Monthly Archives: August 2016

21st Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)
Isaiah 66:18-21 | Psalm 116:1-2 | Hebrews 12:5-7,11-13 | Luke 13:22-30

Try your best to enter by the narrow door, because, I tell you, many will try to enter and will not succeed. (Luke 13:24)

The narrow door to heaven is, of course, Christ Himself; Jesus is really calling us to follow Him into paradise.

That said, I can think of several other interpretations of the “narrow door” imagery:

Not the obvious main door: Salvation isn’t based on privileged lineage; as Jesus hints in today’s Gospel, even gentiles will take their place at the table of God, while many of the line of Abraham would not. Nor is it based on a simple profession of faith made by billions each week; “it is not those who say to me, ‘Lord, Lord’, who will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the person who does the will of my Father in heaven.” (Matthew 7:21)

The servant’s door: “The greatest among you must be your servant.” (Matthew 23:11) While the master goes through the main door with his entourage in grand style, the servant comes and goes quietly through the side door, not calling attention to himself, just attending to his duties. So it is with us Christians – we are called to service.

The “fit”-for-the-kingdom door: This door is not for those who “grew fat” from exploiting others; they simply would not fit through. Instead, this door is for those who’ve “stayed lean” through sharing their abundance with the less fortunate, tending to others’ needs and “exercising” their faith regularly.

Sometimes a door…is so much more.

Saturday of Week 20 in Ordinary Time (Year II)
St. Bernard of Clairvaux, Abbot, Doctor
Ezekiel 43:1-7 | Psalm 84:9-14 | Matthew 23:1-12

The scribes and the Pharisees occupy the chair of Moses. You must therefore do what they tell you and listen to what they say; but do not be guided by what they do: since they do not practise what they preach. (Matthew 23:2-3)

When the people we trust turn out to have feet of clay, what do we do with what we learn from them?

When the people we look up to have been caught in flagrante delicto, do we ignore what they’ve taught us and find our own way?

When we are the ones who’ve been proven less-than-perfect, what do we expect from our children, our colleagues, our charges in faith?

Jesus makes it clear in today’s Gospel that the Word of God is perfect, more so than the people charged with upholding and disseminating it. As Christians, we have been given the task of sharing this Truth of love for God and each other; as humans, we sometimes fall short in living out this Truth ourselves.

This shortfall may result in some people discounting our words and turning away from God in a fit of “physician, heal thyself”. We can only beg forgiveness from Him for our failures, right our ships of faith, and sail on, continuing to deliver the Good News in the best way we can – by example.

Lord, we know You stumbled and fell while bearing that awful weight of Your cross. You know how we stumble and fall while bearing the easy yoke of your command to love each other as we love You and You love us, yet you’ve never given up hope in us. Help us take heart in Your trust, take courage in Your sufferings, and take heed of Your Holy Word, so that we may convince others of Your righteousness and truth. Amen.

Friday of Week 20 in Ordinary Time (Year II)
Ezekiel 37:1-14 | Psalm 106:2-9 | Matthew 22:34-40

There are days when nothing seems to go right, when I can’t seem to get across to the people whom I’m advising, when I upgrade one software component and an entire workflow suddenly breaks. I’d feel just like the house of Israel: “Our bones are dried up, our hope has gone; we are as good as dead.” (Ezekiel 37:11)

It takes a while to remember to pause, to breathe deep, to energize myself with fresh oxygen, and then to get back on the right track again.

Similarly, there are days when I feel dis-Spirited, when I know I need to get some liturgical matters taken care of but can’t seem to get started, when others are waiting in vain for my instructions, when even forwarding a simple email to my choir’s mailing list is delayed by days. (That I’ve yet to stumble thus in my daily reflections is a mystery.)

It takes an even longer while to remember to breathe in the Holy Spirit, to let Him settle in my soul and fire my liturgical muscles into necessary action. Sometimes, others simply give up in disgust and take the necessary actions themselves, leaving me to apologize all round after the fact.

Sometimes there’s just a large mental gulf between me and God, and I know there’s a lot of work left to be done on my faith. I just hope and pray the day never comes when I just don’t care about it any more, because Satan won’t be far behind.

Lord, you’ve seen us at our best, and at our lowest. Remind us always, in good times and bad, to breathe of the Holy Spirit, to be inspired by others around us to work towards the coming of Your heavenly kingdom. Amen.

P.S. The title is not a typo – it’s taken from an old spiritual inspired by today’s reading that I loved in my younger days, but I never made the connection till today. I hope it uplifts you after what has proven to be an ultra-sober reflection.

Thursday of Week 20 in Ordinary Time (Year II)
Ezekiel 36:23-28 | Psalm 50:12-15,18-19 | Matthew 22:1-14

Today’s Gospel describes a wedding feast that’s easily interpreted in a modern context:

• recalcitrant invitees – “no, I don’t want to know God, you Christians are so anti-fun, go away! I said GO AWAY!”
• surprise invites – “yes, I know you’re a serial murderer, but God is inviting you to repent and believe anyway, so what say you?”
• a unkempt guest.

Wait, what?

I’d been glossing over the “guest without a wedding garment” for many years, but now that I think about it, this could be the most interesting part of the parable.

Since the king in the parable asked his guards to pull random working-class strangers in off the street, we can presume that he also instructed his staff to prepare the necessary finery for them as well. None of the guests had to run back home to wash off the day’s filth and look for their special suit; all they had to do was to say “thank you, your Majesty” and don the proferred garment.

Similarly, we are all called to true conversion, to shed the stain of sin and don the white “wedding garments” of holiness given to us by God through Jesus Christ and Holy Mother Church. We don’t have to do anything ridiculously inconvenient; we just say “thank you, Lord” and turn away from Satan.

So the guest in question actually rejected the garment offered to him out of the king’s largesse, and therefore deserved to be ejected from the wedding feast. Similarly, if we choose to continue our sinful ways, we have no one else to blame when we are locked out of heaven. “Weeping and grinding of teeth” will just be the start of our eternal sorrow.

And as Jesus reminded us, “the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect,” (Matthew 24:44) so what are we waiting for?

Wednesday of Week 20 in Ordinary Time (Year II)
Ezekiel 34:1-11 | Psalm 22:1-6 | Matthew 20:1-16

Today’s Gospel features the Parable of the Generous Landowner, a story that most non-Christians (and quite a few faithful) find fundamentally unfair. “Surely,” they cry, “those who work longer should receive more?”

Of course, in salvation terms, we understand this parable to mean that when we enter the kingdom of God, we will all be on equal terms, and we shall want for nothing. It matters not whether we’re cradle Catholics, or initiated as working adults, or come to God in our dying days – our inheritance is the same.

“But…but…” some sputter, “you mean a wicked man can convert on his deathbed and be saved despite his long life of fornication and indulgence?”

Yes. Even notorious child-killer Adrian Lim and his co-conspirators repented in the end, and may yet join us in heaven to sing God’s praises, because it’s God’s decision as to who to admit into His eternal kingdom. He knows literally everything there is to know about each of us, especially our sincerity in claiming to be His spiritual children. Our judgement of each other’s Christian qualifications or “length of time served” are irrelevant at best, and may even hurt our chances at eternal life.

✞ ✞ ✞ ✞ ✞

Being Catholic can sometimes be difficult when we’re surrounded by non-believers who lead lives of willful indulgence. It can become even more difficult to remain faithful when we are reminded that, at the eleventh hour, these “bloody pagans” can choose to recognize and repent all their sins, and receive a “free pass” to eternal life. It’s as if we slogged painfully through the marathon to heaven, only to be pipped to the finish line by some debutantes chauffeured in a limousine.

We, in effect, play the dutiful elder brother in the Parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32), but we all know how that story ended: the father chose to be as generous as the landowner in today’s Gospel, bestowing love and mercy upon the good-for-nothing son who did so little to deserve it, and much to warrant outright disownment.

Likewise, God wants us all to join him in His heavenly kingdom, not on our individual merits, but by His infinite grace. To that end, He sent His only Son to redeem all mankind, and the Holy Spirit to guide us all in our earthly journey. All He asks of us is true repentance and a wholehearted conversion to love of Him and of each other, demonstrated as best we can in our daily lives.

So instead of being jealous of those who convert at the last minute after a lifetime of unmitigated hedonism, let us be thankful for all the sheep who return to the Lord’s flock, and continue to be steadfast witnesses to God’s redeeming love.

Because, first or last, the only thing that really matters is that we all get There.

Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those who trespass against us,
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. Amen.