Rom 4:1-8
Lk 12:1-7
If we ever get into heaven, we ought to be surprised.
We ought to be surprised that we ever get there in the first place.
And we may be surprised by who is there; and also surprised by who is not there.
Indeed, in the first place, how many of us can say that we truly deserve to be in heaven.
We may be baptised, live religious lives, are good people, or even doing service and great things for the Lord.
But does this mean that we can claim for ourselves a place in heaven.
The Letter to the Romans (1st Reading), says that if a person has work to show, his wages are not considered as favour but as his due.
But when a person has nothing to show except his faith and trust in God, then that person is truly blessed.
As an example, Abraham put his faith in God, as his faith was a blessing for him.
Indeed, faith is a gift from God. It is because we see faith as a gift from God, that our deeds are acts of thanksgiving and to glorify God.
Then our deeds would not be just for selfish and self-glorifying motives.
We would not want to be hypocritical because we know that God sees everything and knows what so deep in our hearts.
Finally, when we see God face to face, there is no need to talk about the good we have done. We just want to give thanks to God.
Friday, October 16, 2009
Thursday, October 15, 2009
28th Week, Ordinary Time, Thursday, 15-10-09
Romans 3 : 21-30
Luke 11 : 47-54
It is said that the purpose of preaching is to comfort the disturbed, and to disturb the comfortable.
But when preaching ends up in comforting the comfortable, and disturbing those who are already disturbed, then the preaching may not be prophetic.
What is worse is when preaching is used for profit and benefit.
But besides having the double-edged thrust of consolation and desolation, the prophetic voice is recognized by its call for justice.
In the 1st reading, St. Paul highlighted the justice of God, which is essentially love and forgiveness.
Indeed, love and forgiveness is the very essence of the justice of God.
So whenever Jesus preached about love and forgiveness, He brought comfort to the disturbed and those in need for forgiveness.
But for those who want to silence the prophetic voice of justice, the words of Jesus brought them distress.
So if today, or any day, when we hear the voice of the Lord, when we hear the voice of love and forgiveness, when we hear the voice of justice, let us not harden our hearts and brush it off.
It is only when we are disturbed, then we will be awakened.
Luke 11 : 47-54
It is said that the purpose of preaching is to comfort the disturbed, and to disturb the comfortable.
But when preaching ends up in comforting the comfortable, and disturbing those who are already disturbed, then the preaching may not be prophetic.
What is worse is when preaching is used for profit and benefit.
But besides having the double-edged thrust of consolation and desolation, the prophetic voice is recognized by its call for justice.
In the 1st reading, St. Paul highlighted the justice of God, which is essentially love and forgiveness.
Indeed, love and forgiveness is the very essence of the justice of God.
So whenever Jesus preached about love and forgiveness, He brought comfort to the disturbed and those in need for forgiveness.
But for those who want to silence the prophetic voice of justice, the words of Jesus brought them distress.
So if today, or any day, when we hear the voice of the Lord, when we hear the voice of love and forgiveness, when we hear the voice of justice, let us not harden our hearts and brush it off.
It is only when we are disturbed, then we will be awakened.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
28th Week, Ordinary Time, Wednesday, 14-10-09
Romans 2 : 1-11 / Luke 11 : 42-46 (2025)
A common situation exists where there are leaders and followers, or superiors and subordinates, or teachers and students.
It may be in an organization, or workplace or classroom or even in church.
Whether the person up in the front is a superior or a manager or a teacher or a priest, he/she will treat those under his/her charge differently.
For whatever reason, some will be treated with favour, some will be treated indifferently, some will just be overlooked.
That is understandable when we look at it from the perspective of relational chemistry.
So we have to admit that we are partial and biased in varying degrees.
We often look at people with different and arbitrary standards.
This can be detrimental in situations where the "favoured" people get away with something that others will be severely punished for.
The last line of the 1st reading says that God has no favourites. That means God is impartial, that He loves everyone regardless of whether they are clever or attractive or influential or otherwise.
That does not mean that we cannot have close friends or talk more with people that we can easily relate with.
It means that with those whom we can't easily relate with or even dislike, we still must treat them with fairness and not to impose on them unendurable burdens of mind and heart.
Especially when we are the superiors, we are obligated to be fair and just to all.
A common situation exists where there are leaders and followers, or superiors and subordinates, or teachers and students.
It may be in an organization, or workplace or classroom or even in church.
Whether the person up in the front is a superior or a manager or a teacher or a priest, he/she will treat those under his/her charge differently.
For whatever reason, some will be treated with favour, some will be treated indifferently, some will just be overlooked.
That is understandable when we look at it from the perspective of relational chemistry.
So we have to admit that we are partial and biased in varying degrees.
We often look at people with different and arbitrary standards.
This can be detrimental in situations where the "favoured" people get away with something that others will be severely punished for.
The last line of the 1st reading says that God has no favourites. That means God is impartial, that He loves everyone regardless of whether they are clever or attractive or influential or otherwise.
That does not mean that we cannot have close friends or talk more with people that we can easily relate with.
It means that with those whom we can't easily relate with or even dislike, we still must treat them with fairness and not to impose on them unendurable burdens of mind and heart.
Especially when we are the superiors, we are obligated to be fair and just to all.
This is what God wants of us, and when we do what God wants, He will also be fair and just to us.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
28th Week, Ordinary Time, Tuesday, 13-10-09
Romans 1 : 16-25
Luke 11 : 37-41
The use of sacramentals in the Church is an interesting practice.
Sacramentals are things like holy water, crucifix, rosary, holy pictures and statues.
Most Catholics would use such sacramentals during prayer, and will kiss the holy pictures and touch the statues.
But of course, we are clear that we don't worship statues or use holy pictures like some kind of talisman.
But as much as we know the place of sacramentals and holy objects in our religious life, when it comes to our secular life, we get all mixed-up.
We run into this problem of making things the center of our lives.
For e.g., some get so absorbed with their personal computers that they could not see that the computers are now controlling them.
Some get so absorbed with another human being that they create a personality cult, and that's why singers, movie stars ad sports stars have a fan club,
St. Paul, in the 1st reading, would point out that the impiety and the depravity of man have caused them to exchange the glory of the immortal God for a worthless imitation, of mortal man, of birds, of animals, or whatever.
All this happened because the truth of God has been imprisoned by the wickedness of man.
Indeed, we have that ability to suppress God's truth in us.
Let us ask Jesus to cleanse our hearts, so that the truth of God will set us free to worship the one true God.
Luke 11 : 37-41
The use of sacramentals in the Church is an interesting practice.
Sacramentals are things like holy water, crucifix, rosary, holy pictures and statues.
Most Catholics would use such sacramentals during prayer, and will kiss the holy pictures and touch the statues.
But of course, we are clear that we don't worship statues or use holy pictures like some kind of talisman.
But as much as we know the place of sacramentals and holy objects in our religious life, when it comes to our secular life, we get all mixed-up.
We run into this problem of making things the center of our lives.
For e.g., some get so absorbed with their personal computers that they could not see that the computers are now controlling them.
Some get so absorbed with another human being that they create a personality cult, and that's why singers, movie stars ad sports stars have a fan club,
St. Paul, in the 1st reading, would point out that the impiety and the depravity of man have caused them to exchange the glory of the immortal God for a worthless imitation, of mortal man, of birds, of animals, or whatever.
All this happened because the truth of God has been imprisoned by the wickedness of man.
Indeed, we have that ability to suppress God's truth in us.
Let us ask Jesus to cleanse our hearts, so that the truth of God will set us free to worship the one true God.
Monday, October 12, 2009
28th Week, Ordinary Time, Monday, 12-10-09
Romans 1 : 1-7
Luke 11 : 29-32
If we were asked this question : What do you do as Catholics?... what will our reply be?
Are we going to say : we go for Mass on Sundays, or, we go to Novena on Saturdays, or, we pray the Rosary?
But what do we do essentially as Catholics? What is being Catholic all about?
If St. Paul were to answer that question, his reply could be found in the 1st reading, which is the letter to the Romans.
For St. Paul, it is to proclaim the Good News, and it is about Jesus Christ who rose from the dead, so that in Him, the holiness of God is shown to all peoples.
The Church teaches that all the followers of Christ have the obligation of spreading the faith according to their abilities.
Whatever abilities we may have, we can be witnesses of the faith by living lives of holiness.
Because holiness is the sign and the expression of our faith in the Risen Lord.
By our lives of holiness, we already proclaim our faith.
The fruit of holiness is repentance, and hence our lives are turned away from sin and turned towards God.
When our lives are turned towards God, others will eventually follow suit.
They need not ask us what we do as Catholics, because they can see who we are as Catholics.
Luke 11 : 29-32
If we were asked this question : What do you do as Catholics?... what will our reply be?
Are we going to say : we go for Mass on Sundays, or, we go to Novena on Saturdays, or, we pray the Rosary?
But what do we do essentially as Catholics? What is being Catholic all about?
If St. Paul were to answer that question, his reply could be found in the 1st reading, which is the letter to the Romans.
For St. Paul, it is to proclaim the Good News, and it is about Jesus Christ who rose from the dead, so that in Him, the holiness of God is shown to all peoples.
The Church teaches that all the followers of Christ have the obligation of spreading the faith according to their abilities.
Whatever abilities we may have, we can be witnesses of the faith by living lives of holiness.
Because holiness is the sign and the expression of our faith in the Risen Lord.
By our lives of holiness, we already proclaim our faith.
The fruit of holiness is repentance, and hence our lives are turned away from sin and turned towards God.
When our lives are turned towards God, others will eventually follow suit.
They need not ask us what we do as Catholics, because they can see who we are as Catholics.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
27th Week, Ordinary Time, Sat, 10-10-09
Joel 4:12-21
Lk 11:27-28
As much as we see so much of sin and evil happening around us, yet the great consolation is that the world has not become hell. And it won't!
That is because the good that is inborn in every human being will keep resisting evil.
Though evil may often triumph, yet it can never conquer.
It may win a battle, but that does not mean that it has won the war.
God gave us a promise through the prophet Joel in the 1st reading:
The Lord will be a shelter for His people, a stronghold for the sons of Israel (Joel 4:16)
In the face of evil, we have to stand on God's promise, otherwise we will not stand at all.
We can remain standing in the fight against evil only when we listen to the Word of God and keep it.
The Word of God urges us to love our enemies and do good to those who persecute us.
When we keep God's word and live it out in our lives, then evil will lose its power and its sting.
Indeed, blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it, for they will bring love and peace into the world.
Lk 11:27-28
As much as we see so much of sin and evil happening around us, yet the great consolation is that the world has not become hell. And it won't!
That is because the good that is inborn in every human being will keep resisting evil.
Though evil may often triumph, yet it can never conquer.
It may win a battle, but that does not mean that it has won the war.
God gave us a promise through the prophet Joel in the 1st reading:
The Lord will be a shelter for His people, a stronghold for the sons of Israel (Joel 4:16)
In the face of evil, we have to stand on God's promise, otherwise we will not stand at all.
We can remain standing in the fight against evil only when we listen to the Word of God and keep it.
The Word of God urges us to love our enemies and do good to those who persecute us.
When we keep God's word and live it out in our lives, then evil will lose its power and its sting.
Indeed, blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it, for they will bring love and peace into the world.
Friday, October 9, 2009
27th Week, Ordinary Time, Fri, 09-10-09
Joel 1:13-15
Lk 11:15-26
Many disasters or tragedies like wars, or a plane crash or a terrorist attack can be traced down to human negligence or human failing or sinfulness.
But what about natural disasters like earthquakes, floods, volcano eruptions, etc, where innocent lives are lost.
Maybe because it is so called "natural", we tend to make God accountable for it. We call it an "act of God".
Simply because we just can't find a convincing and consoling answer.
In the first reading, we hear of a terrible invasion of locusts that ravaged the land.
The effects were disastrous, but the prophet Joel saw it from a spiritual and religious dimension.
He saw it as a sign of the coming of the day of the Lord.
He urged the people the repent and to turn to the Lord with weeping and fasting, and the priests to pray for deliverance.
Similarly in the gospel, the case of a diabolical possession and exorcism was used by Jesus as a platform to proclaim that the Kingdom of God is at hand.
When disasters or tragedies happen around us, we lament and grieve and maybe even blame God for what has happened.
But can we also see it from a spiritual and religious dimension?
Because out of chaos, a new creation comes forth.
We may give in to hopelessness and be scattered.
But let us gather in faith, and with Jesus, we await for a new creation and a new revelation.
Lk 11:15-26
Many disasters or tragedies like wars, or a plane crash or a terrorist attack can be traced down to human negligence or human failing or sinfulness.
But what about natural disasters like earthquakes, floods, volcano eruptions, etc, where innocent lives are lost.
Maybe because it is so called "natural", we tend to make God accountable for it. We call it an "act of God".
Simply because we just can't find a convincing and consoling answer.
In the first reading, we hear of a terrible invasion of locusts that ravaged the land.
The effects were disastrous, but the prophet Joel saw it from a spiritual and religious dimension.
He saw it as a sign of the coming of the day of the Lord.
He urged the people the repent and to turn to the Lord with weeping and fasting, and the priests to pray for deliverance.
Similarly in the gospel, the case of a diabolical possession and exorcism was used by Jesus as a platform to proclaim that the Kingdom of God is at hand.
When disasters or tragedies happen around us, we lament and grieve and maybe even blame God for what has happened.
But can we also see it from a spiritual and religious dimension?
Because out of chaos, a new creation comes forth.
We may give in to hopelessness and be scattered.
But let us gather in faith, and with Jesus, we await for a new creation and a new revelation.
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