18th Week, Ordinary Time, Monday, 01-08-2022

Jeremiah 28:1-17 / Matthew 13-21    

Whatever profession we are in, it is important that we carry out our work with honesty and integrity.

Our character will be seen in how we carry out our responsibilities, and in what we say and do with the people that we are working with.

And there will be occasions when we will be tempted to be popular and to cut the corners in order to climb up the ladder.

In the 1st reading, we see the characters of two prophets, Hananiah and Jeremiah.

As prophets, they are to speak the Word from God and not from themselves.

The prophet Hananiah wanted to be a prophet of popularity, and so he spoke what the people wanted to hear. 

He even dared to say that it was the Word from God. But the prophet Jeremiah thought otherwise.

Jeremiah was a prophet of integrity and honesty.

He had to warn Hananiah and also warn the people as God had told him to.

As for ourselves, when we hear about things that irritate or annoy us, let us take some time to reflect deeper about it.

With honesty and integrity, we will know what God is saying to us. And we could be avoiding impending misfortune or even tragedy.

18th Ordinary Sunday, Year C, 31.07.2022

 Ecclesiastes 1:2; 2:21-23 / Colossians 3:1-5, 9-11 / Luke 12:13-21

Generally speaking, when we talk about a house, what comes to mind is a place with a few rooms. 

It may be a HDB flat, or a condo unit, or a landed property, and possibly even a mansion. Whether it is a flat or a mansion, there would be at least two rooms. 

So, in the house where we are staying, which we call home, which is the biggest room? 

Obviously, it would be the living room, because that is where the family members would gather, and it is also a place where guests are welcomed. 

But if we had a choice to design the layout of our house or home, which would be the biggest room? 

Could it be the bedroom, because we want to put a king-size bed there? But other than sleeping, we don't really spend much time there. 

Could it be the study room? If we love to read and collect books, and take pride in having a library at home, then maybe the study room would be the biggest. 

Or would it be the kitchen? But even if we love to cook, we are not running a restaurant, so the kitchen need not be too big. Also with all that cooking, it is going to be difficult to clean.

And there is no need to talk about the toilets or the store room. Those rooms need not be that big, unless they have unique and odd purposes. 

In the gospel parable, we heard of a rich man who had a good harvest from his land, and he didn't have enough room to store his crops. 

Then he decided to pull down his barns and build bigger ones so that he could store all the grain and goods in them. And it is all for himself only. 

So, for the rich man, the biggest and most important room is not even in his house. It is the barn which is outside his house. 

Come to think of it, isn't it strange, that the biggest and most important is not within, but outside. 

That would tell us what kind of person that rich man is like. 

The teaching point of Jesus in that parable is that when a man stores up treasure for himself instead of making himself rich in the sight of God, then his life is futile. It is like what the 1st reading calls it - vanity of vanities. 

So, what does it mean to make ourselves rich in the sight of God? 

Let us go back to the discussion on the rooms in our home, about which room is the biggest and which room is important. 

The living room is important and possibly the biggest because that is where family life is shared, and it is the first room where our guests step in and it is there we share friendship. 

But which room do we think is the heart of the home? Could it be the kitchen? And why is the kitchen the heart of the home? 

Whether small or large, the kitchen is the hub of the home. It is where the meals are created, and those meals nourish the bodies, the minds and the souls of the family and friends. 

Some say that while life is created in the bedroom, it is certainly lived out in the kitchen. 

And the kitchen does not just churn out food. Food is used to express love. Courting couples spend their time over food. Mothers cook for their children. 

If we care about someone, we will share our food with them, whether it is preparing it for them, serving it to them or eating it with them. 

Jesus said that He is the Bread of Life. In the Eucharist, He invites us to partake of the Bread of Life that He wants to give us.

It is the Bread of life and love that Jesus gives to us so that we too can share life and love with others.

So Jesus uses food to point to life and love, and He also gives us a foretaste of the heavenly eternal banquet where we will rejoice in God’s love and have eternal life.

Food is a language of love, and sharing food and eating together can have a healing effect. 

Food is not to be stored in barns outside of the home and only for self-consumption. 

Food as a sign of love is to be shared with others and to enrich others. 

To be rich is to help others in their need and to share and give of what we have.

That is how we can make ourselves rich in the sight of God and in the sight of others.

17th Week, Ordinary Time, Saturday, 30-07-2022

Jeremiah 26:11-16, 24 / Matthew 14:1-12    

It is often said that the truth will set us free.

Indeed, the truth will set us free.

Because when we know the truth and the facts and the reality, then we know clearly enough how to respond to a matter or a situation.

Truth will also dispel all curiosity and speculation and we won’t be left wondering.

In the two readings of today, the prophets Jeremiah and John the Baptist proclaimed the truth to the people that God sent them to.

Both had to do it under hostile circumstances and the truth that they proclaimed were not readily accepted; in fact they were persecuted for it.

But what mattered for Jeremiah and John the Baptist was that in proclaiming the truth, they experienced the freedom that even enabled them to lay down their lives for the truth.

May we too live our lives in truth and with love. 

We will be rewarded with a peace that only God can give.

 

Sts. Martha, Mary and Lazarus, Memorial, Friday, 29-07-2022

1 John 4:7-16 / John 11:19-27   (2023)

Whenever we talk about St. Martha, the image of an active and work-oriented as well as task-oriented person comes to mind.

That may be because of that occasion (Luke 10:38-42)when she invited Jesus to her home and she was caught up with all the serving.

And then she complained to Jesus about getting her sister Mary to help her with the work.

But Jesus told her that she worries and fret about so many things and yet only one is important, and Mary had chosen the better part.

Martha must have remembered what Jesus said to her, and so despite the sadness and grief over her brother's death, she knew that only Jesus could comfort her.

And true to her personality, she made the move to go out and meet Jesus and to express her faith in Jesus.

But on this occasion, she also made a profound proclamation.

Martha proclaimed Jesus to be Christ, the Son of God.

Only St. Peter had made that similar proclamation.

Hence, St. Martha, despite her active and work-oriented and task-oriented personality, came to slowly recognize who Jesus is.

St. Martha is an example for us of someone who is active and busy but yet took the time to reflect and to discover who Jesus is.

Like St. Martha we may also have very active lives and busy with a lot of things.

But let us not forget the one important thing - prayer!

And that is what St. Martha’s sister, St. Mary, reminds us of. She gives us this example of sitting at the Lord’s feet and listening to Him. Prayer is about listening to the Lord.

It is in prayer that we will attain the peace to know that Jesus is truly the Son of God, our Saviour.

When we have that peace, we won’t worry and fret about the unnecessary.

17th Week, Ordinary Time, Thursday, 28-07-2022

Jeremiah 18:1-6 / Matthew 13:47-58

When we look at the things that are being produced today, we may get this notion that the modern-day things are not made to last.

Even though technology has advanced, but industrialization has mass produced things that may favour quantity over quality.

And this has also resulted in a throw-away culture. Some things are not worth repairing. It may be more economical to buy a new item.

In the 1st reading, God sent the prophet Jeremiah to the potter’s house to observe how the potter was making the clay vessels.

When the clay vessel turns out wrong, the potter would rework the clay into another vessel; the potter does not throw away the clay.

The message for the House of Israel was that God won’t throw away His people just because they had sinned and done wrong.

God will mold them again and again until they have learnt their lesson and turn back to Him.

But as much as God is patient and forgiving, there is also a time of judgement.

In the gospel, Jesus made it clear in the parable that there will come a time of judgement.

So it is for us to choose either eternal damnation or eternal salvation.

Let us not throw away our eternal future. Rather let us thank God for His mercy and forgiveness and decide for salvation.

17th Week, Ordinary Time, Wednesday, 27-07-2022

Jeremiah 15:10, 16-21 / Matthew 13:44-46

It has been said that God will not test us beyond what we can take.

That is, of course, true, because since it is God who created us, then He will know what are our strengths and weaknesses.

But God can also be a tough teacher. He gives us the test first and then the lesson later.

And as in every test or exam, the teacher is usually silent, while the students are sweating over the questions.

In the 1st reading, the prophet Jeremiah was lamenting with despair about the persecution that he faced as a prophet of God.

And God did not keep silent. He told Jeremiah this: I will deliver you from the hands of the wicked and redeem you from the clutches of the violent.

We may not face that kind of persecution and violence that the prophet Jeremiah faced.

But at times we do feel that the trials and tribulations of life have worn out our faith and we lament as Jeremiah did.

In such times, let us cry out to God with the response of the Responsorial Psalm: O God, you have been a refuge in the day of my distress.

Yes, God is our only refuge. He is our only hope in times of difficulty. Let us keep that hope and that will be the greatest treasure we will ever have.

17th Week, Ordinary Time, Tuesday, 26-07-2022

Jeremiah 14 : 17-22 / Matthew 13 : 36-43

A lot of questions have been asked about this age-old problem of evil in the world, as well as origin of evil.

The Latin term for the phrase "origin of evil" is MYSTERIUM INIQUITATIS.

When translated into English it is "the mystery of iniquity".

Indeed, sin and evil is so much of a mystery.

The letter to the Romans 7:19 puts this mystery in a life experience when it says - For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.

So as much as sin and evil is mysterious, yet the reality and the fact is clear.

Sin and evil are merely manifestations of the lack of goodness, whether it is around us or in us.

Yet in the 1st reading, we hear of how God feels about the sinful and evil situation of mankind, with these words: Tears flood my eyes night and day unceasingly.

God's love for us was so deep that He sent His only Son so that He can restore our love and goodness.

But we have to make the decision to pick up the weeds of our sin and burn them in the fire of God's love.

With Jesus, we can be certain that love and goodness will triumph in the end.

In our fight against sin and evil, whether within or without, let us put our confidence in God as we cry out - O our God, you are our hope (Jer 14:22)