Day 5 - Humility through Humiliation

9 February 2012, Thursday

Gospel: Mk 7:24-30

The Healing of the Daughter of the Syrophoenician Woman

Jesus left that place and set out for the territory of Tyre. There he went into a house and did not want anyone to know he was there, but he could not pass unrecognised. A woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard about him straightaway and came and fell at his feet. Now the woman was a pagan, by birth a Syrophoenician, and she begged him to cast the devil out of her daughter. And he said to her, ‘The children should be fed first, because it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the house-dogs’. But she spoke up: ‘Ah yes, sir,’ she replied ‘but the house-dogs under the table can eat the children’s scraps.’ And he said to her, ‘For saying this, you may go home happy: the devil has gone out of your daughter’. So she went off to her home and found the child lying on the bed and the devil gone.

Reflection

How many of us will be enraged being called a “house-dog”? This Syrophoenician woman, a pagan who rejected God, humbly and honestly acknowledged that she was unworthy of Jesus. She swallowed her pride and turned to Jesus, the only One whom she knew could cure her daughter.

Being Christians, it does not imply that we are worthy and rightfully deserving of God’s favours. We are still sinners because our hearts are not completely pure. Today’s Gospel assures us that though undeserving, God will pour out His love and mercy upon us. 

When you have sinned, do you humbly and sincerely ask God for His forgiveness and healing grace? 

Day 4 - Mask Unveiled

8 February 2012, Wednesday

Gospel: Mk 7:14-23

On Clean and Unclean

Jesus called the people to him again and said, ‘Listen to me, all of you, and understand. Nothing that goes into a man from outside can make him unclean; it is the things that come out of a man that make him unclean. If anyone has ears to hear, let him listen to this.’

When he had gone back into the house, away from the crowd, his disciples questioned him about the parable. He said to them, ‘Do you not understand either? Can you not see that whatever goes into a man from outside cannot make him unclean, because it does not go into his heart but through his stomach and passes out into the sewer?’ And he went on, ‘It is what comes out of a man that makes him unclean. For it is from within, from men’s hearts, that evil intentions emerge: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, malice, deceit, indecency, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from within and make a man unclean.’

Reflection

God created us good. How, then, does evil exist in us? Perhaps, the answer lies in the strength of the bond between our hearts and the Heart of Goodness; a bond that is strengthened by prayer and the decision to seek God sincerely. The looser this bond, the more evil seeps into our unguarded hearts.

Jesus unveils the cleanliness of our hearts through our relation with others, be they family or a beggar calling out to us.

What have you or have you not said and done today that reveals to you the hidden state of your heart? 

Day 3 - Jesus, the Teacher

7 February 2012, Tuesday

Gospel: Mk 7:1-13

The Traditions of the Pharisees

The Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered round Jesus, and they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with unclean hands, that is, without washing them. For the Pharisees, and the Jews in general, follow the tradition of the elders and never eat without washing their arms as far as the elbow; and on returning from the market place they never eat without first sprinkling themselves. There are also many other observances which have been handed down to them concerning the washing of cups and pots and bronze dishes. So these Pharisees and scribes asked him, ‘Why do your disciples not respect the tradition of the elders but eat their food with unclean hands?’ He answered, ‘It was of you hypocrites that Isaiah so rightly prophesized in this passage of scripture:

           

                        This people honours me only with lip-service,

                        while their hearts are far from me.

                        The worship they offer me is worthless,

                        the doctrines they teach are only human regulations.

You put aside the commandment of God to cling to human traditions.’ And he said to them, ‘How ingeniously you get round the commandment of God in order to preserve your own tradition! For Moses said: Do your duty to your father and your mother, and, anyone who curses father or mother must be put to death. But you say, “If a man says to his father or mother: Anything I have that I might have used to help you is Corban (that is, dedicated to God), then he is forbidden from that moment to do anything for his father or mother”. In this way you make God’s word null and void for the sake of your tradition which you have handed down. And you do many other things like this.’

Reflection

God’s Word has been given to us through the Church’s teachings and its tradition of rituals, symbols and observances, which unlike the regulations of the Pharisees and Scribes of Jesus’ time, are for bridging us to God so as to encounter Him and be transformed. But to accept and live out all of God’s ways is a continuous challenge and at times, we make excuses to dilute and distort the full truth of His teachings.

God gazes into our hearts and desires for our sincerity in our discipleship. Who do you listen to in your daily living – God or yourself?

Day 2 - Jesus, the Healer

6 February 2012, Monday

Gospel: Mk 6:53-56

Cures at Gennesaret

Having made the crossing, Jesus and his disciples came to land at Gennesaret and tied up. No sooner had they stepped out of the boat than people recognised him, and started hurrying all through the countryside and brought the sick on stretchers to wherever they heard he was. And wherever he went, to village, or town, or farm, they laid down the sick in the open spaces, begging him to let them touch even the fringe of his cloak. And all those who touched him were cured.

 Reflection

The people in today’s Gospel identified in Jesus His power to heal. They sought after Him because they knew also of His generosity and compassion for those who are unwell. And Jesus did not fail them; He healed all of them. What great joy and renewed hope they must have experienced!

We too are not whole; physically, emotionally, psychologically and spiritually. Jesus comes to us today not as a physical person as He was in Gennesaret but in forms of the Sacraments of the Church and through people He sends to help and walk with us through life’s journey. He shows us where we can find Him.

What in your life needs healing today? Do you recognize Jesus as your Healer too?

Day 1 - Jesus Prayed

5 February 2012, Sunday

Gospel: Mk 1:29-39

Jesus’ ministry

On leaving the synagogue, Jesus went with James and John straight to the house of Simon and Andrew. Now Simon’s mother-in-law had gone to bed with fever, and they told him about her straightaway. He went to her, took her by the hand and helped her up. And the fever left her and she began to wait on them.

  

That evening, after sunset, they brought to him all who were sick and those who were possessed by devils. The whole town came crowding round the door, and he cured many who were suffering from diseases of one kind or another; he also cast out many devils, but he would not allow them to speak, because they knew who he was.

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In the morning, long before dawn, he got up and left the house, and went off to a lonely place and prayed there. Simon and his companions set out in search of him, and when they found him they said, ‘Everybody is looking for you.’ He answered, ‘Let us go elsewhere, to the neighbouring country towns, so that I can preach there too, because that is why I came.’ And he went all through Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out devils.

Reflection

In His salvific ministry, Jesus never complained, calculated the cost, or stopped because of exhaustion. He was always ready to lovingly receive anyone who was in need. How could Jesus work continuously and so selflessly? What was the source of His strength and stamina, being fully human Himself?

We are also busy people with many demands placed upon us. But are we at peace to lovingly fulfil all our duties like Jesus or have we become increasingly impatient and frustrated?

Today’s Gospel tells us that before daylight, Jesus got up to pray. “Real prayer”, as Thomas Green, S.J. wrote in Opening to God, “means bringing our real concerns and responsibilities before the Lord and learning to hear what He has to say about them.” In prayer, Jesus met His Father, who not only revealed to Him what He needed to do, but also loved, nourished and strengthened Him. We, too, need God, His divine assistance, so as to go beyond our human limitations and coping mechanisms. We need to meet God in real prayer.

Will you open your heart and mind to God in prayer today?

Qualities of Suffering [Part 3] - Redemptive

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3.

Redemptive. The third quality of suffering brings the greatest joy to holy souls, because it most resembles the suffering of Our Crucified Lord. Redemptive suffering is the highest form of suffering because it is directed not inward towards the souls own sanctification, but outward towards others. It is the culminating act in the work of Christ, and thus there is nothing greater that we can do in our imitation of Him. This form of suffering not only serves to sanctify the soul, but also the Church as well, and indeed the entire world. In this way, the soul participates most intimately with the mission of our Creator. While it is true that a soul does not necessarily have to pass through the first two qualities of suffering in order to suffer redemptively (Any form of suffering, no matter how small, has the potential to take on a redemptive character. Saint Teresa says that even a toothache can be offered for the conversion of sinners), it is also true that the more a soul has been tested and tried in the previous two kinds of suffering, the more graces will its redemptive suffering merit. Therefore, if a soul truly wants to convert the greatest number of souls and bring the greatest glory to God in this life, then it must put its hand to the plow of self-mastery, that is; self-conversion. As Saint Faustina said; "O my Jesus, I know that, in order to be useful to souls, one has to strive for the closest possible union with You, who are Eternal Love... I can be wholly useful to the Church by my personal sanctity, which throbs with life in the whole Church, for we all make up one organism in Jesus." To illustrate this reality, she was later made to understand that she saved a thousand souls in just forty days through her prayers and sacrifices alone, behind the walls of the cloister;

Saint Faustina
"On the First Friday of the month, before Communion, I saw a large ciborium filled with sacred hosts. A hand placed the ciborium in front of me, and I took it in my hands. There were a thousand living hosts inside. Then I heard a voice, These are hosts which have been received by the souls for whom you have obtained the grace of true conversion during this Lent." (Diary, p640)

Saint Teresa of the Andes
"We [religious] are co-redeemers of the world. And souls are not redeemed without the cross."

In a vision given to Saint Faustina, we observe how religious communities sustain the world in existence, acting as a shield blunting the sword of God's justice upon the world;

"During the renewal of the vows, I saw the Lord Jesus on the Epistle side (of the altar), wearing a white garment with a golden belt and holding a terrible sword in His hand. This lasted until the moment when the sisters began to renew their vows. Then I saw a resplendence beyond compare and, in front of this brilliance, a white cloud in the shape of a scale. Then Jesus approached and put the sword on one side of the scale, and it fell heavily towards the ground until it was about to touch it. Just then the sisters finished renewing their vows. Then I saw Angels who took something from each of the sisters and placed it in a golden vessel on the other side of the scale, it immediately out weighed and raised up the side on which the sword had been laid. At that moment, a flame issued forth from the thurible, and it reached all the way to the brilliance. Then I heard a voice coming from the brilliance: "Put the sword back in its place; the sacrifice is greater."

What great glory, at so little cost! And how few people really understand this reality! As Our Lady revealed to Venerable Mary of Agreda, if the saints in heaven were able to feel regret, they would be astonished at themselves for not making full use of the time by letting no opportunity pass for sacrifice. Let us then take advantage of this gift that we have been given, and recall the profound love Our Lord has for us. All He asks of us is our love, and if we are willing, a little suffering. And for such a small price, He will descend into the world and reverse the fate of souls who have co-signed themselves to eternal destruction. What then is a little discomfort on earth, compared to an eternity of bliss? As the saints reveal to us, there is no greater weapon for conversion than this.

Qualities of Suffering [Part 2] - Unitive

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2.

Unitive. Once gold has been sufficiently purified, it can then be forged by the hammer into the proper instrument; wielded by the hands of Christ. This second quality therefore subsists in the first, in that the purification enables the soul to be united with God, making it a image of Himself; to be as if a 'little Christ' on earth. In this stage, the soul begins to become inflamed with a burning love for Our Lord, and begins to realize what it once thought was love, was only an imperfect affection. It is now beginning to understand what true love consists; not in sweet feelings, miracles, or ecstasies, but in loving; in spending oneself for others; in giving until it hurts, without expecting any recompense. 

As Saint Faustina said; "Sufferings, adversities, humiliations, failures and suspicions that have come my way are splinters that keep alive the fire of my love for You, O Jesus."  

The Servant of God Fr. John Hardon once wrote; "We Love God Only in the measure that we are willing to suffer." ...not suffering for it's own sake, but for others. 

As Pope John Paul II summarized in his Theology of the Body; "Man cannot find himself except by making a sincere gift of himself". 

And so, in this stage, the soul is now becoming more itself--what it was created to be--and her happiness increases exponentially. Just as the force of a magnet increases as it draws nearer to iron, so too does the union between God and the soul increase. But now, the soul is still not yet perfect. Our Lord asks (but does not force) the soul to continue its advance, as He has prepared a greater mission for it. If the soul complies, she may begin to experience intense periods of interior darkness, or nights, where she must learn become detached not only from creatures and things of this earth, but also spiritual attachments as well; at times feeling as if a blind man walking in darkness, relying on only blind faith and obedience as its guide. It is during these periods that the soul makes the greatest progress, unbeknownced to itself. It is only until the darkness passes that the soul looks back and sees a great chasm it has crossed. And if the soul perseveres, the greater will its love be inflamed, until it can be said that Christ has taken possession of the soul..

Qualities of Suffering [Part 1] - Purgative

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As we read in the writings of the saints, we begin to understand more clearly the distinct fruits of suffering. These do not have to happen strictly successively, but can at times overlap, or at times occur all at once.

1.

Purgative. Suffering acts to purify and humble the soul. It is a crucible in which the impurities of our soul are unmasked and expelled. Suffering can be physical (such as illnesses), but can also be emotional (humiliation, persecution, etc.), and spiritual (dryness in prayer, temptations, etc.). This degree ^{[n.b., Purgative Way]} is the first  and most necessary step towards union with Our Lord. In this stage, the soul can be likened to a baby, which needs continual comfort and nurture from its parents. And just as a good father is quick in showering his child with many gifts, so too does our Father in heaven do to the young soul, to give it stregnth to be further purified by the fire of Divine Love. The more the soul trusts in God and is faithful, the more happy she will be in the midst of suffering, because suffering will them be elevated to a supernatural level, drawing tears of love, gratitude, and peace.
Whereas, those who are farther from God cannot understand this, because for them suffering brings nothing but misery and despair. This sweetness stirs up in the soul feelings of love, gratitude, compunction. Yet there will also be certain times when Our Lord removes even the consolations, so that the soul does not become too attached to the sweetness alone. As Thomas A. Kempis writes; “God wants you to learn to suffer tribulation without comfort and, submitting yourself entirely to Him, to grow in humility through tribulation. No one so deeply feels what Christ endured as one who has had to suffer as He did.” Saint John of the Cross believed that this stage was so necessary, that without a complete and total eradication of the appetites and self-will, a soul will never advance to higher degrees of holiness. He states; "One inordinate appetite alone....suffices to make the soul so captive, dirty, and unsightly, that until the appetite is purified, the soul is incapable of conformity with God in union. [...] It makes little difference whether a bird is tied down by a thread or by a chain. The bird will be held down just the same."

The Traffic Jam of Prayer Life

With the body comfortably sunken into the leather seat in complete relaxation, the hand steering the vehicle towards its destination in the quiet of the night, the acceleration showcasing the smoothness of the engine, anyone who loves to drive will be absorbed by the speed and control of the car, especially when the roads are scarcely littered by just a few other vehicles.

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Yet, the same route home that I take almost every evening is not always so easy to drive along and is certainly rather congested at the time I am heading home. On rainy days, the vehicle may just be moving a metre or two every 10 seconds. It is stressful to drive in such conditions. More and more signposts are springing up to warn us of road accidents and traffic jams ahead precisely because we really do not like being held up, nor do we like moving slowly, especially in short, occasional spurts.


We like things moving smoothly and quickly. And isn't this the way we expect our prayer life to be too? Always smooth-sailing, always being able to feel the presence of God so that we can be assured He is there listening to what we have to say to Him? We want our prayers to travel quickly to the ears of God and that He, too, respond quickly and in our favour.


But our journey in prayer is not always that easy. In fact, it is a big struggle more often than not. And we become impatient with the journey, too eager to arrive at our destination without further delay. Perhaps, in a traffic jam, the best thing to do is to wait patiently for the next possible movement, be it half a metre or ten, in the acceptance that since we have chosen this road to travel on at this particular time of the day, then we would expect to be caught in a jam. Even if a jam occurred in an unexpected time and place, can we truly say it was unexpected? We cannot use any road for that matter and expect it to always be jam-free. By taking up this approach, rather than resenting the jam and allowing it to grow a frustration within our hearts, we may be able to tide through the jam with greater ease and lesser tension.


Since we have chosen to open our hearts and minds to God in prayer, thus, allowing Him to labour within us, then we have to also accept that our prayer life will inevitably meet occasions of blockages that slow us down - doubts, fears, dryness. We enjoy moments of feeling the consolation of God, when we can praise Him and trust in Him so effortlessly with the help of His graces. But in the face of desolation, when prayer becomes dry, when we cannot seem to feel God close to us, perhaps, like in a traffic jam, the best way is to accept this as a part of the spiritual journey and await patiently for the next possible movement, when God will lead us and take us to the next station, as He wills, when He wills. Just as a traffic jam is never permanent, so it is too with our prayer life. Trust in the Lord who knows what He is doing in us.


11 Jan 2012 Wednesday
11.32pm

People Need the Lord

After school this afternoon, Keith lifted his leg above the parapet of the school building and pulled his body over. His friends pulled him down and proclaimed at the top of their voices that Keith wanted to commit suicide. They were still speaking about it among one another 2 hours later. They knew he was serious about it but little did they know that Keith was not out of his mind when he wanted to throw himself off the building. All throughout CCA, Keith was barely present. When it was time to sit down, his body was curled up in a ball as he hugged his knees as closely to his chest as he could.


The teacher called out to Keith, whose eyes were red and as he spoke, tears fell uncontrollably. He explained that life is miserable, too miserable for him to take, and so, he wanted to end it. An accumulation of frustrations, of pain and hurts, of disappointments and rejection, with nowhere to go for help, no one to turn to. 


Keith is turning 12 this year, with barely sufficient coping mechanisms to get him through the harsh reality of life. A child being surrounded by the artificial image of a rosy life for nine years and placed on a pedestal, only to be beaten down thereafter by the same people who now picks on his weaknesses instead of responsibly teaching him, as parents, how to overcome his flaws and cope with his shortcomings. 


Keith affirmed that he knows fully well that his parents are scolding him excessively out of love for him. "Love", such a pure and beautiful gift. How does it then become a weapon to corner a person, disarming him of even the slightest hope of a happy life? How can something so divine bring about destruction and pain? Look around us (and we don't have to look very far). How many are troubled by problems of one kind or another? How many of these problems have aroused because of our imperfect love? Have we really understood what love is? We probably believe we do. We are knowledgeable people of the 21st century, with information readily at our fingertips. We turn on the media and we are taught what "love" looks like. Understanding concepts is nothing new or challenging for most of us. And we chuck religion aside or at least to the bottom half of our priority list, not realising that it is precisely because of all the inaccurate teachings about "love" that bombard us throughout each day that we need a good example and definition of love that we can fall back on for the truth. A definition that has been tried and tested and proven repeatedly to hold true across time and space. 


People need the Lord - the Perfect Sacrifice of Love. But people do not want to admit so. And there are also those who do not even realise they are empty inside, just as the song tells us. They seem to be aborting themselves, with the silent cry in their hearts for the Truth being left unattended. People are suffering as a result. Innumerable people are suffering the brokenness of their lives, without any idea how to go about mending the increasing number and deepening cracks in their hearts. And so they lay layers after layers of cement to cover up the cracks.


Keith's parents are probably exasperated in the face of their less-than-perfect son, knowing that the world tolerates no shortcomings. Being confronted by the reality of societal demands and the reality of the imperfections of their son, what do they do next? How should they act? We can find our answers in Christ, who has taught us explicitly what love is. All Keith needed for a start is practical ideas of how to work around his major flaws. His eyes lit up when he was given those ideas because he felt that he was not a hopeless case any more. It will take him far more than practical ideas to mend his wounds but in time, with the help of God's graces, he will learn and grow. 


Surely, we are imperfect and so is the love we are capable of extending. But in our imperfections lies the loophole in us, through which Christ can shine His Light and make Himself known to others. If we keep up our efforts and commitment to imitate Him more closely each day, even if it takes decades, we will still become more radiant reflections of Him. 


Do you take Jesus as your answer key to life's many questions?
To those who are in pain, how can you share Jesus with them?


9 Jan 2012, Monday
10.20pm

Recognizing Jesus

"Often, like the disciples of the Emmaus, Christ passes us by, walks with us, and we don't recognise Him."

~ From "Padre Pio - The Movie"

How has Jesus walked with you today? 

Take a moment to recognise Him in His many disguises and counting our blessings, give thanks to Him who has not abandoned us, upholding His faithfulness in His promise to us.

5 Jan 2012 Thursday

9.12pm

Fish Food - Addiction

Being the first day of school, I was running through the school rules and my class rules with the kids. And I found myself saying to them (paraphrased), "We all know what we should and should not do, what decisions to make in the face of right and wrong. But the funny thing about us is that we tend to sway towards the side we know we should not and don't want to take. I don't know why." Recounting, the topic of "addiction" comes to mind.

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Who does not know that addictions are bad? A child is taught at a tender age of this reality and the discipline he must have in order to prevent even the accidental onset of addictions. At times, like Goofy, we do not even realise when we have gotten ourselves hooked, until we wind in the line. Are there addictions that do not harm one person at the very least? Addictions to nicotine, alcohol, gambling, just to name a few. Yet, the very fact that these are classified as addictions warns us too that they are also very difficult to say "no" to, once we are hooked. But what logic does this make then of a person who consents to the very act that he or she knows fully well will harm? What makes a person go on gambling away his pension although he recognises the negligible probability of his wins ever balancing or surpassing the account of his losses? What makes addictions so addictive?

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I find this picture of a fish looking at the worm very intriguing. It is particularly striking to see how it focuses its undivided attention on this worm that is stuck - an easy meal filled with a perceived satisfaction. Will a fish refuse a bait and swim away to hunt for a catch, which is far more tedious, unpredictable and risky? And who would not choose the easy way out of most or every situation, which otherwise demands of us time and energy, dragging us along for a long period of time, and at times, even putting us at a risk we dare not take? Perhaps, the easy way out is so attractive because it allows us to escape from having to face the pain, difficulties, struggles, uncertainties, doubts, fears that we know are hidden, embedded, in our hearts, and which we dare not face. The truth is often so hard to swallow. To know, we then have to act upon, which requires effort to change. Don't we all like nature to take its course? So that life becomes an uncontrollable outcome of this thing called fate?

Relying on something we find pleasure in, something that can momentarily transport our minds into the illusion of a problem-free fairyland, becomes such an easy way out. Thus, one of the reasons of addiction - to run away from something we cannot and are unwilling to face. A jobless man in his 50s takes to alcohol to forget the disappointment and insecurity of being unable to provide for his family. A helpless and desperate teenager from a highly troubled family takes to glue-sniffing to lift himself out of a depression too painful to bear. Another takes to self-mutilation to externalise the intense suffering trapped in his heart that he otherwise does not know how to ease. Then, there are those who spend unending hours playing computer games because in so doing, they have no time left to think about personal issues that will dust up a sandstorm of emotions too painful and too tough to settle and clear thereafter. Underlying all these is the tremendous fear of facing the insurmountable giant called "myself", "my life".

To overcome such addictions is to overcome this great fear of facing ourselves, and thereby, to look into our lives' imperfections. A sentence enclosing within it the prescription for a cure too humanly impossible to drink. Yet, it is, nonetheless, a worthy prescription to attempt. We can, sip by sip, drink the cup that we feel is too far beyond us. If we draw strength and courage from the One who first showed us that all these are possible, when He, for us, accepted amidst His great agony the most bitter cup given Him. The good we cannot do on our own, we can do with God's Divine Help, upon which we can rely for courage, perseverance, patience, understanding, humility, acceptance, and most of all, the grace of healing and forgiveness. May we turn to our Lord in prayer more whole-heartedly, to Him who promised those who seek first His Kingdom that all these other things that we so need will be granted. Our daily bread.

Are there any addictions, trivial or severe, that you might not have noticed?
If you have, what is it revealing to you about you?

4 January 2012, Wednesday
1.53am

Your Gift

If my voice has the ability to reach into hearts 

and bring You into them,

then what a pity it is that I cannot sit with my hearers

and listen to this voice that You have given

so as to encounter You as they do.

Yet, how can I bring them the gift of You

if You had not first given Yourself to me;

to know, to love, to serve and to sing of?  

Your gifts, they humble my existence, 

and make real my nothingness and servitude.

Let their praises reach Your ears and 

render unto Your Holy Name all the glory 

that You alone deserve.

Friday 30 December 2011

11.05pm

My Blessings, My Results

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Joan and Dave were two Catholics who met each other in college. In every activity that had any connection at all with their faith, they would be found there, participating and joyfully giving of their time and energy. They received joy and peace as a result of centring their lives on God, these amidst their own share of struggles and pain that most who are transiting into adulthood will experience. Joan and Dave fell in love with each other and some years after graduation, they decided to get married.

And so they did. So deep and intense was their love for each other. And so was their excitement at the new life they were going to create for themselves; a new chapter, a new beginning, a whole new world of experiences of being family, of being parent in due time, and of being the master and mistress of the household. It was a pure, white canvas of a future waiting for them to dash colours on, and they sure felt the huge responsibility of assuming the new roles they each had to play in their new family unit. In their hearts, they yearned and conditioned their mindsets to do all they could to make this blank canvas into a great masterpiece of art, without a single blemish. Joan and Dave ultimately took upon themselves the role of a "creator" - a creator of their future.

Being creators, each with their own unique artistic flares, Joan and Dave started to run into trouble with each other over how things were being run at home. Soon enough, a baby was added to the family and at that point of beholding their new creation, they beheld too a visible newness that they were going to shape from a "nothing" into a "someone". Their whole heart and mind took on a new focus, and henceforth, all they did and planned were for the sake of their child, in whatever capacity they had.

This sounds like a fairytale story of loving and responsible parents selflessly caring and providing for their child. The development of this story, the unfolding of Joan and Dave's lives are not known. But there seems to be a missing component in this whole fairytale equation, which leads us to wonder if there would really be a happily-ever-after. One question - Where is God? In Joan and Dave's lives, God was shifted to the background when they took on "creatorship".

God has allowed us to share with Him in His creation. But most often we forget that we are not the creator but co-creators. We get carried away easily by superficial emotions and if our relationship with God is shallow and ungrounded in substantial depth, we will fail to recognise that there can be no new beginnings, no future, no hope whatsoever if God does not bless our endeavours and allow us any of these. We will lose our humility and cloud our sense of truth about ourselves and what we can and cannot do. We will lose touch with who we truly are, trying so hard in futile attempts to be the "god" of our lives that we can never be. Can we decide when we are born and when we die? If we cannot, then our lives are surely not for us to control.

But if we remain connected with God with Him being always the centre of our lives, the reason and purpose for all our thoughts, words and deeds, then married or unmarried, young or old, healthy or ill, busy or idle, we will always be cooperators of His Will, advocates of His love, peace and forgiveness within the family. Living day to day becomes alive rather than a mechanical repetition of the daily routines and the running after secular dreams that promise a hidden emptiness. Then, everything we have and experience becomes blessings to appreciate and praise God for rather than an unrealistic boost of our own egos as "good creators", appeasing our own insecurities. As the proverb says "as proud as a peacock", yet, can the peacock be proud of anything if not for God who gave it its beautiful feathers?

With God, we can then be patient with things that do not go our way, trusting always in the love and providence of God, who becomes the Healer of the family in moments of hurt, the Peace in moments of turmoil, the Strength in moments of weakness, the Mediator in moments of arguments, the Guide and Mentor for the young. God is given His rightful position in the family - the Head, the Source, the Provider, the Anchor. Only then can we truly create in and for our families all things beautiful because it is God Himself who is creating all these through and in us.

How aware are you of the distinction between what is created by God and by you in your life?
What are the blessings received from God that you have considered as your result?

28 December 2011, Wednesday
12.05am

Prayer - Thy Graces for the Journey

Purify me, Lord

Cleanse me 

Sanctify me

Test me in Your fire

But leave me Your graces, my loving Jesus

To always remain humble, obedient and faithful

In complete surrendering 

As You make perfect Your Will in me
Amen

source

20 December 2011 Tuesday

10.53pm