Thursday, Nov 30 – Fine Tuning

30 Nov – Feast of St. Andrew, apostle

Andrew was the first apostle. A fisherman and the brother of St. Peter, and a follower of St. John the Baptist. He went through life leading people to Jesus, both before and after the Crucifixion. He became a missionary in Asia Minor and Greece, and possibly areas in modern Russia and Poland. He was martyred on a saltire (x-shaped) cross, and is said to have preached for two days from it.

- Patron Saint Index
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Romans 10:9-18

If your lips confess that Jesus is Lord and if you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, then you will be saved. By believing from the heart you are made righteous; by confessing with your lips you are saved. When scripture says: those who believe in him will have no cause for shame, it makes no distinction between Jew and Greek: all belong to the same Lord who is rich enough however many ask his help, for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

But they will not ask his help unless they believe in him, and they will not believe in him unless they have heard of him, and they will not hear of him unless they get a preacher, and they will never have a preacher unless one is sent, but as scripture says: The footsteps of those who bring good news are a welcome sound. Not everyone, of course, listens to the Good News. As Isaiah says, Lord, how many believed what we proclaimed? So faith comes from what is preached, and what is preached comes from the word of Christ.

Let me put the question: is it possible that they did not hear? Indeed they did; in the words of the psalm, their voice has gone out through all the earth, and their message to the ends of the world.
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Matthew 4:18-22

As Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee he saw two brothers, Simon, who was called Peter, and his brother Andrew; they were making a cast in the lake with their net, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, ‘Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.’ And they left their nets at once and followed him.

Going on from there he saw another pair of brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John; they were in their boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. At once, leaving the boat and their father, they followed him.
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“Once again only Tangs gets it right”. These words came from a friend when I met him for dinner in town last week. For those who haven’t noticed it before, Tangs is always the only shopping centre on the whole island that recognises Christmas for what it is. No Frosty the Snowman, no Santa Claus and, unlike so many other places, no santarinas in figure hugging outfits in the store or in their advertisements. I can safely say that seeing the Christmas decorations at Tangs always puts a smile on my face, because it means that Christmas is not all lost to commercialism. There is still something out there telling everyone in a big way what Christmas really is about. In contradiction with what everyone else has in mind, Tangs always acknowledges Christmas as the special occasion of Christ’s birth. It regularly has depictions of the Nativity on its store front or verses from the Bible. It could be said that the store stands out as a single island but stand out it does, unerringly, as a bastion of faith to those who proclaim it and those who seek it.

Paul’s address to the Romans was meant to help them reconcile the place of Jews in God’s plan, especially after their rejection of Christ. He states clearly that Jesus does not discriminate against them and that indeed He opens His arms to them. What is interesting is what Paul wrote next. He essentially says tells the Romans that they, who have acknowledged Christ for who He is, have to help the Jews to see this for themselves as well. As Paul points out, the Jews actually already do have the message and have been proclaiming it for generations, however, at the present moment they’ve misunderstood its context.

This has similarities with what we’re seeing in our generation. Christianity has reached to the ends of the earth. Almost everyone has at least heard of Christ. The sad thing is that many of them are off tangent. Christmas is just one example. It is quite heartwarming that so many celebrate this day and yes, we see kindness and charity and love blossom during this season. People want to buy gifts for their loved ones and spend this time with them. Nothing wrong with that, in fact its an excellent thing to do. However, mixed in with all this are notions such as consumerism which stray away from the message of Christmas.

It stands then, that there is a great need for clarification and redirection. These actions fall to those who are aware of the truth in the message which is everywhere but is getting misinterpreted by so many others. Just as the Romans were for the Jews; just as Tangs is for the rest of Orchard Road, so are we for our family, friends and everyone else who might need greater awareness.

This year, Tangs boldly displays Matthew 6:21 (Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also). We see in the call of Andrew how he and his fellow apostles recognised the treasure of Christ and followed Him with all their hearts, eventually giving up their lives in testimony of Him. Yesterday, Regina asked how much God means to us. My brothers and sisters, does He mean enough to us such that we will work at getting His message across to those who need the assistance to understand it fully?

(Today’s OXYGEN by Aloysius Ting)
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Prayer: For all Andrews and those born on this day, may the Lord continue to shower them with blessings and good health.

Give thanks to the Lord for: Acts of kindness.

Upcoming Readings:
Fri, 01 Dec – Revelation 20:1-4, 11-21:2; Luke 21:29-33
Sat, 02 Dec – Revelation 22:1-7; Luke 21:34-36
Sun, 03 Dec – Jeremiah 33:14-16; 1 Thessalonians 3:12-4:2; Luke 21:25-28, 34-36; First Sunday of Advent
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Disclaimer: The reflections expressed in this e-mail are the writer’s own. They may not necessarily reflect the teachings of the Catholic Church. Nonetheless we should all be able to learn something from it.

Wednesday, Nov 29 – Keeping the faith, a promise kept

29 Nov

Takes Toil To Bloom
by Dorman Winger

One hot summer afternoon a woman was working strenuously, weeding her flower beds and pruning the plants. The flowers were especially magnificent.

A passerby asked, “I really like those flowers – do you?”

As she wiped perspiration from her face with a dirty hand, the woman’s weary response was, “Only when they bloom.”

The passerby thought of how many folks have a similar attitude toward church, family, work or life in general – “I only like it when it is in full bloom and beautiful.”

The passerby thought of those necessary times of hard work – mulching, weeding, cultivating, pruning, and transplanting – as well as seasonal dormancy, which are all necessary to bring about the blooms which precede the bearing of seeds and fruit.

- taken from Fresh Packet of Sower’s Seeds, Third Planting, by Brian Cavanaugh, TOR
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Revelations 15:1-4

And I saw in heaven another sign, great and wonderful: seven angels were bringing the seven plagues that are the last of all, because they exhaust the anger of God. I seemed to be looking at a sea of crystal suffused with fire, and standing by the lake of glass, those who had fought against the beast and won, and against his statue and the number which is his name. They all had harps from God, and they were singing the hymn of Moses, the servant of God, and the hymn of the Lamb:

How great and wonderful are all your works,
Lord God Almighty;
upright and true are all your ways,
King of nations.
Who does not revere and glorify your name, O lord?
For you alone are holy,
and all nations will come and adore you
for the many acts of saving justice you have shown.
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Luke 21:12-19

‘But before all this happens, you will be seized and persecuted; you will be handed over to the synagogues and to imprisonment, and brought before kings and governors for the sake of my name—and that will be your opportunity to bear witness. Make up your minds not to prepare your defence, because I myself shall give you an eloquence and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to resist or contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, relations and friends; and some of you will be put to death. You will be hated universally on account of my name, but not a hair of your head will be lost. Your perseverance will win you your lives.’
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The message is clear and not alien. We have to suffer for our faith. It is necessary for our salvation.

Have you found it awkward to explain yourself when people point out that you have not done enough to get a well-paying job because you’ve been occupied with ministry work?

Have you had a difficult time discussing about love with friends who have different standards about what it is, perhaps restricting “love” to only family and spouses or partners? And then you ask yourself, where does that leave me as a friend?

Have you had friends or family members getting angry with you because of what you’ve done or said for their own good?

What do you say in such situations? A lot of times, we are speechless and at a loss as to what to do or say to light the way ahead. The questions and comments that people have towards loving actions can take us by surprise and leave us distraught and confused.

“Make up your minds not to prepare your defence, because I myself shall give you an eloquence and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to resist or contradict.”

Our faith goes beyond the superficial and its values are not immediately acceptable to the non-Christian. In some cases, they are even immediately harsh, radical, and unacceptable to the person in an environment where the self matters most, comfort is sought after and the best get more.

But God is not a provision shop, nor do we acknowledge our faith to be one that merely answers to human emotional and material needs. When we “bear witness” to Christ in such situations, it is because we choose to be faithful to God. Because we have experienced God’s love and we want to experience more of God and profess our belief in Him, we choose to follow Him, which includes being true to Him, no matter what.

Jesus is a saviour. This is why He says, as a result of our discipleship, “you will be hated universally on account of my name, but not a hair of your head will be lost. Your perseverance will win you your lives.” By choosing to be faithful to Him, we will be saved.

How much does God mean to you?

(Today’s OXYGEN by Regina Xie)
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Prayer: Lord, in the times when we know not what to say in reply to questions or rebukes, remind us that You are there and strengthen our faith in You. We claim Your promise that You will be there to help us!

Give thanks to the Lord for: the Bread of Life who brings us eternal salvation.

Upcoming Readings:
Thu, 30 Nov – Romans 10:9-18; Matthew 4:18-22; Feast of St. Andrew, apostle
Fri, 01 Dec – Revelation 20:1-4, 11-21:2; Luke 21:29-33
Sat, 02 Dec – Revelation 22:1-7; Luke 21:34-36
Sun, 03 Dec – Jeremiah 33:14-16; 1 Thessalonians 3:12-4:2; Luke 21:25-28, 34-36; First Sunday of Advent
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Disclaimer: The reflections expressed in this e-mail are the writer’s own. They may not necessarily reflect the teachings of the Catholic Church. Nonetheless we should all be able to learn something from it.

Tuesday, Nov 28 – Self-giving

28 Nov

Come Unto Me
Author Unknown

A well-known sculptor had a burning ambition to create the greatest statue of Jesus Christ ever made. He began in his oceanside studio by shaping a clay model of a triumphant, regal figure. The head was thrown back and the arms were upraised in a gesture of great majesty. It was his conception of how Christ would look: strong and dominant.

“This will be my masterpiece,” he said, on the day the clay model was completed.

During the night, however, a heavy fog rolled into the area and sea spray seeped through a partially opened window. The moisture affected the shape of the clay so that when the artist returned to the studio in the morning, he was shocked at what he found.

Droplets of moisture had formed on the model creating an illusion of bleeding. The head had drooped. The facial expression had been transformed from one of severity to one of compassion. And the arms had dropped into a posture of welcome. It had become a wounded Christ-figure.

The artist stared at the figure, agonizing over the time wasted and the need to begin all over again. Then, inspiration came over him to change his mood. He began to see that this image of Christ was, by far, the truer one. So he carved these words in the base of the newly shaped figure: Come unto me.

- taken from Fresh Packet of Sower’s Seeds, Third Planting, by Brian Cavanaugh, TOR
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Revelation 14:14-19

In my vision I, John, saw a white cloud and, sitting on it, one like a son of man with a gold crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. Then another angel came out of the sanctuary, and shouted aloud to the one sitting on the cloud, “Put your sickle in and reap: harvest time has come and the harvest of the earth is ripe.” Then the one sitting on the cloud set his sickle to work on the earth, and the earth’s harvest was reaped.

Another angel, who also carried a sharp sickle, came out of the temple in heaven, and the angel in charge of the fire left the altar and shouted aloud to the one with the sharp sickle, “Put your sickle in and cut all the bunches off the vine of the earth; all its grapes are ripe. So the angel set his sickle to work on the earth and harvested the whole vintage of the earth and put it into a huge winepress, the winepress of God’s anger.
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Luke 21:5-11

When some were talking about the Temple, remarking how it was adorned with fine stonework and votive offerings, Jesus said, “All these thing you are staring at now – the time will come when not a single stone will be left on another: everything will be destroyed.” And they put to him this question: “Master,” they said, “when will this happen, then, and what sign will there be that this is about to take place?”

“Take care not to be deceived,” he said, “because many will come using my name and saying, ‘I am he’ and, ‘The time is near at hand.’ Refuse to join them. And when you hear of wars and revolutions, do not be frightened, for this is something that must happen but the end is not so soon.” Then he said to them, “Nation will fight against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes and plagues and famines here and there there will be fearful sights and great signs from heaven.”
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In today’s gospel, we read about the foretelling of the destruction of Jerusalem, and in the first reading, we read about the end of the world. In both cases, Jesus tells us that the end is not so soon, so what does this have to do with us today?

I received an unusual SMS yesterday out of the blue. It read: “Why are some people born smart and some less so?” I replied that: “The less smart can benefit from the smart teaching and helping them, and the smart can benefit from the less smart by being able to teach and help them.”

The other person went on to say: “That the smart people just make lots of money and keep it for themselves, because that’s being smart, and that teaching the less smart ones would not be a smart thing because they have to share the pie.” So I replied: “That’s how the smart can benefit from helping the less smart – by learning to be generous, humble, and more loving, rather than being selfish.”

It is good to be smart, yes, but it is not all there is in life. It is good to be rich, yes, but that is not all there is in life. We are all born with different status in life. Some of us are born smart and with lots of opportunities to be well-educated. We have lots of material goods and are generally happy. Some of us are born dumb, or may never get the opportunity to be educated. Some of us are born into poverty. Does it mean that we have to stay in poverty?

We are all one family, and as brothers and sisters, it is therefore the duty of those who have to share it with those who don’t have. No one is so poor as to not be able to share anything with another person. Conversely, no one is so rich as to not be able to receive anything from another person.

In Singapore, we are not poor. Even the poorest in Singapore is rich compared to the poor in other countries. But we are poor in other aspects, such as in the preservation of life, hospitality, humility, love for our neighbour. We can become less poor in these aspects when we share with the less fortunate what we have. It is in giving that we receive. The more we give of ourselves, the more we receive. But note that it is not in just giving what we have, but in the giving of ourselves, that we receive.

Many of us give the leftover that we have, the things that we don’t use, or the things that we no longer use. We keep for ourselves the things that we use and need, and we give away our surplus. That is not enough. As Mother Teresa said, we must give till it hurts. Only then is it a giving of ourselves.

This is how we are to live our lives: sharing ourselves with others, not merely what we have. We can choose whether to be smart in the sense of the world, hoarding up what we have and giving only when it benefits us materially, or sharing with others what we have, giving because it benefits the other person materially, and us spiritually. We do this because we remember what Jesus has taught us – that the end is coming, not so soon, but it is coming, and that there is an end. And at the end, we will all be judged, not according to how much we have earned, not according to the churches and temples we have built, not according to how much we have given to others, but according to the people we have helped, according to how much we have given of ourselves.

Jim Forbes, a Protestant minister once said, “No one gets to heaven without a reference letter from the poor.” Do we think that we can get this reference letter by just donating large sums of money or clothing, etc? In the working life, only someone you have worked closely with can write you a good reference letter. Only someone who has physically worked with you and has been able to observe your behaviour, and be inspired by you can write you a good reference letter.

Similarly, if the poor are to write us a reference letter to heaven, they must have seen us. They must have been physically with us and be touched by us, physically and spiritually. We don’t have to go to another country to be with the poor. As it was written earlier, no one is so rich as to not be able to receive anything from another person.

Examine yourself. Know what you are rich in and how blessed you are for having it, and share it with another person who is lacking in it. Make another person richer today. If you have time, share it with someone who needs it. If you have humility, share it with another who lacks it. If you have love, share it with someone who doesn’t receive much. If you have creativity, share it with those who are lacking and need it. If you have a special connection with God, share it with another person who doesn’t know how to pray.
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Prayer:
Dear Jesus, help us to always remember that there is an end that will be coming. Help us to live our lives remembering how we will be judged and working towards helping others in whatever little way we can. Help us to give of ourselves following your example, so that we may be true followers of yours. Help us to do as you did. Amen.

Give Thanks to the Lord for: Those who inspire others to give of themselves to others.

Upcoming Readings:
Wed, 29 Nov – Revelation 15:1-4; Luke 21:12-19
Thu, 30 Nov – Romans 10:9-18; Matthew 4:18-22; Feast of St. Andrew, apostle
Fri, 01 Dec – Revelation 20:1-4, 11-21:2; Luke 21:29-33
Sat, 02 Dec – Revelation 22:1-7; Luke 21:34-36
Sun, 03 Dec – Jeremiah 33:14-16; 1 Thessalonians 3:12-4:2; Luke 21:25-28, 34-36; First Sunday of Advent
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Disclaimer: The reflections expressed in this e-mail are the writer’s own. They may not necessarily reflect the teachings of the Catholic Church. Nonetheless we should all be able to learn something from it.

Monday, Nov 27 – The 12 Steps Of Freedom

27 Nov

The Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous
Service Material from the General Service Office

1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.

2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.

9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.

11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.

12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

Copyright © A.A. World Services, Inc.
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Revelation 14:1-5

In my vision I, John, saw Mount Zion, and standing on it a Lamb who had with him a hundred and forty-four thousand people, all with his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. I heard a sound coming out of the sky like the sound of the ocean or the roar of thunder; it seemed to be the sound of harpists playing their harps. There in front of the throne they were singing a new hymn in the presence of the four animals and the elders, a hymn that could only be learnt by the hundred and forty-four thousand who had been redeemed from the world; they follow the Lamb wherever he goes; they have been redeemed from amongst men to be the first-fruits for God and for the Lamb. They never allowed a lie to pass their lips and no fault can be found in them.
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Luke 21:1-4

As Jesus looked up he saw rich people putting their offerings into the treasury; then he happened to notice a poverty-stricken widow putting in two small coins, and he said, “I tell you truly, this poor widow has put in more than any of them; for these have all contributed money they had over, but she from the little she had has put in all she had to live on.”
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Ever since the Sunday this year which used this particular reading from the Gospel, I suddenly became wary of anyone who would want to share his “two cents’ worth” during a conversation or debate, because it seemed to mean that rather than sharing an amount that was modest, s/he was actually sharing everything s/he’s got.

Joke aside, have you ever seen the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA)? It’s actually a marvellous expression of what it means to be a Christian. It is remarkably similar to the 12 Steps of Baptism, if there ever was one, and it should be too, because the 12 Steps of AA refer to how a person can remove himself from bondage to something, so that he can be free. The truth is, he can’t on his own (#1), realizes that there is a Power, usually referring to God, stronger than himself that can free him from his bondage (#2), and entrusts himself into the hands of God (#3). A number of the 12 Steps also give details on what it means to repent (#4-11), ending with #12, which is to carry this message of freedom from bondage to others in bondage, and to practise all these principles in all aspects of their life.

One of the criteria for being a Christian is to always believe in God to free us from bondage. Every Christian knows, or should know, that being baptised doesn’t automatically mean that we will always be free from the bondages of the world. If that were true, we’d never have any Christians who were addicted to smoking, drinking, gambling, or pornography. What is true in the world is that we have even people who we thought were least likely to be addicted to be, in fact, slaves to such addictions.

Most of these people lead a double life. On one hand, they portray themselves to be holy, pious, devotional, a good preacher, living a life worthy of being a model for others to follow; on the other hand, their secret life known only to God and themselves, and the devils that follow them around, tears them up from inside. They have to hide it from the world that they actually feel very guilty for engaging in these shameful acts. They know it is shameful, because that’s why they lead a double life. They want to be free, but try as they might, they can’t get free.

As Christians, we cannot be living a double life, for to do that is to be leading a life of lies. We would be lying to ourselves, to God, and to our loved ones. And to be leading a life of lies is to be leading a life with allegiance to the Prince of Lies, the Devil.

That leads us to the first of the 12 Steps. Whether a person actually sets out to follow these steps, or manages to break free of his own bondage by another way, we can see that they do follow these 12 Steps without knowing it. Eventually, it comes to #12, which says that the spiritual awakening we’ve had leads us to go out and help others who have been freed from bondage.

There are many people in the world today, Christians included, who are slaves of bondage to the world. As Christians who have had spiritual awakenings, it is our duty to go out and free them, since we have been given the gift of freedom from our own bondages. We are either part of the problem, or part of the solution. It is up to us to choose which we want to be.
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Prayer:
Dear Jesus, please give us the grace to choose to be part of the solution to the problems in the world. Help us to seek help when we need it, giving you our two cents’ worth, that is, all that we have, entrusting our lives into your hands, that you will help us to break free of our bondages. Amen.

Give Thanks to the Lord for: Freedom from bondage.

Upcoming Readings:
Tue, 28 Nov – Revelation 14:14-19; Luke 21:5-11
Wed, 29 Nov – Revelation 15:1-4; Luke 21:12-19
Thu, 30 Nov – Romans 10:9-18; Matthew 4:18-22; Feast of St. Andrew, apostle
Fri, 01 Dec – Revelation 20:1-4, 11-21:2; Luke 21:29-33
Sat, 02 Dec – Revelation 22:1-7; Luke 21:34-36
Sun, 03 Dec – Jeremiah 33:14-16; 1 Thessalonians 3:12-4:2; Luke 21:25-28, 34-36; First Sunday of Advent
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Sunday, Nov 26 – Truth and Justice

26 Nov – Last Sunday in Ordinary Time: Solemnity of Christ The King

Christ The King

Today we celebrate Christ the universal King. He did not claim to be only the king of the Jews. His kingdom was not to be an exclusive one. He is king of all who are on the side of truth and listen to his voice.

- the Sunday Missal
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Earthy Mysticism
by John Donne

John Donne, a 17th century English poet, wrote a story about one man’s search for God.

The man is told that God lives atop a high mountain at the end of the earth. After a long journey, the man arrives at the mountain and begins his climb. About the time that the man begins his ascent, God muses, “What can I do to show my people how much I love them?” God gets the idea to descend the mountain and live among his people as one of them.

And so as the man is ascending one side of the mountain, God is descending the other side. However, they don’t see each other because they are on opposite sides of the mountain. When the man reaches the mountaintop, he is heartbroken to find no one there. He thinks, “God doesn’t live here after all.” He even begins to think that God doesn’t exist, saying, “If God doesn’t live here, where does God live?”

Donne concludes, “God doesn’t dwell on mountain tops, or in the midst of the desert, or at the ends of the earth. God dwells with men and woen. God lives in the towns and cities of the world.

- taken from Fresh Packet of Sower’s Seeds, Third Planting, by Brian Cavanaugh, TOR
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Daniel 7:13-14

I gazed into the visions of the night.
And I saw, coming on the clouds of heaven,
one like a son of man.
He came to the one of great age
and was led into his presence.
On him was conferred sovereignty,
glory and kingship,
and men of all peoples, nations and languages became his servants.
His sovereignty is an eternal sovereignty
which shall never pass away,
nor will his empire be destroyed.
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Revelation 1:5-8

Jesus Christ is the faithful witness, the First-born from the dead, the Ruler of the kings of the earth. He loves us and has washed away our sins with his blood, and made us a line of kings, priests, to serve his God and Father; to him, then, be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen. It is he who is coming on the clouds; everyone will see him, even those who pierced him, and all the races of the earth will mourn over him. This is the truth. Amen. “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, who is, who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.
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John 18:33-37

“Are you the king of the Jews?” Pilate asked. Jesus replied, “Do you ask this of your own accord, or have others spoken to you about me?” Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? It is your own people and the chief priests who have handed you over to me: what have you done?” Jesus replied, “Mine is not a kingdom of this world; if my kingdom were of this world, my men would have fought to prevent my being surrendered to the Jews. But my kingdom is not of this kind.” “SO you are a king then?” said Pilate. “It is you who say it,” answered Jesus. “Yes, I am a king. I was born for this, I came into the world for this: to bear witness to the truth; and all who are on the side of truth listen to my voice.”
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Christ has made us into a line of kings and priests: kings because we will rule over all the nations; priests because in union with Jesus the messianic Priest, we will consecrate the universe to God in a sacrifice of praise. (adapted from footnotes of Jerusalem Bible)

Looking at the world as it is today, can we say that Christ is already king of all? Is it noticeable? If we think this means that everyone will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, then obviously this is not true, since only about 20% of the world’s population are Christians.

In every kingdom, past, present and future, there will always be a majority of people who subscribe to the values of their king. There will also always be a portion of people who disagree with the king and seek to undermine his power. And there will also always be a group of people who remain indifferent to what is going on around them, choosing to place their own survival and well-being ahead of anything that takes place.

20% is far from being a majority, so we have to admit that either Jesus Christ is not king of the world and that the Bible is lying, or that we have a completely wrong idea of what Jesus’ kingdom is like.

All nations have a government of some kind, and they all seek the same goal – the betterment of the people as a nation. Some governments are good; they sincerely try to improve the lives of the people while not forgetting the nation’s international standing and try to improve the nation’s influence on the world through economic or other means.

Some governments are bad; seeking only the latter, not the former. Someone, I think it was Mother Teresa, once said that the best way of seeing how civilised a nation was is to see how it treats the weakest and most powerless of its people. She also accused some nations of sheer poverty when she realised that they killed off the most powerless of its people, such as the very old (euthanasia) and the very young (abortion).

What is common in all governments, especially the good ones, is that they strive for truth and justice. Without truth and justice, all legal systems fail. Without legal systems, most countries don’t survive long. The world’s governments are not all bad. It’s not so clear-cut that this country has a good government, and this country has a bad government. Good and bad are two extreme ends of a whole spectrum. All people and governments have some good in them, God saw to that (Joan of Arcadia). Even the worst government has some good, since they have a legal system based on truth and justice. And even the best government has some bad that needs to be purified.

As Jesus is truth and justice, it then becomes obvious that since all governments are ruled by truth and justice, therefore, all governments are ruled by Jesus Christ. But as mentioned above, there will always be a majority of people to subscribe to the values of their king. Some will disagree and seek to undermine his power, and some will choose to remain indifferent concerned with only their well-being.

Whether we like it or not, we are all ruled by truth and justice. The question is, what is our attitude towards it? Do we subscribe to the values of our king? Or do we seek to undermine his power? Or do we remain indifferent and choose whatever benefits our well-being only?
__________________

Prayer:
Dear Jesus, help us to acknowledge and claim you for our king. Create in us a new heart and a new spirit to subscribe to your values of truth and justice, so that we may be a light, a witness for you in the world today, bringing all men and women before your throne. Amen.

Give Thanks to the Lord for: Those who fight for truth and justice.

Upcoming Readings:
Mon, 27 Nov – Revelation 14:1-3, 4b-5; Luke 21:1-4
Tue, 28 Nov – Revelation 14:14-19; Luke 21:5-11
Wed, 29 Nov – Revelation 15:1-4; Luke 21:12-19
Thu, 30 Nov – Romans 10:9-18; Matthew 4:18-22; Feast of St. Andrew, apostle
Fri, 01 Dec – Revelation 20:1-4, 11-21:2; Luke 21:29-33
Sat, 02 Dec – Revelation 22:1-7; Luke 21:34-36
Sun, 03 Dec – Jeremiah 33:14-16; 1 Thessalonians 3:12-4:2; Luke 21:25-28, 34-36; First Sunday of Advent
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Disclaimer: The reflections expressed in this e-mail are the writer’s own. They may not necessarily reflect the teachings of the Catholic Church. Nonetheless we should all be able to learn something from it.

Saturday, Nov 25 – Truly Christian

25 Nov – Memorial for St. Catherine of Alexandria, virgin and martyr

Catherine (d. 305) was a noble who was learned in science and oratory. After receiving a vision, she converted to Christianity. At the age of 18, during the persecution of Maximus, she offered to debate the pagan philosophers. Many were converted by her arguments, and immediately martyred. Maximus had her scourged and imprisoned. The empress and the leader of Maximus’ army were amazed by the stories and went to see Catherine in prison. They converted and were martyred. Maximus ordered her broken on the wheel, but when she touched it, the wheel was destroyed. She was then beheaded, and her body whisked away by angels.

St. Catherine was immensely popular during the Middle Ages, and there were many chapels and churches devoted to her throughout western Europe. She was reported as one of the divine advisors to St. Joan of Arc. Her reputation for learning and wisdom led to her patronage of libraries, librarians, teachers, archivists, and anyone associated with wisdom or teaching. Her debating skill and persuasive language has led to her patronage of lawyers. And her torture on the wheel has led to those who work with them asking for her intercession (haha!). She is one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers.

While there may well have been a noble, educated, virginal lady who swayed pagans with her rhetoric during the persecutions, the accretion of legend, romance and poetry has long since buried the real Catherine.

The Fourteen Holy Helpers are a group of saints invoked with special confidence because they have proven themselves efficacious helpers in adversity and difficulties. Though each has a separate feast or memorial day the group was collectively venerated on Aug 8, until the feast was dropped and suppressed in the 1969 reform of the calendar.

They are invoked as a group because of the Black Plague which devastated Europe from 1346-1349. Among its symptoms were the tongue turning black, a parched throat, violent headache, fever, and boils on the abdomen. It attacked without warning, robbed its victims of reason, and killed within a few hours; many died without the last Sacraments. Brigands roamed the roads, people suspect of contagion were attacked, animals died, people starved, whole villages vanished into the grave, social order and family ties broke down, and the disease appeared incurable. The pious turned to Heaven, begging the intervention of the saints, praying to be spared or cured. This group devotion began in Germany, and the tradition ahs remained strong there.

- Source: Patron Saint Index
__________________

Revelation 11:4-12

I, John, heard a voice saying: “These, my two witnesses, are the two olive trees and the two lamps that stand before the Lord of the world. Fire can come from their mouths and consume their enemies if anyone tries to harm them; and if anybody does try to harm them he will certainly be killed in this way. They are able to lock up the sky so that it does not rain as long as they are prophesying; they are able to turn water into blood and strike the whole world with any plague as often as they like. When they have completed their witnessing, the beast that comes out of the Abyss is going to make war on them and overcome them and kill them. Their corpses will lie in the main street of the Great City known by the symbolic names Sodom and Egypt, in which their Lord was crucified. Men out of every people, race, language and nation will stare at their corpses, for three-and-a-half days, not letting them be buried, and the people of the world will be glad about it and celebrate the event by giving presents to each other, because these two prophets have been a plague to the people of the world.”

After the three-and-a-half days, God breathed life into their corpses and they stood up, and everybody who saw it happen was terrified; then they heard a loud voice from heaven say to them, “Come up here”; and while their enemies were watching, they went up to heaven in a cloud.
____________________

Luke 20:27-40

Some Sadducees – those who say that there is no resurrection – approached Jesus and they put this question to him, “Master, we have it from Moses in writing, that if a man’s married brother dies childless, the man must marry the widow to raise up children for his brother. Well then, there were seven brothers. The first, having married a wife, died childless. The second and then the third married the widow. And the same with all seven, they died leaving no children. Finally the woman herself died. Now, at the resurrection, to which of them will she be wife since she had been married to all seven?”

Jesus replied, “The children of this world take wives and husbands, but those who are judged worthy of a place in the other world and in the resurrection from the dead do not marry because they can no longer die, for they are the same as the angels, and being children of the resurrection they are sons of God. And Moses himself implies that the dead rise again, in the passage about the bush where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Now he is God, not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all men are in fact alive.”

Some scribes then spoke up, “Well put, Master,” they said – because they would not dare to ask him any more questions.
____________________

Whenever the Sadducees are mentioned in the gospel, you can be sure that there is going to be something said about the resurrection, for the only reason why Sadducees are brought into the picture is to highlight the fact that they do not believe in the resurrection. The resurrection, however, is one of the key elements of the Christian faith, for as St. Paul says, if Christ was not raised from the dead, then our belief in the Christian faith is useless (1 Cor 15:14).

If we believe in the resurrection, then we need to live in such a way that shows that belief. If this belief is not lived out, then it remains in the realm of the mind, a mere theory that has never been put into practice, a mere doctrine that has no application or relevance to our lives. However, if we do put it into practice, we find that our lives will probably be drastically different. Many of us do not want to accept this change in our lives. We are afraid of really living out a Christian life because of what it entails.

Living a life of belief in the resurrection means that we believe that this life that we have on earth is not all there is to life. There is much more after our earthly span, and our entire lives is geared towards our future happiness. That doesn’t mean that we do not have happiness in our present life, but it does mean the avoidance of all forms of sin and pleasure for the sake of pleasure itself. It adds depth to all that we say, do, or think. It adds greater meaning to what is normally superficial, because it has consequences in our future.

Living a truly Christian life is not an easy thing for us to do. Neither is it an easy thing for others around us. Christ, in his earthly life, was a revolutionary, in the sense that everything he said, did, and taught was revolutionary – it turned the world upside down. It upset the world’s values. As it says in the Magnificat, he scatters the proud, he casts the mighty from their thrones, he raises the lowly, he fills the hungry with good things and sends the rich away empty. All that the world holds important is cast down, while those that the world considers lowly and insignificant is raised up.

Living this truly Christian life means that we hold the same values as Christ, to value the powerless and the poor, the oppressed and the overlooked. It is not easy for us, and it is not easy for those around us. Those of the world cannot accept this teaching, because it runs contrary to everything they believe in, and in everything that they hold dear to them. Those who live a truly Christian life truly are “a plague to the people in the world” as it says in the first reading, because those who are living a truly Christian life remind the people of the world that there are consequences to what they do, that there is something to look forward (in dread in their case) after the end of their earthly life.

Many people do not want to accept this because they want to continue living in the way that they have always been living. Thus, they will do what it takes to silence those who are truly living a Christian life.

Sts. Peter and Paul are the two prophets referred to in the first reading. They are the witnesses of God in the New Testament, just as Moses and Elijah were the witnesses of God in the Old Testament. Even in this do we see Christ’s values. Moses and Elijah were glorious in their day. Elijah’s death was never even recorded. But Peter and Paul, they both suffered death in the hands of the Roman Empire, and it seemed that they were defeated. It seemed that Christ was defeated.

But because there is such a thing as the resurrection, it was not the end of the story. The people of the world are those who can only harm the body. Their range of influence ends with death of the human body. God, however, has power over life and death, and a life-long allegiance and relationship with God won Peter and Paul the fruits of eternal life. We too will win eternal life when our earthly life expires. The question is: will that eternal life be a fulfilment of our anticipation of complete union with God, or will it be a fulfilment of our anticipation of complete separation from God?

There is no middle ground. We are either for God, or against God, and how we live our life shows which side we are standing on.
___________________

Prayer:
Dear Jesus, help us to make the choice to choose to uphold your values in our lives every day, every moment. Help us to realise that every choice that we make has a place in the eternal realm of things, and send us your Holy Spirit to give us the courage and grace to make the Godly choice. Amen.

Give Thanks to the Lord for: Those who live a truly Christian life and continue to inspire us and challenge us to do the same.

Upcoming Readings:
Sun, 26 Nov – Daniel 7:13-14; Revelation 1:5-8; John 18:33b-37; Solemnity of Christ The King
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Disclaimer: The reflections expressed in this e-mail are the writer’s own. They may not necessarily reflect the teachings of the Catholic Church. Nonetheless we should all be able to learn something from it.

Friday, Nov 24 – Faith and Reason

24 Nov – Memorial for St. Andrew Dung-Lac, priest and companions, martyrs

Andrew Dung-Lac (1785-1839) was a Vietnamese priest who worked in the missions with the priests of the Foreign Mission Society of Paris (MEP). He was imprisoned and repeatedly tortured in the persecutions of Minh-Meng. He died with St. Peter Thi, and is one of the Martyrs of Vietnam. He was beheaded in Hanoi for the offense of being a priest.

Between the arrival of the first Portuguese missionary in 1533, through the Dominicans and then the Jesuit missions of the 17th century, the politically inspired persecutions of the 19th century, and the Communist-led terrors of the 20th, there have been many thousands of Catholics and other Christians murdered for their faith in Vietnam. Some were priests, some nuns or brothers, some lay people; some were foreign missionaries, but most were native Vietnamese killed by their own government and people.

Record keeping being what it was, and because the government did not care to keep track of the people it murdered, we have no information on the vast bulk of the victims. In 1988, Pope John Paul II recognized over a hundred of them, including some Causes we do have, and in commemoration of those we do not. They are collectively known as the Martyrs of Vietnam.

- Source: Patron Saint Index
__________________

Revelation 10:8-11

I, John, heard the voice I had heard from heaven speaking to me again. “Go,” it said, “and take that open scroll out of the hand of the angel standing on the sea and land.” I went to the angel and asked him to give me the small scroll, and he said, “Take it and eat it; it will turn your stomach sour, but in your mouth it will taste as sweet as honey.” So I took it out of the angel’s hand, and swallowed it; it was as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it my stomach turned sour. Then I was told, “You are to prophesy again, this time about many different nations and countries and languages and emperors.”
___________________

Luke 19:45-48

Jesus went into the Temple and began driving out those who were selling. “According to scripture,” he said, “my house will be a house of prayer. but you have turned it into a robbers’ den.”

He taught in the Temple every day. The chief priests and the scribes, with the support of the leading citizens, tried to do away with him, but they did not see how they could carry this out because the people as a whole hung on his words.
___________________

I have been suffering from gastric flu for the whole of this week. I’ve had lots of wind in my stomach, and feeling nauseous quite often. I went to the doctor on Monday, and he gave me some medicine for it. He also told me to stay away from dairy products and oily food. That means no chocolate, no cheese, no fried food, no fast food… I can’t even take milk with my tea or coffee.

You know, all these things that I am not supposed to eat, I love to eat. So a couple of times during the week, I took some chocolate (yummy!) and some fries (yum!)… and then I paid the price for it. My stomach literally turned sour, and I became even more nauseous and had even more wind in my stomach. It’s a natural consequence of my action. After thinking about it, I understood why the doctor advised me to stay away from such foods, and it became easier to resist the temptations.

Sin is like that. It’s bad for us, and God (the healer) teaches us to stay away from sin. We don’t listen, we put ourselves in situations where we get tempted. So we get tempted (naturally) and we give in to our temptations, and then we sin. Initially, the sin is sweet to the taste. It’s pleasurable and it tastes good. But sin runs contrary to the purpose for which we were made, that is to be happy with God in heaven, so when we sin, the natural consequence is that we do harm to ourselves, and to others around us.

Now if we think about it, reflect and read up more, or we go directly to God and ask, we will find out why God advises us to stay away from sin. Once we know, it becomes easier to resist the temptations.

There will, however, always be people who will not be able to see the reason why we resist temptations. One reason for this is because of our faith. If a person lacks the faith that we have and treats it from a purely secular point of view, they will naturally not see any reason to resist the temptation, choosing instead to give in willingly. They are not to be judged by us, for we were once like them, choosing to give in to temptation because we didn’t know why we were asked to stay away from it.

But for us, despite knowing why, it can sometimes still be hard to resist the temptation. In such cases, we must learn from the gospel reading and to hang on to Jesus’ words for dear life, for it is our dear life that we are saving when we choose to obey God rather than to obey the one who tempts us.
____________________

Prayer:
Dear Jesus, help us to form our conscience according to the natural law, and according to the teachings of your Church. Help us also to resist temptation, appealing to our reasoning so as to back up our faith, and to resist the clutches of the evil one. Amen.

Give Thanks to the Lord for: Faith and reason.

Upcoming Readings:
Sat, 25 Nov – Revelation 11:4-12; Luke 20:27-40; Memorial for St. Catherine of Alexandria, virgin and martyr
Sun, 26 Nov – Daniel 7:13-14; Revelation 1:5-8; John 18:33b-37; Solemnity of Christ The King
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Thursday, Nov 23 – Feedback

23 Nov – Memorial for St. Clement I, pope and martyr; Memorial for St. Columban, abbot
___________________

Charity unites us to God. There is nothing mean in charity, nothing arrogant. Charity knows no schism, does not rebel, does all things in concord. In charity all the elect of God have been made perfect.

- Pope St. Clement I

Clement (d. 101) was the fourth pope, elected in the year 88, and an Apostolic Father. The Basilica of St. Clement in Rome, one of the earliest parish churches in the city, is probably built on the site of Clement’s home. His name occurs in the Canon of the Mass. Both Origen and St. Jerome identify him as working with St. Paul the Apostle.

Columban (543-615) was well-born, handsome and educated. He was torn between a desire for God and easy access to the pleasures of the world. Acting on the advice of a holy anchoress, he decided to withdraw from the world. His family opposed the choice, his mother going so far as to block the door. He became a monk and Lough Erne (Northern Ireland), where he studied Scripture extensively, and wrote a commentary on the Psalms. He was a monk at Bangor under the abbot St. Corngall.

In his middle age, he felt a call to missionary life. With 12 companions, he travelled to Scotland, England, and then to France in 585. The area, though nominally Christian, had fallen far from the faith, but were ready for missionaries, and they had some success. Their simple lives and obvious holiness drew disciples to join them, and the sick to be healed by their prayers. Columban, to find solitude for prayer, often lived for long periods in a cave seven miles from their monastery, using a messenger to stay in touch with his brothers. The group grew too large for their monastery, and Columban founded a second, then a third house. He served as master of them all, and wrote a Rule for them, which incorporated many Celtic practices. This was approved by the Council of Macon in 627, but was superseded by the Benedictine.

Problems arose early in the 7th century. Many Frankish bishops objected to a foreign missionary with so much influence, to the Celtic practices he brought, especially those related to Easter, and his independence from them. In 602, he was summoned to appear before them for judgement. Instead of appearing, he sent a letter advising them to hold more synods, and to concern themselves with more important things that the rite he used to celebrate Easter. the dispute over Easter continued to years, with Columban appealing to multiple popes for help, but was only settled when Columban abandoned the Celtic calendar when he moved to Italy.

In addition to his problems with the bishops, Columban spoke out against vice and corruption in the royal household and court, which was in the midst of a series of complex power grabs. With bishops and nobility stirred up against him, he was ordered to conform to the local ways. He refused, and was briefly imprisoned, before escaping and returning to France. An armed force was sent to force him and his foreign monks back to Ireland. As soon as his ship set sail, a storm drove them back to shore. The captain took it as a sign, and set the monks free.

They made their way to Neustria (formerly in the Western part of the French kingdom), but their evangelization work there was unsuccessful. The group went on to Italy when political upheaval caused Columban and his group to cross the Alps in 612. There, the Christian royal family treated him well, and he preached and wrote against Arianism and Nestorianism. In gratitude, the Lombard king gave him a tract of land between Milan and Genoa. There he rebuilt a half-ruined church of St. Peter, and around it he founded an abbey that was to be the source of evangelization throughout northern Italy for centuries to come.

Columban always enjoyed being in the forests and caves, and as he walked through the woods, birds and squirrels would ride on his shoulders. Towards the end of his life came word that his old enemies were dead, and his brothers wanted him to come back north, but he declined. Knowing that his time was almost done, he retired to a cave for solitude, and died as he had predicted. His influence continued for centuries as those he converted handed on the faith, the brothers he taught evangelized untold numbers more, and his brother monks founded over one hundred monasteries to protect learning and spread the faith. Many miracles were ascribed to St. Columban.

All we Irish dwelling on the edge of the world are disciples of Sts. Peter and Paul and of the disciples who, under the Holy Spirit, wrote the Sacred Canon. We accept nothing outside this evangelical and apostolic teaching. There was no heretic, no Jew, no schismatic, but the Catholic Faith, as first delivered to us by you, the successor of the apostles, is kept unshaken… We indeed are, as I have said, chained to the chair of St. Peter; for although Rome is great and known afar, it is great and honoured with us only by this Chair.

- St. Columban

- Source: Patron Saint Index
____________________

Revelation 5:1-10

I, John, saw that in the right hand of the One sitting on the throne there was a scroll that had writing on the back and front and was sealed with seven seals. Then I saw a powerful angel who called with a loud voice, “Is there anyone worthy to open the scroll and break the seals on it?” But there was no one, in heaven or on the earth or under the earth, who was able to open the scroll and read it. I wept bitterly because there was nobody fit to open the scroll and read it, but one of the elders said to me, “There is no need to cry: the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed, and he will open the scroll and the seven seals of it.”

Then I saw, standing between the throne with its four animals and the circle of the elders, a Lamb that seemed to have been sacrificed; it had seven horns, and it had seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits God has sent out all over the world. The Lamb came forward to take the scroll from the right hand of the one sitting on the throne, and when he took it, the four animals prostrated themselves before him and with them the twenty-four elders; each one of them was holding a harp and had a golden bowl full of incense made of the prayers of the saints. They sang a new hymn:

“You are worthy to take the scroll
and break the seals of it,
because you were sacrificed, and with your blood
you bought men for God
of every race, language, people and nation
and made them a line of kings and priests,
to serve our God and to rule the world.”
____________________

Luke 19:41-44

As Jesus drew near Jerusalem and came in sight of the city he shed tears over it and said, “If you in your turn had only understood on this day the message of peace! But, alas, it is hidden from your eyes! Yes, a time is coming when your enemies will raise fortifications all round you, when they will encircle you and hem you in on every side; they will dash you and the children inside your walls to the ground; they will leave not one stone standing on another within you – and all because you did not recognise your opportunity when God offered it!”
____________________

When we think of a king, we think of him as sovereign, one who answers to no one. But in truth, a king is not a king if he has no people to rule over. Therefore a king may be sovereign, but he has to answer to his people. Likewise, in a parish, the parish priest is king. Assuming that he has no bishop to answer to, does it mean that the parish priest can do whatever he wants? No. A parish priest is not parish priest unless he has a parish to look after. Thus, a parish priest may be the king of his parish, but he has to answer to his people.

Each of us, through our baptism, has been made into a king and a priest. We have been given power from above to rule over others in a certain way. An employer rules over the people in his office; a doctor rules over his patients; a policeman rules over the civilians… there is a certain hierarchy in the world that we are part of, and we each have a role to play, people to rule over. These are the same people which we must answer to, if we are carrying out our roles properly.

Kings and priests depend greatly on feedback from their subjects and parishioners respectively. Through this feedback, the people let their rulers know of their needs and concerns in life, and how their rulers can serve them better. If the kings and priests do not receive feedback from the people, they start to take things into their own hands and may end up as bad rulers. This is not entirely their own fault, if their people neglected their duty of providing feedback.

On the other hand, if the people provide feedback, but their rulers do not take their feedback into consideration, then they too might end up as bad rulers. And here, the onus is mainly on the shoulders of the rulers. Thus, as Spider-man likes to say, “With great power comes great responsibility.”

This is why only the Lamb was worthy to open the scroll with the seven seals, because he had been responsible for the salvation of all the people in the world. Through his sacrifice, he has carried out his part; he has lived up to his responsibility, which is why he deserves the power to open the scroll. The power of the Lamb is his only because he has a tremendous responsibility to all the people in the world. And we know by faith that the Lamb will deliver his end of the covenant. What is at stake here is not whether the Lamb is a good ruler or not, but it is our salvation that is at stake. The question for us today is: will we be able to live up to our end of the covenant?

Our end of the covenant is to provide the Lamb with feedback. Through our prayer, we show God our openness to allow him to come into our lives, to change what is not good in our lives, to remove the evil and the lukewarm in us, and transform it to good and passionate fire for his kingdom. Only then, can the Lamb and his people work together for the salvation of his people.
____________________

Prayer:
Dear Jesus, help us to engage in dialogue with you frequently, so that we can feedback to you as to how you can better help us in our path to salvation, and how to glorify the Father through the Holy Spirit working in our lives.

Give Thanks to the Lord for: Parishioners who give feedback to their priests, and priests who listen and respond to such feedback. And also to citizens who give feedback to their governments, and governments who listen and respond to such feedback.

Upcoming Readings:
Fri, 24 Nov – Revelation 10:8-11; Luke 19:45-48; Memorial for St. Andrew Dung-Lac, priest and companions, martyrs
Sat, 25 Nov – Revelation 11:4-12; Luke 20:27-40; Memorial for St. Catherine of Alexandria, virgin and martyr
Sun, 26 Nov – Daniel 7:13-14; Revelation 1:5-8; John 18:33b-37; Solemnity of Christ The King
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Tuesday, Nov 21 – Making Love

21 Nov – Memorial for the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

This celebration commemorates the presentation of the child Mary, in the Temple at Jerusalem, when she was three. This feast was first kept in the eighth century. It symbolises the consecration of her life to the Lord.

- from the Weekday Missal
__________________

The Most Valuable Treasure
Author Unknown

There is a city in Germany named Weinsberg. Overlooking the city, perched atop a high hill, stands an ancient fortress. The townspeople of Weinsberg are proud to tell about an interesting legend concerning the fortress.

According to the legend, in the 15th century, in the days of chivalry and honour, enemy troops laid siege to the fortress and sealed all the townsfolk inside. The enemy commander sent word up to the fortress announcing that he would allow the women and children to leave and go free before he launched a devastating attack.

After some negotiations, the enemy commander also agreed, on his word of honour, to let each woman take with her the most valuable, personal treasure she possessed, provided she could carry it out herself.

You can imagine the enemy commander’s consternation and surprise when the women began marching out of the fortress… each one carrying her husband on her back.

- taken from Fresh Packet of Sower’s Seeds, Third Planting, by Brian Cavanaugh, TOR
____________________

Zechariah 2:14-17

Sing, rejoice,
daughter of Zion;
for I am coming to dwell in the middle of you
- it is the Lord who speaks.
Many nations will join the Lord,
on that day;
they will become his people.
But he will remain among you,
and you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you.
But the Lord will hold Judah
as his portion in the Holy Land
and again make Jerusalem his very own.
Let all mankind be silent before the Lord!
For he is awakening and is coming from his holy dwelling.
___________________

Matthew 12:46-50

Jesus was speaking to the crowds when his mother and his brothers appeared; they were standing outside and were anxious to have a word with him. But to the man who told him this Jesus replied, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” And stretching out his hand towards his disciples he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. Anyone who does the will of my Father in heaven, he is my brother and sister and mother.”
____________________

We know that God is love, and that for love to exist, there must be a Lover, and a Beloved. In the Holy Trinity, the Father is the Lover, the one who initiates. The Son is the Beloved, the one who receives and responds. The Holy Spirit is the bond of love that exists between the Lover and the Beloved.

When we speak of a husband and a wife making love, we see the husband as the Lover, and the wife as the Beloved. The husband initiates and gives of himself; the wife receives the husband’s gift of himself into her womb, and responds to his love. The child is formed is the bond of love, the fruit of love, that exists between the Lover and the Beloved.

When we look at the husband and wife as one body, we see that they are the Beloved, with God as the Lover. The Holy Spirit initiates the love, giving himself in the act of sexual intercourse. The Beloved couple receives the gift of the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, as we profess in the Nicene Creed. The Beloved receives the life into their womb, where their child is, and this child becomes the bond of love between the couple and God.

There is another level that we can look at this love. That is the level of God and the Church. Just as God has always been referred to as ‘he’, so too the Church has always been referred to as ’she’. This is more than just some language thing (like how ships are referred to as ’she’). The Church is the bride of Christ.

The bride of God was represented by the Mother Mary. Being more than a figure of speech or metaphor, God truly was Lover when God gave himself to Mary. The Holy Spirit overshadowed her, the bible tells us. God, the Father, gave of himself, the Holy Spirit, into Mary’s womb, and therein the Son was made flesh.

In this case, God was the Lover, Mary the Beloved, the Holy Spirit the gift of life, and Jesus the Son, true God and true Man. Therefore Mary in all her feminity represents the Church as the Beloved. The Church which comprises mostly lay people is the Beloved, and this is why religious consecrate themselves to God.

Married laity remind us through the sacrament of their marriage, that the relationship between Christ and his Church is one of marriage as well. Single celibate people also remind us, through the profession of their vows, that they have “married” Christ, waiting for their Lover to initiate, so that they can receive Christ into themselves, and make him constantly present in the world today.

Today we celebrate the memorial of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, whose life was consecrated and her virginity a sign for all people of her dedication and gift of self to God. Let us remember that we too are a sign for others through our dedication to God, either through the service and self-sacrifice we make for the Church, or for our spouse.
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Prayer:
Dear Jesus, we pray that we might be lead a life of holiness, always waiting patiently for you to initiate, and that we might be prepared to receive your gift into our lives. Help us to make your presence felt in the world today, that we may cooperate in your promise to be with your Church always, to the end of time. Amen.

Give Thanks to the Lord for: The single celibate men and women who dedicate themselves completely to Christ and his Church.

Upcoming Readings:
Wed, 22 Nov – Revelation 4:1-11; Luke 19:11-28; Memorial for St. Cecilia, virgin and martyr
Thu, 23 Nov – Revelation 5:1-10; Luke 19:41-44; Memorial for St. Clement I, pope and martyr / Memorial for St. Columban, abbot
Fri, 24 Nov – Revelation 10:8-11; Luke 19:45-48; Memorial for St. Andrew Dung-Lac, priest and companions, martyrs
Sat, 25 Nov – Revelation 11:4-12; Luke 20:27-40; Memorial for St. Catherine of Alexandria, virgin and martyr
Sun, 26 Nov – Daniel 7:13-14; Revelation 1:5-8; John 18:33b-37; Solemnity of Christ The King
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Disclaimer: The reflections expressed in this e-mail are the writer’s own. They may not necessarily reflect the teachings of the Catholic Church. Nonetheless we should all be able to learn something from it.

Monday, Nov 20 – Blindness

20 Nov

Lives Out Of Balance
Author Unknown

In 1923, nine of the world’s most successful financiers met at Chicago’s Edgewater Beach Hotel. Financially, they literally “held the world by the tail”. Anything that money could buy was within their grasp; they were rich – rich – rich! Read their names and the high position each held:

1. Charles Schwab, president of the largest steel company;
2. Samuel Insull, president of the largest electric utility company;
3. Howard Hopson, president of the largest gas company;
4. Arthur Cutten, the great wheat speculator;
5. Richard Whitney, president of the New York Stock Exchange;
6. Albert Fall, Secretary of Interior in President Harding’s Cabinet
7. Leon Fraser, president of the Bank of International Settlements;
8. Jesse Livermore, greatest “bear” on Wall Street;
9. Ivar Kreuger, head of the world’s greatest monopoly.

Certainly we must admit that here were gathered a group of the world’s most successful men – at least, men who had found the secret of making money. Let’s see where these men were 25 years later, in 1948:

1. the president of the largest independent steel company, Charles Schwab died bankrupt and lived on borrowed money for five years before his death;
2. the president of the largest utility company, Samuel Insull, died a fugitive from justice and penniless in a foreign land;
3. the president of the largest gas company, Howard Hopson, was insane;
4. the great wheat speculator, Arthur Cutten, died abroad – insolvent;
5. the president of the New York Stock Exchange, Richard Whitney, was released from Sing Sing Penitentiary;
6. the member of the president’s cabinet, Albert Fall, was pardoned from prison so he could die at home – broke;
7. the president of the Bank of International Settlements, Leon Fraser, died a suicide;
8. the “great bear” of Wall Street, Jesse Livermore committed suicide;
9. Ivar Kreuger, the great monopoly player, also took his own life.

All these men learned well the art of making money, but not one of them learned how to live. A vast amount of talent and potential went down the drain with these men.

What happened? Their lives were out of balance!

- taken from Fresh Packet of Sower’s Seeds, Third Planting, by Brian Cavanaugh, TOR
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Revelation 1:1-4

This is the revelation given by God to Jesus Christ so that he could tell his servants about the things which are now to take place very soon; he sent his angel to make it known to his servant John, and John has written down everything he saw and swears it is the word of God guaranteed by Jesus Christ. happy the man who reads this prophecy, and happy those who listen to him, if they treasure all that it says, because the Time is close.

From John, to the seven churches of Asia: grace and peace to you from him who is, who was, and who is to come, from the seven spirits in his presence before his throne.

I heard the Lord saying to me: “Write to the angel of the church in Ephesus and say, ‘Here is the message of the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand and who lives surrounded by the seven golden lampstands: I know all about you: how hard you work and how much you put up with. I know you cannot stand wicked men, and how you tested the imposters who called themselves apostles and proved they were liars. I know, too, that you have patience, and have suffered for my name without growing tired. Nevertheless, I have this complain to make; you have less love now than you used to. Think where you were before you fell; repent, and do as you used to at first.’”
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Luke 18:35-43

As Jesus drew near to Jericho there was a blind man sitting at the side of the road begging. When he heard the crowd going past he asked what it was all about, and they told him that Jesus the Nazarene was passing by. So he called out, “Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me.” The people in front scolded him and told him to keep quiet, but he shouted all the louder, “Son of David, have pity on me.” Jesus stopped and ordered them to bring the man to him, and when he came up, asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” “Sir,” he replied, “let me see again.” Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight. Your faith has saved you.” And instantly his sight returned and he followed him praising God, and all the people who saw it gave praise to God for what had happened.
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What is particularly interesting about the blind man in today’s gospel reading is that he knew what was wrong with himself. He knew that he was blind, and needed to be cured. That is why in spite of being told to shut up, he shouted even louder to Jesus as he was passing by.

Many of us do not know what is wrong with ourselves. If Jesus were to come up to us and say, “What do you want me to do for you?” we would either not know how to answer, or ask for the wrong things. God wants to give us many, many things, but often we do not know what it is that we really need, so we end up asking him for the lesser things. That is why sometimes God does not answer our prayers – because he wants to give us more than what we ask for, so he waits until we realise what it is that he actually want to give to us.

Some of us are also blind in a different way. In today’s world, it is easy to become blinded by materialism, and to be caught up in the race to get more and more. If Jesus came up to us and asked, “What do you want me to do for you?” and we reply that we want this car and that house, this job and that handphone, we probably are caught up in materialism.

In such cases, it would help to learn that we are blind indeed, whether we learn it on our own, or someone tells us, like how John writes to the church in Ephesus. To think that God does not speak to us as a nation today is to say that God doesn’t care about our country. Yet we know that is not true. Very often, we hear from people of other country what is wrong with our own, be it the pope or other saints in the making.

When Pope John Paul II visited Singapore in 1986, he correctly identified what was wrong in the country and urged Catholics to lead the way in making those changes. When Mother Teresa visited, she too knew what was wrong with us here, and also urged us to make those changes. Are we listening to what God is saying to us, or are we blinded by our own self-righteousness and by materialism to admit that we are in need of change and improvement?
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Prayer:
Dear Jesus, help us to see again, and to love as much as we used to before we were caught up in materialism. Amen.

Give Thanks to the Lord for: The voice that calls in the wilderness.

Upcoming Readings:
Tue, 21 Nov – Zechariah 2:14-17; Matthew 12:46-50; Memorial for the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Wed, 22 Nov – Revelation 4:1-11; Luke 19:11-28; Memorial for St. Cecilia, virgin and martyr
Thu, 23 Nov – Revelation 5:1-10; Luke 19:41-44; Memorial for St. Clement I, pope and martyr / Memorial for St. Columban, abbot
Fri, 24 Nov – Revelation 10:8-11; Luke 19:45-48; Memorial for St. Andrew Dung-Lac, priest and companions, martyrs
Sat, 25 Nov – Revelation 11:4-12; Luke 20:27-40; Memorial for St. Catherine of Alexandria, virgin and martyr
Sun, 26 Nov – Daniel 7:13-14; Revelation 1:5-8; John 18:33b-37; Solemnity of Christ The King
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Disclaimer: The reflections expressed in this e-mail are the writer’s own. They may not necessarily reflect the teachings of the Catholic Church. Nonetheless we should all be able to learn something from it.