Spiritus Sanctus

Friday of Week 2 in Ordinary Time (Year I)
Hebrews 8:6-13 | Psalm 84(85):8,10-14 | Mark 3:13-19

By speaking of a new covenant, he implies that the first one is already old. Now anything old only gets more antiquated until in the end it disappears. (Hebrews 8:13)

My second home file server died last week. It was working just fine, serving up my data faithfully…until I restarted it, whereupon the disk light on the front panel turned from a flashing green that meant “checking…checking…” to an ugly “IT’S DEAD, JIM!” red.

Apparently, the stress of having to spin up and down sporadically (for power-saving reasons) finally caused the internal hard drive to die permanently when I power-cycled the box. At least I didn’t lose any critical files, and the involuntary loss of thousands of old documents and electronic periodicals may actually have been a blessing in disguise.

Still, after reading the above passage, I relived the mental shock of seeing that baleful red eye staring back at me.

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I wrote about the benefits of spiritual renewal earlier this week, so I’ll share my thoughts today about its necessity.

Just like the contents of my dead hard drive, we probably have one or more regular spiritual practices, like a daily rosary recitation, that we perform religiously but also perhaps a little mechanically. Even the best of intentions may not be enough to stop ourselves from sliding into humdrum repetition of words and actions that have lost their cherished meaning.

And after enough meaningless regurgitation, we stop altogether, and our faith likewise “gets more antiquated until in the end it disappears”.

This is why I prefer to pray the rosary on public transport. Even though I’m traveling the same route each day, the people I see while I pray are always different, and this inspires me to imbue the same old rosary prayers with a unique twist each time.

For example, my trip yesterday began with a pair of young girls in preschool uniforms chasing each other up and down the train carriage, loudly giggling all the way. I happened to be wrapping up the Third Luminous Mystery as I boarded, so before I started on the Fourth:

Mother Mary, I lift up to you these two young girls. May they never lose the joy they now possess, as they grow up and face life’s issues head-on, and when they have children of their own, may they always show their little ones the love you show to us, the sinners whom your Son suffered and died to save.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

The day before, it was a tired and visibly pregnant woman. I prayed for good health, a smooth delivery and a joyful motherhood.

The day before that, I spied a young Caucasian couple sporting enormous backpacks. Safe travels to the lovebirds, yo!

Thus the old is made new again.

I think the same principle can be applied to any spiritual activity. Instead of mechanically doing the same thing over and over again, let us dedicate and orient it each time towards a different person we have encountered. In this way, we can remind ourselves that though our deeds are directed to God, they are for the people around us, our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Amen.

Thursday of Week 2 in Ordinary Time (Year I)
Hebrews 7:25-8:6 | Psalm 39(40):7-10,17 | Mark 3:7-12

You do not ask for sacrifice and offerings,
but an open ear.
You do not ask for holocaust and victim.
Instead, here am I. (Psalm 39:7)

I took yesterday off from my normal work schedule to help my sick sister-in-law, the steadfast caregiver of her Parkinson’s-afflicted husband for almost 20 years. In the process, I got to spend a few hours “babysitting” with her eldest grandson.

My grandnephew (dear Lord do I feel old now) is a precocious, energetic and very observant 6-year-old. He noticed just about everything about me, from my lack of hair up top, to the Pebble smartwatch on my wrist, to the almost-invisible patch of threadbare denim on the left thigh of my jeans.

At one point, he saw me peering out the window when a local thunderstorm started, and asked me what I was looking at. When I told him that I was watching how the storm drain outside filled up over time, he clambered excitedly up to the window next to me, listened while I described my fascination with how quickly a small stream at the bottom grew into a raging torrent filling over three-quarters of the drain, and interjected with descriptive exclamations each time a bizarre piece of trash rushed by. (Naturally, it turned into an object lesson against littering.)

He also asked me what that weird “stick” that he saw atop every block was. I can’t think of a single adult who would’ve noticed lightning rods, much less be curious about how they worked and embellish my matter-of-fact description with appropriate hand gestures and sound effects.

In short, he paid attention to me.

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God also asks us to pay attention to Him in our daily lives,

to have an “open ear” to His prompting in the silence of our daily prayer,

to have an “open eye” to the people around us, to their needs and sufferings,

to have an “open heart” to compassion and mercy for the weak and helpless.

As the psalmist notes, God doesn’t ask for burnt-offering or sin-sacrifice, dead lumps of matter fit only for show. Instead, He asks for us to serve Him – alive, active and attentive in our faith.

Lord, here we are to answer Your call. Do with us what You will. Amen.

Wednesday of Week 2 in Ordinary Time (Year I)
Hebrews 7:1-3,15-17 | Psalm 109(110):1-4 | Mark 3:1-6

Jesus said to the Pharisees, ‘Is it against the law on the sabbath day to do good, or to do evil; to save life, or to kill?’ But they said nothing. (Mark 3:4)

On the train home from work yesterday, I spied a slovenly youth wearing this cap:

With the large X over the whole panel, and his generally slouchy attitude, does he actually mean “not the good vibes only”, i.e. you’ll be getting bad vibes from me too?

Or does he mean “ignore everything you see here”, asking everyone to excuse his unpleasant demeanor?

Or something else entirely?

Boy boy, what are you actually trying to say?

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In today’s Gospel, Jesus pokes the Pharisees yet again about their rigid observance of Mosaic law:

You must keep the sabbath, then; it is to be held sacred by you. The man who profanes it must be put to death; whoever does any work on that day shall be outlawed from his people. (Exodus 31:14)

Jesus points out the inherent paradox of their literal interpretation of this statute: Your rules state that you cannot act to save a life on the sabbath, but standing aside and letting death happen is itself evil, and therefore a profanation of the sabbath. You’re literally damned if you do, and damned if you don’t.

(And just to force the issue, Jesus healed the crippled man in front of everyone at the temple, on the sabbath. Condemning Him after such a display of God-given authority and compassion would’ve been a very unwise move.)

Pharisees, what are you actually trying to say?

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Lest we Catholics think “oh, we’re better than that”…

Ministers of Hospitality at my parish (and possibly other parishes too) have suffered verbal abuse and, in at least one case, actual “vehicular assault” from parishoners unhappy with not being accorded a “priority exit” in the inevitable traffic snarl after mass.

One of my Catholic friends suffered for years under a “spectacularly bitchy” boss who actively undermined him in his own department on several occasions. Can you guess her religious affiliation, and how much damage she did to his own faith?

Brothers and sisters, by our own actions, what are we actually trying to say to the world?

We may know better, having been enlightened by the Word of God, but we also need to do better, else we would be rightfully judged as hypocrites by the people we try to proselytise. Do What I Say, Not What I Do isn’t convincing even to children.

Lord, we know that the words we say are as nothing compared to the things we do, but we are weak and often fail to do justice to Your Holy Name. Strengthen our resolve and ability to do good in this world, and thus give credence to Your Word that is Truth and Love, so that others will come to know and love You through our deeds. Amen.

Tuesday of Week 2 in Ordinary Time (Year I)
Saint Antony, Abbot
Hebrews 6:10-20 | Psalm 110(111):1-2,4-5,9,10 | Mark 2:23-28

The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath. (Mark 2:27)

III: Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy.

We Catholics observe the sabbath in our own way and on our own day. For many of us, however, the spirit of the sabbath has long fallen by the wayside.

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The sabbath was instituted for Jews to do two things:

• take rest from the week’s labours, and
• refocus on the Lord of All

While the Catholic Church chose to rechristen the sabbath as the Lord’s Day (Sunday), the guiding principles remain the same. We are commanded to take rest and spend time in spiritual enrichment.

So why are we as busy with worldly stuff on Sundays as we are on other days, and reluctantly slotting in mindless attendance (instead of active participation) at mass where convenient?

Should we not make an effort to slow down and spend more reflecting on our connection with Christ, and making whatever improvements are necessary?

Can we work towards dedicating the Lord’s Day to the Lord, instead of to our secular desires?

And instead of making “bucket lists” of 100 places to see or things to do before we die, why not make a list of 100 ways to experience God in our daily lives? After all, the former would gain us nothing when it comes time to meet the Maker of All.

Amen.

Monday of Week 2 in Ordinary Time (Year I)
Hebrews 5:1-10 | Psalm 109(110):1-4 | Mark 2:18-22

And nobody puts new wine into old wineskins; if he does, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the skins too. No! New wine, fresh skins! (Mark 2:22)

In today’s Gospel, Jesus reminds us that we should not cling to the old ways while we try to follow His precepts. Such a half-hearted commitment would lead nowhere.

I’m reminded of the old story about the man whose misguided faith led to his death. Here’s that story with a major twist that relates to today’s scripture:

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A terrible storm came into a town and local officials sent out an emergency warning that the riverbanks would soon overflow and flood the nearby homes. They ordered everyone in the town to evacuate immediately.

A devout Christian heard the warning and started packing a trunk full of religious artifacts and relics that he had collected during his various pilgrimages.

As he was dragging the heavy trunk out to his front porch, his neighbours came by and said, “There’s room in our car, but you’ll have to leave your trunk behind.” The man declined. “I have faith that God will not want His holy relics to be destroyed. Go, save yourselves, He will save me!”

Soon, the floodwaters poured into the town, forcing the man to climb up to the second floor, dragging his trunk all the way. A police motorboat came by and saw him at the window. The officers shouted to him, “Quick! Climb aboard, but leave your trunk behind!” The man refused, waving them off saying, “Go save someone else, I have faith that God treasures these relics!”

The waters rose higher and the man had to climb up to the rooftop, his trunk perching precariously beside him. A helicopter spotted him and dropped a rope ladder. A rescue officer came down the ladder and pleaded with the man, “Grab my hand and I will pull you up, but you need to leave your trunk behind!” The man STILL refused, folding his arms tightly to his body. “No! God wants these relics! Go save someone else!”

Shortly after, the house broke up and the floodwaters swept the man away and he drowned. The trunk and its contents were never seen again.

When in Heaven, the man stood before God and asked, “I put all of my faith in You. Why didn’t You come and save me?”

God glared at him. “What made you think I was willing to pay for your extra baggage?”

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As we draw closer to Chinese New Year, most of us are busy performing the yearly ritual of “spring cleaning”, actually 12 months’ worth of should’ve-done-that-earlier compressed into a frantic flurry of blood, sweat and tears.

But as we discard the physical items we no longer need, and dust off the things that remain, should we not also look to our spiritual health as well?

Why not take a long, honest look at our lives and let go of a few activities and preoccupations that really aren’t good uses of our time, or are actively leading us in the direction of the Evil One? Perhaps it’s a casual need to gossip, or a crippling obsession with pornography, or a terrible trouble with alcohol. Some of these are certainly trickier to rid ourselves of than others, but we can ask for help from a sea of fellow Catholics who’ve all experienced similar difficulties.

And after we’ve bid farewell to those nasty habits, why not make a commitment to apply some “polish” to our spiritual lives as well? Perhaps we could upgrade our confessions from a reluctant Advent-Lent to a quarterly schedule.

Or spend some time after Sunday mass praying and reflecting before Christ on His cross, instead of trying to beat everyone else out the church doors.

Anything that would help us brighten our outlook on our lives and the people we interact with on a daily basis, that would help brighten their outlook in turn and make them more willing to partake of God’s love that we share, and share it in turn with others.

Brothers and sisters, the sins we carry around with us will result in hefty baggage fees at the check-in counter to Heaven. It would be best to shed it as quickly as possible, and don the ultra-light and spotless cloak of Christ that is really all we truly need.

Amen.