Monthly Archives: April 2017

3rd Sunday of Easter (Year A)
Acts 2:14,22-33 | Psalm 15(16):1-2,5,7-11 | 1 Peter 1:17-21 | Luke 24:13-35

I will bless the Lord who gives me counsel,
who even at night directs my heart.
I keep the Lord ever in my sight:
since he is at my right hand, I shall stand firm. (Psalm 16:7-8)

Two nights ago, I had a rather troubling meeting with my new parish priest, and had to break several bits of bad news to my fellow choir leaders.

As I stood in the shower, trying to relax my tensed muscles, I had a sudden mental image of myself as a modern-day Jonah, about to be swallowed by a whale.

As you might have guessed, I had a rather restless night, wondering whether it was time to move to another parish, as I’m sure some perturbed ministers in my parish already have, and others are seriously contemplating.

Not 12 hours later, I was at St. Teresa’s for a wedding. I was walking to the toilet to relieve myself before the service, when I stopped dead in front of a poster on the church bulletin board. Shaken, I did my business, then came out and stared at the poster again.

This is what I saw:

If I was a little woozy from lack of sleep before, I was wide awake now.

Another 12 hours later, in nocturnal silence, I’m forced to confront my concerns:

• Am I running away from God’s mission for me?
• What is His mission for me?

I have no clear answers yet, though not for lack of input from many folks around me. Ironically, it was my new parish priest who reminded me that doing God’s work often requires “dying to self”, and that there’s a very small step from getting comfortable in my ministerial role—to becoming stagnant.

What is clear, though, is that there’s no running from the Lord, only ignoring Him. We’re so quick to turn to Him when we’re in pain and when uncertainty abounds, conveniently forgetting that He’s been quietly counselling us every day of our lives, if we choose to listen.

The best option, now and always, is to simply trust in Him, and stand firm on the path of life that He has pointed out to us all the while.

So, brothers and sisters, if you’ve been shaken and stirred by recent events in your life, look back at your last few days. The Lord may already have given you the best advice possible, in ways that you overlooked.

Amen.

Saturday of the 2nd Week of Eastertide
Acts 6:1-7 | Psalm 32(33):1-2,4-5,18-19 | John 6:16-21

They were for taking him into the boat, but in no time it reached the shore at the place they were making for. (John 6:21)

This passage from the Jerusalem Bible actually differs from all the other translations I’ve seen. Everywhere else, it says that the disciples decided to take him into the boat, and they reached the shore in record time—a simple cause-and-effect scenario.

It’s almost as if the Jerusalem translation was intended to conjure in our minds the following conversation amongst the disciples:

It’s the LORD! Should we take Him on board?

What kind of question is that? Of course we should!

But He’s walking on water! What does He need a boat for?

What does it matter? He’s the LORD, He gets to ride with us any time!

But He’s walking! On water! Why would He want to ride with…Oh never mind, we’ve reached the shore.

Hang on, that was way too quick…

I think that the Jerusalem translation, in taking a different tack from all the others, is actually a reminder to be willing to open our hearts to the Lord at all times. When we do, even if we’re so busy fighting for our lives that we can’t focus on Christ, our way will be that much smoother, our minds that much clearer, our resolve that much firmer.

Clearer, stronger, faster. Rather like the speedboat engine that mysteriously appeared in the disciples’ sampan.

Lord, this is my heart, but I ask that it be Yours, too. Come to me, Lord, and dwell in me, that I may always be guided by Your good counsel, and forever do what is pleasing in Your sight. Amen.

Friday of the 2nd Week of Eastertide
Acts 5:34-42 | Psalm 26(27):1,4,13-14 | John 6:1-15

What I suggest, therefore, is that you leave these men alone and let them go. If this enterprise, this movement of theirs, is of human origin it will break up of its own accord; but if it does in fact come from God you will not only be unable to destroy them, but you might find yourselves fighting against God. (Acts 5:38-39)

2,000 years later, I think Gamaliel has his answer. The “enterprise” that is the Roman Catholic Church has yet to be destroyed, though not for the modern world’s lack of trying.

The sexual peccadilloes of a few clergy have now become a widespread movement to both discredit the Church in its entirety…and possibly profit from priests’ mistakes.

The Theology of the Body runs up against a dark twist of the Lord’s own words: “This is my body, and I’ll do whatever the hell I want with it!”

The old refrain “six days in the world, and the seventh for God” has transformed into “I’m kinda busy, Lord, can I get back to you…sometime?”

The seven deadly sins keep a-calling, and they won’t ever let up.

But neither should we.

✞ ✞ ✞ ✞ ✞

I celebrated Fr. Paul Staes’ 80th birthday with many other folks last evening, and while he reminded everyone present about things that I’d heard him recount many times, he ended his little speech with something I’d completely forgotten, something that he himself wrote in a diary to keep in mind:

Always give to God and others what is right, not what is left.

It’s a timely reminder that even “honoring the sabbath” is too little. There’s something dreadfully amiss, if God-time has to scrounged from our lives’ leftovers.

Rather, it must be the reverse: the bulk of our lives should be consciously offered to the Father. Our rushed “good morning, God” prayer, a quick rosary on the way to work, quietly humming that touching hymn at Sunday mass while on a toilet break, all given to God with “thank You, Lord, for this opportunity to remember You, and celebrate Your presence in my life”.

ABC (Always Be Contemplating) holiness, both in the words of daily scripture and the people we encounter in our daily lives.

And then we let the world intrude, not as an all-consuming monster that takes over our every waking moment, but as a necessarily brief distraction from the center of our lives that is the Creator Himself. As Archbishop William Goh enlightened us all last night, Fr. Paul was famous for orchestrating the most efficient priestly senate meetings he’d ever attended, with strict limits on “talk time”.

Get worldly business sorted tout de suite, then get back to the Lord.

If we can all adopt that philosophy, this “enterprise” of ours will last forever.

Amen.

Thursday of the 2nd Week of Eastertide
Acts 5:27-33 | Psalm 33(34):2,9,17-20 | John 3:31-36

Obedience to God comes before obedience to men (Acts 5:29)

It’s interesting just how many people would be offended by that statement, if you directed it at them. It’s as if they were thinking: “How dare you put your God before me? I am the power here!”

But to us Catholics, it’s a simple statement of fact…or at least it should be.

God tells us to love one another as He has loved us, to show mercy and compassion to all, without fear or favour. If that conflicts with greed, hatred and other foibles of our “superiors”, do we have the guts to stand firm?

When the cruel military of a mad dictator began their pogroms so many decades ago, one of “their kind” did what he could to hide and save as many victims as he could. His name was Oskar Schindler, and he was but one of many engaged in such acts of mercy.

We may never be called to be Schindlers in our lives, or we may be thrust into the role tomorrow.

When everyone around us is looting and pillaging, physically or otherwise, do we go along out of fear and greed, or do we step back and, in our own way, try to mitigate the damage being inflicted by others?

When a “bank error” is made in our favour, or a harried cashier gives us more than our fair change, do we quietly pocket our “they’ll-never-miss-it” windfall as so many others would, or do we set things right for the poor soul, who might otherwise lose her job over her mistake?

Obedience to God comes before obedience to men.

The simplest dictums are often the hardest to respect.

Lord, we know You love us deeply despite our imperfections. Help us navigate this world’s imperfections with faith and trust in that Love, and spread Your message of hope and mercy to all, especially when our fellow travelers are more focused on their own benefits. Amen.

Wednesday of the 2nd Week of Eastertide
Acts 5:17-26 | Psalm 33(34):2-9 | John 3:16-21

And indeed, everybody who does wrong hates the light and avoids it, for fear his actions should be exposed; but the man who lives by the truth comes out into the light, so that it may be plainly seen that what he does is done in God. (John 3:20-21)

I walked into my kitchen late last night to get a drink, snapped on the ceiling light…and nearly dropped my mug. A couple more steps, and I would’ve trod on a cockroach.

A roach. Why did it have to be a roach?

Evidently, the insect was just as startled, by my sudden footfalls and the blinding white light overhead. It immediately turned away and scurried underneath the kitchen cabinets, probably headed for the dank safety of the kitchen drainpipe.

I only realized how much I’d tensed up when I took a cautious step forward…and immediately crumpled from the pain of a pulled ligament in my foot. OW!!!

✞ ✞ ✞ ✞ ✞

The movie trope of a guilt-ridden man perpetrating some naughty deed, while nervously looking around him for curious witnesses, is familiar to us all. The Truth that we Catholics acknowledge deep in our hearts is that God is that curious witness, always watching, always knowing what we’re up to.

Dan Schutte reminds us of this with his classic hymn You Are Near, and with these words in particular:

Where can I run from your love?
If I climb to the heavens You are there;
It I fly to the sunrise or sail beyond the sea,
Still I’d find you there.

There’s no escaping God, and why would we want to? No matter what we’ve done, no matter how many times we’ve done it, He’s just waiting for us to stop, set aside our misplaced pride, and say: “Lord, you know what? You’re right, and I’m wrong. I can’t do this alone, please save me from myself.”

O Lord, I know you are near,
Standing always at my side.
You guard me from the foe,
And you lead me in ways everlasting.

As for cockroaches, I’ll screw up enough courage some day to swat them into oblivion. In the meantime, I’ll settle for reminding myself daily not to act like one.

Amen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAtfAZ4pcvQ