Monthly Archives: January 2017

Saturday of Week 2 in Ordinary Time (Year I)
Saint Agnes, Virgin, Martyr
Hebrews 9:2-3,11-14 | Psalm 46(47):2-3,6-9 | Mark 3:20-21

When his relatives heard of this, they set out to take charge of him, convinced he was out of his mind. (Mark 3:21)

I’m still writing this blog every day.

I must be mad!

There’s no other explanation for my continual drive to sit down each night, ponder the next day’s scripture, then let the words flow from…somewhere.

I hope and pray that “somewhere” is the Holy Spirit.

✞ ✞ ✞ ✞ ✞

What kind of man would sacrifice himself for everyone around him, despite knowing that they all despised him?

A madman, so conventional wisdom would tell us.

Christ went ahead and did it anyway.

Was He mad?

I think He was…madly in love with all mankind.

We’ve all experienced that special kind of insanity that deep love breeds, the urge to draw closer, the emptiness when we’re apart, the willingness to do anything for our loved ones.

I think Christ had that kind of love for us. Do we reciprocate in kind?

Shouldn’t we?

Lord, You loved us so much that You deigned to experience the pains and weaknesses of humanity first-hand, and eventually to give up Your life for our salvation. Help us understand the depths of Your depthless love, and help us return even a fraction of that love willingly and constantly, in prayer to You and loving actions to our fellow humans. Amen.

Friday of Week 2 in Ordinary Time (Year I)
Hebrews 8:6-13 | Psalm 84(85):8,10-14 | Mark 3:13-19

By speaking of a new covenant, he implies that the first one is already old. Now anything old only gets more antiquated until in the end it disappears. (Hebrews 8:13)

My second home file server died last week. It was working just fine, serving up my data faithfully…until I restarted it, whereupon the disk light on the front panel turned from a flashing green that meant “checking…checking…” to an ugly “IT’S DEAD, JIM!” red.

Apparently, the stress of having to spin up and down sporadically (for power-saving reasons) finally caused the internal hard drive to die permanently when I power-cycled the box. At least I didn’t lose any critical files, and the involuntary loss of thousands of old documents and electronic periodicals may actually have been a blessing in disguise.

Still, after reading the above passage, I relived the mental shock of seeing that baleful red eye staring back at me.

✞ ✞ ✞ ✞ ✞

I wrote about the benefits of spiritual renewal earlier this week, so I’ll share my thoughts today about its necessity.

Just like the contents of my dead hard drive, we probably have one or more regular spiritual practices, like a daily rosary recitation, that we perform religiously but also perhaps a little mechanically. Even the best of intentions may not be enough to stop ourselves from sliding into humdrum repetition of words and actions that have lost their cherished meaning.

And after enough meaningless regurgitation, we stop altogether, and our faith likewise “gets more antiquated until in the end it disappears”.

This is why I prefer to pray the rosary on public transport. Even though I’m traveling the same route each day, the people I see while I pray are always different, and this inspires me to imbue the same old rosary prayers with a unique twist each time.

For example, my trip yesterday began with a pair of young girls in preschool uniforms chasing each other up and down the train carriage, loudly giggling all the way. I happened to be wrapping up the Third Luminous Mystery as I boarded, so before I started on the Fourth:

Mother Mary, I lift up to you these two young girls. May they never lose the joy they now possess, as they grow up and face life’s issues head-on, and when they have children of their own, may they always show their little ones the love you show to us, the sinners whom your Son suffered and died to save.

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.

The day before, it was a tired and visibly pregnant woman. I prayed for good health, a smooth delivery and a joyful motherhood.

The day before that, I spied a young Caucasian couple sporting enormous backpacks. Safe travels to the lovebirds, yo!

Thus the old is made new again.

I think the same principle can be applied to any spiritual activity. Instead of mechanically doing the same thing over and over again, let us dedicate and orient it each time towards a different person we have encountered. In this way, we can remind ourselves that though our deeds are directed to God, they are for the people around us, our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Amen.

Thursday of Week 2 in Ordinary Time (Year I)
Hebrews 7:25-8:6 | Psalm 39(40):7-10,17 | Mark 3:7-12

You do not ask for sacrifice and offerings,
but an open ear.
You do not ask for holocaust and victim.
Instead, here am I. (Psalm 39:7)

I took yesterday off from my normal work schedule to help my sick sister-in-law, the steadfast caregiver of her Parkinson’s-afflicted husband for almost 20 years. In the process, I got to spend a few hours “babysitting” with her eldest grandson.

My grandnephew (dear Lord do I feel old now) is a precocious, energetic and very observant 6-year-old. He noticed just about everything about me, from my lack of hair up top, to the Pebble smartwatch on my wrist, to the almost-invisible patch of threadbare denim on the left thigh of my jeans.

At one point, he saw me peering out the window when a local thunderstorm started, and asked me what I was looking at. When I told him that I was watching how the storm drain outside filled up over time, he clambered excitedly up to the window next to me, listened while I described my fascination with how quickly a small stream at the bottom grew into a raging torrent filling over three-quarters of the drain, and interjected with descriptive exclamations each time a bizarre piece of trash rushed by. (Naturally, it turned into an object lesson against littering.)

He also asked me what that weird “stick” that he saw atop every block was. I can’t think of a single adult who would’ve noticed lightning rods, much less be curious about how they worked and embellish my matter-of-fact description with appropriate hand gestures and sound effects.

In short, he paid attention to me.

✞ ✞ ✞ ✞ ✞

God also asks us to pay attention to Him in our daily lives,

to have an “open ear” to His prompting in the silence of our daily prayer,

to have an “open eye” to the people around us, to their needs and sufferings,

to have an “open heart” to compassion and mercy for the weak and helpless.

As the psalmist notes, God doesn’t ask for burnt-offering or sin-sacrifice, dead lumps of matter fit only for show. Instead, He asks for us to serve Him – alive, active and attentive in our faith.

Lord, here we are to answer Your call. Do with us what You will. Amen.

Wednesday of Week 2 in Ordinary Time (Year I)
Hebrews 7:1-3,15-17 | Psalm 109(110):1-4 | Mark 3:1-6

Jesus said to the Pharisees, ‘Is it against the law on the sabbath day to do good, or to do evil; to save life, or to kill?’ But they said nothing. (Mark 3:4)

On the train home from work yesterday, I spied a slovenly youth wearing this cap:

With the large X over the whole panel, and his generally slouchy attitude, does he actually mean “not the good vibes only”, i.e. you’ll be getting bad vibes from me too?

Or does he mean “ignore everything you see here”, asking everyone to excuse his unpleasant demeanor?

Or something else entirely?

Boy boy, what are you actually trying to say?

✞ ✞ ✞ ✞ ✞

In today’s Gospel, Jesus pokes the Pharisees yet again about their rigid observance of Mosaic law:

You must keep the sabbath, then; it is to be held sacred by you. The man who profanes it must be put to death; whoever does any work on that day shall be outlawed from his people. (Exodus 31:14)

Jesus points out the inherent paradox of their literal interpretation of this statute: Your rules state that you cannot act to save a life on the sabbath, but standing aside and letting death happen is itself evil, and therefore a profanation of the sabbath. You’re literally damned if you do, and damned if you don’t.

(And just to force the issue, Jesus healed the crippled man in front of everyone at the temple, on the sabbath. Condemning Him after such a display of God-given authority and compassion would’ve been a very unwise move.)

Pharisees, what are you actually trying to say?

✞ ✞ ✞ ✞ ✞

Lest we Catholics think “oh, we’re better than that”…

Ministers of Hospitality at my parish (and possibly other parishes too) have suffered verbal abuse and, in at least one case, actual “vehicular assault” from parishoners unhappy with not being accorded a “priority exit” in the inevitable traffic snarl after mass.

One of my Catholic friends suffered for years under a “spectacularly bitchy” boss who actively undermined him in his own department on several occasions. Can you guess her religious affiliation, and how much damage she did to his own faith?

Brothers and sisters, by our own actions, what are we actually trying to say to the world?

We may know better, having been enlightened by the Word of God, but we also need to do better, else we would be rightfully judged as hypocrites by the people we try to proselytise. Do What I Say, Not What I Do isn’t convincing even to children.

Lord, we know that the words we say are as nothing compared to the things we do, but we are weak and often fail to do justice to Your Holy Name. Strengthen our resolve and ability to do good in this world, and thus give credence to Your Word that is Truth and Love, so that others will come to know and love You through our deeds. Amen.

Tuesday of Week 2 in Ordinary Time (Year I)
Saint Antony, Abbot
Hebrews 6:10-20 | Psalm 110(111):1-2,4-5,9,10 | Mark 2:23-28

The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath. (Mark 2:27)

III: Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy.

We Catholics observe the sabbath in our own way and on our own day. For many of us, however, the spirit of the sabbath has long fallen by the wayside.

✞ ✞ ✞ ✞ ✞

The sabbath was instituted for Jews to do two things:

• take rest from the week’s labours, and
• refocus on the Lord of All

While the Catholic Church chose to rechristen the sabbath as the Lord’s Day (Sunday), the guiding principles remain the same. We are commanded to take rest and spend time in spiritual enrichment.

So why are we as busy with worldly stuff on Sundays as we are on other days, and reluctantly slotting in mindless attendance (instead of active participation) at mass where convenient?

Should we not make an effort to slow down and spend more reflecting on our connection with Christ, and making whatever improvements are necessary?

Can we work towards dedicating the Lord’s Day to the Lord, instead of to our secular desires?

And instead of making “bucket lists” of 100 places to see or things to do before we die, why not make a list of 100 ways to experience God in our daily lives? After all, the former would gain us nothing when it comes time to meet the Maker of All.

Amen.