Wednesday, October 31 – Getting to Heaven

31 Oct

Romans 8:26-30

And as well as this, the Spirit too comes to help us in our weakness, for, when we do not know how to pray properly, then the Spirit personally makes our petitions for us in groans that cannot be put into words; and he who can see into all hearts knows what the Spirit means because the prayers that the Spirit makes for God’s holy people are always in accordance with the mind of God.

We are well aware that God works with those who love him, those who have been called in accordance with his purpose, and turns everything to their good. He decided before hand who were the ones destined to be moulded to the pattern of his Son, so that he should be the eldest of many brothers; it was those so destined that he called; those that he called, he justified, and those that he has justified he has brought into glory.
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Luke 13:22-30

Through towns and villages he went teaching, making his way to Jerusalem. Someone said to him, ‘Sir, will there be only a few saved?’ He said to them, ‘Try your hardest to enter by the narrow door, because, I tell you, many will try to enter and will not succeed.

‘Once the master of the house has got up and locked the door, you may find yourself standing outside knocking on the door, saying, “Lord, open to us,” but he will answer, “I do not know where you come from.” Then you will start saying, “We once ate and drank in your company; you taught in our streets,” but he will reply, “I do not know where you come from; away from me, all evil doers!”

‘Then there will be weeping and grinding of teeth, when you see Abraham and Issac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and yourselves thrown out. And people from east and west, from north and south, will come and sit down at the feast in the kingdom of God.

‘Look, there are those now last who will be first, and those now first who will be last.’
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To go through a narrow doorway, one has to make more effort than when going through a wide doorway. You might have to stoop, move sideways, or even reduce your size to go through such a doorway. In any case, a conscious effort is needed.

Our journey towards heaven is similar. God has sent us the Holy Spirit to help us pray and has blessed us so that we can serve the purpose He has called us to. However, we still have to make the choice to want to work towards our salvation.

Are you facing any challenge in living a Christ-centred life today? Will you make the choice to go through its doorway, or will you ignore it? Christ is at the other side, waiting to welcome you, and beside you to encourage and watch over you. Maybe we are lazy or too proud to stoop. Maybe we are carrying too much with us to go through the doorway. Let us consider the obstacles we face in overcoming these challenges and ask the Holy Spirit to assist us in removing the obstacles.

(Today’s OXYGEN by Regina Xie)
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Prayer:
Holy Spirit, You are our Paraclete. Help us in praying and removing the obstacles in having a closer relationship with God.

Give thanks to the Lord for: chances to grow and to serve Him.

Upcoming Readings:
Thu, 01 Nov – Revelation 7:2-4, 9-14; 1 John 3:1-3; Matthew 5:1-12a; Solemnity of All Saints
Fri, 02 Nov – Daniel 12:1-3; Romans 6:3-9; John 6:37-40; All Souls
Sat, 03 Nov – Romans 11:1-2a, 11-12, 25-29; Luke 14:1, 7-11; Memorial for St. Martin de Porres, religious
Sun, 04 Nov – Wisdom 11:22 – 12:2; 2 Thessalonians 1:11 – 2:2; Luke 19:1-10; Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time
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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, October 30 – Perseverance

30 Oct

Romans 8:18-25

I think what we suffer in this life can never be compared to the glory, as yet unrevealed, which is waiting for us. The whole creation is eagerly waiting for God to reveal his sons. It was not for any fault on the part of creation that it was made unable to attain its purpose, it was made so by God; but creation still retains the hope of being freed, like us, from its slavery to decadence, to enjoy the same freedom and glory as the children of God. From the beginning till now the entire creation, as we know, has been groaning in one great act of giving birth; and not only creation, but all of us who possess the first-fruits of the Spirit, we too groan inwardly as we wait for our bodies to be set free. For we must be content to hope that we shall be saved – our salvation is not in sight, we should not have to be hoping for it if it were – but, as I say, we must hope to be saved since we are not saved yet – it is something we must wait for with patience.
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Luke 13:18-21

Jesus said, “What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it with? It is like a mustard seed which a man took and threw into his garden: it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air sheltered in its branches.”

Another thing he said, “What shall I compare the kingdom of God with? It is like the yeast a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour till it was leavened all through.”
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“Are you saved?” That’s a question that some evangelical Christians might ask you when you are walking on the street or enjoying a cup of coffee at Starbucks. Now you have a response, from St. Paul no less: We must hope to be saved since we are not saved yet – it is something we must wait for with patience.

There is this thing called final perseverance which Christians remain true to their faith to the end, with the grace of God. That’s not to say that those who, at the end, falter under whatever reason will not enter into Heaven. That is something for the theologians to tell us. Rather, what we are concerned with in this reflection is how we can have this final perseverance.

Jesus tells us in the gospel reading that the kingdom of God can be compared to the yeast which is mixed into three measures of flour till it was leavened all through. The yeast that is used is only a little, yet its effects are spread throughout the flour and its effects are seen by the rising of the whole dough. Similarly, the kingdom of God that reigns in us starts with only a small seed, but it spreads throughout the whole of our lives, changing our values, our habits, our attitudes, and our beliefs.

This kingdom of God happens when we truly surrender ourselves to God and allow his kingdom to reign in our lives, withholding nothing from Him, and surrendering ourselves completely to Him. This act of self-surrender allows God to reign in us, and it is what will grant us final perseverance.
_____________________

Prayer:
Dear Lord, do not put us to the test, but deliver us from evil, and grant us the grace to persevere in our faith. Amen.

Give Thanks to the Lord for: Perseverance in the faith.

Upcoming Readings:
Wed, 31 Oct – Romans 8:26-30; Luke 13:22-30
Thu, 01 Nov – Revelation 7:2-4, 9-14; 1 John 3:1-3; Matthew 5:1-12a; Solemnity of All Saints
Fri, 02 Nov – Daniel 12:1-3; Romans 6:3-9; John 6:37-40; All Souls
Sat, 03 Nov – Romans 11:1-2a, 11-12, 25-29; Luke 14:1, 7-11; Memorial for St. Martin de Porres, religious
Sun, 04 Nov – Wisdom 11:22 – 12:2; 2 Thessalonians 1:11 – 2:2; Luke 19:1-10; Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time
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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, October 29 – Communion

29 Oct

Romans 8:12-17

My brothers, there is no necessity for us to obey our unspiritual selves or to live unspiritual lives. If you do live in that way, you are doomed to die; but if by the Spirit you put an end to the misdeeds of the body you will live.

Everyone moved by the Spirit is a son of God. The spirit you received is not the spirit of slaves bringing fear into your lives again; it is the spirit of sons, and it makes us cry out, “Abba, Father!” The Spirit himself and our spirit bear united witness that we are the children of God. And if we are children we are heirs as well: heirs of God and coheirs with Christ, sharing his sufferings so as to share his glory.
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Luke 13:10-17

One sabbath day Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, and a woman was there who for eighteen years had been possessed by a spirit that left her enfeebled: she was bent double and quite unable to stand upright. When Jesus saw her he called her over and said, “Woman, you are rid of your infirmity” and he laid his hands on her. And at once she straightened up, and she glorified God.

But the synagogue official was indignant because Jesus had healed on the sabbath, and he addressed the people present, “There are six days,” he said, “when work is to be done. Come and be healed on one of those days and not on the sabbath.” But the Lord answered him. “Hypocrites!” he said. “Is there one of you who does not untie his ox or his donkey from the manger on the sabbath and take it out for watering? And this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan has held bound these eighteen years – was it not right to untie her bonds on the sabbath day?” When he said this, all his adversaries were covered with confusion, and all the people were overjoyed at all the wonders he worked.
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What is the focus of the Mass? Who do we worship when we celebrate Mass? Most of us would probably answer something along the lines of: “We worship Christ in his real presence at the Eucharist.” But if this were true, why would we need a congregation of people to come together for Mass? We could very well do it on our own in front of the Blessed Sacrament.

It might surprise you to learn that our primary purpose at Mass is not to adore Christ himself, but to join him in his adoration of the Father. The 18th century heresy Jansenism was largely responsible making people believe that the purpose of the Eucharist was to provide them with the means to worship Christ in his real presence, rather than to join him in his sacrifice of thanksgiving to the Father and to receive him in Holy Communion. As St. Paul says, it is the Spirit that makes us cry out together with Christ, “Abba, Father!”

It is therefore of utmost importance that our celebration of Mass is not reduced to personal devotion or piety. Some of us are tempted to sing extra loudly at Mass, or to sing a hymn in a way that is different from the way the rest of the congregation is singing it, or to kneel when everyone else is standing or vice versa. Such a behaviour betrays a lack of understanding of the purpose of the liturgy, which is to bring together the people of God and worship the Father in communion with Christ.

As such, we need to be mindful of our fellow worshippers. What hypocrites we are when we, in order to have a more peaceful Mass, prevent certain people such as children from being present with us at the Mass! In today’s gospel reading, Jesus shows care for the woman at the synagogue, and reminds us through his example that it is more important to care for our neighbour than it is to follow a law that would prevent us from being caring towards another, especially at communal prayer.

Let us pray therefore that we will bear in mind the presence of our fellow worshippers when we next attend Mass, and to unite our prayers and worship with them, and with Christ, directing it towards our heavenly Father. Amen.
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Give Thanks to the Lord for: Vatican II liturgy.

Upcoming Readings:
Tue, 30 Oct – Romans 8:18-25; Luke 13:18-21
Wed, 31 Oct – Romans 8:26-30; Luke 13:22-30
Thu, 01 Nov – Revelation 7:2-4, 9-14; 1 John 3:1-3; Matthew 5:1-12a; Solemnity of All Saints
Fri, 02 Nov – Daniel 12:1-3; Romans 6:3-9; John 6:37-40; All Souls
Sat, 03 Nov – Romans 11:1-2a, 11-12, 25-29; Luke 14:1, 7-11; Memorial for St. Martin de Porres, religious
Sun, 04 Nov – Wisdom 11:22 – 12:2; 2 Thessalonians 1:11 – 2:2; Luke 19:1-10; Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time
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Sunday, October 28 – A Lesson In Humility

28 Oct – Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Lord, The Righteous Judge

The Lord is our judge. The one thing we know for certain about his judgement is that it favours the humble, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.

- the Sunday Missal
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Ecclesiasticus 35:12-14, 16-19

The Lord is a judge
who is no respecter of personages.
He shows no respect of personages to the detriment of a poor man,
he listens to the plea of the injured party.
He does not ignore the orphan’s supplication,
nor the widow’s as she pours out her story.
The man who with his whole heart serves God will be accepted,
his petitions will carry to the clouds,
until it arrives he is inconsolable,
nor will he desist until the Most High takes notice of him,
acquits the virtuous and delivers judgement.
And the Lord will not be slow,
nor will he be dilatory on their behalf.
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2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18

My life is already being poured away as a libation, and the time has come for me to be gone. I have fought the good fight to the end; I have run the race to the finish; I have kept the faith; all there is to come now is the crown of righteousness reserved for me, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that Day; and not only to me but to all those who have longed for his Appearing.

The first time I had to present my defence, there was not a single witness to support me. Every one of them deserted me – may they not be held accountable for it. But the Lord stood by me and gave me power, so that through me the whole message might be proclaimed for all the pagans to hear; and so I was rescued from the lion’s mouth. The Lord will rescue me from all evil attempts on me, and bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
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Luke 18:9-14

Jesus spoke the following parable to some people who prided themselves on being virtuous and despised everyone else. “Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood there and said this prayer to himself, ‘I thank you, God, that I am not grasping, unjust, adulterous like the rest of mankind, and particularly that I am not like this tax collector here. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes on all I get.’ The tax collector stood some distance away, not daring even to raise his eyes to heaven; but he beat his breast and said, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner.’ This man, I tell you, went home again at rights with God; the other did not. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the man who humbles himself will be exalted.”
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This week has been, for me, a lesson in humility. I learnt two main things. First, there are always three sides to a question: the two sides that are being fought for, and the third side which is the truth.

The second thing I learnt is that I am afraid of not being right, so much so that I will find all sorts of ways to justify how right I am in a particular situation. When asked, “Could you be wrong?”, it took me some time to realize that, hey, I could be wrong even if I didn’t think that I was wrong or feel that I was in the wrong. I learnt that humility is not a feeling, but an act of the will. First think that I could be wrong, then ask God to show me how I could have been wrong. Then when I realize my mistake, acknowledge that I have been wrong, and say ‘I’m sorry’ to the person I offended.

I learnt that it is always better to think that I am in the wrong than to think that I am in the right, especially when people have been hurt, division has occurred, and friendships have been harmed.

If I think that I am in the wrong, and I really am in the wrong, then I will be ready to acknowledge my mistake and make amends.

If I think that I am in the wrong, and it turns out that I am actually in the right, then others involved will point it out.

If I think that I am in the right, and it turns out that I am actually in the right, nothing really happens.

If I think that I am in the right, and it turns out that I am really in the wrong, I won’t believe what anyone else says and insist that I am in the right. That leads to hardness of heart.

As Pope John XXIII says: In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity. Giving way to another person, especially for the sake of unity, requires humility, and is one of the hardest virtues to acquire.. yet, one of the most essential.
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Prayer:
Dear Lord, help me to grow daily in true humility. Amen.

Give Thanks to the Lord for: A lesson in humility.

Upcoming Readings:
Mon, 29 Oct – Romans 8:12-17; Luke 13:10-17
Tue, 30 Oct – Romans 8:18-25; Luke 13:18-21
Wed, 31 Oct – Romans 8:26-30; Luke 13:22-30
Thu, 01 Nov – Revelation 7:2-4, 9-14; 1 John 3:1-3; Matthew 5:1-12a; Solemnity of All Saints
Fri, 02 Nov – Daniel 12:1-3; Romans 6:3-9; John 6:37-40; All Souls
Sat, 03 Nov – Romans 11:1-2a, 11-12, 25-29; Luke 14:1, 7-11; Memorial for St. Martin de Porres, religious
Sun, 04 Nov – Wisdom 11:22 – 12:2; 2 Thessalonians 1:11 – 2:2; Luke 19:1-10; Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time
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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, October 27 – Spirit of God

27 Oct

All the desolation of the poor, not only their material poverty but their spiritual wounds as well, need to be redeemed. We should share with them because only if we are united with them can we redeem them, bringing God to their lives and they, in turn, to God.

- taken from “Mother Teresa In Her Own Words” by Jose Luis Gonzalez-Balado
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Romans 8:1-11

The reason why those who are in Christ Jesus are not condemned, is that the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. God has done what the Law, because of our unspiritual nature, was unable to do. God dealt with sin by sending his own Son in a body as physical as any sinful body, and in that body God condemned sin. He did this in order that the Law’s just demands might be satisfied in us, who behave not as our unspiritual nature but as the spirit dictates.

The unspiritual are interested only in what is unspiritual, but the spiritual are interested in spiritual things. It is death to limit oneself to what is unspiritual; life and peace can only come with concern for the spiritual. That is because to limit oneself to what is unspiritual is to be at enmity with God: such a limitation never could and never does submit to God’s law. People who are interested only in unspiritual things can never be pleasing to God. Your interests, however, are not in the unspiritual, but in the spiritual, since the Spirit of God has made his home in you. In fact, unless you possessed the Spirit of Christ you would not belong to him. Though your body may be dead it is because of sin, but if Christ is in you then your spirit is life itself because you have been justified; and if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, then he who raised Jesus from the dead will give life to your own mortal bodies through his Spirit living in you.
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Luke 13:1-9

Some people arrived and told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with that of their sacrifices. At this he said to them, ‘Do you suppose these Galileans who suffered like that were greater sinners than any other Galileans? They were not, I tell you. No; but unless you repent you will all perish as they did. Or those eighteen on whom the tower at Siloam fell and killed them? Do you suppose that they were more guilty than all the other people living in Jerusalem? They were not, I tell you. No; but unless you repent you will all perish as they did.’

He told this parable: ‘A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it but found none. He said to the man who looked after the vineyard, “Look here, for three years now I have been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and finding none. Cut it down: why should it be taking up the ground?” “Sir,” the man replied “leave it one more year and give me time to dig round it and manure it: it may bear fruit next year; if not, then you can cut it down.”’
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The spirit of God resides in the heart of every Christian person through the effects of Baptism. St Paul tells us in the first reading that it is this Spirit that gives us life and peace.

Our bodies are a gift from God; our lives belong to God. We are supposed to bring out the life and spirit of God in our lives to everybody. Every Christian’s fundamental duty is to share the love of God in him with those around him. Ignorance and negligence is no excuse for us to fail in this aspect. The consequence of our inability to manifest his love is spelled out in the Gospel’s parable: the barren tree is an analogy to the Christian who neglects his fundamental task.

Just as bearing fruit is the main reason for a vineyard owner to plant a tree, spreading the message of Christ is also the main responsibility of every Christian. If we do not perform what we are required to do then we must be prepared for the after-effects of our actions.

Today’s Gospel reminds us that we cannot take the love of God for granted but share this love with others.

(Today’s OXYGEN by Nick Chia)
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Prayer:
Mother Mary, we commit ourselves in your care. Guide our every action and enable us to follow your patient love for your Son.

Give thanks for: the gift of God’s love.

Upcoming Readings:
Sun, 28 Oct – Sirach 35:12-14, 16-18; 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18; Luke 18:9-14; Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
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Friday, October 26 – TOB-TOB

26 Oct

Once more, today and yesterday, Jesus comes to his own and his own refuse to welcome him (John 1:11).

He comes in the broken bodies of the poor.

He also comes in the rich who are drowning in the loneliness of their own riches. He also comes in their lonely hearts, when there is no one to offer them love.

- taken from “Mother Teresa In Her Own Words” by Jose Luis Gonzalez-Balado
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Romans 7:18-25

I know of nothing good living in me – living, that is, in my unspiritual self – for though the will to do what is good is in me, the performance is not, with the result that instead of doing the good things I want to do, I carry out the sinful things I do not want. When I act against my will, then, it is not my true self doing it, but sin which lives in me.

In fact, this seems to be the rule, that every single time I want to do good it is something evil that comes to hand. In my inmost self I dearly love God’s Law, but I can see that my body follows a different law that battles against the law which my reason dictates. This is what makes me a prisoner of that law of sin which lives inside my body.

What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body doomed to death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!
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Luke 12:24-59

Jesus said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud looming up in the west you say at once that rain is coming, and so it does. And when the wind is from the south you say it will be hot, and it is. Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the face of the earth and the sky. How is it you do not know how to interpret these times?

“Why not judge for yourselves what is right? For example: when you go to court with your opponent, try to settle with him on the way, or he may drag you before the judge and the judge hand you over to the bailiff and the bailiff have you thrown into prison. I tell you, you will not get out till you have paid the very last penny.”
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When I read the first reading today, I really feel that St. Paul is writing something that strikes a chord in me. I am sure you feel the same way too. How often do we want to do good things, but end up doing bad things instead? How often despite knowing what is the right thing to do, we fall for the same trap and do the bad thing instead? How often do we sometimes wish that we were free from our earthly bodies so that we can do all the good that we want to do! Yet, is our body the cause of all our sin? Is our body bad and our spirit good?

St. Paul tells us the answer when he asks the question: Who will rescue me from this body doomed to death? Through Jesus Christ our Lord! How does Jesus rescue us? Jesus become one of us. He took the form of a human, born from a woman, grew up, worked, preached, made enemies, suffered, and died. Jesus smiled, wept, got angry, laughed… he ate and drank, made friends and dined with them. He fasted, he prayed, he worshipped, he travelled, he did all the things that we do today, and we know he did this because he had a body.

What I mean here is that if Jesus didn’t have a body, we would not have been able to see him do all these things. Jesus came to show us that it is not true that the body is bad, and the spirit good. God made us body and spirit, and it was good. The Hebrew word for good is ‘tob’. Not just ‘tob’, but when God created humans, it was ‘tob-tob’, that is, very good!

The ‘tob’ takes on new meaning for us when we realise that TOB also stands for Theology of the Body, that is, the study of God of the body. It is through our bodies that we can find God’s plan for us as humans – imaged after the communion of persons that God himself is. God made us to love and to be love, just the way God himself is love.

In order for us to love, we need our bodies as well. We show love through the things that we do for our loved ones. All that we do out of love requires us to have bodies. We can empathize strongly with St. Paul because like us, Paul too had a body. And like us, Paul too went through the difficulties of conflicting desires – that of his spirit and that of his body.

Each of us sins but often we are not quick to notice it. We are often quicker to notice when another person is sinful and we are quick to find fault with that person. Let us remember that the other person is just like us because we all have a human body. We all want to do good things, but sometimes what our spirit wants and what our bodies want are conflicting. When we see another person’s faults, let us remember that we too are just as guilty of sin.

But Paul offers us hope – that through Jesus Christ who also had a body, we can be good. Not just good, but ‘tob-tob’ as we were made to be.
____________________

Prayer:
Dear Jesus, help us to have a better appreciation of our own bodies, which were made with God’s plan of love for each of us to experience and to, in turn, love others. St. Paul, pray for us. Amen.

Give Thanks to the Lord for: The gift of our bodies, and for the theology of the body to understand how God is present in us through our bodies.

Upcoming Readings:
Sat, 27 Oct – Romans 8:1-11; Luke 13:1-9
Sun, 28 Oct – Sirach 35:12-14, 16-18; 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18; Luke 18:9-14; Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
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Thursday, October 25 – Easy to say Yes or No?

25 Oct
_________________

Romans 6:19-23

If I may use human terms to help your natural weakness: as once you put your bodies at the service of vice and immorality, so now you must put them at the service of righteousness for your sanctification.

When you were slaves of sin, you felt no obligation to righteousness, and what did you get from this? Nothing but experiences that now make you blush, since that sort of behaviour ends in death. Now, however, you have been set free from sin, you have been made slaves of God, and you get a reward leading to your sanctification and ending in eternal life. For the wage paid by sin is death; the present given by God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
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Luke 12:49-53

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘I have come to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were blazing already! There is a baptism I must still receive, and how great is my distress till it is over!

‘Do you suppose that I am here to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. For from now on a household of five will be divided: three against two and two against three; the father divided against the son, son against father, mother against daughter, daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law, daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.’
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A week ago, one of my colleagues found that a group of scientists had copied another group’s article wholesale and published it in another journal. The copied article was a rather good one at that. It became so widely publicized among the community that the Wikipedia entry on plagiarism cited it as example. Being academics, there is no excuse in saying they did not know they could not do such a thing. The group is currently under investigation and I must say the prospects do not look good.

Have you ever copied work before? It may be school work, office work, a gift idea, etc. I do know of a few people who have never done so before. But most of those I know have. It is quite a prevalent thing really and not hard to do at all. Here’s an example. When I was in Secondary 1, I read a well known story in a textbook. The imagery in the tale was so stark that in an essay I wrote later that year, my writing was built around it. So much so that my teacher called me aside after class. Though it was never my intention to steal the story and pass it off as my own and I said so to my teacher. But at the very heart of the matter, I still did wrong. In an attempt to be sound more sophisticated, I’d not given credit where it was due. And it was so easy that I did it all unconsciously. A bitter pill to swallow but this was an essential supplement.

The matter is quite simple really. There comes a point when we are made aware of matters. After that point, how will we handle situations relating to those matters. Taking the above examples of plagiarism, the decision is whether or not to take without giving credit. We have another example of this in our first reading for the day. Can we continue to stand against righteousness after learning what it is about? Sure we can, that’s what free will is about. Things won’t turn out well of course. Just as the group of scientists is currently in trouble so will we eventually find ourselves in a mess if we turn our backs from God.

So standing by righteousness seems like the better thing to do and St Paul implores us to do that too. But is it any easier? Like Paul says, to go with sin is something that comes naturally. It happens before we realize God and it lures even after that. It embarrasses us and can become a source of personal shame. That is the degree of allure it holds. Being on the side of righteousness is not easy with all that background. Paul however implores us to be as righteous as we were once sinful. To have it as a source of personal pride. A very difficult thing to do as Christ admits in the Gospel passage. It is something that will cause dissent, even among the closest relations. All this adds attractiveness to just sit down and shut up. It has to be done though, if just to stir up a ruckus. One which at least attracts attention. It’ll be for the good of ourselves, for those to whom we are making the point and for Christ.

It is quite explicitly stated, brothers and sisters, by Christ Himself and by many others, that there is simply no grey area here. Not after such a significant event as coming to know what righteousness is. We are either for it wholly or not for it at all. It is hard medicine to take and it is easy to refuse it. Just as it is easy to consciously, subconsciously or unconsciously copy someone else’s work. No doubt about this at all. But the question still remains. Yes or no?

(Today’s OXYGEN by Aloysius Ting)
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Prayer: Lord, help us to make the right choices in life.

Give thanks to the Lord for: Hard lessons that last.

Upcoming Readings:
Fri, 26 Oct – Romans 7:18-25a; Luke 12:54-59
Sat, 27 Oct – Romans 8:1-11; Luke 13:1-9
Sun, 28 Oct – Sirach 35:12-14, 16-18; 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18; Luke 18:9-14; Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
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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, October 24 – Listen And Obey

24 Wed – Memorial for St. Anthony Mary Claret, bishop

St. Anthony Mary Claret (1807-1870) was a weaver before he joined the seminary where he was a student with Blessed Francis Coll, and was ordained on June 13, 1835. He became a missionary in Catalonia and the Canary Islands where he directed retreats and founded the Congregation of Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Claretians). He was ordained the Archbishop of Santiago de Cuba on May 20, 1850 and later founded the Teaching Sisters of Mary Immaculate.

Following his work in the Caribbean, Blessed Pope Pius IX ordered him back to Spain where he was the confessor to Queen Isabella II and ended up being exiled with her. He had the gifts of prophecy and miracles and was reported to have preached 10,000 sermons, published 200 works. Throughout his life, he worked to spread devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

He is the patron saint for the Catholic press, and of weavers.

- Source: Patron Saint Index
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Romans 6:12-18

That is why you must not allow sin to reign over your mortal bodies and make you obey their desires; or give any parts of your bodies over to sin to be used as instruments of evil. Instead, give yourselves to God, as people brought to life from the dead, and give every part of your bodies to God to be instruments of uprightness; and then sin will no longer have any power over you — you are living not under law, but under grace.

What is the implication? That we are free to sin, now that we are not under law but under grace? Out of the question! You know well that if you undertake to be somebody’s slave and obey him, you are the slave of him you obey: you can be the slave either of sin which leads to death, or of obedience which leads to saving justice. Once you were slaves of sin, but thank God you have given whole-hearted obedience to the pattern of teaching to which you were introduced; and so, being freed from serving sin, you took uprightness as your master.
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Luke 12:39-48

Jesus said, ‘You may be quite sure of this, that if the householder had known at what time the burglar would come, he would not have let anyone break through the wall of his house. You too must stand ready, because the Son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect.’

Peter said, ‘Lord, do you mean this parable for us, or for everyone?’ The Lord replied, ‘Who, then, is the wise and trustworthy steward whom the master will place over his household to give them at the proper time their allowance of food? Blessed that servant if his master’s arrival finds him doing exactly that. I tell you truly, he will put him in charge of everything that he owns. But if the servant says to himself, “My master is taking his time coming,” and sets about beating the menservants and the servant-girls, and eating and drinking and getting drunk, his master will come on a day he does not expect and at an hour he does not know. The master will cut him off and send him to the same fate as the unfaithful.

‘The servant who knows what his master wants, but has got nothing ready and done nothing in accord with those wishes, will be given a great many strokes of the lash. The one who did not know, but has acted in such a way that he deserves a beating, will be given fewer strokes. When someone is given a great deal, a great deal will be demanded of that person; when someone is entrusted with a great deal, of that person even more will be expected.’
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In the first reading, we are told who our master is. In the Gospel reading, Jesus tells us how we can fulfill our duty as His servants.

Jesus’ last sentence mirrors the situation where an employee receives a high pay and has to perform according to the expectation attached to the pay. Similarly, as servants of the Lord, we already have abundant blessings. Unlike any employer, however, the Father has also equipped us to fulfill our duty.

Whether we are good servants will depend on whether we listen to what our Master has to say — through the Word and in our hearts, and whether we obey what He says. Do we answer His everyday callings to show a friend more concern or restrain ourselves from blowing up at people when we are angry?

Sometimes, it just seems so hard to obey, isn’t it? Do we draw on what He has provided to help us, or do we often visualise ourselves to be going through our days alone? When we do the latter, it is definitely more difficult. It is unconsciously saying that He has not provided us with what we need. That is where faith comes in. There are times when we feel that we are alone, yet we must hold on to the knowledge that God is around in our lives.

Whether we are struggling against sin or to make that step to love our neighbour more, let us persevere. Let us remember Jesus’ words today as both encouragement and reminder.

(Today’s OXYGEN by Regina Xie)
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Prayer: Lord, help us to listen to You and obey You.

Give thanks to the Lord for: creating each and every one of us for a purpose.

Upcoming Readings:
Thu, 25 Oct – Romans 6:19-23; Luke 12:49-53
Fri, 26 Oct – Romans 7:18-25a; Luke 12:54-59
Sat, 27 Oct – Romans 8:1-11; Luke 13:1-9
Sun, 28 Oct – Sirach 35:12-14, 16-18; 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18; Luke 18:9-14; Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

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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, October 23 – True Freedom

23 Oct – Memorial for St. John of Capistrano, priest

John of Capristrano (1386-1456) was the son of a former German knight who died when John was still young. He studied law at the University of Perugia and was a lawyer in Naples, Italy, before being the reforming governor of Perugia under King Landislas of Naples. When war broke out between Perugia and Malatesta in 1416, John tried to broker a peace, but instead his opponents ignored the truce, and made him a prisoner of war.

During his imprisonment, he came to the decision to change vocations. He had married just before the war, but the marriage was never consummated, and with his bride’s permission, it was annulled. He joined the Franciscans at Perugia on Oct 4, 1416, and was fellow student with St. James of the Marches.

St. John was a disciple of St. Bernadine of Siena, and was a noted preached while still a deacon, beginning his work in 1420. An itinerant priest throughout Italy, Germany, Bohemia, Austria, Hungary, Poland, and Russia, he preached to hundreds of thousands, and established communities of Franciscan renewal. He was reported to heal by making the Sign of  the Cross over a sick person. He wrote extensively, mainly against the heresies of the day.

After the fall of Constantinople, he preached Crusade against the Muslim Turks. At the age of 70, he was commissioned by Pope Callistus II to lead it, and marched off at the head of 70,000 Christian soldiers. He won the great battle of Belgrade in the summer of 1456. he died in the field a few months later, but his army delivered Europe from the Muslims.

- Source: Patron Saint Index
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Romans 5:12, 15, 17-21

Sin entered the world through one man, and through sin death, and thus death has spread through the whole human race because everyone has sinned.

If it is certain that through one man’s fall so many died, it is even more certain that divine grace, coming through the one man, Jesus Christ, came to so many as an abundant free gift. If it is certain that death reigned over everyone as the consequence of one man’s fall, it is even more certain that one man, Jesus Christ, will cause everyone to reign in life who receives the free gift that he does not deserve, of being made righteous. Again, as one man’s fall brought condemnation on everyone, so the good act of one man brings everyone life and makes them justified. As by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by one man’s obedience many will be made righteous. But however great the number of sins committed, grace was even greater; and so, just as sin reigned wherever there was death, so grace will reign to bring eternal life, thanks to the righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ our Lord.
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Luke 12:35-38

Jesus said to his disciples: “See that you are dressed for action and have your lamps lit. Be like men waiting for their master to return from the wedding feast, ready to open the door as soon as he comes and knocks. Happy those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. I tell you solemnly, he will put on an apron, sit them down at table and wait on them. It may be in the second watch he comes, or in the third, but happy those servants if he finds them ready.”
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We know that God made man for the purpose of spending eternity with God, and when God gave man freedom to choose to love God, man chose to disobey. He abused his freedom.

Our present-day use of the term ‘freedom’ is somewhat corrupted. We think of freedom as having many choices in life. This idea of freedom is the same as a child with two dollars in his hand standing in a candy store. The freedom is having the power of choice. The problem with our present-day idea of freedom is that we are actually not free to make a choice, because making a choice means giving up our idea of freedom to commit to a certain thing. Just like the child must spend his two dollars to buy a certain candy. If the child does not want to spend that two dollars, he cannot buy any candy. Likewise, if we do not give up our freedom, we cannot make any choice at all. Hence, we see that our idea of freedom is corrupted. That’s not true freedom.

So what is true freedom then? True freedom is the ability to make the right choice. A test of whether we have true freedom is whether or not we have the ability to say ‘no’ to something that is not good for us, and to say ‘yes’ to something that is good for us. In the case of our spiritual lives, sin is bad for us, not just because it offends God, but because it damages our souls and it damages our relationship with God. We are beings made for God and when that relationship with God is damaged, we are harmed as well. Hence, a test of our true freedom is our ability to say ‘no’ to sin, and to say ‘yes’ to whatever leads us to greater union with God.

When we choose to say ‘yes’ to sin and ‘no’ to union with God, we are abusing that freedom. Freedom is therefore something that all of us have; it is a gift from God. However, because of our sinful state that came through original sin, we have a tendency towards sin. Although Christ came to free us from sin, the tendency to sin still remains. But the difference now is that we know that we have the freedom to make the right choice.
___________________

Prayer:
Let us pray for the grace to make the right choice, to use our freedom the way it is meant to be used. Let us remember what St. Paul says: however great the number of sins committed, grace is even greater.

Give Thanks to the Lord for: Grace which is greater than all our sins.

Upcoming Readings:
Wed, 24 Oct – Romans 6:12-18; Luke 12:39-48; Memorial for St. Anthony Mary Claret, bishop
Thu, 25 Oct – Romans 6:19-23; Luke 12:49-53
Fri, 26 Oct – Romans 7:18-25a; Luke 12:54-59
Sat, 27 Oct – Romans 8:1-11; Luke 13:1-9
Sun, 28 Oct – Sirach 35:12-14, 16-18; 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18; Luke 18:9-14; Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

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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, October 22 – Work For God

22 Oct

If we do the work for God and for his glory, we may be sanctified.

- taken from “Mother Teresa In Her Own Words” by Jose Luis Gonzalez-Balado
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Romans 4:20-25

Since God had made him a promise, Abraham refused either to deny it or even to doubt it, but drew strength from faith and gave glory to God, convinced that God had power to do what he had promised. This is the faith that was “considered as justifying him”. Scripture however does not refer only to him but to us as well when it says that his faith was thus “considered”; or faith too will be “considered” if we believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, Jesus who was put to death for our sins and raised to life to justify us.
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Luke 12:13-21

A man in the crowd said to Jesus, “Master, tell my brother to give me a share of our inheritance.” “My friend,” he replied, “who appointed me your judge, or the arbitrator of your claims?” Then he said to them, “Watch, and be on your guard against avarice of any kind, for a man’s life is not made secure by what he owns, even when he has more than he needs.”

Then he told them this parable: “There was once a rich man who, having had a good harvest from his land, thought to himself, ‘What am I to do? I have not enough room to store my crops.’ Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will pull down my barns and build bigger ones, and store all my grain and my goods in them, and I will say to my soul: My soul, you have plenty of good things laid by for many years to come; take things easy, eat, drink, have a good time.’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This very night the demand will be made for your soul; and this hoard of yours, whose will it be then?’ So it is when a man stores up treasure for himself in place of making himself rich in the sight of God.”
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Last week, I spoke to a young lady who used to work as an engineer, working late nights, ending work at about midnight several times a week. One day, she attended a workshop on priorities and she was asked what she wanted her priorities in life to be like. She listed out ‘God’ as number one, followed by ‘Family’, then ‘Friends’, and lastly ‘Career’. She was next asked to list out what her priorities in her life were really like, and ‘Career’ became first, followed by ‘Friends’, then ‘Family’, and lastly ‘God’.

This was a turning point in her life, when she came to realise that her priorities in life were upside down. She made little changes to her life, including leaving her job for a less time-consuming one, and started going for daily Mass. She also began praying to Our Lady, that she might be able to put God first in her life. Not long after, she received a calling to the religious life. She discerned and prayed hard about it, and during a pilgrimage, she made her decision. That was three years ago, and today, she is a professed sister in the Franciscan of the Immaculate. And she is still putting God first in her life.

Many of us are like this young lady. We know deep down that we want to put God first in our lives, but in reality, when we look at our lives, we find that God is usually last on our list of priorities. We get so caught up with the day-to-day difficulties that we forget about God, save for that quickly uttered prayer before we sleep, and that weekly Mass. How difficult it is to be a saint!

But there is hope for us so long as we remember the big picture. We may be working from day to day to provide food for the family, to pay the bills and our loans, but when we remember the big picture, we realised that it’s all going to be worthwhile. In addition, we also remember that work in itself is a good thing. When God created the world and Man, he gave Man a particular task – to cultivate the Garden of Eden and to take care of it. That’s work, and it was good. It was good back then, and it still is good.

Many of us want an early retirement, but nowadays it seems to get further and further away from us. But ask anyone who has retired. Ask them what they do on a day to day basis, and you will find that even though they are supposed to be retired, they are busier than ever! They are working, although in a different way. And even so, it is still easy to get caught up with work and forget the big picture.

The big picture is that all of us are in this world to prepare ourselves to spend eternity with God. Working is one day in which we are preparing to spend eternity with God. When we work, we benefit from it, not just materially. We learn to work with people, and that often means learning to love and to forgive even the most troublesome people. It means learning our own weaknesses and accepting them as part of ourselves. It means learning our own limitations.

It’s not just learning to work with people, of course. Work itself can be holy because it prepares us for eternity with God. If God created Man to work, then it is highly likely that there’s going to be work in Heaven as well, since nothing good is going to go to waste. For those of us who detest work, this might seem like horrifying news. But for those of us who enjoy our work, we look forward to it. We can look at it this way – work is meant to be creative. As in, we are meant to cooperate with God’s work of creation (see? God works too!).

Let us pray today, that the work that we do today will be creative and fruitful. Let us offer up our work today to the Lord, thanking him for the gift of creativity that he has given us, and that through our work, we will be prepared to be received into Heaven. Amen.
____________________

Upcoming Readings:
Tue, 23 Oct – Romans 5:12, 15b, 17-19, 20b-21; Luke 12:35-38; Memorial for St. John of Capistrano, priest
Wed, 24 Oct – Romans 6:12-18; Luke 12:39-48; Memorial for St. Anthony Mary Claret, bishop
Thu, 25 Oct – Romans 6:19-23; Luke 12:49-53
Fri, 26 Oct – Romans 7:18-25a; Luke 12:54-59
Sat, 27 Oct – Romans 8:1-11; Luke 13:1-9
Sun, 28 Oct – Sirach 35:12-14, 16-18; 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18; Luke 18:9-14; Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
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