Reflection

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Sunday, 20 January 2013 : 2nd Sunday of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflection)

In the first reading today, God showed His love for His people Israel, although they have betrayed Him many times. Then, the second reading showed about the gifts of the Spirit, what the Spirit can do in us, and through us, the Lord’s will is done. Finally, the Gospel itself is the account of the wedding at Cana, where Jesus performed His very first miracle of turning water into the finest wine.

God still loves His people, and thus still loves us, no matter what we have done. Although we had sinned many times and betrayed Him, and abandoned Him many times, He is still always faithful. For just as He was mentioned as the bridegroom in the first reading, and the land as His spouse, the Lord is united to us through His marriage to us, as in the Revelation it is mentioned that God is the bride of the Church, and this Church is us, the faithful ones in God. And just as He is loving, He is a faithful bride indeed, and even though we, His brides are unfaithful, He is always ready to welcome us back if we indeed repent our sins and our mistakes and turn back to Him, who created us, and who embrace us both as His children just as He is our Father, and our bride as the Lord is the bridegroom of the Church.

The Holy Spirit, the Third person of the Holy Trinity, is the instrument of this unity of marriage between us and our Lord. Just as the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God came down to us from the Father, and built the bridge crossing between us and the Father across the chasms of sin, through Jesus too, the Holy Spirit came down from the Father and sealed our relationship with God, through the Apostles at Pentecost, when the Church was born. This is why, in our baptism too, we are baptised in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, that with the Holy Spirit that empowers, and the authority of the Father, and the Sacrifice of the Son, we are married to God and becomes His alone, and the devil has no part in us. In Confirmation, we receive further the gift of the Holy Spirit, which confirms our Faith in God and mark us with the gifts that enable us to perform good works and deeds in God’s name.

The Holy Spirit brings forth many gifts including even the gift of tongues and prophesy. But while there are Christians that put heavy emphasis on these aspects of the Holy Spirit, the true fruits and gifts of the Holy Spirit are actually not on these, but on the gifts that permeates our heart, and allow God to be the centre of our lives, filling our hearts with love and compassion for others. In other times, also the gift of courage, to speak up for our fellow men, whenever we see injustice and attacks against the weak, the poor, and the lonely, and when there are attacks against God Himself, and against the sanctity of human life. The gift of courage and wisdom, and knowledge of God and His Scriptures, to proclaim to all around us, the Word of God, not just by speech and sermons, but most importantly, by good deeds and works through which all mankind can see that we truly belong to Christ, and see the Holy Spirit in us.

Then, there is Jesus’ ministry itself. After being baptised by John the Baptist in the River Jordan, Jesus was full with the Holy Spirit, and began His ministry after calling the first Apostles. The Wedding at Cana was where He conducted His first miracle, despite the fact that He was reluctant to do so. However, through this account, we can see indeed, the obedience Christ has for His mother, Mary, who truly cares for the wellbeing of God’s children, where in their happiest of times, marriage, the most terrible kind of disasters awaited them, as it was truly discourteous of the wedding groom and bride to have run out of wine in the days-long Jewish wedding. Although Jesus apparently said to Mary indifferently and seemingly not wishing to help as His time is yet to come, one can see that Jesus did listen to His mother’s pleas on behalf of the groom and the bride, and performed the miracle, saving the wedding of the loving couple from possible embarrassment.

This is why we pray through Mary (not praying to Mary or worshipping Mary), as Mary is the very Mother of our God, Theotokos, who brought our Lord Jesus into this world. Who is best to champion our cause and pleas other than Mary herself, who pleaded for the couple before Jesus, her Son? And Jesus loves His mother dearly and listens to her, as long as it is within the Lord’s will, if we pray through Mary, we will be heard. Nevertheless, prayers should be more than just asking petitions, and rather should be a true conversation with God, with His mother, and with all the holy peoples of God we choose to speak to in our prayers.

Then, to some, it seems that Christ was extremely rude in calling His mother, “Woman” in His response on Mary’s request. “Woman” may seem to us to be very rude, but in fact, it is an honour that was ascribed by Christ to His mother. In the first chapters of Genesis, we noted that in the account of Creation and the first people, Adam and Eve, the serpent-devil successfully tempted them to eat the fruits of the Tree of Knowledge. God punished them, but not before proclaiming before Satan, that He will put enmity between him and the woman, and his offspring and her offspring. And that the woman shall crush the serpent under her feet. This woman, in times immemorial and uncountable after the fall of mankind, is Mary. Mary, through her ultimate obedience in God, becomes the one who bore Christ into this world, the new Adam, and also the Saviour, whose enmity as the child of the woman, with the Satan and his offsprings, Sin, finally freed us from the eternal slavery of sin, through Christ’s sacrifice on the Calvary. It is through this Ultimate Sacrifice that Mary, as the woman, crushed the powers of evil forever. This is why, as Catholics, and indeed, as all Christians should do, we should properly venerate Mary, the Mother of God, the faithful one, and the one who Christ listens to, and most importantly, the one allowing our Salvation to happen by her obedience to the will of God.

Let us therefore renew our commitment for this coming weeks and months, to strengthen our faith in God, and to renew our dedication to Him, God who loves us despite our wrongdoings and waywardness. Let us ask God’s forgiveness and let Him embrace us with His love, a love that we ought to share with our fellow men. Let us also aspire to be more like Mary, the mother of our Lord, whose life and actions in her love and obedience to God should be our compass to guide us in our daily lives, so that we will not be lost amongst the waves of sin and materialism, but to always remain in focus on God, that through Mary, we can have a direct way to the Lord. Bring forth the Holy Spirit and use His gifts to us to bring the Good News to all, through our actions inspired by His gifts and presence in our hearts, that indeed the Holy Spirit will come upon our world and renews all the earth. Amen.

(Continue praying for the victims of flooding in Jakarta, which is still ongoing, and also those who suffer from natural disasters across the world. Also to those who suffer persecution and injustice, especially because of their faith. Let us pray through Mary, that she will bring our petitions for the sake of those who are suffering before her Son, who will surely listen, and bring God’s justice to their oppressors.)

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Saturday, 19 January 2013 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflection)

Today, the first reading shows us that Christ is our great High Priest, and the Gospel tells about the story of the calling of Levi, the tax collector.

Christ, is our great High Priest, and similar to the ancient Jewish custom, the priest is the one offering sacrifice to God. Most important is the sacrifice for sins, for which, the people who sin must present animals like bulls, sheep, and goat, which the priest will kill before the altar and let the blood be poured on it, that symbolised the reunion of the person with God, through the forgiveness of sin.

Why then Christ is the great High Priest? Since He is not just any High Priest, or any priest, since it is through Him that all mankind, Jews and Gentiles alike, were saved from the chains and tyranny of sin, the Original Sin, forever. It is through His Precious Blood, the very Blood of the Son of God, poured on the ‘altar’ of Calvary while hanging on the cross, that just like the blood of the animals, our sins are forgiven. But while blood of animals require constant sacrifices to God, the Blood of Christ require just one singular moment of the Ultimate Sacrifice, as the Lamb of God was slain, for the redemption of all mankind for all times.Then one might ask, why then do Catholics celebrate the Mass? The Mass is known as the Sacrifice, and thus people may ask, why do Catholics crucify the Lord again, and sacrifice Him again, when Christ died only once for our sake? Yes, the Mass is a Sacrifice, where the bread and wine truly turns into the Precious Body and Blood of our Saviour upon the Consecration by the priests, but this Sacrifice is not a separate Sacrifice from the very Ultimate Sacrifice that God has made on Calvary. 

Rather, this is one and united with the Ultimate Sacrifice, just as God has given His Body and Blood for His disciples on the Last Supper, through the priest’s authority and power, given by God, we too receive our share in this Body and Blood, which saves and renews us. We should aim to frequently attend the Mass, and frequently receive our Lord’s Body and Blood, that we are always constantly reminded of His presence in us, with our bodies as His Holy Temple. Let us therefore strive to keep ourselves holy and unblemished, as best as we can. We are sinners and our flesh in weak, even though our spirit is strong. As God is within us, just as He is omniscient, He will know everything that we did, good or bad. There is no need to hide before God, since everything is truly known to Him. Rather than be afraid and hide our sins before Him, let us rather allow Him to speak to us, He, as the Word of God, has power to heal us through His words, just as in yesterday’s Gospel He healed the paralytic through the faith of the people around him. We too therefore can be healed.

Healing is not only for the body, but also, very importantly, for the soul. Jesus did not come to save those already healthy in body and spirit, those who already merited Heaven, but He truly came to save all those who are in danger of separation from God. In the Gospel, we see that nobody is beyond redemption, just as Jesus called the tax collector, Levi. In the time of Jesus, the Jews saw the tax collectors in a very bad light, calling them traitors as they collected taxes for their Roman masters from the people, and sinners as they deal with money and material goods that was held to have tainted them.

Yet, if one is to compare the reactions from the tax collectors, particularly Levi, and the supposedly clean and incorruptible Pharisees and the priests, we can truly see who has the heart filled with humility to approach the Lord and ask for His forgiveness, and who truly has the Lord in their minds and their hearts.

The Pharisees were too busy with their laws and customs to have time for God, and indeed, they were in the forefront of those who rejected Christ, and called Him a blasphemer for claiming to be the Messiah and the Son of God. On the contrary, Levi, despite his good and stable job as a tax collector, while vilified by the people, readily leave everything that he had and followed Jesus when He called him. No sinner is beyond redemption, as long as the sinner is ready to leave all that he had, his sins and his sinful ways, and be humble to ask God for His mercy. For the Lord is merciful as much as He hated sin. It only takes humility for us to admit that we have sinned before Him, and He will gladly forgive us and take us back into His embrace. Do not let pride get the better of us.

In this Year of Faith therefore, let us strive to be closer to God, to listen to God through our prayers, and to help one another in our journey towards the Lord. Let us like Levi, be humble and be ready to respond to God’s call whenever He calls. Help one another, that all of us sinners, can all be forgiven by God, and not a single soul will be lost. Isn’t it better for all of us to be in Heaven one day, than to have one of us separated from us for eternity just because we did not stretch our hands to help? Through our baptism we have also been called to be priests, to help bring the Word of God to those who are still living in darkness. Let us therefore joyfully take up this mission and spread the love of God to all mankind, that all people will be saved. Amen.

(Addition : Please pray for the victims of the terrible flooding which is still ongoing in Jakarta, Indonesia. Countless thousands or tens of thousands or more are still suffering from the immense flooding that had caused many deaths and losses. Let us help our fellow brothers and sisters in whatever way we can, either financially, or even just a single prayer. For the Lord hears our prayer, especially those that are made with pure and sincere heart).

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Friday, 18 January 2013 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflection)

Today’s first reading from the Letter to the Hebrews and the Gospel Reading brought forward a very clear message to all of us, that we must stay faithful and indeed have faith in the Lord. If we remain faithful in God, He will reward us, but if we abandon Him, we will not merit His Kingdom as our reward. And we should honour the Lord at all times, and respect the holiness of Sundays as God’s holy day, and participate fully in the Holy Mass on Sundays.

In our daily lives, we encountered many problems, difficulties, and challenges. Such is also the challenges that faces the Lord when He created our world. As He created our world, He laboured and toiled, shaping creation and our world as we know it today. And yet, after all things are completed, He pulled back and rested. This day when the Lord rested is the day that we now respect as the Holy Day of God, Sunday. In the third commandment, God commanded us to honour His Holy Day. Why should we honour such a day? It is important that we find some time in the midst of our busy lives to spend it with God, God who loves us, and God who created us. Particularly, we should participate fully in the Holy Eucharist every Sundays, and receive our Lord into ourselves through the Most Precious Body and Blood in the Eucharist.

The Lord Himself had said, “Come to me, all of you who work hard and who carry heavy burdens, and I will refresh you/give you rest. We deserve the Lord’s refreshment only if we had the courage to come to Him, and seek His forgiveness. Just as the Lord is present in the church in the Most Holy Eucharist, let us all come to be with Him just as the people gathered around Jesus in the home. By seeing our great faith in Him, the Lord will reward us, just as how Jesus healed the paralytic after seeing the great faith of those around Him, especially the four people who removed the roof in order to bring the paralytic before Jesus.

In the letter to the Hebrews, a contrast was made between those who listen to God directly (the Apostles, and the people gathered around Jesus in the house, when Jesus still walked this world with them, and the believers who indirectly listen to the Word of the Lord through the Scripture and the teachings of the priests and the church. But this do not mean actually that we cannot be as faithful as those who has seen the Lord. Remember that the Lord Himself said to Thomas, when he believed only after seeing the Resurrected Christ : “Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet believes”. That means, although we do not see the Lord directly, we can still believe in Him, and in His love, and particularly in this Year of Faith, we must strive to strengthen our Faith in God.

Then, the Gospel reading today also highlighted the Authority that has been given to Jesus, as the Son of God, to forgive sins. Why do we then confess to priests? Why do we tell them our sins? Can’t we just confess it to God and be forgiven? Christ has given the authority to forgive sins to His Apostles : “Those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven, and those whose sins you retain, they are retained”, and this authority came down from the Apostles, to the bishops, and finally to the priests that we meet in our lives. Through these priests, the Lord work His authority to forgive our sins, and this is why, we should confess frequently and regularly, that whatever sins, even little sins that we have, are forgiven by God, through our priests.

In addition to this, the authority of the Lord in forgiving our sins and His healing of the paralytic shows that the spiritual sickness of the soul through sin can indeed affect the physical dimensions of our body. Many of our physical illness can be tied to the poor conditions of our mentality, and our soul. So first, rather than seek to cure our physical infirmities, we should first seek peace with God, by asking for His mercy on us, that our sins will be forgiven. It is better for us to be not physically very healthy but having a pure and peaceful soul untainted by sin, rather then be very healthy, but have a corrupted soul filled with sin. Never neglect the soul, as much as we put much attention to our physical health by consuming vitamins and healthy foods. We also need spiritual food, the Word of God in the Scripture, and to pray to God constantly, speaking to the Lord, and listening to Him. That our being will not be just physically healthy, but also spiritually robust as well!

May the Lord bless us this day, that we will be spiritually healthy as we are physically healthy, and just like the actions of the four men who carried the paralytic to Jesus, let us care for one another, and comfort those who are sorrowful, and bring the Word of God to those who are in darkness, that just like the paralytic, they may be healed as well, and become children of the Light. Let us strengthen our faith in this Holy Year of Faith, and renew our commitment to love God, to honour His holy day in the Mass, and to love one another, just as God loves us. Amen.

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Thursday, 17 January 2013 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Anthony the abbot (Scripture Reflection)

In today’s readings, we clearly see that God work His power through miracles, as shown in the First Reading where Paul mentioned that God worked miracles through the forty years of Israel’s wandering in the desert after leaving Egypt and after their disobedience which caused God to make them to wonder for forty years to atone for their sins, and in the Gospel, where Jesus cured the leper and made him clean.

However, we can note that despite all of the miracles and deeds that the Lord had done, despite all the manna the people of Israel had eaten, and the other numerous miracles through the forty years, the people’s hearts remain distant from God, and they even frequently rebelled against Him by worshipping foreign gods of the Midians and the nations around them.

Compare this with the attitude of the people and the leper in the Gospel, where the leper believed in Jesus and through his faith, he was cured of his leprosy. Despite being told not to spread the word of Jesus’ miracle, the man spread the news to all, who began to come to Jesus in the wilderness. Jesus is God, but as it was not yet His time to reveal His divinity, He wanted to keep His ministry secret in a low-profile manner, and not to boast of His great power. But the people’s reactions is the complete opposite of the people in the First Reading, where they instead of rebelling against the Lord, they came to the Lord and they sought the Lord.

Paul warned the people to always stay close to God, especially in their hearts, and to encourage one another in their goal to stay close to God, and to always keep hope in Christ and not to fall into the traps of sin and evil. The people in the first reading represent the old self, who despite of God’s grace and blessing, hardened their hearts and their soul against the love of God. God is loving and merciful, but He also hates sin and disobedience, just as He showed when Adam and Eve disobeyed Him in the Garden of Eden. We, as humans, have pride in our hearts, and we tend to stay in our sinful ways and avoid God, too proud to humble ourselves to seek God in our daily lives, and content to be carried astray by the pleasures of this world.

However, the Gospel brought about the second type of people, the ones we should aspire to become, a people who are humble, who are willing to seek God even beyond their comfort, to go the extra mile ‘into the wilderness’ to seek God, to seek His forgiveness, and to bask in His love and mercy. The leper represents us, we who are healed by God of our afflictions, both through Baptism, and through the grace and blessings of God. Just as Paul mentioned, the leper, who represents us, should spread the news of the love of God to all, to those who are yet to hear the Good News, and in particular to those whose hearts are hardened against the Lord in their pride. In our daily lives, in our homes, in our families, and with our friends, with every simple things that we do, we should reflect this by living our faith through our good deeds and actions, so that everyone can see the Lord and His love through us. If we are able to do so, God will bless us, and we will be with Christ until the end, and when we go to His Kingdom, He will open the door and welcome you with the words, “Welcome friend, I know you, and through your humility and charity, and your ceaseless support of one another for My sake, you have merited eternal life.”

May God bless all of us, and may He grant us strength and humility, that we can indeed seek the Lord for forgiveness of our sins, and open ourselves to His love, and not to forget to spread this love to all around us, that all of us together, will be with Christ, and in Christ, we are saved. Amen.