15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A)
Isaiah 55:10-11 | Psalm 64(65):10-14 | Romans 8:18-23 | Matthew 13:1-23
Yesterday, a South Indian man boarded a Circle Line train bound for Dhoby Ghaut at Paya Lebar station. He looked around, then up at the route display. Within a few seconds, his face was a mass of confusion, but he continued to stare at the display.
He finally gave up whatever mental gear-grinding he was performing, and turned to the guy who appeared beside him, preparing to exit at the next station.
That guy…was me.
Lalsdfen Cawejr?
Pardon?
Losdaje Coerjt?
Sorry, still not understanding you.
It took several more rounds of confusion before I realized that he was asking:
Lorong Chuan?
I then informed him that he was traveling in the wrong direction, but another bumbling exchange made it clear that we had a language mismatch.
So I beckoned him to follow me out of the train at the next stop, walked him over to the station list at the center of the platform, pointed out each station up to Lorong Chuan (so that he could count off the stops to be sure), pointed him to the correct side of the platform to wait for the Harbourfront-bound train, then waved goodbye.
✞ ✞ ✞ ✞ ✞
Regular readers of this blog would’ve noticed that my posting frequency has gone from daily to sporadic. I’ve been firing mental and spiritual blanks more often than not in recent times, and while I understood that it would probably happen at some point, it was a little disturbing to run up against roadblocks so early in my God-blogging “career”.
Looks like it’s time for another spiritual refocusing, a conscious examen of the dark corners in my faith life, a quieting of my restless spirit, and a deep breath of the Ruach HaKodesh, the Holy Spirit.
But like the South Indian man I met yesterday, I had to overcome my own pride and ask for help from the One who knew better than anyone else the turmoil in my heart and head.
We’ve all encountered such personal “blockages” at one point on another, but do we trust Him enough to turn Son-wards as a first recourse, rather than a desperate final “roll of the dice”? Only when we collectively find the courage to do this, will scenes like this be commonplace again:
Jesus left the house and sat by the lakeside, but such large crowds gathered round him that he got into a boat and sat there. (Matthew 13:1)
Amen.