Monthly Archives: May 2016

Wednesday of the 7th Week of Easter
Acts 20:28-38 | Psalm 67:29-30, 33-36 | John 17:11-19

As human beings, we tend to form long-lasting attachments to our mentors. I can still remember many of my primary school teachers (some of whom, alas, I’ll never see again1I know I’ll probably see them again on the Day of Judgement, but it doesn’t preclude my longing to have a quiet chat and to say “thank you” before then.), as well as several friends along my decades-old journey through life who’d taught me how to recover from heartbreak, from poor health, from my mistakes, and especially from my successes (a sic transit gloria mundi reminder, or a smack upside the head, depending on the mood of said friend).

As a mentor myself, the last thing I want to hear is “how will we manage without you?” That would be a terrible failure on my part, to have micromanaged my mentees into immobility instead of independence. Clearly, St. Paul had no such issues with the Ephesian church elders; just “one fond embrace before we say goodbye, until we meet again“.

His exhortation before his departure is a particularly appropriate meditation during this Jubilee Year of Mercy:

‘I have never asked anyone for money or clothes; you know for yourselves that the work I did earned enough to meet my needs and those of my companions. I did this to show you that this is how we must exert ourselves to support the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, who himself said, “There is more happiness in giving than in receiving”.’ (Acts 20:33-35)

Lord Jesus, You showed us the Way of Mercy, by offering Your life for the sins of all mankind, asking nothing in return but that we come to glorify the Father with all our heart, soul and strength. Inspire us to stretch out our hand to those in need of comfort in distress, of relief from hunger, of protection from the wicked, of separation from the Father. Give us the courage to follow your Way of Mercy without fear, without reservation, without expectation of earthly or heavenly reward, with only the desire to see the Father’s glory reflected in the relief of our suffering brothers and sisters. Amen.

Tuesday of the 7th Week of Easter
Acts 20:17-27 | Psalm 67:10-11, 20-11 | John 17:1-11

But life to me is not a thing to waste words on, provided that when I finish my race I have carried out the mission the Lord Jesus gave me – and that was to bear witness to the Good News of God’s grace. (Acts 20:24)

As Christians, we are called to “bear witness”, to testify about the unfailing love of our Creator. To most, including myself, this is difficult enough when faced with simple questions that expose our weak knowledge of our faith.

It gets even more unnerving when we find out that in the original Greek, what we know now as “bear witness” was actually διαμαρτύρασθαι (diamartyrasthai, “to testify fully”).

Note the root word: martyr. It’s because many reacted to the witness-bearing of people like St. Stephen and St. Paul with death-dealing, that the formerly neutral word for “I tell you, brothers and sisters, that Jesus is the Son of God” has taken on a darker “please don’t ask me to proclaim your divinity, for I don’t want to die painfully” meaning. This is hardly a concern in Singapore, but I would certainly share the hesitation of most Christians who were called to identify ourselves as such by gun-toting hostiles in a foreign land.

So, since we’re free to testify to our beliefs locally without fear of public lynching or beheading, all that’s left is to shore up our personal knowledge of our faith. We each have to come to that in our own way; mine starts with writing this blog every day.

Blessed journey to martyrdom, dear brothers and sisters.

Lord, you are the source of all that is good and right. Send the Holy Spirit upon us with the strength to fortify our faith with daily scriptural examination, and the courage to proclaim that You are the Lord of Love with our words and especially our deeds. Amen.

Monday of the 7th Week of Easter
Acts 19:1-8 | Psalm 67:2-7 | John 16:29-33

When he asked, ‘Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?’ they answered, ‘No, we were never even told there was such a thing as a Holy Spirit’. (Acts 19:2)

We can laugh at the ignorance of the early believers these days, what with the advent during the last two millennia of, among other things:

• the printing press,
• the formal catechism process, and
• the Internet.

Yet how many of us Catholics could enumerate the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit without asking Big Brother Google? To my shame, I’m not one of them, so I’m taking steps to rectify this, among them:

• looking it up on the Internet,
• blogging about it here, and
• praying about it every morning.

If you have trouble remembering them too, here you go:

Dove not included.

But there’s another interpretation of St. Paul’s question in the context of modern Catholicism: “You believe, and the Holy Spirit has descended on you, but did you let the Spirit into your heart and your life?”

When we are called to judgement on the last day…

Come, Holy Spirit. Fill the hearts of your faithful, and kindle in us the fire of your love. Amen.

7th Sunday of Easter
Acts 7:55-60 | Psalm 96:1-2, 6-7, 9 | Apocalypse 22:12-14, 16-17, 20 | John 17:20-26

In today’s gospel, Jesus prays that we may all be one with the Father. It’s this spirit of oneness that forms the foundation of our Catholic (lit. “universal”) faith, yet it can be exceedingly difficult at times when external cares beset us: the demands of our working lives, our family lives, our secret lives can often turn us into unrecognisable ogres despite our best efforts to Put Love First.

Just a few days ago, I wrote about how a train disruption brought out the ogre in many around me. Yesterday’s travels showed me just the opposite: On every train and bus leg of my movement around the island, I spied several people willingly give up their seats for the elderly, the infirm and a young father bearing his sleeping years-old daughter in his arms.

On the train journey back home, though, there was a man with a large tandem-pram taking up most of the space just inside the doorway, forcing everyone to work their way around him. With head buried in his phone, he failed to notice his son in the back chair begin to restlessly kick the back of his sister’s chair, who screwed up her face and seemed about to explode into a full-on bawl. The tension around this family…was palpable.

I was standing almost within reach of the two children, with a group of office workers even closer. Before I could do anything, one of the ladies in the group quickly engaged the little girl in play, making mischievous faces and tickling her. After forestalling the imminent eruption, she proceeded to do the same to the boy, who also calmed down quickly and stopped fidgeting and kicking his sister.

Meanwhile, the father continued staring into his phone. I did wonder briefly what was holding his rapt attention, but my first reaction was that lady must be a mother.

I think you can see where this is headed.

As we celebrate and thank God for our mothers today, let us also remember Our Blessed Mother, who nurtured and guided Jesus during His youth, and kept her faith right through the low point of watching her son die like a common thief on a cross. She watches over us all now, urging us at all times to remain faithful to the Father, Son and Spirit, and to unite as one people, chosen and set apart by God.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Saturday of the 6th Week of Easter
Acts 18:23-28 | Psalm 46:2-3, 8-10 | John 16:23-28

An Alexandrian Jew named Apollos now arrived in Ephesus. (Acts 18:24)

Picture, if you will, a young educated Jew who had the gift of the gab and a firm foundation in holy scripture. Fired by great enthusiasm, he goes around teaching everyone he meets about the coming Messiah.

Then he encounters a couple who fills him in on a few recent developments: not only has the Messiah arrived in his lifetime, but He’s made a brand new covenant with His people, gathered many followers, died like a criminal on a cross, rose from the dead, ascended to heaven, flooded His appointed apostles with this mysterious Spirit to make them speak in every language on earth and convert thousands.

“Oh, and you just missed this chap named Paul. Firebrand like you, a great persuader like you, just a little thinner than you in the hair department, on account of being zapped by Christ on the road to Damascus. With a little work, you can be Just Like Him. Here’s what you need to know…”

Weeks later, he’s off and running to Achaia with the support of the Christian community in Corinth, successfully replicating what St. Paul had done on his own journeys, convincing and converting people to Christ.

✞ ✞ ✞ ✞ ✞

Wouldn’t it be nice if we could’ve spoken directly to Jesus, traveled with Him, learned from Him? If only that could’ve come to pass, we’d be able to convert the people around us to Him, easy-peasy.

Except Apollos had none of those advantages either; he never met Jesus, but he put his formidable Alexandrian education to good use, and had Priscilla and Aquila to further educate him on the Way of Christ. Oh, and neither of them ever met Jesus either, but they had St. Paul as a guide.

Today, we have the benefit of two millennia of careful consideration and evolution of our faith foundations. We have a level of education that easily exceeds ancient Alexandrian standards. We spend every Sunday listening to learned clergy proclaim God’s Word and expound on what it means to us in our daily lives. We have the Internet with easy access to scripture and recorded history and tradition, and trivially easy ways to build online Christian communities. We (largely) have the luxury of not having to toil in the hot sun, living each day from hand to mouth.

We’ve got it all over Apollos. We just need Apollonian enthusiasm to spread the gospel message…

Lord, we have everything we need to be like Apollos, except the passion to proclaim your Holy Word. Send the Holy Spirit upon us to enflame our hearts and give us the courage to go forth, online and in real life, to share our hope in You with others, and kindle in them the fire of Your depthless Love. Amen.