2 Tim 1:1-3, 6-12 / Mark 12:18-27
The great pyramids of Egypt is one of the seven wonders of the ancient world and in fact the only existing one left.
Standing magnificently and silently in the desert sand for four thousands years, those pyramids housed the tombs of the pharaohs of ancient Egypt.
The shape of the pyramids was thought to symbolize a stairway to the sun, so that the pharaohs could climb to heaven.
The great pyramids were built from about two million blocks of stone, each weighing about twenty tons.
So it can be said that the Egyptian belief in the after-life was rock solid.
So did the Jews in the time of Jesus. Yet, there was a hitch in the Egyptian and Jewish understanding of the after-life.
The pharaoh was buried with his treasures and possessions, his servants and his wives, so that he could bring them along with him to the after-life.
In the gospel, we heard that the Sadducees thought of the after-life relationships as a mere continuation of the present life relationships.
We too can become confused and skeptical when we try to understand the after-life in terms of the present life.
All we know for now is that we will see God "face-to-face" and receive the fullness of life and joy.
It is with faith in God and in the eternal life with Him that we will stop building pyramids on earth and strive to live the life of above.
The God that we believe in is God, not of the dead, but of the living.
Those who believe in Him will have life and life to the full.
Tuesday, May 31, 2016
Monday, May 30, 2016
Visitation of the BVM, Tuesday, 31-05-16
Zephaniah 3:14-18 / Luke 1:39-56
We would always like to be prepared for a visit by someone. In other words, we would like to be notified beforehand of the visit.
Part of the reason is that we want to tidy up the house so that it can be presentable and the visitor will complement us.
Another reason is that we want to know the purpose of the visit so that we can prepare ourselves for an appropriate response to the visitor.
Mary's visit to Elizabeth was a surprise and certainly unannounced, obviously due to the means of communication at that time.
Although it was unannounced and a surprise, yet it was a joyful and blessed moment for Mary and Elizabeth.
When the baby leapt in Elizabeth's womb it also confirmed for Mary what the angel Gabriel had told her at the Annunciation.
Today as we begin the triduum in preparation for the Feast of the Sacred Heart, it may be of no coincidence that we also celebrated the feast of the Visitation.
Mary comes to visit us and as we gather in prayer, may she also pray for us that our hearts will also leap with joy that the promises made to us by Jesus will be fulfilled.
Let us put our anxieties and worries into the hands of the Lord, and let us rejoice and exalt with all our heart.
As the 1st reading puts it: The Lord your God is in your midst; a victorious warrior. He will exalt with joy over you, He will renew you with His love; He will dance with shouts of you for you, as on a day of festival.
Indeed, we must rejoice and exalt with Mary, and may our hearts leap for joy.
We would always like to be prepared for a visit by someone. In other words, we would like to be notified beforehand of the visit.
Part of the reason is that we want to tidy up the house so that it can be presentable and the visitor will complement us.
Another reason is that we want to know the purpose of the visit so that we can prepare ourselves for an appropriate response to the visitor.
Mary's visit to Elizabeth was a surprise and certainly unannounced, obviously due to the means of communication at that time.
Although it was unannounced and a surprise, yet it was a joyful and blessed moment for Mary and Elizabeth.
When the baby leapt in Elizabeth's womb it also confirmed for Mary what the angel Gabriel had told her at the Annunciation.
Today as we begin the triduum in preparation for the Feast of the Sacred Heart, it may be of no coincidence that we also celebrated the feast of the Visitation.
Mary comes to visit us and as we gather in prayer, may she also pray for us that our hearts will also leap with joy that the promises made to us by Jesus will be fulfilled.
Let us put our anxieties and worries into the hands of the Lord, and let us rejoice and exalt with all our heart.
As the 1st reading puts it: The Lord your God is in your midst; a victorious warrior. He will exalt with joy over you, He will renew you with His love; He will dance with shouts of you for you, as on a day of festival.
Indeed, we must rejoice and exalt with Mary, and may our hearts leap for joy.
Sunday, May 29, 2016
9th Week, Ordinary Time, Monday, 30-05-16
2 Peter 1:2-7 / Mark 12:1-12
At this very moment, if we were asked what we need most now, what would be our reply?
Certainly, what we need most now would be what is urgent and important.
It could be anything from getting a presentation up in an hour's time, or getting someone to fetch the kids from school because we are held up, or getting a domestic helper.
Whatever it may be, it is about a present and pressing need. But whatever the need may be, it will come and go and pass along. And then there will be another need, and the whole cycle starts again.
The 1st reading has this to tell us: By God's divine power, He has given us all the things we need for life and for true devotion, bringing us to know God Himself,
And it goes on to say that God has given us the guarantee of something very great and wonderful to come. And then we will be able to share the divine nature and to escape corruption in a world that is sunk in vice.
And the corruption of the world that is sunk in vice has this power to make us lose focus on what we really need to what we desire and end up straying away from God.
The gospel parable pointed out that even the tenants began to think that they are the owners of the vineyard, and they ended up losing everything.
We have needs, some may be urgent, others may be pressing. But let us realize that what we need most at any point in time is to know God and to know that He loves us.
When we realize that, then the other needs, urgent or otherwise, will be resolved.
At this very moment, if we were asked what we need most now, what would be our reply?
Certainly, what we need most now would be what is urgent and important.
It could be anything from getting a presentation up in an hour's time, or getting someone to fetch the kids from school because we are held up, or getting a domestic helper.
Whatever it may be, it is about a present and pressing need. But whatever the need may be, it will come and go and pass along. And then there will be another need, and the whole cycle starts again.
The 1st reading has this to tell us: By God's divine power, He has given us all the things we need for life and for true devotion, bringing us to know God Himself,
And it goes on to say that God has given us the guarantee of something very great and wonderful to come. And then we will be able to share the divine nature and to escape corruption in a world that is sunk in vice.
And the corruption of the world that is sunk in vice has this power to make us lose focus on what we really need to what we desire and end up straying away from God.
The gospel parable pointed out that even the tenants began to think that they are the owners of the vineyard, and they ended up losing everything.
We have needs, some may be urgent, others may be pressing. But let us realize that what we need most at any point in time is to know God and to know that He loves us.
When we realize that, then the other needs, urgent or otherwise, will be resolved.
Saturday, May 28, 2016
Corpus Christi, Year C, 28.05.2016
Genesis 14:18-20 / 1 Cor 11:23-26 / Luke 9:11-17
The word “eat” is a popular word and for us it is a favourite word.
Because it forms our favourite question: “Where to eat?”. And it also forms our next favourite question: “What to eat?” Not that there is nothing to eat. Rather there is too much to choose from; we are really spoilt for choice.
And there are also many phrases that use the word “eat”: eat-and-run; dog-eat-dog; eat your own words; eat humble pie; eat like there’s no tomorrow; you can’t have your cake and eat it.
And then there’s this one that is rather amusing – eat your heart out.
The meaning is that if you say "eat your heart out” followed by the name of a famous person, you are jokingly saying that you are even better than that person.
The origin of that phrase means to suffer in silence from anguish or grief, or more graphically, to have the heart eaten out with desire, bitterness, or pain.
But on the funny side, when this is referred to the eating capabilities of teenagers, we can say that they can eat their hearts out without affecting their appetites.
So when there is an abundance of food, we can think of humourous sayings and even make philosophical reflections.
In the gospel, food was also the talking point.
But there wasn’t anything to laugh about, nor was it an occasion to make profound reflections about eating.
Simply because there wasn’t anything to eat. Or to put it more correctly, there were five thousand men and only five loaves and two fish.
The disciples proposed the most convenient solution – send the people away and let them solve the problem themselves.
Jesus counter proposed: Give them something to eat yourselves.
As the disciples stared at the five loaves and two fish and wondered how to solve the overwhelming problem, Jesus proceeded with the underlying solution.
He took the five loaves and two fish, raised His eyes to heaven, said the blessing over them, broke it and distributed it.
And a miracle happened. They all ate as much as they wanted and when the scraps remaining were collected, they filled twelve baskets.
Yes, a miracle happened, and as we look at Jesus blessing the food, breaking it and distributing it, it all pointed to one thing – He gave them something to eat, He gave His heart out.
Today the Church celebrates the feast of Corpus Christi, which means the Body of Christ.
Jesus feeds us with His Body, and it also means He gives His Heart out to us.
*But the weakening of faith in the Real Presence of the Risen Christ in the Eucharist is one of the most significant aspects of the current spiritual crisis. Jesus wants to strengthen our faith in His Eucharistic presence. That is why from time to time in the history of the Catholic Church He gives us signs - Eucharistic miracles that clearly point to the fact that He, the Risen Lord Himself in the mystery of His Divinity and glorified humanity, is truly present in the Eucharist.
The most recent Eucharistic miracle recognized by the Church authorities occurred in 1996 in the capital of Argentina–Buenos Aires.
In the evening on August 18, 1996, Fr. Alejandro Pezet was saying Holy Mass at a Catholic church in the commercial center of Buenos Aires. As he was finishing distributing Holy Communion, a woman came up to tell him that she had found a discarded host at the back of the church. Fr. Alejandro went and saw the defiled Host. Since he was unable to consume it, he placed it in a container of water and put it away in the tabernacle of the chapel of the Blessed Sacrament.
On Monday, August 26, upon opening the tabernacle, he saw to his amazement that the Host had turned into a bloody substance. He informed Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio (who is now Pope Francis) who gave instructions that the Host be professionally photographed. The photos were taken on September 6. They clearly show that the Host, which had become a fragment of bloodied flesh, had grown significantly in size. For several years the Host remained in the tabernacle, the whole affair being kept a strict secret. Since the Host suffered no visible decomposition, Cardinal Bergoglio decided to have it scientifically analyzed.
In 1999, in the presence of the Cardinal’s representatives, Dr. Castanon took a sample of the bloody fragment and sent it to New York for analysis. Since he did not wish to prejudice the study, he purposely did not inform the team of scientists of its provenance.
One of these scientists was Dr. Frederic Zugiba, the well-known cardiologist and forensic pathologist. He determined that the analyzed substance was real flesh and blood containing human DNA. Dr. Zugiba testified that, “the analyzed material is a fragment of the heart muscle found in the wall of the left ventricle close to the valves. This muscle is responsible for the contraction of the heart, and it pumps blood to all parts of the body. The heart muscle is in an inflammatory condition and contains a large number of white blood cells.
This indicates that the heart was alive at the time the sample was taken. It is my contention that the heart was alive, since white blood cells die outside a living organism. They require a living organism to sustain them. Thus, their presence indicates that the heart was alive when the sample was taken.
What is more, these white blood cells had penetrated the tissue, which further indicates that the heart had been under severe stress, as if the owner had been beaten severely about the chest.”
When Dr. Zugiba was asked how long the white blood cells would have remained alive if they had come from a piece of human tissue, which had been kept in water, he replied that they would have ceased to exist in a matter of minutes. Then he was told that the source of the sample had first been kept in ordinary water for a month and then for another three years in a container of distilled water; only then had the sample been taken for analysis. Dr. Zugiba was at a loss to account for this fact.
There was no way of explaining it scientifically, he stated. Only then was he told that the analyzed sample came from a consecrated Host (white, unleavened bread) that had mysteriously turned into bloody human flesh.
Amazed by this information, Dr. Zugiba replied, “How and why a consecrated Host would change its character and become living human flesh and blood will remain an inexplicable mystery to science, a mystery totally beyond her competence.” * (Eucharistic Miracle in Buenos Aires, by Fr. Mieczysław Piotrowski S.Chr.)
So for those who have faith and believe, no explanation is necessary; but for those who do not believe no explanation is possible.
We who have faith must also ask the Lord Jesus to increase our faith and to always believe that in giving us His Body, Jesus also gave His Heart out to us.
As we receive the Body of Christ in Holy Communion, Jesus wants to heal us from eating our hearts out in anguish or grief, or in bitterness or pain.
Jesus gives His Heart out to us. May we in turn give our hearts out to others.
That is what the Body of Christ is about. And that is what being the Body of Christ is about.
The word “eat” is a popular word and for us it is a favourite word.
Because it forms our favourite question: “Where to eat?”. And it also forms our next favourite question: “What to eat?” Not that there is nothing to eat. Rather there is too much to choose from; we are really spoilt for choice.
And there are also many phrases that use the word “eat”: eat-and-run; dog-eat-dog; eat your own words; eat humble pie; eat like there’s no tomorrow; you can’t have your cake and eat it.
And then there’s this one that is rather amusing – eat your heart out.
The meaning is that if you say "eat your heart out” followed by the name of a famous person, you are jokingly saying that you are even better than that person.
The origin of that phrase means to suffer in silence from anguish or grief, or more graphically, to have the heart eaten out with desire, bitterness, or pain.
But on the funny side, when this is referred to the eating capabilities of teenagers, we can say that they can eat their hearts out without affecting their appetites.
So when there is an abundance of food, we can think of humourous sayings and even make philosophical reflections.
In the gospel, food was also the talking point.
But there wasn’t anything to laugh about, nor was it an occasion to make profound reflections about eating.
Simply because there wasn’t anything to eat. Or to put it more correctly, there were five thousand men and only five loaves and two fish.
The disciples proposed the most convenient solution – send the people away and let them solve the problem themselves.
Jesus counter proposed: Give them something to eat yourselves.
As the disciples stared at the five loaves and two fish and wondered how to solve the overwhelming problem, Jesus proceeded with the underlying solution.
He took the five loaves and two fish, raised His eyes to heaven, said the blessing over them, broke it and distributed it.
And a miracle happened. They all ate as much as they wanted and when the scraps remaining were collected, they filled twelve baskets.
Yes, a miracle happened, and as we look at Jesus blessing the food, breaking it and distributing it, it all pointed to one thing – He gave them something to eat, He gave His heart out.
Today the Church celebrates the feast of Corpus Christi, which means the Body of Christ.
Jesus feeds us with His Body, and it also means He gives His Heart out to us.
*But the weakening of faith in the Real Presence of the Risen Christ in the Eucharist is one of the most significant aspects of the current spiritual crisis. Jesus wants to strengthen our faith in His Eucharistic presence. That is why from time to time in the history of the Catholic Church He gives us signs - Eucharistic miracles that clearly point to the fact that He, the Risen Lord Himself in the mystery of His Divinity and glorified humanity, is truly present in the Eucharist.
The most recent Eucharistic miracle recognized by the Church authorities occurred in 1996 in the capital of Argentina–Buenos Aires.
In the evening on August 18, 1996, Fr. Alejandro Pezet was saying Holy Mass at a Catholic church in the commercial center of Buenos Aires. As he was finishing distributing Holy Communion, a woman came up to tell him that she had found a discarded host at the back of the church. Fr. Alejandro went and saw the defiled Host. Since he was unable to consume it, he placed it in a container of water and put it away in the tabernacle of the chapel of the Blessed Sacrament.
On Monday, August 26, upon opening the tabernacle, he saw to his amazement that the Host had turned into a bloody substance. He informed Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio (who is now Pope Francis) who gave instructions that the Host be professionally photographed. The photos were taken on September 6. They clearly show that the Host, which had become a fragment of bloodied flesh, had grown significantly in size. For several years the Host remained in the tabernacle, the whole affair being kept a strict secret. Since the Host suffered no visible decomposition, Cardinal Bergoglio decided to have it scientifically analyzed.
In 1999, in the presence of the Cardinal’s representatives, Dr. Castanon took a sample of the bloody fragment and sent it to New York for analysis. Since he did not wish to prejudice the study, he purposely did not inform the team of scientists of its provenance.
One of these scientists was Dr. Frederic Zugiba, the well-known cardiologist and forensic pathologist. He determined that the analyzed substance was real flesh and blood containing human DNA. Dr. Zugiba testified that, “the analyzed material is a fragment of the heart muscle found in the wall of the left ventricle close to the valves. This muscle is responsible for the contraction of the heart, and it pumps blood to all parts of the body. The heart muscle is in an inflammatory condition and contains a large number of white blood cells.
This indicates that the heart was alive at the time the sample was taken. It is my contention that the heart was alive, since white blood cells die outside a living organism. They require a living organism to sustain them. Thus, their presence indicates that the heart was alive when the sample was taken.
What is more, these white blood cells had penetrated the tissue, which further indicates that the heart had been under severe stress, as if the owner had been beaten severely about the chest.”
When Dr. Zugiba was asked how long the white blood cells would have remained alive if they had come from a piece of human tissue, which had been kept in water, he replied that they would have ceased to exist in a matter of minutes. Then he was told that the source of the sample had first been kept in ordinary water for a month and then for another three years in a container of distilled water; only then had the sample been taken for analysis. Dr. Zugiba was at a loss to account for this fact.
There was no way of explaining it scientifically, he stated. Only then was he told that the analyzed sample came from a consecrated Host (white, unleavened bread) that had mysteriously turned into bloody human flesh.
Amazed by this information, Dr. Zugiba replied, “How and why a consecrated Host would change its character and become living human flesh and blood will remain an inexplicable mystery to science, a mystery totally beyond her competence.” * (Eucharistic Miracle in Buenos Aires, by Fr. Mieczysław Piotrowski S.Chr.)
So for those who have faith and believe, no explanation is necessary; but for those who do not believe no explanation is possible.
We who have faith must also ask the Lord Jesus to increase our faith and to always believe that in giving us His Body, Jesus also gave His Heart out to us.
As we receive the Body of Christ in Holy Communion, Jesus wants to heal us from eating our hearts out in anguish or grief, or in bitterness or pain.
Jesus gives His Heart out to us. May we in turn give our hearts out to others.
That is what the Body of Christ is about. And that is what being the Body of Christ is about.
Friday, May 27, 2016
8th Week, Ordinary Time, Saturday, 28-05-16
Jude 17, 20-25 / Mark 11:27-33
Faith is essential in the Christian life. Because faith is the foundation that we build our lives on.
Faith leads us to pray and to keep ourselves within the love of God and wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to give us eternal life.
But faith must also be expressed in good works. Or to put it simply, what is inside must also be seen outside.
Faith without any form of good works is dead. Hence, the 1st reading urges us to reassure those who have doubts, and when there are some to be saved from the fire, to pull them out.
But the 1st reading also tells us this - there are others to whom you must be kind with great caution, keeping your distance even from outside clothing which is contaminated by vice.
So faith tells us to be kind but also to be cautious with those who will lure and lead us into sin.
Such was how Jesus responded to the chief priests and scribes and elders when they questioned His authority.
Jesus did not enter into an argument with them but rather gave them something to think about. He was cautious about falling into their trap.
So faith must be expressed in forms of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, compassion, etc.
But with faith we also must pray for wisdom, knowledge and understand so that we won't fall into temptation and be led into sin.
Faith is essential in the Christian life. Because faith is the foundation that we build our lives on.
Faith leads us to pray and to keep ourselves within the love of God and wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to give us eternal life.
But faith must also be expressed in good works. Or to put it simply, what is inside must also be seen outside.
Faith without any form of good works is dead. Hence, the 1st reading urges us to reassure those who have doubts, and when there are some to be saved from the fire, to pull them out.
But the 1st reading also tells us this - there are others to whom you must be kind with great caution, keeping your distance even from outside clothing which is contaminated by vice.
So faith tells us to be kind but also to be cautious with those who will lure and lead us into sin.
Such was how Jesus responded to the chief priests and scribes and elders when they questioned His authority.
Jesus did not enter into an argument with them but rather gave them something to think about. He was cautious about falling into their trap.
So faith must be expressed in forms of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, compassion, etc.
But with faith we also must pray for wisdom, knowledge and understand so that we won't fall into temptation and be led into sin.
Thursday, May 26, 2016
8th Week, Ordinary Time, Friday, 27-05-16
1 Peter 4:7-13 / Mark 11:11-26
Today's gospel portrayal of Jesus is not one that we would like to see.
In fact, cursing fig trees and being physically violent won't draw any admiration from others.
But the beginning of Chapter 11 of the gospel of Mark stated that Jesus just entered Jerusalem and soon He will face His Passion.
So the Jesus in today's gospel is anxious because the urgency of His message about the Kingdom of God has not sunk into the minds and hearts of the people.
So His actions in today's gospel are like alarm bells in the morning and they are sharp warnings to those who are aware of His message but do not do anything about it.
And even for us, the areas of conversion in our lives must begin, and must begin now.
We can't be indifferent or wait for tomorrow; there might be no tomorrow.
And if the Lord asks us now to show an account of our lives, will we have any good fruits to show?
So let us start straightening up our lives, we who are the Temples of the Holy Spirit, let us bear fruits for the Kingdom of God, fruits of love and peace, fruits of joy and forgiveness.
Today's gospel portrayal of Jesus is not one that we would like to see.
In fact, cursing fig trees and being physically violent won't draw any admiration from others.
But the beginning of Chapter 11 of the gospel of Mark stated that Jesus just entered Jerusalem and soon He will face His Passion.
So the Jesus in today's gospel is anxious because the urgency of His message about the Kingdom of God has not sunk into the minds and hearts of the people.
So His actions in today's gospel are like alarm bells in the morning and they are sharp warnings to those who are aware of His message but do not do anything about it.
And even for us, the areas of conversion in our lives must begin, and must begin now.
We can't be indifferent or wait for tomorrow; there might be no tomorrow.
And if the Lord asks us now to show an account of our lives, will we have any good fruits to show?
So let us start straightening up our lives, we who are the Temples of the Holy Spirit, let us bear fruits for the Kingdom of God, fruits of love and peace, fruits of joy and forgiveness.
Wednesday, May 25, 2016
8th Week, Ordinary Time, Thursday, 26-05-16
1 Peter 2:2-5, 9-12 / Mark 10:46-52
From what we have gone through in life, we would have learnt that certain things cannot be forced.
No one can be forced to change their habits, or their behaviour or their principles. Because essentially change comes from within, not from without; it cannot be forced.
Similarly, faith and love cannot be forced on a person. God loves us and He wants us to have faith in His love for us.
But He will not force us to love Him or believe in Him. God only invites us to respond to His love.
In today's gospel, we hear about the response of a blind man called Bartimaeus.
Bartimaeus heard that it was Jesus passing by. He may have have already heard many things about Jesus. The time had come for him to make a response to Jesus. And for his response, he got healed and he followed Jesus.
Faith is believing that God loves us and our response is to love God. When faith brings these two loves together, then we will know what journeying from darkness into light is all about.
Then we will experience what Bartimaeus experienced.
From what we have gone through in life, we would have learnt that certain things cannot be forced.
No one can be forced to change their habits, or their behaviour or their principles. Because essentially change comes from within, not from without; it cannot be forced.
Similarly, faith and love cannot be forced on a person. God loves us and He wants us to have faith in His love for us.
But He will not force us to love Him or believe in Him. God only invites us to respond to His love.
In today's gospel, we hear about the response of a blind man called Bartimaeus.
Bartimaeus heard that it was Jesus passing by. He may have have already heard many things about Jesus. The time had come for him to make a response to Jesus. And for his response, he got healed and he followed Jesus.
Faith is believing that God loves us and our response is to love God. When faith brings these two loves together, then we will know what journeying from darkness into light is all about.
Then we will experience what Bartimaeus experienced.
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