Admixtures of Martha & Mary, 瑪爾大與瑪利亞的混合體

The Sixteenth Sunday, Year C
Theme: Admixtures of Martha & Mary, 瑪爾大與瑪利亞的混合體

The Parish Feast Day, July 16 fell on yesterday. For one, I have to assist in two different masses, the Feast Day Mass as well as the Ordinary Sunday Mass. The gospel readings are different: the wedding at Cana (John 2:1-10) for our Feast Day as well as Martha & Mary (Luke 10:38-42). This combination evoked an interesting meditation.

The gospel of Luke depicts a Blessed Virgin Mary who is both active and contemplative. Immediately after the Annunciation, Mary travelled in haste to a town in Judah to visit her needy cousin Elizabeth (1:39). No matter whether she wanted to verify Gabriel’s message or to help the elderly Elizabeth, Mary was active. The BVM is also well-known for keeping all things in her heart and reflecting on them (2:19, 51). She was contemplative. In the story of Martha and Mary, I see the two sides of one and the same Blessed Virgin Mary. I see the active Mary hasting to help Elizabeth in Martha and the contemplative Mary reflecting on things happening in her namesake. In the story of the wedding in Cana, we see an active Mary who sought the help from Jesus her son. We also see a contemplative Mary who was able to overcome the initial “disappointment” and to quickly grasp the Lord’s will. Subsequently, the BVM was able to direct the servants to listen to Jesus’ instructions (John 2:5).

The only reasonable conclusion I can come up with is that each and every one of us is an admixture of Martha and Mary of unique proportions. In other words, each and every one of us can be a BVM! Nobody is purely active or absolutely contemplative. There must be a bit of both in everybody. Sometimes, we need to go full speed ahead in order to meet deadlines and to get things done. Times and again, we need to go contemplative in order to recoup and recharge our energy. Therefore, in my reflection of the gospel text today, I see the perennial contradiction inside everybody, an internal tension between being active and being contemplative at the same time. For some people, being active wins the upper hand most of the time, while for others being contemplative.

We usually make the mistake of microscopic vision and read pieces of text out of context. For example, Jesus says, “There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.” (Luke 10:42) Then many of us would focus on “the better part” of Jesus’ defence for Mary against Martha and prematurely jump to the conclusion that contemplative life is better than active life. A better approach is to take into account as well the “only one thing”. What is this one thing which is good as a whole and there exists a “better part” within?

I suppose you would agree with me that “this one thing” is love which is absolutely good as a whole. As believers in God, not only do we know that God is love (1 John 4:8, 16), but we should also obey the two commandments of love He gave us to live by: “You shall love the Lord, your God, with your whole heart, and with you whole being, and with your whole strength, and with all your mind, and love your neighbour as yourself” (Luke 10:27, Deuteronomy 6:5, Leviticus 19:18). Both Martha and Mary were showing their love to Lord Jesus but in different manners. Even though Jesus employs the word “better” in the gospel passage today, I’m sure He appreciates the loves shown in two different flavours by the two sisters. Let me assure you again. Jesus appreciates the love shown by both of them. Since Martha complained (Luke 10:40), therefore Jesus took the opportunity to assure her that she has done a great job in her anxieties and concerns for all the hospitality details (10:41). After all, this is her unique personality. Martha would not have been Martha had she not taken care of those hospitality details. Indeed, she has already fulfilled the “love your neighbour as yourself” commandment! On the other hand, Mary has chosen the “better part”, viz. loving the Lord her God with her whole heart, and with her whole being, and with her whole strength, and with her all her mind! As long as Lord Jesus is there, nobody will take this away from Mary!

Put it in another way. It is not a matter of deciding which is better, being active or being contemplative. No, both are required in obeying the two commandments of love. We cannot love God with a contemplative approach alone, arguing that “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in Spirit and truth” (John 4:24) because the same John exhorts that “For whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen” (1 John 4:20). We must love God with both active and contemplative approaches together. Through loving the visible needy neighbour, we love the invisible God who is Spirit.
On the other hand, loving our neighbour in an active approach alone without a contemplative support, Christian charity is no different from social welfare! In fact, there is always a danger of turning Christian charity into social welfare by forgetting the contemplative side of love. We deacons are prone to such stumbling blocks in our diverse diaconate ministries. We focus too much on services without seeking God’s will! I’m sure many of the laity associations in the diocese such as Lay Prison Evangelical Organization, Legion of Mary, St. Vincent de Paul Society and The Community of Sant’ Egidio etc., to name a few, would easily fall prey to the temptation of being exclusively active in practice!

Brethren! Both the Blessed Virgin Mary and the sister of Martha remind us of the importance of staying focused on the better part of the one necessary thing, viz. loving God with our whole being. Like them, we should listen to the word of the Lord all the time. Of course, we may encounter Him in daily bible studies. But don’t forget, the good Lord also speaks to us through the people we meet and serve as well as incidents that happen to us in our daily life. Be attentive to the movements of the Holy Spirit. I’m sure you’ll be able to “sit beside the Lord at His feet listening to Him speak” (Luke 10:39)!
God bless!
2019 Reflection
Picture Credit: brokenbelievers.com

God Turns Evil Into Good天主化腐朽為神奇

Fifteen Ordinary Sunday, Year C
Theme: God Turns Evil Into Good天主化腐朽為神奇

God is God because He turns evil into good. Without His continuous sustention, I’m afraid the known universe would have degraded to chaos long long time ago! We were created in the image of God and are creatures only. The best we are capable of doing is to preserve and develop what has been given us. We have to accept the reality that we’re not the Creator and are unable to make something out of nothing. Regrettably, when humanity has lost their original graces, in other words, when the Original Sin contaminates everybody without exception, we’re making a mess out of God’s creation. Most of the time, we turn good into bad and from bad into evil!

For example, God gave us intelligence and rationality. We might make use of them to discover God, His wonders and His love. Moreover, we might make use of them to improve our lives, to modify our living environment so that we’re able to enjoy greater convenience and to generate more wealth. Not only are our scientific and technological achievements getting better but we are also able to breakthrough limitations, sending probes into the outer space and men to the moon or editing our own genes. Our life-expectancy is lengthening and we’re exterminating previously incurable diseases etc. However, while we’re enjoying our convenience and prosperity, we do so at the expense of our environment. We’re choking and suffocating our Mother Earth with our pollutions. Unfortunately, there is a price to pay, not by ourselves but by people living down-streams, namely our neighbour next-door and our children of future generations!

A Chinese aphorism goes like this, “To go beyond is as wrong as to fall short 過猶不及” (The Analects, Xian Jin). We have a tendency to overdo. Take the example of the first miracle of Jesus at Cana. “Jesus told the servers, ‘Fill the jars with water.’ So they filled them to the brim.” (John 2:7) Jesus didn’t tell them to fill the jars to the brim, did Jesus? I could imagine Jesus shaking His head in disbelief how lack of faith people were! While Jesus stayed there, surely He would continue to multiply the wine whenever it ran short even if all those jars were half-filled in the beginning! Of course the servers had no idea what Jesus was capable of doing. Therefore, it was understandable that they filled the jars as fully as possible. Who could blame them for overdoing?

But let’s consider one more example. God gave us the Mosaic laws as guidelines for our daily life. He expects us to make use of the Ten Commandments to find our way back to Him. However, instead of using the Law to help us do good, the enemies of Jesus made use of the Law to pass judgment on Jesus, accusing Him of curing the sick on Sabbath! They turned the Law into a weapon for condemning people instead of building up people. Nowadays, we see similar things happening in the Catholic Church. Haven’t you heard of the arguments AGAINST receiving the Holy Communion in hands? Some Catholics insist that such a manner is impious and even blasphemous! They have forgotten Jesus’ teachings in various gospel passages, such as Matthew 7:1 and John 4:23. In short, we were created in the image of God and we enjoy playing God and passing judgment on others. In so doing, we overstep our being creatures! Let’s bear in mind that there’s a price to pay when people overdo. For example, God allowed the Assyrians to chasten the idolatrous Israelites (Isaiah 10:6). Yet the Assyrians overdid and were in turn punished by God (10:12).

On the other hand, God came to turn useful the messes created by us. For example, out of greed or perhaps ambition, Caesar Augustus decreed a census (Luke 2:1). God made use of this ‘evil’ to fulfil a prophecy: That the Saviour would be born in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:6). Moreover, astrology had always been an ‘evil’ in the eyes of the Jews but God made use of it to lead the Magi from the East to seek the newly born Jewish king! The adoration of the Magi opened the mind of Jewish Christians to accept Gentiles into the Church. Of course the path was not a smooth one. The Apostles had to convoke a Jerusalem Council to settle the issue (Acts 15). In Church history, the Reformation was an unlucky and evil event no matter which side you’re on. Many people were killed in wars between the Catholic countries and Protestant countries. Within Catholic countries, many Protestants were martyred and vice versa. However, without Reformation, the Catholic Church would have remained complacent and European. She would have continued enjoying her security in a comfort zone built up in previous centuries. Peoples in the America’s, Africa and the Far East might not have the opportunity to listen to the liberating gospel of Jesus! Of course, the missionary history is not free from scandals. Reading these stories, how can we not be humble before our Creator?

Humility is always in short supply. Take a look at the gospel story today. A scholar of the Law stood up to test Jesus (Luke 10:25)! In his eyes, Jesus was an enemy and this hostility blinded the scholar of the true identity of Jesus, the supreme Giver and Teacher of the Law! Despite this, Jesus turns this challenge into a teaching occasion and leaves behind the famous parable of the Good Samaritan for our benefit! With this parable, Jesus hopes to save the scholar from his egocentrism. It is wrong to ask “Who is my neighbour?” (10:28) because all of us are our brothers’ keepers (Genesis 4:19). We should put on their shoes and feel from their perspective. “Who is the neighbour to the robbers’ victim?” (Luke 10:36) is the right question to ask. Jesus has demonstrated it well. He had compassion on the scholar and was able to see and feel from the scholar’s intention, how eagar the scholar wanted to trap Him. With compassion for all humanity, whether they are likeable or unlikeable, Jesus was able to jump out of the box to help the scholar turn around. Jesus did not reason with the scholar in logic and words alone. He won the scholar over by showing the scholar compassion, just like the good Samaritan who showed compassion to the injured enemy. Jesus teaches in words and deeds.

Brethren! Learn from Jesus. Have compassion on even unlikeable people. We’ll never overdo to have compassion on the others. Even if we’re incapable of following Jesus’ exemplar, at least we should heed the advice of St. Paul, “Have the same regard for one another; do not be haughty but associate with the lowly; do not be wise in your own estimation. Do not repay anyone evil for evil; be concerned for what is noble in the sight of all. If possible, on your part, live at peace with all.” (Romans 12:16-18)
God bless!
2019 Reflection
Picture Credit: wikipedia

Why Pray to Master of Harvest to Send Labourers? 為甚麼求莊稼的主人派遣工人來收割？

Fourteenth Ordinary Sunday, Year C
Theme: Why Pray to Master of Harvest to Send Labourers? 為甚麼求莊稼的主人派遣工人來收割？

On the last few days, the Permanent Deacons went to their annual retreat. The theme of this retreat is “To discern the Diaconate Vocation and to understand how to assist parishioners discerning the will of God in our ministry”, a very broad and grand theme indeed. We were given five passages to meditate as a warm up. The next day, we met our spiritual directors who would assign further passages for meditation according to the movements of our spirit. Mine turns around the theme of “Judgment”. Superficially, it is not much related to the theme of retreat. However, on a second thought, it enriches the main theme.

Among the last batch of texts for meditation is Matthew 9:35-38. It mentions of Jesus’ compassion towards the distressed crowd which looked like sheep without a shepherd. Fair enough, as a sign of the servant role of the Church in the world, we deacons should have compassion. From the text, we learn that Jesus taught the crowd, cured them of their illnesses and subsequently even fed them. This is Jesus’ judgment understood as salvation. Whoever desires and welcomes Him, Jesus would naturally show them compassion and deliver salvation. But Jesus came and disrupted the status quo which was a comfort zone for many. Comfort zones cut many people’s connection with God away. In trying to shake up the status quo, Jesus made many enemies who were hostile and actively sought evidences and opportunities to eliminate Him. Yet, Jesus still showed them mercy and tried patiently to win them over while preserving their faces and dignity. Jesus is merciful and embraces all shades of sinners. This is His justice. This is His judgment/salvation.
In a similar manner, we deacons should preach the gospel to all sorts of people with patience like Jesus, heal the vulnerable and give people hope. In this way, we’re simply doing what the Lord requires of us: “Only to do justice and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8b), one of the warm-up readings.

I think it is no coincidence that the second half of the meditation text resurfaces in the gospel text today. Now that I have given up most of my charity ministries, what remain are ministries at the altar and of the Word. I enjoy writing web pages and computer programs these days to make the Bible relevant in the modern world. Have I departed from the right path? The merciful Lord wants me to delve deeper on my diaconate vocation with this piece of text. So, allow me to suspend judgment for the moment and meditate on the text first.
“The harvest is abundant but the labourers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out labourers for his harvest.” (Matthew 9:38, Luke 10:2) The text is puzzling and questions naturally arise. Why do we ask/pray to the master/God to send labourers for His harvest in the first place? The harvest is His. He would definitely send labourers for the harvest, wouldn’t He? It’s illogical NOT to send. He would not allow His harvest to rot or allow robbers to plunder/destroy His harvest, would He? Surely He has His schedule of sending labourers. Who are we to force the hand of the Master?

Let’s consider the harvest. If the Master respects the freedom and will of His harvest and would not force any of them into His barn, then we should also respect the will of His harvest and should not impose our good will on them by sending out labourers to harvest, shouldn’t we?

We should also consider the labourers. The Master should not impose His will on the would-be labourers as well. Of course, the Master would put up a classified ad, enumerating the wages and benefits and lay down the job description. Those who want to join would apply.

There are two very probable outcomes: Those who respond might eye the benefits only and might not be interested in the well-being of the harvest, especially when the Church is popular and powerfully established. On the other hand, those who genuinely care about the well-being of the harvest might feel that they don’t meet the qualification. Therefore, ordinary advertisements are not appropriate. Jesus put up a classified ad which surely will filter away the candidates He is not looking for. Pray to the Master of the harvest. In so doing, you show your genuine care of the harvest and you do not come to steal fame and power. What about those who do not meet the minimum requirement of becoming a clergy or missionary? Brethren! Is there any minimum requirement? Have you forgotten the story of the poor widow who offered up two brass coins in the Temple? Have you not understood God’s MO? He likes to elevate the poor and the weak to humiliate the haughty and the powerful.

Why do you, and not others, care? I think the prayer is an awakening of what your true identity/mission is. “Before birth, the Lord called me, from my mother’s womb, He gives me my name” (Isaiah 49:1) “But when God, who from my mother’s womb had set me apart and called me through his grace, was pleased” (Galatians 1:15) Before the creation of the known universe, God had written a script for you. He sets you apart and calls you to accomplish a mission. Through your prayer/discernment, you awake to your true mission. When I look back, I realize that the people I met helped unfold my final destiny as a deacon. My cousin and the evangelization van which offered free medical services opened my life to Christianity. My alma mater and Fr. Tapella, PIME planted in my heart the seed of mercy and service etc. You will know when you hear your name called. The events are unique because each one of us is unique. In fact, I had thought about becoming a priest in the early years of my baptism. But I was not able to let go. So I promised God, “Let me love more before I respond to the priestly vocation.” I don’t think I knew the gravity of what I said to God. Read 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a and substitute every “love” with “God”. Then you’ll know.

Brethren! When you care, you pray. Then you’re elected a labourer, a servant and a deacon to meet the needs of the depressed crowd! Do what Jesus does: teach them, heal them, feed them and do whatever you do best! Have no fear for your poverty because it is the Holy Spirit who shall speak and work through you.
Dear Lord! I’m sorry that I have wasted the efforts and time of organizers of the last few retreats because I could not let go. I thank You for helping me let go during this one. The two thousand plus dollar price tag is nothing. I’m free from bondage and am able to savour the graces infused in this retreat.
Lord, the Internet and the social media are an abundant harvest. These technologies have become a necessity, not a luxury for modern people. Here is a field of abundant harvest, an uncharted West to explore and to evangelize. Lord, help me venture into this turf to populate it with signs of your presence and of your mercy. Amen.
2019 Reflection
Picture Credit:stceceliachurch.org

Let the Dead Bury Their Dead 任憑死人去埋葬自己的死人

Thirteenth Ordinary Sunday, Year C
Theme: Let the Dead Bury Their Dead 任憑死人去埋葬自己的死人

The first impression, which one gets from Jesus’ reply to the second aspirant in the gospel reading today, is rather offensive. We should give the man a benefit of doubt that his father had actually died. Then how could Jesus be so insensible to the filial piety of a man towards his father?
Let’s put the incident in context. Jesus had made the second prediction of His imminent Passover and started heading towards Jerusalem. His movements were closely monitored by the Jewish Sanhedrin as well as the crowd. Everybody was anxiously anticipating the coming of the Messiah. John the Baptist had been a likely candidate but he had openly denied (Luke 3:15-16). Then Jesus came along like a whirlwind with miracles and authoritative teachings. In the eyes of the contemporary Jews, Jesus of Nazareth would most likely be the Anointed One! That probably explains why some people, very likely opportunists, ventured to follow Him. Jesus did not reject them outright but clearly advised them to weigh soberly the costs and benefits of following Him (14:26-33). So He told the first aspirant, “Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.” (9:58)

The third aspirant also wanted to follow Jesus but added a condition: “I will follow you, Lord, but let me say farewell to my family at home.” (9:61) Well, that looked pretty good because he seemed to be determined to cut off his family ties for good. The first reading today tells a similar story about Elisha whom Elijah threw his cloak on him to make Elisha a prophet to succeed him (1 Kings 19:16, 19). Elisha left his twelve pairs of oxen and requested Elijah to allow him to say farewell to his parents and Elijah consented (19:20) But Jesus told the third aspirant, “No one who sets a hand to the plough and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:62) Jesus seemed to be more demanding than Elijah and again being insensible. But on a second thought, we find that Jesus had not forbidden the aspirant from saying farewell to his family. He simply and mildly reminded the aspirant not to look back after saying farewell. Otherwise, the aspirant would be carrying a burden which would hinder his mission in the kingdom of God. Neither did Jesus disapprove Elijah’s action of allowing Elisha to return home to say farewell. It was because Elisha slaughtered the oxen, used the ploughing equipment for fuel to boil their flesh and gave it to the people to eat. Then he followed Elijah as his attendant. (1 Kings 19:21) Elisha had set a very clear example of total cut-off from the past for all would-be Christians.

It’s high time we turned to the second aspirant. Actually, that person was not yet an aspirant. Among the three, he did not take the opportunity to approach Jesus to show his intention of becoming a disciple. It was Jesus who took the initiative to call him. Of course, the Lord is always the one who initiates the call. Our vocation originates from Him. He once says, “It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain.” (John 15:16) Perhaps the person was not yet ready and he politely declined Jesus’ invitation. “Lord, let me go first and bury my father.” (Luke 9:59). It didn’t matter whether the father was still alive and the person made use of his father as an excuse to decline Jesus’ invitation. When a person is not ready, he is not ready and Jesus respects our freedom however stupid our decisions are. He would and could never impose His will upon us. Therefore, perhaps we have misunderstood Jesus’ intended meaning of “Let the dead bury their dead. But you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God” (9:60) and blamed Him for being insensible to the person’s filial piety to his father. Let us meditate further.

In my meditation, I see that it is a choice between life and death! The potential aspirant focused on his filial responsibility but Jesus lay before him a choice between life, i.e. to proclaim the kingdom of God, and death, i.e. to fulfil his filial responsibility in this case. But you may object. You may think that at most, it is a choice between a good and a better good. How can it be a choice between life and death?
Alas! Woe to us who have spent so lengthy a time in a stinking environment that we are no longer able to smell the disgusting odour anymore. As a Chinese aphorism goes, “Like living inside a warehouse of dried abalone, one doesn’t smell the stink after some time!” It is a temptation to lower our alert and get used to slow poisoning of life!

Don’t take me wrong. Filial piety is not evil but whenever we push something good to the extreme or to the exclusion of a better good or the common good, virtues can become stumbling blocks. For example, in ancient China, encouraging widows to remain celibate was good for the purpose of advocating chastity in a community and raising its moral milieu. It was edifying for the community as a whole. However, when it is pushed to the extreme, morality becomes oppressive instead of edifying, and chastity becomes a smothering death and is evil. Tradition is NOT always good. When it becomes “man-eating” instead of “soul-building”, tradition is evil and it has become a tradition of the dead for the dead.
Let’s take a look at the gospels to see how men turned tradition into man-eating. The first Psalms advises people not to stay in the company of the wicked. It lays before the readers a choice between life and death. “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in company with scoffers. Rather, the law of the Lord is his joy; and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted near streams of water …” (Psalms 1:1-3) However, the Jewish authority accused Jesus of dining with tax-collectors and sinners (Luke 5:30). Take another example. The tradition of Sabbath observance celebrates the liberation of humanity from slavery. It is good and edifying. But out of jealousy, Jewish authority made use of this tradition to accuse Jesus of breaching Moses’ law when Jesus cured on Sabbath days! Which is edifying, curing illnesses or observing Sabbath?

In ancient times, Chinese emperors advocated filial piety because of its corollary: loyalty to the emperor! Filial piety was pushed to the extreme so that absolute obedience, even to death, was demanded of children and court officials. One of the ten unpardonable crimes is filial impiety! Was this soul-building or man-eating? Judge for yourself. Was this a tradition of life or of death?
On the other hand, in the kingdom of God, everyone enjoys the freedom of full manifestation of his image of God which has been tarnished by sins in this world. Everybody is able to develop his God-given potentials to the full. Therefore, the expansion of the kingdom of God will liberate more souls. When Christians proclaim the kingdom of God, they are discharging their kingship which was conferred them in baptism. It is edifying and should occupy the topmost priority in the Christian agenda.

For the Son of God and all Christians, death is not an annihilation but the portal to eternal life. We still bury our dead in a dignified manner for the corpse, remembering how the corruptible body has been spent in glorifying God. Our funerals are edifying for the living, reminding them of our ultimate destination --- our Creator and Father. Then, we are not “the dead burying their dead”. Once again, Jesus is warning us of the temptation of turning good into evil and laying before us a choice of life and death.
Brethren! Which choice is the wise one? We agree that choosing life is rewarding but perseverance in life-building is extremely difficult. Let’s invoke the Holy Spirit to give us the strength to follow God’s call. Amen.
God bless!
2019 Reflection
Picture Credit: twitter.com

How To Love Each Other As Christ Has Loved Us? 怎樣有如基督彼此相愛？



The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, Year C
Theme: How To Love Each Other As Christ Has Loved Us? 怎樣有如基督彼此相愛？

Jesus Christ, the Son of God is Himself a Sacrament, the embodiment of God’s love. He is the visible sign of the invisible Father. He pours out the invisible graces of the Father in a concrete and tangible manner. Whatever He does, He does it to manifest the mercy and love of the Father towards humanity, in particular towards the poor and the needy. For example, the miracle of five loaves and two fish we read today (Luke 9:11b-17). He began with preaching the kingdom of God and healing the sick (9:11b). Then He fed the hungry crowd of 5000 men with five loaves and two fish (9:16-17). During the Last Supper, He consecrated bread and wine to be His own body and blood which He left behind for us to offer to God the most acceptable perfect sacrifice. Then, He was crucified, died and was buried in a new tomb which belonged to somebody else. He did this in order to repay all the debts of the whole humanity in the past, the present and in the ages to come in the future. He is able to do this because He is the Son of God.
Jesus Christ is the Son of God and is thus omnipotent. Of course He is able to love us through teaching us the truth, healing us of our illnesses and frailties, feeding us physically as well as spiritually and even being killed on the cross for us to redeem us of all our sins. During the Last Supper, He gave Christians a new Commandment on top of the precepts and Commandments of the Old Covenant. “I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.” (John 13:34) But we’re mere creatures and mortals. What are we that are able to work miracles like Him?

Probably we should understand the meaning of “miracles” better. Miracles are signs of God’s presence but they are not necessarily earth shaking, mountain shattering or sea/river dividing like crossing the Red Sea. Take a look at the experience of Elijah who encountered God on Mount Horeb. God was not found in strong and violent wind, nor crushing rocks, nor earthquake nor fire but in a light silent sound (1 Kings 19:11-12) Of course, Jesus has worked some spectacular miracles in public such as calming the sea and driving daemons into two thousand pigs which jumped to their death over the cliff. But most of the time, the miracles worked by Jesus were not exciting at all: e.g. changing water into wine, healing lepers, the blind, cursing a barren fig-tree and consecrating bread and wine to become His body and blood etc. They were mostly personal and took place in small groups of people. Nevertheless, all miracles are signs showing God’s presence and mercy. With this understanding, when we show God’s presence and mercy, we are working miracles too. Let’s meditate.

It’s easy for us to see mistakes in others and in ourselves. We’re very alert to others’ faults because they might affect our benefits. We feel insecure and do whatever we can to protect ourselves. We enjoy playing God in passing judgments on others. Therefore, it is very difficult for us to forgive. On the other hand, we’re alert to our own faults when we want to evade responsibilities. Suddenly, we become humble and tell others that we’re inadequate to accomplish. But what does God’s mercy mean? God wants to edify. God wants to see us fully actualize our potentials which have been tarnished and smothered by the Original Sin. That’s why God is eager to forgive our sins. God shows mercy in NOT counting our trespasses. Through the prophets, He says, “Do I find pleasure in the death of the wicked? Do I not rejoice when they turn from their evil way and live?” (Ezekiel 18:23) That is why God is patient and is forgiving. Can Christians be patient and forgiving? Of course we can. Jesus has made it clear when He says, “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” (Luke 6:36) Though patience and forgiveness are in short supply, with the help of the Holy Spirit, Christians can.
We have heard enough “To err is human and to forgive is divine”. But aren’t Christians supposed to be saints? Aren’t they called to be saints? It is our call to sanctify ourselves as well as the others.
Take a look of living things around us. Without exception, all living things, whether material or spiritual, will adapt themselves to the surrounding environment. Otherwise, they perish! But the adaption is NOT passive. Times and again, we aggressively modify the environment to make it more habitable and comfortable. Therefore, it is paramount to evangelize so as to create a more Christian environment conductive to the practice and growth of our Christian faith. St. Paul, an exemplar of evangelization, has this to say, “We are ambassadors for Christ, as if God were appealing through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” (2 Corinthians 5:20) It is our mission to reconcile with ourselves, with others and with God. We make our lives difficult if we are complacent and if we give a million excuses NOT to reconcile! Actually, we don’t have the strength to forgive others. That’s why when we say in the Lord’s Prayer “… as we forgive our debtors” (Matthew 6:12b), we are actually invoking the Holy Spirit to grant us strength to forgive and thus to reconcile! Let’s keep ourselves open to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit because in showing mercy, we’re showing God’s presence. In short, we are working miracles.

Still, how do we love each other as Christ has loved us? Christ is more than being altruistic. He gives us His life and dies on the cross to repay all our debts. Not all of us are ready to die a martyrdom!
Once again like miracles, martyrdom doesn’t have to be bloody, heroic and spectacular. Of course, Jesus was crucified, died and was buried so that we sinners may have life. But He doesn’t have to die uncountable number of times in order to achieve our redemption. Moreover, He left behind the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, a non-bloody, non-spectacular and non-violent way to “die” in order to enrich our lives. Therefore, whenever we sacrifice our time, our strength and even our health so that others’ lives might become better, we’re are doing exactly what the Holy Eucharist does.
During the Lenten Season, the Church encourages us to abstain and fast. In refusing to eat, we are able to spare the food to feed the hungry. We literally give up a part of our live so that other may have lives. The example of organ donation is an even clearer illustration. A donor loses an organ which continues to live in the recipient’s body to improve and even sustain his life. Isn’t this a miracle also?

Brethren! We work miracles and we ourselves are miracles when we share our lives so that others may live better. We don’t have to be as heroic as soldiers defending and even dying for their home countries. All of us are able to work miracles to show God’s presence and mercy. The Father must be happy to see us reconcile the world to Him.
God bless!
2016 Reflection
Picture Credit:stmargaretmary.org

Can Modern People Accept Better? 現代人更能接受這奧蹟嗎？

Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, Year C
Theme: Can Modern People Accept Better? 現代人更能接受這奧蹟嗎？

The Blessed Trinity is one of the two fundamental articles of faith of Christianity. If one does not confess that God is Three Persons in One and that Jesus Christ is both divine and human at the same time, he cannot claim to be a Christian even if he knows the Bible from cover to cover and is able to quote correctly the biblical passages to prove his opinions. These two articles of faith have been settled within roughly the first five centuries of the existence of the Church. The Church humbly admits that this article of faith is a truth beyond her understanding. She calls it a “mystery” which needs the support of faith to supplement the inadequacy of rationality.

Christians believe in one God. This much they share with Judaism and Islam. However, the God they believe in is more complicated, in the sense that there are THREE PERSONS IN THE ONE GOD. How did Christians come up with such a strange idea? It is agreed among scholars that human beings have a sense of mystery and religions answer to this call to mystery. Usually, anything unknown was taken to be a deity. That was pantheism. Gradually, these deities took on personalities and each specializes in a particular area, such as fertility and war. This is polytheism. Among the deities, a hierarchy was established. There is a Lord of the lords and God of the gods. Monotheism is established. Some social scientists are even able to correlate this evolution with the evolution of societies. Judaism as a sole worship of Yahweh was a victory over polytheism in the Middle East! Therefore, the emergence of a THREE-IN-ONE God within Judaism was destabilizing and heretical, to say the least.

Christians claim that this is a revelation from Jesus Christ, their Lord who is the Second Person of God, i.e. the Son of God. This is more than an evolution but a paradigm shift, a fundamental change in the perception and interpretation of the relationship between God and sinners. At first, Christians found themselves persecuted by Jews who thought that Christians were heretics who believed in three gods. At the same time, Christians became scapegoats in the Roman Empire because they were perceived as atheists who refused to worship the Roman deities, thus bringing defeats and diseases to the Empire! In the first three centuries of their emergence, early Christians survived these persecutions. Many converts were intelligentsia of the age and they tried to explain their faith in terms understandable to the contemporary. At last, a time came when a Caesar found Christianity beneficial to the empire and it became an imperial religion. Roman Empires came and vanished until a Max Weber came along. He saw Christianity provide a hotbed for the emergence of Capitalism! Then are industrial and informational societies receptive to Christianity?

More than 17 centuries have elapsed since the first Nicaea Council and nowadays in every Sunday mass, we recite the Creed which reads, “I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible … I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages. God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father; through him all things were made … I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified …” Is this narrative adequate for modern people? Are modern people more capable to accept the idea of the Blessed Trinity?

First of all, modern people have difficulty accepting a Creator. They have been baptized by scientific education and prefer objective repeatable observations using mechanical/electromagnetic instruments to subjective mythical explanations. They have no problem visualizing invisible atoms and subatomic particles with strange spins and colours. Yet, they cannot accept an external PERSONALITY on the other side as one of the variables in their equations! However, quantum mechanics challenges their understanding of reality. It is because every particle is a wave function, a probability. No matter how hard a scientist tries to measure accurately one property of a subatomic particle, he has to give up the accuracy of another property. There is an uncertainty which no objective measurement is able to overcome. Moreover, all possible states exist at the same time until an observation collapses all of them into one of the states. Modern people have to accept the paradox that the Schrödinger's Cat is both dead and undead before you observe it!
On the macro level, gravity is able to bend both space and time. Black holes are discovered and perhaps even worm holes, such that it might be possible to travel back and forth in time if we were able to survive the gravity of black holes. All of us are familiar with three spatial dimensions plus a dimension of time. But in order to solve all these relativistic and quantum equations, physicists propose the existence of at least seven more dimensions on top of the four dimensions we know. Perhaps Yahweh is a Being capable of travelling freely in all these dimensions …

All these scientific advances have enlarged our horizon. But it breeds a lot of pseudo-scientific speculations which lack substantial evidence. There arose best-sellers portraying God as aliens living in other dimensions, landing on earth or other habitable planets to seed them with humanoid civilizations; movies exploring our existence within virtual reality or multiverses; social media creating metaverses for our interactions and transactions etc. Rigorous scientific research is in short supply when money is involved.
On the optimistic side, Trinity is no longer a mystery despite the fact that, or even because God is infinite. It is because one infinity plus one infinity plus one more infinity is still one infinity! In the end, one plus one plus one can be ONE! It is not offensive any more to talk about three-in-one. Biologists are able to edit genes and DNA’s and what not. Artificial intelligence is able to defeat Chess and even Go Grand-masters. These techniques are now forcing us to question ourselves what makes human beings human. Is our rationality, or our morality, or our spirituality able to define our humanity? We need a better narrative than “the image and likeness of God” (Genesis 1:26) to distinguish us from animals and robots. In a similar manner, the concept of consubstantiality, the miracles of Jesus, transubstantiation, His ascension, His pledge to be present in the Holy Eucharist, among the needy and among the believers are easier to understand nowadays!

So far, best-sellers come and go. Media are able to generate short-lived hypes only. Up until now, only the narrative put forth by Jesus Christ seems to be the easiest to grasp. The THREE-IN-ONE God is a communion of love. In the simplest formula of John, “God is love” (1 John 4:8) Had God been an alien which harvests resources from our world, why would this alien not have simply siphoned energy off the sun directly? The hypothesis of multiverse seems promising except that no information is able to cross over from one universe to another. In other words, there is no way to prove or refute such a hypothesis. That is unacceptable for positivist science. Alas, nowadays, anything goes.

Brethren! Had Christ been crucified in this universe, the theory of multiverse tells us that the stories would have been totally different ones in other parallel universes in which alternative choices had been made. We should count ourselves blessed to have a merciful Father who sent His only begotten Son to be crucified for the repentance of and reconciliation with sinners, and together they sent the Holy Spirit to sustain them …
May the Blessed Trinity of Christianity be glorified forever and ever. Amen.
2019 Reflection

A Tree is Known by its Fruit 憑樹的果子把它認出來

Pentecost, Year C
Theme: A Tree is Known by its Fruit 憑樹的果子把它認出來

St. Luke the Evangelist writes, “A good tree does not bear rotten fruit, nor does a rotten tree bear good fruit. For every tree is known by its own fruit.” (Luke 6:43-44a)
Christians are supposed to be spiritual persons. Catholic adults are supposed to have received the Sacrament of Confirmation, i.e. the Holy Spirit has been conferred on them. Therefore, people should be able to find the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit, viz. love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Galatians 5:22-23) in the lives of practicing Catholics. These nine fruits are targets towards which Christians strive to lead their lives. They are yardsticks that measure how successful Christians are leading their lives. Unless Christians know what these fruits are, their lives would be like boats sailing aimlessly across the oceans without a rudder, not knowing which direction to go. At this Feast of the Pentecost, it is high time we examined these nine fruits in greater detail.

While I was searching the Internet to gather interesting materials for a short reflection session for Sunday School students who are going to receive Confirmation, I came across short video clips by Bishop Boyea of the Diocese of Lansing. He made use of Biblical characters to illustrate the effects of the seven gifts and nine fruits of the Holy Spirit. Though his target audience were adults and his stance was traditional, he was dynamic and passionate. So, I’ll summarize his points in the following report.

For the fruit of Love, Bishop Boyea chose the story of Aquila and Priscilla in the Acts of the Apostles. Through baptism, Christians have already started their lives along the theological virtue of charity. So, this fruit of love is not something extra, but is rather the Holy Spirit prompting us into concrete acts of love. The way this couple helped Paul and Apollos illustrates three aspects of love prompted by the Holy Spirit. Firstly, the Holy Spirit helps Christians make charity a commitment and stick to it. It is a love strong enough to sacrifice oneself for the others. Lastly, it is a love that seek the good of the others rather than for ourselves. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_5Wb2yoEsY)

For the fruit of Joy, Bishop Boyea put it in the context of sufferings and chose the life of Jesus to illustrate. Jesus is most filled with joy when He faced crucifixion and death on the cross because He was doing the Father’s will. One is joyful when one lives well and acts well even in the face of trials in life! It’s God’s will that we make ourselves a gift for the others, to give ourselves away for the needy. The world hates this and therefore we are in trouble. The Holy Spirit helps us go through sufferings with joy by focusing on the others. He helps us see the way God works, thus finding meanings even in chaos and disasters. Lastly, the Holy Spirit gives us confidence in living Jesus’ way because Jesus has already won the world! God is on our side even though the world looks powerful. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOB0dmpLCAI)

For the fruit of Peace, Bishop Boyea chose Jeremiah to illustrate. We shall be at peace when we are living in a right relationship with God and with the others. First of all, we cannot have true peace by ignoring sins. We need to leave our sinful ways behind before we can have genuine peace. This applies to both individuals and countries. Secondly, doing and embracing God’s will against the world is never easy, unless we have great faith in our relationship with God who is almighty. Only the Holy Spirit can inspire such a confidence and perseverance in us. Then, our peace shall be genuine. Lastly where there is no justice, there is no peace. Thus, we need to be just and loving to all others, from the least to the greatest. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTQyOWzsqKQ)

For the fruit of Patience, Bishop Boyea chose the story of Jonah who was a biased prophet and did not want to see the Assyrians, their conquerors, convert and receive God’s mercy! We shouldn’t be impatient with God’s patience. The fruit of patience helps us NOT to give up on one another, not even our enemies. We need patience to figure out God’s plan in the lives of all of us and to accept God’s patience with His people. Secondly the Holy Spirit helps us rejoice in the conversion of the others. After all, God does not want to see the wicked demise. Lastly, the Holy Spirit helps us see in God’s eye. We tend to play God and judge the others. No. Only God is God. Only God can judge our conscience. Be patient and open to God’s will and God’s time, waiting for God’s grace to change men’s hearts. There is a time for everything! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6q7bOvJCmY)

Ruth exemplifies the fruit of Kindness. She had no obligation to return to Israel with Naomi, her widowed mother-in-law. Her kindness is epitomized in this line, “Wherever you go I will go, wherever you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people and your God, my God. Where you die I will die, and there be buried.” (Ruth 1:16-17) Kindness focuses on the good of the others. We’re keepers of our brothers (Genesis 4:19) and thus we should be loyal to each other. It is a duty for us to be kind to each other. Secondly, the Holy Spirit helps us identify with the poor to make it easier for us to show kindness to each other. Lastly, the Holy Spirit helps us go beyond the minimum to do what God would do, to be kind in abundance. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5T3e_ajvDs)

Bishop Boyea uses the story of the rich young man who failed to follow Jesus as a counter example to show what Goodness actually means. The young man has kept all the commandments. So, he should be good by any standard. However, he is NOT good enough. Only God is good (Luke 18:19). So, when we’re able to lead our lives like God, we bear the fruit of goodness. Keeping all the commandments is already good but not enough. Jesus is both human and divine. He is the perfect exemplar of kindness. So, when we accept Jesus’ invitation to give up everything to follow Him to spread the gospel, we shall be leading a life of goodness. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GXyB_7idQ4)

The story of Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac illustrates the fruit of Faith. Isaac was Abraham’s only son at his old age. When he looked at Isaac, Abraham saw his future. Wrong! Only God can guarantee our future. Therefore, when Abraham went through this sacrifice of his only beloved son, he learnt that God and not Isaac was his future. The Holy Spirit helps us see what God’s will is in our lives and gives us the courage to carry out His will. It also helps us take our relationship with God seriously. God wants a relationship which is total. Lastly, the Holy Spirit will help us face any difficulty with trust in God who will see us through because God is faithful. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8K-UQjyvbg)

Moses doesn’t usually come to mind when we think about Gentleness. Yet, Bishop Boyea helps us see gentleness in a firm manner. Gentleness is NOT soft or weak. Rather when a person shows gentleness, he overcomes his own arrogance, impatience, anger or jealousy. The story about Miriam and Aaron openly opposing the leadership of their brother Moses out of jealousy, resulting in a punishment of leprosy by God and Moses interceding for their healings illustrates this gentleness. The Holy Spirit helps Moses let go of his anger and be meek towards those who attacked him personally. Secondly, the Holy Spirit gives us this gentleness to help bring other back to the truth. Being harsh towards sinners could only harden their hearts further! Lastly, the Holy Spirit helps us look upon others with a mild and gentle friendliness. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFoJ1U-QXdc)

Bishop Boyea chose Judith to illustrate the last fruit, Inner Strength which enables us to resist all forces which seek to control us: our fear, desire to revenge, angers and addictions etc. Like athletes, we need to discipline and master over ourselves (1 Corinthians 9:25) and focus on Christ only. Let this discipline become our daily habit. This perseverance is the work of God, not ours. The Holy Spirit will provide the grace and confidence that we need to lead a life of temperance, a life of self-control and win victories for Christ.(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYvBUNtSmfw)
2019 Reflection