St. Therese of the Child Jesus, Patroness of Missionaries and the Missions, Saturday, 01-10-2022

Isaiah 66:10-14 / Matthew 18:1-5    

St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus is also known as the "Little Flower of Jesus".

St. Thérèse was declared co-patron of the missions with St. Francis Xavier in 1927.

This is quite astonishing because she was a nun in the enclosed Carmelite community of Lisieux, Normandy in France.

Unlike St. Francis Xavier who travelled far and wide to spread the Gospel and baptized many people, St. Thérèse spent all her religious life in the cloistered convent.

Though she had thoughts of going off to the mission lands, her ill health forbade her from doing so.

Nonetheless she offered prayers for the missions and also her every little act was offered to God in prayer.

In her memoir The Story of a Soul, she said that she was just a very little soul and so she could only offer God very little things.

But it was doing these very little things with great love that  that she offered it to God for the salvation of souls.

That is also precisely the message in today' s gospel - childlike humility is the way to the kingdom of God.

It is the small childlike humble heart, one that is like that of St. Thérèse, that is considered great in the eyes of God.

26th Week, Ordinary Time, Friday, 30-09-2022

Job 38:1, 12-21; 40:3-5 / Luke 10:13-16     

The words “listen’ and “silent” are made up of the same letters.

More than just having the same letters, there can also be another connection.

When we reflect upon the words "listen" and "silent", we may come to see that in order to listen, we have to be silent.

To be silent does not merely mean that we do not say anything, because we may be silent and yet in our minds, we are already formulating a response or thinking about something else.

To be truly silent is to listen so as to truly try to understand what we are listening to.

In Psalm 46:10, there is this verse: Be still and know that I am God.

It means that when God speaks to us, we will listen and we will understand.

In the 1st reading, God finally spoke to Job. All this while Job and his friends had be talking and trying to find reasons for Job’s afflictions and misfortunes.

As God spoke, Job had to be truly silent and to listen so that he could understand what God is telling him.

Job had his questions, but what mattered as God spoke was not Job’s questions but his realization.

God speaks to us in so many ways and in so many instances and experiences.

May we be silent so that we can listen to the voice of God speaking to us in various ways and in other people.

As Jesus said in the gospel, when we listen to what God is saying to us, and when we let God’s word be in us, then others will listen to what we will say to them.

The Holy Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, Thursday, 29-09-2022

Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14 or Apocalypse 12:7-12 / John 1:47-51    

The first verse of the Nicene Creed states that God is the maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible.

So the things that are invisible are not just what the eye cannot see.

The things that are invisible leads us to the awareness of the spiritual world.

Today as the Church honours the Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, we are led to a deeper awareness and reflection of the reality of the spiritual world.

The Bible mentions about angels, and the Bible reveals the names of three archangels who are called Michael, Gabriel and Raphael.

They are called archangels because they carried out a specific mission in God’s plan of salvation.

St. Michael was given the task to drive out of heaven the devil and the angels who rebelled against God.

And he and the army of angels are given the task to protect those who are faithful to God.

St. Gabriel was sent to announce the Good News of salvation to Mary, and he guides those who preach the Good News on earth.

St. Raphael led Tobit to find the cure for the blindness of his father Tobias.

The three-fold mission of the Archangels is also a reflection of our mission as Christians.

We call upon God’s protection for those who are in danger. We are messengers of the Good News of salvation for those who want to be saved. And we pray for healing for those who are sick.

As we honour the Archangels St. Michael, St. Gabriel and St. Raphael, may we also continue their mission on earth so that we can help others to be aware that even though they are not able to see God, yet they can believe in Him and to turn to Him for protection, for healing and for salvation.

26th Week, Ordinary Time, Wednesday, 28-09-2022

Job 9:1-13, 14-16 / Luke 9:57-62     

Whenever we speak publicly about God, we will speak with reverence and use respectful language, especially in public prayer.

But when we do an examination of our conscience, we may have to admit that we are not always that respectful.

Especially in the privacy of our own space, we will be more personal with God.

And when life is spiraling in chaos and things are falling apart, our conversations with God will be sharp and direct.

To say the least, we will be angry with God and even demanding explanations from Him, or even to the extent of accusing God for not listening to and answering our prayers.

In the 1st reading, when Job spoke of God before his friends, he was certainly respectful of God and acknowledged God is almighty in every sense of the word.

Job knew where he stands before God, that he is a mere creature and that he has no case against God, even though he may not know the reason for his tribulations.

That was how Job portrayed God before his friends, and that could also be his conviction about God.

What Job said about God in the 1st reading is certainly necessary for our reflection and meditation.

As much as God will forgive us when we are disrespectful or even dared to defy Him, yet let us ask the Lord God to grant us a humble and contrite heart.

And when we speak to others about God, they will know what is our conviction about God.

26th Week, Ordinary Time, Tuesday, 27-09-2022

Job 3:1-3, 11-17, 20-23 / Luke 9:51-56      

To believe in God requires faith, and that faith is a gift from God.

Faith is God’s gift to us, and with faith, we respond to God’s call to be His People.

So to be a Christian is certainly a higher calling and it is a call to be like Jesus Christ.

To be like Jesus is to follow His way of love, which is essentially the way of the Cross.

In the gospel, we see that the way of Jesus is indeed a difficult and challenging way.

When the people of the Samaritan town would not receive Jesus, His disciples wanted to retaliate.

His disciples, James and John, want to call down fire from heaven to burn up the Samaritans of that town in order to punish them.

But Jesus turned and rebuked them and they went off to another village.

Jesus had taught about love, to love our enemies, to pray for those who persecute us and to bless those who curse us.

It would be easier to love those who love us and do good to those who are good to us.

But the call to be a Christian is a higher calling to live and love like Jesus, a calling that is above the ways of the world.

Let us ask Jesus for His blessings so that we will be faithful to our Christian calling and to be witnesses of His love and forgiveness.

 

26th Week, Ordinary Time, Monday, 26-09-2022

Job 1:6-22 / Luke 9:46-50     

We often say that everything happens for a reason, and we usually come to that conclusion after it has happened.

So, when the dust is settled, we will remember and reflect upon what has happened, and when we see the reason behind it, then we are prepared to learn from that experience.

But when we are experiencing the chaos of that moment, when everything seems to be falling apart, we will ask piercing questions.

We may even feel that God has abandoned us because He didn’t seem to answer our prayers for help.

From the 1st reading, we may have a glimpse of the reason as to why Job was put to the test.

But for Job, when tragedy struck one after another, he didn’t ask why it was happening to him, and neither did he know the reason.

Rather he put his life into the hands of God as he says: Naked I came from my mother’s womb, naked I shall return. The Lord gave, the Lord has taken back. Blessed be the name of the Lord.

When we are faced with the adversities of life, let us hold on to our faith in God.

God knows how much we can endure, and He won’t abandon or forsake us in our sufferings.

With faith and trust in God’s love for us, we will believe that everything happens under God’s watchful eyes, and that there is something to learn from everything that happens.

26th Ordinary Sunday, Year C, 25.09.2022

Amos 6:1, 4-7 / 1 Tim 6:11-16 / Luke 16:19-31

The five senses that we have help us to relate and interact with the people around us, as well as what is around us. 

From what we are able to see, hear, smell, taste and touch, we will react and respond accordingly. 

So, when we see something beautiful, we will respond with admiration. When we hear something pleasant and mellow, we will be delighted. When we smell a sweet fragrance, or taste something delicious, or feel something soft and smooth, we will be happy and excited. 

Yes, when we see, hear, smell, taste and touch the good things of life, we respond with good and positive emotions. 

But life is not always about the good and nice things. When we encounter something that calls for our attention, or something that is disturbing, or something that requires our immediate action, how will we respond, or how will we react? 

When we see a person in a desperate need, or come across a sad situation, we will be moved with kindness and compassion. 

The human heart can be moved to help those in need and to have compassion for those in despair. 

Because the human heart is created by God with love, and created to be loving. 

In the gospel parable, we heard of a rich man who cared only for himself and enjoyed life in a selfish manner. 

He seems to have no feelings for others, or care about others, even if they are poor and hungry, or sick and in a desperate need. 

At his gate was Lazarus, who was obviously poor and hungry, sick and needed help. But the rich man left Lazarus outside, at his gate.

He didn't let Lazarus come in, or let him into his comfort zone. 

Although it is just a parable, it reveals a number of divided human realities. So there is the rich and the poor, the powerful and the oppressed, the plenty and the needy, those who are inside and those who are outside.

As human beings, we have hearts of flesh, hearts that have the capacity for kindness and compassion, hearts that can move us into acts of love and to help others. 

But our hearts may have been hardened by disappointment and frustrations, by resentment and bitterness, by pain and hurt. 

So, we look, but we only see ourselves. We hear, but we listen only to ourselves. We want everything good, but only for ourselves. We look inward and not outwards. 

But we are not created to be like that. Whatever we see, hear, smell, taste and touch, are revelations and promptings from God, so that we will open our hearts to others, to love them, to help them and show them kindness and compassion. 

So, how does God reveal Himself to us and send signs into our hearts? The following is for our reflection: 

A man whispered, “O God, speak to me.” A bird sang, but the man did not hear. So, the man yelled, “O God, speak to me.” And the thunder rolled across the sky, but the man did not listen. 

The man looked around and said, “God, let me see You.” And a star shined brightly, but the man did not notice. And the man shouted, “O God, show me a miracle.” And a baby was born. But the man did not care. 

So, the man cried out in despair, “Touch me, O God, and let me know that You are here.” Whereupon God reach down and touched the man. But the man brushed the butterfly away and walked away in disappointment.

So, let us not walk away from a blessing just because it didn’t come in a way we expected.

Similarly, let us not walk away, or look away from others, in their need.

May we reach out to love them, to help them, to show them kindness and compassion and understanding.

When we reach out to those in need, we will be able to see that God is also reaching out to us in our time of need.a