Monthly Archives: August 2016

Thursday of Week 19 in Ordinary Time (Year II)
St. Clare, Virgin
Ezekiel 12:1-12 | Psalm 77:56-59,61-62 | Matthew 18:21-19:1

Peter went up to Jesus and said, ‘Lord, how often must I forgive my brother if he wrongs me? As often as seven times?’ Jesus answered, ‘Not seven, I tell you, but seventy-seven times. (Matthew 18:21-22)

Pokémon GO has invaded Singapore’s shores. Already, I’ve had to fend off violent contact several times with mesmerized players who’d suddenly stop in their tracks and swivel with outstretched cellphone in hand. To say that I was annoyed each time would be quite an understatement.

Jesus instructs us to always be in a forgiving frame of mind, but He has never instructed us to forget the deeds and hurts perpetrated against us. Neither, as far as I can tell, does the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Instead, we are instructed to be wise, and we cannot be wise if we blithely erase all memory of unpleasant incidents, only to have that be used against us later on. “The discreet man sees danger and takes shelter, the ignorant go forward and pay for it.” (Proverbs 22:3)

Battered wives or abused children may choose to forgive their attackers, but choosing to continue their lives as if nothing happened, “sleeping with the enemy” as it were, could eventually prove fatal.

So, to the Pokémon GO players around me: I forgive you for almost striking me in your blissful perambulations, but now that I’ve seen the signs that typify your “game mode”, I will give you folks a wide berth to avoid future incidents.

And to the friend to whom I lent a large sum of money years ago: Like the master in today’s Gospel, I forgive you your debt to me, but should you approach me again with another loan request, I will remember the previous round, look at your still-abysmal financial wisdom…and respectfully decline.

And especially to me, myself and I: I forgive you for all the stupid things you’ve done to yourself over the years, but I really wish you’d stop forgetting them…and repeating history all over again.

To forgive is divine, to forget is just silly.

St. Lawrence, Deacon, Martyr
2 Corinthians 9:6-10 | Psalm 111:1-2,5-9 | John 12:24-26

Do not forget: thin sowing means thin reaping; the more you sow, the more you reap. (2 Corinthians 9:6)

Indeed, in writing daily about the Word of God, I’ve reaped quite a few benefits in turn, including but not limited to:

• a calming end to each day, no matter what transpired in the earlier hours,
• a mental anchor to ground me when life throws one curveball after another,
• an hour or so to recollect all my transgressions, and to formulate a plan to avoid them in future.

Of course, I hope it also benefits at least one other person than myself. If you’re that person, I look forward to hearing from you in the comment section below.

And in homage to today’s Gospel:

Amen.

Tuesday of Week 19 in Ordinary Time (Year II)
Ezekiel 2:8-3:4 | Psalm 118:14,24,72,103,111,131 | Matthew 18:1-5,10,12-14

He said, ‘Son of man, eat what is given to you; eat this scroll, then go and speak to the House of Israel.’ I opened my mouth; he gave me the scroll to eat and said, ‘Son of man, feed and be satisfied by the scroll I am giving you.’ I ate it, and it tasted sweet as honey. (Ezekiel 3:1-3)

The Word of God is sweet to those who truly believe, but bitter medicine to those who are more inclined to worldly ways.

Of course, most of us have our bitter days, when the cares of our lives threaten to turn our gaze from God. I wish I knew of a good solution to this problem; the usual advice to “let go and let God” can be exceedingly difficult to follow when others actively try to beat you down or foist their problems on you.

So I struggle on from day to day, keeping as close as I can to the path of love, noting where I go astray, and making up for it where I can.

Lord, have mercy on me, lift me up when I falter, so that I may continue to walk Your holy way, and bring others along on the journey to Your heavenly kingdom. Amen.

Monday of Week 19 in Ordinary Time
St. Dominic, Priest
Ezekiel 1:2-5,24-28 | Psalm 148:1-2,11-14 | Matthew 17:22-27

As we enter the Chinese Hungry Ghost Month, the smell of burning incense paper brings back memories of an unfortunate incident as a teenager at my grandfather’s wake. I was asked to perform a ritual with joss sticks, but I was also nursing an illness at the time, so I nearly collapsed after inhaling the incense fumes. I don’t recall what the other relatives said, but they probably weren’t too complimentary to my dad at the eldest grandson’s inability to pay respects to his elders.

Wakes are just the most obvious situations where our Christian values and practices can clash with others’ rituals and beliefs. By instructing Peter to pay the temple tax “so as not to give offence”, Jesus indicates in today’s Gospel that while we should always hold true to our faith, we should not turn it into a contest of moral “high ground” or superior rectitude. Instead, if an action (or inaction) is not anathema to our faith, we are encouraged to show respect to others and “go with the flow”.

That said, because the symbolism of Christian prayer with joss stick in hand is rather contradictory, I now politely refuse the latter. Fortunately, we live in a multi-religious and multi-cultural society, so I’ve yet to come across anyone who took offence when I said “as a Christian, I would rather not hold joss sticks, if that’s all right with you, but I’ll pray now and in my daily prayers for the repose of your loved one’s soul”. Also, everyone else at the wake is usually deep in conversation or busy eating, so no one is alert enough to declaim at full volume this Chinese guy shaming the bereaved family with “disrespectful” non-Chinese actions.

Now, if we had serious reason to believe, or actual proof, that our colleague was committing fraud or some other serious offence to both secular law and Christian propriety, we are bound by both duty and Spirit-informed conscience to make the appropriate people aware of the situation. Still, there’s no call for berating the fraudster about ethics in public, sending an office-wide “guess who got fired for stealing?” email, and generally doing the equivalent of hanging a flashing neon “THOU SHALT NOT STEAL” sign around his neck.

Most of us have no clue who John Bradford is, but are certainly conversant with a popular idiom attributed to him: “There, but for the grace of God, go I.” May we always keep that in mind as we proffer grace in turn to others who may not share our beliefs, but do not deserve to be snubbed or mocked either.

Amen.

19th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)
Wisdom 18:6-9 | Psalm 32:1,12,18-20,22 | Hebrews 11:1-2,8-19 | Luke 12:32-48

Only faith can guarantee the blessings that we hope for, or prove the existence of the realities that at present remain unseen. It was for faith that our ancestors were commended. (Hebrews 11:1-2)

In today’s second reading, St. Paul reminds us that our belief in God centers on our faith that He will make good on His promise to bring us to a heavenly and eternal homeland. It is on the basis of this promise that we willingly deny ourselves all that is anathema to Him, everything that opposes love of God and love of neighbour.

It is on the basis of this promise that we reject the examples of the hedonistic others, those who believe that this life is all there is, and should therefore be enjoyed to the fullest, even at the expense (and sometimes because) of others’ pain and suffering. Arms dealers and corrupt leaders are just the most obvious examples; I’m sure each of us could point to a half-dozen people in our lives who routinely take their “lessers” for granted, and have no kind words for anyone whom they aren’t trying to curry favour with.

It is on the basis of this promise that we especially reject the examples of those who have a foot in both camps, “hedonistic believers” who want to have their cake of eternal life and eat the earthly chocolate fudge brownie too. I’m sure each of us could also point to a half-dozen people in our lives who try to serve both God and mammon, professed Christians who nevertheless minimize their time in communion with God, and taking great relish in running roughshod with pointed studs over others in their bid for money and power.

As Jesus reminds us in today’s Gospel:

The servant who knows what his master wants, but has not even started to carry out those wishes, will receive very many strokes of the lash. The one who did not know, but deserves to be beaten for what he has done, will receive fewer strokes. (Luke 12:47-48)

We know what God wants of us; we cannot claim ignorance. Let us instead claim responsibility and love others as we ourselves would want to be loved, without hesitation, reservation, or ulterior motive.

Amen.