1st Week of Advent, Tuesday, 01-12-2020

Isaiah 11:1-10 / Luke 10:21-24      

The festive decorations this year is certainly different from the previous years.

At least, it can be said that the decorations are not as lavish. Even the festive or Christmas music is rather toned down.

Maybe the reason is that it is the sign of the times, with an underlying anxiety and worry about how things are going to turn out.

With eyes on the dollars and cents, it is obvious that the festive decorations and also the festive mood are subdued.

But is that all we are seeing? Is there something more and beyond this so-called bleak situation?

In other words, God is revealing something to us and we will see with the help of the Holy Spirit.

The 1st reading mentions about the Spirit of wisdom, of insight and of knowledge.

At least we can see that the light of faith is burning and will burn brightly to radiate the light of Christ so that we will see what Jesus wants us to see.

May this time of Advent be a time of prayer and reflection so that we can see what is to be revealed to us and to listen to what God wants to tell us.

St. Andrew, Apostle, Monday, 30-11-2020

Romans 10:9-18 / Matthew 4:18-22

In the gospel account, we hear of Jesus calling St. Peter along with his brother St. Andrew.

But there was something else about St. Andrew.

In the gospel according to St. John, St. Andrew was initially a disciple of John the Baptist.

And when John the Baptist pointed out Jesus as the Lamb of God, Andrew in turn followed Him.

So we can say that St. Andrew was the first disciple of Jesus.

And it was St. Andrew who brought St. Peter to see Jesus, after telling him that he had found the Messiah.

We can learn much from St. Andrew, especially his attitude as a disciple.

After staying with Jesus and coming to know Him, St. Andrew did not keep this experience to himself, but shared it with his brother St.Peter.

So saints are not nicely sculptured statues, or just pretty colourful pictures on the stained-glass of churches.

They are common people who are opened to Jesus when He came into their lives, and after experiencing Him, they also shared Him with others, just like St. Andrew did.

Let us pray that we will continue to experience Jesus daily and like St. Andrew we will go forth to share Him with others.

1st Sunday of Advent, Year B, 29.11.2020

Isaiah 63:16-17; 64:1, 3-8 / 1 Cor 1:3-9 / Mark 13:33-37

Whenever we talk about memory, we would presume that it is associated with the mind. 

Yes, the mind has a memory, but it is not about how much memory and certainly different from the computer memory which can be measured in gigabytes. 

The memory of the mind is about how deeply things are remembered, as well as how often things are repeated, so that they go deeper and deeper into the memory. 

It is from the memory of the mind that our habits and routines are formed and the more we do them, the more our lives are shaped accordingly. 

That is how dancers remember the choreography. They listen to the music, they learn the steps and the movements, and then they practice until the dancer and the dance become one. 

Sometimes it is called “muscle memory” where each part of the body responds to the music accordingly. 

But it is not just in dancing. It is also in speech and in singing. The mind remembers how the words are pronounced, or what the note sounds like, and then subsequently and consequently the tongue and the vocal cords produce the sound. 

So we see “muscle memory” being activated in speaking, in singing and in dancing, and also in the wider spectrum of our habits and routines. 

And with repetition, there will come about a union, where the person and the action become one. 

Today’s Gospel passage is so appropriate as we begin the new liturgical cycle of Year B. 

Jesus says this: Be on your guard, stay awake, because you never know when the time will come. 

That message of Jesus is so appropriate for us the Church, because for a number of months this year, our habits and routines have been drastically disrupted. 

It is not just our daily habits and routines that are disrupted and changed. Our spiritual habits and routines have been disrupted and changed.

The churches have been closed for some time earlier this year, and we can’t come to church for our weekly Sunday Mass or for other religious activities. 

Even though Masses have resumed, we can come only once or twice a month for Mass. 

And even then, Mass is not like before. There is no singing and we can’t sit at our favourite pews. 

Yes, so many things have changed and things keep changing, so much so that we are forgetting what it was like before. 

Yes, we are slowly forgetting our spiritual habits and routines. We are also slowly forgetting the names of our fellow parishioners because we have not met them for some time already. 

Yes, we are forgetting and forgetting, and then with nothing much to remember, we are slowly getting sleepy and then we start sleeping and sleeping. 

So on this 1st Sunday of Advent, Jesus does not ring the “Jingle Bells”, but He rings the alarm bells. 

Jesus tells us to be on our guard, to stay awake, to keep watch and prepare for a joyful renewal of our faith and our lives. 

And we must cry out to the Lord in the words of the 1st reading: Lord, do not leave us to stray from Your ways and harden our hearts against fearing You. 

And we also implore the Lord: Oh that You would tear the heavens and come down. 

So let us remember the Advent hymns, and we cry out: “O come, O come, Emmanuel and ransom captive Israel”. Oh yes, remember how we have been like captives in our own homes. 

We remember as we sing “O Come Divine Messiah, the world in silence waits the day, when hope shall sing its triumph, and sadness flees away. 

The Lord will hear our cries and He will tear the heavens and rain down abundant blessings. 

So let us not sleep and forget. Let us stay awake and remember. 

Let every tongue cry out to the Lord, and let us prepare to sing “Joy to the World” as we look forward with hope that our hearts will dance in celebration of the birth of Jesus our Saviour.

34th Week, Ordinary Time, Friday, 27-11-2020

Apocalypse 20:1-4, 11 - 21:2 / Luke 21:29-33

If we had lived or spent time in a place or a country where there is a winter season, we will know how dreary it is.

It can be wet, cold, gloomy, and life comes to almost like a standstill.

But winter will slowly give way to spring, and spring is beautiful.

The sun would be shining but yet it is cool. Everything has a bright tinge to it, from the colour of the grass to the colour of the sky.

So winter does not have the last say in the cycle of the seasons and in the cycle of life.

Out of an apparent lifelessness comes about new life.

Jesus had been talking about the disturbing signs of the end times, signs of violence and distress.

But in today's gospel, He talks about yet another sign, the sign of the kingdom of God.

Hence the disturbing signs are inevitable, but they do not have the last say.

Because the last say belongs to the kingdom of God and to the glorious coming of Jesus.

So when we face a turmoil in life, let us know that the turmoil or distress do not have the last say and neither is it the deciding factor.

The deciding factor rests on our hope in Jesus, who will come and reveal Himself to us in the calm after the storm.

It is in that calm that we know the final word belongs to Jesus.

34th Week, Ordinary Time, Thursday, 26-11-2020

Apocalypse 18:1-2, 21-23,; 19:1-3, 9 / Luke 21:20-28   

We may have known that after a great tribulation, there will be a restoration and maybe even a celebration.

Usually after a dark period of despair and distress, there will be light and there will be a revelation, and maybe we may even come to see why things happened.

But when we are going to that dark distress and despairing period, it it difficult to see beyond the pain and the suffering.

In the gospel, Jesus talks about a dark and disturbing time. He talked about a great misery that will descend on the land and wrath on the people.

But at the end of the gospel passage, Jesus also gave hope and encouragement when He said: When these things begin to take place, stand erect and hold your heads high, because your liberation is near at hand.

The 1st reading talks about the defeat of evil and the victory of God.

Those who were faithful to God were not only restored but there is a celebration awaiting them - they will be at the wedding feast of the Lamb.

That is the revelation for us, that after a time of tribulation, there will be a celebration.

It also reminds us that the sufferings of this world is nothing compared to the eternal celebration and happiness that is awaiting us.

Let us believe in it and persevere in our faith and hope.

34th Week, Ordinary Time, Wednesday, 25-11-2020

Apocalypse 15:1-4 / Luke 21:12-19

When we read about the Passion (the sufferings) of Jesus in the gospel, we can see that He underwent three types of tortures.

The first was the scourging and that is to whip the convicted person 39 times (which was seldom needed) with leather straps that has lead balls at the ends.

The purpose was to whip the person till within an inch of his death and then stop so that the other forms of torture can continue.

The third was the crucifixion - make Jesus carry the cross, march Him to Calvary and then execute His slowly.

Those were the soldiers' orders and they carried it out precisely.

What was difficult to understand was the in-between torture, the second torture.

The soldiers wanted to mock and make fun of a half-dead Jesus. So they put a purple robe on Him, put a crown of thorns on His head, put a stick in His hand, and hailed Him "King of the Jews".

And then they spat Him. Spittle is not intended to hurt the body; it can't. Spitting at a person is meant to degrade, to insult, to humiliate.

As disciples of Jesus, we can be assured that we will never be spared of the spittle of humiliation.

It comes in the form of gossips, slandering, accusations and all those tribulations that we heard Jesus talked about in the gospel.

We have had our share and in retaliation, we also have given others our share.

But let us remember what Jesus told us - Our endurance will win us our lives.

Others may spit at us but we don't have to spit back. Jesus didn't. In fact He endured the spittle and the pain all the way to the cross and there He won life for us.
                                                                                                                                   

34th Week, Ordinary Time, Tuesday, 24-11-2020

Apocalypse 14:14-19 / Luke 21:5-11       

The word "procrastination" means to keep delaying something that needed to be done immediately.

There may be an urgency to it but it may not necessarily be an emergency.

In other words, to procrastinate is to sit on something urgent and telling ourselves, and others, to wait.

Though it may need immediate attention, it is not an emergency, so we wait, and we also make others wait.

The 1st reading gives a rather disturbing image of judgement and punishment.

That phrase "the winepress of God's anger" cuts into our comfortable and complacent idea that God is love and forgiveness.

We begin to take God's love and forgiveness for granted and so we delay and procrastinate the need to cleanse our hearts of sin.

We get used to sin just like how we can get used to dirt if we don't it up often.

So we make God wait as we delay and procrastinate our repentance and conversion.

But let us remember that " winepress of God's anger" and not to test God's patience.

Let us turn back to the Lord and ask for mercy and forgiveness. Let us wait no longer.