Spiritus Sanctus

Saturday of Week 4 in Ordinary Time (Year I)
Hebrews 13:15-17,20-21 | Psalm 22(23) | Mark 6:30-34

Obey your leaders and do as they tell you, because they must give an account of the way they look after your souls; make this a joy for them to do, and not a grief – you yourselves would be the losers. (Hebrews 13:17)

Many of us know from bitter experience what it’s like to shepherd a recalcitrant person. Perhaps it’s a stubborn child, or a loved one keeping bad company, or a lazy but cunning subordinate. We feel drained at the end of the day just dealing with them, and sigh inwardly when we remember that we’ll see them again the next day.

How much more, then, would our own shepherds be tired out by our antics? How drained must our priests feel at the end of each day, knowing that they get to wake up again the next day to more of:

• watching parishoners sneaking in just before communion, and sneaking out just after
• being asked to “tell my son how naughty he’s been, I give up already!”
• dealing with overflowing sewage from paper-clogged urinals

Yet they made a solemn promise during their ordinations to serve the very same people who take them for granted, and they will be held to account for that promise.

Fr. Peter Paul’s passing at the beginning of this week was a stark reminder that our shepherds are few, and getting scarcer by the year. As we empathize with the “silent suffering” of priesthood, let us help our shepherds look after our souls by:

• taking the celebration of the Holy Eucharist seriously
• not pestering them to do things that are truly our own responsibility
• not giving them unnecessary headaches to deal with

and, most importantly,

• asking the Lord of the Harvest to send more labourers.

Amen.

Friday of Week 4 in Ordinary Time (Year I)
Hebrews 13:1-8 | Psalm 26(27):1,3,5,8-9 | Mark 6:14-29

Continue to love each other like brothers, and remember always to welcome strangers, for by doing this, some people have entertained angels without knowing it. (Hebrews 13:1-2)

Some weeks back, I was approached by an elderly woman who wanted to sell me tissue packs, 3 for a dollar. I apologetically declined, then refocused on my meal.

A few seconds later, I changed my mind, and turned around to go after the old lady and relieve her of a little worry. To my surprise, she was nowhere to be found.

Perhaps she was the fastest senior citizen in Singapore, besting even our septuagenarian national sprinter C Kunalan.

Or maybe I was not in my right mind at the time.

Or…

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St. Augustine once wrote this about angels:

‘Angel’ is the name of their office, not of their nature. If you seek the name of their nature, it is ‘spirit’; if you seek the name of their office, it is ‘angel’: from what they are, ‘spirit’, from what they do, ‘angel’.

We too can be “angels” of a sort, mortal messengers of God’s abundant love. This requires that we actively demonstrate that love, and not just speak of it.

We only need to look at the likes of St. Teresa of Calcutta to understand, and to emulate.

For it is only when our words and deeds are in loving harmony, that we may earn our “wings” of eternal salvation.

Lord, send us into the world to be your messengers of salvation. Help us convince others, not just by the rightness of Your Holy Word as we recount it, but especially by the grace and peace that we bring to others through our loving actions. Amen.

The Presentation of the Lord
Malachi 3:1-4 | Psalm 23(24):7-10 | Hebrews 2:14-18 | Luke 2:22-40

“Hormat, senja…….TA!”

(Credit: Suntec Singapore Convention Loves)

Even though my National Service days are well behind me, I still remember many of the parade commands that were drilled into us young men over and over again.

This one is the Malay equivalent of “Present ARMS!”, a call to assembled soldiers to hold forth their weapons, a military salute to dignitaries or the state flag.

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On this feast day of the Lord, let us do some soul-searching:

How do we present ourselves to the Lord of All?

Do we stand erect as soldiers of God, ready to do battle with the Evil One?

Or do we skulk like cockroaches, desperately avoiding the Light of Christ?

Do we approach others with love in word and deed, seeing the face of Christ in everyone?

Or do we abuse others with harsh gossip and unkind actions?

Do we still turn to the Lord after we fall, desiring reconciliation, confident in His forgiveness and mercy?

Or do we drift away in sin, confident that we are better off without Him?

Lord, here we are to answer Your call. Steel our hearts to resist the lure of evil, fill our minds with Your Holy Word, and help us show Your grace to all we meet, in loving and merciful deeds. Amen.

Wednesday of Week 4 in Ordinary Time (Year I)
Hebrews 12:4-7,11-15 | Psalm 102(103):1-2,13-14,17-18 | Mark 6:1-6

Suffering is part of your training; God is treating you as his sons. Has there ever been any son whose father did not train him? (Hebrews 12:7)

Childhood is a time of accidents and incidents. Like most boys my age, I’d do silly things like disassemble my dad’s (then) expensive calculator, then put it back together…to discover it no longer worked.

Or take the faceplate off a 3-way wall plug adapter, then watch the pins of a power plug fit snugly into the exposed metal prongs of the adapter. Unfortunately, I’d often forget to switch the power off and get a little careless with my fingers, so there’d be a ZAP!, I’d be thrown across the room, and the home circuit breaker would trip. (It’s a minor miracle that I’m still alive after all these years.)

Inevitably, my dad would take down his rotan from behind a remarkably familiar picture hanging in the dining room, apply it vigorously to my tender behind, then return it to its resting place behind the picture.

I’m sure you’re curious why I seem to be drawing your attention to that mysterious picture. Wonder no longer, for it looked like this:

O Mother of Perpetual Help, save me from myself!

I doubt my dad was trying to make a point here, but in hindsight, I’d already begun to form an association between God’s love…and the pain of corporal punishment.

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One common argument I’ve heard from atheists goes like this: “How can you believe God is real, when you suffer more than that rich kid over there?”

The simple answer: since we’ve joined ourselves to Christ in faith and baptism, we inevitably share in His sufferings, but we also participate in the redemption that He’s won through his death on the cross. The idea that suffering can have redeeming qualities seems counter-intuitive, but it’s an important part our faith.

Suffering keeps us humble, reminds us of our mortality, and gives us an opportunity to reflect on what is truly important in our lives. Looking back just over a year ago, when I broke my foot and was housebound for two months, I really did begin reflecting through the pain on what sort of Catholic I wanted to be, which led after Easter to this daily spiritual blog.

So let us embrace the suffering we experience in our lives, and let it transform us into better and more faithful followers of Christ.

Lord Jesus Christ, in the midst of our daily pain, we often forget that You bore our sufferings and carried our sorrows all the way to Your Holy Cross. Help us to unite ourselves with Your suffering, to express the eternal love You give us by helping others in their pain, so that we may all be transformed into worthy children of God. Amen.

Tuesday of Week 4 in Ordinary Time (Year I)
Saint John Bosco, Priest
Hebrews 12:1-4 | Psalm 21(22):26-28,30-32 | Mark 5:21-43

‘If I can touch even his clothes,’ she had told herself ‘I shall be well again.’ And the source of the bleeding dried up instantly, and she felt in herself that she was cured of her complaint. (Mark 5:28-29)

This story of the hemorrhaging woman is often cited as a clear example of the power of faith, but I see it embodying a related and even more powerful message: “Dare To Dream Of Eternity!”

Many of us, confronted with a major illness that defies all medical intervention, are simply content to live with our condition as best we can.

This woman dared to dream: “I can be cured, and Jesus is the One who’ll cure me!”

From such dreams will spring lasting faith.

Adrian, you’ve really lost it this time! What nonsense are you spouting?

Let me explain…

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What sort of faith do we practice, brothers and sisters?

Is it an intellectual faith, one based on the clockwork belief that “if we give alms to the poor, clothe the naked, etc. so forth, we will be doing what the Father wants, and will therefore be reunited with him”?

Or is it a faith based on hope, one that says “Lord, have pity on me, a sinner, and guide me to the path of life”?

I think the former is in fact more akin to Mosaic law, the very mechanical call to obedience that Jesus came to supplant! “So boring, so tedious, and I’m not seeing results!”

The latter, on the other hand, starts with a dream, that we shall one day be reunited with the Father.

A dream that imbues us with the desire to be reunited with the Father.

A dream that gives us hope when life itself turns against us, and we are beset by difficult people and irresistible temptations, tormented by the worry that we might not be judged worthy.

A dream that compels us to reach out to Jesus amid life’s difficulties, to acknowledge that He can guide us through it all, and lead us to eternity with the Father.

So let us dare to dream: “We have been saved, and Jesus will show the way to claim our eternal prize! We have but to reach out and touch, and to follow Him.”

Amen.