Monthly Archives: January 2017

Tuesday of Week 4 in Ordinary Time (Year I)
Saint John Bosco, Priest
Hebrews 12:1-4 | Psalm 21(22):26-28,30-32 | Mark 5:21-43

‘If I can touch even his clothes,’ she had told herself ‘I shall be well again.’ And the source of the bleeding dried up instantly, and she felt in herself that she was cured of her complaint. (Mark 5:28-29)

This story of the hemorrhaging woman is often cited as a clear example of the power of faith, but I see it embodying a related and even more powerful message: “Dare To Dream Of Eternity!”

Many of us, confronted with a major illness that defies all medical intervention, are simply content to live with our condition as best we can.

This woman dared to dream: “I can be cured, and Jesus is the One who’ll cure me!”

From such dreams will spring lasting faith.

Adrian, you’ve really lost it this time! What nonsense are you spouting?

Let me explain…

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What sort of faith do we practice, brothers and sisters?

Is it an intellectual faith, one based on the clockwork belief that “if we give alms to the poor, clothe the naked, etc. so forth, we will be doing what the Father wants, and will therefore be reunited with him”?

Or is it a faith based on hope, one that says “Lord, have pity on me, a sinner, and guide me to the path of life”?

I think the former is in fact more akin to Mosaic law, the very mechanical call to obedience that Jesus came to supplant! “So boring, so tedious, and I’m not seeing results!”

The latter, on the other hand, starts with a dream, that we shall one day be reunited with the Father.

A dream that imbues us with the desire to be reunited with the Father.

A dream that gives us hope when life itself turns against us, and we are beset by difficult people and irresistible temptations, tormented by the worry that we might not be judged worthy.

A dream that compels us to reach out to Jesus amid life’s difficulties, to acknowledge that He can guide us through it all, and lead us to eternity with the Father.

So let us dare to dream: “We have been saved, and Jesus will show the way to claim our eternal prize! We have but to reach out and touch, and to follow Him.”

Amen.

Monday of Week 4 in Ordinary Time (Year I)
Hebrews 11:32-40 | Psalm 30(31):20-24 | Mark 5:1-20

I was about to alight the train yesterday evening, when I heard a spitting noise behind me.

I turned my head, thinking nobody could possibly be inconsiderate enough to spit in a train. To my surprise, there was a young girl sitting there, with a small pool of spit in front of her. (I hadn’t noticed her before, probably because I had been facing outwards when she entered my carriage from an adjoining one.)

As I was exiting, I distinctly heard a female voice go “Ew, disgusting!”

To my shame, I immediately thought “yeah, just like the mouth from which those words came.”

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Dear brothers and sisters, have you formed a mental picture of the above scene?

Have you made one or more moral judgments based on what I’ve said so far?

In particular, did you think I was being too harsh on the woman who pronounced disgust on an unhygienic and illegal act?

Good, because I left out one detail on purpose:

The young girl showed unmistakable signs of Down syndrome.

Have any of your thoughts suddenly changed?

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The possessed man in today’s gospel reminded me of that young girl. Both were deemed “undesirable” by their respective societies, unable to fit in through no fault of their own.

Jesus drove the demons from the man’s mind, enabling him henceforth to lead a normal life, to the great relief of his family.

But modern medicine still has no answer to this girl’s affliction, so she’ll be ostracized till her dying day…along with her mother beside her, probably trying her best not to retaliate with an unkind remark of her own, and enduring the contemptuous stares from fellow passengers.

I think this mother is no less a “hero of faith” than Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets mentioned in today’s reading. I don’t know if she believes in God, but we are reminded regularly by Jesus that:

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)

I think this woman, in loving her daughter without reservation, and bearing the cross of lifelong caregiving, embodies the will of our Father in heaven.

As do the families of mentally and physically challenged children whom I see every Sunday at church, resolutely standing by their helpless progeny.

Heroes of faith are revealed in action rather than words, and it doesn’t take much to become one.

It just takes an act of will, to love others and not to count the cost.

We just have to break that little habit of counting the cost in everything.

Lord, You gave us Your life, and You gave us Your love. Help us to share our life and love unreservedly with others who are disadvantaged in life and bereft of love, as You would want us to. Amen.

4th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A)
Zephaniah 2:3,3:12-13 | Psalm 145(146):6-10(Lord6) | 1 Corinthians 1:26-31 | Matthew 5:1-12

Today’s scripture is filled with humility.

“Seek the Lord, you humble of the earth,” says the prophet Zephaniah.

St. Paul reminds the Corinthians (and us) that we have been chosen by God because we are weak, having nothing to boast about to the Lord.

And Jesus reminds us that the kingdom of heaven is waiting for those who are “poor in spirit”, who understand that we would not exist without the grace of God.

No matter how successful we are in this life, no matter how many things we’ve had the money to buy, we are nothing compared to God.

It can sometimes be hard to tamp down our pride, to tell ourselves that, despite all our riches and acclaim, we aren’t God’s gift to humankind.

But we do bear His gift to others, the gift of Love given to us in faith, the willingness to share our abundance with those who have nothing, the openness to do a kindness or two to those in need.

So let us open ourselves up like beautiful flowers to others, our petal-hands spreading the peace of Christ through deeds of mercy.

Let us do this not for our own arrogant glory, but as reflections of the One who made all things new.

And let us never forget to turn our faces to the Lord, to acknowledge the source of all strength and power, humble enough to become one of us, to suffer with us, and to die for us.

In Him, who won our salvation with His blood, can we truly make our boasts.

Amen.

Saturday of Week 3 in Ordinary Time (Year I)
Saint Thomas Aquinas, Priest, Doctor
Hebrews 11:1-2,8-19 | Luke 1:69-75 | Mark 4:35-41

Only faith can guarantee the blessings that we hope for, or prove the existence of the realities that at present remain unseen. (Hebrews 11:1)

On our way to a family reunion lunch yesterday, my wife and I encountered a young girl in a beautiful pink dress walking towards us…and wiping away her tears with the back of her hand. We assumed that she had lost her parents and was looking for them, just like many children we’ve all seen in busy shopping malls.

Except we didn’t approach her to help, as would be our normal instinct, because this girl seemed…different somehow. It took a while to figure out, but then it hit me: she was not crying out in distress, like every other child would in her situation.

Also, despite her obvious sorrow, she was still moving in a very calm manner – not running aimlessly around, nor swiveling her head left and right in a fruitless hunt for her missing parents. She was just walking purposefully, and wiping away her silent tears with the back of her hand.

It was as if she had faith that she would find her parents, who at present remained unseen.

I have no doubt she found her way back to her loved ones. No doubt whatsoever.

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How many of us have the kind of faith that this little girl had?

How many of us still stay the course of the Lord, when the storms of life bear down upon us, as they did upon Jesus’ disciples in today’s gospel?

How many of us are confident that there will be something wondrous at the end of our mortal existence, and that we just need to keep faithful to receive the crown of life? (Revelations 2:10)

There are indeed times when my faith is punctured by the crass indifference I see around me, by the hurtful things people do to each other, by the pain and suffering borne by my family and friends. I imagine you too experience such uncertainty, dear friends.

So as we celebrate Chinese New Year today, let us bless each other with the gift of steadfast faith in our Creator, that He may in turn bless us with:

• the Life that surpasses our mundane existence,
• the Love that heals our beleaguered souls, and
• the Hope that lifts us to a new plane of being.

Amen.

Friday of Week 3 in Ordinary Time (Year I)
Saint Angela Merici, Virgin
Hebrews 10:32-39 | Psalm 36(37):3-6,23-24,39-40 | Mark 4:26-34

For you not only shared in the sufferings of those who were in prison, but you happily accepted being stripped of your belongings, knowing that you owned something that was better and lasting. (Hebrews 10:34)

If I had to sum up this week in a single phrase, I’d go with “letting go”.

On Sunday, I went for confession before mass, letting go of all my sins.

And on the following days, I did sporadic “spring cleaning”, gradually letting go of things I didn’t need any more.

Voluntarily stripping myself of my unneeded physical and spiritual “belongings” has been a refreshing experience.

Being unburdened by the guilt of past transgressions and the weight of unnecessary stuff

Bearing only the important things in my flat and the Lord in my heart.

Experiencing the unbearable lightness of freedom in soul and body.

I think I’ll make it a regular thing.

Lord, You know what we truly need in our lives. Open our eyes to the clutter we amass in our homes and in our hearts, and help us cherish the one constant thing in our lives: Your eternal love. Amen.