Pine Trees vs Shrubs

Morning Devotion by Jeraldine

同学们，早上好。请问你们知道什么是松树吗？PINE TREES。那，你们知道松树有什么用途吗？造房子，家具等。你们知道什么是荆棘吗？它是一种有刺的植物，没什么用处。它们之间有什么关系，听我说个小故事：

有一棵松树对一片荆棘说：“你们一点用处也没有。而我，盖房子，建教堂，都用得着。”

荆棘回答：“可怜的松树，如果你想想，斧头和锯把你砍到的情景，你就一定情愿和我一样了。”

松树反驳道：“哼！我宁愿被人砍死，尚且有用。不要像你因为没用而被人烧死。”

同学们，你们认为自己是松树还是荆棘呢？那，你想当松树还是荆棘呢？

人生必须有用才有价值。无用的人生等于那人已经死了。耶稣一生只活了三十三岁，但他的影响却是千千万万年的。为什么呢？因为他把生命奉献给天主使用。真正生命的延长，是当我们在世上活着的时候，不浪费时间，把每个小时都用在有意义的事上，把短暂的生命奉献给天主使用。这胜过长命百岁，浪费一生。

同学们，你的生命奉献给了谁？你每天是浪费宝贵的时间做无聊的事还是珍惜学习的每一刻？想一想吧！愿天主祝福你，给你智慧！阿门！

The "Les Misérables" Story of Our Lives

Do you remember your teenage years? The most tumultuous phase of growing up. One marked with many raging emotions. Many of us might recall being our parents' worst nightmare because in this stage of transition, we are fighting to form our identities, separate from our parents. To be individuals who no longer need to succumb to the control of an authoritative figure. A fight for freedom. 

In those days, what was your understanding of freedom? Has it changed ever since? 

What IS freedom? 

Perhaps when we were younger, we would have thought of freedom as the given leeway to do as we please, contrasting to having to follow someone's instructions and commands, and face the consequences if we do not. And in some cases, we do not quite grow out of this understanding of freedom. 

When I recalled my moments of wanting freedom as a teenager, and examined my true intentions, I noticed that actually, this cry for freedom stemmed from the desire to want to live life in my own stubborn ways. Right or wrong, that no one comes to fuss or nag at me. I choose. I am in control. 

At times, people comment that marriage is a loss of freedom, that having children is a loss of freedom. People choose not to get married because they do not wish to be tied down, to accommodate other people in their lives, people of whom they have no control over. To some (not all) of these people, remaining freed of the restrictions of marital vows might be that leeway that allows for multiple partners, a change in partner when the previous no longer appeals. An unwillingness to commit and to give of oneself totally, once and for all. 

In the story of Les Misérables, we find many characters trapped in their own ways, robbed of their freedom. The prisoners were trapped in living hell, awaiting their day of parole and the expiration of their term. Jean Valjean was trapped in his hatred and scorn towards his oppressor, inspector Javert, who himself was trapped within his prejudices and mercilessness towards the prisoners. The Thénardiers were caged in by their greed and their assumed superiority over Cosette, who as a young child was abused and left to her own defences. Freedom to these characters would mean a life that is freed from their oppressors in whatever forms they may be disguised in.

Sin enslaves us in the clutches of evil. Freedom is not to be without restrictions so that we can do as we please in an irresponsible and unethical manner. Freedom is not an inward gaze into myself, which forgets the other. 

Can a prisoner feel free? Is our inner freedom dependent on our circumstances, our life situations?

Freedom is the ability to choose good when bad seems safer, more convenient and more promising. Freedom is to be able to live without the restrictions of fear and anxiety. That when others threaten, we are able to stand our grounds and not be shaken. That when confronted, we are able to remain cool and not be provoked. That when mistreated, we are able to forgive and let go, and not be consumed by anger. Jean Valjean's life was turned around only when he opened his heart and allowed the healing grace of God to make whole the wounds of hatred and scorn; a conversion experience that freed him so much that he was willing to lay down his life for another.

Freedom is that when we do something, we do it because we are sincere and willing, and not because of a role to be fulfilled, an expectation to be met, a consequence to be avoided, a higher power and authority we are afraid to offend. That when misjudged, we are able to walk away with a clean conscience and not fight our way through to present our case. That when astray, we are able to humbly acknowledge our faults and return. That when alone, we are able to feel comfortable and not be suspicious of how others may be thinking of us. 

Freedom is the confidence we have in ourselves of who we are, and yet at the same time, being unafraid of admitting to our strengths and imperfections, and being patient with ourselves as we work on these imperfections. That our emotions are not dependent on other people and external factors and our actions are not reactions towards others. That our hope and love are not affected by our unpredictable humanity and life circumstances. Freedom is to be detached from worldly, inordinate desires so as to be attached to God, in whom we are free to love and give of ourselves without a need to withhold, to live in the abundance He has given us and not to hog on to our possessions as if to lose them is to lose our lives. Freedom is to live securely as children of our heavenly Father every moment of every day in His unfailing and loving embrace.

The question now is... How free are you, really?

Who/What are you most affected by? How have these people/experiences caused you to feel?

How may God be urging you to let Him open the gates of your prison cells?

Devotion for School Assembly - Love

Consider a mother who, after being abandoned by her husband, takes up 3 jobs and works 16h a day to bring up her 3 young children.

Consider a husband who has a wife, bed-ridden because of a road accident. He has to give up his full time job and a high salary to take up a part time job with a lower pay so that he can be at home to take care of his wife.

Consider a stranger who, in an airplane crash on the runway, stays behind in the burning aircraft to help move people out of the craft instead of running away to safety. And ends up with severe burns herself.

Consider a man who knows that his wife is having an extra-marital affair and is cheating on him, but who continues to wait for her to return to him instead of cutting her out immediately in a divorce.

What is common in all these four real life stories? It is this element of suffering. The people in these stories are suffering in some way. In short, they have given up themselves and dedicated their attention and life to the well being of others. And we can find many such scenarios around us.

But… Today’s topic of devotion is not about suffering but about love. But perhaps, this is precisely why I bring up the idea of suffering in this devotion. Because love entails suffering. I cannot understand love without the inclusion of suffering. But it is also this suffering element of love that the world today considers so silly, illogical and impractical. The world says that love is pleasurable. Love comes with a condition – that my own self interests are well guarded and preserved. Well, if these definitions of love the world teaches us are right, then what can explain a population that is becoming more broken, more hurt? Angrier, more frustrated? An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. What kind of values are we learning and being taught today?

Increasingly, people are losing their sense and understanding of what love really is. God and religion is a waste of time to more and more people because, especially in the Catholic faith, the values that God teaches us are just not applicable in the “real” world. But what is a real world and what is a fake world? Perhaps, we have turned these 2 worlds inside out. We make a fake world into the real world, thinking that we can get away with the evil we do, bluffing ourselves by not keeping in mind the judgement we will face before God at the end of our lives. And I’d like to think that God will not be looking at our certificates and pay slips, our job titles or the size of our house, brand of our cars. He will be looking at what lies in our hearts. Have we loved? If we have truly loved, then like the four people in my beginning stories, we would have felt the pain of suffering, of giving up of ourselves for the genuine well being of others in whatever ways that takes up.

Our God isn’t a God who just talks about an ideal love. He lived it out Himself and by His example, we are shown that such a love is not just right but is also possible.

In the 1^st letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians, it is written:

Love is always patient and kind; love is never jealous; love is not boastful or conceited, it is never rude and never seeks its own advantage, it does not take offence or store up grievances. Love does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but finds its joy in the truth. It is always ready to make allowances, to trust, to hope and to endure whatever comes. Love never comes to an end.

How do you define love?

Medicine & Bandages, Plasters & Stitches

Once upon a time, teaching was a vocation; a special call to nurture, to impart, to build. Some might argue that it still is. And truly, it still is. In the real sense of what being a teacher ought to be, it is. When people choose this path as a response to an inner desire to form and mould. Not because of a lack of a better alternative income-source, bringing not with them a list of personal agendas to fulfil. I am blessed to know a good number who are truly concerned about their students. They hold true to the responsibility of their call.

Once upon a time, being a doctor was a vocation; a special call to heal, to nurse, to save. And again, it still is. Only when a doctor's heart has his patients at its core. Far more than monetary gains or recognition. When his heart seeks out the ways he may use his God-given talents to be God's healing touch to the sick and suffering. And I am extremely blessed to have a couple of genuine doctors caring for me. 

Once upon a time, a child would aspire to be a lawyer because he wants to be a voice for the voiceless, upholding justice and standing for righteousness. Not because he wants to make a statement about himself in his entrance into law school or the number of cases fought and won. Not because he wants to use this as a platform for self-glorification but to disarm the powerful and raise the lowly and oppressed. I have not met lawyers in their jobs but I know there must be many good ones out there. 

As we watch our world shift, values and motives seem to be turned inside out. 
Selflessness gives way to self-centredness.
Truth gives way to lies.
Sincerity gives way to hypocrisy.
Right is made wrong, and wrong is proclaimed as right. 
Love is termed stupidity, and self-preservation practical.
"No man is an island" gives way to individualism. 

Are we happier? More at peace? 
Are we building or are we destroying? 
Do we feel strengthened or do we feel eaten into? 
Do we feel nourished or do we feel taken advantage of?
Do we feel whole or broken? 

Do you, like me after a day's work, feel so full of angst and highly strung?  

I sat there before Mass began today, feeling the gratitude of being able to return after each day. To have someone I can return to. And not just anyone but a someone who will always welcome me with open arms regardless how his day went and how I have been that day. I have never quite saw him from this angle before. But for the fact that the day has been far more imperfect than I would have liked it to be, I felt anew that I have come, precisely, to seek his embrace not because I am victorious and virtuous but because I am in pieces, battered and bleeding, sinful and fallen. I have come because I am so desperate for healing. What he said is so true, that he has not come for the healthy but the sick. It isn't holy people who need God but those who are lacking and have desires to be filled.

And as I recounted the day, I deliberately focused on the moments I felt loved. I found many such moments. Much to my surprise. And so, as I was running after the healing embrace of God, little did I realise that throughout the day, I was already in that embrace. He had me surrounded by His love but I was too distracted to notice. Too caught up in my own emotions and busyness. 

What will I do without Him?
What will I be without Him who neutralises my emotions and returns to me my balance everyday?
How will I face the many people who seem to require much more love and patience than I have the capacity to give?

How about you?
How do you cope?
Who do you return to everyday?

‘Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.’ (Jn 6:68-69)

Conversations on the Runway

What would you say upon hearing the news of a first class honours graduate being made paralysed after getting knocked down by a lorry?

What would you be feeling if you knew of someone, newly wed, whose spouse has just been diagnosed with fourth-stage cancer? 

If you are like me, you might find yourself sighing. Sighing because it is such a waste. The new graduate has a whole life ahead full of opportunities and possibilities. The couple has just begun their lifetime together, only to have their hopes and dreams shattered at such an early stage. 

On board the airplane, stuck on the runway in the long queue of planes taking off, my mind could not help but wander, wondering if the plane ride would be safe. What if there was going to be a mishap? What if this ride would mark the end of my earthly journey? 

It is tempting and natural to question what God's plan is for this graduate, this couple. Why does He place them on a new beginning, complete with hope, just to snuff out this same hope, leading them to a dead end? 

If my life were to end in that plane ride, will I not also be questioning what really is this God doing to me? It is as if He breathed life into me without a purpose, and takes me out before I can contribute or accomplish anything substantial at all. What then is my training for, my education, my struggles and growth, my learning and maturing? What then are my gifts for? What then is my life for? If it were meant for such a smallness? Then, as I recall how it is said that God delights in His people, I must also arrive at the conclusion that this God must be out of His mind to delight in a life so minute. 

But perhaps not. Perhaps there exists a far more profound way of finding God in our lives than what meets the eye. 

And I found myself arriving at the point of no regrets. That if I were to know my end would be so near, and my accomplishments so negligible, I would still have chosen the path I have chosen for the past 3 years of my life. Of walking ever more closely with Jesus. Of struggling against my many weaknesses and sinfulness to clear out the clutter in my heart so as to enter into a deeper union with Him. Of hanging on each time the cross became so burdensome and illogical. Of returning each time I roamed off on my own. Of standing up after each painful fall. Of giving what I consider this bit my all.

Because despite my perfect imperfections, to enter into this relationship, to grow deeper and deeper in this loving and most beautiful relationship, is to enter into life itself, is to become more and more alive, is to infiltrate the mystery of God's divinity to encounter a love that is beyond all human experience.

It is as if suddenly, nothing else matters any more. My end and even my vocation do not matter, be it how or when or where. Suddenly, what my future holds for me lost its power to alter the preciousness of my life journey. For what stands in the spotlight of my life must be my relationship with the God who walks on with me and in each moment of my present, it is how I encounter and respond to His many disguises that gives depth to the purpose of my existence. 

It does not matter, though we still feel sad, that a religious who has just returned from his studies is suddenly struck with a terminal illness. Because the focus is no longer on the quantity of his putting to use all he has received in his formation but on the quality of his daily witnessing to the world of a God so easily forgotten. Because whatever the vocation, the state of life, the stage of life... all are for one single purpose - to come to know God more intimately, love Him more ardently and to walk more closely in all His ways. And if this is lived for everyday, then we will be contented and at peace. 

Are you contented and at peace?