Category Archives: Daily Reflections

Friday of the 2nd week of Advent (Year I)
Saint Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin
Isaiah 48:17-19 | Psalm 1:1-4,6 | Matthew 11:16-19

‘For John came, neither eating nor drinking, and they say, “He is possessed.” The Son of Man came, eating and drinking, and they say, “Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.” Yet wisdom has been proved right by her actions.’ (Matthew 11:18-19)

I had an interesting conversation with my oldest friend and business partner on the way to lunch yesterday. We were chatting about “mobile zombies”, people you often see walking around with their eyes glued to their smartphones, oblivious to their surroundings and headed on a collision course with you.

I mentioned that I’d been tempted many times to “accidentally” bump their phones out of their hands. The conversation then took an interesting direction, as do most of our chats:

Me: “I think that’s a good sign that I’m growing in my faith.”

Him: “Huh? But you were tempted to do something nasty!”

Me: “Yeah, but I didn’t.”

Him: “Yeah, but you were tempted!”

Me: “Yeah, but not too long ago, I would’ve considered it my God-given right to ‘teach them a lesson’!”

Him: “…”

Dear brothers and sisters, now that you know that about my past, do you think I have any business writing daily about the Word of God?

If you knew my secret fantasies about “teaching a lesson” to the fit young people I see hogging the train seats each day, to the detriment of the elderly passengers standing around them,

fantasies that involved giving them 60 years in the blink of an eye, so that they could experience age-related degeneration for themselves,

would you trust me, a closet vigilante, to steer you right in my daily exhortations?

✞ ✞ ✞ ✞ ✞

This is an inconvenient truth that we all face in our faith journey: we often judge the message by the messenger, but usually by how well the message aligns with our own desires.

When we find out that the priest we’ve known and loved for many years was a secret pedophile, or is accused of conscious financial naughtiness, how many of us have faith so weak as to be shattered by this man of the cloth, who swore to dedicate his life to God and His children, yet managed to do evil things?

And how many of us would admit that this fatal blow to our beliefs stems not from what someone else did, however high a pedestal we raised them on, but because we secretly wanted to turn away all along,

to free ourselves from the “shackles” of our faith,

to get in the good graces of the rich and powerful who think God is nonsense, and join them in unholy indulgences of excess and petty judgement, without fear of moral constraint?

✞ ✞ ✞ ✞ ✞

In today’s gospel, Jesus calls out the many people who reject salvation, and call its purveyors all sorts of names as an excuse to not believe. May we recognize that the Word of God has been resilient enough to survive thousands of years of sinful Christ-bearers, and so listen carefully especially when it’s shared by folks with tons of experience in failing to live up to it.

After all, who would you trust to teach you self-defence, the pretty boy with no visible scars, or the grizzled veteran with a broken nose and bruises aplenty?

Lord, grant us the patience and widsom to discern Your Living Word, regardless of its source. Amen.

The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Genesis 3:9-15,20 | Psalm 97(98):1-4 | Ephesians 1:3-6,11-12 | Luke 1:26-38

The man named his wife ‘Eve’ because she was the mother of all those who live. (Genesis 3:20)

Today, we celebrate the mortal beginning of she who was to be the “new Eve”, the mother of all those who live in the love of the Lord. As the original Eve brought forth the suffering of separation from God through original sin, so Mother Mary would bring forth the redemption of reconciliation with God through the “new Adam”, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

The similarities don’t end there. Just as Eve would know the pangs of childbirth, and all womankind through here, so Mary would, as St. John Paul II wrote in his encyclical Redemptoris Mater:

will have to live her obedience of faith in suffering, at the side of the suffering Savior, and that her motherhood will be mysterious and sorrowful. (§16)

So today’s title isn’t just a lousy pun on a rather lousy movie.

Lord Jesus Christ, your earthly mother never ceases in her urgings to turn our faces to You. Help us to heed her call to love You as she always had, without hesitation or reservation. Amen.

Wednesday of the 2nd week of Advent (Year I)
Saint Ambrose, Bishop, Doctor
Isaiah 40:25-31 | Psalm 102(103):1-4,8,10 | Matthew 11:28-30

Jesus exclaimed, ‘Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest.’ (Matthew 11:28)

I just had a frustrating hours-long session trying to fix my dad’s PC, and I left with a nagging feeling that my work wasn’t quite done yet. It was a sobering reminder of why I gave up on Windows over 20 years ago, choosing to use the less convoluted Linux operating system at my first workplace even when it hardly user-friendly.

But then I got home, ate a light dinner, showered, watched the nightly news, and am now sitting down to compose this blog entry. All that frustration and tiredness just melted away, as I contemplate the Word for today.

Truly, the yoke that Christ has laid on my shoulders, the nightly opportunity to think about my relationship with Him and with those around me, is a light burden indeed. He’s neither loud nor demanding, more like a quiet cup of joe at my favorite coffee shop.

✞ ✞ ✞ ✞ ✞

In memory of St. Ambrose during this season of Advent, I unearthed one of his compositions from all those centuries ago, Veni, Redemptor Gentium. We haven’t quite reached the octave before Christmas, during which this Ambrosian hymn features in the Divine Office, but there’s no reason we can’t now sing in our hearts “O come, redeemer of the earth”.

In Latin:

In English (the closing hymn of the 2008 movie Doubt):

Tuesday of the 2nd week of Advent (Year I)
Saint Nicholas, Bishop
Isaiah 40:1-11 | Psalm 95(96):1-3,10-13 | Matthew 18:12-14

Isaiah 40:1-11 instantly reminded me of Michael Joncas’ A Voice Cries Out, which is based on this very passage:

“Prepare a way for the Lord, make straight a highway for God.” I can’t help but think that the words are meant as a reminder to prepare ourselves to receive our Lord and Saviour when He comes again, by bulldozing all “crooked paths” of temptation and sin from our lives, and laying down a single straight 8-lane spiritual autobahn, the Way of Truth and Love.

This is the place, and now is the time to renew our commitment to Christ…for we do not know the hour when the Son of Man is coming.

Wait for the Lord, whose day is near;
Wait for the Lord, keep watch, take heart!

Amen.

Monday of the 2nd week of Advent (Year I)
Isaiah 35:1-10 | Psalm 84(85):9-14(Advent) | Luke 5:17-26

But as the crowd made it impossible to find a way of getting him in, they went up on to the flat roof and lowered him and his stretcher down through the tiles into the middle of the gathering, in front of Jesus. Seeing their faith he said, ‘My friend, your sins are forgiven you.’ (Luke 5:19-20)

Oh, to have friends who are willing to put themselves out for your health, or when you’re in despair and thinking of ending it all, or when you’re just in need of some friendly company.

Then again, the best way to get such friends is to be such a friend to others.

Just saying.

Lord, open our eyes to those around us who are suffering, who are in need of consolation or help. Give us the strength and conviction to stretch out our loving arms, and to offer whatever assistance we can. Amen.