Humility

Humility is not quite about looking within ourselves and acknowledging that what we have is nothing to brag about. Neither is it putting ourselves down by discounting the truth about our gifts by comparing them with the "greater" gifts that others have.

Humility is the most-needed anchor that prevents the distractions of today's seductive world of pride, commercial success and self-reliance from tossing our ships beyond our control, soon to find ourselves capsized into the deep waters that cannot wait to engulf us wholly.

Real humility seems to be the inevitable consequence of an authentic relationship between God and I, between God and you; the consequence of a discovery of the truth about who we are, who we belong to; our unworthy reception of God's blessings highlighting God's infinite mercy and love freely extended to us, sinful creatures. Real humility recognises that the good which springs forth from our hearts is not solely the result of our wise and responsible usage of our God-given freedom of choice but it is more so, the handiwork of God's graces in our otherwise impure hearts. Real humility seems to acknowledge too that itself is God's blessing.

Real humility grounds us in God because it shines the light of truth in our hearts so that we may come before our Lord in sincerity and honesty. Real humility seems to, above all, embrace human nothingness and thereby, rely wholly on God's omnipotence to transform this nothingness into an instrumental significance always and only for His own greater glory.

27 September 2011, Tuesday
12mn

Where is Your Heart?

Have we ever put on our lips the words, "He doesn't deserve it"? An event took place and injustice was done. The feeling of helpless frustration towards the perpetrator, coupled with the wrenching empathy towards the poor victim, drives us into the tension that fills our hearts with a certain anger and unwillingness to extend mercy and forgiveness. And when we finally hear the perpetrator pleading for mercy after he knows he is about to pay a heavy price for his deeds, how we protest in the name of justice and refuse to "tenderise" the hardness of hearts in the firm believe that "He doesn't deserve it".

In last Sunday's Gospel, Jesus paid all the workers 1 denarius for a day's work, no matter how many hours they had each worked. If we were to put ourselves in the shoes of the workers who were the first hired into the vineyard, we will certainly feel a strong sense of injustice, perceiving that since we had done more, we should deserve to be paid more. A highly diligent child of average intelligence feels sore and jealous that he could never outdo his lazy peer of high IQ no matter how hard he studies. Isn't this comparison and calculation of the amount we put in in relation to the amount we get a very pertinent practice in our society? We have performance-related bonuses to reward people who work harder and produce greater results for the organisation. If we were to leave an organisation, our month's pay will be prorated accordingly. We judge and we attach a price tag to everything according to what it appears to deserve, like the television game show "The Price is Right". While we can price objects and the commercial work we do, can we honestly do the same for love, sacrifice, selflessness, which founds the nature of God's work in the vineyard?

Source

If we dare to put aside our prejudices and the familiar adoption of our societal norms, and dig deeper at the message that Jesus might be putting across to us, we might catch a better understanding of who God is and what is required of us at the crux of our relationship with this God. The initial suspicion that God might not be that fair after all might slowly give way to an appreciation of His flawless ways of directing our hearts to the real Truth of His Kingdom.

Here, the question "Where does our heart really lie" comes to mind. Have we wholly set our hearts on God? Or are our hearts distracted with the many externals? "What do I get in return", "How much are you paying me", "Will it make me look good", "What is the job scope like"? If today, God hires us to work in His vineyard, will our thoughts be similar to these real human concerns? If they are, then perhaps, we might have missed the point. The focus is not on the amount of work done or what we will get eventually but rather, the focus is for who it is being done.

If our hearts are set upon God wholeheartedly, our will, united with His, brings us together in the common goal of working for His greater glory in every way we can, in whatever measure it requires of us. Our hearts will rejoice with each lost sheep found, no matter how late, because our hearts share the same beat as our Lord, who desires to save all. When our hearts do not beat alongside with God's, we will forget the truth that we are mere creatures, limited, sinful and undeserving. We will begin to compare ourselves with others and see others as undeserving and ourselves as more deserving. We will feel that God is unfair, blessing another seemingly more than He blesses us, and the worst of all is when we meet at the Gates of Heaven the very people we had judged as unworthy.

Of the people whom the landowner had hired, was there even one who was truly deserving of the 1 denarius? If not for the landowner who went out in search of us, would we not be still standing by the roadside, aimlessly, hopelessly, meaninglessly? Wasn't the landowner the master of his servants, whose lives were his to decide? Were not servants meant to serve their master in their entire lifespan? Why demand for that 1 denarius or more if the work being done was what ought for us to do to begin with? If Jesus is truly the Master of our lives, can He not decide how He wants to hire us, what He wants to hire us to do? If our hearts truly take Him as our Master, will not our gratitude to Him for the gift of life and love naturally burn our hearts with the deep desire to do whatever He asks of us, regardless the reward, and independent of any other person? Isn't the indescribable joy and peace of being His trusty worker, so great a reward that nothing else matters?

Jesus paid up our wages with His own life, opening up the gates of heaven and the hope of salvation to us. He paid us even before we began work, before we chose to work or not in His vineyard. Since He has paid with His life, it is only right then that the work we do requires us to lay down our lives too.

Where is your heart?
How pure and sincere is your love for God?

23 September 2011, Friday
11.50pm

Have You Ever Fallen In Love?

Have you ever fallen in love?
Do you know how it feels like to really be in love?

The love that defies all logic and explanation, the love that burns within the heart with an increasing desire to be forever close to that person, the love that is life itself, the love that moves you to refuse nothing to this most beloved lover of your life? The love that breaks down all pride and anger, the love that whitens the stains in your heart, the love that compels you to forego everything for this person? The love that breaks you down into tears because you long for this person so intensely when he is not around, the love that draws out of you an even greater invitation to love, more than you thought you could ever give?

Can a human person be loved with such a love so strong, so intense, so deep-rooted, so helplessly deep-rooted? Can a human person love with such a love? This love, which touches the divinity of the Infinite,
which originates from the Infinite,
and which has its end in the Infinite.

Have you ever fallen in love?
Have you really fallen in love before?

22 September 2011, Thursday
11.03pm

Searched and Found

Picture taken @ MacRitchie Reservoir from a Quiet Hideout (picture below)

I used to search for You beyond the horizon, 
thinking You are in a place far above the earth.


I used to search for You in the nature
that emits the marvel of Your creation,
thinking You have stored in it Your goodness,
which overflows onto me
as I behold its beauty before my eyes.


I used to search for You in the Eucharist,
thinking You have hidden Your form
so that I may use the eyes of faith
to see Your face.


I used to search for You in Man,
thinking You must desire to purify my heart
by my looking beyond imperfections
unto the recognition of the image of You in all.


I searched and indeed,
I found You in all these.
Yet, You led me to see too, 
the most tender and marvellous truth,
that above all, 
You are right here in my heart, 
living and labouring in me,
and loving me unchangingly
with the most incomprehensible love.

The Quiet Hideout of Consolations

22 September 2011, Thursday

Written @ 4.50pm

Who is the Boss?

A "colony" of ants gathered together to move a piece of chicken from the corner of a kitchen back to their nest. It was a tremendous amount of work to be done for these tiny little creatures but with so many of them, they pulled together all their energy and collectively, they seemed awesomely formidable. Yet, a blow of air from my mouth sent them scurrying in all directions, in the fastest speed possible. They panicked and ran for their lives because they knew the truth of how small they are and that with one step of my foot on them, the whole army, in all its might, will be wiped out.

At Mass yesterday, Fr. Chris focused his homily on the question, inspired by the sitcom, "Who's the Boss?" And what a blessing this question is for those who find it tough to trust in God in difficult moments, when our problems or impending problems seem too much for us to prevent and solve. The gospel reading (Lk 7:1-10) was telling about the Roman Centurion who asked Jesus to heal his servant, whom he cared very much for. The Centurion acknowledged his unworthiness as a pagan and did not dare hope for Jesus to enter his house but he also acknowledged the power of Jesus, recognising Him as the Son of God, as "The Boss". And so, the humble and trusting Roman pleaded with Jesus for His mere words, just words that conveyed His Will, and which would be the "command" for healing grace to be poured out upon his dying servant. He knew that that was all that was needed for his servant to be cured.

The story of the Roman Centurion strikes us hard on the head that we need also to know the answer to the question, "Who's the Boss?" And indeed, who is OUR boss? The ants knew that I am their cruel "boss" who would wipe them out and so they ran for their lives upon the slightest threat of danger. If God is our Boss, then we need to know, too, who this Boss is. He is not One who waits to pound on us or crush us under His feet for the slightest fault we make and neither is He without compassion that He will sit back and watch us struggle through life alone.

In the slightest threat of danger, for instance, something happened that threatened the peace and security of our career or family, how do we react? Do we panic and run for our lives like the ants do? Do we set out to deceive like a lizard losing its tail in flight? Or do we hold fast to our God, our Boss, who sees all, knows all and controls all in His hands? Can we trust in Him even in moments where we see no hope, where we cannot look ahead and think of a way out? Can we submit to our Boss and let Him do the fire-fighting for us? Can we let go of our pride, and like the ants, acknowledge how small we are before God and then, like the Centurion, let go of our fears and place all hope and trust in Him? As Father wisely pointed out, if we do not live our daily lives when all is calm and peaceful with the disposition that God is our Boss, then there is no way we can trust in Him when we are faced with a crisis situation.

I love the challenge that concluded the homily yesterday; the question posed to each of us present and now, to each of you. "Who is YOUR boss?"

13 September 2011, Tuesday
11.57pm

How does God see us?

To a company, you and I are but some persons who, once sacked or resigned, are easily replaced by some other persons.

To a hawker, you and I are but patronizers who come and go. If we return again, it is good income for him but if we do not, then someone else will come by to patronize.

To a maid, you and I may be family for a time but once our paths are separated, another family will come by to hire and share their lives.

To a doctor, you and I are patients who are cared for during the moment of consultation and treatment. Shortly after, another patient enters the clinic while we would have collected our medicine and left.

If we look around our society today, things and people are easily replaced. If our newly purchased camera is faulty, we take it to the shop and they will make a 1-for-1 exchange. If you do not know what to do with your old Tefal iron, you can trade it in and buy another at a lower purchase price. If your pen ran out of ink today, wouldn't you simply go to the book store to get a refill ink or buy another pen? Like things, we come and go just like everyone else. In a moment, the paths of life meet and then they separate again. To many, you and I are just passing by, for that few seconds of brushing past each other as we cross the road, that few minutes of squeezing next to each other on a jam-packed train. To many, you and I really do not matter... in our absence, someone else will replace us.

Yet, if we look again at our lives, there are things that are just one of a kind. If someone designed and handmade a single piece of flower vase as a gift to us, we know that once this vase is broken, we can never find a duplicate to replace it. We could try to describe or show a picture of the vase to another skilled potter but he will never be able to replicate an exact same vase as the broken one. If someone special gives us a gift and this someone has since passed away, we know it that even if we were to buy the same item from the mall, it will still not be the same for it will be without that attachment of sentiments left by the deceased.

And so it is too, to a family member, you and I may form a large part of his life, the meaning of his daily struggles, the warmth he returns to at the end of a day. Without you and I, life to this person will never be the same again. Another mother, father, brother or sister will never be able to replace the person we are and the presence we claim in our families.

To a close friend, you and I may form the pillar of strength he relies upon when life seems to turn on him, the listening ear he lends when no one else seem to care. Without you and I, life to this person will never be the same again. Another close friend will never be able to exactly replace the kind of person we are to this friend.

Most of all, whether we are some unknown person hiding in a cave, an average citizen like most of us are, known to a group of people we come into contact with or we are a high profile successful person of society whose face is publicised on the magazine's cover page, we are far more than that one person in billions of people who have lived, who is living and who will live on this planet Earth... because we are, to God, irreplaceable.

Each of us is loved by Him with the most tender and personal love. He loves you and I for who we are and not for what we can do and certainly not for what we have achieved in life. He loves us; our strengths and weaknesses, our successes and failures. He sees what we are, what we are not, what we struggle to be, and what we can become... and seeing all that He sees in us, He loves us.

Though it may seem like we are just passing through life on earth, a person who was born and who will one day go and thereafter, be forgotten in man's hearts, to God, He knows who we are, each individual human person, and He watches over us day after day, He sees all that we do, and He is loving us in every moment, even when we are in sin. And it is precisely when we are in sin that God yearns even more for us because He cannot bear the separation that we force upon Him when we choose to go away from Him in sin.

Such is the love of God for us and such is the significance we have in His heart, He who is our Creator. That when we think we do not matter to anyone at all, we actually matter the most in His heart. That when we think we are good-for-nothings, we actually are, in God's forming us in His own image and likeness, the evidence of His love for us because He wants to share something in common with us, He wants to associate Himself with us. That when we think we are the most undeserving of anything, God extends His hands to us and affirms us that however we may think and feel, He has already poured out His love for us on the cross and there is no way He can retract that love, already given, willingly, to you and I. That when we shy away from Him when we realise how evil our hearts may be, He opens His arms and says to us, "Come, ... come to Me."

How can we ignore such a God?
How can we go on living in our sinful ways in the presence of such a God?
How can we remain in despair at life's troubles when we have such a God?
How can we despise ourselves and think that we are less important than who we are to such a God?

How is such a God, this one and only God, calling us and inviting us today to open our hearts to accept and reject no longer, to receive and ignore no longer, His love for us? How do we see ourselves? And how differently does God see us?

8 September 2011, Thursday
10.19pm

The Best Children's Day Gift

Out in this weekend's Catholic News issue

Dedicated to all children, through all involved in nurturing them

The Best Children’s Day Gift

Every October, a day is set aside to celebrate the gift that children are to society. This year, on 7 Oct, children in Singapore will have a day of rest and play to commemorate the occasion. For those who have children in our lives – parents, grandparents and teachers – it’s an ideal moment to consider how special they are. Perhaps a gift may even be appropriate to show them our love.

I would like to think that an ideal gift is one that is useful and life-giving, one that can be brought to school, to the playground and even on overseas trips; a gift that is applicable in marriage and career, sickness and health, riches and poverty. One that fits all the criteria is the gift of Jesus Himself. But how do we make this a realistic gift, rather than an impossible ideal?

As a teacher, my experiences with children tell me they are easy to influence because they lack life experiences. No matter how we shelter them, they are persistently exposed to negative influences. Good values are easily diluted and distorted; many children grow up with little principles that hold them righteous in the face of temptations and negative influences. In reality, teenage suicide, pregnancy and abortion are increasingly rampant. Children as young as eight-years-old watch pornography and talk about it at school. Even pupils in top tertiary institutions are engaging in pre-marital sex freely, while theft and gangsterism begins as early as nine-years-old. There is a common misconception that children facing these issues are poor academic performers and who belong to the underprivileged and broken families. But this is inaccurate. Many of these children actually excel in their studies and belonging to seemingly functional families.

The need and urgency to guide these children to discover God in their lives must not be brushed aside. All of us who come into contact with children should take pains to teach them about God, as a vital part of their upbringing. It seems to me that most children do not open up to their parents anymore during the adolescent years, and parents have to accept the reality that we cannot be there to protect and restrain our children all the time – only God can and will. When we have accepted this limitation of our human finiteness, we can then begin to perceive more clearly the essentiality of helping our children develop their faith and of teaching them the values and faith that Christ gave to the Church.

With secularism, consumerism and materialism shaping our lives, it is now tougher to uphold our Christian values of humility, obedience, compassion, selflessness and the like. Many are willing to spend thousands of dollars to enrol their children in “branded” schools and enrichment classes, buffing them up to meet expectations. There seems to be a “competition” over whose child is given more and better enrichment classes. However, do academic achievements guarantee happiness? All parents want their children to be successful, but is “success” only measured by the number of A’s they have on their report card, or only in the number of zero’s in they pay cheques in future? Success is important, but too many have defined the word according to the way the world sees it. How about eternal life? What about faithfulness and love for neighbour? Jesus Himself warned us, “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mk 8:36)

Jesus showed us that the way to live life to the fullest is to live in His ways, upholding His values. These values contradict those of the secular world but it is these values that hold the key to the joy and peace that precisely, many who are absorbed in the world do not have. The “best gift” we can give our children is not necessarily those that are on their wish-list, things that give but a temporary spark of excitement. We would be short-changing them greatly. What do our children really need to tide them through life’s many ups and downs? Do we prepare them sufficiently to be people of good values so that they may reflect the goodness of God to others they meet, or are we thoughtlessly putting them on a treadmill, on which they run without end to prove that they and us are special and more worthy than another human person?

Living the Catholic faith starts with building a personal relationship with God. Through this, we find strength in our difficulties, comfort for our pains, hope in our disappointments, courage to withstand peer pressure, wisdom to choose our friends and activities, and it puts on us the armour to resist temptations. This is the best gift that anyone can give to children. There will be many times that friends and even family cannot be there to support. But God is always there, at all times, in all places and situations.

There was a teenage girl, Carol (not her real name). She was rejected by her schoolmates, who jeered at her and passed unpleasant remarks, calling her “spastic”, which made her feel so inferior about herself. For three years, Carol lived in fear, despair and helplessness. She bore these pains in silence, alone and without any emotional support from family and friends. In addition, she had to face frequent arguments among family members, threatening the security of her family life. When emotions swelled and all Carol saw was pain and hopelessness, she looked down from her window and contemplated suicide, the easiest way to put an end to all the torture she was experiencing. Only one person stopped her from taking that irreversible step – God. In the depths of her heart, Carol knew that God loved her; she had encountered this God in a personal way, and knew that taking her life would upset Him greatly. Because of this, Carol pulled herself back and hung on to life despite her lack of understanding of why God had brought her into this world to suffer. Her only confidants in all her pains and sufferings were Jesus and Mary. She would tell Them about her feelings, pour out her sorrows in daily prayer and after which, obtained the much needed peace and healing that only God can give.

And this gift of faith can be practical, and not just idealistic daydream. It would be a good start if we ourselves put in effort to build a personal relationship with God through prayer and through faithfulness to God’s ways. We can begin by examining our attitudes towards our faith. For example, do we find ourselves attending Mass each week because “we have to”, or are we attentive and harbouring the desire to seek Christ more earnestly? When we take Holy Mass more seriously, we will begin to make every effort to guide our children through the different segments of the Mass, explaining to them the prayers and teaching them reverence before our God.

Secondly, we can evaluate our prayer life; its regularity and quality. Do we go to Him with authenticity and with the desire to deepen our relationship with Him or are we rattling off a complaint or a list of prayer intentions? When we discover our personal God through prayer, we can then include our children in family prayers, showing them by example the commitment that they too need to have in their own discovering and deepening of their relationship with God.

Also, we can reflect more thoroughly on our value system and list out our priorities in life. How do we relate to others, be they colleagues, family or even our domestic helpers? Do we treat them with equal respect, care and consideration? How much of Christ’s values do we want to emulate? When we have centred all our words and deeds on Christ, we can then correct and guide our children to follow suit. Children pick up their mannerisms primarily from parents, their closest references of the “right” behaviour.

A relationship with God grounds our children in the goodness that comes only from God. Let us therefore open the eyes of our hearts to recognise the need to nourish our children with the one Source of Life and to lead them closer to Jesus with the help of Mary’s intercession. May this Children’s Day be a meaningful celebration for us all.

Picture was taken at St Paul's Hill 
Golden Jubilee Twin Celebration - St Ignatius S'pore & St Francis Xavier Pertaling Jaya

Fidelity & Sincerity towards God

Have you ever witnessed the tedious training of marine animals in preparation for a live show? Perhaps, it is not that tedious if you had with you a pouch of treats to reward the seal, for instance, when it does the correct stunt to satisfy your expectations and those of the prospective audiences. I cannot help but wonder if without those treats, would a trained seal still perform the stunts solely on the account of the trainer? If a seal only responds to the trainer because it is the treat that he is looking forward to, knowing that he will get what he wants by giving what is wanted of him, then the relationship between the trainer and the seal will always remain as plainly, the trainer and the trainee. It is only when the seal obeys the commands of the trainer even in the absence of treats, that clearly indicates that the trainee has progressed on to take a personal interest in the trainer. The trainer, instead of the treats, has then become the motivation and reason for the trainee's response.

We can use this analogy of the relationship between the trainer and the seal to understand better our relationship with God. How many people have since lost their faith in God because their prayers were not answered? How many faithful have experienced their faith being shaken because they could not feel God's presence in the form of spiritual consolations perhaps? How many have given up following in God's ways and doing God's Will because they stopped feeling the desire and longing that they once felt towards God? When we are tested in our faith, deprived of spiritual consolations, deprived of that deep longing for God that makes it so easy to love Him and do what He wants, when we are deprived of the "good feelings" and graces that make it so easy to carry our crosses, how do we react and what do we do? Do we stop doing good, following in His ways of love, compassion, kindness and the like? Do we give up searching for Him in prayer because the feelings are no longer there and there is no more "motivation"?

How often marriages stagnate and fail because the "lovey dovey feeling" has long faded away along with the honeymoon phase, and fidelity becomes a commitment so challenging to upkeep; the void of feelings that once made those vows seem so natural puts us in the true light of our sincerity and reveals how much value we attach to the words we say.

A personal relationship with God is quite like a marriage, which demands that we take God seriously in a genuine interest in seeking Him wholeheartedly, in sickness and in health, in good and bad, in riches and poverty. When He does not "feed" us with the "treats", can we still, like Bl. Mother Teresa did for 50 long years in her dark night of the soul, continue doing what we know will please Him? Can we continue to reflect, as best as we can, the goodness of God in the way we are and in the things we think, say and do? What are we really interested in? Is it the things that we want from God, the things that we know He can give or are we truly and genuinely interested in Him as a Person, Friend, Confidant, Saviour, Master? When we decide to do something good, what is our intention and drive? Is it because we want something in return or is it done freely and lovingly for the One who alone sees what is in our hearts?

May our loving Jesus purify our hearts day after day so that we may seek Him with greater sincerity and love Him with true fidelity. Amen.

29 August 2011, Monday
10.28pm

Serenity Prayer

My loving Jesus,

Grant me the serenity 

to accept the things I cannot change,          

courage to change the things I can 

and wisdom to know the difference. 

Living 

one day at a time, 

Enjoying 

     one moment at a time,

Accepting

hardships as the pathway to peace,

Taking,

 as You did, this sinful world as it is,

not as I would have it,

Trusting

that You will make all things right if I surrender to Your will,

that I may be reasonably 

Happy

in this life and supremely happy with You

Forever 

in the next.

Amen.

2nd Joyful Mystery - The Visitation

THE SECOND JOYFUL MYSTERY
THE VISITATION

Soon after Mary conceived through the power of the Holy Spirit at the Annunciation, during which the angel told her about her cousin Elizabeth's pregnancy, she left her home and travelled a long distance to be with Elizabeth. There, she remained for three months until the birth of John the Baptist, helping Elizabeth during her stay and being with Elizabeth in her every need.

Mary was, herself, pregnant with Jesus and had not yet resolved her own problem of her abrupt and "shameful" pregnancy. If we were to put ourselves for a moment in Mary's situation, would we have done what she had? When faced with seemingly unsolvable difficulties, how often do we find ourselves cutting off the whole world and shutting ourselves up in fear, trying hard to think of a solution or a lie to cover up for ourselves, and when all seem gloomy and hopeless, we remain in melancholy, sulking perhaps, or even becoming so easily irritated that we start to snap at people or "air out" our frustrations in one way or another? Thinking about others, being sensitive to their needs and more so, harbouring the desire to attend to these needs seem like an act of insanity. Have we insufficient worries on our plates already?!

Yet, as we meditate on this mystery in the Holy Rosary, we begin to realise that Mary, despite her troubled and uncertain situation, not only thought of her cousin Elizabeth but far more than that, she completely put aside her own needs and responded quickly and without hesitation to go to Elizabeth's side. Her love and focus were not on herself but on others and on the Will of God, serving the needs of God's people in whatever ways she could, be it here in the Visitation, at the wedding at Cana and elsewhere. Her priorities were clear; she definitely put herself below God and His people. Being called to be the Mother of God was not an occasion for boasting, used to put others down or raise herself upon a pedestal. Instead, Mary humbled herself further, knowing fully well that it was God who showed her infinite kindness and mercy. In one of the most beautiful prayers ever, the Magnificat, Mary exclaimed, "He looks on His servant in her lowliness; henceforth all ages shall call me blessed."

Today, as we dig a little deeper into our hearts, can we find the love and selflessness like that of Mary, to, despite our busyness, tiredness, personal difficulties, sufferings and our many other commitments, pay attention and be sensitive to the needs of others around us? Can we find the discipline within our hearts to stop seeking attention for ourselves and our needs so as to shift our thoughts and concerns unto others in need? Can we choose to serve and not be served? Can we choose to forget ourselves so as to remember others?

One of the toughest challenges we face in our times is the transfer of importance from the "I" to the "Others". Society has moulded our mindsets to adopt the "to each his own" mentality because "if we do not take care of ourselves, who would" and "if we don't fend for ourselves, we will be taken advantage of". Leave the secular world to form its own values; we must be discerning in living our lives and make choices for ourselves. May we find in our prayers our plea to God for His gift of wisdom to take Mary as our model for she is the model of all disciples. May we emulate her selfless love for God that so naturally puts her in the disposition of being ever ready to help anyone in need, regardless of what trials and tribulations, what pains and sufferings we might be experiencing ourselves. May we entrust our own lives and our needs  into the loving and provident hands of God and then put ourselves out to serve as Jesus and Mary have shown us the perfect example of.

As we pray the second decade of the rosary, keep our minds focused on the scene of the Visitation and the virtues of Mary clearly associated with this event. Open our hearts to desire more strongly to imitate Mary in our daily lives.

26 August 2011, Friday
12.04am

Heaven

For morning devotion @ flag raising...

Dear colleagues and students,

I don’t know about you but when I go on holidays, no words can describe the excitement and joy that fills my heart, especially when I board the airplane and wait in eager anticipation to the moment I land in another country. More so, if I have never been to that country before, I will be imagining in my mind what it would be like and might even look up google images for some ideas of what to expect from that country I’m going to.

I flew from Amsterdam to Rome last year and there was a moment when I looked down from the window and saw a humongous stretch of white mountains. They were mountains covered with snow – Switzerland. I was completely awestruck and there was no words that could describe how my heart was filled with joy and excitement as I beheld the beauty of nature before my eyes for that good 5 to 10 minutes.

Perhaps, for those of you who have not yet had such experiences, you might be more able to relate to a moment when your parents nodded their heads in agreement to buy you the toy or the iphone you were longing so much to have. After months of proving you had been a good boy, after months of doing everything to please your parents, they finally saw that you “deserved” to get a reward. How happy you must have been! You probably could not wait for them to finally buy you your reward and lay your hands on your dream reward.

I guess with these human experiences that we have once experienced of excitement, joy, eager anticipation, forming expectations because of uncertainties, of happiness and longing, we can catch a glimpse of what Heaven is like. Beyond what our minds can ever imagine, and far beyond any human experiences we have and will ever have on this earth, in this lifetime, lies the joy and peace that is eternal, that lasts forever without end. There will be no more disappointment of having to take an airplane back to Singapore after an exhilarating holiday, preparing for the new school term. But as I have said, the joy and peace and excitement of Heaven is so great that there is nothing else on earth and in this lifetime that we can ever find, which can ever match up to this Heaven. Because it is when we have finally arrived in Heaven that we are forever in union with God, our Father and our Creator, who made us so that at the end of our lives, we may return to Him.

Yet, we know in our hearts the way to be humans, good human people. We know because our conscience is always at work (if we listen to it that is). To arrive at the unexplainable, indescribable joy and peace of the eternal life that awaits us in Heaven, we have to listen more to our conscience and let it guide our every thought, word and deed, everyday, choosing at all times to do good and to resist all temptations to do bad. If we do not guard ourselves and our hearts, then bad influences will seep into our hearts to stain it more and more. May we have the wisdom to choose always what is good and stand firm against what is bad.

God bless us all. 

24 August 2011, Wednesday

7.00am

1st Joyful Mystery - The Annunciation

THE FIRST JOYFUL MYSTERY OF THE HOLY ROSARY
THE ANNUNCIATION

The call of Mary to become a servant of God seemed to have begun "officially" at the Annunciation, when Angel Gabriel brought to her ears the message of God's favour and invitation to become the Mother of the Son of God. She must have been so stunned to hear such a message and more so, fearful of what these could all mean. Surely, she had no idea how all that the angel had said could be possible and how it will come about. But she sure knew what end awaited her if she had been found with child out of wedlock. What would her parents say? What would Joseph do since the child was not his? How was she going to face the community? How was she going to take on the heavy responsibility of being the MOTHER OF GOD, seemingly too harsh a burden for such a young, innocent, inexperienced and simple girl?

Yet, for such a simple and young girl, her obedience to God's Will, her complete trust in God's Providence and her love for God in refusing Him nothing that He asks for reveals the depth of the intimate relationship she shared with God, a relationship that not many have had in the past two millenniums.

Mary had not understood the fullness of God's plan for her and her Son, not even at the foot of the cross or as she beheld His cold and lifeless body. Till the very end, she never wavered in her faith in the God whom she believed would never fail her. And indeed, God never failed Mary. He took her, body and soul, into heaven, where she sits on her royal throne as Queen of Heaven. Today, we celebrate the Feast of Mary's Queenship.

What is God calling us to, each and every one of us? What are His dreams for us? How does He want us to live our lives, to relate to one another, to reflect the God whom He is in our lives, be it at home or at the work place? And how ready are we to say "yes" to Him, no matter what it is that He is asking of us? If someone was being selfish and caused us to be angry, and if we heard God's invitation to forgive and choose love instead of hatred, how willing are we to say, "Okay, Lord, for You, I will forgive"?

Should we respond in obedience, how pure is our "yes" to Him? Is it conditional, doing it to gain eternal life, to attract attention, or maybe to accumulate good deeds so that next time, God should also not refuse us our requests? The pureness of Mary's obedience to God founds itself in her love for God, which is in turn founded upon a personal relationship with God. Can we be obedient children of our Father, in spite of feeling unsure, unworthy, fearful, etc? Can we imitate Mary in her humble and trusting obedience to God's Will, to respond too, "Be it done unto me according to Thy Will"?

As we pray the first decade of the rosary, keep our thoughts on the first joyful mystery - the Annunciation, letting the scene of this divine call play in our minds with our hearts kept opened to allow the Holy Spirit, through the intercession of Mary, to pour out the graces we need to imitate Mary's obedience in our own response to God's divine call to living His Will in our everyday lives.

22 August 2011, Monday
9.59pm

Granting Our Desires

Today, a question was posed, "On a scale of 1 to 10, how much of our desires has God granted?"

While pondering upon this question, perhaps we could also ask ourselves what are our desires? What really, beyond all the superficial priorities in life, do we truly want for ourselves? Are we contented with what we have at the present moment or is there more we want? I think it brings us also to the question of what we can live without and what we cannot live without, what are our wants and what are our needs. What, then, are our real desires; desires that are, more often than not, hidden beyond our sight by the thick layers of societal influences that cause us distortions and distractions from the reality that lies at the deepest core of our hearts?

How often do we hear of people or even ourselves grumbling of a God who does not seem to care, a God who failed us, a God who does not answer when we call out to Him? We rate his "responsiveness" to our desires presented to Him on our wish-list as a 3 or 4 or even 1. Then, perhaps, we may like to consider, like mentioned above, what really are the things we ask God for because if He does not seem to be granting our desires, it would mean that our desires are not aligned to His. Where, then, are our hearts? Are they set in the right place so that our desires are one with His?

If we ask for a promotion or good grades for the exam, perhaps we may not get it. When did Jesus, in all His teachings, placed any importance to climbing up the corporate ladder and scoring well for the exams? If we ask for a smooth-sailing life, for an illness to be cured or for a period of hardship taken away from us, perhaps we may not get these that we want. When did Jesus, in all that He taught, revealed that a good life is one without pain and sufferings? If it was so, then Jesus must have lived a terribly bad life since His was a life of sufferings and selfless sacrifices.

But if we were to ask for the grace to forgive someone who hurt us deeply, will He not give? If we were to ask for the grace to love Him more deeply each day, to be more Christ-like in our dealings with others, will He not give? If we ask that in all we do each day, may God's Will be done and for His greater glory, will He not give? If we ask for the strength and trust to carry our daily crosses of hardships, struggles and sufferings, will He ignore? If we ask for the things that truly matter in God's eyes and make these our own desires, we can be sure that our "rating" for God's "responsiveness" to our desires will increase to a 9 or 10.

Jesus told us to seek first the Kingdom of God and all these other things will be given to us. God will, undoubtedly, grant our hearts' desires, if and only if our hearts are first set on Him. And before this can happen, we need wisdom, which is another grace to ask God for if this is what our heart truly desires. The ultimate fulfilment in life comes from living in union with God's Will for us, that which entails making His desires our own. God wants to give us the best and it is also in this "best" that He wants us to mature in our relationship with Him so that we may come to discover His will, His ways and be one with Him.

Do we have the courage to renounce the comfortable way of living we have long been accustomed to? Do we have the humility, wisdom and courage to acknowledge the we are not "right" all the time and then seek what God wants us to seek? What we think are essential in life may not be essential at all in God's eyes. Are we willing to accept and ponder on this possibility? Let us pray that God will grant us the wisdom and courage to question our own perceptions, beliefs and desires for the purpose of verification of how aligned they are to what God is really asking of us today. Let us also pray for the Holy Spirit's guidance.

30 July 2011, Saturday
11.33pm

A Discerning Life

For today's morning devotion @ Assembly

A group of fishermen took their fishing boat out to sea and when they had arrived at a far distance from shore, they cast their net into the deep ocean. The net gathered within its width many species of fishes. When it was filled, the fishermen drew the net up on board their boat. It was so heavy that the net almost broke apart! As the crew captain steered the boat back to shore, the other fishermen started to sort out their day’s catch. They emptied the net of fishes onto the floor board and began to sieve through the many fishes. Those that were of good sizes, they chose and kept them in a huge freezer, preserved until they can ship them to the market to sell at a high price. Those that were too small, they threw back into the sea. Those fishes that were unpopular and unwanted, they threw back into the sea for it would have been useless for them to keep these that people do not want to buy and will not bring in any income for these fishermen.

This story of the fishermen gives us a good lesson today of how we too need to live a discerning life. To live a discerning life means to live each day not as a matter of chance, of going through the motion of each day, taking everything as it comes. No. If sailors were to steer their ships in the same way as we leave our lives to a matter of chance and coincidence, no ship in this world will ever arrive at its planned destination. Living a discerning life, therefore, means that we have to be constantly making decisions every day. Decisions of how we want to behave, what we want to say, how we should say what we want to say, what we do to others, are just some of the more significant decisions we have to make each day. In addition, we are faced with many influences affecting us daily. At school, as a student, you are faced with simple but real decisions of whether or not to do your homework. You see a classmate copying his homework from another friend and you are tempted to follow because it is so easy to be lazy and not do your work. But, like the fishermen who choose the good from the bad fishes, you must also choose what is good and what is bad for you, deciding always to keep the good influences and throw out the bad. In this way, you can be sure that you are accumulating good values and treasures for your own life, and grow up to be a good person.

At school, as teachers, we make decisions each day too, perhaps, far more than our young pupils make daily. For example, we may find ourselves faced with a class of pupils who are very ill-disciplined and ill-behaved. On certain days, we find ourselves so tired and drained out from the work we do that does not ever seem to have any end. How do we bridge our responsibilities as teachers? We have to decide what is good and what is bad. We have to see that despite our tiredness, we are responsible to our pupils and with this, to choose to teach them good values.

Fishermen, as lowly educated as they may seem to us, know fully well the importance of picking and choosing their fishes. They know how to pick their fishes. As educated individuals, do we know how to balance our intelligence and character? So that our intelligence is not faring better than our characters because then, we are at risk of using our intelligence to bring harm to others. Do we see the need to make decisions of how we should live our lives? Are we wise enough to see and recognize the long term benefits of leading a discerning life? Let us ponder on these questions today. 

29 July 2011, Friday

9.13am

God Comes to Us

Yesterday's first reading tells us about Moses going to meet God in a Tent he pitched. There, God came to him in a pillar of cloud. The passage reads...

Exodus 33:7-10
Moses used to take the Tent and pitch it outside the camp, at some distance from the camp. He called it the Tent of Meeting. Anyone who had to consult Yahweh would go out to the Tent of Meeting, outside the camp. Whenever Moses went out to the Tent, all the people would rise. Every man would stand at the door of his tent and watch Moses until he reached the Tent; the pillar of cloud would come down and station itself at the entrance to the Tent, and Yahweh would speak with Moses.

The book of Exodus tells the happenings before Jesus came into our world. And in this short passage, we can realise that as the "pillar of cloud would come down and station itself at the entrance to the Tent" in the early days, so then did God Himself come down and stationed Himself in our world through the Person of Jesus, fully Human and fully God. In a society that is growing in intelligence, affluence and self-dependency, God is well aware of our need for a more concrete prove of His existence and infinite love for us. Our faith is increasingly challenged by the many fruitless analysis of circumstances and the need for logical explanations in the quest of being in control of our lives and beliefs. Yet, our infinitely patient God knows that left to our own strength, we can never ascend to Him. And as such, recognising and empathizing with the reality of who we are, He comes to us and this time, not as a pillar of cloud but as a human person Himself, real and fully present for others to witness. He let Himself be seen and revealed, thus, showing us the way back to our Father in the most explicit manner, made public for all those who lived in His earthly time.

We, the people belonging to the current generation, do not have the physical presence of Jesus in Person among us. However, God continues to come to us, to make Himself available for us readily, and to be stationed, this time, at the door of our hearts, knocking persistently until we finally open these doors to allow Him in. He stations Himself within our hearts permanently and unconditionally. He comes to us in the Sacraments of Holy Communion and Reconciliation, the former, allowing us to be renewed, nourished and strengthened by His own Body and Blood, and the latter, allowing also the graces of repentance, mercy and love, which make us whole again in the renewed desire to walk more fully in His ways.

It was God who came to the Israelites at the time of Moses;
It was God who came to the Jews by being born into the world;
And certainly, it is still this same God who comes to us today in many forms.

Moses went to the Tent to meet God, to consult Him, to communicate with Him and in so doing, was engaged with God in a mutual relationship of love. Do we, like Moses, go, pro-actively, to meet God in the Eucharist, in the Blessed Sacrament and in the Sacrament of Reconciliation? How frequently do we do so?  Let us take time to reflect and ask ourselves how God has come to us. Let us also learn the discipline of going to our place of meeting to meet Him personally, as frequently as we can. We pray for the graces to desire to meet God daily and to thank and praise Him for His initiative in coming to us and being so accessible to us.

Wednesday 27 July 2011
1.47am