Homily for the Ninth Day of Parish Novena 2016: "BEC as Agent of God's Mercy"

Guest Preacher: Fr Simon Yong SJ

Today we take a closer look at a feature of the Church in Malaysia, the BEC, otherwise known as the Basic Ecclesial Community. Noticed that I did not use the phrase “Church of Malaysia” or “Malaysian Church” but the “Church in Malaysia”.

Firstly, the usage highlights an important reality. The Church of Malaysia or Malaysian Church both indicate a specificity which restricts the meaning to that of a national church. A good case was when Henry VIII broke away from Rome, the Church IN England became the Church OF England. In that way, it became an English and a national church. And, when that national church, also known as the Anglican church, crossed the pond, it sprouted roots as the Episcopal church of the USA. The Church IN Malaysia calls our attention to the truth of the Church as One.

Secondly, the development of this reality by which we designate the word Church took two distinct routes. The first trail took a Teutonic trot through the Black Forests arriving at the Baltic shores and the North Sea as the German Kirche or the Dutch Kerk or the Scottish Kirk as in Kirk Douglas and finally, the English Church. The word is derived from the Greek “Kyriake” or “Kyrios” meaning the Lord’s House or pertaining to the Lord. We hear its echo loudly in the Kyrie eleison. The second trail meandered along the southerly swathe of Europe and is derived from another Greek word “ekklesia” which is “to be called out of”, as in a convocation or an assembly. It is a translation from the Hebrew "Qoheleth" which means "gatherer". This Romantic roaming began with Chiesa in Italian, Eglise for the French, Iglesia for the Hispanics, Igregia for the Portuguese, travelling into the far reaches of the earth and ended up as Gereja in Malaysia, one of the many Portuguese words that has expanded the Malay vocabulary.[1]

As their etymologies suggest, both Kuriokos and Ekklesia are communitarian in nature. Therefore, can the BEC be an agent of God’s mercy?

The short answer is a definite yes. Is the BEC alive and well?

It depends because a BEC’s vitality is contingent on the history of its development within a parish. For example, the memory of Fr Decrooq looms large in this community. In the context of the Church in Malaysia, he can be said to be priest ahead of his time. What we have today are the diverse parishes and maturing chapels of Christ the Light, Risen Christ, Jesus Caritas, Christ the King, Kristus Aman and Holy Spirit.

They represented an effort at decentralising the city parishes through the formation of smaller communities imbued a strong missionary thrust. In a sense, all the canonically constituted communities that exist now as parishes or chapels, during Fr Decrooq's time can be likened to “proto” BECs. In fact, many of the families in this parish are the legacies of the evangelical spirit of Fr Decrooq. After canonical erection, the smaller size of the present BECs owes their origin to organising skills of the late Fr Savrimuthu.

As you realise by now that Parish priests play a crucial role in the formation and the maintenance of the BEC structure. But they are only one side of the two clapping hands. The other hand is made up of mainly baptised Catholics, mainly from families, within a geographical area. This method of delineating a parish is not a modern invention of both Frs Decrooq and Savrimuthu and neither is the basis for our BEC the Latin American experience of liberation theology with its grassroots movements. Instead, a strong scriptural precedence is found in Acts 2: 42. These remained faithful to the teaching of the Apostles, to the brotherhood, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers.

The idea of the BEC is not just scriptural but also apostolic. At the core of the apostolic discipleship four fundamental aspects may be observed in every functioning community: the handing on of the faith, the brotherhood (fellowship or “feilohship”), the breaking of bread and prayers. I am sure this is observed in the BECs that you have—that more or less, the various elements come into coordination. The Parish is like a BEC writ large or magnified whilst the BEC is a parish in miniature.

In our BEC or Parish, these different aspects articulate an animated and dynamic entity very much alive so much so that when we speak of the Church, we use the analogy specific to an organism. Hence, the Church is Body of Christ. Just like the different parts of a body is united in a common purpose, the same is said for the different members of a community, all bound by and working towards a common end. There exists in this community a moral bond. But, deeper than this moral bond, which is aimed at the perfect functioning of a body, is the mystical bond with Christ. We belong to the Mystical Body of Christ because we are guided by and united to the Head, Our Lord Jesus Christ.

From Him we draw supernatural life through the Sacraments. Through the Holy Spirit, He endows each one of us with gifts that accord with our vocation in life so that each one of us will contribute to the good of the many within the Mystical Body. Through us, the Church grows from our family into the world. It is not just a geographical expansion but so much more personal in the sense that we grow to be more Christ-like. In that way, the Church forms one whole with Christ that even St Paul (1 Cor 12: 12) dared to equate the Church as Christ. This union between head and members is conserved and nourished by the Holy Eucharist. In a way, the definition for a Sacrament is actualised in the Church, in the sense that the Body of Christ eats the Body of Christ.

The beauty of the BEC is that it mirrors what it means to be a member, a family, a community, a Parish, a Church and finally as the Body of Christ. However, the reality is not always beautiful. Back-biting or gossiping, back-stabbing, power-grabbing, showing off, hurt, withholding of gifts and talents, etc. are common features of a BEC. If a parish is racked with disunity, you can be sure that its BECs too. Instead of witnessing ad extra, that is to the world that Christ is truly the Saviour and the Church as necessary for salvation, the BEC is no better than any other earthly community. Of course, needless to say ad intra, the BEC fails in edifying the members becoming an obstacle to faith. The charge of hypocrisy and scandal, not of the sexual kind, but rather of unchristian behaviour becomes the excuse from participation.

We need to disabuse ourselves of this prevalent misconception that the Apostolic community was perfect. History bears us out that Peter and Paul did not always see eye to eye. Paul and Barnabas each, doing God’s work, had to go their separate ways. What hope have we when Apostles can fight? Recall that I mentioned a couple of days ago that wrong is not always wrong, perhaps we can accept that failure perceived is not always failure in fact. What do I mean by that? It has been remarked that when two Protestants fight, a new denomination is founded like when the Pastor and his Associate Pastor of “The True Jesus Church” fought, the next day, a new denomination called “The Truer than The True Jesus Church” is established. When two Catholics fight, a new Religious Congregation is founded and you find so many Congregations are the results of “disagreement” and yet, they function within the same Body, called the Church.

If Unity is a mark of the Church, then disunity is the handiwork of the Devil. One has to be careful not to blame the Devil all the time. Making a point of the Devil is this: If we are sincere about doing God’s work, trust that the Devil will disrupt it. This is not blaming the Devil and absolving oneself of responsibility. Rather, check your BEC because the presence of disunity is a sign that the Devil is at work, mostly through his unwitting henchmen. If there are fights in a BEC, ask yourself: “Have I allowed the Devil to use me for his destructive purposes”? Remember again, I spoke about “possession” of truth? The Devil plays on our pride making us think that we possess the truth and blindly inflict that on others.

There will never be a perfect community this side of death. We all love the idea of unity because harmony is beautiful and attractive. But, a dose of healthy realism might help. Perfection is God’s give to us. It is never our gift to God. Check out the Eucharistic Prayers. There is a part of it which is called the Epiclesis—it is the part pertaining to the invocation of the Holy Spirit upon the Bread and Wine so that these elements may become the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. But, there is a second Epiclesis that invokes the Holy Spirit again to come down on those who share in the Body and Blood of Christ that may be brought together in unity to become One Body and One Spirit in Christ. That means, we become docile to His sanctifying action by becoming aware work His around us, recognising the gifts, He distributes, the movements and the institutions He inspires and affections and decisions He provokes in our hearts.  

The long excursus at the beginning tries to show how communitarian the nature of Church is. Yet, there are people who shun the community of the Church because they say “I have God and I do not need the Church because it is full of hypocrites”. But, its communitarian truth is as explicit the Sacrament of Baptism, which apart from apart from the necessity of Water and the Trinitarian formula, can only take place when they are at least two people—one is the baptiser and the other is the baptised. No one can ever take water and pour over himself whilst pronouncing the formula “I baptise myself…”. If Church is the Body of Christ made up of members, then a Christian is always a Christian in relation to the community.

The Church in Malaysia believes that the best interpretation of how we can be Church is through the lived experience of the BECs. If you are disappointed by your experience of community, welcome to the human race. If you have opted out of community, think again. The decision should not be to stay away because if two or three are gathered in His name, staying away would be akin to repudiating the source of life which is nothing but spiritual suicide. The BEC is a gift of the Lord for this part of the His Vineyard. And in a diverse Malaysia, it can be a powerful and efficacious means of evangelisation. Be a part of a BEC as you join in Christ’s work of salvation.

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[1] Curiously, if tuala is the Portuguese word for towel, have you ever wondered what the Malays used before the Portuguese came?

Homily for the Eighth Day of Parish Novena 2016: "Experiencing God's Love and Mercy within the Family"

Preacher: Fr Simon Yong SJ

Let me start with a Jesuit joke and it is not related to the homily but to my stress. From this joke, you obviously will recognise from which section of the Society it comes. The Novices look holy but they are not. The Scholastics[1] do not look holy and they are definitely not. The priests do not look holy but they are. Well, your parish priest does not look holy but I believe he is. Why? The internet in this parish, if at all, does not exist. I am writing homily and I waiting and waiting for connexion to do research. My computer crashed because the connexion had been so bad that the automatic update could not be completed which resulted in a corrupted computer registry. I am not sure how he handles this frustration but I told him if I were him, I would have slit my throat or drank Paraquat. You know, we are already short of priests and whilst I accept that stress is part and parcel of this road to holiness, I guess this is not a stress needed for holiness. Sorry if I sound like I am complaining.

Sometimes in a moment of annoyance friends have said: “What do you know? You are not married and you have no children”. The lack of first-hand experience of marriage and child-bearing apparently disqualifies me from advising families. Today, I am venturing into the territory of speaking without first-hand experience on the topic of God’s Love and Mercy Within the Family.

Firstly, the absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence. I am not married but I do come from a dysfunctional family. My father… My mother…  Running through the back of my mind, what has remained with me over these years is the experience of Confirmation camps. Gearing up for Confirmation, our youths stand at the cusp of adulthood. And yet, their emotional resources are fairly limited. Their wherewithal to engage the adult world suffers from some form of privation. It is almost as if when young people reached the age of 16 or 17, something in them is broken. The kids will be asked to write letters to their parents and likewise parents to their kids. Tears galore when both receive letters from each other. Something seems to have gone wrong when the kids make their transition from the “tweens” to the “teens”. Perhaps that is normal because we too may have gone through similar difficulties in our growing up. Or is the process presently more complicated and can we do something about this?

The family can be a reality which people take for granted. It is the smallest unit in the make-up of a society, the bedrock of the Church. Without the family, there is nothing to talk about. Listen to one of the Prefaces for Marriage.

Here I quote from an older text[2] our Roman Missal[3]. This prayer emphasises the relationship between marriage and baptism, whereby marriage and within the context of marriage, the openness to life enriches both the human family and the Church.

“By this Sacrament Your Grace unites man and woman in an unbreakable bond of love and peace. You have designed the chaste love of husband and wife for the increase both of the human family and of your own family born in baptism. You are the loving Father of the world of nature; You are the loving Father of the new creation of grace. In Christian marriage You bring together the two orders of creation: nature’s gift of children enriches the world, and your grace enriches also Your Church”.

The Church’s future is inextricably tied to the future of the family. The breakdown of the family unit threatens the future of the Church: No family, no Church.

Thus, the Church’s future is key to understanding how our family must be healthily formed. Of course, you can think, “Err, you mean the family’s existence is only for the service of the Church”? Surely that sounds utilitarian as if the family as a unit itself is not good enough. But, think of it this way: No family, no Church. No Church, no Eucharist.

We are not merely an interconnected web of relationships. But, as an organism, any severance of a relationship will have a corresponding effect on the whole. The health of the family is the health of the Church. This is not health from a well-being sense of the word. But rather health as in using the analogy of sin, health is freedom from sin, freedom to be what God has intended for us: eternal life.

If the family unit is sine qua non for the future of the Church, then we ought to remember that the devil will want to destroy that which is the basis for the future. And the array of Satan’s forces is phenomenal. The family is under siege from such issues as the redefinition of marriage by blurring the natural lines of distinction between man and woman and the breakup of marriage through divorce. According to local statistics, 95% of the cases for annulment come from sacramental marriage[4]. What is the purpose of a sacramental marriage? If you follow St Paul’s teaching in the Letter to the Ephesian—a sacramental marriage is the best image for the reality of Christ faithful and fruitful love for His Bride, the Church. Paraphrasing Spiderman’s Uncle Ben, “With great honour comes great responsibility”.

Does that give you an inkling that for whatever cogent reasons adduced for marriage breakups, the Devil is there to make sure that the institution of marriage is destroyed? The adage “Strike the shepherd and the sheep will scatter” is not restricted to the shepherd alone. Destroy marriage and you harm the future of the Church[5].

The Confirmation Camp experiences have remained with me all these years that many of the children are experiencing the lack of family as family. On top of this is basically time. Economics being the prime reason why family time is basically functional time; functional as in providing food and shelter. But as a child grows he or she will have accompanying psychological or spiritual and not just material needs. For about 10 years or thereabout, your children will do what you tell but at a certain age they become miniature adults with their own minds. If you have not been there for them, they will not be there when you finally have the time. From my pastoral observation, as a child matures two distinct developmental processes may be observed in them.

Firstly, if your child is a girl, she is growing up in a world that is broadly masculinised. You may think that I am speaking rubbish because girls regular excel over boys in many areas of life which are open to them. The contrary that this is the age of the feminine is more evident because in school, girls consistently top the boys. This sounds great if you think emancipation or liberation or freedom has arrived for girls to be who and what they want to be. But, this freedom just means that girls have become more boy-like in behaviour especially when war is waged against their gender-specific biological functions. For example, Silicon Valley consider the maternal duty of child-bearing to be a disadvantage and an inconvenience. Some companies have offered to freeze their female employees’ ova so that later, possibly like Anna the Prophetess, long after her child-bearing age, these employees, if they choose to, conceive via artificial means. In the meantime, women can compete like men. I am told that some girls chase after boys nowadays and it is considered to be normal.[6] The point is, no matter how we want to suppress this naturally-given functions, the minute a girl conceives, her biology takes over. In short, nature teaches a girl to be a woman. The instinct to nurture and to protect is in-built by nature for women.

Secondly, if your child is a boy, he is probably growing up in a world without men or in a world where men do not know how to be strong men. Our idea of a strong man seems to have been left behind with the brutish Neanderthal whereby strong men do not cry and they thump their chests. Perhaps, against this rather uncivilised caricature of what it means to be a man, a softer metrosexual is a reaction to this overly macho image. Boys are not hampered by biology when they have to make the leap from boyhood to manhood. They need to be mentored in a manner of speaking by men. In short, the bridge to sociability, that is, to taking their place in society, is crossed by fathers mentoring their sons. The responsibility to nurture and to protect is acquired from society for men. Fathers teach sons how to be men.

These processes reveal to us the undeniable distinction that allow both boys and girls to come to maturation[7]—through nature because woman are formed by nature and through nurture because men are formed by society. The processes themselves are wrought with danger because physiologically, psychologically and spiritually, the child is undergoing change and sometimes changes they themselves do not know or understand.[8]

Thus, the family is crucial for a child’s development and they need the sense of security that through these changes, there are people, notably father and mother to care for them. The tears of the camp reveal a kind of emptiness or the lack of presence which the young feel when it comes to this painful project of growing up.

Unfortunately, children’s access to the world is no longer mediated through the social networks of the family unit. The World Wide Web enables them to know even someone from as remote a place like Tierra del Fuego at the tip of South America. They learn much more from outside the family. And if the family is one where there is no support, no security where speaking out can be accepted or rejected in love, it is possible to drive further into the ground whatever that needs to be processed.

Have you ever encountered children of holy moly parents who leave the Church? It does not follow that a “good couple” will end up as a “good family”. What needs to be done is that good couples must find ways and means to foster good family. And this is a time-consuming endeavour. It requires a reprioritisation of the family unit. Many a times material comfort becomes the measure of a happy family. We mistakenly buy into the mantra that the more we have, the easier it is to create a happy family. Many from the Confirmation Camp are children of doctors, engineers and successful professionals. And they have a lifestyle many of us can only dream of. Parents misguidedly believe that they can buy love through the providence of material goods. How wrong they are?

I say this because I am uncomfortable about this and yet I somehow doing it. How often do we bring our tablets to the eating table? Or the mobile phone is constantly at the table sending out the subtle message that there might be something more important than the family which is present. This is just an example of how are we are from the family ideal.

To conclude, the experience God’s love and mercy in the family requires an honest reappraisal of our concept of the family. What are the conditions necessary for the possibility of this experience? What is needed? If you desire to experience God’s love and mercy in the family, then begin by shoring up your marriage. If it is good, make it better and if it is better, make it the best so that your children may grow in the security of a loving marriage. And if your family is struggling with issues of relationship, seek help and shame should not prevent you from reaching out. Building up a good Christian family is at the heart of the Church’s evangelical mission and it is also a participation in the work of salvation that Christ chooses to give the world.

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[1] After 1^st vows, philosophy, theology, ordination and before final vows. A priest can be a scholastic even 10 years after ordination.

[2] The newer text is more succinct. For you have forged the covenant of marriage as a sweet yoke of harmony and an unbreakable bond of peace, so that the chaste and fruitful love of holy matrimony may serve to increase the children you adopt as you own.

[3] Written around the time of Charlemagne in AD8th century.

[4] Marriage between two baptised is raised to the honour of a sacrament. So what is shocking is that we are dealing with marriage breakdowns between two Catholic and not simply between two baptised.

[5] I am not really concerned about the Church’s future per se but she is the vehicle of God’s salvation. Without the Church, how is Christ’s salvific mission to continue?

[6] In this climate where femaleness is rejected, we have opened the Pandora box to the acceptance of sexual behaviours which were previously considered harmful to society. The denial of femaleness has made it easier for man to fall in love with man or woman with woman. Furthermore, when the consequence of the sexual relationship between male and female is removed by contraception, then it does not take long for taboos against more extreme behaviour, like between a father and daughter, to be considered as old-fashioned.

[7] Women are promised the false freedom of contraceptives whereas men are promised the false pleasure of pornography.

[8] Women are destroyed by the Pill and men warped by pornography.