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

Clothed With Power From On High 佩戴上自高天而來的能力

Feast of Ascension of Our Lord, Year C
Theme: Clothed With Power From On High 佩戴上自高天而來的能力

Jesus’ disciples have different understandings of the mission their Lord gave them before His Ascension. For Matthew, it is “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them … teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19-20) Though scholars generally believe that Mark is the earliest and one of the sources of the other two Synoptic gospels, the section on the Commission of the Eleven is believed to be appended later. Still, it is the less elaborated one and simply says, “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature.” (Mark 16:15) The Commission story we read today in the gospel of Luke is very much related to mercy, one of the key themes of this gospel. It says, “The Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.” (Luke 24:46-48)

The perspective of the Evangelists is global. They use wordings such as “all nations”, “the whole world” and “every creature” etc. Without exception, everybody in the Church should be outgoing. They cannot afford to be selfish and keep the salvation to themselves. Yet, each Evangelist is distinctive to meet the needs of their communities.
Mark’s narrative fits the temperance of the Romans. It is ambitious in the sense of being all-inclusive, using wordings such as “the whole world” and “every creature”. It is direct and without ambiguity, reminding the readers of the discipline and power of the Roman Legions. The shorter ending shows the doubts and worries in the shaky beginning of Mark’s community. The Holy Spirit must have done a lot of works to have strengthened them to achieve such confidence. Most likely, some prominent Romans must have joined the community, boasting their confidence.
Matthew’s community must be hungry and thirsty for authoritative teachings. After all, that they managed to sever themselves from the Jewish tradition must have demanded a higher authority more powerful than that of Moses! It is understandable that the teaching office of the Matthew’s church must teach the congregation to observe all the teachings of Jesus!

Luke’s perspective is also global but only Luke is able to spell out the mission in no ambiguous terms. The message of mercy is the gospel: repentance in order to obtain freedom from the bondage of sins. It shows a much more mature theology of salvation. Not only is the message part clear, but the praxis part is also advanced. Not only do Christians proclaim, but they must practice what they preach. A retired athlete can become a coach but you don’t expect him to run, or to jump or to lift weight as before. His experience makes up what he is losing. But being a witness is more demanding. If you do not practise what you preach, you’re a hypocrite and exhibiting counter evidences. You’re doing a disservice to Christianity as a whole.

Had being a Christian been an easy job, Jesus would not have assured His disciples of “power from on high” (Luke 24:49) Bearing witness is a daunting mission. Therefore, Christians must be properly equipped. Otherwise, they would be captured in the battle field by the enemies and sold as slaves again. Their fate would be worse than their previous bondage (11:26). What better weapons, what mightier power can there be other than the power and armoury of God? St. Paul puts it vividly well when he writes, “Put on the armour of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the tactics of the devil. For our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens” (Ephesians 6:11-12) Paul was not writing poems. He was not conjuring up an imagery or an analogy. The Devil is as real as God is. How can we choose to believe in an invisible God but at the same time, brush away the invisible Satan and vice versa? We do not believe what we choose to believe to make ourselves feel good. Such an approach in life is unhealthy and even detrimental to our life.

Without exception, when disciples are filled with the Holy Spirit, they will be empowered, driven, pushed, prompted and urged to pursue God’s will. How unwise it is to resist the Holy Spirit who is the fountain of our spiritual life! Perhaps it’s high time we revised the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. When our awareness is sharpened, the power of the Holy Spirit would be more effective.

Wisdom urges us to love God above all because God alone is constant and everlasting. Understanding humbles us not to play God because God is God and we are not God. Counsel enables us to know what is right from wrong. We are at different stages of understanding. Thus we need to seek humbly the advice of the Church and to consult the writing of Church Fathers to discern the will of God. Fortitude empowers us to weather through perils and persecutions. The world has never been friendly to Christians because they are different and perhaps disruptive. It is far too easy for Christians to try to make life easier by giving up and yielding to the world. The temptation is big. Knowledge is important because false opinions and teachings are rampant today as were in all previous ages. But the gift of knowledge is more than data and information because in the Jewish culture, to know is an intimate action. Thus, to know also means to live out what we know. We know the truth and we cannot compromise the truth by not following the knowledge of truth. To quote Bishop Boyea of the Diocese of Lansing, piety is a gift to live a right relationship with God, with others and with ourselves. We need piety to lead a life compatible to our call as Christians. Lastly, the Fear of the Lord is the only proper reaction we have before God. We stand in awe before a greatness beyond our knowledge and understanding. And with the Fear of the Lord which is the beginning of wisdom (Psalms 111:10, Proverbs 9:10), we are able to connect the seven gifts as a unity.

Brethren! These gifts are not brute forces that bring destruction but gentile and meek persuasions that edify. This is the modus operandi of the Father as well as of the Son who says, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light” (Matthew 11:29-30)
God bless!
2016 Reflection
Picture Credit:catholictradition.org

In the Name of the Lord 奉主之名

Sixth Easter Sunday, Year C
Theme: In the Name of the Lord 奉主之名

Men are social animals. They are not able to survive alone. It is essential for them to live together in groups of various sizes. They need the support of the others. This truth is lay down in the first book of the Bible, “The Lord God said: it is not good for the man to be alone.” (Genesis 2:18a) But living together is a skill which all of us have to learn because each person is unique. God gives each one of us different potentials and strengths. Some are more powerful than the others. Naturally, leaders and followers arise when men live together. Order has to be maintained and conflicts have to be resolved. For good or for bad, it is fortunate that men obey authority for the sake of staying together in harmony. Thus, men are able to live relatively peacefully together within a group and to trade happily among different communities.

Leaders could command obedience by brute force. But it is inefficient because in the end, those who follow might have been maimed and definitely weak. It saves more energy by conjuring up higher authorities to attract and to mobilize people. Their commands/requests need some kind of legitimacy and backup. They call upon some bigger personality to legitimize and rationalize their commands/requests. Priests were the first to command legitimacy because they claimed to be able to communicate with God. Priests shrouded themselves in songs, dances, rituals and mysteries until people found that the words of priests were rather arbitrary. Belief in those words would be rather superstitious. People demanded something more concrete to meet their rational needs. Then prophets came on stage to be the spokesmen of God. They left behind prophecies, writings of morality and were even able to hand down laws for people to follow. (By the way, Moses was a prophet. See Deuteronomy 18:15) In order to be delivered from bondage, people have to follow the laws which were more tangible than the whims of priests. Fast forward in history, a new class of professionals arose: scribes and Pharisees who were authoritative interpreters of the law. In dealing with conflicts with other communities, people needed leaders to organize and mobilize them. Judges arose to lead them into battles. At first judges were sent and thus legitimized by God. Later, people demanded more opulent leaders similar to leaders of other communities. Kings came on stage. Unfortunately, most kings were inevitably tyrants (1 Samuel 8:11-18). On the other hand, the followers and even dissidents might likewise have learnt to conjure up higher authorities to protect their rights. This is illustrated well in Bible stories.

The Bible tells us of a God who protects the underdogs, the marginalized and the weaklings etc. He stands by the losers to prove that He fights and wins battles for them (Exodus 14:14, Judges 7:2). Now, let’s fast forward to the Age of the Apostles when Jesus had ascended into heaven, sending the Holy Spirit to the early Church to support her. The Apostles were genuinely transformed and proved themselves to be the Patriarchs of the New Israel. They found themselves pitching against the Sanhedran like David fighting against Goliath. The Sanhedran had all the authority and resources they needed to nip the Jesus Movement at the bud. They had successfully eliminated Jesus and it was only a matter of time to round up and neutralize his followers. But to their surprise, the Apostles were formidable rivals because God was on their side. The Sanhedran was only able to mobilize institutionalized forces to arrest, to imprison and to beat the Apostles up. But the Sanhedran knew very well that they were losing ground because the Apostles were gaining popular support and some members of the Sanhedran also showed sympathy towards them. Moreover, the Apostles were able to conjure up God they believed in common to defeat them. “Whether it is right in the sight of God for us to obey you rather than God, you be the judges.” (Acts 4:19) Suddenly, those uneducated fishermen were transformed into eloquent rhetorists! The Jewish authority could only echo the same amazement toward their master whom they had killed as well as those followers in front of them, “What kind of wisdom has been given him and what mighty deeds were worked by his hands!” (Mark 6:2)

Conjuring God could also prod members to toe the official line. Let’s see how the early Church quickly defused schism by seeking the help from God. To begin with, the early Church needed to fill the vacancy left behind by Judas in order to establish themselves as the New Israel. In the process, they lay down the qualifications which 2 candidates could meet. Had the first Christians bought democracy, they would have splintered even before they started their mission. They chose a procedure which was accepted by all: praying before casting lots (Acts 1:24-26)! So, it was God’s will that Matthias took Judas’ place! Another crisis arose when two factions became prominent: Greek speaking Jews and native Jews. In order to avoid schism, again the Apostles called upon the Holy Spirit to help. They delegated authority to seven reputable Greek-speaking believers who were filled with the Spirit and wisdom to take up ministry in the early Church (6:3). Another schism arose when many Gentiles were admitted into this essentially Jewish community. The Church convoked a council in Jerusalem to resolve the conflict. Once more, the Holy Spirit was invoked. They circulated their decision in the form of a letter to various churches concerned. It reads, “It is the decision of the Holy Spirit and of us not to place on you any burden beyond these necessities …” (15:28) People might wonder how they knew the decision of the Holy Spirit. Well, the Holy Spirit actually spoke to them in other occasions. For example, the Holy Spirit once spoke to the Church in Antioch, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” (13:2) Perhaps nowadays in the modern world, it is getting more difficult to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit. But that doesn’t give us any ground to doubt that the Holy Spirit speaks.

There’s another common way to call upon a higher authority to justify one’s cause is to say, “ in the name of ” For example, the Levites were chosen to stand to minister in the name of the Lord (Deuteronomy 18:5), David combatted Goliath in the name of the Lord (1 Samuel 20:42), Elijah built an altar in the name of the Lord to challenge the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18:32) and the Jews anticipated the Messiah to come in the name of the Lord to deliver them (Psalms 118:26) etc. Therefore, it is rather surprising to hear Jesus say, “The Advocate, the Holy Spirit that the Father will send in my name --- he will teach you everything …” (John 14:26) and in the same breath, “If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father; for the Father is greater than I.” (14:28)

How does the Father call upon a lesser authority to justify His action? Here, we need to do a little adjustment. First of all, there is nothing higher/greater than the Father because He is the source of everything visible and invisible. Therefore, He could only appeal to an authority lesser than His but which is higher than the authority of all imaginable creatures. Furthermore, the concept of “greatness” is not applicable to God the same way we apply it to creatures because Jesus has also said, “I and my Father are one.” (John 10:30, 17:22) The Son of God and the Father of God are one. Yet the Father is greater than the Son. This is the mystery of the Blessed Trinity which we’ll never be able to fathom thoroughly.

Brethren! Let’s pray that we do not suffocate dissidents with the authority of God. Let us meditate more on the oneness and greatness of the Blessed Trinity to humble ourselves.
God bless!
2019 Reflection
Picture Credit:open.ac.uk

喜喜歡歡做耶穌的朋友 Rejoicing To Be Jesus’ Friends

喜喜歡歡做耶穌的朋友（若15:18-21）

讀了今天的福音之後，你會後悔做耶穌的朋友嗎？
世界恨耶穌，把祂釘死在十字架上；同樣，世界會迫害耶穌的朋友（若15:18）。你害怕受株連嗎？
世界恨耶穌，「因為他們不認識那派遣我來的」（15:21）天父。經濟繁榮，科技進步，使世人極度自我膨脹。天主變得無關重要，世人開始否定天主的存在，並且有取代天主的氣勢。他們的眼中祗有自己，再沒有天主。在他們看來，耶穌是一個煽惑群眾的滋事份子，人人得而誅之。世界把迫害異見人士合理化了！

世界迫害耶穌的朋友，因為你們不願與世界同流合污，你們不願意屬於世界；並且，你們的行為反映出世界的黑暗（3:20），世界自然不喜愛你們，繼而迫害你們。
你記得這「世界」是指誰嗎？在五月十六日的反省中，我們知道若望筆下的「世界」，就是「那不愛我的，就不遵守我的話」（14:24a）的人。

不要氣餒，「那不愛耶穌的，不遵守耶穌的話的人」，並不可怕。因為他們祇能殺害肉身，而不能殺害靈魂（瑪10:28）。雖然他們獲得一時的優勢，但最後的勝利是屬於天主的。
不要氣餒，「那不愛耶穌的，不遵守耶穌的話的人」，有可能會聽從福音，否則，耶穌也不會說：「如果他們（世界）遵守了我的話，也要遵守你們的。」（若15:20）天主是慈悲的，祂一定會在末日前給「那不愛耶穌的，不遵守耶穌的話的人」足夠的悔改機會。無論「世界」遵守還是拒絕這福音，天主都需要我們作祂的修和大使，為祂宣揚修和的福音（格後5:20）。
主啊！我們喜喜歡歡，因為我們配為祢的名字受侮辱（宗5:41）。亞孟。
生命恩泉
圖片鳴謝：cp24.com

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Rejoicing To Be Jesus’ Friends (John 15:18-21)

After reading today’s gospel, would you regret to be Jesus’ friend?
The World hates Jesus and crucifies Him. Similarly, the World would persecute Jesus’ friends (John 15:18). Are you afraid to be incriminated by association?

The World hates Jesus “because they do not know the one who sent me” (15:21), viz. the Father. Prosperity and technological advancement inflate the human ego. God becomes irrelevant. Men begin to deny the existence of God and attempt to replace Him. There’s no God in their eyes but themselves. In their view, Jesus was a trouble-maker who incited people to riot. He deserves to die. The World has rationalized the persecution of dissidents!

The World persecutes Jesus’ friends because you don’t go with the flow. You don’t want to belong to the World. Furthermore, your actions manifest their darkness (3:20). Naturally, the World does not love you and shall persecute you.
Do you remember who “the World” is? In the meditation on May 16, we know that John pens “the World” as “Whoever does not love me does not keep my words” (14:24a).

Don’t be discouraged, we don’t need to be afraid of those who don’t love Jesus and don’t keep His words because they can only kill the body but not the soul (Matthew 10:28). Although they prevail at the moment, the final victory belongs to God.
Don’t be discouraged. Those who don’t love Jesus and don’t keep His words might listen to the gospel. Otherwise, Jesus would not say, “If they kept my word, they will also keep yours” (John 15:20). God is merciful. He will give these people sufficient opportunity to repent. Whether “the World” keeps or rejects this gospel, God still needs us to be His ambassadors of reconciliation to proclaim His gospel of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:20).
Lord! We rejoice because we are found worthy to suffer dishonour for the sake of Your name (Acts 5:41). Amen!