Col 1:1-8
Lk 4:38-44
If you had watched movies like Karate Kid, The Last Samurai, Kung Fu Panda or one of the martial arts kind of movies, where the novice learns martial arts, there is always this underlying important lesson or principle that is always emphasized.
It is expressed in different ways like: be focused; have only one mind, can't be distracted.
These are simple lessons and principles that are necessary for any great achievement but they are not easily followed.
Jesus had people looking for him, he was in demand, he was popular, he was needed.
Yet he did not lose focus, he only had one mind, and he was not distracted.
That was why he was able to say: I must proclaim the Good News to other towns because that is what I am sent to do.
The love Jesus had for God His Father kept Him focused with one mind and that kept Him from being distracted.
In the 1st reading, St Paul also affirmed the Colossians for being focused in their faith which they expressed in their love for each other.
So whether it is about our secular life or about our spiritual life, if we need to make any progress or certain achievement, the simple lessons of being focused, having only one mind, and not being distracted have to be strictly adhered to.
But fundamentally, let us keep our eyes on Jesus alone, because He will show us what we are sent to do.
Monday, August 31, 2009
22nd Week, Ordinary Time, Tuesday, 01-09-09
1st reading - 1 Th 5 : 1-6, 9-11 / Gospel - Lk 4 : 31-37 (2025)
There is a game that is played often in parties, or functions, or in radio and tv shows.
Generally that game is called " Name the tune", and the contestants try to guess the title of the song with the fewest notes or bars that is played.
When Jesus spoke, His words carried authority and power.
But more than that, His words also carried a peculiar resonance, and the evil spirits immediately recognized that it was from the Holy One of God.
In short, the words of Jesus carried a holy and sacred resonance.
The evil spirits were repulsed by it. But we should be impulsed by it, meaning to say, we should immediately recognize it and respond to it.
But if like what St. Paul said in the 1st reading, if we were living in the dark and are spiritually asleep, then the words of Jesus would not resonate in us.
But we would know if the words of Jesus resonate in us or not.
Because if it does, then we would be able to name the tune, the spiritual tune, that God is playing for us.
In the ups and downs of the music of our lives, there is also a spiritual tune that God is playing gently and softly for us.
When we can recognize that spiritual tune, then we will know what God's will for us is.
That tune is nothing less than holy, because God's will is holy.
There is a game that is played often in parties, or functions, or in radio and tv shows.
Generally that game is called " Name the tune", and the contestants try to guess the title of the song with the fewest notes or bars that is played.
When Jesus spoke, His words carried authority and power.
But more than that, His words also carried a peculiar resonance, and the evil spirits immediately recognized that it was from the Holy One of God.
In short, the words of Jesus carried a holy and sacred resonance.
The evil spirits were repulsed by it. But we should be impulsed by it, meaning to say, we should immediately recognize it and respond to it.
But if like what St. Paul said in the 1st reading, if we were living in the dark and are spiritually asleep, then the words of Jesus would not resonate in us.
But we would know if the words of Jesus resonate in us or not.
Because if it does, then we would be able to name the tune, the spiritual tune, that God is playing for us.
In the ups and downs of the music of our lives, there is also a spiritual tune that God is playing gently and softly for us.
When we can recognize that spiritual tune, then we will know what God's will for us is.
That tune is nothing less than holy, because God's will is holy.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
22nd Week, Ordinary Time, Monday, 31-08-09
1 Th 4:13-18 / Lk 4:16-30 (2023)
A pattern that I have come to see in the spiritual life is that after a spiritual experience of God's love, what will follow is a challenge.
In the brightness and warmth of a God-experience, there is the dark and ever-lurking shadows.
From the 1st reading, we can know what was bothering the Thessalonians.
Their faith in Jesus have lifted them and gave them hope and meaning in life.
Yet the deaths of their fellow believers also grieved them, and maybe even shook their faith because they were expecting Jesus to come back soon and reward them for their faith.
So St. Paul had to encourage them and tell them to keep their eyes fixed on heaven.
Even for Jesus, when He began His ministry, was filled with zest and the zeal of the Spirit.
Yet, in His own hometown, He met with rejection and even His life was endangered.
So for every experience of God's love, let us give thanks to God and let us deepen our faith in Him.
But when the shadows of doubt and crisis start to loom over us, let us do as what St. Paul told the Thessalonians.
Let us keep our eyes fixed on heaven, and our hearts fixed on God who loves us.
For nothing can ever separate us from the love of God as long as we focus our faith on Him.
A pattern that I have come to see in the spiritual life is that after a spiritual experience of God's love, what will follow is a challenge.
In the brightness and warmth of a God-experience, there is the dark and ever-lurking shadows.
From the 1st reading, we can know what was bothering the Thessalonians.
Their faith in Jesus have lifted them and gave them hope and meaning in life.
Yet the deaths of their fellow believers also grieved them, and maybe even shook their faith because they were expecting Jesus to come back soon and reward them for their faith.
So St. Paul had to encourage them and tell them to keep their eyes fixed on heaven.
Even for Jesus, when He began His ministry, was filled with zest and the zeal of the Spirit.
Yet, in His own hometown, He met with rejection and even His life was endangered.
So for every experience of God's love, let us give thanks to God and let us deepen our faith in Him.
But when the shadows of doubt and crisis start to loom over us, let us do as what St. Paul told the Thessalonians.
Let us keep our eyes fixed on heaven, and our hearts fixed on God who loves us.
For nothing can ever separate us from the love of God as long as we focus our faith on Him.
Friday, August 21, 2009
The Passion of St. John the Baptist, 29.08.09
Jeremiah 1:17-19 / Mark 6:17-29 (2020)
I wonder how Jesus felt when he heard about the death of his cousin, John the Baptist.
Not much is said about their relationship, but we can guess they knew each other from their earlier days, probably played together, talked about life.
Both knew they had a mission.
And both also know that the mission cannot be accomplished without putting their lives on the line.
John the Baptist was the first to do it and that line was drawn across his neck.
For Jesus, it was drawn at the cross.
And for us, that line will also be drawn for us.
A line that will cut across the various aspects of our lives when we have to decide between whose side to stand on.
To stand on God's side, will result in some scars and wounds.
But it is through those scars and wounds that God will continue to save the world.
For it is by Christ's wounds that we ourselves have been healed and saved.
St Augustine 28.08.09
1st Reading: 1 Th 4:1-8
Gospel: Mt 25:1-13
Today in this Eucharist, we remember the life of the great saint, St Augustine, who lived during the 4th century.
He wrote many theological and spiritual works and to this present day, 2 of his works, The City of God and Confessions are still widely read.
In fact, the book "Confessions" is a sort of a spiritual journal for catechumens but it was more his own spiritual journey in discovery God.
In his younger days, St Augustine was a wild and rebellious man. But he was also very intelligent and he studied philosophy and he taught rhetorics.
Of course, his mother, St Monica had an influential part in his conversion, especially through her prayers.
The turning point of his life came when he heard a homily preached by St Ambrose.
He went off to a lonely place to do some soul-searching and there he seem to hear a child singing: take and read.
He opened the bible at random and he read Rom 13:13-14
Which essentially is about living in the day and not in the darkness.
That was enough for him and he made preparations to be baptized.
In his book "Confessions" he talked about his experience of God.
And here I quote two sections that reflect St Augustine's journey of discovering God, which in many ways reflect our own journey of discovering and loving God.
Late have I loved you, O beauty both ancient and new, late have I loved you.
You called, you cried out, you rid me of my deafness.
You sent forth your beams and shame upon me and chased away my blindness.
You stir us up Lord, and make us find joy in praising you, since you have made us for yourself. And our hearts find no rest until they rest in you.
Gospel: Mt 25:1-13
Today in this Eucharist, we remember the life of the great saint, St Augustine, who lived during the 4th century.
He wrote many theological and spiritual works and to this present day, 2 of his works, The City of God and Confessions are still widely read.
In fact, the book "Confessions" is a sort of a spiritual journal for catechumens but it was more his own spiritual journey in discovery God.
In his younger days, St Augustine was a wild and rebellious man. But he was also very intelligent and he studied philosophy and he taught rhetorics.
Of course, his mother, St Monica had an influential part in his conversion, especially through her prayers.
The turning point of his life came when he heard a homily preached by St Ambrose.
He went off to a lonely place to do some soul-searching and there he seem to hear a child singing: take and read.
He opened the bible at random and he read Rom 13:13-14
Which essentially is about living in the day and not in the darkness.
That was enough for him and he made preparations to be baptized.
In his book "Confessions" he talked about his experience of God.
And here I quote two sections that reflect St Augustine's journey of discovering God, which in many ways reflect our own journey of discovering and loving God.
Late have I loved you, O beauty both ancient and new, late have I loved you.
You called, you cried out, you rid me of my deafness.
You sent forth your beams and shame upon me and chased away my blindness.
You stir us up Lord, and make us find joy in praising you, since you have made us for yourself. And our hearts find no rest until they rest in you.
St Monica, 27.08.09
1st Reading: 1 Th: 3:7-13
Gospel: Mt 24:42-51
Today we celebrate the memorial of St Monica, the mother of St Augustine, whose memorial we will celebrate tomorrow.
We celebrate this memorial not simply because St Monica was the mother of a great saint.
The opening prayer for Mass goes like this and it is worth to take note: God of mercy, comfort of those in sorrow, the tears of St Monica moved you to convert her son, St Augustine to the faith of Christ.
St Monica was born of Christian parents. She married a good man but he had a violent temper and was sometimes unfaithful.
But St Monica managed to convert him to Christianity and he was later baptized.
Her son, Augustine, proved to be a much greater challenge.
When she was exhausted and tired with her son's wild and wheeling ways, she approached a bishop to ask him to intervene.
The bishop responded with these prophetic words: Let him be, and continue to pray for him. It is impossible that a son of so many tears should be lost.
St Monica dedicated most of her life praying for the conversion of St Augustine.
All in all, she prayed for something like 30 years before she finally had the joy of seeing St Augustine baptized.
St Monica enfleshed the words which we hear in the 1st reading: May our Lord Jesus Christ, and God our Father, who has given us His love and through His grace, such inexhaustible comfort and such sure hope, comfort you and strengthen you.
The consolation, experienced by St Monica and her total abandonment to God can also be ours today when we persevere in patience and in trust.
Gospel: Mt 24:42-51
Today we celebrate the memorial of St Monica, the mother of St Augustine, whose memorial we will celebrate tomorrow.
We celebrate this memorial not simply because St Monica was the mother of a great saint.
The opening prayer for Mass goes like this and it is worth to take note: God of mercy, comfort of those in sorrow, the tears of St Monica moved you to convert her son, St Augustine to the faith of Christ.
St Monica was born of Christian parents. She married a good man but he had a violent temper and was sometimes unfaithful.
But St Monica managed to convert him to Christianity and he was later baptized.
Her son, Augustine, proved to be a much greater challenge.
When she was exhausted and tired with her son's wild and wheeling ways, she approached a bishop to ask him to intervene.
The bishop responded with these prophetic words: Let him be, and continue to pray for him. It is impossible that a son of so many tears should be lost.
St Monica dedicated most of her life praying for the conversion of St Augustine.
All in all, she prayed for something like 30 years before she finally had the joy of seeing St Augustine baptized.
St Monica enfleshed the words which we hear in the 1st reading: May our Lord Jesus Christ, and God our Father, who has given us His love and through His grace, such inexhaustible comfort and such sure hope, comfort you and strengthen you.
The consolation, experienced by St Monica and her total abandonment to God can also be ours today when we persevere in patience and in trust.
21st Week, Ordinary Time, Wed, 26.08.09
1st reading: 1Th 3:7-13
Gospel: Mt 23:27-32
It is said that the measure of a person's real character is what he would do if he would not be found out.
Putting it in another way, a bishop who went to visit a prison, told the inmates: The difference between you and me is that you were caught.
So even if we were not caught in the wrong act, does it mean that we won't be found out?
Jesus described hypocrisy by using the imagery of a tomb.
So no matter how we maintain our pretty facades, people will eventually sense and eventually know, what and who we really are.
As Jesus would say, what is hidden will be brought to light.
If by our actions, we reveal who we really are, then our words will also reveal our convictions.
In the 1st reading, St Paul urged the Thessalonians to follow his example. And he is not faking it.
It is said that there is a way to tell the difference between a real jade and a fake one.
When lightly hit with another small solid object, the real jade produces a lively 'ting' sound, whereas the fake one produces a hollow 'tic' sound.
People may take time to discern our looks and appearance.
But with their hearts, they will pick up the sound we are emitting.
Are we emitting a real lively sound, or a hollow fake sound?
Gospel: Mt 23:27-32
It is said that the measure of a person's real character is what he would do if he would not be found out.
Putting it in another way, a bishop who went to visit a prison, told the inmates: The difference between you and me is that you were caught.
So even if we were not caught in the wrong act, does it mean that we won't be found out?
Jesus described hypocrisy by using the imagery of a tomb.
So no matter how we maintain our pretty facades, people will eventually sense and eventually know, what and who we really are.
As Jesus would say, what is hidden will be brought to light.
If by our actions, we reveal who we really are, then our words will also reveal our convictions.
In the 1st reading, St Paul urged the Thessalonians to follow his example. And he is not faking it.
It is said that there is a way to tell the difference between a real jade and a fake one.
When lightly hit with another small solid object, the real jade produces a lively 'ting' sound, whereas the fake one produces a hollow 'tic' sound.
People may take time to discern our looks and appearance.
But with their hearts, they will pick up the sound we are emitting.
Are we emitting a real lively sound, or a hollow fake sound?
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