Friday of Week 6 in Ordinary Time (Year I)
The Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order
Genesis 11:1-9 | Psalm 32(33):10-15 | Mark 8:34-9:1

Today’s reading recounts the vain efforts of early men in building the tower of Babel, in an attempt to be like the Creator who made them.

Contrast it with the gospel, in which Jesus exhorts us to take up our crosses and follow him.

It’s a clarion call to set aside our personal pride, to stop babbling about our triumphs and successes, as if they were solely attributable to our own strengths.

Instead, we are called to humble ourselves like Christ, to bear our personal crosses in quiet faith, and to walk His holy path of compassion and love, helping others along the way.

It’s not a new message, but it tends to get drowned out in the incessant noise of secular lusts and temptations, urging us to indulge ourselves in sensuous enjoyment, and to be heedless of the hurt we cause in the process.

“It’s all about you, baby!” we’re told over and over.

“It’s a dog-eat-dog world, so don’t get eaten!” as if no one else mattered.

As Lent approaches, we could use less secular babble, and more reflective cross-bearing.

Amen.

Thursday of Week 6 in Ordinary Time (Year I)
Genesis 9:1-13 | Psalm 101(102):16-21,29,22-23 | Mark 8:27-33

God said, ‘Here is the sign of the Covenant I make between myself and you and every living creature with you for all generations: I set my bow in the clouds and it shall be a sign of the Covenant between me and the earth.’ (Genesis 9:12-13)

What a work of God!

A rainbow is a beauty to behold, its spectrum of hues never failing to lift human spirits. Sadly, the recent weather has not been conducive to these magnificent displays, having been torrentially overcast or blazingly hot, with scarcely anything in between.

We can only pray that, one day soon, we’ll have the right conditions to view this sign of God’s Covenant with us.

✞ ✞ ✞ ✞ ✞

One of the few things I still remember from science class in my childhood days are the colors of the rainbow. Till this day, I can rattle them off without looking them up: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet.

But I’m also reminded that there are seven aspect of Christian living that align rather neatly with these:

Lord, may we always seek to Repent our sins,
be Obedient to Your will,
Yearn to be reunited with You in heaven,
be Generous to our fellow humans,
be Bold in proclaiming Your Good News to others,
Immerse ourselves in the twin pillars of scripture and tradition, and
be Virtuous to the end.

Amen.

Wednesday of Week 6 in Ordinary Time (Year I)
Genesis 8:6-13,20-22 | Psalm 115(116):12-15,18-19 | Mark 8:22-26

The man, who was beginning to see, replied, ‘I can see people; they look like trees to me, but they are walking about.’ (Mark 8:24)

I had lunch yesterday with my friend at the stall of Ali, of whom I’ve previously written. As always, I inquired about the condition of his leg, on which he’d had surgery performed over a year ago.

He revealed that he still feels a bit of pain, and that the healing process has pretty much slowed to a trickle. Still, he continues to bless Allah for giving him the ability to walk almost normally now.

✞ ✞ ✞ ✞ ✞

My own journey in faith seems to be slowing down as well. Tonight, I actually struggled to find something to write.

Still, I take solace in the above passage, of the blind man who wasn’t cured all at once. I get the impression that, had Jesus simply stopped halfway, the man would still have been grateful to at least be able to make out the shapes of nature around him.

So I’ll continue my own journey, not expecting to be blessed by an angelic halo any time soon, but still grateful for how far I’ve come around from my college days, when I’d all but wandered away from God.

✞ ✞ ✞ ✞ ✞

As I was pondering a title for today’s entry, the phrase “slouching towards Bethlehem” suddenly popped to mind. Intrigued, I looked it up, and was reminded that it was from an ominous poem by a brilliant poet, William Butler Yeats’ The Second Coming. It’s a poem I’d read several times before, but I can still only remember the more vivid phrases from it: “the widening gyre”, “things fall apart; the center cannot hold”, “the blood-dimmed tide”, and of course “slouching towards Bethlehem”.

And so I now see myself plodding towards salvation, not running frantically around yelling “Jesus! Jesus! JESUS!”, but taking the time to study, to understand, and finally to love.

Amen.

Dedication of the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd
1 Kings 8:22-23,27-30 | 1 Chronicles 29:10-12 | Matthew 16:13-19

Blessed birthday, Mater Ecclesiae!

Hear the entreaty of your servant and of Israel your people as they pray in this place. From heaven where your dwelling is, hear; and, as you hear, forgive. (1 Kings 8:30)

See you in a few days.

Monday of Week 6 in Ordinary Time (Year I)
Genesis 4:1-15,25 | Psalm 49(50):1,8,16-17,20-21 | Mark 8:11-13

The Lord asked Cain, ‘Why are you angry and downcast? If you are well disposed, ought you not to lift up your head? But if you are ill disposed, is not sin at the door like a crouching beast hungering for you, which you must master?’ (Genesis 4:6-7)

Food for thought, for when we encounter setbacks in our daily life, or competition from others.

Cain’s offering was not favoured by God because it was unworthy in some way, and not because Abel managed to curry favour with God behind Cain’s back.

Similarly, when our contributions at work or home are rejected, it isn’t necessarily a matter of falling to second place in a bootlicking race. It could well be that we just didn’t put in enough effort, or simply couldn’t care less about what we did – that would certainly reflect itself in the quality of our final product.

Unfortunately, Cain chose jealousy and murder over self-assessment and striving for improvement. We should take a lesson from today’s reading, and be better-disposed towards ourselves and others, but especially to the Lord our Creator.

Lord, open our eyes to the areas in our lives where we fall short of Your expectations. Grant us the humility to accept that we are imperfect, and the drive to improve ourselves daily in Your sight. May everything we do be to Your glory. Amen.