7th Week of Easter, Wednesday, 15-05-2024

Acts 20:28-38 / John 17:11-19    

Life certainly has its troubles and we have our fair share of it.

We will worry, feel anxious, feel insecure, and feel frustrated with life.

But when we look deeper at all that, we may see that all that has a root cause.

That root cause is none other than fear.

Fear can come upon anyone at any time, and there seems to be no defense from it.

We fear the unknown and we also fear that we will be left all alone to face that unknown.

But in the gospel, Jesus assures us that He will keep us safe.

And He also prays to God His Father that we will be kept safe under His care.

We fear because we think that no one will protect us in our time of danger.

We fear because we think that we will be left all alone to face the unknown.

We fear because we choose to fear, and in choosing to fear, we become lost.

Let us choose to believe in Jesus. Let us put our trust in Jesus. 

In Jesus, we will be secure and we will be able to live life peacefully.

St. Matthias, Apostle, Tuesday, 14-05-2024

Acts 1:15-17, 20-26 / John 15:9-17  

The name Matthias is of Hebrew origin and it means "the gift of God"

But Matthias was not chosen to replace Judas just because he had a nice and meaningful name.

Rather he was chosen by a draw of lots.

We would think that it was a rather primitive and secular method to use for such an important and sacred task.

But it only shows that the apostles left the choice to God.

They have done their part by proposing the candidates and commending them to to the Lord in prayer.

They let the Lord guide them in making the choice.

As Jesus said in the gospel, it is not we who chose Him.

Rather it is He who chose us, and He commissions us to go forth and bear lasting fruit.

Hence it is not so much our suitability for the task at hand but rather our availability for God.

Our availability is our response to God, just as St. Matthias made his availability his response to God.

So what we are is God's gift to us. How we can be available for God is our gift to God.

7th Week of Easter, Monday, 13-05-2024

Acts 19:1-8 / John 16:29-33  

Human beings are, by nature, social beings.

It is a human need to be with other human beings, and to live in groups or in families or in communities.

No one chooses to be alone or do not wish to come into contact with other human beings.

However, the reality of life is that there are persons who are abandoned, ostracized, neglected and treated as an outcast.

These persons may not be visible in society because no one cares or bothers about them.

Some of these persons can be found in nursing homes or they may be homeless.

They are certainly lonely, and they keep to themselves as they also do not want to bother others because of their status.

In the gospel, Jesus expressed a shade of this reality when He said to His disciples:

The time will come when you will be scattered, each going his own way and leaving me alone.

We leave people alone when we don’t want too much trouble upon ourselves.

Or it may be too risky to be in the company of a person, as it was in the case of the disciples when Jesus was arrested.

A person may not say that he is lonely or cry out for companionship.

But let us look into the eyes of a person suffering from loneliness and neglect.

We might see the eyes in Jesus when His disciples deserted and abandoned Him in His time of suffering.

7th Sunday of Easter, Year B, 12.05.2024

Acts 1:15-17, 20-26 / 1 John 4:11-16 / John 17:11-19

No one can really say that they don't have any problems in life. Even a carefree person will be bothered by flies and mosquitoes, and will have some complaints about life. 

So, whenever we are faced with the problems of life, especially the big and difficult problems, we will certainly resort to complaining. 

We know that complaining is not the solution to our problems in life. In fact, complaining only creates more problems for us. 

But in our anger and frustration, we want to complain, and we may even blame others for our problems. 

And it can also be quite convenient to blame God for all our problems. 

Also, when we pray for God's help to solve our problems, we don't seem to get an answer. 

But the truth of life is that life is difficult. 

And so it is with faith; faith is also difficult. 

So, we not only have problems with life, we also have problems with our faith. 

In the gospel, Jesus says that we belong to the world no more than He belongs to the world. 

But Jesus is not asking God to remove us from the world. 

So, Jesus is not asking God to remove all our problems in life. 

Rather, Jesus is asking God for something more crucial and more important, and that is that God protects us from the evil one. 

Life is difficult, and we will have our problems in life. 

And then the evil one will lurk around to tempt us, and use our problems to pull us down. 

And when we give in to the temptations of the evil one, then the problems in life will overwhelm us, and we will begin to drown in disappointment and frustration. 

That is why Jesus ask God to protect us from the evil one. 

On our part, we must look to God for help and protection. 

In the gospel, Jesus gave us a posture of prayer, a posture to turn to God for help and protection. 

The gospel passage begins with: Jesus raised His eyes too heaven. 

When we come to Church, what will catch our attention are the brightly-lit stained glass images of Jesus, Mother Mary and Saint Joseph.

When we raise our eyes and attention to the sacred images, we will know that Jesus is our Saviour, and Mother Mary and Saint Joseph are praying for us for God's help and protection. 

But if we keep looking down, then the evil one will only pull us further down. 

And talking about raising up and looking down, there is this legend about St. Teresa of Avila, the Carmelite nun who reformed the Carmelite Order in the 16th century. 

St. Teresa of Avila was serious about reforming, but she was also witty and funny, even in the face of persecution and temptation. 

Legend has it that one day while she was in the toilet, the evil one popped up and began mocking her. 

St. Teresa prayed and then retorted to the evil one with this: What comes out from my mouth goes up to God. What comes out from the other end is for you the evil one. 

So let us raise our minds and hearts to God and let what comes out from our lips give praise and thanks to God. 

God will bless us with joy and protect us from the evil one. 

May the joy of the Lord be our strength to face the difficulties of life. 

May the joy of the Lord be our protection against the temptations of the evil one.

6th Week of Easter, Saturday, 11-05-2024

Acts 18:23-28 / John 16:23-28  

There is one sure way to know how well we know about a topic or a subject.

And that is to teach it or to explain it to others.

It is in teaching that we learn.

It is when we have to stand up and talk about a topic or subject that we will realise how much we really know.

When it comes to teaching or sharing the faith with others, it may not be that straightforward or that clear.

Just when we thought that we may know enough about the faith, there might come a question or a query that will stop us in our tracks and maybe even stump us.

More so in the relationship between faith and life, it could be even harder to apply what we believe in and how to live it out in life.

But faith and life are continuously revealing more about who God is and who we are, and also how much we really believe and understand.

As much as we may realise that there is so little we know and so much more that we don’t, let us also understand the one fundamental aspect.

As in faith, so in life, love is fundamental and essential.

When we love God and love others, there is no real need to keep on explaining what we believe in and how we live life.

6th Week of Easter, Friday, 10-05-2024

Acts 18:9-18 / John 16:20-23  

It is only human to ask questions about life. Questions like - Why is there innocent suffering? Why is there unnecessary pain? Why is happiness so elusive?

These questions are not just about what is happening in the world around us.

These questions are about what is happening in our lives and to those whom we love and care about.

So these questions concern our family, our marriage, our spouse, our parents, our children, our work, our friends, etc.

In short, we encounter sorrow and suffering in life.

And it may add on to our desolation when Jesus said in the gospel : I tell you solemnly, you will be sorrowful.

Yet our consolation is that Jesus did not end it there. He continues by saying that our sorrow will turn to joy and that joy no one can take from us.

As we bring our needs and petitions to the Lord and place it at the altar of sacrifice, let us have the hope that the Lord would come to our help in our sorrows and sufferings.

That hope is not just wishful thinking but it is a joyful hope as we wait for God's will to unfold in the midst of our sorrows and sufferings.

Let us just ask the Lord for this joyful hope. With this joyful hope, there will be no further questions.

6th Week of Easter, Wednesday, 08-05-2024

Acts 17:15, 22 - 18:1 / John 16:12-15  

Christianity is a religion that is essentially founded on the revelation from God.

Without God’s revelation of who He is and what are His ways, man would be making assumptions and presumptions about God.

But God reached out to His creation and reached out to man and revealed Himself.

In the Bible are the accounts of God calling and revealing Himself to people like Abraham, Issac, Jacob and Moses.

And at the appointed time, God sent His Son to become a man like us to reveal His great love for us.

Jesus has revealed to us the deep and intimate love of God, especially when He died on the Cross to save us.

In the gospel, Jesus says that He has more to reveal to us, and He will do this by sending us the Spirit of truth.

The Spirit of truth has revealed through the Bible about the nature and the ways of God to the Church and to us.

The Spirit of truth will continue to reveal God’s love for us in our relationships with Him and with others.

Let us read and meditate on God’s Word, and the Spirit of love and truth will lead us to  a deeper understanding of who God is and His love for us.