listen to Him.”</span></span>Rev Michael Chuahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13295316323174276901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7041317573138952852.post-62857985188434039042024-02-13T20:20:00.000+08:002024-02-13T20:20:09.614+08:00From Destruction comes New Life<span style="font-family: times;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">First Sunday of Lent Year B </span></b><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT5YWaB-Yz6n4g3wPj5wXmjX7VT7_58GWjtY65KFixzSC4ujmJW0vmhuIPMtssaMw1bRtr0AqrdyG821X1eol6mayjm66O1z5mA0rdk1EOdEdr_v5GmD20PnIzGh-kl6AuCx-twhBZ0dqmIQADLJXhkBZguIT46ii9Nn87WTIdu6bffQ_AOoGvtVb4r8a9/s800/stained-glass-window-showing-building-noahs-ark-depicting-67343999.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="496" data-original-width="800" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT5YWaB-Yz6n4g3wPj5wXmjX7VT7_58GWjtY65KFixzSC4ujmJW0vmhuIPMtssaMw1bRtr0AqrdyG821X1eol6mayjm66O1z5mA0rdk1EOdEdr_v5GmD20PnIzGh-kl6AuCx-twhBZ0dqmIQADLJXhkBZguIT46ii9Nn87WTIdu6bffQ_AOoGvtVb4r8a9/w400-h248/stained-glass-window-showing-building-noahs-ark-depicting-67343999.webp" width="400" /></a></div><br />Such stark contrast! Our lectionary juxtaposes two extreme conditions, a deluge or great flood in the first reading, and an arid barren desert in the gospel. Too much water on the one hand, and too little to none on the other. Both conditions seem inhospitable and even humanly uninhabitable. What’s the connexion apart from being two extreme polarities? These two scenes draw us back to the beginning - to how it all began - to the story of creation. Most folks are familiar with the story of how God created the universe in six days and then rested on the seventh. But there are actually two and not one account of creation. Chapter One of the Book Genesis begins in a watery chaos and Chapter Two begins in a desert. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">And so, we have in the first reading an account of God renewing His covenant with Noah in the aftermath of the flood. The flood itself portrays a return of the earth to the primeval state of Genesis where darkness, water, and wind covered the earth. The great flood is a testament to God’s hatred of sin and His determination to wipe it from the face of the earth. God blows a “wind” over “the deep” and “the waters” recede. When at last the flood subsides, the ground is dry and new vegetation is springing up. The barriers set in place by God at creation are restored - the dry land is once again separated from the waters. The occupants of the ark, both humans and animals, step on dry land and life begins anew. If the precreation scene in Genesis Chapter One begins in pitch darkness, this beautiful scene in the first reading is bathed in light - no stormy clouds in the sky but a bright sunny day with a rainbow crowning God’s redeemed creation. It is a picture of perfection, but not yet. That would have to wait until the Son of God becomes the Son of Man and seals a new covenant with humanity with His own blood instead of the sacrifice of animals as was done by Noah and the ancestors of old. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Let us not forget that the first flood swept away the evil from the surface of the earth, but not from the hearts of the ark’s passengers. So an even greater act of salvation was needed, one that was more radical, that penetrated to the very “root” of evil. God Himself enters into our world in the form of a man and engages in hand-to-hand combat with the father of lies. For sin to be rooted out, repentance is necessary. And so the rallying cry of God’s ultimate champion is “Repent, and believe the Good News.” </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">If the first reading calls us back to Chapter One of Genesis, the gospel story alludes to and reverses what takes place in Chapter Two and Three: the planting of the Garden in the midst of a barren desert, the creation of man, the first Son of God, and His subsequent temptation and fall. Here in the gospel, there is no garden - Paradise has been lost and all creation has been rendered a barren wasteland by man’s sin. But instead of succumbing to the ancient serpent, our Lord Jesus triumphs over Satan. Instead of enmity between man and the animal kingdom, we already see the beginnings of a reconciliation as wild beasts gather around the Lord. If one man wrought humanity’s downfall, another man, the perfect man, the one whom St Mark at the very beginning of the gospel identifies by His rightful title, the Son of God, will lead humanity in its ascent to the heavens. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">The wrestling match is won by the Son. This, however, is not the decisive battle. By means of the cross, the sign of this New Covenant, our Lord Jesus decisively vanquished sin and its patron, letting loose from His pierced side a stream that was more powerful than the ancient waters traversed by Noah and Moses. The fathers of the Church saw in those two streams of blood and water, the birth of the Church through the sacraments of baptism and the Eucharist. In Christ’s death and resurrection, creation is healed and reborn. The key for us to now participate in this recreation is repentance. Repentance begins the path to redemption and to sanctification. Repentance leads to conversion and conversion leads to baptism. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Through repentance, faith and immersion in these mighty waters of baptism, not the waters at creation or at the great flood but the waters that flowed from our Lord’s death on the cross, sin can finally be scoured not just from the skin but from the heart. In the second reading, St Peter explains that the water of the flood - “is a type of the baptism which saves you now, and which is not the washing off of physical dirt but a pledge made to God from a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ…” Baptism means burying the old man with Christ and emerging from the womb of the Church as a new creation, sharing in Christ’s resurrection. Lent is therefore the intensive preparation for those seeking baptism at Easter and an opportunity for the rest of us who are already baptised to recall our baptismal identity by renewing the promises made at our baptism. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">This is what Lent is all about. It is a time when we remember the death that brings new Life. Just like Noah, his family and the animals at the moment they stepped out of the ark, would have been surprised by what they saw, this Lent too holds many surprises for us. We can either look at the destruction wrought by our sin, mourn the loss of all the things that have been taken from us or we had to give up, or we could behold a new world, a new creation before us. What was once a barren desert, watered by God’s graces, would now be teeming with life. For the great paradox at the heart of Christianity, a mystery we celebrate every Lent and Easter, is that a Death was the remedy for death. It was in losing His life that Christ brought new Life to the world. In the words of the Byzantine liturgy, “He trampled down death by death.” In the greatest paradox of all, our Lord changed death into a means of life, an ending into a new beginning. What was once our doom is now our salvation. “The time has come and the Kingdom of God is close at hand. Repent, and believe the Good News!”</span></span>Rev Michael Chuahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13295316323174276901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7041317573138952852.post-39283856108044195302024-02-12T21:38:00.002+08:002024-02-12T21:38:22.418+08:00The Asceticism of Love<span style="font-family: times;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Ash Wednesday</span></b><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhShra2FDaNfZkpN6VNkCnTj9C0wJJ-1oEA-rAEWT1bh0HYgIuuZoafMGieqDTp_rZcAN0Rw5Y5JxEaLMM1IH8njEdgSJth0ZxH9w_HxKpj_gvltl9kF2-tiddoPVSfhjYk2RYyM6sgvBymk7O2byFUjBa2ZOY1QUTd9AVLX4dhZ9RE4aWpW6okDsuRWNyG/s400/Bruegel_Lent.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="300" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhShra2FDaNfZkpN6VNkCnTj9C0wJJ-1oEA-rAEWT1bh0HYgIuuZoafMGieqDTp_rZcAN0Rw5Y5JxEaLMM1IH8njEdgSJth0ZxH9w_HxKpj_gvltl9kF2-tiddoPVSfhjYk2RYyM6sgvBymk7O2byFUjBa2ZOY1QUTd9AVLX4dhZ9RE4aWpW6okDsuRWNyG/w300-h400/Bruegel_Lent.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><br />For many, today’s date is unmistakable and if you have a loved one, forgetting that it’s Valentine’s Day is unforgivable. But even if today doesn’t happens to be Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, our liturgical calendar actually honours two other saints, St Cyril and St Methodius, and not the eponymous St Valentine. Valentine’s Day has been largely relegated to a secular feast of mushy romantic ideals and practices. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Chocolates, flowers and candlelight dinners are things we normally associate with the secular representation of the feast of this Catholic saint who is patron of marriages and romance. The ascetic practices we practice in Lent and which we have heard in our gospel today, hardly sounds romantic at all, if anything, they seem utterly Spartan and ascetically bleak. But love is actually at the heart of these Christian ascetical practices. Love is never about seeking our own happiness but the happiness of the other even at the cost of sacrificing our own. It is this ascetical aspect of love which is missing from so many modern conceptions of relationships resulting in selfish individuals looking for love but finding none, at least none which perfectly matches this self-absorbed notion of romance. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Asceticism? “Isn’t that like wearing hair shirts and whipping and punishing yourself? Does the Church still teach that?” Simply put, asceticism means self-sacrifice. It means denying yourself physical pleasures and conveniences even when you don’t need to. What the Church requires are spiritual athletes not couch potatoes. Christians do not practice asceticism because we see physical goods as evil. On the contrary, asceticism guards against valuing the goods of Creation so much that we disdain the Creator. Like all spiritual practices, asceticism should be motivated by love. Asceticism does not spring from some form of sick masochistic self-hatred, but rather it is the sacrifice offered out of love for our Lord Jesus who showed the extent of His love for us by dying for us. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">As we begin our Lenten ascetic practices of prayer, fasting and alms giving, let us be conscious of the true reasons for our actions. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">First, asceticism combats habitual sin. If you struggle to control your desire for something you tend to abuse (food, drink, sex, comfort, etc), practising self-denial is like building your spiritual muscles against it. St Paul writes, “I discipline my body and make it my slave” (1 Corinthians 9:27). The word here for “discipline” carries violent overtones, literally meaning “to beat” or “to batter.” We’re called to show our body who’s boss. The purpose of fasting, for instance, is so that one can train his appetites by habitually telling them “No,” even in regard to lawful earthly goods, like food or conjugal relations. That way, when a sinful temptation stirs up the appetites, the body has been well-trained to obey its master, the sanctified rational mind. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Second, asceticism builds the virtue of temperance. Temperance is the virtue that balances our desires for physical goods. When our desires are out of balance (a condition of Original Sin called “concupiscence”), we need to reset the balance with self-denial. Our Lord Jesus teaches us: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth…but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21) </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Third, asceticism protects you against the excesses of the culture. Like the culture the early Christians lived in, our modern culture has deified entertainment, luxury, and physical pleasure. While Christians can give lip service to resisting these temptations, the truth is that we’re immersed in this culture and it’s difficult not to be transformed by it. Asceticism helps us to set our hearts on the greater goods and to resist laxity of heart and open our hearts to be transformed by grace. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Fourth, asceticism moves our hearts away from selfishness. We live in air-conditioned comfort, even in our cars. We get used to having entertainment literally at our fingertips. Everything in our lives is built around convenience, entertainment, and comfort. Self-sacrifice prevents our modern lifestyle from sinking too deeply into our hearts. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Fifth, asceticism can be an act of love. If fasting and making other sacrifices are going to make you more cranky and irritable, if you continue to judge your neighbour for their lack of devotion or dedication to these ascetic practices as you have, then you have missed the point. These practices should enlarge our hearts, not shrink them. To know whether we’ve been doing it right is to examine the fruits of our practices. Have we grown in our love for God and neighbour? </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Sixth, asceticism should lead us to interior conversion rather than multiply our practices as a kind of performance. Let us pay heed to the warning of our Lord Jesus Christ in the gospel, that we should not practice asceticism so that “men may see you” but rather, be content that </span><span style="font-size: medium;">“your Father who sees all that is done in secret will reward you.” Asceticism provides us with new lenses to see things unlike how the world sees. St Paul puts it this way: “We do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:18) </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">In our consumeristic and materialistic culture, this programme of spiritual exercise is both unpopular and difficult. If these practices sound intimidating, think of the physical regiment many people keep to stay fit and healthy. If one can endure such hardships for a temporal good, a healthy life, one must then appreciate the value of spiritual exercises that will gain us, with God’s grace, eternal life. These habits of self-denial, which include prayer, fasting and almsgiving can strengthen us, by God’s grace, to aim our desires at unseen realities and reap the radiant joys of heaven, even now. When done out of love, instead of burdensome obligation or as performance, these ascetic practices will do much to help us advance spiritually. This is the path of spiritual athleticism and Lent is as good a place as any, to start our training.</span></span></div>Rev Michael Chuahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13295316323174276901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7041317573138952852.post-60490733153721511932024-02-06T14:48:00.002+08:002024-02-06T14:48:49.608+08:00We Lepers<span style="font-family: times;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B </span></b><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd3ixce4lhHZn6gUpUI0yG1VFHng_mWPHSSt5Cd0O_sfDEqFplFSMKqwZ6mqdUowlUBEFQACfdg4JjgiBXzvwOCSy3rjpnxR-JKuL8cnp9DVUlubYvMql5ZcMF2JOej4yLnvavOklVnlmaOiUqw-Q5Nz9RDymyAIx5B0MaF-pDWFXzsEH8k1s3kmg7iXGr/s742/R.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="742" data-original-width="659" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd3ixce4lhHZn6gUpUI0yG1VFHng_mWPHSSt5Cd0O_sfDEqFplFSMKqwZ6mqdUowlUBEFQACfdg4JjgiBXzvwOCSy3rjpnxR-JKuL8cnp9DVUlubYvMql5ZcMF2JOej4yLnvavOklVnlmaOiUqw-Q5Nz9RDymyAIx5B0MaF-pDWFXzsEH8k1s3kmg7iXGr/w355-h400/R.jpg" width="355" /></a></div><br />Leprosy? Most of us have never seen anyone with this debilitating disease. Leprosy seems to have been stamped out in our country and any trace of the colonies, where lepers were hold up, to isolate them from the rest of us healthy folks have been lost to development. But both scripture and the Church’s history refuse to let us forget. The story of St Damien of Molokai, Apostle to the Lepers, must certainly be one of the most inspired hagiographies ever written and one which reminds us of the “lepers” that continue to live among us, though often out of sight. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">In 1866, to curb the spread of this virulent disease of leprosy, the Hawaiian authorities decided to consign lepers to an isolated community on the island of Molokai. Once the lepers were out of sight and no longer a threat to the general population, the government turned a blind eye to their basic needs. Where even other missionaries kept away, St Damien, a missionary priest, pleaded with the bishop of the territory to allow him to minister to the needs of these lepers. The bishop kindly accompanied Damien to the colony and introduced him to the 816 community members as “one who will be a father to you and who loves you so much that he does not hesitate to become one of you, to live and die with you”. Little did the bishop realise that his words would prove prophetic. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Damien’s superiors had given him strict advice: “Do not touch them. Do not allow them to touch you. Do not eat with them.” But Damien made the decision to transcend his fear of contagion and enter into solidarity with the Molokai lepers. Other missionaries and doctors shrank from the lepers. What surprised the lepers most was that Damien touched them. But Damien not only touched the lepers, he also embraced them, he dined with them, he put his thumb on their forehead to anoint them, and he placed the Eucharist on their tongues. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">One day, while soaking his feet in extremely hot water, Damien experienced no sensation of heat or pain—a tell-tale sign that he had contracted leprosy. The disease quickly developed, causing Damien to write to his bishop with the news. Damian who had not hesitated to become one of the lepers, chose also to live and die with them. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">If you find that story amazingly moving, then you should feel the same if not more for what the Lord has done for us. Our Lord approaches a leper in today’s gospel and touches him. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">To truly understand the significance of our Lord’s action, we need to understand two important concepts in the mind of a Jew– leprosy and the laws of ritual purity. The idea of leprosy was more than a virulent disease to be avoided. For the Jews, it was a sacrament in reverse - outward sign of inward curse. It was a sign of separation from God. For this reason, both the diagnosis as well as the final assessment that it had been cured, was not left to any ordinary doctor. Since, leprosy was seen as the ultimate punishment from God, only a priest, a minister of God could confirm that this sin was absolved, and the punishment lifted. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">How about the laws of ritual purity? Since God is considered holy, anything which is unholy is not permitted to enter into His presence. The rules of ritual purity were designed for this. In the Old Testament law, there were five main ways people became unclean (even if it’s just temporary): eating “unclean animals”; (e.g., carrion-eaters); giving birth; contracting skin diseases; genital discharges; contact with corpse. Leprosy fell under the third category. Coming into contact with an unclean person would also render one unclean. So strict rules like those given to St Damien (“Do not touch them. Do not allow them to touch you. Do not eat with them”) had to be observed to avoid contamination. Instead of doing this, our Lord “stretched out his hand and touched” the leper. In the eyes of the crowd, our Lord had been contaminated. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">But instead of being contaminated Himself, He heals the leper. We are reminded that we do not only get infection through close proximity, we can also get saved by it. C.S. Lewis explains this beautifully: “Good things as well as bad, you know, are caught by a kind of infection, if you want to get warm you must stand near the fire: if you want to be wet you must get into the water. If you want joy, power, peace, eternal life, you must get close to, or even into, the thing that has them. They are not a sort of prize which God could, if He chose, just hand out to anyone. They are a great fountain of energy and beauty spurting up at the very centre of reality. If you are close to it, the spray will wet you: if you are not, you will remain dry. Once a man is united to God, how could he not live forever? Once a man is separated from God, what can he do but wither and die?” </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">The story of Jesus healing the leper ends happily for him but unfortunately for Jesus. At that touch, they were equals. Ironically, this man was now able to enter any town he wanted because he had been healed, but Jesus could no longer enter towns because of the news of this miracle had spread. He had become a social leper. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">The healing of the leper was just a warm-up for what the Lord had prepared to do for all of us, a model of what was to come at the cross. When He died for our sins, for as many of us who have been washed in the blood, our sins died as well and Jesus was then able to be reconciled with the Father, from whom we have been separated because of our sins, our spiritual leprosy. By communion with Him, by participation in His cross, we could receive eternal life. He shared His divinity with us as we shared our humanity with Him but without Him taking away our humanity. Our humanity is thus sanctified by His divinity. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">In the case of St Damien, although he entered into the most profound solidarity with the lepers by becoming one of them, he was never able to remove this disease from their bodies or the social stigma from their existence, what more his own. But in the case of our Lord Jesus, He has taken us into Himself. In exchange for our flawed and broken humanity, He has exchanged with us His sublime divinity. The Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen describes the sublime transaction of the Incarnation in which Christ said to man: "You give me your humanity, I will give you my divinity. You give me your time, I will give you my eternity. You give me your bonds, I will give you my omnipotence. You give me your slavery, I will give you my freedom. You give me your death, I will give you my life. You give me your nothingness, I will give you my all.” So, let us turn to the Lord in confidence, humility and much love and ask: “Lord, if you want. You can cure me.” </span><br /></span><br /> Rev Michael Chuahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13295316323174276901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7041317573138952852.post-6929903450332672742024-01-31T07:39:00.003+08:002024-01-31T08:13:24.069+08:00True Victimhood<span style="font-family: times;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B <br /></span></b><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEtcyiMmn_4ZHiIob9RY_mNXdDgEMlRxO9i3WV5X7713rrMzaJJg21PGI-sUCPtJObszzTehrmFsF-OO89GijGopX8m4-UfJaR0sHEhKFJQOmrixZX14oOFp4P0WPXZFqTvHITKd-_jM6QRNKhwfE8hxI2hwFFd7Ah3eT5y6CosXsRxHcyZXQgJXxiFYhL/s1063/ghent1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="1063" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEtcyiMmn_4ZHiIob9RY_mNXdDgEMlRxO9i3WV5X7713rrMzaJJg21PGI-sUCPtJObszzTehrmFsF-OO89GijGopX8m4-UfJaR0sHEhKFJQOmrixZX14oOFp4P0WPXZFqTvHITKd-_jM6QRNKhwfE8hxI2hwFFd7Ah3eT5y6CosXsRxHcyZXQgJXxiFYhL/w400-h226/ghent1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />The first reading and the gospel both present us with two polar opposites of how we view ourselves and others, which ultimately defines the way we relate. In the first reading, Job sees himself as a victim of circumstances and perhaps even God’s seemingly capricious unfairness. He has lost everything - his wealth, his family and his health - all are common denominators of one’s personal happiness and success. As he moans, groans and rants, he speaks from a place of entitlement. Did he not earn God’s favour by living a righteous life? This is not the same Job whom the Lord praises at the beginning of the story because at that point of time he lacks nothing, nor is this the Job who is enlightened by these series of tragedies and ensuing debates with his friends who emerges vindicated at the end of the story. In this passage, Job’s experience mirrors many of ours. We praise God for His blessings when life has been good to us, but the moment these favours are withdrawn, we immediately descend into petulant rantings of a spoilt entitled child. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">In the gospel, we are given two positive examples - one is the mother-in-law of St Peter and the other is our Lord Jesus. But to add contrast to the story, we are also presented with the negative examples of the crowds who come to the Lord for healing and together with the disciples form a cohort of entitled persons, believing themselves to be uniquely deserving of the miracles of the Lord and would not wish to share Him with others. In contrast to this second group, note how Peter’s mother-in-law made no demands of the Lord but was most willing to serve Him the moment she recovered. There is no sense of entitlement but rather a sense of service to others springing from gratitude. Her actions merely reflect that of our Lord’s ministry, who tells us that His primary mission and duty is to preach the gospel of the Kingdom, to offer the gift of salvation to others, for this is the reason why He came. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">So, this question is now placed before us as a choice: do we live for ourselves with a sense of entitlement, or do we live for others with a sense of duty and responsibility? Most of us would be conflicted. St Paul, however, resolves this tension within his own life and ministry. In the second reading, Paul writes: “I do not boast of preaching the gospel, since it is a duty which has been laid on me; I should be punished if I did not preach it! If I had chosen this work myself, I might have been paid for it, but as I have not, it is a responsibility which has been put into my hands. Do you know what my reward is? It is this: in my preaching, to be able to offer the Good News free, and not insist on the rights which the gospel gives me.” He rejects the sense of entitlement and embraces the responsibility which has been placed on him to preach the gospel and he claims that carrying out that duty is itself, his reward. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">This tension exists even till today. Our culture today, is a battle ground between the values of entitlement and the values of duty or responsibility. The person with a sense of entitlement believes: everything that happens should somehow benefit them. Anything unfavourable or unfortunate that happens in life is happening “to” them. They constantly see themselves as poor victims. The person with a sense of responsibility believes: it’s their duty to deal with whatever comes up, to be accountable, and to accept all of the consequences of their own actions. The person with a sense of duty lives for others. They do not ask: “what’s in it for me?” but rather, “how can I help and be of service for others?” The model for this sense of duty is our Lord Himself. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Our Lord is often described in our liturgical text as both Priest and Victim. But what does it mean to be a Victim, in the sense of being Christlike? The victim here is a reference to the animal sacrifice or holocaust offered by the priests in the Temple to atone for the sins of men. It was meant to be a sacrifice of atonement, to take our place in receiving God’s judgment and punishment. But until the time of Jesus, no animal sacrifice was capable of accomplishing this despite the number of animals being killed to appease what seems to be a blood-thirsty God. But all this changed when God Himself offered His only begotten Son as the sacrifice. Jesus is the perfect sacrifice or Victim, because He alone is “spotless and unblemished”. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">In the Eucharist, Christ victimhood is at the heart of the Sacrifice of the Mass. The Bread which is consecrated during Mass is called the Host, which is derived from the Latin “Hostia” which means Victim or Sacrifice. See the connexion? So, whenever we participate in the Holy Mass where the Host is offered and consecrated, and whenever we receive that consecrated host in Holy Communion, we too partake in the victimhood of Christ, a victimhood which atones sins and redeems us from the devil. Christ’s victimhood is a victimhood for others, rather than the sordid victimhood of a culture of entitlement which only seeks to benefit oneself. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">The Victimhood of Christ is the necessary antidote to the malaise of victim mentality we see in today’s culture, a mentality that is extremely tempting and popular today. Today, claiming the status of a victim grants one status, power, and moral high ground. It conveys the moral certainty that one is automatically right. Now even the smallest offense is trumpeted all over social media. Social media has raised ranting and complaining to an art form. “Victims” feel extremely entitled and have become extremely unforgiving. Even mild or merely awkward remarks are interpreted in the harshest way possible and as aggressive attacks on the purported victim. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">How different is this false victimhood from the true victimhood to which Christians are called. The image of Christ as victim runs throughout the Christian theology, hymnary, and scripture. First, Christ was a true victim in what He suffered. He did not experience some imaginary suffering or claim that mere words are violence. On the contrary, He suffered the worst and cruelest humiliation and death and yet found it within His heart to forgive His enemies. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Second, He suffered for others. He called Himself the Good Shepherd and said He would lay down His life for His sheep. And then He did it. The modern victim suffers nothing for no one except himself. The smallest slight becomes a reason for seeking revenge. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Our Lord also suffered in silence. Pilate even prodded Him, urging Him to denounce or contradict His accusers. He invited our Lord to proclaim His innocence, and our Lord would not do it. Isaiah prophesied this moment when he spoke of the Suffering Servant, “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth” (Isaiah 53:7). </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">A Christian is called to accept true victimhood, and with humility. We are told we must take up our crosses and suffer with our Lord. And not only with Him but like Him. As parents, spouses, children, brothers, sisters, and friends, every Christian is to be a victim - not of the entitled and demanding type but of the self-giving and sacrificial type like Christ. To be willing to suffer for others, to forgive, and to do so quietly and with dignity. </span></span>Rev Michael Chuahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13295316323174276901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7041317573138952852.post-85361453752149701972024-01-22T19:10:00.004+08:002024-01-22T19:10:31.906+08:00A New Authority<span style="font-family: times;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B </span></b><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKAVkuJdRrFyvKYXftCfXbDJITTqy5VxydAj6sH0A-7fcl2M2ht8Lt8yeT0hYmhHcI_ucQTRKA5t4P04EGocegFZ8qUrtJcTjXvLY2BxZPkYuWqtjK76mSYeBnQ_F9lG7GNX8xZQAh0w_Xk6PrLdGeeqm5xWL_aZTpirWfiuZYxBk2p09DM5iON1KB1t3w/s768/Folio_166r_-_The_Exorcism-1-768x403.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="403" data-original-width="768" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKAVkuJdRrFyvKYXftCfXbDJITTqy5VxydAj6sH0A-7fcl2M2ht8Lt8yeT0hYmhHcI_ucQTRKA5t4P04EGocegFZ8qUrtJcTjXvLY2BxZPkYuWqtjK76mSYeBnQ_F9lG7GNX8xZQAh0w_Xk6PrLdGeeqm5xWL_aZTpirWfiuZYxBk2p09DM5iON1KB1t3w/w400-h210/Folio_166r_-_The_Exorcism-1-768x403.webp" width="400" /></a></div><br />“Don’t put words into my mouth” is a popular way of deflecting accusations by arguing that you have been misquoted, that your original speech has been embellished by words which do not reflect your original intent. Under these circumstances, you would not appreciate any extrapolation by others. The original words and context are always the best, or as they would say, “from the horse’s mouth.” </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Despite our insistence on others keeping faithful to what we had originally said, we always appreciate novelty in speech. Innovation excites. Repetition bores. Sometimes, the truth does not matter especially when it hurts and does not work in our favour. The more fanciful the story, the more entertaining. That is why the best gossips and rumours are often the most incredulous. Who wants to know the boring truth, when you have the make-believe version that is much juicier? </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Our readings today reverse the above cultural trends. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Instead of innovating with our own words and ideas, the first reading seeks to look for an ideal prophet following the archetype of Moses, someone who speaks God’s words and not his own. In fact, only God has every right to demand that we do not put words in His mouth and claim to speak on His behalf when He has not spoken these words at all. “All they have spoken is well said. I will raise up a prophet like yourself for them from their own brothers; I will put my words into his mouth and he shall tell them all I command him. The man who does not listen to my words that he speaks in my name, shall be held answerable to me for it. But the prophet who presumes to say in my name a thing I have not commanded him to say, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.” The Lord promises to raise up another leader like Moses, a prophecy which can only be fulfilled perfectly in the person of Jesus. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">In the second reading, we are reminded by St Paul that words are not sufficient in witnessing the gospel of the Kingdom. It must be matched by actions and a particular value-based lifestyle. This is why St Paul advocates the celibate life. He does so not because he believes that marriage is bad and that the conjugal life is somewhat evil. He does so because celibacy, just like marriage, is also a sign of the life of the Kingdom. Celibacy does not make sense unless the values of the Kingdom of God fill the celibate’s whole horizon. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Finally, we have a miracle story in the gospel where our Lord exorcises a man possessed with an evil spirit in the synagogue. The crowds seem impressed by our Lord’s teachings, because “unlike the scribes, he taught them with authority.” St Mark does not elaborate any further as to the meaning of this term: “authority.” We often believe that “authority” and “power” are interchangeable. Yes, although there is intersection between the two concepts, one does not immediately imply the other. Persons with authority can be made powerless and those with power may not have authority. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">The original Greek used by the evangelist would help us make more sense of the differences between these two words. The Greek word for power is dunamis, from which we derive the English dynamite. Our Lord had power as evidenced by His power to perform healing miracles, raise the dead, calm storms and cast out demons. But the unclean spirits likewise had power over the humans and the animals which they possessed. The difference between our Lord and the demons is that the former had authority (exousia) to exercise that power, while the demons did not. Exousia or authority points to limits, accountability, ministry and jurisdiction. Our Lord possessed authority by virtue of His identity - being the Son of God - an identity and authority which even the demons recognised and feared. Notice that the demons did not acknowledge the authority of the scribes, Pharisees and religious establishment. In the case of our Lord Jesus, He possessed both authority and power. The demons possessed their subjects with power but without authority. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Likewise, in modern times, many people are no respecters of authority, viewing it as tyrannical and old fashioned. They fail to recognise that without authority, without true limits, jurisdiction and accountability, everything descends into sheer abuse of power. Nothing exists in a vacuum. When we reject legitimate and rightful authority, we become an authority unto ourselves. My favourite definition of a Pharisee reflects this irony - a Pharisee sees a law when there is none and breaks a law when there is one. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">It is authority which links our Lord’s deeds with His words, and this is the reason why the crowds commented that our Lord teaches with authority even though they had just witnessed an exorcism, for they saw both our Lord’s teachings and His deeds are united by their common source - authority - “he gives orders even to unclean spirits and they obey him.” </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">One last point needs to be raised when it comes to the truth of the Word of God. The crowds also declared this after having seen our Lord’s authority over demons: “Here is a teaching that is ‘new’”. Is novelty the benchmark for truth? Modernist would argue that it is so. In their efforts to revise the teachings of Christ, the Word of God and the traditional teachings of the Church, they argue that the only criterion which matters is that all these must be in synch with the values of modern times, values which are constantly shifting and expanding, what we call “new!” What they fail to recognise is that the hallmark of Christianity is not novelty but fidelity. We will be judged not by how the Church gets in “with the times,” but how she is more perfectly faithful as a Bride of Christ, whom St Augustine calls “O Beauty, Ever Ancient Ever New.” It is Christ who makes the teachings of the Church new, not us. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Preaching in all its forms is indispensable to the Church’s mission given to her by Jesus Christ: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:16-20). Such preaching cannot just be a car salesman’s pitch, rooted in half truths. It cannot just be one that tickles the imagination of our audience and entertains them with innovation and creativity. It must always be done with the authority given to us by the Lord through the Holy Spirit and not spring from self-appointment. Finally, preaching must lead others to be conformed to Christ and not to the world. The world may demand what is popular and effective but only Christ’s teachings are going to get us to heaven.</span></span>Rev Michael Chuahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13295316323174276901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7041317573138952852.post-66628206461489135022024-01-15T17:45:00.001+08:002024-01-15T17:45:27.163+08:00Change your mind and turn around<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Third Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B </span></b><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjZDhg4EPvIvk8DjpCCwpGj979B6rdEjPu3CFo3bodoqsQEFG7GWqk32cqY9bJIBGLuUaaRybTMJZPmXXinoMS5ndUXNqM2dBhHwaqMc4ria6kUdMMsjKDMf1Etybtx4tFdlKyYNTKlT1mlq8bT-PxlxseJidFOzSW355SIPNM5BL00hcxGlMcmUz1Vw-o/s1280/jesus-e-os-apostolos-pescando.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjZDhg4EPvIvk8DjpCCwpGj979B6rdEjPu3CFo3bodoqsQEFG7GWqk32cqY9bJIBGLuUaaRybTMJZPmXXinoMS5ndUXNqM2dBhHwaqMc4ria6kUdMMsjKDMf1Etybtx4tFdlKyYNTKlT1mlq8bT-PxlxseJidFOzSW355SIPNM5BL00hcxGlMcmUz1Vw-o/w400-h225/jesus-e-os-apostolos-pescando.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />Without skipping a beat, the evangelist St Mark notes the immediate transition from the ministry of the Baptist to that of the Lord’s after the former’s imprisonment - the latter takes over where the former left off - calling people to repentance: “The time has come … and the kingdom of God is close at hand. Repent, and believe the Good News.” The work of repentance did not end with John the Baptist. In fact, the Lord not only assumes John’s primary work of calling people to repentance but takes it to another level.</div></span><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">The noun “repentance” comes from the Greek word “metanoia,” and the verb “to repent” comes from the Greek verb “metanoeō,” both of which connote a change of mind. In Greek, the word sheds its baggage of merely turning away from and renouncing sin. It calls for a radical change of our noetic faculties, of how we see things, how we think about things, of how we remember things. It addresses the issue of what occupies our attention and that which we give priority to. Seen in this light, metanoia addresses a society of narcissistic people who are obsessed with themselves and who have forgotten God. We are often preoccupied with earthly affairs rather than contemplate heavenly things. This is what sin entails - a forgetting of God. It is hard to sin, when we are thinking about God. The occasion of sin translates into the sin the moment we push God out of our consciousness. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Similarly, the moment of repentance takes place when we begin to think about God. Consider the story of the Prodigal Son, who squandered his inheritance in a wasteful and hedonistic lifestyle, thinking only of himself. But the turning point, the point where he “changes his mind” or experiences metanoia, is when he remembers his father and his father’s goodness and kindness. That reorientation of his thinking sets him on the path home. Consider also the story of the disciples in the gospel. There is no indication that they lived lives of depravity or abject sinfulness. They were just too occupied with their work, making a living, tending to their family affairs. But the encounter with our Lord changed everything. They experienced a metanoia too, a change of mind which led to a change of values and priorities. From now on, Christ will be their principal priority and everything else will take second place. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">To explore further the deeper nuances of repentance, we need to turn to the Old Testament. In the Old Testament there are two words which expresses the idea of repentance, shuv (or its verb teshuvah) and naham. Shuv can be translated “to turn,” “to turn back,” “to turn around.” It does at times denote the kind of a complete heart change we will come to see in the New Testament idea of metanoia. Naham, on the other hand, has a number of meanings: “to sigh, to be sorry, to pity, to console, or (reflexively) to rue; to avenge, to comfort, to repent.” We will find both words used in the first reading if we happen to have the opportunity of reading the text in its original Hebrew. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">In the first reading, we have a short excerpt from the familiar story of the prophet Jonah. Too often the prophets are thought of mainly as predictors of the future. But the truth is that they were mainly forthtellers or truth-sayers, for they spoke forth the truth of the Word of God over against the rising tide of idolatry, apostasy, and sin of the nation. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Whether it was deliberate or not, the excerpt in the first reading provides us with an extremely sanitised picture of the mission of Jonah without the full context, that is minus the hitches or glitches or drama and the multiple twists and turns in the entire narrative. The reading begins with Jonah carrying out his mission by being obedient to the Lord’s word. But the truth is that Jonah was not always “obedient” to the Lord’s word. In fact, Jonah did everything to run away from God and evade the mission that was entrusted to him. Instead of “going up”, literally heading north, Jonah fled south. Instead of going east in the direction of the great city of Nineveh of the Assyrians, Jonah sailed off westward into the uncharted waters of the Great Sea (the Mediterranean). It was after several adventures or misadventures, including being swallowed up by a whale, did Jonah relent. He “teshuvah,” he turned to the Lord and turned in the direction of Nineveh to fulfil his mission. And because his preaching was so effective (or the prospect of divine punishment so horrifying), the inhabitants of Nineveh also “teshuvah”, they repented. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">But this is not the most amazing part of the story. The passage ends with this mysterious line describing what God did next: “God saw their efforts to renounce (shuv) their evil behaviour, and God relented (naham): he did not inflict on them the disaster which he had threatened.” Jonah turned. The Ninevites turned. But according to the text, God also turned! On the one hand, it is consoling to note that God turns His countenance on the sinner when he repents. It is important to note that God’s repentance is not like man’s. God is not taken off guard by unexpected turns of events like we are. He knows all the future. God did not regret creating man after the Fall because He knew that the Fall would bring about a greater good - man’s redemption through His Son’s death on the cross. Nor does God repent from sin since God never sins. So, His repentance is not owing to lack of foresight nor to folly. God neither turns away from committing sin nor does God “change his mind” about sin. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">In the case of God, relenting or “naham” is a sign of His infinite mercy. God respects our freedom to walk away from Him, He even warns us of the consequences of our actions to discourage us from pursuing this path of destruction, but God is always ready to welcome us back. As much as He waits for us to turn around, God’s gaze is always upon us even while we were sinners. It does seem at least from our perspective that God’s judgmental eyes are boring into the back of our heads when we walk away from Him in sin. But the truth is that He has always been looking at us with His loving gaze and we will only come to realise this when we finally decide to turn around. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">We just celebrated the New Year three weeks ago and many of you have made strong resolutions to turn your life around and become a better version of yourselves, resolutions which we often fail to keep. But why wait for this annual event to change. The Catholic Church provides us with an all year round opportunity to do better because she understands that we slip, we fall, and she affords us the opportunity to get up and start all over again. She knows us in and out, and how much we need to change, and how much help we need in changing. In fact, as our Eastern brethren would remind us, repentance is a permanent mode of Christianity, for to grow in holiness, one is constantly called to turn to God. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">For this reason, the Church is never “stingy” in dispensing mercy. Repentance is not something which should be limited to once or twice a year when the penitential service comes round to the parish. The Church offers us the sacrament of confession anytime we need it and God knows how much we are in need of it. In offering confession, the Church offers us a much better version of the human desire to change. When we go before the priest in confession, we are renewing our commitment to “change our minds and our hearts”, to turn away from all worldly distractions and the allures of sin, to run back into the arms of a Loving God who has never taken His gaze off us. In confession, through the ministry of the priest, we turn to God and He turns to us in a loving embrace. So my dear brothers and sisters, wait no longer but “Repent, and believe the Good News!”</span></span></div>Rev Michael Chuahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13295316323174276901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7041317573138952852.post-58851547470339172162024-01-09T07:49:00.002+08:002024-01-09T07:49:44.860+08:00Are you listening?<span style="font-family: times;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Second Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B </span></b><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqdsKATBQ_OSQKVXrJtSBWQCFziH3nlFSmwYR996XD8pQvhoOVbVwW_6SR4EMS7mdpx_kp6TDtNejBnu428DG2UHKkdcXhyphenhyphenYeGtGg5jIaFmowYtgvjJEXLzmNI48uEjVCEnZCzYsDTEqHAnvwph-UCg3jF4pvydqkp4vMneH9_pxlfIJKXc3lT74T2xK4a/s650/lectiodivina-middle1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="484" data-original-width="650" height="297" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqdsKATBQ_OSQKVXrJtSBWQCFziH3nlFSmwYR996XD8pQvhoOVbVwW_6SR4EMS7mdpx_kp6TDtNejBnu428DG2UHKkdcXhyphenhyphenYeGtGg5jIaFmowYtgvjJEXLzmNI48uEjVCEnZCzYsDTEqHAnvwph-UCg3jF4pvydqkp4vMneH9_pxlfIJKXc3lT74T2xK4a/w400-h297/lectiodivina-middle1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />For those who complain that God isn’t speaking to them - and I’m not referring to the delusional types who hear voices inside their heads - this Sunday’s readings remind us that God is always speaking, but the real issue is this - are we really listening? God’s Word is contained in sacred scripture and sacred tradition. How many of us take the trouble to put aside some time every day to study it, to meditate upon it and to apply its message to our lives? And I don’t mean to shame you to take out your Bible or your Catechism and read a few paragraphs today. I will be happy if you could do it every day. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">More often, if we don’t hear what someone is saying, it’s because we don’t want to hear it. It’s called selective hearing. Whether it’s ignoring emails, screening phone calls and texts, staring at the screens of our devices while someone else is talking, or simply putting headphones in and cutting ourselves off from the world – we all practice selective hearing, even when we know we shouldn’t. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">And it’s not a new phenomenon – Israel, in Samuel’s time, had a severe case of hearing deficit. It wasn’t that God wasn’t speaking; they still had the Law given to Moses to provide them with guidance, but neither those tasked with preaching it nor those tasked with listening were doing their job. Take for example the sons of Eli, Hophni and Phineas, who were all anointed priests of the Lord. Instead of preaching and teaching God’s Word to the people of Israel – as they were called to do – his sons were notorious for stealing from the portion of sacrificial offerings offered to God and for sleeping with the women who served at the tabernacle. But the most egregious sin was their refusal to listen to anyone who tried to correct their sinful ways. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">As a result of the obstinacy of the religious leadership, God decided to give them the silent treatment. Since Israel had stopped listening, so God stopped speaking. That’s what it means when it says, in those days the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions. God wanted to speak to His people, to lead them, discipline them, forgive them, comfort them but because they refused to listen to Him, God refused to speak. It was the worst judgment possible. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">And so enters Samuel, who is apprenticing with Eli his mentor. God calls Samuel to replace these hopeless ministers who have stopped listening to His Word. There is only one simple criteria – he must be willing to LISTEN, put it into practice and communicate it faithfully. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">We turn to the gospel as we see the Word Incarnate finally emerging and the various peoples responding to His Word by learning to listen. We have the Baptist’s disciples listening to their master as he identifies Jesus as the Lamb of God and then they decide to follow up with their own investigation. They heard and heeded our Lord’s invitation to “Come and See” and was transformed by that encounter. Now having heard and encountered the Word personally, and not just come to know of Him by hearsay, they began to share the Word with others. We see this ripple effect finally reaching Simon Peter. His brother Andrew comes and shares his experience and thereafter took Peter to meet the Lord. Peter’s name serves as an apt conclusion to this whole episode. Simon (Shimon) in Hebrew means hearing or listening. Though the name was a real name and not just a symbolic one, St John the Evangelist weaves it beautifully into his narrative to summarise the process and dynamics of discipleship - the disciple is one who listens and puts into practice what he has heard. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">So, God continues to speak to us through His Word. And His Word is not just found in a book, but in a living breathing person, our Lord Jesus Christ. We should have no excuse to not listen. And yet, we can find a load of excuses not to listen. I guess that busyness is easily the number one excuse for not hearing, not meditating, not praying, not taking time to study God’s Word. But busyness is just a cover for the real reasons. One common reason is pride. Pride that wants to say, “Listen up, Lord, I’m speaking” rather than “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.” Others don’t listen because they are angry with God, and so we choose to give Him the silent treatment. Or maybe our problem is just sheer laziness. Bibles, study guides, online formations – and more – are all easily accessible, but we’re just too lazy to make use of them. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">And yet, God in His grace, continues to speak. God is more persistent than we can ever imagine. He hasn’t taken His Word from our lives – in fact, just the opposite, He speaks to us in more places and ways than ever before. In spite of our selective listening, and in spite of our sinfulness, God continues to speak to us for only one reason: Love. God’s Word has the power to do what none of the other voices in the world can do: He transforms us so that we not only want to listen, but we are emboldened to obey. St Paul reminds the Corinthians in the second reading that after having heard the Word, they can no longer go back to their previous depraved lives. Living such a life might not always make sense. But it is God’s Word – the only voice we can trust in this noisy world, and which can set us on the right and straight path to holiness. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Finally, all this begs the question: What does it mean to listen to God? </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">The first step is to stop talking. It is amazing how God can speak to us when we shut up. Fr Bona has been reminding me to this ever since I was discharged from the hospital. If you want to heal quicker, learn to be quiet. Shut up! If you want to be more attentive to God’s word, learn to be quiet. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">We can also listen to God intently through scripture. There is a time for studying the Word to have a better grasp and understanding of the text. But the Word of God is also meant to be prayed. As much as we admire the Protestant’s proficiency in quoting scriptural texts, our Catholic exposition and appreciation of the bible cannot be done in isolation and apart from our liturgy, as our liturgy is deeply scriptural and our scripture is profoundly liturgical. We listen and comprehend the Word of God most deeply when we do so in prayer and worship. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Finally, listening to God also requires patience. Patience teaches us humility and docility - humility to recognise that God sets the pace, not us; and docility to submit in obedience to the Word. The Latin root for the word “obedience”, “obedire”, simply means “to listen” as the Apostle James reminds us: “you must DO what the Word tells you and not just listen to it and deceive yourselves.” (James 1:22) Listen! Do! Believe and Live!</span></span>Rev Michael Chuahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13295316323174276901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7041317573138952852.post-16851221607457113202024-01-03T20:12:00.002+08:002024-01-03T20:12:18.949+08:00Light shines brightest in darkness<span style="font-family: times;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord </span></b><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9jygoayo0eNHC-c4_V7MEoB9YfUMBDO3JC-Fzt54WAkOWZgoj73wUlYuqfIAULo-C2Az0i5Rh3YTULdwSDCPKONHSah2JHPKlWLchHnIajj-MMHiYb4KZOyE8U7BX7hw6AAx6AiBzRLYmdbxPjvyV7gJPLmppExq7_xxTx7QeHW7EjKNp-i8IEH3WSQ5j/s600/epiphany.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9jygoayo0eNHC-c4_V7MEoB9YfUMBDO3JC-Fzt54WAkOWZgoj73wUlYuqfIAULo-C2Az0i5Rh3YTULdwSDCPKONHSah2JHPKlWLchHnIajj-MMHiYb4KZOyE8U7BX7hw6AAx6AiBzRLYmdbxPjvyV7gJPLmppExq7_xxTx7QeHW7EjKNp-i8IEH3WSQ5j/w400-h266/epiphany.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />Imagine that the journey of life was all cozy and rosy. That everything worked out as we wished and there was absolutely no pain. How could you appreciate the presence of something if you have never known its absence? Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word happy would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness. Sorrow and joy, darkness and light, pain and happiness, these things serve as the lower and upper limits of the scale of life. They enable us to measure situations and moments in our lives. Without one, it becomes impossible to appreciate the other. We need to understand darkness to comprehend the light. To appreciate life, we must accept death as part of the equation. To live is to experience wholeness. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Today’s feast similarly gives wholeness and a necessary balance to the entire Christmas story. Its placement in the calendar positions, Epiphany as the fulfilment of Advent and the climax of Christmas. While in Advent the Church awaits the coming of the light of the Messiah, at Christmas the Church beholds the incarnation of God in flesh, and on Epiphany the Church celebrates that God has come to make His glory known to the world, in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. During Advent, the Church seeks God’s intervention for humanity still covered by darkness. At Christmas the Church declares that God has assumed our humanity, by inserting His light into the darkness. On Epiphany the Church asserts that God has made Himself known to all humanity, the Light now shines in the darkness. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">The movement from Advent to Epiphany marks a progression from darkness to light, which is why Epiphany sometimes is called the Feast of Lights. Advent anticipates God’s promised light that will come to dispel the darkness. Christmas praises God for His light that has been born into the darkness. Epiphany rejoices that God’s light has come to the world and has manifest itself to those living in darkness. And so, with Isaiah, on Epiphany the Church proclaims: “Arise, shine out, Jerusalem, for your light has come, the glory of the Lord is rising on you.” </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Yes, the feast of Epiphany is rightly called the festival of light, although there are many other contenders for this title. I would like to think of it as more a festival of twilight, rather than a blast of sunlight. The most picturesque scene is never captured when the sun is high in the sky or when the land is covered in the darkness of the night. The most beautiful painting on God’s canvas of nature is often wrought in the twilight hours of sunset and sunrise, where both light and darkness mingle and produce the most amazing myriad of colours. And thus, twilight often marks the significant hours of our Lord’s life: His birth in Bethlehem in the darkness of the night of Christmas; His death on a cross on Good Friday where daylight was darkened by an eclipse; His resurrection in the darkness before the dawn of Easter; and when His birth and presence was manifested by the star which shone in the dark and led the magi to His bedside on this feast. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">In Isaiah’s prophecy in the first reading, we witness the intermingling of light and darkness. The prophecy announces that the “light has come” and yet “night still covers the earth and darkness the peoples.” How could this be? How could light coexist with darkness side-by-side? Well, darkness is not a “thing” which exist. Just like evil does not ontologically exist as an entity, evil is the mere absence of good. Likewise, darkness is the absence of light, without it, we would never know what it means to not have light. That is to say, we would take the presence of light for granted, we would never fully see how lucky we are to have light. So anytime you find yourself in a difficult situation, anytime you find yourself in darkness, always remember that brighter days will come, and when they do, you will find and appreciate joy more than you would have if joy had been a simple daily occurrence without interruption. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">In the account of the visit of the magi in the gospel, we see the fulfilment of the prophecy of Isaiah: “The nations come to your light and kings to your dawning brightness.” It is this association with the “kings” and “nations” of Isaiah’s prophecy and not from our gospel text, which had inspired the tradition that the magi were three kings representing three continents in the ancient world - Europe, Africa and Asia. Once again in this familiar tale that has been immortalised in Christmas pageants, carols and crèche scenes, we see the intermingling of light and darkness. While the visit of the Magi—representing the nations of the world—is an unmistakable sign that the salvation offered by the newborn King is for all times and peoples, writers through the ages saw the Magi’s journey as a metaphor for conversion and the journey of faith that each of us is traveling, a journey that often passes through the valley of darkness. It is precisely the darkness of antagonists like the politically insecure Herod or the religious leaders of his time which makes the story of Epiphany and our story so much brighter. How could virtue shine more valiantly, if it was not surrounded by the darkness of vice and sin? </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Following the inspiration of God, the story of Epiphany and our own story move from the darkness of doubt and sin, entering into the light and freedom of God’s children. This inspired Pope Benedict XVI’s reflexion on this feast, when he wrote: “How important it is that we Christians are faithful to our vocation! Every authentic believer is always traveling his own personal itinerary of faith, and at the same time, with the little light that he carries within himself, can and must be a help to those alongside him, and even help the one for whom finding the way that leads to Christ is difficult.” </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">The “night still covers the earth and darkness the peoples,” but the light of Christ has come into the world, and that has made all the difference. Our lives may now be covered in darkness, but dawn is on the way, the night of doubt and uncertainty would soon be over. But even in this experience of darkness, even in the dark night of the soul, the heavenly light that guided the Magi still shines in the Gospel, which continues to guide us along our pilgrim way. As we look upon the crèche, we cannot stay there. Like the shepherds and the magi, we too are called to move away and take the light of Jesus with us. We are asked not only to admire the light, but to be people of light. As Jesus Himself tells us, you are the light of the world and your light must shine. The gift of this great Christmas feast reminds us that the Church, and every person of faith, has been entrusted with that same light and we are called to carry that light into the dark places of the world in our prayer, words, and acts of charity.</span></span>Rev Michael Chuahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13295316323174276901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7041317573138952852.post-78231188760061588842023-12-28T09:00:00.001+08:002023-12-28T09:00:00.130+08:00The Woman who bore God<span style="font-family: times;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Solemnity of Mary Mother of God </span></b><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1B9ABYI6iultLdwMTFHcL7qscVLm9GOsljRiy8fFCLjifhDrLGwNz5us7SCjtaDicgQbCGk1k9wfltqauSPDYQDG9i6moWJ8UGLJX5qez9GPcRdX1gorXDFs1v0x4GmTvC3b1bwcqmzdOGeXMdnl74w9KsTl6nfJRq12jNFK0A0MujZwwIZvRS7jnfrQa/s881/815b4527a50b3c3af8a8d54098185897--lady-madonna-madonna-and-child.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="881" data-original-width="515" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1B9ABYI6iultLdwMTFHcL7qscVLm9GOsljRiy8fFCLjifhDrLGwNz5us7SCjtaDicgQbCGk1k9wfltqauSPDYQDG9i6moWJ8UGLJX5qez9GPcRdX1gorXDFs1v0x4GmTvC3b1bwcqmzdOGeXMdnl74w9KsTl6nfJRq12jNFK0A0MujZwwIZvRS7jnfrQa/w234-h400/815b4527a50b3c3af8a8d54098185897--lady-madonna-madonna-and-child.jpg" width="234" /></a></div><br />The first set of visitors to the bedside of the Blessed Virgin Mary after the birth of our Lord would have been most unexpected. Rather than kings or prophets or the aristocratic priestly caste coming to pay homage to the new born King of Kings, the gospel tells us that it was a motley crew of poor shepherds who were the first visitors, a group of people whose profession would have even been looked down by others because of their lowly state and the frequent association of their kind with petty thieves and others who engage in unsavoury work. But this would not be surprising if we knew our Scripture. God Himself had promised to shepherd His people through the prophecies of the prophets of old. So, shouldn’t the first ones to recognise this ominous event be the ones who would be most like this Shepherd King in the flesh? Birds of a feather do indeed flock together! </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">The Blessed Virgin Mary would have had a sense of this. She did not feel insulted by the presence of these shepherds nor withdraw in fear. She welcomed them and the message of the angels which they brought: “Today in the town of David a saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord”. And St Luke tells us that “she treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart.” To ponder and to enter into deep reflexion is one thing, but to “treasure” is on an entirely different level of appreciation. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">In that tight space of a hollowed-out cave with little room for anything else than the animals who were stabled there, the Holy Family took refuge and the Word spoken at Creation and who brought the universe into existence was born and laid in a manger, a humble feeding trough for the animals. The space was crowded enough before the arrival of the guests. And yet that space was large enough to house the animals, the Holy Family and the shepherds who had come to worship the Saviour born that day. Once the Virgin Mary contained the Uncontainable, and her womb became more spacious than the heavens, the small grotto of Bethlehem has expanded to such a degree that it now houses true worshippers like the most cavernous basilica! We do not feel cramped here! We may feel cramped at church during the midnight service, but not here. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">The Son of God was born on earth, yet He was not separated from heaven. He is babbling like an infant in the arms of His Mother and giving commands to the archangels and angels concurrently. It is precisely for this reason, that we affirm the title of His mother as Mother of God, or in Greek, Theotokos which literally means “God-Bearer,” the one who gave birth to God. This title was solemnly defined by the Council of Ephesus in 431 (although it has been widely used for centuries earlier) to mean that in the person of Jesus Christ, His humanity and divinity are inseparable. Jesus cannot be split up into two parts, one divine and the other human. This means that Mary cannot be simply the mother of the human Jesus without being also, in a genuine sense, the Mother of God. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">The first Christians called Mary the “Mother of God” without hesitation. There was scriptural precedent, and it seemed logical. If Jesus was God, and Mary was his mother, then that made her the Mother of God. That sort of logic depends on a principle called the “Communication of Idioms.” According to that principle, whatever one says about either of Christ’s natures, can be truly said of Christ Himself. That’s because His two natures, the divine nature and the human nature, were united in Him. He is one divine person. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">In the fifth century, however, some people raised the same objections to the title that many non-Catholics raise today: They argued that the title “Mother of God” implied that Mary was the “originator of God.” Those objectors said that they could accept the title “Mother of Christ,” but not “Mother of God.” At the heart of those objections, however, was an objection to the unity of Christ’s two natures. Mary, they claimed, gave birth only to Christ’s human nature, not His divine nature. The Church, led by Pope Celestine I and St. Cyril of Alexandria, disagreed. As St. Cyril pointed out, a mother gives birth to a person, not a nature. And the bishops at the Council of Ephesus sided with them and rejected the duality of natures proposed by Nestorius and his camp who could not come around to call Mary Mother of God. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Accordingly, Mary gave birth to Jesus Christ, who was and is a divine person. Although Mary did not “originate” or “generate” God, she did bear Him in her womb and give birth to Him. Mary did not give Jesus His divine nature or His divine personhood—those He possessed from all eternity as the only begotten Son of the Father. But she also didn’t just give Him His flesh: She gave birth to the whole person. She gave birth to Jesus Christ, both God and man. For this reason, we should not hesitate to acknowledge that Mary was God’s mother. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">So, as we continue to spend time in prayer and meditation at the Christmas creche to honour the Saviour of the World, let us not forget His mother who stands watchful by His side. Together, with her, let us treasure all these things and ponder them in our hearts. </span></span>Rev Michael Chuahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13295316323174276901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7041317573138952852.post-82717691204165597552023-12-26T21:52:00.002+08:002023-12-26T21:57:03.284+08:00A Sweet Yoke of Harmony<span style="font-family: times;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Solemnity of the Holy Family </span></b><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY4a9xQCajUiauSWjnWdl8GZqh4q8Ton-sTWFma52b7FxpLtodtzc_rgilzC3ER5_Jgu1YdTuoSdqH6RxefT8IUknubNHA9sxNNUchujJ6q4AFAttbRmhHetxu9YfI6DGyScPHFaHx1DufjqBwrRkJxyQyDx_hzmg5h09TMOMIpyoGkhxUrZhu05jApThV/s472/nativity-topper.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="238" data-original-width="472" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY4a9xQCajUiauSWjnWdl8GZqh4q8Ton-sTWFma52b7FxpLtodtzc_rgilzC3ER5_Jgu1YdTuoSdqH6RxefT8IUknubNHA9sxNNUchujJ6q4AFAttbRmhHetxu9YfI6DGyScPHFaHx1DufjqBwrRkJxyQyDx_hzmg5h09TMOMIpyoGkhxUrZhu05jApThV/w400-h201/nativity-topper.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />One of the most iconic Catholic traditions of Christmas is the Christmas crèche, or the nativity scene. This year marks the 800th anniversary of the first crèche which was erected in the year 1223 by none other than St Francis of Assisi. St Francis’ pioneering crèche featured real animals and a real family, not resin or plastic figurines. The crèche was St Francis’ attempt at bringing Bethlehem to our doorsteps as it was no longer safe for pilgrims to make a journey to the Holy Land to visit the holy shrines. You may agree that this year seems to feel like déjà vu, especially for those who had planned to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land this year or the next, only to find their plans cancelled or changed due to the outbreak of war in Israel. So, rest assured. Even if you cannot experience the Holy Land physically, you have a chance to experience it liturgically during the season of Christmas… or in your homes. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">The Christmas crèche is not like any other Christmas decoration. In fact, it’s not meant to be a decoration. It is a prayer corner. Here, we are invited to prayerfully contemplate the various figurines contained within the scene, the members of the Holy Family at its very heart and centre. And so, we see the humble figures of Mary and Joseph kneeling before the manger gazing lovingly upon their newborn son, the Son of Mary, the Son of God. One could say that this must be one of the most ancient family portraits. The whole scene reaffirms two wonderful truths. The first reminds us of God’s immense trust for this couple, that He would deign it fitting to entrust His only Son to two human beings, a woman and a man, wife and husband. The second is that if a family was the cause of humanity’s downfall, another family would be at the heart of humanity’s redemption. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Joseph and Mary’s family life were far from ordinary or even ideal, by modern standards. The beginnings of their married and family life were already marked by disastrous omens – a suggestion of conception out of wedlock, the threat of divorce, dislocation and homelessness, economic poverty and to top it all - a hostile environment that posed the greatest threat to both the safety and welfare of the couple and their newborn child. In today’s world, all these would be interpreted as unfavourable factors that would warrant either delaying the marriage, postponing the start of a family, calling it quits or even justify the abortion of the foetus within the womb. In fact, it would take much less these days to justify any of the above actions. But something amazing took place. Instead of turning their backs on each other and on the child, Mary’s fiat and Joseph’s acceptance of the Incarnation – indeed the man and woman’s loving obedience to God’s will, triumphed at the end. Their love for God, which outweighed self-interests and societal pressures, served as the wellspring for their own steadfast love and provided a rich sanctuary for the Christ Child. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Mary and Joseph were both significant and necessary influences in the life of Jesus – a child needs both his father and his mother. Mary and Joseph remained side-by-side, nurturing and protecting the Son of God as He “grew in wisdom.” Yet Scripture hints that they are asked to play distinctive roles. Mary watches and listens to all the wondrous events that accompany the birth of her Son. After the visit of the shepherds and Magi, we see the natural contemplative in the person of Mary who “treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart.” Joseph, for his part, receives messages from angels, who direct him to take action to protect his family. His readiness and courage to respond immediately without hesitation proved his manliness and reaffirmed his paternal qualities. Joseph was never the absent father. His humility shines forth through his willingness to be obedient to God’s will. In Joseph, we understand that truly “being a Man”, is not doing it “my way,” but always obedient to ‘God’s ways.’ </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Thus, these figures assembled in the Nativity scene, call us back not only to the mystery of the Incarnation, to the joyous event of Christmas, but to the very origins of creation itself. We come to recognise that the crown of God’s creation after He set in place all fixtures and wonders of the universe is not just man alone, but a man, both male and female, made in the image of God, and entrusted with the first commandment to come together in marriage and to form a family. What does it mean, though, that man as male and female has been created in the image and likeness of God? This simple verse in the Bible affirms that both male and female, while fully equal as the image of God, are nonetheless distinct in the manner of their possession of the image of God. This is what we call the complementarity of man and woman. Therefore, family itself becomes a sign that points to the very wellspring of love, the Holy Trinity – One God in Three Persons. The family is an icon of the Most Holy Trinity. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">The necessity of celebrating such a feast where the family is the focus is more apparent today when we consider how counter cultural marriage and family life have become. Contemporary culture is challenging the most vital aspects of the existence of the human being, in ways that go so far as to overturn our understanding of human nature, and particularly of human sexual identity and relations between the sexes. Contemporary culture is proposing and imposing models for sexual identity and relations between the sexes that would ultimately mean redefining marriage and the family, to the extent of destroying both. Contemporary culture cannot accept that man is made in the image and likeness of God. Contemporary culture has no place for God and His kind. Man must be his own god, or nothing else matters. For this reason, contemporary society has no place for the traditional family because the family and the mutual obligations of its members remind our society of God and His demands of us. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Today, with the Holy Family as our model, we must reaffirm once again that the complementarity of man and woman is at the root of marriage, not prideful autonomy, not self-serving motives seeking to satisfy one’s personal happiness. Thus, when we arbitrarily decide to take either the man, husband and father, or woman, wife, and mother out of the equation of marriage and family, it would have destructive consequences. For the Incarnation to take place, for the Word to take flesh, the Son of God must have a human father and human mother. In the human family of Joseph and Mary, we see again how God brings the Divine into the human realm. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">The Blessed Virgin Mary and St Joseph, the woman and man who wait before the manger in our homes and in our churches, affirm the beauty of this daily path of married love — this school of virtue — and they testify against “the culture of the temporary,” which Pope Francis said, has wreaked the most havoc in poor communities. Therefore, the feast we celebrate today is so important to reaffirm once again the beautiful original plan of God at creation, a plan that is not subject to the fleeting changes of fad and fashion, precisely because God had “forged the covenant of marriage as a sweet yoke of harmony and an unbreakable bond of peace” (Preface for Marriage). In the nuptial blessings contained in the Wedding liturgy, we are comforted by the promise that the blessings endowed by God on marriage and family life is “not forfeited by original sin nor washed away by the flood.” May the Nativity figures of the Blessed Virgin Mary, St Joseph and the Christ Child in our little prayer corner inspire us to foster and embrace the distinctive gifts we share in our marriages and families and spur us to help others, especially families in crisis, see their own salvation in the steadfast love of the Holy Family.</span></span>Rev Michael Chuahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13295316323174276901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7041317573138952852.post-64700399996434921452023-12-22T07:38:00.005+08:002023-12-22T07:38:47.437+08:00In the Beginning<span style="font-family: times;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Christmas Mass During the Day </span></b><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMKDkP_Agq7JOYdezG5GfNuK2VnTTDVp0ZC0PwQBdO6jHcywjvjw-DwGdLs58W9CCI09kvnpHoI2Gl47A6UW5egUvlGN5xDXVoH3KP4e4jss4qOsRBRYqlUHgZsYfs3kg_esLU9_aq5kEQu3z8wHc6VQ5lO94Wfhyphenhyphen9D5gFNGBPS0y_pspHz3ldLFqQDZkd/s1024/mitya-ivanov-ybqj9_TX78E-unsplash-1024x538.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="538" data-original-width="1024" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMKDkP_Agq7JOYdezG5GfNuK2VnTTDVp0ZC0PwQBdO6jHcywjvjw-DwGdLs58W9CCI09kvnpHoI2Gl47A6UW5egUvlGN5xDXVoH3KP4e4jss4qOsRBRYqlUHgZsYfs3kg_esLU9_aq5kEQu3z8wHc6VQ5lO94Wfhyphenhyphen9D5gFNGBPS0y_pspHz3ldLFqQDZkd/w400-h210/mitya-ivanov-ybqj9_TX78E-unsplash-1024x538.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />Catholics attending this Mass or a later mass today are often surprised by the Gospel reading. There doesn’t seem to be anything Christmasy about this Christmas Day gospel reading. There is no mention of a manger, a stable, shepherds, of Magi, of angels, of Bethlehem or, very surprisingly, of Mary and Joseph. If you came last night, you would not have been disappointed. But this morning’s Gospel starts in a manner which doesn’t seem to be in synch with the season: "In the beginning was the Word," and it continues to speak only of the Word of God. So why is this a Christmas Gospel reading? </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Up until the liturgical reforms of the post-Vatican II era, the Prologue of St John’s Gospel, the text we just heard was and is still proclaimed at the very end of every Traditional Latin Mass, thereby earning for itself the misnomer ‘the Last Gospel.’ According to one source, the Last Gospel was inserted here to counter the heresy (prevalent among clergy at the time of its introduction) of denying the Incarnation, and therefore the divinity of Jesus Christ. It was to assure the congregation that the priest who had celebrated Mass was not a heretic and thus the Mass was valid. Phew! The priest by reading this passage publicly attests to the orthodoxy of his faith. Whatever may have been the original reason for its insertion, it is a beautiful paradox that the Last Gospel of the Mass takes us back to the beginning, for it opens with the words "In the beginning." </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">The tradition of reading the prologue on Christmas Day has survived the liturgical reform. Though the practice of reading the Last Gospel at the end of mass has been discontinued, it did serve the purpose of climaxing every celebration with the compelling and beautiful truth of the Incarnation, the dogma that speaks of the act and decision of the Second Person of the Trinity, the Son of God, becoming man – the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. The prologue situates the Christmas story outside the confines of human history. In fact, it provides for the words and works of the Incarnate Word an eternal background or origin and proceeds to proclaim His divinity and eternity. He who "became flesh" in time, is the Word Himself from all eternity. He is the only begotten Son of God "who is in the bosom of the Father." He is the Son "consubstantial with the Father," He is "God from God, Light from Light, True God from True God." He is the Word "through whom everything was made”… “and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man.” </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">This focus on the Incarnation and the Divinity of Christ reminds us that we are not celebrating the birthday of a celebrity, or a great hero, or a sagely guru, or an illustrious prophet. We are celebrating the birth into human history of the Divine and Eternal Word, the Son of God, the One from whom and in whom all things were made. "The Son of God became man", St Athanasius explains, "in order that the sons of men, the sons of Adam, might become sons of God.” With all the gift-giving, merry making, commercialisation of our feast, it is quite easy to forget this very central truth. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">While our culture is very open to the likes of Superman, Thor, Spider-man and other “super-beings” who are fictional, it is ironic that man regards the Incarnation, the fact of an Omnipotent God choosing to become mortal, a strange and unbelievable idea. There has been increased hostility and opposition to the biblical doctrine of the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ, and consequently the rejection of His divinity. In history there have been those who have sought to sacrifice either the deity of Christ (e.g. the Ebionites) or remove His humanity (e.g. the Docetists). In modern times, there has been a bold attack on the doctrine of the incarnation. The great quest of liberal theology has been to invent a Jesus who is stripped of all supernatural power, deity, and authority. They are not reinterpreting traditional Christology. They are simply abandoning it. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">The doctrine of the Incarnation is central to a Christian celebration of Christmas, a truth that is currently under attack. The doctrine of the Incarnation is one which is vital to the Christian faith because other doctrines will stand or fall with it. We cease to be Christians the moment we deny that Jesus is God. Our believe that He is God sets us apart from other religions. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Perhaps the best way to underscore the importance of the doctrine of the Incarnation is to consider the price for putting it aside. Nowhere is it more beautifully and succinctly articulated than in the Catechism of the Catholic Church which lays down these various reasons for the Incarnation thus pointing to its central significance: </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">· The Word became flesh for us in order to save us (CCC 457). </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">· The Word became flesh so that thus we might know God’s love (CCC 458). </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">· The Word became flesh to be our model of holiness (CCC 459) </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">· Finally, the Word became flesh to make us ‘partakers of the divine nature.’ (2 Peter 1:4) </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Can we truly celebrate Christmas and at the same time deny both the humanity and the divinity of Christ? The answer to that question must be a decisive ‘No’. Those who reject these truths empty our celebration of its essential content – Christmas is not just a celebration of the birthday of our founder, a sentimental reason for gathering as a family, an occasion for gift-giving and carolling, a cultic act to proclaim the legendary charity of Ole St Nicholas. For us Christians, Christmas must always be a celebration affirming our belief in both the divinity and humanity of Jesus Christ. He is fully God and fully Man. The Incarnation does not stand alone as a doctrine that can be severed from the rest. On the contrary, it is an irreducible part of the revelation about the person and work of Jesus Christ. With it, the Gospel stands or falls. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">It is often the case that we are invited to admire the humility of our Lord Jesus Christ as He chose to be born in the spartan conditions of a cave or stable in Bethlehem. But this morning’s liturgy also invites us to humbly kneel in adoration before the One who chose to kneel before His disciples to wash their feet. It’s time to rescue this Feast of Christmas from all that sentimental sugar coating. It is the Feast by which we affirm once again our belief in His divinity. Together with Pope Benedict, we affirm that our “Faith is simple and rich: we believe that God exists, that God counts; but which God? A God with a face, a human face, a God who reconciles, who overcomes hatred and gives us the power of peace that no one else can give us.”</span></span>Rev Michael Chuahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13295316323174276901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7041317573138952852.post-7256649176522028472023-12-21T06:24:00.002+08:002023-12-21T06:24:17.060+08:00A Hidden Christmas<span style="font-family: times;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Christmas Mass in the Night </span></b><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1cAEyKIpRf_U32Xbloz7WqsDpBCNl3vWlg38-Dtt1SQ5U6EWEwxslacd-XloMssZPmk-va5CacUazyhwB3z7XK0ub7pAABEcAWp6VsynsxcWnc3xL2uwU9SdgU_cKWHnjLajCSTqwsCt0QGfcekdjyQQOLEsQgZWuj0kckhmYxPcjSM5YeC0eBvC8Ybbm/s342/nativity-duccio.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="330" data-original-width="342" height="386" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1cAEyKIpRf_U32Xbloz7WqsDpBCNl3vWlg38-Dtt1SQ5U6EWEwxslacd-XloMssZPmk-va5CacUazyhwB3z7XK0ub7pAABEcAWp6VsynsxcWnc3xL2uwU9SdgU_cKWHnjLajCSTqwsCt0QGfcekdjyQQOLEsQgZWuj0kckhmYxPcjSM5YeC0eBvC8Ybbm/w400-h386/nativity-duccio.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />When Christmas comes around every year, the child-like love for all that glitter, the glamour and the warm fuzzy feel-good exuberance of this season is reignited. It’s really hard to hide our excitement. But it often seems that the Church is constantly reminding us of the need to observe the penitential nature of Advent, to tone down our celebrations, and to reject the commercial agenda of Xmas. At times, it does seem that the Church, in a Grinch like way, sadistically enjoys taking the fun out of Christmas. Sigh … </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">We can’t entirely blame the commercial and secular world for having hijacked Christmas and taken Jesus Christ, the real star of this celebration, off-stage. Perhaps, the real problem lies with us being unable to uncover the real Christmas, the Hidden Christmas. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Our Christmas is indeed hidden from view. This is because the Kingdom of God, as the parable goes, is like a treasure hidden in the field, it is hidden in order that it may be found. It’s the story of how God leaves obvious and apparent clues, a bread crumb trail, in order for us to find Him. His mission is not to obscure, but to reveal. Our real but hidden Christmas, is located in a grotto (the Cave), not displayed on billboards, broadcasted on televisions or on the internet or at the malls. There is no fame or celebrity in the Nativity of Christ. There is no headline news to herald the event. It would not have trended on social media. No one would have created TikTok videos or blogged about the Christ Child. Your GPS would not have tracked the Wise Men. Neither would the astronomical department or national space agency, have paid any attention to the Bethlehem Star except as a discovery of a new constellation or the occurrence of a supernova. To the public whose vision is as blind as their faith, its real meaning lies hidden. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Our Christmas secret is that the Son of God chose to be born in obscurity. God hides in the cave of Bethlehem for a reason. For thousands of years, the mystery was kept hidden under a veil of shadows and vague dreams. But on Christmas night, God chose to reveal this secret to the world. He revealed the plan for the liberation and redemption of humanity, freedom from the oppression of sin and death, His blueprint of rescuing mankind from the clutches of Satan. But His revelation took place within the hidden recesses of a cave, in an obscure little village of Bethlehem, at a moment that went unnoticed, except to a few. Why would God choose to reveal Himself in the hidden mystery of the cave? Why shepherds? Why would God choose to make His most spectacular announcement to a group least able to comprehend its most profound meaning or suffer the lack of means to spread it? </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">The birth of Jesus in such stark simplicity is not an accident. Jesus chose to be born in those circumstances to show us who God is. The Christian God is not a distant much less an absent God, but a God who is present in history and who cares for and directs history. The world expects a powerful domineering God to make a showy celebrity-styled entrance. They are expecting a transcendental God who must always come from the outside. But the God of Love actually came from a different direction: God is no outsider, God is Emmanuel, He is with us, through the Incarnation, God has always been an insider. Jesus Christ was born in the secrecy of the cave to reveal the fact that the Son of God is offered as a gift – just like how all gifts are wrapped up, waiting to be opened and to surprise us - but it is a gift that can be opened only at our deepest self, where we are the poorest, the weakest and most vulnerable...where we are who we really are. That is why the lowly shepherds were able to discern His coming, and not those who consider themselves in the thick of things, those in power, those who have all the answers. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">For it is only those who are at the bottom of the social ladder, the dregs of society, those beaten, defeated and termed failures, those considered mad, who would understand and appreciate the real meaning of God’s condescension in the Incarnation. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, descended from infinite transcendence into our broken-up tiny little darkness. He brought His divinity to bear upon our humanity by uniting both in His very person. In Himself He gathers up the alienated fragments of the human race, the broken pieces of ourselves; broken by our violence, our desperations, our addictions and despondencies, our hopeless biographies. In His own Person, He meticulously puts the pieces back together again. And He does this in the secret cave - the cave where no one is rich and self-sufficient, where no one is powerful, where no one is famous nor can demand privilege. It is a cave too small for the likes of kings and those who prefer more sanitary conditions, but large enough to house those who are aware of their very own littleness in the presence of the Incarnate God of Love. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Yes, it is necessary that God hides from us, so that our dependence is not built upon an experience of Him but rather, our dependence is placed strictly on Him and Him alone. The spartan poverty of the cave is a gift to us: it allows us to consolidate our brokenness, our woundedness, our failure, our insecurities and slavish fears and allow all these to be transformed into a blessing of incomprehensible value. And when we have little left of our presumptuous self-sufficiency and pretentious intelligence, then we can see the world anew. God may be hidden from the world, but for the Christian, He is apparent to behold. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">We see hiding in our Christmas tree, the story of salvation unfolding from the moment of Adam and Eve’s Fall for having eaten the forbidden fruit (the baubles) after placing their trust in the words of the serpent (the curling tinsels) instead of the promises of God. But the tree is also the gibbet on which our Saviour hung and died, thus transforming the curse into a blessing. We see in it the promise of eternal life, for through the sacrifice of Christ on the branches of the cross, the tree that poisoned us and which sentenced us to death, has been transformed into the Tree of Life, which yields fruits that provide the antidote to death, and from it flows the sweet elixir of immortality. In Santa Claus, we recognise the figure of Christ, who bountifully rewards us with his blessings and the great gift of salvation and who will come at the end of time to judge us and he will know whether we’ve been naughty or nice. In the carols we belt out and hear over the radio, we hear that great Christmas proclamation resounding once again, that “a Saviour has been born to you, He is Christ the Lord!” Yes, our Christmas is hidden, but not to those with eyes of faith to see through the patterns and symbols of this season. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Let us go meet Him, you and me, and adore Him who alone is worthy of our praises. Let us be whole again. Let us be brother and sister again. Let us rejoice in the knowledge of this great and divine, splendid Secret, this Hidden Christmas and broadcast it to the world. Let us shout it from the housetops, above the darkness, above the noisy and often angry cacophony of a world gone blind and deaf, that Jesus Christ is born! “A Saviour has been born to you, He is Christ the Lord!”</span></span>Rev Michael Chuahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13295316323174276901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7041317573138952852.post-19948517192799810432023-12-20T08:51:00.002+08:002023-12-20T08:51:33.446+08:00There can be no Christmas without Mary<span style="font-family: times;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Fourth Sunday of Advent Year B </span></b><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-i6SrI4bbqJhtmAVQ6I5dZDm0lxFzn3lgTMSFaYoQwHpc08dXjFNjqIItmX_hyphenhyphen19j19k8qFlnSSDMhgWnN8GZZC5VVb-XJuKLyY_ySoK3ACKLZK9-LmpNnCHaMFGbaWCPz70h2SiXt7_d-T_Qy-bg5PE1mDJckgaJeCaBD64J3O7BcTZvuJpMR87TmgLT/s1010/06a4d7f9cbdb05cc87c3ef494622bcfa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1010" data-original-width="1000" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-i6SrI4bbqJhtmAVQ6I5dZDm0lxFzn3lgTMSFaYoQwHpc08dXjFNjqIItmX_hyphenhyphen19j19k8qFlnSSDMhgWnN8GZZC5VVb-XJuKLyY_ySoK3ACKLZK9-LmpNnCHaMFGbaWCPz70h2SiXt7_d-T_Qy-bg5PE1mDJckgaJeCaBD64J3O7BcTZvuJpMR87TmgLT/w396-h400/06a4d7f9cbdb05cc87c3ef494622bcfa.jpg" width="396" /></a></div><br />When most people are asked, when does the Church commemorate this momentous event in salvation history where the Uncreated Word became flesh, the most common answer would be: “Christmas!” Christmas is the feast of the Incarnation. But I guess most people, especially in this day and age when abortion is widely promoted in many countries, we have forgotten that life does not begin at birth but at the conception of a person. One could choose to deny this on ideological grounds because it is inconvenient and challenges our selfish motives, but this truth is irrefutable when we witness a convergence of biology and theology which affirms this truth. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">So, on this last Sunday of Advent, and in fact for this year at least, the last day of Advent, before we transition into the Christmas cycle this evening, the Church’s lectionary provides us with this beautiful gospel passage which narrates the Annunciation of the Archangel Gabriel to the Blessed Virgin Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ. The connexion between these two events - the moment of conception and the moment of birth - could not be made any clearer with the juxtaposition of these two events. The Feast of the Annunciation which the Church celebrates on the 25th of March is as much the Feast of the Incarnation as it could be said of Christmas. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">A cursory reading of both the first reading and the gospel will let you see how the prophecy of Nathan to King David in the Old Testament that his house and sovereignty will always stand secure and his throne be established for ever, is being fulfilled in the story of the Annunciation, as explained by the Archangel Gabriel: “The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David; he will rule over the House of Jacob for ever and his reign will have no end.” </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">In Hebrew, there is no specific word for a king’s palace or the Temple of God. The palace of the king is simply described as the King’s house as the temple is God’s house. So, the idea of “house” is deliberately ambiguous when spoken in reference to David as it could refer to both the dynastic line of David or to the palace in which he lives. Furthermore, in the first reading we see an ironic reversal in that God promises to establish a house for David even as David promises to build a house for God, an offer which God declines. David, ashamed that he was now living in an opulent “house,” would not allow God to suffer the humiliation of occupying a nomad’s tent. He thought to honour God by building God a house fitting for His glory and dignity. But God reminds David that since God has provided the latter with all the essentials of accommodation, God Himself is in no need of a human dwelling. No human hands can build a house that is ultimately suitable for God save for one that is built by God Himself. Even King David acknowledges this in Psalm 127: “unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labour in vain.” </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Mary is indeed the house of God, not built by human hands but shaped and created by God Himself. Our Eastern brethren pays her the greatest honour by describing her as the one “made more spacious than the heavens” or in Greek, “Playtera ton ouranon.” The Universe we know about is mind-bogglingly big. Yet, we recognise that God is far greater than that. The universe, for all its vastness, remains finite. God, on the other hand, is infinite! But here is the great mystery we celebrate today – God who could not be contained in His created universe chose to be contained in the tiny womb of this human being. Thus, we call Our Lady “more Spacious than the Heavens” because she held in her womb Him who holds the whole universe. She succeeds where the whole universe fails. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">The veil which separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the Temple Complex was embroidered with symbols of the cosmos, in a way indicating that the temple was a microcosm of the universe, the house of God. When the veil was torn in two on Good Friday at our Lord’s death, it was symbolically the end of the cosmos as we know it. During the time of our Lord’s birth, the temple was already an empty husk, the ark of the covenant, the throne of God, had already been lost during the Babylonian invasion and the first destruction of the Temple. Furthermore, in the mystical vision of the prophet Ezekiel, the shekinah, or God’s visible glory, had already departed. But here, we see the glory of God, the Holy Spirit and the power of the Most High will once again overshadow the “house” of God, not the Temple but Mary - she who is the ark of the new covenant, she who is more spacious than the universe. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">So, on the eve of the day we commemorate how the Author and Creator of the Universe entered into our created universe as a child, it is fitting that the Church reminds us of how this happened. It was not by accident, nor is the instrument by which this occurred insignificant. Without Mary’s fiat to the Archangel Gabriel, we would not be celebrating Christmas. There is no Christmas without Mary. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Mary is indeed a cosmos to herself with Christ as its solar centre. Mary is indispensable to the story of salvation and the story of Christmas because without her, Christ’s birth could not have taken place. The pre-existent Word could not have become flesh if not for her fiat. Christ could not have been born without her free consent. The Mother of God, she who is “made more spacious than the heavens,” stands between the heavens and the earth and serves as a bridge between. Let us therefore ascend to the heavenly heights and enter into the Holy of Holies. Let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, the Heavenly Jerusalem, for Our Lady, the Blessed Virgin Mary, the true House of God has already bridged what was previously impassable. Through her co-mediation, she has allowed us to approach what was previously unapproachable and to comprehend what was previously incomprehensible. Let us take her hand as she leads us to the manger and beyond to the cross.</span></span>Rev Michael Chuahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13295316323174276901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7041317573138952852.post-79895310142921313342023-12-11T21:28:00.002+08:002023-12-11T21:28:49.727+08:00Rejoice! Indeed the Lord is near!<span style="font-family: times;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Third Sunday of Advent Year B </span></b><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXtbLsMD78JXNHWid4nathdRlSQhj_rbsB9n7KdquDCu01-IPpY6Qw2kKXLz3f96qtx5IllyxmlVkXOCeAa2mPTB3TPnEsdTLzko3wu9UumDLqW1WyFe6AzbKMkQRzw4T8zWze_X7r5B2lK5VsgnFLY1C0Uquad7qoQG0Innq-EJ29cAouloAb8TL3MpMI/s400/2003_CSK_09768_0264_000(065722).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="349" data-original-width="400" height="349" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXtbLsMD78JXNHWid4nathdRlSQhj_rbsB9n7KdquDCu01-IPpY6Qw2kKXLz3f96qtx5IllyxmlVkXOCeAa2mPTB3TPnEsdTLzko3wu9UumDLqW1WyFe6AzbKMkQRzw4T8zWze_X7r5B2lK5VsgnFLY1C0Uquad7qoQG0Innq-EJ29cAouloAb8TL3MpMI/w400-h349/2003_CSK_09768_0264_000(065722).jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />As that 60s Christmas song claims, “it’s the most wonderful time of the year.” But is it? It is true that for most people, there are many reasons to revel in the season - the exhilaration of Christmas shopping and carolling, the excitement of receiving gifts, partaking in family reunions, enjoying year-end holidays and taking the necessary break from work and school. But it can also be the season that creates much stress, anxiety and even depression. When more is expected, there can be more reasons to fail. Add to this natural predilection for disappointment and failure would be a global inflation gone out of control, a country with an uncertain and worrying political future, two major conflicts threatening to escalate into another world war. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Against this tide, not just a tide but a tsunami of despair, today’s liturgy shouts out this refrain: “Rejoice! Exult for Joy! Be happy at all times!” Our senses seem to want to shout back: “What’s there to be joyful about?” “Is the Church blind?” </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">And yet on this Sunday, the Church’s liturgy demands that we rejoice: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice!” These words are a paraphrase of the passage from St Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians which we heard as our second reading. Indeed, the Third Sunday of Advent is called “Gaudete Sunday.” “Gaudete” is the Latin word meaning ‘rejoice.’ </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">What joy can there be in the midst of so much pain, suffering, gloom and darkness? It is certainly not the joy that emerges from some false optimism on our part that things are going to get better – too often, we can attest to this, things in fact get worse. Neither is it the joy that comes from creating an illusory world in our minds where pain and suffering is denied. So, what is this joy which the readings are speaking of? So, why should we be happy, and be happy “at all times,” albeit in good times or bad, in sickness or in health? St Paul tells us that this rejoicing is required of us simply “because this is what God expects you to do in Christ Jesus.” And the Church adds in her liturgy, “Indeed, the Lord is near.” The answer lies in Christ. True lasting joy is found only with God in Christ. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">We are called to rejoice, because the Lord is coming – He is coming to save us, to liberate us, and to give us new life. Many of us may be experiencing some form of darkness in our lives. We find ourselves in the midst of problems without any apparent solution. We see ourselves ‘captives’ of our difficult circumstances, there seems to be no way out. Our hearts may be broken because of rejection or we have been hurt by the actions and words of others. We see ourselves poor, hungering and thirsting for friendship, understanding and a sense of belonging. Some of us find ourselves trapped in the darkness of sin. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">If we see ourselves in any of these situations, rejoice and be glad, because the readings promise good news. This is the promise of God, as St. Paul tells us in the second reading: “God has called you and He will not fail you.” God is always faithful. God keeps His promise. God will not fail you. And what is this promise? The prophet Isaiah announces that the coming of the Lord’s anointed messenger will mean healing and liberation to all who are poor, broken-hearted, oppressed, and captive. The Good News is that which is announced by John the Baptist in the gospel – the Anointed One has come - Jesus has come – He is the Light of the World – and He is waiting to enter into your hearts and into your lives once again. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Therefore, we Christians anticipate the End Times not with fear and trembling, but with rejoicing. St Paul reminds us in the second reading, “Be happy at all times, pray constantly, and for all things give thanks.” Like the prophet Isaiah in the first reading, the thought of the “end times,” of Christ’s coming, should be met with euphoria, “I exult for joy in the Lord, my soul rejoices in my God!” </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Sometimes we have an image of John the Baptist as an austere ascetic. In depicting the Baptist in this fashion, we tend to forget the joy that is associated with his entire life and vocation. It was him who leapt for joy in his mother Elizabeth’s womb when she encountered the Mother of the Word Incarnate. In the fourth Gospel, St John speaks of the source of the Baptist’s supernatural joy - it is the joy of the best man, who rejoices greatly at hearing the bridegroom’s voice. And thus, his humility opened a space within him for true joy, the kind which comes from the real presence of the Lord. So it can be, for each one of us. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Thus, John stands as a sign for us today on Gaudete Sunday. He points out for each one of us the path to lasting joy, not just a forgery or a fading type of joy. We should imitate his lifestyle of self-emptying – a life marked by humility – we prepare for the coming of the Lord by always holding on this basic principle that defined the Baptist’s life and mission, “He must increase and I must decrease.” Despite the difficulties he encountered, the harshness and austerity of his life, his imprisonment and execution at the hands of a local tyrant, John understood that as his own light dimmed and faded, another light was coming, the true light was coming to illuminate the darkened world and cast aside the shadows of sin. The Baptist only caught a glimpse of the first glimmer of light before the sunrise. We, on the other hand, have the privilege of knowing and witnessing that sunrise at Easter. We can, therefore, know no lasting peace and joy, unless we come to know Christ, the true Light of the World, and allow the light of His grace to transform us. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">So, this Sunday, Gaudete Sunday, Rejoice Sunday, becomes another opportunity to be joyful, indeed it is a joy that is greater than it was in the days of the prophet Isaiah or in the days of John the Baptist. What they could only envision in a time of prophecy, we now experience in a time of reality. In just a matter of days we will celebrate the Feast of the Nativity of the Lord. But we do not just commemorate the past. The Liturgy anticipates the future, the coming of our Saviour, our Liberator, the Christ who will bring to completion the good work He has begun in us. For this reason, Holy Mother Church commands us in the imperative – “Rejoice”! Notice that this is a command, not a suggestion. “<i>Gaudete in Domino semper: iterum dico, gaudete: Dominus prope est</i>.” “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Indeed the Lord is near!”</span></span>Rev Michael Chuahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13295316323174276901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7041317573138952852.post-3275048596643408532023-12-04T09:58:00.002+08:002023-12-04T09:58:58.564+08:00Console my people<span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Second Sunday of Advent Year B </b></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitGLevsNudzv_zyNaWWT4rMzL98vYJ9DRy8GDgwsKa3T0reL4i7KNrFMDsOD1KSwtyFcGspuYQgIzYhrYfEXwCtOcBSoBA0nYRvvr2B6v0BREoevldnhkv-84xWnBs9CPqIrC33PHo54mtQndHqDdeOH5zGankQcD7RycItYQLhbVFQv8uJX-E3gNz1XOj/s743/9737a8929e96a6ffc11876e082af2c4b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="646" data-original-width="743" height="348" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitGLevsNudzv_zyNaWWT4rMzL98vYJ9DRy8GDgwsKa3T0reL4i7KNrFMDsOD1KSwtyFcGspuYQgIzYhrYfEXwCtOcBSoBA0nYRvvr2B6v0BREoevldnhkv-84xWnBs9CPqIrC33PHo54mtQndHqDdeOH5zGankQcD7RycItYQLhbVFQv8uJX-E3gNz1XOj/w400-h348/9737a8929e96a6ffc11876e082af2c4b.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />When you are grieving, feeling lost and confused, you would most likely look to others for comfort and consolation - a word of affirmation, a reassurance of friendship and support, a warm hug or gentle touch to remind us that we are not alone. St Ignatius of Loyola also used the movements of consolation and desolation as the foundational tools for his primary spiritual exercise, which is the discernment of spirits. But Ignatius defines these terms in a very specific way, that is different to their common usage. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">You may find it surprising that both consolation and its antonym, desolation, share a common root in Latin - “Sol” which means the Sun. So, consolation is literally with or towards the Sunlight, whereas desolation means away from the Sun - darkness. The latter makes more sense as we often equate our experience of desolation with darkness, the feeling where all light in our lives have been put out. So, consolation is facing or turning to the light and desolation is facing or turning away from the light. This makes so much sense with Ignatius’ definitions of these words. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Looking towards God’s light, the effect on the person’s spirit is ‘warming’, uplifting, positive. Looking away from the light, one is in one’s own shadow, the pitch-black darkness staring back at us when we attempt to look into the depths of our souls. To Ignatius, the task in desolation is not to try and find the way and chart a new course of direction, but to turn towards the light. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">This is how we should consider the prophetic words of Isaiah, our Advent prophet, in the first reading. The reading begins with God’s instruction to Isaiah: “console my people, console them.” God is not just asking Isaiah to give His people some cheap form of consolation - a spiritual bear hug, nor is He asking Isaiah to provide them with some empty assurance -“don’t worry. Things will get better.” Many of us have been guilty of doing this when we are faced with people in pain who are hurting. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">God, instead, is asking Isaiah to remind the people that their sentence for their sins, which is the 70 years of humiliating exile in Babylon, has come to an end. Their “prison term” is over and they will be released soon because their sins have been atoned and forgiven. This prolonged period of desolation, a period where they have been deprived of the light of God which shone on their land and the Temple, would soon be replaced by a period of consolation. The light is returning, the dark night would soon be over, they will be able to bask in the sunlight of God’s graces and mercy. The Lord is returning as a victorious King and a loving Shepherd who will hold His people tightly to His breast in a loving embrace. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">The prophecy of Isaiah would only be partially fulfilled during the time of the return of the people from exile. Instead of a lush and rich land, they would encounter a barren wilderness where all traces of their glorious past civilisation had been erased by their enemies. Instead of the imposing Temple of Jerusalem, God’s seat and foothold on earth, they would only see ruins and rubble, mirroring their own lives which had to be rebuilt from scratch. Many would have wondered how the words of Isaiah’s prophecy, the promises of God, could have applied to them. Would they need to wait longer? How long? </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">This too is the experience of many of us. When faced with one setback or another, we often pray for and look for a break. Many lose faith when God seems slow in acting and answering their prayer. This is why the words of St Peter in the second reading, provide us with a clue as to the reason why God sometimes appears to delay in acting: “The Lord is not being slow to carry out his promises, as anybody else might be called slow; but he is being patient with you all, wanting nobody to be lost and everybody to be brought to change his ways.” What seems to be a delay is not caused by God being slow! It is because He is patient with us, waiting for us to repent and change our ways. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Israel had to wait in twilight and darkness for many centuries. And finally, the gospel announces the first hint of dawn, and it comes in the mysterious figure of this wild like character crying out in the wilderness. Just as heralds in ancient times would go before their liege to announce the imminent arrival of the king, St John the Baptist prepares the way of the Lord by announcing a message of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. This is it! The true secret of attaining consolation is found in repentance. Repentance is the door that leads from darkness to light, from despondency to hope, from tragedy to opportunity, from the pit of despair to the heights of joy. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Despite knowing this to be true, many of us continue to wait and this is where Advent is a season for us who experience the darkness of desolation. What must we do? What can we do as we await for the sun to break through the clouds? Once again, we turn to St Paul for guidance. He writes: “So then, my friends, while you are waiting, do your best to live lives without spot or stain so that he will find you at peace.” </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Even as God wishes to console us with the message of hope and peace, He continues to permit moments of darkness in our lives. Why would He do this? The truth is that God works deep in our lives to transform our deepest sorrow into an abiding joy. Suffering, sorrow, pain and grieving may seem like an eternity. Those who have lost their loved ones will cringe whenever they are told by well-intentioned friends and family, to “get over it” or “find closure” or just “move on.” But it only takes a moment alone, or a memory, or a memorabilia to trigger a torrent of heart-breaking tears. As much as it is difficult to believe, we are assured that this will only “last a moment.” The flip side is grace, God’s favour. This, however, will not just last a lifetime but for eternity. What are months and years of mourning and grieving in comparison to an incalculable eternity of joy. Juxtaposed, we realise that our moments of anguish and darkness are fleeting in the light of God’s eternal favour and grace. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Sometimes we need to view our lives through a mirror. In our sorrow, we learn to appreciate joy. In our loss, we discover how much we have gained. Death reflects the sacredness and fragility of life. In the night of tears, we come to long for the dawn of joy. C. S. Lewis was right. Joy often comes as a surprise. It invades the most sorrowful spaces. It reminds us that beauty and goodness and life can grow, even in the most unpromising soil. Joy does not mean the absence of pain or sorrow. Rather, joy is often begotten in the purifying fire of the crucible of love, especially the love of God which is boundless and eternal. That my friends, is our true consolation. </span><br /></span><br /> Rev Michael Chuahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13295316323174276901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7041317573138952852.post-61205910700697801612023-11-28T07:46:00.002+08:002023-11-28T07:46:33.519+08:00Stay awake<div><span style="font-family: times;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">First Sunday of Advent Year B</span></b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibJaWm-TTTqxFDy-loGTZgBwYhjGLtUPdRLgnkV-j7-aEZGk_6_KS4D3tJ9A4pdNDAGCu3EkD9RHrtSadLmF2OfDcY1dWdTQ75j5Crhbkb95-Rug8qhB5fZZnyfvqWfek6qpTNUNfSYQ0pjW8gpFIqp1SOjjT3sjjdBe55dDHmQspKWKbWign0kLjgeM7z/s2000/cropped-Deytera_parousia_decani_Img08-e1516892371914.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1199" data-original-width="2000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibJaWm-TTTqxFDy-loGTZgBwYhjGLtUPdRLgnkV-j7-aEZGk_6_KS4D3tJ9A4pdNDAGCu3EkD9RHrtSadLmF2OfDcY1dWdTQ75j5Crhbkb95-Rug8qhB5fZZnyfvqWfek6qpTNUNfSYQ0pjW8gpFIqp1SOjjT3sjjdBe55dDHmQspKWKbWign0kLjgeM7z/w400-h240/cropped-Deytera_parousia_decani_Img08-e1516892371914.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />I’m a light sleeper. The slightest disturbance, faintest noise, or tiniest sliver of light would usually awaken me. Perhaps, I am suffering from what doctors call “exploding head syndrome”, imagined loud noises in my head when I am transitioning from consciousness to sleep. Or maybe, I’m just wired to expect the Lord’s unexpected arrival, as He Himself had warned: “So stay awake, because you do not know when the master of the house is coming, evening, midnight, cockcrow, dawn; if he comes unexpectedly, he must not find you asleep.” <br /><br />But let’s be honest, staying awake for most of us can be exhausting. We need our rest. We need to sleep. We need to regenerate. We have seasons of excitement and whole-hearted devotion, and we have seasons where we fall asleep, even in church. And for many, the homily is as good a time to sleep as any. Perhaps, even the most ideal moment. But today, our Lord issues the warning that we should “Stay awake”, or else suffer the dire consequences of our lack of vigilance. And being caught by the priest is the least of your concerns. Life is short so stay awake for it. <br /><br />The same requests from the Lord would be made on the night of His betrayal, on the eve of His crucifixion and death. In the garden of Gethsemane, our Lord was deep in prayer, anguished by the “cup” of suffering He was about to drink. He took His inner circle of disciples (Peter, James and John) with Him and told them to “remain here and watch.” Then, while the Lord was in agonising prayer, His closest companions couldn’t stay awake. Three times the Lord returned from praying to find His disciples falling asleep. Three times the Lord orders them to “stay awake.” Three times His disciples fell asleep. It may be some weak consolation in knowing that the Apostles were not immune from dozing off on the job. One could only imagine the frustration and disappointment of the Lord. <br /><br />Of course, the Lord was talking about more than just avoiding falling asleep while praying. He was giving instruction about our spiritual readiness for His coming. With the repetitive command to stay awake, our Lord spoke to all His disciples throughout the ages, including our generation, about the need to remain alert. I think for us it can become easy to lose our spiritual edge and focus. It is easy to grow complacent, lazy and careless. It doesn’t take much of a lapse in alertness to become desensitised to the spiritual reality upon us by the pseudo-comforting distractions around us. Staying awake spiritually involves looking past the clamour of worldly attractions. It’s about perceiving the presence of the kingdom of heaven growing up quietly and silently after the seeds have been scattered in the garden. It’s about resisting the cultural malady of practical atheism – living as if God did not exist or even if we were to accept that He did, it did not matter in our lives. This is what Advent is meant to accomplish for us - to transform us from spiritual sleepy heads to vigilant stewards, always alert and ready for the master’s return. The question left to consider is how: how can we stay awake? <br /><br />First, we need to take the words of Christ seriously that He is returning. Many don’t believe in the Parousia, in the return of the Lord. Many believe that this is a bogey man invented by the Church to scare her members into submission. Many leave without giving serious thought that there would be a Day of Judgment, a day where we will be called to account for our actions and decisions. To stay awake means to listen to the Lord and His warning and to take Him seriously at His word. <br /><br />Second, the Apostle Paul tells us to pray without ceasing. This was the Lord’s exhortation to His disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus tells us to “watch and pray.” If we are to stay awake in the midst of a world in a spiritual stupour, then we need to be diligent in prayer. No wonder Paul advises to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17). In fact, we should be constantly praying for the Lord’s Second Coming as we do whenever we pray the Lord’s Prayer: “thy kingdom come, thy will be done!” There must be urgency in this prayer as Isaiah expressed with these powerfully vivid words: “tear the heavens open and come down!” <br /><br />Third, staying awake means faithfulness and commitment to the task that has been placed before us. The second parable in today’s gospel reminds us that readiness is measured by people diligently doing their job. The wisest ones are those who consistently try to seek and serve their Lord at every moment of every day. The familiar Advent message to ‘stay awake’ invites us to live humanly to the best of our ability, continuing to do the necessary mundane things faithfully but always with a genuine care for unexpected surprises. We should be striving and praying, as St Paul did in the second reading, that our Lord will “keep you steady and without blame until the last day.” <br /><br />The person who stays awake and remains faithful is the one who accepts the invitation to keep watch, that is, not let himself be overpowered by the listlessness of discouragement, by the lack of hope, by disappointment; and at the same time it wards off the allure of the many vanities with which the world is brimming and for which, now and then, time and personal and familial peace is sacrificed. It is the painful experience of the people of Israel, whom the Prophet Isaiah was sent to awaken. We too often find ourselves in this situation of unfaithfulness to the call of the Lord: He shows us the good path, the way of faith, the way of love, but we seek our happiness elsewhere. <br /><br />Listening, praying and remaining faithful won’t tell us when the Lord is coming again, but they will get us ready to receive Him when He comes. Hopefully none of you out there are asleep yet. Hopefully you’ve managed to stay awake through my homily. But if you are asleep, know that God loves you and has sent Christ into the world to save you all the same. But for those who are asleep, He comes as Judge. And if you are asleep, or falling asleep, or peaceful and secure in your faith life, well, it’s time to wake up and come alive. Because what the Church needs are not people who are sleeping on the job but those who are alive and kicking, ever ready to preach the Gospel of Christ through the testimony of their words and actions. So, stay awake! </span></div>Rev Michael Chuahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13295316323174276901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7041317573138952852.post-35589161974520238722023-11-19T19:14:00.002+08:002023-11-19T19:14:40.326+08:00The Myth of Pastoral Charity<span style="font-family: times;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Solemnity of Christ the King Year A </span></b><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixgjzDuJJEm3uN_WdgFYueiPg-20ur8rOmRR1YmUd7plscWvJ5nqe40NF0sdh_q5zwcONy73Q3Cny2AguXiluuoxgzUZoHQx1Cb9aSlQl4a8IBpcHig9YeSrVKv89wAgImuYjKKiSCwnTLvI7ca9pzmLxO8Np_zsGwOZrhyphenhyphenUAXPazFa9JywXAMGRHfHoPk/s941/the-second-coming111.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="941" data-original-width="895" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixgjzDuJJEm3uN_WdgFYueiPg-20ur8rOmRR1YmUd7plscWvJ5nqe40NF0sdh_q5zwcONy73Q3Cny2AguXiluuoxgzUZoHQx1Cb9aSlQl4a8IBpcHig9YeSrVKv89wAgImuYjKKiSCwnTLvI7ca9pzmLxO8Np_zsGwOZrhyphenhyphenUAXPazFa9JywXAMGRHfHoPk/w380-h400/the-second-coming111.jpg" width="380" /></a></div><br />There has been heated discussion of late as to whether one could depart from settled doctrine and revealed truth in Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition by citing the all-encompassing tag phrase of modern times - pastoral charity. In other words, some would argue that the controversial moral issues of our times, including blessing same sex marriages and admitting women into holy orders, would be non-issues if we shift away from focusing on orthodoxy - right teaching - and start focusing more on orthopraxis - right practice based on pastoral charity. So, what exactly is pastoral charity? Can it be so powerful that it can justify the setting aside of truth in the name of kindness and solicitude? It is interesting that we can find our answer in today’s reading. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Let’s first examine the word “pastoral,” which comes from the Latin “pastor,” which means shepherd. The first reading gives us an excellent exposition of the work of the Shepherd King who is God. The Old Testament prophecy of Ezekiel that God will judge “between sheep and sheep, between rams and he-goats” is fulfilled in our Lord’s parable in the gospel. Although the element of judgment is found in both readings, Ezekiel’s prophecy broadens the scope of the shepherd king’s job: </span><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">He will keep all, and not just some, of his sheep in view; </span><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">He will rescue them whenever they have been scattered in mist and darkness; </span><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">He will pasture them and show them where to rest; </span><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">He will “look for the lost one, bring back the stray, bandage the wounded and make the weak strong; </span><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">He shall watch over the fat and healthy (I guess in our day and age, these two categories point to different categories at both ends of a spectrum); </span><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Then the Lord makes this promise: “I shall be a true shepherd to them.” </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">When we examine the roles of the shepherd, we notice that it does not include making his sheep happy or contented in their delusion. In fact, the work of the shepherd is to challenge that very delusion and falsehood of their choices which will lead them astray in the first place. The Shepherd does not leave them to their own devices. He goes in search of them. He restores them to their home. He heals those who are wounded instead of allowing the wounds caused by sin to fester and threaten the life of the sheep. This is what it means to be “pastoral.” The shepherd is not just contented in making his sheep feel good. He challenges them so that they strive to be good, in fact, to be the best version of themselves. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">How about the second word in this popular expression commonly used by many in these times - charity? For that, we must turn to the gospel. The parable of judgment in the gospel moves away from these images of the shepherd king and now seems to draw us into the narrative by ascribing to us the very responsibilities which the Shepherd King has promised to undertake. The Shepherd King is not abdicating His responsibility and authority but expecting us to act in imitation of Him. We must imitate Him in charity. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">The description of the Last Judgment in the twenty-fifth chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel would shock many people if they were to read it. The principles in accordance with which Christ will pronounce sentence are inescapably clear. Did you feed and clothe the poor for My sake, He will ask, because you recognised Me in them? If you have done so, you will certainly be saved. If you have neglected to do so, you will be condemned for all eternity. Christ does not ask about anything else, because everything else is subordinate to the precept of charity. Where there is charity, everything else follows. Where charity is lacking there is nothing else because Christianity is synonymous with charity. Charity, says St. Paul, “is the bond of perfection.” (Col. 3:14) </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Our eternal salvation depends on our charity. But it must be charity in action, not merely in words. “He who has the goods of this world,” says St. John, “and sees his brother in need and closes his heart to him, how does the love of God abide in him?” (1st Epistle of St. John, 3:17) Charity must be expressed in almsgiving and good works, for otherwise it would be a matter of idle talk which would be powerless to save us. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Secondly, pastoral charity which ignores or, worse, contradicts God’s revealed truth is not charity, but pseudo-charity. Such abuse of one’s pastoral role would be the greatest affront to the queen of virtues. Kindness or tenderness have their place, but when they degenerate into confirming the faithful in the commission of mortally sinful acts become a cruel caricature of the love a pastor of the Church owes to sinners when they come to him. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Thirdly, our almsgiving should not be dictated simply by natural feelings of compassion, however, nor by mere philanthropy. It should be pre-eminently a religious act, springing from supernatural motives. Because we see the person of Christ in the poor man, we should love and help him as we should our Divine Redeemer, of Whose Mystical Body he is a suffering member. This is real Christian charity. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">There is one act of charity which we can all perform, even if we are poor. We can pray for those who never pray, for hardened sinners, for heretics, for those who persecute the Church, for the Missions, for the sick and dying, and for the souls in Purgatory. And for the laity, it is of utmost importance to pray for your leaders – the Pope, our bishops and priests – that they may be “true shepherds” and not false ones who lead their flock astray. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">On this feast, when we remember our youth, let us also be mindful of the Church which we wish to bequeath to them on behalf of Christ the King. In wanting the best for them and future generations of Catholics, let us not delude ourselves into thinking that we can “rebuild” the Church, because we may end up, in our hubris, remaking her in our image and likeness, a false bride, instead of the “spotless bride of the spotless Lamb” (Catechism of the Catholic Church 796). Let us never forget that it is Christ who makes the Church, who renews the Church and reforms the Church. We are in Christ grafted as a branch onto the vine, and Christ is in us, feeding, making, and renewing us. Our battle cry isn’t “Yes, we can. Yes, we can!” but “<i>Christus vincit! Christus regnat! Christus imperat!</i>” “Christ conquers, Christ reigns, Christ commands.” </span><span style="font-size: medium;">He alone shall be the true Shepherd to us all! </span></span>Rev Michael Chuahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13295316323174276901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7041317573138952852.post-30217966474983939812023-11-14T20:05:00.004+08:002023-11-20T07:38:38.176+08:00How have you loved?<span style="font-family: times;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Thirty Third Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A </span></b><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj60DxczqStybJ_DUskClPNixaa2OLmVLoH2IREaMh5JrPRdDlbxlxGzEs2KyFXzaaC3e7kTrPrg7Kp1mNw_BJmv68T0ipXQlaBGwps1a2EM3R9QBAb2t0tWkMmIk8XXWNi_ef5sX_Dc99z75C6b9tBoPowJSdd_TCbuuI2OkKXRux9WpNHV41o99GskL7-/s1588/Screen-Shot-2015-02-03-at-9.23.44-AM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1300" data-original-width="1588" height="328" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj60DxczqStybJ_DUskClPNixaa2OLmVLoH2IREaMh5JrPRdDlbxlxGzEs2KyFXzaaC3e7kTrPrg7Kp1mNw_BJmv68T0ipXQlaBGwps1a2EM3R9QBAb2t0tWkMmIk8XXWNi_ef5sX_Dc99z75C6b9tBoPowJSdd_TCbuuI2OkKXRux9WpNHV41o99GskL7-/w400-h328/Screen-Shot-2015-02-03-at-9.23.44-AM.png" width="400" /></a></div><br />The three readings we’ve just heard today seem to make strange bed-fellows. The first reading provides us with the criteria of a perfect wife, the second is St Paul’s exhortation to be ready for the Lord’s Second Coming because it would be as surprising as a thief who pays a visit in the night and finally, we have the gospel parable that many often take as a wise piece of advice to invest well and use our talents productively. What seems to be the underlying theme in all three readings? We already have a taste of it last week. It is wisdom. As wisdom distinguishes the perfect wife from other women, so should wisdom distinguish the disciple of Christ from others as he awaits the return of the Lord. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">The Book of Proverbs gives us this earthy advise - “Charm is deceitful, and beauty empty; the woman who is wise is the one to praise.” Charm, personality and appearances may win you many friends and ensure that you ascend the ladder of success, but none of these traits can ensure that you would be ready to face the Lord’s judgment at the end of this age. Only acting wisely and preparing prudently can ensure that we can “stay wide awake and sober.” </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Let us now turn to the famous parable of the talents in the gospel. Unlike what most people think, this is not a parable about how we should use our gifts, skills or talents for the betterment of the church. This is a common mistake among modern readers unfamiliar with the meaning of a talent. We think that the word “talent” in this passage means a person’s skill and ability. Only in St Matthew’s version of the parable, is the parable correctly named because only here in this gospel do we have mention of the monetary currency as talents. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">A talent in this context is a measurement of weight, and the value of any talent depended on whether it was gold, silver or copper. Nevertheless, a single talent was a significant amount of wealth by any measure. A talent of gold was equal to the annual tribute of a medium sized province to the Roman Empire. So, the monetary trust given to each servant - five talents to the first, two to the second and one to the third - would have been staggering - an extremely great endowment, even for the last guy who just got one talent. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">We must remember that this is an eschatological parable, which means it is about the end times. The message is simple but demanding: readiness for the Lord’s coming requires both foresight and an investment of effort on the part of His disciples. A disciple of the Lord does not just idly wait for the Master’s return, wasting his time without paying attention to his own spiritual growth and hoping that he can just make up for lost time at the end or defend his actions or inactions with some lame excuse. In all these parables concerning the end times, just like what we heard last week, there is a distinction made between wise and foolish behaviour and a stern reminder that there will be an accounting - the wise who were prepared are rewarded and the foolish would be punished. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">So, the parable goes beyond the purpose of encouraging a prudent use and nurturing of one’s personal endowments. Like the other parables preceding it, we have here once again a cautionary tale, an ominous warning, our actions, our attitudes, our behaviour in relation to the Lord have dire consequences. In a world where many deny the existence of hell and have projected their own prejudices unto God, making Him out to be some Teddy Bear, who only gives hugs and never reprimands, these parables are potent reminders that we should never take God’s mercy for granted, and that we should never postpone and delay what changes that need to be done today. His coming will take all of us by surprise “like a thief in the night.” </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Our Lord has entrusted the treasures of the Kingdom to us by calling us to be His servants. Whatever has been given to us, we will have to render an account for the way we have lived our lives on the graces and blessings we have received. Though a charming personality and a beautiful appearance may get us what we want in this life, it would not be enough for what is to come. Only by wisely investing our gifts and turning a profit of spiritual growth over to the Lord at the end of our earthly life, will we enter into the joy of His Kingdom and hear these infinitely consoling words, “Well done, good and faithful servant; you have shown you can be faithful in small things, I will trust you with greater; come and join in your master’s happiness.” </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><u>First Holy Communion Postscript </u></b></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Here’s a little story for our children who will be receiving First Holy Communion today. This is a story about St Tarcisius, the patron of altar servers, but I would like to add that he would be a good patron for those receiving their holy communion for the first time. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkSm9jEM6OxEDZ_fBMGb4M5riP9vskIyhrBVpXEkGreBwSfF_8vK0xLW2_r6uhlm8uBepfSX3rTXDl5HcvSNFLMr4g64swBSzlpaoDGS7cvGdJofdZB_N1tnNEUBGiq6dlAaoRfAhP-CHO7UpxlNQMbOeDCRFYq9m1j1wEP_FkE2DYZhuA8QlC5FD4aIvc/s1050/the-martyrdom-of-saint-tarcisius-antony-troncet-1908-b8102d9c.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1050" data-original-width="878" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkSm9jEM6OxEDZ_fBMGb4M5riP9vskIyhrBVpXEkGreBwSfF_8vK0xLW2_r6uhlm8uBepfSX3rTXDl5HcvSNFLMr4g64swBSzlpaoDGS7cvGdJofdZB_N1tnNEUBGiq6dlAaoRfAhP-CHO7UpxlNQMbOeDCRFYq9m1j1wEP_FkE2DYZhuA8QlC5FD4aIvc/w217-h260/the-martyrdom-of-saint-tarcisius-antony-troncet-1908-b8102d9c.jpg" width="217" /></a></div>Tarcisius was a young boy who lived during a time when it was dangerous for Christians to be seen practising their faith and worship publicly. Masses were celebrated secretly in the catacombs, the tombs where dead people were buried. If you were caught practising your faith as a Catholic, you would not only be thrown into prison, but you would also be executed in a most horrific way, being burned alive or thrown to the animals to be eaten. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">One day, a group of these Christians who were awaiting their execution made an appeal to the Pope that they wanted to receive holy communion, the Body and Blood of Jesus before they died. The Church calls communion viaticum, which actually means food for the journey – the journey to death and through death. It is indeed a great privilege and blessing to receive Jesus before one dies. But it was dangerous for any adult priest to be seen bringing communion to these Christian prisoners because it would raise a lot of suspicion. So, they decided to send a young boy and Tarcisius volunteered to bring holy communion to the condemned. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">But on the way, he met with some of the youth from his neighbourhood who demanded to see what he was carrying. The Holy Communion was safely wrapped in a cloth. But Tarcisius refused to let them see it because he knew that Jesus in the Holy Communion was the greatest treasure that he had to keep safe. So, the boys began to beat him. He was beaten up so badly that he would die from his wounds. But Tarcisius kept the Holy Communion in the firm grip of his hands and refused to relent. A soldier, who happened to be a secret Christian, passed by and found Tarcisius dying. Tarcisius gave the communion to the soldier and disclosed his mission. He told the soldier to carry Jesus to the prison on his behalf, and then he died. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">The life and death of Tarcisius shows us that Jesus, especially in the Eucharist, is our greatest treasure, more precious and valuable than all the riches of the world. God entrusted the Body of His own Son to this young boy as He entrusts it to you today. Tarcisius’ life and death shows us that the most important question that Jesus will ask us when He returns is not, “How much money have you made?” but “How have you loved? How have you cared for and served others?” This is what we must do whenever we receive Jesus in Holy Communion. We are called to become more like Jesus, to love like Jesus, and to be ready to sacrifice everything like Jesus. Jesus tells us: “Greater love than this no man has, than that a man </span><span style="font-size: medium;">lay down his life for his friend.” </span></span>Rev Michael Chuahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13295316323174276901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7041317573138952852.post-29297073542997348942023-11-05T13:33:00.002+08:002023-11-05T13:33:40.011+08:00Wisdom and Good Deeds<span style="font-family: times;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Thirty Second Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A </span></b><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9c13TffgoNtMGFJhLEWmWeVhh7jVIAIc6P9Mz6BZiS9c8CsCiBaAZgJE40reN2x_fOxkrx8-dUuWRQBsUDCnyQVSk0HDKFK-Xg-fQnTsn1PgQ9wyIjbKUF4aG8XsmrSS8G0IUnzZB4BeIbeFR2bkPcS1NU5TE06lPiowCNXK-GnZEbtEbEUqfmM0pOP0U/s1088/1850_Wilhelm%20von%20Schadow,%20The%20Parable%20of%20the%20Wise%20and%20Foolish%20Virgins_German,%20c.%201850-1862_Frankfurt-am-Main,%20%20Staedel%20Museum.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="769" data-original-width="1088" height="283" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9c13TffgoNtMGFJhLEWmWeVhh7jVIAIc6P9Mz6BZiS9c8CsCiBaAZgJE40reN2x_fOxkrx8-dUuWRQBsUDCnyQVSk0HDKFK-Xg-fQnTsn1PgQ9wyIjbKUF4aG8XsmrSS8G0IUnzZB4BeIbeFR2bkPcS1NU5TE06lPiowCNXK-GnZEbtEbEUqfmM0pOP0U/w400-h283/1850_Wilhelm%20von%20Schadow,%20The%20Parable%20of%20the%20Wise%20and%20Foolish%20Virgins_German,%20c.%201850-1862_Frankfurt-am-Main,%20%20Staedel%20Museum.png" width="400" /></a></div><br />We have another parable from St Matthew’s gospel. This time it is that of the ten bridesmaids who fall into two categories. A distinction is made between the sensible and the foolish ones. What differentiates one group from the other? The sensible ones treasure wisdom while the foolish ones show disdain for it. What is this wisdom which some yearn and seek while others ignore and reject? </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Wisdom or <i>Chokhmah</i>, according to Hebrew understanding, is not just intelligence or theoretical or philosophical concepts regarding the nature of things. Wisdom is a direct attribute of our Divine and Eternal Lord. When applied to man it is the ability to judge correctly and to follow the best course of action, based on knowledge and understanding. As opposed to the Greek idea of wisdom, <i>Chokhmah</i> is practical. Wisdom leads to right action. It grants a person the ability to see something from God’s viewpoint. That is why a rejection of wisdom is not just a matter of rejecting reason and logic but rather, the rejection of God. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">In the wisdom literature of the Old Testament, such as the example taken from the Book of Wisdom in the first reading, God’s infinite wisdom is personified as a woman. The association of divine wisdom with the feminine is not accidental. The relationship between a wife and her husband is the reflected spiritual relationship between Israel and God. The Law and the Prophets provided the wisdom writers with many feminine images (including homemaker, counselor and wise woman, and lover) that influenced their use of female imagery for divine wisdom. The maternal aspect of wisdom comes to the fore. Just as a mother would be the first teacher for her children, guiding them and tutoring them, wisdom literature was written to teach young male students how to function in society and find meaning and order in the world. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">In the first reading, we are assured that people have access to common wisdom, which is described as being right out there on the street—out in public. It is in the forest; it is in the city; it is on the job—it is everywhere! We are surrounded by it! While wisdom belongs to God, it can be pursued and in fact pursues individuals. This is why St Paul can make the accusation that the Gentiles who do not have the law are a law unto themselves when they do what the law says is right (Romans 2:14). Their own conscience bears them witness that they understand what is right and what is wrong (verse 15)! </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">As we turn to the Gospel, we see how our Lord uses this principle of wisdom in a novel way. Wisdom is now the prerequisite for salvation, being admitted to the eschatological wedding banquet, whereas those who had ignored her counsel would be denied entry. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">The storyline is simple enough. The parable takes place within the festive and joyful context of a wedding, yet the final message is a sober exhortation to be properly prepared. It relates that ten young maidens, bridesmaids, were outfitted with torches/lamps and oil, were awaiting the arrival of a bridegroom. Notice the feminine and the lover-bride motif in this parable, both being traditional symbols of wisdom. Five of the maidens, the wise ones, had extra oil with them, the others, foolish ones, did not. When the time of the bridegroom’s arrival finally draws near, the foolish ones needed more oil and asked the wise for oil; the wise refused and sent the foolish ones to buy their own. Meanwhile, the wise ones went in with the bridegroom to the wedding feast and the door was locked. The foolish ones returned and were turned away. Thus, the parable ends with our Lord’s admonishment to stay awake, to be prepared. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">This story begs the question, “Why would the five maidens not share their oil?” This appears selfish, so why are they called “wise.” First, while it is not clear whether they were carrying lamps or torches (the Greek word can mean either), they would need oil, either to fill the lamps or to apply to the rags used for torches. On the human level, these five maidens had foresight; they had not only made immediate plans but had also planned for any eventuality, including a long wait, and they knew they might not have enough oil to last the night. But this logical explanation is inadequate for us to discern their behaviour. If the bridegroom is Christ, however, and the wedding feast is the end-time banquet, we have a clue to unravel the conduct of these maidens. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">In the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord tells His audience that they are “the light of the world.” He encourages them: “Let your light so shine before others that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in Heaven” (5:14-16). Light is not just a metaphor for evangelisation, but we see in these words of the Lord a clear connexion between light and good works. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">At the end of the Sermon, our Lord says: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (7:21) – this saying reinforces the truth that deeds are necessary to enter the kingdom. At the end of today’s parable, the foolish bridesmaids make this request: “Lord, Lord … open the door for us.” The repeated petition, “Lord, Lord” allows us to connect this to the necessity of good deeds in verse 7:21 in the Sermon on the Mount. Finally, a later Rabbinic text, Midrash Rabbah, uses “mixed with oil” to refer to the study of the Law combined with good deeds. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">And so, the oil for the lamps/torches was meant to signify good deeds. Then it is clear why the five sensible bridesmaids could not share their oil with the foolish ones; these latter would need their own good deeds. No one can borrow the good works of others to make up for the good works they’ve failed to do. Its merits are non-transferable. Each person must, as St Paul wrote, “work out [their] own salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil 2:12). Wise are those who understand this. Foolish are those who don’t. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Chapter 9 of the Book of Proverbs, a reading read during the Feast of Corpus Christi, describes how Lady Wisdom has built her house, set her table and invites her guests to a special banquet. The Eucharist is meant to empower all of us who dine in wisdom to go into the world with the Life of Christ we have received. To faithfully partake of the supper of the lamb in His flesh and blood is to be sufficiently prepared and to have opened the door to wisdom in the Holy Spirit. Let us all pray to receive Christ today and as we return to our seats in our time of thanksgiving after communion, let us ask Him for the gift of wisdom to know how to do His will in our particular life’s calling. With the fuel of Holy Communion, let us keep the flame alive in our hearts as we await our Lord’s coming, not idle but committed to a life of good works, so that we may shine the Light of His Gospel on the world. </span></span>Rev Michael Chuahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13295316323174276901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7041317573138952852.post-75020447108269981272023-11-01T21:16:00.000+08:002023-11-01T21:16:05.209+08:00Greatness, Humility and Authority<span style="font-family: times;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Thirty First Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A </span></b><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBL-hKICtpdq_E50RcvzcA4ZNw0p4JyDgE2miQq0ehVpcI95FQlu-wJeBzpAKHgxMeqWTtK39td003qDdJS_WxN6ycsn9tVqNlFvUSpA4TK7hrGuZmHxqMCe-3QXbiz6f84OujsujAmT2KQ21YbXiNpiRGc4Ix5QHwLzpHmU-AorITXhXW9iOFySL1oBR4/s1600/21310963251_d1e8674bdf_k.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1102" data-original-width="1600" height="275" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBL-hKICtpdq_E50RcvzcA4ZNw0p4JyDgE2miQq0ehVpcI95FQlu-wJeBzpAKHgxMeqWTtK39td003qDdJS_WxN6ycsn9tVqNlFvUSpA4TK7hrGuZmHxqMCe-3QXbiz6f84OujsujAmT2KQ21YbXiNpiRGc4Ix5QHwLzpHmU-AorITXhXW9iOFySL1oBR4/w400-h275/21310963251_d1e8674bdf_k.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />Today’s readings, especially the first and the gospel, are painful passages to read and meditate. Not for you but for me as a priest. Both readings contain a list of stinging indictments against corrupt religious leaders who should have known better but are guilty of dereliction of duty and misplaced priorities. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">The priests of Malachi’s day doctored the message of God which they were entrusted to transmit to their people. They wanted to be more popular with the people than faithful to God’s Word. They catered to itching ears and told folks what they wanted to hear, not necessarily what they needed to hear. And since they had deceived publicly, they were rebuked publicly. And so, Malachi accuses the priestly class of his times with these offences: </span><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">They do not listen to God; </span><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">They do not glorify His name; </span><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">They have strayed from their way; </span><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">They have caused many to stumble by their teachings; </span><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">They have destroyed the covenant of Levi; </span><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">They have not kept to the path; </span><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">They have showed partiality in their administration. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">For the above reasons God will send His curse upon them and curse their very blessing. To prove to the people the error of their teaching, God will bring on them a public disgrace - He will make them “contemptible and vile in the eyes of the whole people.” A fitting repayment for their infidelity. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">The harshness of Malachi’s prophetic words is outmatched by the diatribe which our Lord heaps on the scribes and Pharisees, the religious leaders of His time. Our Lord’s rant against the Pharisees’ ostentatious dressing and certain cultural norms of honour could easily be applied to the Catholic Church and serve as the perfect foundation for any ad hominem anti-clerical attack on the Catholic hierarchy, or so many think. For aren’t Catholic clergy known for dressing up in flowing robes (or as Pope Francis is fond of saying, “grandmother’s lace”), having seats of honour in churches and even social functions? Aren’t our priests simply addressed as “Father”? </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Although this is not meant as a general apologia for the Catholic hierarchy, it is good to understand what our Lord meant in His scathing attack of the scribes and the Pharisees and how any superficial application of the text to support our own prejudices, would be the greatest injustice done to our Lord’s teachings. It would be literally taking His words and twisting their meaning to suit our agenda. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">It is clear that our Lord was attacking the hypocrisy and self-aggrandising attitude of the religious leaders of His time. He was not making a statement about fashion styles (broader phylacteries and longer tassels, or in today’s modern update “lacey albs”) nor was He attacking the cultural norms of giving places of honour to honoured guests. Let’s be honest, hypocrisy and self-aggrandisement are not a malady that is exclusive to clerics but can infect anyone. Whenever we make show of our status or our outward practices to win men’s admiration, we are as guilty as the Pharisees and scribes described in today’s gospel. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Likewise, when it comes to calling anyone “teacher” or “father,” our Lord’s admonition is against the false assumption of any kind of title or mark of respect for self-glorification, thus detracting from the primacy of God’s authority, in a very real way putting oneself in God’s place. Our Lord was not outlawing the title “father” in legitimate usage. He Himself referred to the prodigal son’s parent as a father and quoted the commandment “Honour your father and your mother.” And He did not correct those who called Him “Rabbi” or “Master.” </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Likewise, St Paul was unaware of any prohibition of the spiritual use of the title "father," telling the Corinthians: “I became your father in Christ Jesus through the Gospel” (1 Corinthians 4:15), and speaking of his relationship with Timothy said that “as a child with a father he has served along with me in the cause of the Gospel.” (Philippians 2:22) The spiritual use of father was not questioned in the Church for centuries, and Jesus’ words were never invoked to cause question or concern about the practice. Early teachers and revered spiritual guides were known as Fathers of the Church. Even the Pope is known as “Holy Father.” </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">At the end of the day, if our criticisms are confined to attacks on dressing, cultural practices and titles, it would only expose our superficiality. We seem to be focusing on the externals and ignoring what is fundamentally interior to a person. Wouldn’t that be an apt description of one of the major sins of the Pharisees? Although we can judge the external behaviour of another, none of us can or are qualified, to judge their intent. Our Lord could do this because He is God. Let us not flatter ourselves by thinking that we are on par with Him and can therefore do the same. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Ultimately, the key is found in the last few lines of today’s passage. And so, our Lord exhorts us to follow this standard: “The greatest among you must be your servant. Anyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and anyone who humbles himself will be exalted.” This is a standard not just meant for leaders, though they should take special heed of this, but for everyone. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">It is one thing to see how a general application of our Lord’s criticism can apply to everyone, clergy, religious or laity. But as I had mentioned at the start, we priests must take heed of both Malachi’s warnings and that of our Lord’s since a greater responsibility is attached to those who are entrusted with the authority to teach and lead the people. Pope St Gregory’s words in one of his homilies remain relevant today, “We can speak only with a heavy heart of so few labourers for such a great harvest, for although there are many to hear the good news there are only a few to preach it. Look about you and see how full the world is of priests, yet in God’s harvest a labourer is rarely to be found; for although we have accepted the priestly office, we do not fulfil its demands.” </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">“Beloved brothers, consider what has been said: Pray the Lord of the harvest to send labourers into his harvest. Pray for us so that we may have the strength to work on your behalf, that our tongue may not grow weary of exhortation, and that after we have accepted the office of preaching, our silence may not condemn us before the just judge.” So, the next time you offer up a prayer, remember to pray for us unworthy priests, bishops and the Holy Father, the Pope.</span></span><br /> Rev Michael Chuahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13295316323174276901noreply@blogger.com0