Category Archives: Daily Reflections

6th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A)
Ecclesiasticus 15:16-21 | Psalm 118(119):1-2,4-5,17-18,33-34 | 1 Corinthians 2:6-10 | Matthew 5:17-37

If you wish, you can keep the commandments,
to behave faithfully is within your power. (Ecclesiasticus 15:16)

It’s a timely reminder, as we approach the season of Lent, that we have been given free will, as well as the knowledge of good and evil that was the subject of this past week’s readings.

It would therefore be untrue to claim that we were ever “forced” into doing that which displeases God. Every action we take, every interaction we have with others, is entirely within our control. Even if the other party turns out to be an incorrigible jerk, how we react to their unpleasantness is our responsibility to bear.

Which is why we’re often reluctant to quash the opposite of love.

✞ ✞ ✞ ✞ ✞

I see it happening on almost every online service I use: a bully and his pulpit inevitably makes an appearance, and unless he’s quashed quickly, his spew invariably sours the experience for everyone in the community.

One site I frequent, Quora, is dedicated to questions and answers, and one of their cornerstones is the BNBR (Be Nice, Be Respectful) policy. It’s a good idea in theory, but it has been sneakily subverted by folks who bait others anonymously with provocative questions like “Isn’t it obvious that vaccines cause autism?”, and insulting comments like…well, I’ll not pollute my blog with them.

Sometimes, they’re shut down promptly by the Quora admins, but human fallibility often leads to a one-sided insult-fest, until the peaceable party finally cracks, and crosses the BNBR line too.

This is why I’ve employed a comment-filtering service on this site since the beginning. If you’ve left a comment, and wondered why it didn’t show up immediately, rest assured that I’ve seen it, and while I’m ruthless with spam, I’ll approve cogent writing.

✞ ✞ ✞ ✞ ✞

The bully pulpit appears in real life, too.

I’ve been quite lax in opposing such unpleasantness in my life, hewing to my own misguided version of BNBR. I cannot in good conscience continue to let it slide any further.

Lord, give me the strength to do the necessary for the common good, even if it hurts me personally. Amen.

✞ ✞ ✞ ✞ ✞

Jesus reminds us in today’s gospel to not dissemble in our faith, to let our “Yes” be a firm “Yes” and “No” not be “Well, under some circumstances…”

So let us go forth in our lives saying a firm “Yes” to God, a firm “Yes” to loving our neighbour as ourselves, and an adamant “No” to those who would disrupt this love for whatever reason.

Amen.

Saturday of Week 5 in Ordinary Time (Year I)
Our Lady of Lourdes
Genesis 3:9-24 | Psalm 89(90):2-6,12-13 | Mark 8:1-10

The Lord God called to the man. ‘Where are you?’ (Genesis 3:9)

Indeed, where are we in relation to our Creator?

Are we hiding, like Adam, in fear that He will see our naked selves, blotchy with the stains of sin?

Or are we boastfully erect like the Pharisees, arrogantly blind to our faults?

Or are we standing quietly before Him, neither hiding or prideful, cognizant of our weaknesses but wanting to be close to Him, to serve Him?

He knows everything about us, our falling to temptation, our succumbing to sin.

There’s no point in hiding, no sense in holy bluster.

We are imperfect, but we are still loved by the One who made us.

Can we bring ourselves to love Him in turn?

Friday of Week 5 in Ordinary Time (Year I)
Saint Scholastica, Virgin
Genesis 3:1-8 | Psalm 31(32):1-2,5-7 | Mark 7:31-37

Then the serpent said to the woman, ‘No! You will not die! God knows in fact that on the day you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods, knowing good and evil.’ (Genesis 3:4-5)

A friend asked me yesterday to help his programming team rescue an important project for his company. While my current livelihood hinges on consulting opportunities like this, and he did indeed sound desperate for my help, the details he was able to relate gave me pause. Instead of agreeing on the spot, I arranged to meet up with him and his team next week, to better understand their struggles.

I’ve pulled consulting rabbits out of hats several times over the years, and I’m always up for a challenge, but when others’ companies are at stake, it behooves me to be very careful. I have to ensure that my eyes are opened, knowing both the opportunities to broaden my horizons (and wallet), and the dangers of overstepping my abilities to adapt and learn.

I have to “eat the fruit”, so to speak.

✞ ✞ ✞ ✞ ✞

I have known Catholics who practise their faith by taking Matthew 8:8 and twisting it subtly:

Lord, do not come into my house, do not come into my heart, just fix this for me, can? Thank you hor!

This sort of God-as-personal-manservant attitude might have worked in the Garden of Eden, where He oversaw all of creation, and Adam and Eve really didn’t need to know much about Him at all.

But this is a world of skepticism and secularism, where treating God as a “convenient miracle worker” simply won’t work, especially when our desires and His plans for us collide. When that happens, nothing happens, and we end up looking foolish for calling on a “nonexistent deity”.

Refusing to know God is no longer an option, if we want to keep our faith.

It’s especially appropriate that today also happens to be the feast day of St. Scholastica. Perhaps we should consider “going back to school”, refreshing our memories with the repository of ecclesial knowledge that is the Catechism of the Catholic Church. There is much to be gleaned from its pages, and we have an obligation to form an informed relationship with the One who made us.

Because when Jesus said Ephphata to the deaf man, he was really commanding all of us to “be opened”.

✞ ✞ ✞ ✞ ✞

As I was finishing up this blog entry, wondering what to put in the title, I suddenly remembered a song from The King and I, and the words became obvious.

I think you already know which one I’m thinking of.

Getting to know You, getting to know all about You.
Getting to love You, getting to know You love me.
Getting to know You, putting it my way,
But nicely,
You are precisely,
One God in three.

Getting to know You, knowing that gift You gave freely
When I am with You, letting myself freely say
That I have noticed, my life is now bright and breezy
Because of all the beautiful and new
Things I’m learning about You
Day by day.

Amen.

Thursday of Week 5 in Ordinary Time (Year I)
Genesis 2:18-25 | Psalm 127(128):1-5 | Mark 7:24-30

Last evening, as I boarded a bus in the rain to head to church, a funny thing happened.

Right behind me came two young girls, leaping like gazelles as exuberant young children do.

After them chased their harried father, trying to get them seated before the bus moved off.

After him came an old man…who nearly stabbed himself in the groin with the tip of the father’s long umbrella, held out horizontally behind him.

I almost laughed out loud, before gesturing to the father to put away his weapon of manly destruction.

It was a refreshing moment, because I’d been worried about the torrents of water falling down all around us, and the reports of flooding elsewhere on the island. The road outside church had already been swamped badly at least twice before. I wasn’t wearing my usual waterproof shoes yesterday, and not even those could hold back a deluge of muddy water.

I was not looking forward to conducting choir practice with swimming feet.

✞ ✞ ✞ ✞ ✞

We’ve all had times when it seemed that nothing was going right, when we just wanted to stay in bed and wish everything and everyone away.

It’s often hard during those times to remember that there’s always One with us, watching and waiting for us to turn around and run to Him for comfort.

Waiting for us to look to Him for strength.

Waiting to show us the Way.

And as I gingerly picked my way around the many deep puddles between me and church, I couldn’t help but hum a familiar psalm, the same one we sing today:

O blessed are those who fear the Lord
and walk in his ways! (Psalm 128:1)

Thanks be to God, my feet stayed dry.

Later, in the shower, another song came to mind, for which a new set of words flowed to fit what I felt back then, walking alone-yet-not-alone in the darkness and the pouring rain:

You walked in the rain by my side, You offered the warmth of Your hand.
You’ve shown me the Way to travel high and dry, You’ve loved me more than anybody can.
And the wind will whisper Your name to me, little angels sing along in time.
Nations bow down when You walk by, and morning bells will chime.

You’ve always been there when I’m down, to wipe away the tears that I cry.
You’ve shared with me all the blessings to be found, a reflection of the love in Your eyes.
So I’ll sing You a song of high praises, proclaiming my great joy for all time.
Nations bow down when You walk by, and morning bells will chime.

Amen.

Wednesday of Week 5 in Ordinary Time (Year I)
Saint Jerome Emiliani
St Josephine Bakhita, Virgin
Genesis 2:4-9,15-17 | Psalm 103(104):1-2,27-30 | Mark 7:14-23

Nevertheless of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you are not to eat, for on the day you eat of it you shall most surely die. (Genesis 2:17)

My old friend and I had a spirited discussion en route to my client’s office today. The subject was an unexpected one: papal elections. I was describing the election process when he interjected that it sounded very political, and ripe for manipulation.

He proposed instead that the Cardinal electors make their nominations in secret, then have all the names placed on a big wheel, rather like the famous one on The Price is Right.

Not so gaudy, but you get the idea.

Each Cardinal elector would then spin the wheel, and the name it landed on would be tallied. After all electors had their spin, the nominee with the lowest tally would be removed from the wheel.

Rinse and repeat until habemus papam!

He argued that this would remove any possibility of politicking, and if God chose to point the way, He could influence the wheel.

I argued that the current way (secret balloting) left nothing to chaos. He shot back that it was better than relying on human fallibility, inspired or not by the Holy Spirit.

I decided to play the scriptural tradition card, and began relating the election of Matthias to replace Judas Iscariot among the ranks of the apostles (Acts 1:15-26). Three things happened in quick succession:

• I remembered too late: that election was settled by casting lots, quite similar to what he was suggesting
• He had to take an important call
• I arrived at my destination

✞ ✞ ✞ ✞ ✞

I’ve known quite a few people who say, without a trace of irony, “blessed are the gong-gong (ignorant)”. They’re usually the same folks who’ll blindly promote homeopathic cures, or some such “grandmother’s remedy” that, to my science-trained mind, lacks real-world plausibility.

I think the same goes for our faith in God. It’s easy to say “I love God and God loves me, that’s all I need to know”, but that’s the kind of faith that’s built on sand (Matthew 7:26), liable to be blown over by a small tragedy, or a challenge from an unbelieving friend.

Yet some would say “but, but, God said not to eat of the tree of knowledge!” Well, that Pandora’s box of mortality has already been opened by Adam and Eve, and our faith is now under constant assault by secular forces. We cannot afford to remain ignorant of what we profess to believe in.

We also cannot afford to treat God like some mysterious grandfatherly figure; a memory just surfaced in which I overheard a parent explaining to her child how Our Creator was like Santa Claus!

It behooves us to study and meditate upon the twin pillars of scripture and tradition that support our belief.

It behooves us to give flesh to the skeleton of “God is good all the time!”, rather than just toss that phrase out and have others laugh at its flimsiness.

It behooves us to be confident that the more we learn about Him, the more we will love Him.

✞ ✞ ✞ ✞ ✞

I don’t know if my old friend and I will resume our papal elections discussion when we meet up today, but just in case, I’ll have to figure out how to continue it in an informed way. He expects nothing less from me, and I’m sure God does too.

Amen.