Monthly Archives: August 2016

Wednesday of Week 22 in Ordinary Time (Year II)
1 Corinthians 3:1-9 | Psalm 32:12-15,20-21 | Luke 4:38-44

Leaning over her he rebuked the fever and it left her. (Luke 4:39)

Picture a child inspired by this passage to stand over her ill mother and loudly declaim: “BAD FEVER, BAD! GO AWAY!” I’d imagine the poor parent would be torn between a wry smile at such tender innocence…and a heartfelt plea: “Hush now, sweetie, not so loud. Mommy’s got a terrible headache!”

But just a few sentences later in today’s Gospel we read this:

Devils too came out of many people, howling, ‘You are the Son of God.’ But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak because they knew that he was the Christ. (Luke 4:41)

I thought Luke’s multiple uses of “rebuke” to be rather odd, until I discovered that the word is used six different ways in translated scripture, according to the King James Dictionary. Today’s Gospel passage is therefore better understood as:

Leaning over her he [stopped] the fever and it left her.

and:

Devils too came out of many people, howling, ‘You are the Son of God.’ But he [silenced] them and would not allow them to speak because they knew that he was the Christ.

So much meaning packed in a single word.

Lord God Almighty, we implore you:
rebuke (chide) us when we stray,
rebuke (restrain) Satan from turning us away from You,
rebuke (punish) us not in Your anger,
rebuke (silence) us when we spread falsehoods,
rebuke (heal) our physical and spiritual maladies,
rebuke (calm) our stormy passions and restless hearts,
so that we may be reunited with You at the end of days,
to sing your praises for ever. Amen.

Tuesday of Week 22 in Ordinary Time (Year II)
1 Corinthians 2:10-16 | Psalm 144:8-14 | Luke 4:31-37

Therefore we teach, not in the way in which philosophy is taught, but in the way that the Spirit teaches us: we teach spiritual things spiritually. (1 Corinthians 2:13)

There’s a classic philosophical conundrum called the Prisoner’s Dilemma, in which two guilty suspects can actually escape punishment by not telling on each other, but are nevertheless biased towards betrayal to avoid being the prison-bound sucker. Completely rational people therefore choose to “rat out the other guy” and smugly pat themselves on the back.

A gang member then says, “But if my bro stays silent and I go free, my gang will know that I betrayed him, and then I’m a dead man!” The completely rational people pause in confusion.

A Catholic then says, “Why so complicated? You don’t want to do the time, don’t do the crime!”

The completely rational people stone the Catholic to death. Everyone secretly wants to “get away with it”, so nobody likes a Spirit-filled smartass.

Trying to explain our faith in secular terms is difficult, because mundane existence largely revolves around the animal instinct of distrust: I don’t know you, therefore I have to assume that you won’t act in my interests, so I’d better get the first stab in before the fileting frenzy begins. Fake smiles and personal gain come to the fore.

But the Spirit impels us to look “through the eyes of love”: I don’t know you, but we are all God’s children, so there’s no cause for stabbing. Here, I hope this kindness benefits you. Acts of mercy and a general aura of care for others are the “catch of the day”.

As flawed beings striving to be more loving each day, we naturally have one foot in each camp, but I think this can actually help attract others to the cause of Christ: Look, you see me as I am. I’m not “holier than thou,” just a guy trying to be a better person each day and, in my own small way, trying to make this corner of the world a better place for everyone. By myself, I’d have a snowball’s chance in hell of even getting started, but I’m getting help from a great man. His name is Jesus Christ. Would you like to get to know him too?

Amen.

The Passion of Saint John the Baptist
Jeremiah 1:17-19 | Psalm 70:1-6,15,17 | Mark 6:17-29

St. John the Baptist publicly declaimed a bigamous queen…and had his head cut off in today’s Gospel.

An eye surgeon at the National Eye Centre crudely described a laser procedure as “drilling two holes in your eyes”, which frightened my wife’s friend so much that she elected to have a private doctor work on her instead, one who cost quite a bit more but had substantially better EQ (emotional quotient).

A decorated Olympic swimmer lied about an embarrassing incident in a foreign country, and became the shame of his nation when details on what really happened finally emerged. (As of this writing, he still steadfastly refuses to make a proper apology.)

✞ ✞ ✞ ✞ ✞

It’s clear that words have power, and words of Truth doubly so. Herod knew that he had sinned in marrying his brother’s wife, yet he recognized and respected the Truth that St. John the Baptist proclaimed, and protected him from Herodias’ wrath until a careless promise (those pesky words again) forced his executioner’s hand. Similarly, God assured the prophet Jeremiah in today’s reading that he would be safeguarded against all harm from earthly authority, as long as he faithfully proclaimed His Truth.

Sadly, we generally have to phrase the Truth a bit more delicately in modern times. For instance, the Church’s stand on abortion can be a particularly sore point even in casual discussion, and trying to engage the “my body, my rules” crowd often ends with much heat and a deeply-divided room.

It’s also possible to be wrong when sharing God’s Word. I keep reminding myself of this each night when I add to this blog, and I keep hoping that someone will eventually sound off with “you’re wrong, scripture / CCC / tradition actually says ABC about XYZ”. Few things would give me more pleasure than a Truth-based mea culpa; I don’t get to say “I got schooled” enough these days.

✞ ✞ ✞ ✞ ✞

I’ve had many ecclesial discussions with my old atheist buddy over the years. While I can never quite remember what was said on either side (though I’m quite sure we haven’t touched on abortions yet), I’m thankful that it keeps me jogging along on the Way of Truth. His incisive ripostes also force me to stop, reconsider my long-held “truths” that might not be so, and choose my words with great care, as we all should when imparting the Truth to others.

It also helps that he seems to be taking our discussions seriously, so I may yet persuade him to cross over to the “light side”. Finally, neither of us cross the line into pro-/anti-Christian polemics, which I think is most important in evangelisation.

After all, regardless of which side of the religious divide we happen to inhabit, it doesn’t pay to lose our heads over it.

22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)
Ecclesiasticus 3:19-21,30-31 | Psalm 67:4-7,10-11 | Hebrews 12:18-19,22-24 | Luke 14:1,7-14

When you are a [wedding] guest, make your way to the lowest place and sit there, so that, when your host comes, he may say, “My friend, move up higher.” (Luke 14:10)

I just had a mental image of a Catholic acquaintance and me coming to church for Sunday mass, and when I start walking towards the pews near the front, he holds me back, saying “Eh, be a bit more humble leh, sit at the back first, then wait for the wardens to say, ‘My friends, move up higher.’ ”

This scenario is almost laughable, but I’d bet each of us has experienced at least one occasion when we simply didn’t want to sit up front at church. It was probably a time when our souls were burdened with mundane woes and sinful guilt, when we silently echoed Matthew 8:8 in our hearts: “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.”

Yes Lord, You just say the word from over there, and my soul shall be healed over here. Can? ?

✞ ✞ ✞ ✞ ✞

A Eucharistic feast is not a wedding feast. There’s no implied ranking in pew positions, and the further we are from the celebrant, the less inclined we are to join in the feast with heart and soul – a great pity, given the trouble we go through just to be there at the appointed time.

So, dear brothers and sisters, the next time we go to church feeling a little distant from God, let’s remember the words to that familiar praise and worship song, and make an effort to draw closer to Him, both quietly in our hearts, and physically to the priest in persona Christi:

Lord, I come to you
Let my heart be changed, renewed
Flowing from the grace that I found in You

Amen.

Saturday of Week 21 in Ordinary Time (Year II)
St. Monica
1 Corinthians 1:26-31 | Psalm 32:12-13,18-21 | Matthew 25:14-30

The kingdom of Heaven is like a man on his way abroad who summoned his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to a third one; each in proportion to his ability. (Matthew 25:14-15)

I used to just nod knowingly upon hearing today’s Gospel, but a thought just struck me: Why would the master hire servants with wildly differing abilities?

The likely answer: He didn’t; they just grew into their roles at different rates, and the last one probably didn’t grow much.

Given how the parable developed, we might guess that the last servant was in fact a dead weight in the master’s household, possibly just doing the bare minimum to stay employed, and leaving the other two to pick up the slack. Similarly, the first servant may have put in more work to polish his abilities than the second, or perhaps he simply started out with more talent. Nevertheless, I think we can agree that both of them were “productive” in their lives.

When it comes to evangelisation, we’re all at different stages of ability. I’m still at a fairly novice level, making up for it with a compulsion to keep working on this blog night after night. In the context of today’s Gospel, I’d rank myself at around the level of the second servant, and perhaps I’ll reach the first-class level someday.

But I’ve also been in the last servant’s shoes before, and it wasn’t pleasant. To be given the Word of God and faith in Christ, and to simply set it aside and live as if it never existed, working to be surrounded by material wealth and pleasures of the flesh, left me feeling empty at Sunday mass. To mouth the words to each hymn without feeling their impact in my soul, to listen to the Gospel without feeling the Good News, to silently count the seconds till the final blessing…to turn the Eucharistic celebration into a chore to be endured each week for the sake of propriety.

I pray that I’ll never go back down that dark tunnel again.

✞ ✞ ✞ ✞ ✞

Brothers and sisters, if you’re reading this blog, you share my renewed sense of hope and faith in God. Our faith is a jewel not to be hidden underground, but to be “traded” and made to grow in others, perhaps lighting a fire in the hearts of the lukewarm believers, strengthening those who are on the verge of falling away from Mother Church, or bringing new converts to the fold.

More importantly, we need to exercise our abilities constantly, and not just for one hour every Sunday. By living the Gospel life each day, we reinforce it and simultaneously show others the beauty of being children of God. Let us not hide our Catholicity from others; for instance, we need not save praying before meals with the sign of the cross for when we’re surrounded by Catholics.

As St. Paul reminds us today:

if anyone wants to boast, let him boast about the Lord. (1 Corinthians 1:31)

Amen.