In Pectore

Answering Scandal with Personal Holiness

2010-04-17T14:37:00.000+08:00

FR. ROGER J. LANDRY

The headlines were captured recently by the news that perhaps up to seventy priests in the Archdiocese of Boston have abused young people whom they were consecrated to serve. Today, I'd like to tackle the issue head-on. You have a right to it. We cannot pretend as if it didn't exist. I'd like to discuss what our response should be as faithful Catholics to this terrible scandal.

A homily delivered at Espirito Santo parish in Fall River, MA on the Fourth Sunday of OT, Year A Zeph 2:3, 3:12-13; 1Cor1:26-31; Mt 5:1-12

The headlines this past week did not focus on the Patriots' march to the Super Bowl, or on who would QB, Drew or Tom, or even on the President's state of the union address and his comment that there are many Al-Qaeda operatives in the US like "ticking time-bombs." None of these was the top story.

The headlines were captured by the very sad news that perhaps up to seventy priests in the Archdiocese of Boston have abused young people whom they were consecrated to serve. It's a huge scandal, one that many people who have long disliked the Church because of one of her moral or doctrinal teachings are using as an issue to attack the Church as a whole, trying to imply that they were right all along.

Many people have come up to me to talk about it. Many others have wanted to, but I think out of respect and of not wanting to bring up what they thought might be bad news, have refrained, but it was obvious to me that it was on their mind. And so, today, I'd like to tackle the issue head-on. You have a right to it. We cannot pretend as if it didn't exist. And I'd like to discuss what our response should be as faithful Catholics to this terrible scandal.

The first thing we need to do is to understand it from the point of view of our faith in the Lord. Before he chose his first disciples, Jesus went up the mountain all night to pray. He had at the time many followers. He talked to his Father in prayer about whom he would choose to be his twelve apostles, the twelve he would himself form intimately, the twelve whom he would send out to preach the Good News in His name. He gave them power to cast out demons. He gave them power to cure the sick. They watched him work countless miracles. They themselves in His name worked countless others.

Yet, despite all of that, one of them was a traitor. One, who had followed the Lord, who had had his feet washed by the Lord, who had seen him walk on water, raise people from the dead, and forgive sinners, betrayed the Lord. The Gospel tells us that he allowed Satan to enter into Him and then sold the Lord for 30 pieces of silver, handing him over by faking a gesture of love. "Judas," Jesus said to him in the garden of Gethsemane , "Would you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?" Jesus didn't choose Judas to betray him. He chose him to be like all the others. But Judas was always free, and he used his freedom to allow Satan to enter into him, and by his betrayal, ended up getting Jesus crucified and executed.

So right from the first twelve that Jesus himself chose, one was a terrible traitor. SOMETIMES GOD'S CHOSEN ONES BETRAY HIM. That's a fact that we have to confront. It's a fact that the early Church confronted. If the scandal caused by Judas was all the members of the early Church focused on, the Church would have been finished before it even started to grow. Instead, the Church recognized that you don't judge something by those who don't live it, but by those who do.

Instead of focusing on the one who betrayed, they focused on the other eleven, on account of whose work, preaching, miracles, and love for Christ, we are here today. It's on account of the other eleven — all of whom except St. John was martyred for Christ and for the Gospel they were willing to give their lives to proclaim to us — that we ever heard the saving word of God, that we ever received the sacraments of eternal life.

We're confronted by the same reality today. We can focus on those who betrayed the Lord, those who abused rather than loved those whom they were called to serve, or we can focus, like the early Church did, on the others, on those who have remained faithful, those priests who are still offering their lives to serve Christ and to serve you out of love. The media almost never focuses on the good "eleven," the ones whom Jesus has chosen who remain faithful, who live lives of quiet holiness. But we, the Church, must keep the terrible scandal that we've witnessed in its true and full perspective.

Scandal is unfortunately nothing new for the Church. There have been many times in the history of the Church when the Church was much worse off than it is now. The history of the Church is like a cosine curve, with ups and downs throughout the centuries. At each of the times when the Church hit its low point, God raised up tremendous saints to bring the Church back to its real mission. It's almost as if in those times of darkness, the Light of Christ shone ever more brightly. I'd like to focus a little on a couple of saints whom God raised up in these most difficult times, because their wisdom can really guide us during this difficult time.

St. Francis de Sales was one saint God raised up after the Protestant Reformation. The Protestant Reformation was not principally about theology, about the faith — although theological differences came later — but about morals. There was an Augustinian priest, Martin Luther, who went down to Rome just after the papacy of the most notorious pope in history, Pope Alexander VI.

This pope never taught anything against the faith — the Holy Spirit prevented that — but he was simply a wicked man. He had nine children from six different concubines. He put out contracts against those he considered his enemies. Martin Luther visited Rome just after Alexander VI's papacy and wondered how God could allow such a wicked man to be the visible head of his Church. He went back to Germany and saw all types of moral problems. Priests were living in open relationships with women. Some were trying to profit from selling spiritual goods. There was a terrible immorality among lay Catholics. He was scandalized, as anyone who loved God might have been, by such rampant abuse. So he founded his own Church.

Eventually God raised up many saints to combat this wrong solution and to bring people back to the Church Christ founded. St. Francis de Sales was one of them. At the risk of his life, he went through parts of what is now Switzerland , where the Calvinists were popular, preaching the Gospel with truth and love. Oftentimes he was beaten up on his way and left for dead. Once he was asked to address the situation of the scandal caused by so many of his brother priests. What he said is as important for us today as it was for his listeners then. He didn't pull any punches.

He said, "Those who commit these types of scandals are guilty of the spiritual equivalent of murder," destroying other people's faith in God by their terrible example. But then he warned his listeners, "But I'm here among you to prevent something far worse for you. While those who give scandal are guilty of the spiritual equivalent of murder, those who take scandal — who allow scandals to destroy their faith — are guilty of spiritual suicide." They're guilty, he said, of cutting off their life with Christ, abandoning the source of life in the Sacraments, especially the Eucharist. He went among the people in what is now Switzerland trying to prevent their committing spiritual suicide on account of the scandals. I'm here to preach the same thing to you.

What should our reaction be then? Another great saint who lived in a tremendously difficult time can help us further. The great St. Francis of Assisi lived in the 1200s, which was a time of terrible immorality in central Italy . Priests were setting horrible example. Lay immorality was even worse. St. Francis himself while a young man even gave some scandal to others by his carefree ways. But eventually he was converted back to the Lord, founded the Franciscans, helped God rebuild his Church and became one of the great saints of all time.

Once one of the brothers in the Order of Friars Minor asked him a question. The brother was very sensitive to scandals. "Br. Francis," he said, "What would you do if you knew that the priest celebrating Mass had three concubines on the side?" Francis, without missing a beat, said slowly, "When it came time for Holy Communion, I would go to receive the Sacred Body of my Lord from the priest's anointed hands."

What was Francis getting at? He was getting at a tremendous truth of the faith and a tremendous gift of the Lord. No matter how sinful a priest is, provided that he has the intention to do what the Church does — at Mass, for example, to change bread and wine into Christ's body and blood, or in confession, no matter how sinful he is personally, to forgive the penitent's sins — Christ himself acts through that minister in the sacraments

Whether Pope John Paul II celebrates the Mass or whether a priest on death row for a felony celebrates Mass, it is Christ who himself acts and gives us His own body and blood. So what Francis was saying in response to the question of his religious brother that he would receive the Sacred Body of His Lord from the priest's anointed hands, is that he was not going to let the wickedness or immorality of the priest lead him to commit spiritual suicide. Christ can still work and does still work even through the most sinful priest. And thank God!

If we were always dependent on the priest's personal holiness, we'd be in trouble. Priests are chosen by God from among men, and they're tempted just like any human being and fall through sin just like any human being. But God knew that from the beginning. Eleven of the first twelve apostles scattered when Christ was arrested, but they came back; one of the twelve sinned in betraying the Lord and sadly never came back. God has essentially made the sacraments "priest-proof," in terms of their personal holiness. No matter how holy they are, or how wicked, provided they have the intention to do what the Church does, then Christ himself acts, just as he acted through Judas when Judas expelled demons and cured the sick.

And so, again, I ask, "What should the response of the Church be to these deeds?" There has been a lot of talk about that in the media. Does the Church have to do a better job in making sure no one with any predisposition toward pedophilia gets ordained? Absolutely. But that would not be enough. Does the Church have to do a better job in handling cases when they are reported? The Church has changed its way of handling these cases, and today they're much better than they were in the 1980s, but they can always be perfected. But even that is not enough. Do we have to do more to support the victims of such abuse? Yes we do, both out of justice and out of love! But not even that is adequate. Cardinal Law has gotten most of the deans of the medical schools in Boston to work on establishing a center for the prevention of child abuse, which is something that we should all support. But not even that is a sufficient response.

The only adequate response to this terrible scandal, the only fully Catholic response to this scandal — as St. Francis of Assisi recognized in the 1200s, as St. Francis de Sales recognized in the 1600s, and as countless other saints have recognized in every century — is HOLINESS! Every crisis that the Church faces, every crisis that the world faces, is a crisis of saints. Holiness is crucial, because it is the real face of the Church.

There are always people — a priest meets them regularly, you probably know several of them — who use excuses for why they don't practice the faith, why they slowly commit spiritual suicide. It can be because a nun was mean to them when they were nine. Or because they don't understand the teaching of the Church on a particular issue. There will doubtless be many people these days — and you will probably meet them — who will say, "Why should I practice the faith, why should I go to Church, since the Church can't be true if God's so-called chosen ones can do the types of things we've been reading about?" This scandal is a huge hanger on which some will try to hang their justification for not practicing the faith. That's why holiness is so important.

They need to find in all of us a reason for faith, a reason for hope, a reason for responding with love to the love of the Lord. The beatitudes which we have in today's Gospel are a recipe for holiness. We all need to live them more. Do priests have to become holier? They sure do. Do religious brothers and sisters have to become holier and give ever greater witness of God and heaven? Absolutely. But all people in the Church do, including lay people! We all have the vocation to be holy and this crisis is a wake-up call.

It's a tough time to be a priest today. It's a tough time to be a Catholic today. But it's also a great time to be a priest and a great time to be a Catholic. Jesus says in the beatitudes we heard today, "Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of slander against you falsely because of me. Be glad and rejoice, for your reward in heaven is great." I've been experiencing that beatitude first hand, as some priests I know have as well. Earlier this week, when I finished up my exercise at a local gym, I was coming out of the locker room dressed in my black clerical garb. A mother, upon seeing me, immediately and hurriedly moved her children out of the way and shielded them from me as I was passing. She looked at me as I passed and when I had gone far enough along finally relaxed and let her children go — as if I would have attacked her children in the middle of the afternoon at a health club!

But while we all might have to suffer such insults and slander falsely on account of Christ, we should indeed rejoice. It's a great time to be a Christian, because this is a time in which God really needs us to show off his true face. In bygone days in America , the Church was respected. Priests were respected. The Church had a reputation for holiness and goodness. It's not so any more.

One of the greatest Catholic preachers in American history, Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, used to say, that he preferred to live in times when the Church has suffered rather than thrived, when the Church had to struggle, when the Church had to go against the culture. It was a time for real men and real women to stand up and be counted. "Even dead bodies can float downstream," he used to say, pointing that many people can coast when the Church is respected, "but it takes a real man, a real woman, to swim against the current."

How true that is! It takes a real man and a real woman to stand up now and swim against the current that is flowing against the Church. It takes a real man and a real woman to recognize that when swimming against the flood of criticism, you're safest when you stay attached to the Rock on whom Christ built his Church. This is one of those times. It's a great time to be a Christian.

Some people are predicting that the Church in this area is in for a rough time, and maybe she is, but the Church will survive, because the Lord will make sure it survives. One of the greatest comeback lines in history happened just about 200 years ago. The French emperor Napoleon was swallowing up countries in Europe with his armies bent on total world domination. He then said to Cardinal Consalvi, "I will destroy your Church." "Je detruirai votre eglise!" The Cardinal said, "No you won't." Napoleon, all 5'2" of him said, "Je detruirai votre eglise!" The Cardinal said with confidence, "No you won't. Not even we have succeeded in doing that!"

If bad popes, immoral priests and thousands of sinners in the Church haven't succeeded in doing so from the inside — he was saying implicitly to the general — how do you think you're going to do it? The Cardinal was pointing to a crucial truth. Christ will never allow his Church to fail. He promised that the gates of hell wouldn't prevail against his Church, that the barque of Peter, the Church sailing through time to its eternal port in heaven, will never capsize, not because those in the boat won't do everything sinfully possible to turn it over, but because Christ, who is in the boat, will never allow it to happen. Christ is still in the boat and he'll never leave it.

The magnitude of this scandal might be such that you may find it difficult to trust priests in the same way you have in the past. That may be so, and that might not be completely a bad thing. But never lose trust in Him! It's His Church. Even if some of those he chose have betrayed him, he will call others who will be faithful, who will serve you with the love with which you deserve to be served, just like after Judas' death, the eleven apostles convened and allowed the Lord to choose someone to take Judas' place, and they chose the man who ended up becoming St. Matthias, who proclaimed the Gospel faithfully until he was martyred for it.

This is a time in which all of us need to focus ever more on holiness. We're called to be saints and how much our society here needs to see this beautiful, radiant face of the Church. You're part of the solution, a crucial part of the solution. And as you come forward today to receive from this priest's anointed hands the sacred Body of your Lord, ask Him to fill you with a real desire for sanctity, a real desire to show off His true face.

One of the reasons why I'm here in front of you as a priest today is because while I younger, I was underimpressed with some of the priests I knew. I would watch them celebrate Mass and almost without any reverence whatsoever drop the Body of the Lord onto the paten, as if they were handling something with little value rather than the Creator and Savior of all, rather than MY Creator and Savior. I remember saying to the Lord, reiterating my desire to be a priest, "Lord, please let me become a priest, so I can treat you like you deserve!" It gave me a great fire to serve the Lord.

Maybe this scandal can allow you to do the same thing. This scandal can be something that can lead you down to the path of spiritual suicide, or it can be something that can inspire you to say, finally, "I want to become a saint, so that I and the Church can give your name the glory it deserves, so that others might find in you the love and the salvation that I have found." Jesus is with us, as he promised, until the end of time. He's still in the boat.

Just as out of Judas' betrayal, he achieved the greatest victory in world history, our salvation through his passion, death and resurrection, so out of this he may bring, and wants to bring, a new rebirth of holiness, a new Acts of the Apostles for the 21st century, with each of us — and that includes YOU — playing a starring role. Now's the time for real men and women of the Church to stand up. Now's the time for saints. How do you respond?

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Fr. Roger J. Landry. "Answering Scandal with Personal Holiness." Unpublished homily.

Reprinted with permission of Fr. Roger J. Landry.

THE AUTHOR

Father Roger J. Landry was ordained a Catholic priest of the Diocese of Fall River, Massachusetts by Bishop Sean O'Malley, OFM Cap. in 1999. After receiving a biology degree from Harvard College , Fr. Landry studied for the priesthood in Maryland , Toronto , and for several years in Rome . After his priestly ordination, Father returned to Rome to complete graduate work in Moral Theology and Bioethics at the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family. Father Landry is parochial administrator of St. Anthony of Padua Parish in New Bedford , MA , and executive editor of The Anchor, the weekly newspaper of the Diocese of Fall River. His homilies are posted each week at saintanthonynewbedford.com.

Pray and Work

2010-01-22T20:39:00.003+08:00

Most of us are familiar with St. Paul’s injunction to pray “unceasingly” in his first letter to the Thessalonians.

But what does it mean to pray unceasingly? Surely we recognize that prayer is essential to keeping our souls alive in grace, much like the oxygen that feeds our lungs. St. Alphonsus Liguori, the great doctor of the church is often quoted as having said, “He who prays is saved. He who does not pray is lost.”

Some might see that as rather simplistic, but there is an eternal truth behind that simple logic. Anyone who has ever known the power and effects of prayer on a Christian life will also know the seductive havoc that an absence of prayer can wreak on a moral life. We know that from weakness and we know that from experience.

To raise our thoughts and hearts to God, to pray as it were constantly not only sounds daunting, it sounds impractical given the daily challenges and obligations of life.

With only 24 hours a day, most people already feel the stress of being tugged and pulled in all directions by the attention demanded of us in our professional and private lives.

“I don’t even have time for myself” is the refrain often heard on the frustrated lips of people struggling to make a living and upkeep a home.

And yet scripture calls us to pray without ceasing, almost as if God urges us to pray even more when the challenges of life press down on us with greater demands.

But I am not Carthusian monk you say, living the liturgy of the hours. I am not wrapped up in a constant cloud of prayer and living in a monastery equally clouded by the austere heights of quiet mountains and pine trees.

Instead, I work a twelve-hour job, seated behind a desk full of papers, enslaved to a computer, ferrying difficult passengers for hours on end, cramming for exams, cooking and cleaning for a family of five etc. And the list goes on.

Is work really the bane of our spiritual life? Does it obstruct our worship of God or does it in fact ennoble our living hours by offering us divine opportunities to reach heaven that much more easily?

Let’s face it, the ordinary preoccupation for most of our days is the work we do in our offices, in our schools, in our fields, in our barracks and in our homes. We cannot detach ourselves from this necessary part of life. And for good reason – work gives us a purpose, a means to support our loved ones and ourselves, and work allows us to contribute in a meaningful way to society. All of which are good things when done well, all of which can be offered to God as a loving sacrifice of the fruits of our love.

At its core, work is heaven’s gift to us. How well we do it can be a prayer of love to God. And prayer is above all an act of humility and gratitude.

We thank the Lord for the jobs we hold, knowing that it is a gift from Him. We thank the Lord for the salaries we make, and the benefits we enjoy. But we also thank him for the tedium we sometimes face at work, the routine that can numb our days, the office politics, the challenges of a difficult boss and the struggles we encounter in doing our work well.

Why so?

It is because these routine struggles and mundane annoyances hold the key to sanctity and holiness when we embrace them with a supernatural vision.

Many people look for grand signs of God in the extraordinary, when God Himself has come to us in the most ordinary sacrament of a baby born to a poor working family. And it is in the most mundane, most routine and most ordinary demands of life that God calls us to be saints.

As lay people, our cloister is the world. Our mission fields are our offices and our working environments. Our apostolate is our witness to our faith and the reality of God in the midst of our secular activities.

We are contemplatives who point to God in the middle of the world, not away from it. And since we spend more than half our waking lives at work, we need to learn how to turn our work into prayer, to super-naturalize our activities so that they have the power to sanctify, to witness, to praise and to convert.

If we fail to do this, then our worship of God will be reduced to mumbled snatches of “Our Father” and “Hail Mary” just before we fall asleep, much to the spiritual starvation of our souls. And as we pray less and spend less time with God, in time we shall stop praying altogether.

Indeed work is prayer, and prayer can be our work. The motto of the Benedictine Order; “Ora et Labora” means to pray and to work. These two pillars of Benedictine sanctity are not irreconcilable because prayer divinizes our work and makes it holy, while work done in a spirit of prayer is an act of worship to God. These are the oil and wick that keep our spiritual life alight with the life of Christ.

St. Josemaria Escriva, the saint of the ordinary, often reminded Christians that "Work in our hands, as it was in Christ’s, must be turned into prayer to God and service to mankind for the co-redemption of the whole human race."

What does he mean that work in our hands must be turned into prayer? What sacrifices must we make to unlock the spiritual wellspring behind our efforts? It sounds awfully hard and most of us are already chafing under the natural demands of our professions and labors.

But the simple truth is what Blessed Mother Teresa once advocated, “To do small things with great love.”

She also said that we are not called to be successful in life but to be faithful, not that there is anything wrong with success. But when we turn the small nuisances, difficulties and challenges of our daily lives into opportunities for prayer, we change the world as it were by our response to the world.

Are we distracted, bored and tired at work? Let us say to the Lord, “Lord, I give you the next hour of my work as a living sacrifice of praise. I will endeavor to do it well, to do it joyfully and as perfectly as I can. And I offer it as a means of grace for my wife and children.”

Can we barely stand the sight of our boss or colleague? Let us say, “Lord, I will endeavor to smile and be positive in my encounters with them today, though it costs me my pride, and I offer this in union with your most holy passion.”

Are we tempted to skive and do less than our fair share at work? Let us say, “Lord, I shall offer an extra hour of honest work today in thanksgiving for your blessings, and I offer this mortification for the life of the Church.”

In sanctifying your work, you participate in the mystery of Christ’s redemption by sanctifying the world.

If you make your work holy, you learn to become holy. And your relationships with your colleagues and bosses, not to mention the results of your efforts, encourage an atmosphere of grace in the office that glorifies the presence of God. This is how we win the world back to Christ, by beginning where we are, in the ordinary work that we are already doing. Our professional work can indeed be God’s work.

There is no greater mortification than the crunching patience and self-denial that is needed to turn our daily boredom, tiredness, frustrations, laziness, routine and pride into moments of heroic Christian love.

How pleasing it is to the Lord for a wife to beautify herself after a hard day of looking after the kids in preparation for her husband coming home. How pleasing it is to the Lord that a husband should greet his wife with a broad smile, a warm kiss and a bouquet of flowers after a terrible day in the office, and to spend time listening to her despite his own desire for some quiet.

How pleasing it is to the Lord that we practice virtue at work, whether we run for high office or whether we drive a garbage truck, so that we may draw extraordinary fruits from our ordinary work when done well and done with Christian love.

How pleasing it is to the Lord that we begin and end our days by offering to do all things well for the Lord, whatever the circumstances of our work.

As Catholic Christians, all of us share in the common priesthood of Christ the high priest. And just as Abel offered the work of his hands and Melchizedek, the sacrifice of bread and wine, we too can offer God the best fruits of our work that come to us each day.

For the priest, the altar is the table where he celebrates the Liturgy of the Eucharist. For you and me, our altar is the table in our office, where we offer God the sacrifice of our work and talents.

Whether you are a teacher, a banker, a cleaner, a fireman or a housewife, that is where God has placed you in his great wisdom. And that is where he wishes you to find him, and to make him known to the world. The circumstances of ordinary life are not an obstacle but rather the material and path of sanctification.

Work becomes prayer when we do it to glorify God, when we make our talents, skills and labor an offering of love to the Lord, so that doing our work well with perfection, charity and patience becomes no less meritorious to God than giving our lives in martyrdom.

Indeed, the dying to self required of us to persevere in a spirit of cheerfulness despite difficulties everyday is a bloodless martyrdom that wins for us the crown of eternal life, making us saints through our ordinary duties and work.

It is a fact that God wants to reign in the midst of every human activity, especially the ordinary and mundane, but the temptation to remove God from the world and keep him only in the churches, is the same one that seduces some of us to pray only on Sundays and at mass.

Jesus who taught us the perfect prayer worked and sanctified his days as a carpenter for many years before beginning his public ministry.

St. Paul, the apostle of the gentiles supported his apostolic life by his work as a tent maker and he too asked that we pray unceasingly.

Should we then not believe that this is not only easy and possible but also crucial and necessary? Indeed we must.

We pray not just with our voices and our hearts, but also with our eyes, our hands, our feet and our minds. We pray not just in churches and the quiet of our bedrooms, but in offices, farms, hospitals, and schools and in every place where a Christian heart is ready to turn to God.

When St. Thomas Aquinas was asked what it took for a person to become a saint, he answered simply, “Will it.”

Let us then put aside the excuse of work in saying we have no time to pray, and let us repeat with St. Benedict the holy genius of a good Christian life - “Ora et Labora”.

Let us “pray and work”, for the way to heaven is set before you everyday.

Man and machine

2009-01-03T01:50:00.007+08:00

I started my car this afternoon and drove off as I always did down the familiar ramps of my car park and after a couple of turns, I realized strangely that my vehicle was veering off to the left as if drawn by some mysterious force. As I released my steering wheel, I saw it swiveling in the same direction as if turned by a phantom hand. Oh oh, I thought to myself; my steering alignment has gone whacky, which means another costly visit to the workshop.

But when I got out to check the car, I discovered that my left frontal tyre was flat as a doormat. That explains why I had to fight the vehicle’s compulsion to keep running off to the left like a dog pulling against a leash.

The only thing I could do was to bring the errant car back to “port” and fix the tyre. But as I stood there staring at the deflated wheel of my otherwise perfect ride, I couldn’t help feeling frustrated by the inconvenience; especially since I was on my way to keeping an appointment. And then the thought hit me. I remembered driving up a curb a week back and the little bump must’ve inflicted more damage than I expected. Strange that it took so long for the air to slip out.

In the same way, many of us pick up injuries to our souls and our hearts that we often don’t notice or only imagine to be tiny bumps along the way. Months and years later, we suddenly find ourselves broken down on the road of life, stranded, surprised and perhaps even alarmed at the state of our disrepair. And unlike cars, we often hide the bruises and injuries of our accidents far better, so well in fact that some of us spend a lifetime oblivious to the scars, dents and scraped metal we accumulate through days, weeks and months of careless driving.

Yet sooner or later…we all break down when these collective abuses remain ignored and untreated.

Every few thousand miles, we’re told to bring the car in for servicing; to let the professionals do a thorough checkup and fix what needs to be fixed. Ever so often, we need to do the same for our souls and our hearts.

I’m always amazed by people who say, “I have no sin, I have nothing to confess, I don't need to ask forgiveness for anything”, especially since “I haven’t killed, hurt or cheated anybody in a big way.”

That’s like saying I’m not concerned about the state of my car from all the daily grind, stress and speed abuses I put it through because I didn’t try to jump through a ring of fire, or drive it into a wall, or compete in a demolition derby.

The fact is, we do need to be conscious of our thoughts, our moral choices, our attitudes and struggles, and our present state of soul if we want to save ourselves from breakdowns and accidents that are almost always the cumulative fruits of small sins of selfishness and pride.

The Lord tells us that if we are faithful in little things, we will be faithful in big things as well. In the same way, if we neglect to rid ourselves of little faults, they will grow into bigger faults that can one day lock our steering wheel in life, and drive us to the edge of disaster if we do not recognize them for what they are. Even the biggest chains that haul anchor on a ship are made of smaller links bound together. What more the chains of sin and sadness that bind a soul to despair over years of indifference and apathy?

Thankfully, regular maintenance for our soul is cheap and easy. All it takes is some humility and the will to return to Christ amidst all the hard rides and cheap thrills of life.

A few minutes of prayer each day talking to our heavenly father, a short passage of scripture, regular confession or at least an examination of conscience, and the super unleaded fuel of the Eucharist at mass...these are all freebies given to you with unlimited generosity so that you may avail yourself of the best maintenance and repair work for your soul always. Your moral windshields are cleaned so that you may see better the roads you should take, your tyres are inflated so that your journey might be smooth and safer, your engine is finely tuned to give you excellent performance in the race for eternal happiness, and your seatbelts are checked to ensure that you are safely strapped in despite the bumps and obstacles of life.

But some of us might feel that going to church, praying and giving that little more attention to our spiritual lives is unnecessary, boring and tedious. And yet if I told you there really was a car servicing station that offered you all these amazing services for free, you would put the pedal to the metal and be the first to queue in line for the good of your car. Your soul my friend is far more precious than your car.

Indeed, the bad habits we maintain each day can easily damage our steering alignment over time and cause us to keep veering off the right track in life and lead us ever further from happiness and fulfillment. Each one of us has a couple of flat tyres in our lives that need some attention. Make a decision today to get yours fixed before they continue to drive you away from everything that is true and good.

Incidentally, I’ve never actually replaced a flat tyre before. So as I stood staring at the flattened rubber tubing hugging my rim, I was very much tempted to just call for help. It would be a cinch; the guy would come in his tow truck, jack up the car, remove the wounded wheel and replace it with the spare in less time than it would take me to figure out which was the jack in the first place. And I would be $50 poorer of course.

But something told me I had to do this myself, or at least make the effort without being crushed to death under my own ride. And so I rolled up my sleeves (figure of speech of course since I was wearing a t-shirt) and got right down to it. I found the jack, found where to winch it, found the tools to loosen the nuts and bolts, and struggled like the ultimate wimp that I was to unscrew the tortured wheel. But it just wouldn’t budge.

Lots of grunting, groaning and wheezing later, I was ready to give up and call the toll free number for a mechanic. But something stopped me and persuaded me to keep trying despite the stinging sweat in my eyes and “the bolts that would not be turned”. After kicking, stomping and basically trying to do the River Dance on the poor spanner attached to the bolts, they finally gave and started to loosen up. After that it was easy. The bolts came off, the wheel was dragged off, and the spare was replaced with ease and tightened up by another frantic encore of the River Dance.

For someone who has trouble changing a light bulb, I was pretty darn pleased with myself. I had learnt something new about my own capabilities. I could be as manly as any guy, I had hair on my chest, I could change a tyre!!! (Ok the middle part wasn’t true.)

2008 wasn’t really a good year for me. In fact, many things in my life seemed to have a steering alignment problem and kept veering off the road no matter how much I tried keeping my hopes and dreams on course. And often, it was extremely frustrating and discouraging when I didn’t know the reasons why.

Often too, I was tempted to stop praying; which seemed such an herculean effort when nothing appeared to change and God seemed deaf to my pleas. But now and then, I would be nudged gently by the soft voice of providence to try again, to not give up on the bolts that wouldn't budge, to press my spiritual muscles to the spanner of my hopes because I really can change the flat tyres of my heart. I just need to believe I can, and there's no other way to learn how to do so than by doing it. There's no other way to learn the power of faith and prayer than to believe and pray with perseverance, despite the aching muscles and pouring sweat.

The point of this story is; God often allows difficult things to happen to us because he wishes to draw us out of ourselves. He loves us too much to let us stay in mediocrity, and even though we sometimes feel overwhelmed by the pain, rejections and disappointments of life, God whispers in our ears, “Do not be afraid”. Do not be afraid to hope in God. Do not be afraid to try. Do not be afraid of failure. Do not be afraid to forgive and let go. Do not be afraid to seek and accept forgiveness. Do not be afraid to dream and hope still. Do not be afraid to open your heart. Do not be afraid to live. Do not be afraid to love. Do not be afraid to trust in God still, for He is with you always.

In the crosses we carry, the burdens we bear, the pains we suffer…sometimes it’s human and natural to doubt, to wonder if God is a mean schoolmaster trying to teach us a lesson. Perhaps he is. Not as a nasty disciplinarian without sympathy, but as a most loving father with deep compassion for our needs. And perhaps…it’s also a lesson we desperately need to learn for our own good, for our own dignity…and for our own happiness.

Brakes

2008-12-02T16:34:00.002+08:00

For a small country like Singapore, it’s amazing how many traffic lights you have to drive through every few meters or so. And on some days, it feels like you’re wrestling with a dragnet designed to turn red at every street corner. It can be rather frustrating when you’re impatient for time.

The fact is; many of us are so accustomed to speeding along in life that we often react to any delay or obstructions with predictable annoyance. Some drivers weave through traffic in their ridiculously pimped up machines as if the devil was on their tail, or their trunk was on fire. We want to get there first; we want to get there fast, and without any obstacles in our way.

As a driver myself I often notice that when I’m behind the wheel, I tend to look myopically ahead like a horse donning blinkers. I hardly perceive the scenes whisking by. Of course it’s partly out of safety that I keep my eyes to the front, but mostly it’s also because I’m so focused on the road ahead that I often miss the journey entirely. Indeed we can drive for years down the same stretch of road and never really notice the environment around us except for the endless stretch of grey ahead. We don’t notice the view; the flowers, the colors, and the attractions that accompany us on our journey until we let someone else take the wheels of our car. And whenever I’m fortunate enough to sit back as a passenger, I’m surprised to see how beautiful the world is outside.

Why are we so fixated on rushing through life, only to arrive often with disappointment? The time spent getting to our destination is often fraught with anxiety about what we’re going to do when we get there, who we’re going to meet, how we’re going to handle the various situations etc, that we’re almost fearing the arrival as much as we’re anxiously spurred on by an urge to be somewhere, to do something.

There was a time when people drove for the fun of being on the road, of spending time in each other’s company. Now it’s all about getting somewhere quick. In the past, the journey itself was the reward, getting there was just incidental. And people arrived at their destinations with greater satisfactions even though they may arrive later or take detours along the way. In fact, detours were welcomed as an adventure…knowing that as long as they experienced all things in love and companionship…even the difficulties along the way were redeemed as beautiful encounters.

Admittedly, many of us really need to slow down. Perhaps some of us even require emergency brakes to stop short of impending disaster. But when we can’t help ourselves because we’re so used to being the driver of our own destinies, what does God do to help us? I think he turns on the red lights in our lives, he throws up those obstacles and detours that annoy us so much because they delay our plans and disrupt our routes, but which ultimately save us from spiritual death or manslaughter.

Have you ever seen children running gleefully down a hill? In our youth, we ourselves have rolled down more than one slope, scraped more than one knee and sometimes broken more than a few bones. Despite natural feelings of caution that go off in our brains, our egos to compete, our greed for excitement and our pride in not losing out to anyone else effectively drown out whatever warnings our parents might give us.

As adults we continue to run recklessly down the hill of our lives without brakes. And even though God our Father asks us to slow down and to stop running, we don’t listen.

Sometimes he has to forcefully throw obstacles in the path to stop us from hurting others and ourselves. No one likes running into a wall, but sometimes a wall of love is the only buffer that can save us; much like an airbag in a car. Of course, it’s going to be painful. Of course it’s an experience that can be avoided in the first place. But when we get out of control, God has to activate the brakes and airbags in our lives to slow us down, to stop us in our tracks even, so that we may survive our mistakes despite our bruises.

What are the obstacles that have forced you to take a detour in life or to slow down? What are the walls that have been erected in your path, separating you from what you imagine to be your happiness and fulfillment?

Whether it’s the distress of a bad investment, or the cross of a debilitating illness, or the loss of a loved one, or the misunderstandings that lead to the end of a relationship, we’ve all experienced the frustrations of being thwarted in our plans and our hopes. And in the absence of supernatural faith, we can turn bitter with anger against God whom we see as the enemy to our happiness.

The truth is; God allows us to encounter these obstacles because of three things – love, love and love. We are going through our present difficulties because God loves us very much; not because he wishes us ill, but because he alone knows how much good can be born from our patient acceptance of our crosses. It is not good to be sad naturally, but faith in a heart that believes in the fidelity and loving will of God gives every Christian soul the strength, the courage and the supernatural hope to trust that God will bless the broken path that leads to real joy and happiness.

Yes, many of our crosses are of our own making. Many of our crosses could’ve been avoided. And many of our crosses are the direct results of our own bad choices in life…including a sinful life. We have insisted on driving through every red light, we have resisted every call to slow down and avoid running down steep hills for thrills, and we have purchased the pain of our actions through foolish pride and irresponsibility. And now that we are humiliated by our circumstances and our failures, we can finally relinquish our desperate mastership of our destinies to one who truly is King of our lives.

C.S. Lewis says, “Pain is God’s megaphone for rousing a deaf world”. And humility cannot be learnt except through humiliation. Yet it is humility that can begin the long path to healing and redemption; to recognize that we are not God, and in our prayers to let God be God in our lives; instead of taking that divine tone ourselves.

Just two Sundays ago, we celebrated the end of the Church’s liturgical year with the feast of Christ the King. In his time on earth, our Blessed Lord preached unceasingly of the Kingdom of God. But what is essential for a kingdom? Subjects surely, ministers, soldiers and various people with various talents who live their citizenship in this royal domain. But more than anyone else, a kingdom needs a king who is free to exercise his rightful place as sovereign and lord.

The Kingdom of God can be understood as the acceptance of and loving obedience to the kingship or lordship of Jesus in our person and in our lives. In other words, we give ourselves as humble subjects to our Lord, asking him to be master and lord, king and sovereign over our entire lives, and to establish his most holy and loving reign over our souls and our bodies; accepting the good and the bad from his hands, trusting in his divine will which expresses this kingship most clearly.

Know that God’s will is most clearly manifested in the events of our days, the opportunities of our lives, the chance encounters, the tiny crosses, the opened and closed doors, and the friendships, relationships and people who cross our paths…all of which are opportunities for grace and eternal happiness…if we start from today to listen to his voice so that we may see what he sees, hear what he hears, and desire what he desires for us.

But if we continue to cling to this obsession to be behind the wheel of our own lives, to keep in control, to be the master of our destinies when we often don’t even know where we’re going or dread going there if we do, we shall drive ourselves into a ditch of sadness, despair and enduring pain. Not just for ourselves, but also for those we love.

The roads of life are always changing, the maps are constantly evolving and obstacles are ever present. It takes someone with a towering view of things from the air, like a pilot in a helicopter, to be able to tell us what lies ahead, and what to avoid.

Only heaven can guide us to safety. As pilgrims on the road, we can’t see more than 300 meters ahead, and often there are obstructions in the way. Even then, bad weather or the darkness of night can make visibility even worse. But no darkness is as dark as sin, and no obstacle so insurmountable as stubbornness and pride. To continue down this path of neglect for our soul and our dignity is to drive off a cliff one day, dragging others with us.

So in this season of advent, slow down, take stock, stop to think, pray and look around you. Check your moral GPS, see where you are…and if you are lost and confused, come back to the Lord for he is waiting for you…just as the father in the Parable of the Prodigal Son stands on the brow of the hill looking out, and waiting for his child to return, so that his joy may be complete in you, and your joy may be real in Him.

Viva Christo Rey! Long live Christ the King!

Memories

2008-06-12T14:02:00.003+08:00

Yesterday, I popped into an old photo studio in my former neighbourhood for a peek.

In an age of digital photography, I was curious about how such an old-time business sustains itself. The owner, who is this wiry old man in his seventies was familiar to me. Uncle Han (in asia, we traditionally address anyone more senior, especially the elderly as uncles and aunties as a mark of respect even though the person could be a total stranger) and I got to talking, sitting down on old rattan chairs and sipping some really potent chinese coffee that was sure to keep me up for weeks. And in the course of our conversation (filled with much nostaligia and reminiscing), we got to talking about love. He got up and reached for an old album which he kept wrapped up in the silky folds of a ladies' scarf, and unbound a lifetime of youthful memories to share with me.

Mostly, it was filled with old pictures of himself as a young man standing next to the love of his life. She was a beautiful girl. They must've both been in their teens when these photos were taken. There is much to be said about subtlety, when so little is physically expressed but so much love, bonding and depth is evident from the simplest gestures and smiles. As uncle Han spoke, I could feel the deep stirrings of his heart for his childhood love. It was a tale of deep and earnest love, in a time when perseverence, forgiveness and commitment meant some things. Unfortunately, this precious love was cut short by the onset of war. With violence, oppression and danger came sickness, poverty and want. (Uncle Han belongs to a generation of old chinese men who still have difficulty forgiving the Japanese for the atrocities of the last century).

Amdist this historical struggle, this man suffered the personal tragedy of losing his love to pneumonia when no medical attention was possible or sufficient. Her parents were fearful of having him over since the Japanese kempetai (or secret police) was always on the lookout for young men to round up and execute. And communications and visits had to be sparse and cautious. Hence he was denied much contact with his love, although letters carried their hearts to each other whenever that was possible. And only after some weeks did he learn that she had passed on in the heart-rending loneliness of calling his name.

That was well over 60 years ago. Han survived the war, survived the difficult years of rebuilding that followed, settled down, got married, survived personal sickness and tragedies, survived his wife, survived the sweeping technologies that swept away a generation, but sitting there right next to me; his eyes brimmed with tears, he never survived the loss of his young love and I suspect he will continue to love her to the end.

There is something beautiful about love that perseveres even in the face of death. Today, we see so many relationships die because people have no idea at all about what it means to know real love and commitment. They're always searching for something grand and smooth that they don't see the extravagance of generosity and love in their difficulties, disagreements and struggles to stay together. Perhaps some will say that Han's longetivity in love is common in the face of love unfulfiled. Because he never had to live with his fiance, marry her, put up with her, quarrel with her and take her nonsense that his idealism remains intact, unsullied by reality and human imperfection. His memories of love in other words have preserved unnaturally his devotion to love.

I don't believe that to be true at all. Rather I believe that to be an excuse for people who lack any idealism, any hope, any true desire for love and commitment; which always comes with pain, sacrifice and above all, personal and lasting choice. I feel in my own heart great love for a relationship that has died and which was wrought with painful and disappointing moments. But I do not wish to turn my back on what is true in my heart, even though that love may not be appreciated nor reciprocated. Choosing to love beyond the transient separates us from beasts of gratification; whose choices are fleeting at best and prisoners to selfish satisfactions that have nothing to do with real love and devotion. We are not such beasts when we love with Christ and in Christ so that our relationships, our hearts and our romances may also be redeemed experiences that lift us up in our human and Christian dignity, not tear us down to vulgar commonality.

In that dingy, tiny photography studio with the blue doors and rattan chairs, I found real respect for the man who continues to develop memories for people when they bring in their own cameras, while cherishing his own memories in a celebration of lasting and faithful love - ever young, ever present, ever faithful, ever real.

And in that great hope of the resurrection, I pray our dear God to grant him the fulfillment of a lifetime and more - to one day finally hold his love in his arms, and to know her love for eternity.

I like this quote from Mother Teresa, and I share it here with you.

"Don't think that love, to be true, has to be extraordinary. What is necessary is to continue to love. How does a lamp burn, if it is not by the continuous feeding of little drops of oil? When there is no oil, there is no light and the bridegroom will say: "I do not know you". Dear friends, what are our drops of oil in our lamps? They are the small things from every day life: the joy, the generosity, the little good things, the humility and the patience. A simple thought for someone else. Our way to be silent, to listen, to forgive, to speak and to act. These are the real drops of oil that make our lamps burn vividly our whole life." – Mother Teresa

By the light of the silvery moon

2008-01-06T23:08:00.000+08:00

Let me share this letter I recently wrote to an overseas friend. Perhaps some of you struggle as we do with faith and hope. And if like me, you're a fellow pilgrim stumbling through your own dark night, let's give each other courage and keep our spirits up...the day is not far from us.

"Sometimes what we want to say, we need to say through a smile. And even though I can't see you in person, can't hear your heart rejoice, weep or sigh with closeness, I know the reality is that ever so often we can move each other to joy, to happiness and courage...and to a smile....even though to all appearances our lives seem so separated by distance - both far and near. For within ourselves we constantly struggle to come closer to meaning, to purpose and to peace. All of which is but a desire to come closer to love.

I know I sometimes come across as being utterly confident in faith and hope. But the opposite is true. Like most people, I walk the shadows of my world more uncertainly, more tepidly than I would like. And there are days when it feels so much easier to lie down among the shrubbery of indifference and despair, and simply recede into the darkness. It's hard to to know where to step in the dark, much less the way to happiness when we feel lost in the jungles of our own failures, weaknesses and pains. But as I lift my weary eyes ever so often to the dark clouds above, I spy the silvery light of the moon that accompanies me with her glow, as if to assure me that behind the blanket of dark clouds, light follows me with a mother's love, peering out ever so often with protective love to remind me that she is there, that I'm not alone, that in her light is the reflection of the sun and the dawn to come.

As children we all look out of a moving car and wonder why the moon seems to follow us on our drive home. And Mary has traditionally been identified with the moon who takes her light from Christ, lighting the way for poor sinners in darkness so that even though they trudge through the tired roads of this earth, their nights may not be without the solace and comfort of her gentle light...promising always the dawn of God's love in the morning.

We often don't see the struggles of the saints. In a society used to exposing the private musings of souls to the bright studio lights of talk shows and scandal, we've become ever more unsophisticated and impotent in understanding the sacred passages of the human heart.

Who alone knows the house we keep but God? Who alone truly understands the language of our human experiences? Even our conscience is a subjective guest in the mansions of our hearts when it is not grown in the gardens of truth and the gospel light.

Frequently we spy the outward happiness, fulfillment and faith of those we admire, and wonder why God has so abundantly shielded them from the dark despairs we encounter. Likewise we also gaze sadly upon the apparent indifference, tepidity and sloth of those we think irreligous and unaccomplished, and not know the house of faith, joy and spiritual wisdom some keep alive at home. As I read the lives of the saints (particularly the later ones whom we have more details about), I'm consoled to know how much alike they seem to us in their doubts, their struggles and temptations to give up.

Mother Teresa showed the world her real face of joy and faith while unknown to the world until now, she also had a real face of doubt, questions and weariness. Both faces were truly and genuinely Mother Teresa, each supporting the other in prayer, in commitment, in hope and faith, and in real fidelity to her humanity in Christ. And even though I personally see my face of despair and tiredness more frequently than my face of love and faith, I know there is yet in me the determination of a traveller, a pilgrim who has not given up on finding his way home even though the journey has been fraught with difficulties. Not because my trust in God is unwavering, but because I know between the night and the light of day, I must continue to hope in the dawn that takes its time to come, however late, even if that hope gives me only enough strength to take a few more steps under the weight of sadness or loneliness. Still, it is a few more steps forward, a few more moments to catch my breath, a few moments to gather courage and strength to move forward from one place to the next, although our human senses may not perceive any difference between where we are now, and where we were a few days ago, or last week, or a few months ago. But look...see how far we've come.

A rolling stone gathers no moss, and we must try and ensure that we are not tangled by the tendrils and moss of apathy, discouragement and despair in our spiritual journey. Let's move courageously onward, let's trudge on through the dryness of prayer, the painful lull of love, the lifting of our hearts to hope against hope, for the night does not last forever.

I'm not sure what difficulties you are encountering, and I'm embarrassed by your impressions of my faithfulness to God. In truth, I am nothing like that - I'm just a man who feels more sadness in my heart now than I have in recent years, but I still know what beauty and truth looks like, and I can still feel the excitement of beholding them. And in speaking of them, I allow the cold, withered members of my soul to warm to their words, to feel once again the fire of Christ melting the frost of my heart; whispering encouragingly...summer is coming.

You too must believe that there is a dawn, there is a summer after this winter night. And already the fires of the first spring have been lit.

Do not let the pains and disappointments of this life distract you from contemplating this tiny spark of joy. It is there in your heart...feed it, contemplate it, feel it...and take that one more step out of the night. And when Mary peeks out from behind the clouds and sends us a friend, a brother or sister, a lover and spouse to keep us company this evening, let us avail ourselves of this support and take courage...that clouds can only hide the light for so long before the winds of change blow them away and wash our tired worlds with the light of the moon...who announces the light of the sun, who announces a new day in creation.

In the end, life is a mystery and God's ways remain a mystery to us. But it is not the kind of mystery deep in deceit and danger like in detective novels, but the kind of mystery that leaves us in wonder and immense gratitude as we behold how the designs of providence make all things well, and is able to write straight with the crooked lines of our lives. And boy, do some of us have illegibly crooked lines...which gives us greater claim on the mystery of his love and goodness. Let us be thankful for this mystery in our lives now; that even though we don't know when, how, why or what....we know the mystery of God is a miracle waiting to come alive in our lives.

Let's try and keep hope alive shall we? For you and for me."

Breaking free of chains

2007-12-20T15:25:00.000+08:00

‘If you love Jesus, send this to 20 people’ - I often see this at the end of an email carrying a Christian message. Also, what is the deal with duplicating St Jude pamphlets and leaving them in Church?

It is unfortunate that many good Christians find themselves in this awkward dilemma. Yet as much as some of these emails can be inspiring to read, there is really no need to suffer any scruples over them. Too frequently, these writings not only cause unnecessary guilt but they also invite superstition. Usually, they also insinuate that if you love Jesus, you will have the good sense to share it with so many others, if you don't, then obviously you won't. In this aspect, they are no different from chain letters that promise some retribution or at the very least, the deprivation and loss of some blessing if a reader fails to pass them on.

In reality, authors who pen these things are presumptuous in describing the love of God in such terms.

If we do love God, there are certainly changes in our lives we should hasten to embrace to ensure that holiness and sincerity reign in all our thoughts and actions, since only in the truth of the Gospels is there any hope for happiness and peace in our lives.

Discipleship does not consist in merely forwarding an inspiring email to a certain number of people and then feeling like we've done our part for evangelising.

As such, I can't help wondering how different folks who rally around such minimalist approaches to religion are, as opposed to people who similarly build their faith around endless novenas and St Jude prayers and the recitation of a certain number of prayers on certain days.

Such an attitude towards faith and salvation is totally unchristian and founded instead on the magical assumption that we can control and dominate God by fulfilling a certain set of devotions.

The pagan spiritual world of magic and religion almost always consists of formulas to follow in order to obtain spiritual help. And in many ways, they also come equipped with the understanding that dark days will come upon him who fails to observe these practices.

A religion based on instilling fear of spiritual backlash is not a true religion.

Rather, the fear and reverence of God prescribed by the Old Testament is an allusion to a different kind of fear.

There is Holy Fear, which does not grip the soul in panic but rather imbues it with a humbling sense of tremendous wonder and awe, which is not only natural but also bound up with our duty and reverence towards God as our Creator. And then there is superstitious fear, the kind that is bound up with the same anxieties associated with darkness, snakes and evil that we find so common in our human psyche.

That is the kind of fear and relationship with God that the enemy seeks to introduce into our lives under the masks of "authentic" devotions.

But as you well know, there can be no authentic relationship where love is transplanted with formulaic transactions and where our spiritual health depends only upon so many emails we send to so many people, before slipping back to our morally complacent lives with an eased conscience.

We should remember that darkness often seeks to sow superstition in the heart of real religion.

When I do come across something inspiring and feel inclined to pass it on to individuals I think would benefit from its messages, I do forward the mail, but only after I delete the ridiculous portion crying.."If you love Jesus, send this to so many people etc."

That is an example of corrupting the Christian message of love as well as using the Lord's name in vain.

The idea that we can pry open a treasury of grace by following an exterior set of "magical" formulas is silly. That is also why whenever we come across stacks of chain letters to St Jude where the petition carries with it the obligation to reproduce these letters and leave them in church, we should promptly throw them in the trash, for that is our Christian duty before God and the Magisterial Church.

However, there will always be those who prefer this kind of sentimental faith, the same kind that appeals to Christians who claim to tell fortunes through tarot cards and read your palms while invoking the name of St Anthony or some other saint, as if by that safeguard, they somehow legitimise their superstition as falling within the realm of approved religion.

Why do so many prefer it?

Because it costs less in terms of the repentance and conversion that is needed in real faith.

That's almost similar to the Pharisees and scribes who go through the motions of offering a couple of sheep and goats as token worship to Yahweh, but whose lives largely never change.

Many people who go to novena services often do so because they want something, and that something they want is more often than not, NOT a conversion of their lives.

Indeed, formulas deprived of their original intention give many of us an excuse to do the barest minimum for Christ, and still expect to be blessed with material rewards. Hence the popularity of chain letters that come hidden under the guise of genuine devotions.

After all, doesn't Christian tradition describe how Satan often takes on the appearance of an angel of light?

Now you might ask, what about services or devotions like Triduums and Novenas or even the traditional practice of saying 3 Hail Marys through the day? And let us not forget the 5 decades of the Rosary. How are these different?

Well to start with, the incidental number of days or prayers connected with these devotions are just that...incidental. They don't have any magical powers associated with them. If you don't complete 9 days in a novena, it doesn't mean that you offend heaven or commit a sin.

Secondly, there is no compulsion to perform them. You are not a bad Catholic if you do not believe in their efficacy or practice. The worst you can be accused of is a lack of charity and appreciation for such ancient devotions that have brought blessings and consolations to so many generations.

But to each his own. It is the Gospel of Jesus Christ that is essential to our salvation, all others simply aid us towards that.

The word "Novena" is Latin for 9 days at a time when early Christians performed acts of charity or held certain days of prayer vigils to commemorate and honour a certain aspect of the Gospel. The length of these devotions are set so as to impress upon the penitents a sense of pilgrimage, as they journey through the different meditations and arrive at a destination in their prayer which usually culminates in benediction or a celebration of the Mass.

Having a certain number of devotional days to celebrate is much akin to the ancient wedding and religious feasts of those days. Weddings in the time of Christ for instance went on for weeks like in the Gospel story of Cana. The feast of the tabernacles or Passover was also a celebration that went on for a good number of days.

Novena services simply honour that tradition of a family celebration, where we journey as pilgrims together on the move, from one theme or day of prayer to the next, recalling the reasons for our redemption and so forth.

They are undertaken so as to draw closer to God, and to afford a greater union to His love by taking special time to meet Him in our busy schedule.

This is the same rationale behind things like Tridiums (3 days), the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius (30 days retreat), LENT (40days)...all of which are just invitations to set aside time for God and commit ourselves to meeting him everyday for a determined period.

The number of days are not important.

It's almost like a man saying, "I have been so busy recently that I rarely give time to my family apart from those sporadic moments after work each evening. But despite my busy schedule, perhaps I can commit myself to spend the next 10 days in really giving myself to my wife and children, and recalling my vocation as a Christian husband and father. Hopefully that will help me to grow deeper in my love and appreciation for them. Even though my work will not ease up, I make this commitment because I know how important they are to me."

The same principle applies. The numbers are not magical. 40 days of Lent commemorate the 40 days of Jesus in the desert and the 40 years of Israel wandering in the desert in anticipation of God's promise. 9 days in a Novena (although a Novena can be made with any number of days that you personally determine) simply evolved from the ancient Roman custom of those days, when pagan Rome had a traditional 9-day devotion to appease their Gods by offering sacrifice and prayer.

As Rome became Christianised, the early Christians replaced the Roman practice of sacrificing to their Gods with 9 days of vigils and prayers in honour of Christ and His saints instead, to signify that Jesus had conquered, overcome and replaced the old pagan religions and customs with the Gospel light of Himself.

That was a symbolic act to say that the old had passed away and the new was here to stay.

Some traditions however attribute this popular vigil to the 9 days that the apostles were believed to have spent in prayer before the descent of the Holy Spirit during Pentecost.

The novena prayers to St Jude work on the same basis. The numbers of days simply connote a sense of commitment and sincerity in following something through. They are not magical. For people who believe otherwise, they get terribly upset whenever their prayers are not answered after completing this routine, as if we can make God a prisoner by forcing Him to uphold His part of the bargain since we are fulfilling the formula.

God is not a genie living in a lamp whom we rub 3 times and utter some incantation. Why should St Jude bother with someone whose sole purpose in performing some religious devotion is to gain temporal favours? It's his role and special interest to intercede for us that we might become better disciples and be saved. And if part of that in God’s plans means having our prayers granted, then that is up to God. It is not a condition for faith or even a road map to happiness.

These devotions we must remember, are meant to bring the person into closer union with God. They are spiritual exercises meant to strengthen faith and charity. They are NOT activities that unfailingly promise favours, which is mostly why people perform them; to seek gifts apart from the giver, as if by our very attendance to these things, we are doing God a favour and therefore He should show us His gratitude by answering our prayers. If not, we'll just hop onto the next passing wagon of cheap rituals that promise something else.

These prayers and practices are intended to help Christians find the strength to carry their crosses, not remove them. For without the cross, how can we ever be lifted up to the heavens? Without Good Friday, how can there be any Easter Sundays in our lives? And without Calvary, will we ever see the Resurrection?

By the way, the Novena, (private or public) is not an official part of the Church's liturgy despite being widely popular among the faithful for ages.

So back to the issue of these inspirational chain letters, don't feel too badly if you choose to ignore them. In as much as we can evangelise through these things, I hardly think that this constitutes spreading the Good News. If we were to content ourselves to merely this as disciples, we should really re-look our motivations and generosity in making Jesus known and loved.

After all, this requires no sacrifice save the effort of your finger upon the keyboard.

But we are asked to do more, much more.

So if you come across something you'd like to pass on, by all means. But delete the bit that sounds like a chain mail. It’s an insult to Christianity. Let it be your personal intention and even then, only send it to people whom you want to say something to. Then follow up on this with real efforts to spread the Good News in your life.

The only multiplication we need in our religious duties is the increase of grace in our lives, without which all is vanity.

My guardian dear

2007-10-15T21:29:00.000+08:00

Few things in life burden the human heart with greater sadness than loneliness. To awake each morning to the pangs of unwanted solitude can be emotionally crippling to our self-esteem. Our senses long to know the touch of a loved one, our eyes seek to rest upon the smile of a guardian, and our hearts sigh for the faithful love and friendship of a kindred spirit.

And although many of us truly struggle with a deep lack of human affection, most of us also fail to recognize the companions we’ve been blessed with all our lives.

Earlier this month, we celebrated the Feast of Sts. Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, as well as the feast of the Guardian Angels. During those days, the Church celebrated the gift of these heavenly spirits with joy, although throughout the year, angels are constantly present to us also in the scriptures as beacons of light in our pilgrimage towards the City of God.

Every Catholic child is brought up to believe in a personal guardian angel who watches over him/her from cradle to grave. I too recall being given a beautiful prayer card when I was about seven years old; which depicted an angel watching over two little children with great tenderness and love - his powerful wings stretched over them as a gentle shade as they picked flowers along a brook - his eyes never far from their faces.

Of course as Christians we believe in the existence of Angels since it is a matter of scriptural and doctrinal truth, but the idea of a personal guardian angel seems more suitable for children; just like Santa Claus, fairies and elves. Adults in a sense should know better than to indulge in such naivety.

But is it really immature to believe in guardian angels? Let’s think about that for a moment. Who among us need guardians? The young and vulnerable certainly, but also the weak and defenseless.

Alright, but who else? The rich and powerful surely want to be protected from envious enemies who may wish them harm, but equally deserving of this help would be the prominent children of royalty and heads of state.

I think of how young royals, or the children of Presidents etc, are constantly caught on camera accompanied by their armed bodyguards or secret service agents wherever they go. Understandably, this vanguard of safety enforces some degree of necessary protection.

For some however, this relationship is more than just a security detail. In times past especially, the personal bodyguard is not just protector and shield, but also mentor and confidante. His mission is to constantly look out for his young charges, to ever remind them of their exalted dignities – and by association – their royal duty to always live and act in ways worthy of such dignity.

Far away from the comforts of palace and throne, whether at work, at play or in school, the bodyguard reflects and recalls the memory of the king upon his royal charges; so that despite the natural vigor and adventure of youth, the young royals may not forget their own princely dignity, but always be reminded of their duty, honor and special calling in life.

When this guardian is not protecting, he is counseling, tutoring, encouraging and consoling his young friends.

Now as children of the King of Kings, are we thus not children of royalty? And as children of God, are we hence not vulnerable to the preying intents of His enemies, who desire nothing more than to see us lose our heavenly inheritance through sin.

As such, far away from our heavenly home, do we not need and deserve a spiritual mentor and bodyguard to watch over us until the time comes for us to return safely to our Father’s house?

Of course we do, lest we forget our true dignity as children of God, and embrace a lifestyle and attitude more akin to animals.

Indeed, our Heavenly Father commands that for every one of his sons and daughters, there should be entrusted an angel of light as guardian; to accompany, lead, teach, protect, guide, console and defend always. And like the best of the best, our spiritual bodyguards come to us from God’s own elite army.

These magnificent soldiers of Christ are not cold, nor frightening in their sense of duty before God. Rather they love us with the tenderness of God’s own flaming heart, and seek nothing less than to set our own hearts afire with love for God. They are solicitous to our needs, desirous of our happiness, and faithful to us from cradle to grave.

They are as St. Padre Pio often claimed; our dearest companions on earth. Sons of God in whom his glory is made manifest and his will enthroned for our sakes. They are our friends, our elder brothers in Christ, and our dearest companions from young. They are our own guardian angels, no one else's.

Now it is not enough for us to know that we have a protector and guardian, we should also remember that we have a mentor, confidante, brother and friend, with whom we can open our hearts without fear or regret.

With every step we take in this life, a strong arm is there to support us in love and courage, assuring us that God is ever with us. One of the most beautiful images in scripture for me is the verse about the Archangel Raphael personally offering the prayers, sighs and petitions of Tobit before the face of God, joining his own angelic voice to the prayer of this poor man; interceding for him before the Most High.

Such is the devotion of the angels to us, lest we should lose heart and forget that God exists, and yes he loves us.

The next time we feel alone, let us not forget to turn our minds and hearts to this faithful, loyal and heavenly companion - to ask his help and guidance in all things, to seek his counsel and prayers, to speak, smile, cry and celebrate the joys and sorrows of this life with - for he is eager to serve and lead us to Christ, who is our common master in life and in death.

So to all those who read this, I salute you and your angel with love, and I leave you with this childhood prayer, since those of us who have experienced this friendship know that guardian angels in particular, show us the face of God in a world bereft of supernatural vision:

“Angel of God, my guardian dear. To whom God’s love entrusts me here. Ever this day be at my side, to light and guard, to rule and guide. Amen”

Fishers of Men (Part 1) AWESOME!

2007-10-02T00:22:00.001+08:00

A beautiful vocation video for those of you discerning a call to the priesthood

Fishers of Men (Part 2) AWESOME

2007-10-02T00:21:00.001+08:00

Second part of this very well done vocation video

He Leads the Way

2007-10-01T01:18:00.001+08:00

2007-09-02T21:48:00.000+08:00

An interesting remark from a sermon I heard today - "Why are we so conquered by "feeling" rather than "knowing" in our lives today? We do something and act out our choices because we feel like it, regardless of whether we know something is right or wrong. More and more, our lives are ruled and governed by the fickle embers of our feelings (which often cannot be trusted to be authentic witnesses of truth) rather than the conviction of knowledge formed by conscience and prayer.

When faced with any dilemma or conflict, many of us would rather bury our minds in the denial of responsible judgement - as long as I feel it's ok, it's ok - rather than discover the truth about things and ourselves. Not many feel comfortable looking into the mirror of their own conscience, and many more would prefer to escape into the indulgence of their feelings and whims, just so they don't have to think things through...and quite possibly risk admitting their own faults and failings.

In the same way, we cannot afford to build our faith on feelings, since any soul who strives to live righteously with fidelity to the gospel will soon discover that he has more problems, crosses and sadness than he did before his conversion. It almost seems as if the "good man" is a sorry man where providence is concerned. And the irreligious and lackadaisical prosper with apparently lofty blessings from on-high.

At times like these, we may be tempted to cry out in despair because we feel abandoned by God. And yet this dark night is common to the saints; which has led a personage no less than Tereza of Avila to exclaim, "No wonder Lord you have so few friends, look at how you treat them."

However to feel abandoned and to know you're abandoned are two very different things. And the saints no matter how grievous their trials and feelings of despair, know in their hearts that God does not abandon them; that in His love, all their Calvarys have meaning and worth, and that the right path to sanctity and heaven is often preceded by thorny roads.

We must be careful not to let "feelings" alone, however authentic and genuine, be the arbitrator of our life decisions. Instead, we must seek to live our triumphs, losses, joys and hurts in the wisdom and knowledge of God's holy spirit; and a hope that is founded on the faithfulness and redemption of Christ. Above all, we need to ask for the courage to persevere in prayer, since in the words of Mother Teresa (who for many years struggled and lived through her own dark night) - "The fruit of quietness is prayer; The fruit of prayer is faith; The fruit of faith is Love; The fruit of Love is service; The fruit of service is peace."

Faith and truth are not built on feelings, and neither is love. And although we may sometimes feel sad, we will also know deep joys and triumphs in this life...if we persevere in faith, hope and love.

No retreat, no surrender

2007-08-13T13:59:00.000+08:00

I was watching a documentary on WWII the other day and one scene in particular stood out in great drama for me.

It was a shot of allied soldiers huddling in the rain - tired, brutalized and discouraged - as an enemy plane rained down a blizzard of propaganda leaflets calling for surrender.

Meanwhile the radio cackled with the insane voice of an enemy station trying to convince the allied troops that they were losing the war in spite of all their efforts and sacrifices. Even worse than the actual torments of battle, this constant barrage of bad news and negative propaganda succeeded in reducing a squad of brave men to tears and despair.

Psychological warfare they called it...almost as powerful as the explosive charge of a combat brigade, but infinitely more damaging in its destructive appeal.

That's what happens in a war. You try and break the enemy spirit, rob them of their passion to resist and inflict the pain of despair upon their souls. After that, any attempt to resist will be drained of courage and hope. And when hope is lost, the battle is won even before a single shot is fired.

We've heard so much about the present war against terror. But so little is ever said of the more horrifying and insidious war in our midst, just because its reality and devastation are often invisible to our eyes.

I am speaking of course of the war that St Paul talked about; the spiritual battle that assaults us all, and against which the horrors of this world are but a pale comparison.

As it stands, I can't think of a time in history when the powerful influence of the secular media is more widely employed to discredit Christianity; with more hostility, fervor and sophistication than in recent years.

It seems that everywhere we turn, we are constantly bombarded with the scandals and infidelity of Christians, the righteousness of abortion and homosexual unions, the sexual perversions of our religious ministers, the relentless mocking of our Christian traditions, the overwhelming rise of divorces and failed marriages, and a merciless stampede upon the idea of absolute truth as taught and defended by the Church.

The list goes on of course; not only with news, persuasions and campaigns that are directly abusive towards the Christian religion;( in particular Catholicism), but also rife with every negative image of suffering, corruption, indifference, chaos and cruelty that cloak the human spirit like a blanket of futility snuffing out any embers of hope and courage, as if persuading people of goodwill to give up the good fight since all is lost anyway.

Indeed, why try when you can make little or no difference? Why not instead join the multitudes and at least spare yourselves the sufferings and ignominy of a useless moral stand?

In contrast, little media coverage is ever given to the triumph of the human spirit, particularly when it comes to the glories and righteousness of the Gospel message and the success of its apostles in turning back the tide of materialism and despair.

Even in our entertainment, the values, lifestyles and perceptions advocated in movies and sitcoms are cleverly designed to rob generations of a living conscience and an accountability to God and each other, knowing that countless people act like drones in subscribing to these artificial realities as gospel alternatives to happiness and fulfillment.

So much negative publicity, so much propaganda against Christians, the Church, organized religion, traditional values, the sanctity of family life, chastity, obedience, self-sacrifice and all the glories of Christianity (and often times perpetrated by the very ministers and stewards who are entrusted with safe-guarding these sublime mysteries and truths for the salvation of souls), that one is prompted to ask this question...

From where does all this evil propaganda arise from? Who is really behind this campaign to vanquish and subdue the Christian heart? What conscious force has hijacked and manipulated this sublime art of communication for use in perpetuating distortions and lies?

In truth, who wields a greater influence over the secular media than the enemy of our salvation, whom scripture warns as being steeped in the art of deceit and cunning subterfuge?

Now don't get me wrong, the modern mass media is a miracle of wonder and a great tool for good and evangelization but in our own time, but it has been employed by the powers of this world to subject man to a prison of false ideals and destructive attitudes, instead of helping him to build a more humane and compassionate society based on objective truths.

There is no news like bad news. There is no truth like the one that comes packaged, edited and compiled with precision to fit a social, economical or political agenda. There is no greater accountability than the lust for prime ratings and readership. And there is no greater loyalty to journalistic integrity than the commitment to pander to the crowd.

Give them what they want and they will love you for it.

Isn't that what the Imperial Senate told Caesar in the Roman heydays of gladiatorial games and bloodlust? Win the crowd and you will win Rome? Is it any wonder then that Christians who remain steadfast in their faith are held in contempt?

To speak publicly of Jesus Christ is to invite scorn, hostility, ridicule and humiliation. And just as some Christians in ancient times have been cowered into silence and impotence by the rantings and ravings of an aggressive crowd, Christians today are just as easily overpowered and conquered by the storm of popular opinion.

How many times have I myself blushed with embarrassment as I sit privy to a conversation that criticizes and condemns my Catholic faith with mocking derision, and felt weak in the face of such overwhelming odds? What more those of my brethren whose feeble attachments to the faith are weak at best, and who are often wont to give anti-christian opinions and arguments more blind faith and respectability than they deserve.

Nevertheless, no storm however violent and threatening can stand up to the power of Jesus Christ, who commands the wildest tempests with supreme majesty and might, as the apostles discovered one stormy night upon the raging waters of Galilee...if...we but keep our eyes fixed upon Him, our rock and our foundation, our refuge and safe harbor in this sea of life.

The next time our hearts feel the cold fingers of futility when confronted with the endless array of bad news and scandals in the media and entertainment arts, let us be brave and remember that this is merely psychological warfare; the desperate attempts of the enemy to drive us into surrender lest we remember our invincibility in Christ, who has already conquered this spiritual war; the prize of which is the salvation of souls.

Let us rather pay no attention to the wiles and propaganda of hell, and keep our eyes centered instead on our valiant captain and Lord - the Lamb of God who by His passion, death and resurrection has overcome the forces of darkness and has consigned them to the everlasting death.

Let us truly rejoice to be part of this victorious army, for both scripture and experience tell us that with Christ and in Christ we will always triumph! And if we are careful not to shut our hearts to this spiritual reality, the father of lies will find it hard to sneak up on us who keep the light of Christ before our eyes always.

Instead, let us put on the armor of God - faith, hope, charity, truth and righteousness - and use every means at our disposal to launch a divine PR campaign for gospel truth and divine love, missing no opportunity to speak of Christ our Lord with reverence and love, making no excuses for our faith, and turning back the icy clutches of relativism and false morality in our world today by the sheer warmth and conviction that comes from embracing the fire of the Holy Spirit.

In our work, in our relationships, in our families, in our marriages, let us be living banners proclaiming the grace and mercy of God, and use every ounce of our gifts and talents to promote the gospel truth of Christ.

The war is won but the battle for souls continues. The time is now for those who would act.

For as always, the old adage rings true - evil succeeds when good men choose to do nothing. And the glory of God is man fully alive…in His goodness and truth.

What's forever for?

2007-07-10T10:24:00.000+08:00

Doesn’t anybody ever stay together anymore? That’s a question from one of my favorite songs growing up, but today it seems more pertinent than ever before.

It’s heartbreaking to see so many of us give up on love for really stupid and conceited reasons. We often think of infidelity as involving another man or woman, but the truth is, we are guilty of infidelity when we let anything - whether it's our egos, pride, hobbies, entertainment, social life, friends or work - hijack our hearts from the ones we love, and place our relationships in neat little compartments which we only take out when it pleases us.

In this narcissistic world of what I want, what I prefer, who I want to be with; fidelity is often a tragic victim of selfishness disguised as “being true to myself”…without realizing that we’re often untrue to the one who loves us.

I wonder how many of us actually place our partners as priorities in our lives, and how many of us who enjoy that precious place in the hearts of our partners actually treasure that privilege. It’s sad, but all too often we let our relationships die right before our eyes because we turn our sights away from what’s true and noble, and fix our glances only upon the seduction of self-interests.

Don’t couples know that the opportunities for reconciliation, for healing grace and love are blessings that do not grow on trees, but are graciously given from heaven – not because we deserve it but because we need it. And as the gospel so often reminds us, we must not hesitate with graces, we must not be slow to respond to the kindness God shows us. When the opportunity for reconciliation and peace expresses itself, we must not let pride rob us of that saving grace - for there may not be another one like it.

We need to pray for hearts today; hearts that have forgotten how to love responsibly, to love with hope and forgiveness, to persevere in charity and truth, to be contrite in humility, to trust with generosity, and to always choose fidelity – not just to our partners, but to the virtues of love itself!

For in the end, falling in love is easy…choosing to love is heroic and ultimately the only true face of love. And that is the love we must always pine and work for, even if our partners don't deserve it. Or should I say - especially when they don't deserve it, so that with God's help love may conquer all, and bring healing both to ourselves and to our relationships.

Billy Gilman - What's Forever For Lyrics

I've been looking at people

And how they change with the times

And lately all I've been seeing are people

Throwing love away and losing their minds

Or maybe it's me that's gone crazy'

Cause I can't understand why

All these people keep hurting each other

When good love is so hard to come by

So what's the glory in living

Doesn't anybody ever stay together anymore

And if love never lasts forever

Tell me what's forever for

I've been listening to people

And they say love is the key

And it's not my way to let them lead me astray

It's only that I want to believe

But I see love-hungry people

Trying their best to survive

While right there in their hands is a dying romance

And they're not even trying to keep it alive

So what's the glory in living

Doesn't anybody ever stay together anymore

And if love never lasts forever

Tell me what's forever for

And if love never lasts forever

Tell me what's forever for

The Gospel according to E.T.

2007-05-31T12:47:00.000+08:00

Is there life out there amongst the billions of galaxies teeming with possibilities?

Ever since the first scientists suggested that we might have crawled out of the primordial slime and wriggled our way into humanity, countless evolutionary theories have speculated that if this was true of life on earth, there is no reason to think that intelligent life cannot be replicated elsewhere in far away galaxies with life support systems that mirror our own. And if that were true, how do we reconcile our Christian faith with colonies of E.T. trampling through Elliot’s garden eating M&Ms?

Doesn’t our faith in Christ as sole mediator and savior of mankind exclude this possibility? Are we not the sole beneficiary of God’s saving love and fatherhood? Or do we have distant cousins and spiritual siblings we know nothing about?

The Magisterial Church has never made any pronouncements about this for good reason. First off, it’s just curious speculation no matter how many alien abductions, UFOs and unpleasant bodily probings some people claim to have encountered on “Ripley’s Believe It or Not”.

Secondly, although it makes for interesting debate, it is not crucial to the life of Christians to wrangle about the souls of possible extra-terrestrials when we have far more urgent and practical commitments to our own proven salvation history. For all our faith in the supernatural life, Christians are practical and realists when it comes to living the truth.

Having said that, some theologians have suggested various ways of looking at this question if the basis of alien life was true. Perhaps like in a parallel universe, they would have their own “Jesus” and their own salvation history. Or perhaps like the history of the Jewish nation, salvation would first be offered to the human race and then extended to the “gentile” nations of the stars in time to come, spurred on by the evangelizing efforts of astronaut priests and missionaries. Others insist that the possibility of other intelligent life forms does not omit the need for a creator of the universe, nor in redeeming humanity did Christ not also redeem the entire order of creation as St. Paul says.

The truth is...I don’t know. But here’s what I think.

Love is a funny thing; you can’t scrutinize it under a microscope or swirl it in a test-tube, although some people seem to think otherwise when it comes to making babies. And it was supernatural love - personal, pure and eternal - that created and redeemed us.

God did not clinically make Adam and Eve out of a cold laboratory, he gave birth to us as it were from his own supernatural life; as a woman gives birth to her child through the life of her own human nature – begun and sustained with conjugal and maternal love. In saying this I do not mean that the theory of evolution is debunked, but rather that the natural process of creation does not rob God of his supernatural intent or motivation – which is to give himself to us as our fulfillment and joy. Through the redemption of Christ we are further born into a new life of supernatural grace, which bonds us even closer to God in the intimacy of father and child.

What does this mean?

There’s a phrase from St. Josemaria Escriva that I dearly love: divine filiation - the idea that we are not merely adopted, but that we are truly sons and daughters of God by dignity and redemption through the love and mercy of Christ. This truth above all other truths explains our reason for joy and hope in life. And as any of us know, a father’s love is deeply personal and intimate. It doesn’t matter how many other children are stumbling around in the playground, a father has a special, devoted and faithful love for his own child above all others; because “this” is flesh of my flesh, blood of my blood.

To look into the face of your own child is to see your own.

And the relationship that God has with mankind, unraveled through the historic ages of this planet we live on is a personal relationship between father and child, bridegroom and bride.

Scripture tells us that all things in the cosmos were created for man, to help man realize the love of God for him, and for him to draw closer to the love of his creator.

It doesn’t matter how many planets or solar systems purport to support life, God is not obligated to populate the universe with similar beings just because he did so for one tiny blue planet. He made all things and as maker of all things, he is exempt from the limitations he imposes on all things. The natural laws of the universe cannot impose themselves upon the supernatural will of their creator, who sustains their very existence by his own love.

As such, there is no reason to believe that just because God chose to have this personal, intimate history with mankind, he must do so for every other planet that bears the same ideal conditions.

Love doesn’t work that way. In fact, real intimate love is always faithful and often exclusive in a special way.

Just because I fall in love with a certain kind of woman doesn’t mean I will fall in love with every other woman with the same character traits. I may feel similarly attracted to these features in another woman, but love demands more than just a set of chemical responses in the brain, it demands a personal choice and an conscious act of the will.

In other words, I may be naturally attracted to someone but I supernaturally choose to love someone; even though sometimes she may be less than attractive to me. There's a big difference between the two.

Does God himself act differently? Out of all the great nations of the world, he chose one tiny nation to make a covenant with, and he remained faithful to that covenant despite Israel’s countless adulteries with foreign Gods.

Out of all the pure, faithful and virtuous women in Israel at that time, he chose one young Nazarene virgin to be born of, and to be given the dignity of being his mother and the spouse of the Holy Spirit.

Out of the countless myriads of people milling around the Judean countryside, he called 12 men to himself to be the cornerstone of his Church, and out of those 12, he chose a weak stumbling and impetuous fisherman to lead them. And in your own lifetime, he has chosen you through the waters of baptism to be a sign of his special love among others.

Is there a science to that? As far as I know, the science of divine love will never pass the scrutiny of atheistic scientists because it was tested, applied and proven on the folly of Calvary.

The basis of evolution, or indeed any scientific discipline is wrapped around very precise formulas and theoretical presumptions, and the end result often lies along a very narrow strip of speculation based on statistical data. Hence even though natural science is really a great adventure of discovery, it’s also a very controlled experience governed by the natural laws of the universe; at least those that we know of anyway.

But God is above those laws. How often for instance have we seen medical science flounder in defeat when trying to explain supernatural interventions and healings in the lives of patients who cannot medically survive? How often can we not explain why one woman is fruitful in her womb while another remains sterile when no medical anomalies exist between them etc?

Love is a very different kind of adventure; it’s unpredictable, passionate and constantly filled with sweet surprises that endure in fidelity. And ultimately God is love - the best kind, and I sincerely wish you that kind of adventure.

So in short, do I think E.T. exists with all the other green men of the universe? At this point, my personal entry in the Captain’s Log, stardate 2007 says “I very much doubt it”.

But that’s just my opinion as a man of faith, not as a man of science.

Walking in the moonlight

2007-05-27T22:17:00.000+08:00

How the seasons change. Today, we celebrate Pentecost; the birth of the Church and the gift of the Holy Spirit. Only a little while ago, we recall the joy of Easter. The church bells chimed with the rhythm of new life, announcing to the world that sin and death have been vanquished, darkness must give way to light. And yet for some, this Lenten season has passed without so much as a murmur of change. The leaves fall, the sun shines and the vicissitudes of life meander as usual as we go about our pleasures and our business.

For others, this holy season has brought us closer to the passion of Christ than we dared imagine. Far beyond our tepid abstinence on Fridays and our half-hearted prayers, it seems Lenten mortification has come calling with the violence of an unwelcome guest. Life can sometimes be a hard drink to swallow when the wine press of suffering distills the potency of faith.

I know of many who have endured pain, misunderstanding, loss, illness and death over this period – so much so that inevitable questions arise within their human hearts – Where is God? Is he real? Why me?

Indeed, what is the Christian response to suffering, especially when it afflicts the innocent and good with the bluntness of crude terror? What words escape us when Calvary shakes the ground we stand upon and swallows us in its bowels?

Instinctively, we look towards the cross of Christ. From our spiritual birth, we’ve been taught to find our answers and meaning in the crucified form of the Nazarene, who so loved us, he hung himself dry of life in order that we may live with hope - brave, certain, new abiding hope - supernatural hope. And so we pray.

And we pray.

And we pray.

And sometimes, the wait for an answer echoes in unbearable silence. For a generation used to quick solutions and immediate gratification, this can be a torturous journey that pushes our faith and hope to the limits.

Why does God take so long to come to our aid? 40 years of the Israelites wandering in the desert, 13 years of St. Monica weeping for the conversion of her son Augustine, and night after night of endless prayers offered up in desperation by countless souls in the crucible of Calvary. Sometimes, the sighs we offer up to the eternal one seem to take an eternity to be answered. In the meantime, we stay racked on a bed of pain where the sinews of our faith are stretched to the limits of human credence.

In short, the mystery of Christian suffering remains that – a mystery. And I don’t think there are any human answers for the divine will, at least none that will satisfy our vulgar thirst for justification.

It’s understandable that we want to hold God accountable for our faith in him. “We believed in you and we called on your name and you did not answer”. It’s what I call the “convenience store” spirituality. I made an agreement with you that you would be my God and I would be your customer. I rang the bell and there was no service. Not only that, I was kept waiting even though I’m obviously an important patron with an existing account - in this case, my willingness to profess my belief in you as my Lord and Savior as long as you hold up your end of the transaction in this barter of wills.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gotten up from my table at a restaurant and simply walked away because of the bad service, or turned my nose at a bargain because I was invisible to sales staff who were too busy picking lint off their lapels to notice my calls for help.

Nobody likes to be ignored because we expect a certain degree of attention and responsibility from people in our circle of life, whether personal, romantic or professional. And since we’ve invested our hopes and faith in this bank of trust, we expect reasonable returns or lo and behold, we’re withdrawing our faith and taking our business somewhere else.

But God is not our supplier and we are not his clients. Our Father in heaven wants nothing from us but only happiness for us. To persist in the immaturity of this “convenience store” relationship will only obstruct our faith and bury our prayers in the soil of self-conceit, and we shall never penetrate the essence of what it means to be loved and to love with all our hearts in spite of riding the roller coaster of life.

The covenant between God and man is not a business contract; it is a marriage feast of the lamb, a spousal union of life that invites us to give ourselves to another in generous service and love so as to till the soil of our own souls to receive the seed and flowering of the Holy Spirit in our relationships. But like the multitudes that followed Jesus through the Judean countryside, we sometimes mistake our lust for God’s bread with our love for him.

In a marriage, we do not marry for what our spouses can do for us but for who they are as persons in God. And if we are to be faithful in our supernatural marriage to the Lamb of God, we must open our eyes and our hearts to the greatest good that is our Lord himself, and not what he can do for us.

Still, we cannot ignore the very real suffering of losing a loved one, or the pain of debilitating disease or the empty hours of deep loneliness some of us go through. The Lord himself does not want us to deny these realities and difficulties.

But neither does he want us to lose hope or courage on the brow of Calvary, for standing beneath that cross in the storm of uncertainty, is to also stand before the power of redemption and life; to be bathed in the water and blood that gushes upon us in love and renewal so that strengthened and transformed like the Roman Centurion; St. Longinus, we may descend from that holy mountain to face the world anew with glory and strength.

As we recall the memory of the infant church gathered around the presence of her mother Mary, who prayed with and for them, I find it most interesting that Our Blessed Lord chose to give Mary to us as our own beloved Mother at the very precise point of his crucifixion; when the disciples were twisting in the fear and despair of their darkest hour, unable to see the light that was bursting forth from his pierced heart.

There were so many glorious episodes in the gospel when our Lord could’ve chosen to make this grand gift of his mother to the Church, but instead he waited for this one dramatic moment to entrust her to us and vice versa. Why?

Is it because when the night is darkest that we need the moon the most, so that we will not lose our way completely. Or maybe it’s because Our Lord knows that we need to draw strength from her maternal presence and love the same way he did, in all the dark Calvarys of our lives? Perhaps it’s when we feel most abandoned and orphaned that we need our mother’s love the most?

Surely it’s all of the above and more. I’ve included one of my favourite renderings of the Pieta scene with this entry. And to close, I’d like to also share this little anecdote from the life of St. Josemaria Escriva…where he shares an observation from his childhood:

“I remember how in my country, when harvest season came and they did not yet have these modern agricultural machines, they lifted the heavy bundles of wheat by hand and loaded them on the backs of mules or poor little donkeys. And come a certain time in the day, around noon, the wives, the daughters, the sisters would come – with scarves gracefully draped over their heads, so that their more delicate skin would not get sunburned – and bring them cool wine. That drink refreshed the tired men, encouraged them, strengthened them…That is how I see you, O Blessed Mother. When we struggle to serve God, you come to encourage us throughout this journey. Through your hands, all graces come to us.”

Hello again...

2007-05-19T12:23:00.000+08:00

It's been forever since I last posted anything on this blog. But like any enduring project, it requires its own commitment and energies. Forgive me for slacking off. Between the demands of work, the exhaustion of engagements and the curve balls that life throws at us ever so often, I have not been able to be present at this site.

Well let us begin again.

I initially intended this blog to be less about me and more about my faith, but typing out little treatises about doctrine, apologetics and faith require more precise thoughts, phrasings and academic discipline than I'm available for. Yet despite my penchant for privacy, I realise also that my faith is best explained and shared with you, my friends, through my life and struggles and not just through my encyclopaedic knowledge...which is miniscule to start with.

So let's take a break from that and just chat shall we? It's about time I slowed down and just gave myself the joy of space and being.

If anything, I'd probably take short trips around asia just to ease off a little...but first chance I get, I'd like to head towards Spain, and more of Italy. The Italian countryside and the rennaissance of Florence still capture my imagination. And the eternal city of Rome resides in my heart like a mother looking out for her son's return with an embrace of good food, good cheer and tender love.

Even though there are many places that call to our wanderlust, every step towards a private moment with God is a vacation in beauty. And our souls need little vacations now and then.

There's a little rugged flatland near my apartment that I sometimes trudge to for fun. It's a little oasis of greenery and virgin tracks that taper towards a wide river which eventually leads to the open sea. And it always amazes me that hidden beneath the shadows of high-rise flats is a scenic buffet of untamed landscape, exotic birds and cute critters. And everytime I laced up my hiking boots for a visit, I feel like I'm taking a vacation with the Lord and entering this secret garden of thoughts and smiles.

I enjoy luxuries like anyone else, but it always surprises me how little we really need to lift up our hearts and joys. And it amazes me even more how much heaven is within our grasp when we school ourselves in the art of learning how to love truly in a beautiful relationship. Human love is a great mystery and a great gift of life. Unlike many today who give only to receive, we must remember to give in order that the other may receive our best sacrament of love...their joy and fulfillment as human beings are our reward and satisfaction, since Christian joy exults and multiplies in the happiness and growth of our beloved. In our calling to be saints, we must always give thanks for our struggles as sinners...and not be discouraged in our vocations to be sacraments of Christ to each other.

I pray that all who read this post will know this joy of living, loving and praying. And if you've been really busy and tired lately, take a little vacation...take a walk with Jesus...and let your heart smile and hope again. For as the disciples of Emmaus discovered, "did not our hearts burn within us when he was talking to us?"

Payback or pay forward?

2007-03-13T23:22:00.000+08:00

If God is merciful, how can there be such a thing as temporal punishments? Why bother to forgive our sins if he wants to bear grudges and retain the punishments due to us in this life?

Unfortunately, the term “Temporal Punishment” invites misunderstanding. The word “punishment” is too negative a connotation for what the doctrine truly represents, which is nothing less than the love and wisdom of God in helping a soul towards perfection. A better word would be temporal “purification”, but for the purpose of this discussion, let’s keep to its original and more familiar terminology to avoid confusion.

Contrary to what some might believe, it is not the cruel retaliation of some fuming deity seeking payback. It is however the just restitution made in atonement to God for all the harm and pain caused by our sins, even those already forgiven. Let us remember that no sin is personal. All sin is social, even when committed in secret and alone, since it infects and weakens both society and the Church because of our interdependence on each other. Either for evil or for good, we have to resign ourselves to the reality that each one of us no matter how slight, has an influence on every individual we encounter.

The idea that our sins have consequences that run their course despite our sorrow and contrition over them is a hard notion to swallow in this day and age. We’re so used to having dirt on our clothes washed away without a trace by a simple dash of detergent, that we often forget that mistakes in life sometimes have effects that are a little more stubborn to remove.

If we violate a traffic law, we conveniently pay the fine and move on with our lives. If we mistype a letter, we can always press backspace and start over. And for children used to the pampering love of their parents, there’s always someone willing to close an eye and white-wash their faults with characteristic indulgence.

Today more than ever, this complacency becomes the norm when so much in society and technology work towards delivering us from the burden of undesirable consequences. In fact, there is a distinct trumpet call in the world that incites us to reap the benefits of pleasure without any obligatory hassle. Contraception is one such example.

Yet in practice, nothing could be further from the truth.

For instance, we can strike someone in anger and still be fortunate enough to enjoy the person’s forgiveness, but the impact and bruise of our action remains visible and painful to the victim who continues to feel the effects of the punch long after it’s been forgiven. Saying you’re sorry for cheating on your wife might convince her to pardon you, but the pain of that betrayal will forever scar the soul of your marriage even if it doesn’t tear the two of you apart. And the tears of a young mother crying over the loss of her unborn child through abortion cannot absolve the memory of what could have been, even when she goes on to have other children later in life.

In each of these scenarios, there is contrition, forgiveness and perhaps even reconciliation. But the effects of sin in each case stubbornly clings on to the fabric of our lives and extend far beyond our naive expectations.

Justice and logic demand that for every wrong, there must be restitution. For every offence, there should be atonement. It is what we demand for ourselves when we suffer some personal injustice. We instinctively seek a just resolution to our grievances because it is part of our nature to do so. That is why every nation and state is empowered with civil and secular courts to uphold the rights of individuals and society to justice.

Even in everyday circumstances, we see the sensibility of this logic. A person who steals something must in addition to apologizing for the theft, return the stolen article. A father who reneges on his promise to celebrate his son's birthday must find some way to make it up to the boy if trust is to be restored.

Because talk is cheap, repentance is more than just muttering mea culpas and striking our breasts in great drama before returning to the "ho hum" routine of life as usual.

So if we feel so strongly for ourselves and cry out to God for satisfaction against the injustices in our lives, knowing in our hearts that there is no judgment more fair, more just than the eternal wisdom of our Lord, why then do we deny that same right and prerogative to God Himself who is so deeply grieved and offended by the nature of sin?

God is Love. But true love is also just. It cannot be otherwise. Love seeks the good and welfare of the beloved. That means righting the wrongs, correcting the injustices, repairing the abuses suffered by the beloved.

Frankly if we truly love God and are sincere in our repentance, we will do more than just be content with offering a verbal apology. We will in fact do all we can to repair the damage done to our relationship with the Lord by seeking to love more earnestly.

After all, any decent father is bound by love to correct his children. As scripture says, "The Lord disciplines those whom he loves." Likewise any loving child longs to assure his parents of his sincerity through a greater outpouring of obedience and improvement. In other words, true love seeks to satisfy not just the victim’s need for justice but also the sinner’s need for righteous correction.

This does not in any way diminish God's tremendous sense of mercy and forgiveness. But we must remember that forgiveness is a two-way street. It is not an end in itself.

It is a call to walk more righteously in the path of true conversion and holiness. So even though a person is forgiven and reconciled to God through the sacrament of confession, he must in true repentance strive to make amends for his sins by repairing the harm done to others.

If this is not at all possible in a concrete way, he can still participate in the healing and redemptive mission of Christ by undertaking acts of penance, charity and service for the good of souls. Most of all, he can atone for his sins by patiently and humbly accepting whatever crosses and difficulties Divine Providence might send him.

But hang on; if God is love, if he is all merciful and forgiving, isn’t he supposed to overlook things like justice for himself?

Much of this confusion comes from thinking that Love and Justice are incompatible. Yet in reality, they’re inseparable. You cannot have one without the other. There is no love without justice nor is justice possible when love is absent. The drama of our human history clearly proclaims that.

Because God is Love, he must also be Just, even if that Justice is tempered by his Mercy - a balance that cannot be perfectly achieved by fallen man but nevertheless describes the divine nature and mystery of God.

The psalms alone are full of lamentations and cries for the mercy of God, asking the Lord to show pity on the psalmist and grant him justice in his grievances. If scripture ties mercy so inextricably to upholding justice, true love to righteousness, real contrition to atonement, isn’t it righteous and just that in the divine law, there should be equal fairness and justice due to the dignity of God? The saints and angels would demand it out of love for Our Lord and Creator, even if we should deny it.

So temporal punishments are really nothing more than the just sentences accorded to our grievous actions by divine justice. Every man, woman and child has a pair of scales that measure how we live our life. Our Lord Himself says in scripture that "vengeance is mine" Romans 12:19-21.

Now vengeance is quite another thing from revenge, although the world constantly mistakes one for the other. Vengeance has the fulfillment of justice in mind, no more no less. Revenge is just returning evil with evil, oftentimes inflicting more harm than received to prove a point. Even though vengeance might sound cruel to us, what it simply means is that God is just and there is truly a fair judgment for every soul, even if in this life there will always be imperfect justice. In fact, our civil courts are but a poor substitute for the divine justice that we long for and can only find in the courts of heaven.

For all our philosophizing, the human spirit yearns for a just world where every victim has his day in court, where every wrong and grievance is fairly addressed and satisfied....

And this I think is due to our innate instincts and desire for righteousness.

We ask God to forgive us our sins and he does, especially since no matter how grievous our sins are, his divine mercy is infinitely greater. But we also expect him to remove all consequences and sufferings that occur as a natural consequence of our sins. That is as mature as a child committing a crime and asking his parents to bury the evidence in addition to pardoning him. Can there truly be sincerity in an apology that is more concerned with escaping the consequences than repairing the offence?

Common sense will tell us that there is no virtue or righteousness in such an attitude. In fact, the graver our sins, the more we can expect to experience painful repercussions. Remember that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. We see that in the physical realm. The longer we place our hand in the fire, the graver the burns and sufferings of pain, and indeed, the longer the recovery. So in a way, the "consequences" are proportionate to our actions.

In a universe governed by the natural laws of medicine, physics, nature and common sense, the spiritual dimension is also held together by supernatural laws of order that proceed from the wisdom of God. Naturally, telling a lie is not quite the same thing as murder. And quite logically, the effects of adultery and abortion are more serious and harmful than uncharitable words.

Temporal punishments refer to the purification that a soul must go through in order to recover its health and atone for the sins committed. If properly embraced, they not only give strength to our souls and restore peace to our conscience; they also enable us to grow in Christian perfection in much the same way that an athlete pursues greatness through discipline.

We often forget that the soul is like the body in that it can be injured and wounded by spiritual falls and dangers...and in some cases, mortally. Sin does that. Because we're not always conscious of its dimensions as we are of our material body, we don't think of our soul in those terms. And depending on the injury it suffers, it can either take a long while or a short time for the soul to regain its health.

Haven't you noticed often that sin brings despair to our hearts and prevents us from praying sometimes, or at least forces us to pray badly? We feel further from God and hope than we are accustomed to. Still, like any good mother, the Church rushes to our aid by guiding us to the healing power of the sacraments, while at the same time suggesting reflections, readings, devotions, charity, prayer, penance and acts of mortification which all do violence to one thing - namely our pride and ego.

But not everyone will hasten to take advantage of these counsels and apply themselves diligently to these commendable practices and reflections. Which leaves many more who will happily confess their sins and then go about their lives as if nothing more is required of them.

It is true that they are forgiven if they are truly sorry for their sins. But they are also more likely to commit the same sins over and over again, and wonder at the end of the day why confession and the sacraments have not made them any different.

The reason? No penance, no true repentance, no sacrifice. It is no secret of the sages that men learn best through sacrifice and suffering. What knowledge that is gained through hardship is not easily forgotten, and it transforms a soul as the pruning knife cuts and moulds a young sapling.

Instead we are brought up in a culture that seeks greater short cuts and comfort in everything, including the quickest, surest way to heaven that does not require too much sacrifice. That is false theology, no matter how appealing it might sound to our appetites.

Jesus constantly warned His disciples against taking the wide and easy path. At the same time, all is grace. Our desire to atone for our sins is in itself a grace. I've always said that no one can save himself or raise himself to greater sanctity by pulling on the roots of his own hair. He needs the saving action of God and faith.

In the same way, no one works his way to heaven and sanctity by "doing" penances without first and foremost believing in God's mercy and love. It is his mercy that forgives, pardons and inspires us to discipline ourselves in order to help ourselves. He alone does the saving.

When we think of the penances given at the tribunal of confession (which are nothing more than just restitutions for our offences), we already see the immeasurable mercy of God and His Church when all we need to fulfill in atonement for our sins are often some short prayers, some brief reflections or a simple act of kindness etc.

Come to think of it, this is totally disproportionate to the grave insult and grief that a single sin can cause the heart of God. So even in this, Newton's law is already demolished when divine justice refuses to give us what we truly deserve, but only a trickle of what should be our real punishment. Is that not mercy?

Hell is a real place. And the punishments of the fallen angels bear before our minds always. They rejected God but once and definitively in their inspired intellect, we reject God a hundred times a day and are given mercy evermore because of our dull and clouded minds. Why? - Because he loves us. He doesn't just tolerate us; he labors to save us.

Now what about people who do not take upon themselves the atonement that is necessary for sanctification in this life? More often than not, the penances we receive in Confession are sufficient payment to fulfill the penalty for our sins. However, for those who fail to adequately avail themselves of such opportunities, they will have to confront the same reality in Purgatory. There is no escaping this need for purification if we hope to stand before the all holy presence of God one day. Which is partly why the saints constantly offer their sacrifices and pains for the salvation of sinners. Happily there is always someone, somewhere atoning for us, taking upon themselves after the example of Jesus, the sentence that is rightly meant for us.

After all, as Archbishop Fulton Sheen once said; if it is possible for doctors to transfuse blood from a healthy person to save a dying man, why is it not possible to transfuse suffering? And if surgeons can graft healthy skin from one part of the body to restore goodness in another, why is it not possible to graft sacrifice?

It is also true that God sends material and temporal sufferings to certain souls because they need it in order to pave the way for salvation and change. For those who won't willingly take upon themselves the vocation of purification, he does not abandon them even in this delicate but necessary task of discipline. Instead he sends them some tough love in this life so that they may not be left clueless in spiritual wisdom.

Some stubborn children who refuse to take their medication have to be forced to receive their bitter prescriptions if they are to have any chance of a proper recovery, or they will always be vulnerable to relapses of viruses. And God sometimes slips these bitter pills under the gourmet of life, especially for those who feast continually upon this world's delights.

Thus our crosses when borne courageously with faith and love can bear us to heaven. Without this chance to aid our own purification, who knows how long we'll be in purgatory, a state of existence which is also based upon this ancient teaching of atoning for our sins.

In the end, it is God's mercy and love, his utmost generosity and compassion, his understanding of our human weaknesses and poverty that teaches us the crucial importance of spiritual discipline and personal responsibility.

So that in being truly sorry for our sins, we may strive more joyfully towards Christian perfection...and by our witness...win redemption for a broken and wounded world.

The Vocation of a Knight

2007-02-16T01:03:00.000+08:00

The Knights of Malta are an enigma to many people. On the one hand, some in society find their exclusive membership somewhat elitist and pompous. On the other hand, there is no denying the great comfort and consolation they bring to those suffering the ravages of war, disease and natural disasters through their medical and social relief efforts.

Like Opus Dei, the Charismatic movement or indeed the Catholic Church herself, the Order of Malta cannot be understood from the outside; it can only be experienced from the inside. To peer in through the critical lens of a spectator is to miss the character and true spirit of its nature and foundation, and to behold only the extravagant and somewhat archaic display of costumes, capes, medals and medieval courtesies; which can seem rather ostentatious. And yet, we need visible symbols of valour, fidelity and courage to remind us of the invisible virtues they represent.

After all, we are sacramental people living in the great sacrament of God’s love, and symbols express our Christian faith with the high pageantry of inspired hearts and wills. But for those of us who are pilgrims in the Order of Malta, how should we live the challenges of this vocation? – (For indeed, it is a vocation and not a social membership.)

There are as many egocentric dangers of belonging to an association draped in historical nobility and prestige, as there are temptations to self-importance. And the novice knight is vulnerable to such mortal wounds unless he guards his soul with the chainmail of faith and humility.

I hope my brethren in the Order will indulge me these few points of reflection.

The Maltese cross so proudly worn by every knight and dame of the Order should point us to something bigger than ourselves and indeed, to someone other than ourselves. This splendid eight-pointed cross of chivalry means something only if it leads those who wear it to prostrate themselves before the rugged cross of Calvary.

This is because the true nobility of a Christian knight lies not in the ancient lineage of the Order nor on the promises of their station, but rather on the promises and grace of their baptism, which makes them children of God and co-heirs of Jesus Christ.

As Catholic Christians, the divine blood that runs through our veins at every Holy Communion should awaken us to our real dignity as sons and daughters of God. As members and associates of the Order, this same eucharistic blood further obliges us to place ourselves at the service of suffering humanity; in imitation of Christ.

In every kingdom there are lords and servants, and knights by their very station exist to serve, so that through their service they bring glory and honour to their king, and ennoble their own souls through the practice of heroic virtues.

A Christian knight has every obligation to be a saint, since he has every obligation to reflect the greatness, mercy and goodness of Christ the king, in whose service he has vowed himself. As secular knights carry the standard of their Lords and Mistresses upon their breastplates, a Christian Knight of Malta must carry the standard of Jesus and Mary upon his soul. And if that lofty standard is the cross, then he must indeed be willing to embrace his holy vocation as a soldier of Christ, bonded to his liege and master as a royal victim, priest and servant, for unlike the flags and banners of secular pride, the glory of Christ is written on the hearts of men.

As such, every emblem of office for the knight must remind him of his divine duty before God; that he is a man set apart - not for honour and glory – but for humble and sacrificial service to God and neighbour; particularly to the poor and the sick. Failure to recognize this grave obligation to sanctity and love will only reduce a Christian knight to the hollow tinsel of his medals and ribbons. And like so many things that sparkle and glisten in this world, the vanity of such an obsession will be tragic.

All of us need symbols and ideals larger than ourselves to help us live the Christian life. We need the collective drive, courage and wisdom of other heroic souls in a blessed camaraderie of faith and love, to support and strengthen us on our common pilgrimage and journey to paradise. But we also need to ensure that the glorious symbols of such a consecrated gathering do not blind us with pride and hinder our salvation, but rather remind us of our real dignity as children of God, and lead us to place ourselves at the service of our brothers and sisters.

This is our true noble calling; to be a poor knight for Christ, so that our hearts may be rich with love for his people. In this, we do well to recall the example of Francesco Bernadone – the frivolous young man of Assisi who lusted with all his heart for the worldly nobility of knighthood, who clad himself in the finest armour and rode forth on an empty crusade for fame and honour, only to be stripped of his delusions by the love of God.

Suffering greatly the pains of his vanity, he finally found himself naked of all illusions and reduced to an empty husk of existence. With no knighthood and no nobility to boast about, he could only throw himself before divine mercy and in doing so, he took the first steps of wisdom to becoming a true knight of Christ. In exchanging his rich armour for the tattered tunic of a beggar and in surrendering his quest for glory to his hunger for Christ, this young man began the transformation that would eventually immortalize him as the shining paradigm of a true Christian knight.

For a cup to be filled, it must first be emptied. St. Francis of Assisi pray for us, teach us what it means to be a real knight. May the good Lord save us from the vanity of this life.

Are you disappointed?

2007-02-04T02:34:00.000+08:00

Every now and then I wrestle with the disappointment of living the Christian life; not that the Christian life isn’t worth living. Rather, I sometimes expect in some kind of childish way that the waters of baptism would make life easier and more pleasing. And of course it doesn’t.

Christians don’t necessarily enjoy an easier life than pagans. Being saved and redeemed by our Lord doesn’t make the battle against sin any less urgent. We still fall sick, we still suffer injustice and pain, we still labour against the concupiscence of our flesh, and ever so often, we still fall prey to the dark vestiges of despair.

Calvary beckons every Christian soul to climb it in the example of his valiant captain, and to crown his ascent with the sacrificial worship of faith, hope and love.

The health and wealth gospel so richly preached from the pulpits of some evangelical circles is not the gospel of Christ. It may sound more popular than the gospel of Jesus, but it is not the message of Jesus. Instead, Christ our Lord promised that the cross is ever before us, the poor will always be with us, injustices will exist, and if we’re fortunate enough, some of us may even be crowned with martyrdom.

It all sounds a little morbid, doesn’t it? No wonder some people prefer to shop around for a more lenient gospel. But like the political zealots of Israel who hoped that Jesus would usher in an earthly reign of peace, prosperity and freedom from the Romans, we too sometimes look to our messiah only as the deliverer of our earthly chains, forgetting that the Kingdom of God is not of this world.

In reality, Jesus never promised us a naturally happy life. Rather, he promised us a supernaturally happy life; one that can be experienced even now. The gospel ‘Beatitudes’ show us the joy to be found in witnessing to Christ amidst the sufferings of this life. “The peace that I give, the world cannot give.” We hear this read so often from the gospels and yet we hanker after the peace of this world. Why? Is it because we find it more deeply fulfilling or merely because our hearts cannot aspire to anything beyond our immediate gratification?

Have we grown up only to become people of the moment with no regard to eternity, unable to look beyond the veil of our passions and appetites? I hope not. But even if that were so, there’s nothing to stop us from refocusing our spiritual eyes. Our joys in this world are always dependent on things going right, or to put it more honestly; things going our way. But the joys of a Christian faith does not hinge on any thing, property, human person or circumstance, so that in spite of trials, difficulties and failures, the Christian soul can still enjoy a peace and happiness that is above the conditions of this life. This is because Christian joy is founded on Jesus Himself. He is the reward and source of our happiness and peace. And as St. Augustine discovered, "our hearts were made for thee O'Lord, and we shall not rest until we rest in thee."

In life there will always be disappointments, especially when we have ideals. That’s not to suggest that ideals are bad. Not at all! In fact, ideals are the fuel that drives our passions; they are the musical notes that carry our words of commitment, fidelity and courage and give them form and beauty. However, we must be careful not to be driven to despair and bitterness when those same ideals are not realized despite our best prayers and efforts. You’ve heard of the phrase, “Man proposes, God disposes”?

Well, an English Dominican Provincial once gave a homily to newly professed novices in which he said; whatever schemes we hatch, whatever plans we formulate along the way, whatever monuments we hope to raise, we can be sure of one thing – God will frustrate them.

Perhaps you share this frustration and you’re upset that no matter how hard you try, how boldly you plan and aspire, you never seem to get a providential break. Are we doomed to fail because God sets Himself up as our adversary to happiness?

Instead, Fr. Timothy Radcliff O.P. sees it this way. God sometimes demolishes our plans and extinguishes our hopes because no matter how grand they might seem to us, He wants to liberate us from the smallness of our dreams. He wants us to reach more extravagantly in life, and to share more ambitiously in His hopes for us. Our dreams and plans (despite appearing ideal for ourselves) actually imprison us in mediocrity, since they grow from the soil of our own self-interest and imaginations. And as John Paul the Great often told young people everywhere, “Do not be content with mediocrity”.

God is not against us, He is completely for us, which is why he sometimes challenges us to look beyond the trivial pursuits of our hearts. Real happiness is not bought at the cost of replacing truth with fantasies, and God wants us to be truly happy, even at the risk of disappointing us.

We’re familiar with the feast of the Epiphany; the story of how God revealed Himself to the nations through the visit of the Magi from the East. We picture in our minds the moment of discovery for these wise men. We see them presenting their gifts amidst the Christmas glow of beautiful paintings and pious nativity plays. But how much do we really know of their struggles?

Did they expect to find what they found after months, or even years of difficult travel and seeking? How much time, energy and money did they invest in this quest for the King of the Jews? What sacrifices did they endure as they left their homes and families to seek this treasure? What greatness did they imagine they would find? And finally after the weariness of such a long journey across harsh and dangerous lands, their hopes kept alive only by the light of a single star, they discover their treasure wrapped in swaddling cloths in a poor shelter, surrounded by the poverty and filth of the animals, and cared for by two very ordinary looking parents in the company of dirty shepherds.

Was this a cruel joke? Is this what they had sacrificed everything for? Were they misled by false hope? Where was the majesty they had expected? Where was the splendour of this new king? Is this truly the audience they had been waiting for? Disappointed, sad and disillusioned, how much doubt must’ve filled their hearts. Should they turn their backs on this pathetic picture, or should they believe beyond the picture?

Uncertain – they must’ve prayed, discussed and pondered. But in the end, they knelt and worshipped Him, laying their gifts and their lives before His tiny feet. And with that act of faith, they broke free from the shackles and limitations of their human plans, and received instead the royal freedom of the Sons of God and a vision for happiness that enriched their lives beyond all telling.

My friends, we too shall face many disappointments in life. The question that awaits us however is the same: will we offer our human plans to his divine love and commit ourselves to trust Him still? Or will we turn our backs and walk away?

The next time we find ourselves at this crossroad, I pray we may have the wisdom of the Magi, for as always, some truths can only be learned on our knees.

Lord of the Dance

2007-01-29T00:33:00.000+08:00

Dancing is not one of my fortes. Even though I sometimes take recklessly to the dance floor, I’m about as graceful as a guillotine spinning out of control. Forget the rhythm of the beat, we’re talking about taking evasive action whenever I gyrate to a tune. But some people just know how to move around their partners.

It’s true that the best dancers are always instinctive, they’re not self-conscious when they surrender themselves to the beat of the music, which lifts them, carries them and fills them with sweetness. They don’t dance with their minds, they dance with their hearts. They never try too hard; they don’t think through their steps, they merely allow themselves to enjoy the moment.

In the same way, I suppose marriage is very much like a dance. Drawn by a mutual melody and attraction for each other, our hearts beat to a common song that only we can hear. Step-by-step, we begin to move, swirl, spin and express the contours of our love with fervour and passion. And like planets orbiting around each other, we feel the gravity of our attraction, pulling us closer as the music becomes more familiar and the song more personal. With practice our steps become coordinated, our movements instinctive, and in time, a couple becomes one body in the rhythm of the music. Well, at least that’s how it is for some.

The rest of us tiptoe with as much grace as an elephant in a tutu, and I for one continue to put people’s eyes out with my flailing limbs. Needless to say, I’m uncomfortably awkward with knowing what to do, how to move and when to move. And the same is often true in my relationship with God.

If our spiritual life is a dance with God, how do we see ourselves progressing? From experience we know that the dance of life is not always slow and melodic, not always coordinated to our moods. Sometimes it’s fast and passionate, other times it can be violently energetic, often it’s spontaneous and unpredictable. And perhaps like me you sometimes feel intimidated by the complicated steps and rhythm, or find yourself lost in the complex beat of the music.

Do we move with perfect timing and grace? Do we remember the steps and music? Do we drag our soles, stumble over steps and stomp clumsily on his divine feet mostly?

It doesn’t matter. As long as we choose God as our dance partner, we shall always be in tune, even when we have two left feet. Why? Because when we dance with God, he always leads. All we have to do is follow his rhythm. Don’t think too hard about what steps to take, where to move and when to twirl. Trust your divine partner. Just hold on and let yourself be carried in love. The more you dance, the more you will become one.

That’s what happens when you tango with the real Lord of the dance. Everything else is pure magic. So dance with faith, dance with trust, and dance with joy. But whatever you do, don’t be afraid to dance with God.

St. Josemaria Escriva 3

2007-01-20T10:14:00.001+08:00

Over the years, I've heard so many unkind things about St. Josemaria and his oft-contested canonisation. I'm just glad I decided to watch, listen, study, pray and decide for myself instead of listening to these rumors. I hope you will too.

Thinking with the Church

2007-01-14T14:49:00.000+08:00

To add on to my last entry on Conscience, I would like to share an excerpt from this book by Fr. Richard John Neuhaus; called “Catholic Matters –Confusion, controversy and the splendor of truth”.

“Dissent from official teachings – typically from teachings that do not sit well with the surrounding culture, and most typically from teachings touching on sexuality – is taken to be a mark of having grown up. The disposition is this: “Yes, I am a Catholic but I think for myself.” The somewhat implausible assumption is that what one thinks up by oneself is more interesting than what the Church teaches.

It’s true that, as the sixteenth-century St. Ignatius of Loyola put it, we should think with the Church (sentire cum ecclesia). It is also true that thinking with the Church begins with thinking. Faithful assent is not a matter of standing to attention, clicking one’s heels, and saluting at the appearance of every document from Rome. Rather, it is a matter of thinking for myself so that I can think with the Church, the prior assumption being that the Church possesses a teaching charism and authority that warrants my assent. I think for myself not to come up with my own teaching but to make the Church’s teaching my own. That is not always easy to do. People say they have difficulty with one teaching or another. That is not necessarily a problem. The problem arises when we assume that the problem is with the teaching and not with ourselves. The great nineteenth-century theologian Cardinal John Henry Newman said, “Ten thousand difficulties do not add up to a doubt.”

“Catholic Matters” can presently be purchased at Borders (That’s where I got my copy); and no, I don’t get any commission for recommending this, unless you count the spiritual kind.

In good conscience and in bad

2007-01-14T14:16:00.000+08:00

Many Christians, including Catholics think that faithful assent to the Church’s doctrinal teachings is akin to an absolute surrender of reason and will. Post-modernism has bred such an emphasis on self that every man, woman and child always knows better than the collective wisdom of the Church.

Even clergy and religious sometimes hide their contempt for certain Church teachings by dressing their disobedience under the excuse of what they call “faithful dissent”.

In other words, “I disagree and disobey but I’m nevertheless a faithful Catholic because I choose to think for myself, and I think the Church is wrong on this subject so in obedience to a greater truth (usually mine), I must dissent.”

First off, there is nothing wrong with thinking for yourself. Faith and reason are not in battle with each other in the Catholic faith. Indeed, they co-exist in a perfect marriage where one complements the other. After all, God gave us the spirit to believe but he also gave us a mind to understand what we believe, and we are to use both. But in a world of shifting principles and democratic consciences, any claims to eternal or absolute truths can certainly upset anyone who has been weaned on contemporary ideas of personal choice and freedom.

For many, morality is not indisputable but adaptable. Truth is not eternal but relative, and “conscience” is just another word for exercising my right to decide for myself, rather than the imprint of the eternal God who infused our souls with that natural gift of sensing what we know by nature to be right or wrong, good or evil. Where that instinctive knowledge has been suppressed, dulled or ignored for too long, then a false sense of moral principles fed on the ideologies of the world and the appetites of the ego replaces the true conscience as the fulcrum of a person’s code of conduct and thinking.

G.K. Chesterton put it well when he said, "When people stop believing in something, they'll start believing in anything." A conscience in reality is a spiritual muscle. The more you exercise it, the stronger it becomes and the more sensitive to good and evil it is. The less you use it or worse, try to suppress it; it will eventually be reduced to a state of spiritual muscular dystrophy. How then can it support a moral life?

God has given us tremendous attributes in this life, each of which is a tool designed by the creator to serve and help us when used as intended. Naturally when we use something in a way other than it was designed for, we risk not only ineffectiveness but also a real danger to life and limb. A can-opener does a great job of slicing open our canned dinner but it is hardly an appropriate tool for trimming your nails unless you have extra fingers to spare.

Think of your conscience and reason as a car. It can get you places and bring you to your eternal destination, but only if you drive it whilst being mindful of the rules that govern the highways of life. However, if you do all kinds of modifications to your car, or worse, you let it fall apart and then choose to ignore safety signs on the road, then you put yourself and others at risk because you become a danger to everyone else driving on that highway. When that happens, your “Aston Martin” is more likely to serve as a flaming coffin that propels you to certain death rather than the reliable means for bringing you home. After all, being placed behind the wheels can be intoxicating to anyone who doesn’t temper such power with humility and faith.

What’s more, we should recognize that since Genesis, there exists a voice that has sought to offer us an alternative code of morality to the one God envisioned for His children. He didn't tell Adam & Eve to do away with a conscience, he was much too sly for that. Instead, he convinced them that they had the sole power to know for themselves what was right or wrong.

“Eat of the fruit of the tree”, he said, then you shall know the difference between good and evil and you shall be like God. With this ultimate lie, this wretched creature convinced our first parents that “God doesn't want you to eat from the tree of knowledge because He knows that you will become like Him; you will become powerful and self-sufficient and will have no need of Him. That is why He hides that power from you, so that you may never know or enjoy that ability". Sadly it was this temptation to be our own Gods, to be subservient to no one, to be answerable to no master but the high altars of our own egos that plunged the world into darkness and rebellion.

Today, Satan continues to say to us, "You don't need the Church to point out what is good and evil. You have the power to decide this for yourself! The Church wants to keep you oppressed because she knows that you won't need her when you can decide on your own. You can be your own Church, your own Pope, and your own Gospel. It is only fools and old unthinking masses that bow their heads to the Church and her high-handed hypocrisy and thus live lives of utter sadness and oppression."

Why do you suppose popular culture and Hollywood constantly depict Catholics as ignorant, superstitious, pathetic and sometimes cruel, but always as tortured souls suffering great misery? Yet anyone who lives a genuine Catholic life will tell you that it’s a life resplendent with joy and grace.

Still, it’s no secret that the world identifies Catholicism as the bastion of oppression and injustice. To be a Catholic is to be robbed of original thought and reason; to be denied the freedom to do whatever you want, to express yourself in anyway that you feel comfortable. It's the "I gotta be me" mentality described by the late Archbishop Fulton Sheen.

The Catholic idea of freedom however is not quite the same thing. It is the freedom to choose wisely, to act responsibly and to be delivered from whatever addictions and sinfulness that can chain an individual and blind him to the right choices in life. The fact is, freedom as a gift is not an end in itself, nor is it the pathway to self-gratification.

Is the man who is free to indulge in drugs, adultery, fornication, pornography, homosexuality or excessive drinking truly free, when every such opportunity saps him of his strength to say "no" and rise above his wanton desires? Of course not. Rather, true freedom liberates us to be authentic witnesses in this world to the reality of God and truth. And one cannot do this when one is imprisoned in a thousand ways through false ideals, lifestyles and choices.

Now and then we are told that to make a financial killing, we need to listen to the advice of our brokers. To get a sharper nose, we gladly acquiesce to plastic surgeons. To have more prosperity, we obediently seek out geomancers and fortune-tellers, but to live rightly and justly for our happiness, we are outraged that the Church's teaching office or Magisterium should presume to tell us how to live our lives - they who receive their commission "to feed my sheep" from Christ Himself.

Tragically some things just don't change. Maybe that’s why Satan has such a field day convincing generations of men to follow in the footsteps of their first parents.

A conscience, despite being a natural gift from God, still needs to be formed and cultivated. This is where religion comes in. A man with a badly formed conscience will not be able to rise to the occasion under attack. Besides, how can we truthfully say "each man according to his own conscience" when some have such poorly formed ones as to appear to have none?

Hence to preserve and protect us, Christ our Lord gave us more than a conscience, He gave us the Church to preserve and form that conscience in order that through the Holy Spirit, we might be delivered from the idolatry of self-worship.

Truth is immutable and unchangeable. We are not the benchmarks of morality in our own lives. Christ is - The same Christ yesterday, today and tomorrow. The same Christ who commissioned one Church in particular to speak for Him definitively.

That might explain why the Catholic Church is so reviled as an icon of moral steadfastness in societies that expound an ideology of convenience and gratification. At the same time, she is often admired for her unwavering courage by people disillusioned with the transient solutions offered by society today. Her defense of traditional teachings in the face of trends, political correctness and popular theologies, effectively sets her as a thorn in the sides of people who recognize the seeds of truth in her words, regardless of how much they might insist on drowning that out.

Remember that the Church has never taught her doctrines and moral ethics because they were popular or even practical! She teaches them and maintains that she has no right to alter them for one reason alone - She is convinced that it expresses the will and intention of Christ Jesus her Lord and King, in whom her only duty is to obey and adore. That is why Jesus warned His disciples that the world will hate them as it hated Him, it will reject them as it rejected Him, and like her Master, the Church will be "a sign of contradiction" to the world, just as the Cross continues to be a sign of contradiction to the world.

Anyone who prides himself on being more progressive, forward-thinking and obviously more "enlightened" than a 2000 year old Church without even seriously investigating its doctrinal stands with some degree of honesty does a great deal of disservice both to the Church and to himself. And it is not uncommon for many in this day and age who are hungry for truth to be seduced by new fads, theologies and spiritual appeals that more often than not, distill Christian truths in their claims to shed more light.

Unfortunately, many (including priests and religious) who are most prejudiced against orthodox Catholicism, sadly also do not allow themselves to seriously study anything from conservative or traditional Catholic sources before condemning them. Instead, armed with what little knowledge they derive from some dissident source of literature, they feel comfortable abandoning two millenniums of magisterial teaching, saints, martyrs, doctors and the infallible promise of Jesus without bothering to weigh the arguments for the Catholic position seriously.

If this was an operation on a life and every doctor jumped at a new, fancy, popular treatment without objectively weighing these claims against proven medical histories and knowledge, they'll end up killing hundreds. In spite of that, many Church leaders, pastors and theologians feel they have to constantly reinvent Catholic theology by challenging the Church's heritage with hostility that borders on the insane. Instead of claiming to speak for Catholic truth, at the very most they can only present these novel ideas as their own.

Yet it is this crazed hunger for something new, something different, something exotic that dominates so much of their theological wrangling that they lead the faithful into a chasm of mistrust and confusion about the Church's teachings, often times just for the sake of seeming revolutionary. At best, they merely succeed at reinventing the wheel. At worst, they promote heresy and confusion among the faithful.

This is not to suggest however that Catholic Theology can bear no dialogue, that to raise doubts is to risk being struck by a bolt of lightning. That is not what we are saying.

The theology of the Church is made more manifest and clear through the contributions of great Catholic minds who delve into divine mysteries in a genuine effort to understand and articulate these truths. In order to grow, there must be courage to explore, to ask questions and to try new ways of thinking, but always and everywhere, this must be done in the context of Catholic understanding and tradition as far as divine revelation is concerned.

This is the backdrop. This is where we must return in our quest for a more authentic Catholic identity, even if our thoughts explore and stretch the boundaries of divine science; because in the end, theologians cannot be said to be expounding Catholic theology if what they teach contradicts and attacks the essence and nature of the Catholic faith - just as you cannot genuinely claim to be Catholic if your life bears no resemblance to authentic sacramental living within the Catholic Church. It is the duty and function of theology to question, think and study the truths in divine revelation in order to bring out their clarity and light, not to change and alter these truths into something entirely alien, or to invent a new revelation so to speak.

Author and apologist, Scott Hahn once commented that to agree with what the Church teaches is not faith, it is coincidence. You have a set of beliefs that you subscribe to. And coincidentally, the Catholic Church has an identical set of beliefs. Faith is when you encounter a teaching that is difficult, but you recognize the spiritual authority and wisdom of the Church and you bow your head in obedience, knowing that where your human efforts end, the Holy Spirit supplements with a wisdom and love that never fails.

The truth is, agreeing with Jesus has never been the condition for accepting His teaching. For His Apostles, His words were all that was necessary. They believed because He said it was so.

In the Gospel of John, many of Jesus' disciples abandoned Him because they could not accept His teaching that they would have to eat His Body and drink His Blood. No one could fault them for appealing to logic; it just did not make sense. However, instead of explaining Himself, Our Blessed Lord turned to Peter and the eleven and asked them, "What about you, will you leave also?"

Faith succeeds where human knowledge fails. It was Peter who responded despite not understanding, "You have the words of eternal life Lord, to whom shall we go?" John 6:68

Some people may be tempted to interpret this as implying that we should blindly accept all that the Church teaches. On the contrary, there is nothing in Catholic teaching that goes against the grain of reason. God didn’t just give us a heart to love Him; He also gave us intelligence to know Him and a mind to understand His will. Faith is not incompatible with reason, and it’s a tribute to the wisdom of the Catholic Church that she recognizes both as complementing each other in the life of a believer.

Therefore, do not be discouraged when questions arise. Many times, the Apostles themselves could not understand the Lord's teachings, at least not until the Holy Spirit came upon them and opened their minds to the mysteries of His Revelations. Very often, these episodes of clarity occurred much later in their history when they had grown more mature as Christians. So the next time you come across a difficult Catholic teaching, don’t be too hasty to pronounce judgement until you’ve heard all the evidence.

Read, study, question and research! You’ll be surprised at the wealth of Catholic resources available to those who want to know their faith better. You owe it to yourself to seek and discover the truth, instead of quietly assuming that the Church is erroneous in her moral claims. The least we can do in such a dilemma is to honestly try and understand the Church's position for ourselves, instead of relying on prejudicial hearsay.

Above all, pray! Let us sincerely ask the Lord for illumination. Because like Peter, we can also say to the Catholic Church, the true Bride of Christ, our Mother, "You have the words of eternal life, to whom shall we go?"

St. Josemaria Escriva 2

2007-01-14T03:15:00.001+08:00

Humour and holiness goes hand in hand.

St. Josemaria Escriva 1

2007-01-14T03:09:00.001+08:00

The genius of the saints is that they fill old truths with new enthusiasm

Through him, with him and in him

2007-01-13T17:20:00.000+08:00

“Everything old is new again”. From fashion accessories to vintage inspired cars and movie remakes, nostalgia seems to have a talent for reawakening our senses. Just last week, I stumbled upon my old cache of comic books from over thirty years ago and found myself transported back to a time of unrestrained pleasure. My favourite superheroes leapt from the dusty pages of my childhood like they were printed only yesterday. And suddenly, time stood still for a delightful moment.

I had the same feeling of inexplicable joy watching some children at play the other day. Somehow when I think about heaven, my thoughts often travel back to the innocence and pure joy of my childhood. I imagine there are others who feel the same.

St. Augustine reminds us that “God is younger than all else”. He remains forever young, younger than all of us who have grown old because hope expresses his eternal youth. For this reason the gospel is old and yet ever new, because Jesus himself is eternally relevant to our hearts.

Christ is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. No amount of time will diminish his relevance to our lives, because human nature itself remains unchanged throughout history. We suffer the same temptations, pine for the same basic desires, and struggle with the same sins over and over again. We will always need our saviour, but like an easily distracted child, we forget the good counsel and warnings of Jesus at the first sign of pleasure.

Most of all, we forget our Christian dignity in Christ.

So many of us go through our days like paupers because we disregard our royal vocation as sons and daughters of God. It shows in the way we behave, talk, entertain and make choices. We wallow in the spiritual amnesia of princes who live by the castle gates begging for crumbs instead of taking our rightful places in the royal courts of our King and Father.

Over time, we become strangers to our own divine heritage, believing instead that we are little more than beasts and beggars. And so believing, we live and act like animals.

Dear friends, this must stop. As you read this, make a choice to reclaim your princely character in Christ. To help us do that, allow me to share some reflections on what it means to be a child of God.

As Catholic Christians we receive so much from our Lord and saviour, but we’re also such forgetful disciples. As a result, we never truly unleash the power of grace that Christ died to give us on Calvary.

A Spanish friend laughingly confessed how he sometimes queued at the long foreign immigration lines when he returned from overseas missions, only to realize a few moments later that as a Singapore permanent resident, he could’ve easily passed through the local passport counters without any delay. In the same way, many of us spend our entire lives waiting in the wrong lane.

Do we really understand our awesome dignity as co-heirs of Jesus Christ? As Christians we use this phrase so loosely that it sometimes takes on an almost “Barney” or “Sesame Street” triviality when we talk about being children of God. But the apostle Peter reminds us that we are a “chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation” set apart. This is truly something special.

We forget that through our baptism, we are born again into a new and vibrant supernatural life; a life that even now gives us a foretaste of the supreme happiness that awaits us in eternity.

Everyday our God descends from the highest heavens to share the Eucharistic meal with us, just as a father gathers to break bread with his children at the family table, and everyday he gives his own lifeblood for the nourishment and health of his sons and daughters.

It’s no coincidence that the pelican is often used as an image of the Eucharistic Lord, since this curious bird is often known to peck at its own breast for morsels of flesh and blood to feed its young in a famine. Such is the self-sacrificing love of our Father and God.

We’re often told that through Christ, we have been adopted into the family of God. But we’re much more than that! God the Father doesn’t just adopt us, he makes us truly his own by giving us His only begotten Son Jesus to be our brother and redeemer, so that through the blood of our saviour we are born again into a new reality.

In a very mysterious way, we are truly children of the Most High. We know of many people who chase after worldly titles of nobility in order to rise in the eyes of their fellow men. But what can be more noble and dignified than being a child of God? What worldly obligations of membership are more sacred and privileged than the paramount vows of our baptism?

Do we truly realize the power, dignity and authority within ourselves as Catholic Christians?

At every Holy Communion, the Body and Blood of Christ flow through our veins. His life, his DNA, his power and breath are given to us for our divine inheritance. As such, our mortal blood carries the life of the immortal; our lives on earth bear the imprint of the resurrection. Through Him, with Him and in Him, we inherit the majesty and power of the eternal Son of God. All that is needed is the faith to unleash a life that can change the world.

Think about it. From Adam & Eve we received our human and mortal bloodline, but from Jesus and Mary, we have been reborn in baptism and the Eucharist as a new race.

When Christ redeemed us, he gave birth to us as it were by giving us a royal bloodline in himself. In taking upon himself our humanity, he sanctified our nature and shared with us his divinity. And since Christ received his human nature entirely from Mary, we too bear her blood and DNA when we receive Our Lord in the Eucharist. After all, it was her blood, her flesh and her bones that gave human form to the Son of God. Consequently, Mary isn’t just our spiritual mother, she is our corporal mother as well. Reflect on this the next time you read the dying words of our Lord on the cross; “Behold your mother.”

As a result, every Catholic isn’t just bonded in a fraternity of faith and creed with each other; we are bonded and related through the blood of Christ, making us truly siblings with one another. And our baptism must set us apart from the world we live in.

If there is no difference in the way pagans and Christians live, then what is the point of our witness? Instead, the saints tell us that we can change the world if we live holy and faithful lives, sanctifying our days and offering our most mundane and ordinary tasks with the greatest love and hope because as children of God, what we do and how we live can affect the cosmic battle between good and evil.

Christ in redeeming us calls us to be co-redeemers of the times we live in, and indeed, to save our societies and our families from the terror, injustice and afflictions that define the world today.

This seems like an impossible challenge but the solution is really quite simple. We can turn the tide against terrorism, abortions, broken marriages, poverty and corruption and all the darkness of our times, by simply being faithful to our Christian vocations.

We must learn to look at our lives through the veil of eternity. What we do as Christians have supernatural effects that influence the world we live in. Behind the ordinary drama of our human history is a larger landscape of spiritual realities. And as Christians we have the power to make a real difference, even if what we do seems trivial and modest.

Mother Teresa spoke of this when she urged everyone to “do small things with great love”, because love multiplies everything. And when we offer it to our Lord as a prayer and oblation, we join our humble efforts to the great redemption of Christ for the world. This is the great battle cry against Satan; that the humble, ordinary struggles of a Christian life hold the power and means of sanctity to defeat him.

This is why St John Bosco exhorted his boys to simply be good boys, why St John the Baptist told soldiers and tax collectors to be honest in their work, why St. Josemaria Escriva encouraged Christians to do their professional work with holiness and fidelity, and why the Church continually exhorts us to be faithful to our daily struggles to love God and neighbour. Our prayer, our sacrifices, our sufferings and patience with all that life brings can be offered up to God with much love and hope for the salvation of the world. This is the great secret of our Christian solidarity; that through Christ we can intercede with God for one another.

After all as Archbishop Fulton Sheen once said, if it is possible for doctors to transfuse blood from a healthy person to save a dying man, why is it not possible to transfuse suffering? If surgeons can graft healthy skin from one part of the body to restore goodness in another, why is it not possible to graft sacrifice and prayer? Small things done with great love and fidelity to God can shake the very foundation of the world.

Is this some new doctrine? No. There is nothing new in what the saints tell us. The genius of the saints lies in the way they imbue old truths with new enthusiasm. But the fact is, every individual action is magnified by the dignity of the person doing it, and the actions of Christians for better or worse are supernaturally magnified by their supreme dignity as children of God.

I’m sure you recall the old adage: “Evil succeeds where good men do nothing”. In the same way, darkness will reign where Christians forget their real dignity in Christ. We are the sons and daughters of the new Adam and Eve. If Dan Brown and other conspiracy writers really wanted to trace the bloodline of Jesus, they merely have to look into the face of every Catholic Christian. Therefore, we should live well and love well since we hold in our lives the power to win the world for God.

Remember this and it will help you live your Christian dignity as a prince and not as a pauper.

Who's making assumptions?

2007-01-06T01:11:00.000+08:00

A Christian friend insists that Catholic doctrines like the Assumption of Mary were invented by superstitious popes.

Well the pope is not a magician who pulls dogmas out of his hat like some parlour trick designed to fool the ignorant.

Sometimes, the reason we don’t see something is because we’re looking in the wrong place. Other times, preconceptions and prejudices can blind us to the scriptural evidence exposed before us.

Police investigations often require the help of forensic science to uncover truths that are hidden beneath the ordinary. Likewise, divine truths must be unveiled through the lens of Christian tradition and understanding. What the bible doesn’t disclose immediately to the casual reader can nevertheless be full of evidence that reveal themselves only after the clues have been pieced together.

As the prophet Elijah discovered, God’s voice is loudest in its silence. It wasn’t in the violent thunder of earthquakes and fires rattling mountains that Elijah heard the voice of God, but in the almost indiscernible whisper of a breeze.

In the same way, if we scour the bible looking for colourful neon signs that point to this doctrine with a big pulsating arrow that says, ‘Look, here are the words, “assumption of Mary”’, then we shall risk the blindness of the Scribes and Pharisees who saw their King before them in the dusty sandals of a carpenter and recognised Him not, just because He didn’t fit the image of the King they were so used to conceiving.

But before we’re ready to plumb the depths of Holy Scripture for answers to this question, it might help to differentiate between the words “dogma” and “doctrine” which can be utterly confusing to many people.

“Dogma” is just a fancy theological word for what Christians accept to be apostolic teaching from the earliest days of the Church; namely a timeless and eternal truth as it were. It is understood by Catholics to be part of the original deposit of faith as handed down by the Apostles. To explain it simply, it is not a new teaching but rather an old teaching with apostolic roots and foundation.

A doctrine on the other hand is the articulation of a dogma to make it more accessible for common understanding. Consequently when the Church teaches a doctrine, she is in fact explaining the divine mysteries behind a dogma.

At this point, it is important to understand that the pope cannot proclaim a "new" dogma. In fact, no one can. Dogmas have always existed within the original revelations of Christ, even though the precise teaching and articulation of this revelation is constantly made clearer for generations through the illumination of the Holy Spirit who guides the universal teaching office of the Church.

Imagine for instance a perfect diamond lying in the shadow of a tree. Even in the half-light of the sun, it shines resplendent for all to see and admire. However, as the day progresses and light washes over its surface, the diamond sparkles with greater clarity and magnificence as it transmits the powerful rays of the sun to our eyes. In this case, matter itself is not changed; the diamond remains the same as it was before. The only difference being that the progression of time has brought more light to the nature of the gem, giving it more brilliance and illumination.

Similarly, the progression of time and development of doctrine gives the Church more precise understanding and clarity in order to better articulate and strengthen an existing belief.

Therefore, the “Assumption of Mary” like all dogmas of the Church must be understood in the context of this ancient and apostolic tradition. We should understand that it is not a new dogma that Pope Pius XII "invented" when he proclaimed it back in 1950, but rather an ancient and widely accepted belief of the early Church that His Holiness merely reiterated for later generations as bearing apostolic truth.

The Assumption of Mary is probably the oldest feast of Our Lady. After all, there is a very ancient tradition in Christianity that teaches that because of her exalted position as Mother of the Redeemer, Mary enjoys the reward of the bodily assumption with Jesus. This is testified to by the practice of the early Christians in Jerusalem who began celebrating her passing or “falling asleep” as far back as the 4th century.

In a culture that guarded the relics and remains of Christian personalities jealously, it was highly peculiar that no relics of Mary were ever reported to exist. In fact, all agreed that the presence of an empty tomb near the site of her death suggested that her remains were not left on earth, which led no less a personage than the Patriarch of Jerusalem to remark at the Council of Chalcedon in 451, that “Mary had died in the presence of the apostles; but her tomb, when opened later . . . was found empty and so the apostles concluded that the body was taken up into heaven.”

In other words, early Christians have always believed that there were at least two human bodies in heaven - Jesus and Mary - glorified as they are in the mystery of the resurrection. If a bible fundamentalist is scandalised by that thought, the following argument might help calm his gasping breath.

First, scripture records at least two other people who might also have enjoyed bodily assumption; one of whom was Elijah who was taken up in a fiery chariot at the end of his life, disappearing before the very eyes of his disciple Elisha. The other is mentioned in Paul’s letter to the Hebrews: “It was because of his faith that Enoch was taken up and did not have to experience death: He was not to be found because God had taken him. This was because before his assumption it is attested that he had pleased God. Now it is impossible to please God without faith, since anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and rewards those who try to find him.” (Hebrews 11: 5-6)

Clearly it would seem that Paul at least believed that the prophet Enoch was assumed into heaven for having lived a life of grace and obedience. And since Paul himself was a former Pharisee, he must've been recalling a Jewish tradition widely held throughout Judea, especially since he was writing to Jewish converts to Christianity. So even in scripture we discover precedence for this unusual gift. When it came to Elijah and Enoch, Paul and the Jews certainly believed in the theological concept of the Assumption.

Now if such were the rewards given to prophets, we must ask ourselves: “How much more applicable is this to the Mother of the Redeemer - she who was full of grace and the handmaid of the Lord?”

Mary above all pleased God more perfectly than any disciple did or ever can. Hence if we can accept that God’s prophets enjoyed such a privilege, why should we object to the Mother of God deserving even more? Why indeed should Christians be scandalised by the blessing shown to this humble woman who not only loved Christ intimately as only a mother can, but who faithfully stood by her divine son to the very end?

Many cynics find it difficult to accept that God could possibly show such great love and respect for a creature by exalting her as the paradigm of all human perfection; raising her before every man, woman, child and angel by making her His mother, His queen, His spouse and the mother of His Church.

Instead too many people cling to worldly ideals of human respect; which is often nothing more than the cry of a familiar serpent coiled around a tree who once whispered to another woman, “Take and eat, and you will be like God”.

True womanhood can only find its real meaning and genuine beauty in the light of Mary’s womanhood, intended by God and exalted above all creation to reflect His glorious wisdom. Just as true manhood can only find its expression in the person of Christ the man, who though God, placed himself at the succour and guidance of this little lady from Nazareth.

Did not scripture reveal that every person righteous in Christ is also a child of Mary, since Revelation 12 vs. 17-18 in describing how the Dragon in trying to devour the Woman’s first-born, also made war against all those who were marked with the sign of the lamb and who believed in Jesus, for these too were among her children?

Yes, it's true that many Protestant Christians traditionally interpret the symbol of the “woman” as pertaining to the church, but the Early Apostolic Fathers have always maintained this to be a reference to Mary.

Bishop Theoteknos of Livias (c.550-650) preached centuries ago that: "Christ took His immaculate flesh from the immaculate flesh of Mary, and if He had prepared a place in heaven for the Apostles, how much more for His mother; if Enoch had been translated and Elijah had gone to heaven, how much more Mary, who like the moon in the midst of the stars shines forth and excels among the prophets and Apostles? For even though her God-bearing body tasted death, it did not undergo corruption, but was preserved incorrupt and undefiled and taken up into heaven with its pure and spotless soul."

These scriptural and historical hints alone give us much to ponder about. But these are only the beginning. For those who persist in their quest for truth, there is an even more impressive trail of evidence supporting it.

The Assumption isn’t a reward reserved exclusively to Our Blessed Mother alone. In fact, this glorious assumption is promised to all faithful disciples at the final resurrection. This too is our inheritance and our privilege. Our bodies will likewise be taken up on the last day and be gloriously transformed in the new life of Christ.

What Mary enjoys now in the bodily assumption must be understood and celebrated as the first fruit of Christ’s resurrection; a fulfillment of the promise made to all of God’s children as an inheritance, but given much sooner to His Mother owing to her dignity as Queen of Heaven.

Now it is not at all presumptuous to infer this. After all, if her Son is King, surely she is Queen.

Many Christians are often surprised to discover that in ancient Israel, it was not the wife of the King who was crowned and acknowledged as Queen. Instead, it was the mother of the King who was more commonly exalted upon a throne and given a place in the government of his kingdom.

If this was true for Solomon the son of David - “Bathsheba therefore went to king Solomon, to speak to him for Adonijah. The king rose up to meet her, and bowed himself to her, and sat down on his throne, and caused a throne to be set for the king's mother; and she sat on his right hand” (1 Kings 2:19), it is true for Jesus the true King of Israel who descended from the line of David.

Just as Solomon exalted and honoured his mother as Queen of his kingdom, so too Jesus exalted His mother and honoured Her as Queen of His Eternal Kingdom. Remember that one of the basic Judeo commandments beholden of a son is to honour father and mother. That is inscribed in the Ten Commandments, which was the spiritual backbone of the Mosaic Law. And in Christ’s own words, Our Lord came not to condemn the law but to fulfill the law.

Thus in order to fulfill this commandment to honour His father, Jesus had to glorify His Heavenly Father. But as a faithful Jew, Our Lord was also bound in conscience to do the same for His earthly mother, and who would deny that Jesus was a good son if not the best?

If Solomon the wise; a mere man in the shadow of God’s wisdom, could sense that it was right to glorify God by honouring his mother as Queen, can we not give Jesus the Messianic King more credit? Even Adonijah in scripture, (knowing the son’s love and reverence for his mother), had the good sense to implore the intercession of Bathsheba with King Solomon “for he will not say no to you” (1 Kings 2: 17)

As if this wasn’t enough to convince us, let us also remember that Jesus can claim no human heritage other than the same DNA structure that genetically describes Mary. To put it bluntly, He has no body, blood nor bones apart from His mother's. In fact, He owes His human existence to her. How then can one be separated from the other?

Which brings us to the next point in this discussion - the wonderful link between the dogma of “The Assumption of Mary” and the dogma of “The Immaculate Conception”. In fact, understanding one helps us to understand the other. (By the way, the Immaculate Conception refers to the doctrine that Mary was conceived without original sin and not the virgin birth of Jesus, as some mistakenly believe).

In many ancient cultures and societies, your bloodline was a matter of reprove or nobility in some parts of the world. As such, can you imagine the theological implications if Mary was born in original sin like the rest of us; a slave to Satan so to speak?

By genetic association, if Mary was not spared of original sin, then Jesus obviously would have inherited the spiritual marks of that deformity in His human character. In effect, the Son of God would be tainted with the sin of slavery from the first moment of His conception, which would have allowed Satan to eternally mock the redemptive mission of Christ by alluding to His less than royal heritage. Needless to say, how can he who was not free and innocent of guilt himself offer freedom or pardon to others in chains?

Thankfully, the opposite is true. Because Mary was indeed preserved from all stain of original sin, Jesus is thus described in scripture as being "like us in all things except sin."

If the Ark of the Covenant was made out of gold and precious metals to signify the purity and awesome status of the tabernacle that housed the Ten Commandments carried by Moses, what more the living, breathing Ark of the New Covenant that conceived, nourished and carried the living Son of God for nine months?

Mary is the new ark, the new tabernacle of grace and the holy of holies.

As children, we cannot choose our parents. We accept whom we’re given. But if you could choose to make your own mother, if you had the power to do just that, would you make her tainted, fallen, a slave to sin or would you make her pure, perfect and glorious? As it happened, Jesus had the power to create His own mother. And how do you think He made her?

Does this mean that she had no need of a saviour since she was conceived without sin? Christian fundamentalists are quick to point out that Mary herself alluded to God as her saviour in the Magnificat prayer, meaning that she too needed to be saved from sin like the rest of us.

How true! But there are two ways to save someone. One is to save them after they have fallen. The other is more meritorious and perfect, which is to save them before they even fall, preventing even the slightest bit of harm to come to them.

Now which is better? To pull someone out from quicksand after they have fallen in, or to save them from danger in the first place by rescuing them before it happens? Both however require the act of saving, and early Christians have always believed that Mary was saved from sin by her Son before she was even born; when she existed from all time as a perfect thought in His mind, a perfect love in His heart.

Would you not do the same if you could? Likewise, the dogma of The Assumption is based on the same principle.

Death is the tragic result of sin. And because of the original sin of Adam and Eve who stood in the place of humanity, we too bear in our flesh the penalty and mark of their rebellion and return to dust and ashes, whence originally we were made to live immortally with God. Consequently when people say that death is natural, we wonder why so many fear it and the world fights feverishly to prevent or postpone the inevitable. It’s almost as if our instincts recoil in horror against something that our souls deem to be unnatural.

Reading this, one could be forgiven for thinking that because Mary was immaculately conceived, we're implying that she was spared from the sting of mortal death by default. In reality, that’s not the case at all.

A disciple is not above her master and Mary is certainly not above her Lord and saviour, Jesus. If anything, she would not hesitate to share in the burden of atoning for mankind as her divine son did. She above all other creatures would imitate her Lord to the end. And although early Christian traditions tell us that she died a peaceful death, it is not inconceivable to imagine the great spiritual martyrdom she endured in offering her own life with Him and through Him on the cross.

It was not for nothing that the prophet Simeon foretold that a sword would pierce her own heart. The question then isn't so much whether Mary died but whether her sacred remains were allowed to rest in death, and the answer is quite obvious when we appeal to both reason and faith.

Consider that God commanded Moses to honour His symbolic presence by having the Israelites make the ancient Ark of the Covenant out of acacia wood: “And they shall make an ark of acacia-wood: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof. And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, within and without shalt thou overlay it, and shalt make upon it a crown of gold round about.” (Exodus 25 Vs.10-11)

And acacia wood as any decent carpenter will tell you is very resistant to insects and corruption. It doesn’t decay easily.

Now is it possible that God would desire that a wooden box containing some bits of stone and manna not decompose because it contained His symbolic presence, but He would allow the ravages of sin and death to devour the holy body that enclosed His divine Son for nine months and which lovingly succoured Him as a child?

There would be no justice if He did. Even the Book of Revelations when describing the Woman crowned with twelve stars on her head and the moon under her feet used language that described a physical body in heaven. Against this wealth of evidence, it comes as no surprise that the early Church Fathers taught the same.

For instance, St John Damascene living in the 8th century once preached a sermon at the memorial of Mary in Jerusalem with these words, “Although the body was duly buried, it did not remain in the state of death, neither was it dissolved by decay. . . You were transferred to your heavenly home, O Lady, Queen and Mother of God in truth.”

Of course, we expect that some Christians will continue to scrupulously ask for explicit mention of this belief in the bible. Yet scripture itself admits there are facets of our Christian religion that are not clearly expounded in the official texts of the bible, but nevertheless remain part of the oral deposit of faith as handed down by the apostles.

As highlighted in the Gospel of John, Jesus said and did many things that were not recorded simply because the vast number of these details were too numerous to write down, but only enough was written that we may believe in Jesus as the Christ. In other words, the bible IS authoritative but NOT the only authority.

We can't emphasise enough that the legitimacy of the bible is dependent on the authority of the Catholic Church, since it was the Church that organised and compiled the bible into its present form as a spiritual legacy for the world. For this reason, things are in the bible only because the Catholic Church teaches it first. The Church doesn’t teach it only because it can be found in the bible. It is essential for us to understand this historical and objective truth because there are Christians who will not accept anything that they cannot find literally in their bibles.

To stubbornly cling to such fundamentalism would oblige us to reject traditional beliefs like the dogma of the Trinity as well since the word itself cannot be found in scripture and the teaching is only implicitly referenced. Remember that Jesus never explicitly taught the Trinity. It was the Catholic Church through the guidance of the Holy Spirit that imparted the doctrine of the Trinity based on its authoritative understanding of the Lord’s teachings.

In brief, it is always the Bible and the Church that are the pillars and foundations of our faith.

Thus when Pope Pius XII proclaimed the Assumption of Mary in 1950, he was doing nothing more than affirming as official Catholic belief what Christians have always held to be a definitive truth. In fact, the Orthodox and Eastern Churches also continue to teach this doctrine which goes to show how ancient this belief really is, since these Churches separated from Rome way back in the first millennium.

Mary’s Assumption as glorious as it was is nothing less than a shining example of encouragement to all Christians to persevere in faithfulness so that we may share in our mother’s joy one day. And even though some people may still claim that the bible denies this ancient belief, history, tradition, common sense and even scripture itself say otherwise.

Too often, we tell God what He can do and what He can’t instead of thanking Him for what He has done. And what He has done is to raise Mary body and soul into heaven, so that where the Son is, the Mother may be also, alive and glorious in His resurrection.

Tell me, which loving son would not do the same?

Then and now

2006-12-29T00:50:00.000+08:00

This entry is written as a postscript to "The contraception debate".

When the papal encyclical "Humanae Vitae" was released in the late sixties, a storm of criticisms descended on Pope Paul VI. Many accused him of being a prophet of doom and gloom, and ridiculed his message on the dangers of contraception.

As we near the end of 2006, let's reconsider his warnings in the light of almost forty years of human experience, and see if history has vindicated Paul VI.

The Holy Father warned in his encyclical released in 1968, "Let them consider, first of all, how wide and easy a road would thus be opened up towards conjugal infidelity and the general lowering of morality. Not much experience is needed to be fully aware of human weakness and to understand that human beings - and especially the young, who are so exposed to temptation - need incentives to keep the moral law, and it is an evil thing to make it easy for them to break that law."

Fast forward to our time, no one denies that for more than 35 years, the world has taken a manic dive into a quagmire of indecency and sexual immorality. Adultery, divorces, abortions, teenage and unwanted pregnancies, venereal diseases and broken families litter our moral landscape like so many corpses dying from a dreaded disease.

The Vicar of Christ also cautioned, "Another effect that gives cause for alarm is that a man who grows accustomed to the use of contraceptive methods may forget the reverence due to a woman, and, disregarding her physical and emotional equilibrium, reduce her to being a mere instrument for the satisfaction of his own desires, no longer considering her as his partner whom he should surround with care and affection."

How alarmingly true of modern relationships, where a woman's body is often treated more as a haven for gratification than a temple of the Holy Spirit. Pornography, sexually explicit corporate advertising and gross indecencies in entertainment arts all reduce the value of a woman's dignity to her sexual attractiveness.

The situation in Japan where individuals and corporations prey on the sexual willingness of schoolgirls who ply sex for material gains or money is but a sad reminder of the great loss of innocence in the world today. And for years, the pornographic industries reap in billions of dollars from eager new "artistes"; women who are constantly transformed into objects of lust by the temptation of money and comfort, while unscrupulous structures in third world countries continue to exploit helpless women sold into slavery to feed a raging appetite of lustful men who come by busloads in organised sex tours.

"Finally, careful consideration should be given to the danger of this power passing into the hands of those public authorities who care little for the precepts of the moral law. Who will blame a government which in its attempt to resolve the problems affecting an entire country resorts to the same measures as are regarded as lawful by married people in the solution of a particular family difficulty? Who will prevent public authorities from favoring those contraceptive methods which they consider more effective? Should they regard this as necessary, they may even impose their use on everyone. It could well happen, therefore, that when people, either individually or in family or social life, experience the inherent difficulties of the divine law and are determined to avoid them, they may give into the hands of public authorities the power to intervene in the most personal and intimate responsibility of husband and wife. "

Contraception is a dangerous weapon to place in the hands of governments whose agendas are anything but moral. In taking away the children of those who struggle, the rich and powerful often succeed in taking away the hopes and futures of the poor.

All one has to do is look at China with its one child policies where sterilization, contraception and even abortion is encouraged with intimidating social and economic pressures. The 20th century in particular was a sad witness to the population control policies of government agencies who enforced sterilisation and contraception for families struggling with poverty in various parts of Africa, Asia and South America, thereby threatening to wipe-out entire ethnic legacies and villages by robbing them of their young instead of providing infrastructures to help them care for children.

Many educational and health authorities in western countries who advocate contraception as a more realistic alternative to moral formation and chastity, believe that "if we cannot stop teenagers and people with greater HIV risks from having casual sex, the least we can do is to keep them safe by handing out condoms", only to discover that now more than ever, the figures for teenage pregnancies and HIV positive encounters have gone off the scale.

The ironic tragedy in most population control policies is that where they have succeeded, they have succeeded only too well, forcing governments to seek remedies for a rapidly shrinking population with no hopeful signs of growth. Japan, Europe and even Singapore are clear examples of this.

"Consequently, unless we are willing that the responsibility of procreating life should be left to the arbitrary decision of men, we must accept that there are certain limits, beyond which it is wrong to go, to the power of man over his own body and its natural functions—limits, let it be said, which no one, whether as a private individual or as a public authority, can lawfully exceed. These limits are expressly imposed because of the reverence due to the whole human organism and its natural functions..." - Pope Paul VI in Humanae Vitae

It is amazing with what divine accuracy the Pope's predictions have come true in our own age. Cloning, in-vitro fertilisation, test-tube babies, genetic engineering, surrogate motherhood, all of which are a testament to the power that man has usurped to himself in playing God. Only unlike God, he has no complete power over his creations.

For all intents and purposes, it is obvious that the "miracle" of Contraception, although attractively beneficial in theory, is in fact deadly disastrous in practice.

Forty years ago, one man stood against the tide of popular opinion and proclaimed that truth.

Forty years later, are we still deaf to this truth?

The contraception debate

2006-12-27T02:15:00.004+08:00

There is little in Catholic teaching that invites more controversy and public outcry than the Church's ban on contraception. Even within the Church, many Catholics fail to comprehend the reasons for this venerable teaching, often choosing instead to ignore the issue altogether by convincing themselves that sexual relations between a married couple is purely a matter of conjugal privacy and that quite frankly, the pope has no business sticking his nose into their bedrooms.

But in truth, why does the Church insist that contraception is a serious sin that brutalises the sanctity of marriage and attacks the very foundation of family and society?

(At this point, it is important to remember that the Church's teaching about contraception is phrased within the context of marriage, so whether contraceptives are licit in sexual relations outside marriage or not is irrelevant, since the very act of a sexual union outside marriage is morally reprehensible in the first place.)

The answer is not one that is likely to move an atheist or convince a pagan, because at the heart of this teaching lies a profession in the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

Some Christians seem to think that the power and omniscience of God stops at the foot of their matrimonial bed. It is almost as if God is so busy being God, that sometimes a possible conception can utterly escape His attention. Imagine Our Lord turning to a Christian couple and saying, "Whoa, how did that happened? I didn't see that one coming!"

Indeed, if slipping on a condom or popping a pill is nothing less than responsible parenting, why bow before the majestic power of a Creator who leaves no turning of the planets to chance, no detail of a flower to coincidence, and yet whom we imagine to be so overwhelmed with supervising creation that He needs mankind to resort to artificial means so as to ensure that no child is born through oversight?

Many government agencies claim that the only way to avoid a population explosion, particularly in poorer countries that have so little to feed its people, is to promote the greater use of contraceptives or the greater availability of sterilization and abortion clinics. Imagine yet again, Our Lord commanding Adam and Eve to go forth and multiply and then having second thoughts and adding, "Just don't overdo it because I didn't prepare enough resources on this green earth for everybody. So put a cap on it!"

Nowhere in scripture does Yahweh specify a numerical limit to procreation. Instead, the bible abounds with references to children as a tangible sign of God's approval and blessings. As ecological scientists have long discovered, mother earth has the amazing ability to repair herself to provide for all her citizens. If some do not have enough in this world, it is because the many who have more, refuse to share with the many who have less. After all, almost every population control policy regarding the third world are spearheaded by richer countries who continue to exploit the earth, while at the same time insisting that their poorer neighbours learn to make do with less, especially children.

Interestingly, many developed countries that glorified a contraceptive mentality in the last few decades are ironically reaping the empty harvest of a shrinking population, with the growing elderly now far outnumbering new births in society. Coupled with the rise of promiscuity, marital affairs, teenaged pregnancies, abortions and the epidemic proportions of sexually transmitted diseases that result from casual sex, one can hardly refer to contraception as a successful medium of control when its effects upon society seem anything but controllable.

However, the issue for most Christians is not that God would make a mistake in sending them a child, but rather that they themselves may not be ready to accept such a gift. And so when we talk about an unplanned pregnancy, what we mean is that the pregnancy is unplanned when set against the list of ambitions, professional commitments, social and materialistic aspirations that we have already highlighted for ourselves as priorities. A child at this stage would be a spanner in the wheels of our self-fulfillment, a burden and intrusion more than a gift and blessing. In other words, something to frown upon and sigh about rather than celebrate. And the most likely reason for this is because we have lost sight of our original vocation as Husbands and Wives.

Lactantius, one of the Early Church Fathers living in the 4th century said it best: "Some complain of the scantiness of their means, and allege that they have not enough for bringing up more children, as though, in truth, their means were in their power . . . or God did not daily make the rich poor and the poor rich." (Divine Institutes 6:20 [A.D. 307]

Of course, there are legitimate situations and circumstances where a couple may in fact deem it more advisable to avoid having children just then. In this we must be clear that the Catholic Church is not against family planning, which is really an exercise in responsibility and prudence.

What she condemns is artificial birth control, which although touted in the world as being equally responsible and more effective, is nevertheless rejected by the Church as morally destructive and gravely harmful to the welfare of family and society. Despite that, many people will say that the distinction between natural family planning and contraception is imaginary at best, when in actuality, the difference is a blinding contrast between day and night as we shall see later in this discussion.

There are basically three areas we have to explore if we are to have a decent understanding of this controversial church teaching: namely Scriptural, Moral and Practical.

The first gauge for discovering how close we are to the divine will is to compare our perceptions with the vision of God. How we view children and how God sees them are two different spectrums of reality. We have only to scour the scriptures to find out what the celestial vision is like.

Most Christians are somewhat familiar with the creation story of Genesis, where God made the world and everything in it and saw that it was good. At the pinnacle of that creation was humanity, formed and fashioned in the image of God Himself, who breathed His own spirit upon man and gave him a share in the Divine Life. In making them male and female, the Lord God also commanded them to "be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and conquer it". This same command was also given to Noah and his sons in Genesis 9. To be sure, this wasn't just an order to populate an otherwise empty planet at the dawn of creation nor merely an exercise to restore mankind after the flood; this was the bestowal of a godly gift.

Human procreation is quite different from animal reproduction. It isn’t just an exercise in perpetuating the species as many like to believe. Instead, it is the awesome power to generate another living image of God; uniquely glorious and infused with an immortal soul and an everlasting destiny. When we forget our true dignity as living icons of The Almighty, we risk becoming no more than a natural resource for consumption and exploitation, like everything else on this planet.

This gives us an idea of the majestic destiny we possess by simply being born, not just of man and woman but also of God. It is undeniable that only God can truly create, we simply invent and innovate based on existing structures. But in the conception and birth of a child, the forces of the universe cower in embarrassment at the power that is needed to bring forth another human being. And it is this mysterious power that Our Lord shares with feeble humanity; that from the wellsprings of authentic and responsible love, the bonds of affection between two souls might be so strongly infused with divine love that it actually participates in the life of the Holy Trinity and brings forth a third person complete and whole, flesh and blood, body and soul. That is why all family life is merely a call to reflect the love between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

The Sacrament of Matrimony is so mystically powerful that the sacred vows between husband and wife actually draw down supernatural graces from heaven to unite a couple in a way that is otherwise humanly impossible.

"Have you not read that at the beginning, the Creator made them male and female?" asks Jesus in Matt 19, "For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore, what God has joined together, let man not separate."

For in the sexual union, something intimately more binding than pleasure transpires between a man and a woman. After all, the physical act of intercourse itself is a uniting action, joining two bodies in one flesh.

When a husband offers his body freely to his wife, he makes a gift of himself to belong to her in a tangible and concrete way. Likewise, when a wife offers her body to her husband, she accepts to receive him into her life as part of her own self and person. But there is more to this unity than a meeting of passions, there is an exchange and fusion of the heart and soul; the undertaking of a covenantal promise so strong that it is recognised and validated by the judgment seat of God. This sacred bond in turn is so powerfully expressed that nine months later; the physical union of this love is incarnated in a new and extraordinary human being.

(It is no wonder then that casual sex and promiscuity leave one feeling used and fragmented, for what kind of unity can be hoped for when you freely share your body and DNA with countless others? There would be bits and pieces of you all over the place, diminishing your self-esteem and shattering the moral integrity of your person, causing you to ever seek out that elusive moment of true commitment by joining yourself again and again with new individuals, hoping to recover wholeness, but only to discover that the original gift of grace is lost.)

Such a thought should sweep us off our feet in awe, and if it doesn't, it is because our modern capacity to appreciate the gift of life has suffered too many assaults in recent years. For far too long, we have been taught to view life as a commodity, a thing to be exploited and at times, even a burden to be terminated, rather than the sacred and inviolable gift of God. Unfortunately, this culture of death continues to make inroads into our societies, our schools, our families and even our churches.

The mind of God concerning children is undeniably expressed in scripture, and indeed, there are far too many biblical references that point to the sanctity of this blessing than can be adequately covered here. But just to enunciate a few, there is God's promise to reward Abraham's faith with more descendants than he could count; Isaac being only the first fruit of Yahweh's covenantal blessing upon the ancient patriarch. One also has to recall the joys of Sarah, the canticle of Zechariah and the gratitude of Elizabeth and her entire household to know how much the ancient peoples treasured the gift of a child. Psalm 127 calls children a bounty from Yahweh for he "rewards with descendants" - "like arrows in a hero's hands are the sons you father when young."

Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) chapter 3 says that the Lord "honors the father in his children" and "whoever respects his father will be happy with children of his own, he shall be heard on the day when he prays." Vs 3, 5-6.

As if to prove this, the protagonist in the Book of Job was rewarded with a new family of seven sons and three daughters for remaining faithful throughout his painful ordeals. In addition, the old man lived to see "his children and his children's children up to the fourth generation." Job 42, Vs 16. In fact, scripture clearly identifies the gift of children with the grace of spiritual bounty; which is nothing less than a generous sign of God's favour upon man. Our Blessed Lord Himself in the gospels chided His apostles for turning away children, saying that to such belongs the Kingdom of God.

Unfortunately, many young couples today continue to deny the lordship of Jesus Christ in their married lives, fearing instead the "accidental" conception of a child that might disrupt their marital plans and plunge their conjugal bliss into an endless series of parental responsibilities. How the love and blessing of a child can be separated from conjugal bliss is a sign of the times we live in.

Even so, for every couple who fears that dispensing with contraception will most certainly ensure a pregnancy and for every skeptic who thinks that infertility is simply a random fault in biological science, they would do well to recall Leah's story in Genesis 29, "Yahweh saw that Leah was neglected, so he opened her womb, while Rachel remained barren." Envious and frustrated, Rachel turned harshly to Jacob and demanded that he give her a son as well, to which he angrily replied, "Am I to take the place of God? It is for Him to open and close the womb."

We cannot ignore the fact that The Lord of creation is also the Master of life, and it is for Him and through Him alone that conception begins or not at all. If there is one passage in the Bible that clearly condemns the contraceptive mentality, it would be the story of Onan in Genesis 38.

Onan was obliged under Levitical law to provide his brother's widow with children. However, he wasn't too keen to fulfill his brotherly duties by raising up children he could not call his own, so each time that he had intercourse with his brother's widow, he withdrew and "spilled his seed on the ground" as the bible says, "to avoid providing a child for his brother".

By his frequent practice of coitus interruptus, Onan was able to enjoy the pleasures of sex without having to bear the responsibility of the life he could give. But what Onan did was so offensive to Yahweh that he was struck dead by Divine Justice. His "seed" or semen was representative of life and spilling it on barren ground was quite the same thing as ejaculating today into a condom, diaphragm or a pharmaceutically obstructed womb.

Despite this, there are many who argue that Onan's sin was not so much in contracepting as it was in refusing to perform his Levitical duties. This theory however is implausible when we consider what the law itself prescribes as a penalty for anyone refusing to do this. Deuteronomy 25 Vs 9-10 recommends public humiliation and the stigma of being ostracised as proper punishment, yet nowhere does the law insist on the death of the offender.

Onan's case was unique because Yahweh intervened over and above the law by striking the man dead, not because he refused to honour the levitical ruling but because he deliberately chose to frustrate the life-giving aspect of the sexual act.

But if this is true of God's will, then why is it that so many who act thus today remain unscathed by the divine wrath? Indeed, we could ask the same of other grave sins in the world today. After all, why do active homosexual lifestyles and other sexual abominations continue to thrive in modern societies when they were answered with fire and brimstone in the days of Sodom and Gomorra? Why do great sacrileges continue to be offered to the Most Blessed Sacrament in our time when the ancient Israelites were slain by unseen hands for infringes against the Ark of the Covenant? Why do so many adulterous couples sin in plain sight without apparent harm to themselves when Yahweh punished David with the death of his son for stealing another man's wife?

In one word; Jesus, the Son of God who sits at the right hand of the Father interceding for us that we may receive mercy despite our grave sins. If we do not receive our just desserts, it is because the mercy of Christ holds back the justice of God...and gives the sinner time yet to repent. Nevertheless, it is presumptuous to assume that because the penalty for sin is temporarily withheld for the sake of the sinner, the deed is no longer criminal before the courts of heaven.

The second question we must ask ourselves is whether the Church's teaching against contraception is moral. And by "Moral" we do not mean the overwhelming consensus of the majority of people in the world today concerning what is socially or religiously acceptable. Instead, Christian morality must be affirmed and validated by the tradition of apostolic beliefs; what it was from the beginning, what it has been throughout time, and what it continues to be today.

Often, to test the validity of religious claims, one must go back to the beginning. The older, the longer and the more consistent a teaching is among the majority of Christians, the greater the evidence for its authenticity. As such, it always surprises many people to learn that up until 1930, it was not just the Catholic Church that condemned contraception as immoral. Rather, every major Christian denomination believed, taught and preached that contraception was incompatible with Christian living.

That is to say, this traditional teaching was not always exclusive to Catholics, instead there was widespread unanimous agreement among all Christians up until last century that marital contraception was to be opposed as being in conflict with the will of God. But due to political and social pressures, the Anglican Church Of England was the first Christian denomination to abandon its traditional views on this subject, following its majority vote in the Lambeth conference of 1930. Thereafter, the dam burst wide open and one by one, each Protestant denomination followed the Anglican leadership and conveniently forsook what for 1900 years, was the unquestioned doctrinal position in orthodox Christianity.

So in truth, this ancient teaching did not begin with Pope Paul VI and "Humanae Vitae" as some proponents of contraception would like to portray, but rather, this was a Godly teaching taught and upheld by the earliest Christian leaders including St Cyril of Jerusalem, St Augustine, St Jerome, St John Chrysostom and which inspired men like St Clement of Alexandria (202AD) among others to exclaim that "Marriage in itself merits esteem and the highest approval, for the Lord wished men to 'be fruitful and multiply. ' He did not tell them, however, to act like libertines, nor did He intend them to surrender themselves to pleasure as though born only to indulge in sexual relations..... Why, even unreasoning beasts know enough not to mate at certain times. To indulge in intercourse without intending children is to outrage nature, whom we should take as our instructor."

Once again, there are far too many warnings from the ancient Churches to be properly highlighted here, too many other references to the sin of contraception written by the Early Church Fathers, some of whom were direct disciples of the first Apostles but all of whom taught and defended the Catholic position as expressed today. These people lived in the tradition and shadow of the original deposit of faith. To put it bluntly, this is as close to the horse's mouth as you can get.

Even Protestant Reformers like Luther agreed that contraception was immoral, saying: "Those who have no love for children are swine, stocks, and logs unworthy of being called men or women; for they despise the blessings of God, the Creator and Author of marriage." John Calvin described "spilling the semen outside of intercourse" as "a monstrous thing."

No wonder then that the entire Christian world, including the Post-Reformation Churches who bicker and disagree about every other major tenet of the faith, nevertheless all agree on this one curious point - Contraception assaults the spiritual life, is a grave sin against human nature and is deeply offensive to God.

As such, the joys of sex cannot be separated from the life it can give and the reasons are obvious. Once you separate sexual pleasure from procreation, you make sexual pleasure an object and end in itself. And once you do that, you cannot justify prohibition against homosexual/extramarital/premarital sex, promiscuity, incest, bestiality, pedophilia, necrophilia, masturbation, pornography, prostitution etc. since you have agreed that sex purely for pleasure is justifiable and hence morally licit and acceptable.

Finally, there is the practical aspect of this teaching to consider.

No sin however small is personal. It may be hidden behind private walls but its implications extend like a blanket of darkness over life itself. Every sin is social in its effects. Every sin affects one and all, although the visible terror of its influence is not always explicit to all. Just as a humble link is but one part of a greater chain, contraception opens the doorway to harmful attitudes and practices, which can gravely endanger a Christian soul and others.

The word "Contra-ception" or "Contrary to Conception" implies a denial of life. And what is a denial of life if not a welcoming of death, which is always the final destiny of sin? (Incidentally, many couples do not realise that many oral contraceptives today are really abortifacients cleverly disguised as precautionary aids. Frequently, they endanger health and are predominant causes of subsequent infertility and birth deformities.) Used often enough, it cultivates an anti-life and anti-children mentality among unsuspecting couples, to the point that it psychologically and spiritually impairs a genuine Christian appreciation for the grace of parenthood.

Anyone who chooses to contracept has already decided that they want to enjoy the pleasures of sex without the hassles of parenthood. That decision is already made, their mindsets already determined and the lines of demarcation already drawn the moment they reach for a pill or slip on a prophylactic. Any other reasoning is just a desperate attempt to ease troubled consciences.

When someone has already decided to reject a certain result, and in that decision takes every available means to avoid such an occurrence, there is also every likelihood that he will either be alarmed or terribly upset should that occurrence result despite his best efforts to avoid it. Now, if that unacceptable "result" is the life of a child, what do you think the reaction of these unwilling parents will be? After all, as scientists and doctors grudgingly admit, artificial contraception is never 100% foolproof as experience has shown.

As is so often the case in such predicaments, if the convenience of abortion can even cast its evil shadow within Christian marriages where the gift of life is not treasured and accepted, how much more can we expect the same in the case of a frightened teenager, a casual sexual liaison or an embarrassing extramarital affair? What becomes of our lives then when a beautiful child is reduced to being the shameful evidence of a depraved lifestyle that is best forgotten, hidden from public and evidentially destroyed as quickly as possible?

But abortion is not the only evil that can proceed from a contraceptive mentality. Contraception by nature and purpose offers maximum enjoyment with minimum repercussions. Take all the sexual liberties you want, after all there is nothing burdensome like a pregnancy to spoil your enjoyment. Adultery, marital infidelity, casual sex, the weakening of genuine love and respect in the face of lust, the monstrous crimes of incest and rampant fornication, the increased risks of sexual diseases that come from promiscuity, all of which St Paul preached as destroying the sanctity and health of family life, and which in very real ways threaten us with being shut out of the Kingdom of God.

After all, if contraception empowers a married couple to enjoy sex without the responsibility that God intends in the sexual union, why indeed should it be restricted to marriage alone when a plethora of sexual pleasures abound outside it? And in the event that a chosen contraceptive fails in its design, what greater abominations shall follow? Abortion, birth deformities, infectious diseases, AIDS, death? What shall we say of the adulterous or unfaithful Christian who brings a sexual plague back into the sacred hearth of his home, endangering his spouse and children?

In fact, the moment a culture of death is introduced into the human psyche of a person, the moral boundaries blur considerably. For instance, if it is legitimate for a mother to take the life of her unborn, what is to stop communities from advocating euthanasia and ending the lives of the elderly, since justification can always be found to support even murder? And if consenting partners have the right to alter the biochemistry of their bodies with drugs in order to render unnatural infertility, why stop there since our bodies can obviously be exploited for other things like cloning and genetic engineering etc?

The possibilities are endless. To gauge the serious influences of contraception, all one has to do is make this simple exercise. Draw a circle with the word "contraception" in it and with connecting arrows and lines, write down a possible "effect" that can proceed from a contraceptive mentality. Do this with each new word and "effect" and you will soon see that a network of sins (some subtle, some more serious) begins to fill the page. Like many lies, contraception hides under the illusion of perceived good, whilst at the same time weaving a web of destruction that slowly wounds the conscience, transforming this harmless link over the years into a chain that binds the user in deeper and more serious sins, of which he cannot free himself save by the grace and mercy of God.

Nevertheless, despite the great wealth of evidence that supports the Church's teaching on this subject, and despite the prophetic wisdom of Popes, councils and saints, many Catholics still refuse to accept this very scriptural, moral and authentic Christian teaching, citing difficulties in family life and financial means.

Yet, the Church is not against family planning. God's command to us to be fruitful does not enslave us to a life of mindless childbearing. Instead, the Catholic Church exhorts her children to be responsible stewards of this great gift of life, which is why Catholics are encouraged to consider natural family planning (NFP). But how is NFP different from contraception you might ask?

For one thing, NFP requires more effort, more thought, more sensitivity and more commitment between couples than contraception, which takes but a moment of passion to decide. But this isn't why the Church recommends NFP as a moral means of planning for children.

The main reason NFP does not contradict Catholic teaching is that it remains open and obedient to the author of all Life, who is the final arbiter and judge of what is good and holy. A couple who plans for a family through NFP has already submitted to the Lordship of Jesus, trusting that ultimately, God knows what is best for them. And in so believing, they undertake the commitment to welcome a child into their lives should providence bless them with such a joy, knowing that human life must always take precedence over human plans.

Artificial birth control on the other hand closes the door definitively on God altogether, not so much in binding the hands of omnipotence as it were since that is impossible, but rather choosing to reject any possibility that God's original intention for the sexual union should find fulfillment according to nature. To choose to contracept is to choose to reject parenthood at all costs. And in so doing, a couple embraces a mentality and consciousness to keep God and the child He might give out of the picture. It is a deliberate choice to rebel against the divine plan for marriage and procreation.

Is NFP a viable means for planning a family? Medical studies have shown that it is just as reliable if not more so than artificial birth control, although it certainly requires more self-discipline, which in a Christian marriage can only bestow a greater appreciation for each other as persons rather than objects of lust, ennobling couples to share a deeper sense of responsible love.

Still, some bristle, some complain, some quietly ignore this holy commandment and yet consider themselves faithful Catholics. And many more indeed would like the Church to change her teaching.

Paul VI knew what tremendous opposition and slander he would receive for preaching this truth - "It is to be anticipated that perhaps not everyone will easily accept this particular teaching. There is too much clamorous outcry against the voice of the Church, and this is intensified by modern means of communication. But it comes as no surprise to the Church that she, no less than her divine Founder, is destined to be a "sign of contradiction. She does not, because of this, evade the duty imposed on her of proclaiming humbly but firmly the entire moral law, both natural and evangelical.” Humanae Vitae 18.

In short, the Church's doctrinal standard for teaching anything is simple. She does not preach God's truths because they are convenient, neither does she correct her children because of some noble ideal and least of all, does she champion a belief because it is practical to do so.

The Church's teaching against contraception proceeds from one motive alone - she is convinced her teaching on this subject expresses the divine will of God, and as His faithful herald, she must without consideration for herself appeal to the conscience of God's children in obedience to that Divine Will. That is her apostolic duty before Christ our Lord. She cannot speak but with His voice.

Truly, Pope Paul VI said it best: "Since the Church did not make either of these laws, she cannot be their arbiter - only their guardian and interpreter. It could never be right for her to declare lawful what is in fact unlawful, since that, by its very nature, is always opposed to the true good of man.” Humanae Vitae 22.

As such, for every Catholic who rails and rants against the uncaring, cruel and dictatorial attitude of Rome towards reasonable Christians, they should check under their marital beds to see if there is a pope, bishop or priest hiding beneath, waiting to catch them in the very act of contraceptive sex. I'm fully confident that they will not find any ecclesiastical bogeyman hoping to entrap them.

Rather, in proclaiming the truth, the Church merely echoes the voice of Christ who is forever solicitous and concerned for His children. The rest remains a matter of free choice between the individual and his conscience, as it always has been between humanity and God. It is hoped that people of goodwill may recognise the perennial wisdom behind this teaching and embrace this holy and Godly warning to their hearts. In the end, the soul must give an account of herself before the Divine Judge. Just as the Church must ensure that her children hear and know the voice of the Good Shepherd, no matter how distasteful it may sound to their egos.

Let us praise God and thank Him for the glorious gift of such brave prophets like Paul VI and John Paul II, who championed the Gospel of Life against the culture of death. We should in fact be proud of belonging to a Church that is founded upon the Rock of Peter rather than the shifting sands of relativism, which is all around us.

Truly, may God give us the strength to follow Him in fidelity and humility...especially when our journeys take us before the narrow gates of salvation.

For as always, the way that is wide and easy leads to destruction.

And death.

All for one, one for all.

2006-12-26T01:50:00.000+08:00

Merry Christmas everyone.

The last couple of days have been unusually introspective for me. Normally, the days leading up to Christmas would be filled with lots of distractions and social engagements. This year however, my only party invite seems to come from the Son of God.

Ok, maybe I’ve had a couple of people call me up but it’s hard to turn down a gig from Christ himself, especially since Jesus knows how to throw a really good buffet dinner after each mass. In this case, not only was there food for my tummy but nourishment for my soul.

You see, for the last three days I’ve been attending a Christmas triduum organized by the Opus Dei community here in Singapore. Interestingly, just to mention the words “Opus Dei” is to raise eyebrows among certain Catholics in this diocese, no less among clergy and religious. So you can imagine the lull in conversation when I sometimes extol the virtues of St Josemaria Escriva.

Equally vexing is to mention the benefits of an Indult Latin Mass and be instantly tagged as an incense-loving traditionalist obsessed with turning back the clock. On the other hand, I get death stares for saying I prefer the Novus Ordo mass to the old rite. And let’s not forget all those colorful complaints about crazy emotional Charismatics who can’t keep their hands by their sides.

Without any consideration for accuracy, most of these groups have been reduced to cruel caricatures of themselves. Yet despite being untrue, these labels stick. Why is that?

Sometimes I think it’s plain ignorance. Other times, it’s religious bigotry but mostly it comes down to pure convenience. It’s always easy to package our likes and dislikes under clear definitions and labels.

For instance, I’m in the midst of moving my office and the HR guys have provided me with handy cardboard boxes to dump my precious documents and belongings into. Thereafter, I simply mark the boxes with the right labels and off they go into storage.

How convenient!

Unfortunately, that’s how we deal with people and issues at times. We pack them, label them and stuff them away in neat little definitions that don’t require too much personal attention. And presto, our lives and outlook become a lot less complicated.

In this season of Christmas, we are called to recognize Christ in the humble incarnation of a baby shivering in a manger. But greater still is the invitation to recognize him in the human faces we behold everyday.

As Catholics, we must be careful not to demolish our Christian love for our own brothers and sisters by subscribing to cruel stereotypes that have nothing to do with truth nor charity.

The Pharisees questioned, “What good can come from Nazareth?” because in their self-righteousness, there was no room for any reality apart from their own.

Now we know that labeling and name-calling get us nowhere and only demean the great tenets of the Christian faith. And yet, it is so much easier to do just that, to reduce a living, breathing person to a cold, clinical definition; robbing him of his humanity and imbibing him with every abhorrence and repulsion we associate with that label. Because truth be told, it’s not easy to hate a human person whom we see as one like ourselves; with hopes, dreams, families, hurts and aspirations.

To look into the mirror of our own fragile humanity is to feel compassion for my brother and sister who is but an extension of me; connected as we are in the great fabric of life and eternal destiny.

But oh how easy it is to hate a term, a definition or an idea. Once we channel all our prejudices and assumptions under the banner of a label; a person suddenly becomes a lousy protestant, catholic, liberal, traditionalist, terrorist, anti-semite, dirty muslim…and so becomes despicably associated with an institution, symbol and persuasion, none of which recalls the flesh and blood humanity of the face we spit upon.

Thus when this world wishes to demean and persecute someone, they strip away the very appeal of his humanity to replace his face with a definition or classification, so that from henceforth, he would be known as an unfeeling idea rather than your brother in Christ.

Looking into his eyes, you can no longer see yourself, but only the antithesis of everything you hold dear.

Alas, it is much easier to hate a beast without a shred of humanity since between us, there is a chasm of infinity as wide as heaven is from hell, than it is to hate a fellow human being.

Perhaps that is one reason why gulags, concentration camps and slave traders waste no time in removing every shred of human dignity by replacing the identities of their charges with numbers, labels and false names. All at once, a child of God becomes as dignified as a wooden chair…just another something you term and use.

The U.S. has tragically lost so many young lives in the course of this war on terror. And yet, even before a single bullet was fired, the first casualty of war is always the truth.

There is not only the deformed vestiges of truth truncated by propaganda, but the violence of war also ravages the dignity of human communication, reducing it to a caricature of truth, convincing us with the typical lie during the Vietnam War; “that to save the village from the communist, it became necessary to destroy it.”…together with all its men, women and children.

Truth sets us free. It is lies and prejudices that perpetuate misunderstanding and hatred. And the solemn truth is, most people who feel an affinity for Opus Dei or the indult Tridentine Rite or any other group within the church are neither traditional, conservative nor liberal. They’re just faithful Catholics who want to live an authentic faith in obedience to the precepts of the Church; in the charism most suited to their spiritual growth.

We need to be reminded that these are our own brothers and sisters, not our enemies. The same blood of Christ run through our veins at every Communion, and it is a great injustice to the Body of Christ when we persecute our own.

All of us in one way or another unwittingly allow our values, prejudices and perceptions to influence our Catholic faith, when we should indeed be experiencing the opposite. This is particularly so if our faith remains not so much the witness of martyrs but the popular comfort of culture and tradition; which although beautiful, do not adorn our souls with real holiness.

(The sad irony in our diocese is that while we praise the great importance of ecumenism and religious tolerance for other faith communities, we have little charity or tolerance for our own Catholic diversity; particularly when that diversity is strongly orthodox in their fidelity to Rome)

To end this night’s reflection, let me share a wonderful story about our Christian links to one another.

During the second world war, an American soldier on his tour of duty in France came upon a tiny parish church where mass was about to be celebrated. Taking a break from his platoon nearby, he entered the small rustic church and observed that the celebrant priest was without a server.

Seeing as how he was an altar server in his youth, the grimy G.I. offered to assist the young priest. The good Father was ecstatic to receive the soldier’s assistance, and together (the priest in his vestments, the G.I. in his uniform) they celebrated the holy sacrifice with fervor and devotion.

Since the prayers and responses were in Latin in those days, neither had trouble understanding each other though the ritual. It was only when the mass was finished and both had retired to the sacristy that the American had the shock of his life.

Without any emotion, the young priest stripped off his vestments to reveal a German chaplain’s uniform beneath. He then turned to the surprised G.I. and embraced him warmly, thanking him for his kindness in serving his mass. In a parting gesture of peace, the German priest raised his hands in blessing over the young American soldier before slipping out the back door.

This is a story of two people clearly divided in their loyalties in a time of war and violence, and yet in the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, they recognized each other as brothers and were not ashamed to celebrate that eternal truth and love.

So let us pay heed to the apostle Paul who warned the Corinthians to avoid the partisan politics of saying “I am for Paul or I am for Apollos” when in truth, we are all for Christ.

This Christmas, let us look at each other through heaven’s eyes, for only then, can we see the Son of God made man in our brother and sister.

Thank you Jesus for Opus Dei, the Novus Ordo, the Tridentine, the Charismatics and for all the diverse gifts of the Holy Spirit in our Church.

And thank you Jesus for the shepherd’s pie this Christmas, it was simply divine.

Family of saints

2006-12-21T00:45:00.000+08:00

It's true that the pagan world is filled with a vast landscape of man-gods, each gifted with a particular power and folklore, each desperate for their own individual cults of worship and allegiance from the faithful. And each no more divine in their Godly attributes than me in my most saintly moments...which is not much to say the least.

The ancient Greeks had their own pantheon of heroes glaring from the heights of Mt Olympus, often none too amicably. Taoism and Hinduism can also boast of a race of semi-human characters and divines that live, govern and rule the universe with a compassion and hostility that borders on schizophrenia sometimes.

So it's understandable that when Protestants see old Catholic women bowing obsequiously before plaster images of the Saints, they recall the same implications in pagan worship, and find no hesitation in condemning this "obviously" satanic corruption of Christianity.

For many Christians, the Catholic teaching on the Communion of Saints is pure sacrilege. For them, there is no scriptural evidence to support this unnatural devotion and to all appearances, Catholics sin in idolatry by honouring the memory of these "dead people" too much.

In reality, there is nothing more natural and praiseworthy than having family members speak to one another, especially when they're fraternally bonded in the love of Christ.

But wait a minute, isn't communicating with the dead bordering on necromancy, which Deuteronomy absolutely forbids under pain of death? How is talking to the saints any different from a "pow wow" session with ghostly spectres through a séance?

For one thing, the saints are not dead; they're gloriously alive in the resurrection of Christ. For another, asking a saint's intercession to draw closer to God is spectacularly different from hob-knobbing with unknown spirits through a pagan medium, whose sole curiosity and desire is to try and harness a supernatural power for personal ends, and which in their very nature rejects the sovereignty and kingship of God.

In order to better understand the Catholic communion of saints, it is first necessary to explore the Catholic ideal of the mystical Body of Christ.

Many Protestants have difficulty grasping this beautiful doctrine and perhaps in some ways, this is due to the lack of corporal unity among the various denominations since the Reformation.

In as much as both Catholics and Protestants agree that the Church is the mystical body of Christ as affirmed by St Paul, protestantism lacks the concrete manifestation of this belief, particularly in their corporal bond to each other since every church is often an authority and independent member unto itself.

The Catholic idea of the Body of Christ, (with one head in Jesus, one heart in communion and one creed in apostolic authority), bears witness to a unity that is so unbreakable, it extends beyond heaven into this world.

In other words, Catholic theology sees this united "Body" as more than just a symbol of our loose connection to each other. Nor is it just a mystical expression of a theological metaphor.

Rather, the Church sees this family unity or communion as concretely visible. She teaches that this bond of fraternal love is so strong, it unites us to one another across time, space and even beyond the shadow of death, in order that the Bride of Christ may continue to bear courageous testimony to the One Triune God, since the unity of the Holy Trinity is what binds the members of Christ's body together as a witness to all generations.

In contrast, Protestant churches who proclaim their testimony as the mystical body of Christ embrace a claim that is not supported by any evidence of that reality. Not only is there no visible unity among its members in the expression of worship (each relying extensively on its own traditions, experimentations or the inspirations of individual pastors), there is no unity in doctrinal belief, despite a loose amalgamation of religious tenets that identify each as somewhat Christian in character.

A federation of Churches sharing a doctrinally diverse confession of Jesus as Lord does not make a Body.

Imagine for a second that even though the members of my body proclaim obedience to my head, I discover one morning that my arms, legs, eyes, tongue, fingers and torso all bicker, disagree and claim to speak authoritatively for me, each exercising their own will without conformity to my own.

In such an existence, my life would be an abomination. I can’t claim to have a body in the normal sense of the word anymore. And although the various parts of my body may still bear some resemblance to me, they no longer function coherently enough for me to live a normal life, since every member is lost in disobedience.

Instead, I would have a mutiny within myself. And as Jesus said, “A kingdom divided against itself cannot stand”.

Consequently, a weak concept of the Body of Christ can handicap Protestants in understanding the Catholic Communion of Saints, which is nothing less than the glorious extension of the unity of the Church to include those in heaven and purgatory.

For many Protestant Christians, when someone passes on, they’re with God, separated as it were from the daily grind of human drama, which couldn’t be farther from the gospel truth; as if heaven and redemption exist only above the clouds. There are even those who think of our ancestors in the faith as no longer having any concrete ties to us, except for maybe a vague concern for our welfare.

The glorious truth is, released from their human burdens of imperfections and purified in the fire of God’s love, they now love us and desire our happiness more than they ever did on earth, hence, the natural intercession of the saints for us.

This is our Christian family; a family fully alive in the Church triumphant (heaven), the Church militant (us who are still struggling here on earth) and the Church suffering (purgatory), all of whom are bonded to each other through the Lord Jesus, and who continue to love and care for each other in that special way that family members do.

But caring about our pains, hurts and struggles on earth, and actively interceding for us do not lessen the joy of the saints in heaven. Rather, it increases their joy as the beatific vision always encompasses love for neighbour.

St John called the man who loved God and not his brother a liar. Well, Mary and the saints certainly loved God, so it stands that they must love us exceedingly too, or their presence in paradise would be an affront to God, in whom no selfishness is compatible.

Think about it...

If love is a communication between two parties, then surely, a Christian family that is made up of members who love each other, must obviously find some way to communicate that love?

In fact, I can't think of anyone I know who isn't attached to a cell phone or email facility like it was part of his or her liver. Yet who can blame them?

We all feel an innate desire to connect and remain in communication with each other. To not be able to do so is to risk being cut-off from the rest, to be outside the communion of humanity, isolated, alone and misunderstood.

Now if this reality pervades every level of our existence, it makes sense that some kind of communication must also exist within the realm of the saints, perfectly bonded as they are in the love and unity of the Holy Trinity.

This is what is meant by the Communion of Saints, a fraternal bond that is so strong in the love of God that it transcends and defies death through the resurrection of Christ, and unites us as a living family with our brothers and sisters who are either triumphant in heaven, journeying on earth or anticipating the joys of redemption in purgatory.

Christ our Lord has said, "I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" (Jn 11: 25-26)

Our God is a God of the living and not of the dead. Those who die in the grace of God are born into everlasting life, where death has no power and hell has no hold, so that even when dusk approaches, no one who sleeps in Christ sleeps forever.

Instead, our love for one another is purified in the presence of the living God, stripped as we are of our faults and selfishness. And because we are not separated by death but continue to be a living family, it is necessary that family members must continue to care for one another. And to do that, we need to speak to each other.

A family that doesn’t communicate with each other is a family that strays apart. And yet, remember the old adage: “A family that prays together stays together”?

Well, what is prayer if not the joy and need for spiritual communication?

Still, if 'praying' is an effort to communicate or connect with a spiritual being, are we crossing the line since prayer is traditionally addressed to God? In this, we must not confuse "prayer" with worship which is due only to the dignity of God. Within the judeo-christian tradition, worship with a capital "W" always involves sacrifice which can only be offered to God, and for Orthodox and Catholic Christians, this sacrifice is offered in the ritual of the mass.

Protestant worship however doesn't distinguish between prayer and sacrifice, so it sometimes scandalizes Protestant Christians when they see Catholics doing to the saints what they do to God, which is prayer. Prayer in itself is considered worship in the protestant sense of the word. For Catholics, prayer is simply talking to God and to others within the family of God, and does not necessarily constitute divine worship. We have the Catholic Mass for that.

Now scripture often speaks of prayers being offered up to God with great incense and ceremony, whether it's in describing the priestly functions of Zechariah, the examples of the prophets or the liturgical functions of angels in the Book Of Revelations.

The Archangel Raphael in the Book of Tobit for example not only confesses to being one of the seven Angels (Revelation 8:1-2, Tobit 12:15) permitted to stand before the glory of the Almighty, he claims to have presented the prayers and petitions of Tobit and Sarah before the Lord's throne. (Tobit 12:12)

In other words, it can be surmised that all prayer is ultimately offered and addressed to God and find their fulfillment in God, even though sometimes those prayers may pass through an intermediary like the Angel Raphael.

But there are some who will cautiously ask, “Why do we have to go through the mediation of saints and angels? Isn't there only one true mediator with God who is Christ the Lord”?

Praise Jesus, yes indeed!

It is true that there is only one mediator with the Father who is Christ Our Lord. All graces and blessings come through the merits and sacrifice of Jesus alone.

In his encyclical "Dominus Gesu", Pope John Paul II affirmed that "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).

But scripture also teaches that Jesus chooses to work through His Church, and there is no reason to believe that Christians can no longer help and pray for their brothers and sisters on earth once they themselves are in heaven. Based on the perfect mediation of Christ, we are all intercessors with one another.

St Paul certainly encouraged the saints on earth to pray for one another, saying: "On Him we have set our hope that He will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many." (2 Corinthians 1:10-11)

Does this holy intercession for each other end with death? Of course not, St John saw in Revelation 5:8 that the souls of the righteous continue to fill paradise with their prayers for us: "And when He had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints."

Indeed, because of the perfect love, which exists in heaven, the saints would presumably be even more willing and able to intercede for us than they were on earth. But before we go any further, remember that the saints themselves do not and cannot grant us any heavenly favors apart from what God wills for us in the first place. However, they can surely join their prayers to ours by interceding for us before the One Mediator who is Christ Our Lord, petitioning Him for our sakes and joining their holy voices to ours in prayer and solidarity for our needs.

Their humble mediation is subjected to the perfect mediation of Christ Our Redeemer. In remembering us, they offer to join their finite prayers and merits to the infinite prayers and merits of Jesus on the cross for our salvation.

This may seem difficult to grasp at first until we realise that in our daily struggles, we experience this reality more often than we admit.

After all, when we ask our parents, friends and pastors to pray for us, do we not enlist their mediation with Jesus in the hope of obtaining some grace for ourselves? Do we not make of them a co-mediatrix with Christ in asking for their prayers?

Yet, we are not scandalised that they should have the audacity to pray for us. We don't tell a mother who prays for her child to stop it because she is usurping the role of Jesus as sole mediator with the Father. We know that such an act comes naturally as an extension of love, since true love always seeks to imitate Christ.

Let us be conscious that although Jesus IS our sole Mediator with God, scripture also calls us to cooperate with grace and be co-workers with Christ, especially in His great work of redemption.

St Paul, possibly the greatest co-worker of Christ, calls us to pray for one another: "I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone...This is good, and pleases God our Savior..." (1 Timothy 2:1,3)

Now if we believe that the prayers of a Godly friend or a respected pastor can influence God's will towards us, why should we deny the same to men and women who are even more meritorious in the sight of God, having fought the good fight and won the eternal race as St Paul declared?

Truly, they are champions of our faith whom God has already crowned with the mark of salvation, except unlike worldly champions who cling steadfastly to vain trophies, these Christian heroes fill the sidelines and cheer us on in our own race for the crown, urging us not to give up while strengthening us with their love and prayer.

So even if our own personal journeys leave us tired and bruised, we need only look up from our struggles to see a brother who has been there and triumphed, a sister who has endured that very same difficulty and won, and who now run beside us, cheering us on with unwavering love and support until they see us safely in heaven where we belong.

If James 5:16 says that: "The prayer of a righteous man avails much...", am I then to suppose that when someone asks for my intercession and prayers for a difficult situation, I am more inclined to be heard by God than St Francis of Assisi, or St Maximilian Kolbe or any of the other heroes of our faith?

I can honestly admit that my love for friends and family even at its most inspiring, is but a poor shadow of the love that the saints have for us, they who continually bask in the fiery love of the Lamb Of God and whose merits before Christ are as brilliant to mine as the sun is to the darkest night.

Is it thus not silly to trust in the prayers of sinful humanity and to reject the intercession and love of the saints? After all, what do the saints do with our prayers?

When they are petitions, the saints join these petitions with their own more meritorious prayers and present them before the throne of God just as Raphael does. If they are thanksgiving and praise, the saints likewise pass on these accolades to the Most High, joining them with the thanksgiving and praise of their own untainted hearts for our sakes.

The truth is, we have to stop thinking of the saints as impediments to our relationship with God. They are a gift from the Almighty to aid us on our pilgrimage on earth, so that strengthened by our faith in Jesus and aided by the love and support of our elder brothers and sisters, we too may win the crown of eternal joy someday.

Therefore, let us be careful not to despise the saints because in doing so, we risk despising God. Did not our heavenly Father say to Abraham: “I will bless those who bless you and I will curse those who curse you.” Genesis 12:3 + 27:29. And since God treasures the friendship of the saints, why should we find such displeasure in their intercession?

Truly, it can be said that a parent’s crowning glory is in His child. And no one will deny that the saints are the best of God’s children. Let us confidently ask our brothers and sisters to continue praying for us, so that for the greater glory of God, we too may bear fruits of sanctity and perfect love.

The reason for our joy

2006-12-20T17:05:00.000+08:00

Christmas is almost upon us. Last Sunday we lighted the pink advent candle, symbolizing the expectant joy that awaits us next week.

Fr. Gerard, my parish priest, shared with us that in the Latin text of today’s gospel, the word joy is translated as “Gaudete”, which means profound spiritual happiness and fulfillment.

This is no cheap hollow joy the gospel speaks about, no transient satisfaction wrapped in poor tinsel, but the real, deep, abiding joy that comes from possessing God and being possessed by Him. It is the joy of lovers so intently united to each other that their joy transcends all pains and sufferings.

It is this joy, this “Gaudete Sunday” that we celebrated a few days ago! Midway through the season of advent, the purple candles of solemnity we’ve been lighting give way to the pink candle of joy. And flame-by-flame, day-by-day, we begin to feel the growing excitement of welcoming the God-Man.

But the truth is, how many of us are dead to this great feast, having seen it all, having heard it all, having celebrated one too many midnight masses with open yawns?

Every year, the malls swallow and regurgitate crowds of shoppers battling for a bargain, pubs fill with revelers drunk on the lights of the season and couples brave the crush of human traffic just to purchase the joy of that perfect but elusive gift.

The question is; can true joy ever be bought?

If we do not recall the real joy of our celebrations, we shall spend the rest of our days running around in circles, where the déjà vu of our failures to find peace only reminds us of how often we miss the mark. So before we completely forget, let’s listen once again to the angels in Luke’s gospel.

“I bring you news of great joy, a joy to be shared by the whole people. Today in the town of David a saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.” – Lk 2:10-11

“A great joy for all people – a saviour born to us – Christ the Lord.” This three-part revelation is the secret to our happiness. This is the real “gaudete” of our lives.

More than any king who has ever renounced power, wealth and status for the woman he loves, Jesus has left heaven itself to be with us. If that isn’t the greatest romance ever, I don’t know what is.

Christ our Lord doesn’t just want to give us gifts, he wants to give us himself. And in giving us himself, Christ the king doesn’t merely give us what he owns, but all that he is.

He renders himself so completely ours that from henceforth, we shall no longer be poor, having already possessed the Son of God for our inheritance and joy. This truly is our greatest treasure, and “where your treasure is, there will your hearts be also”.

Common to all our human experiences is the tragedy of suffering in our lives, but think about where we draw our greatest comfort and strength from during such times. Surely it’s not from the endless advice, solutions and answers people try to give, but in those who simply held our hands, cried with us and silently shared our pain.

In the same way God doesn’t give explanations, he gives himself. He is the answer to our questions. Remember Mary and Martha. When they collapsed in tears before the Lord and wondered why their brother Lazarus had to die, Jesus didn’t answer them with lofty theories or deep explanations. Instead he cried with them and shared their sorrow, and in a powerful way, his loving presence and solidarity with their pain gave them hope and courage.

The only real answer to life's many challenges is Christ himself. He is the only authentic meaning and solution to all our problems; not what he does or gives, but he himself.

This is the mystery and joy of the incarnation; that God would leave his throne in heaven to be with us in order to comfort us, share our pain, embrace our crosses and die for us, so that strengthened by his great love, we may live a life undefeated by suffering and pain.

This is our great hope, our immense reason for joy. Every person in this world was born to live, but one person in history was born to die, so that we who are dead in sin may live the supernatural life.

At Christmas we celebrate this greatest of gifts – Christ our Lord and his supreme love for us. With many busy inns during this time of the year, I hope that your hearts will spare a manger to warm and shelter our God this Christmas.

My dear friends, have a blessed and holy feast. And God love you.

With this ring I thee wed

2006-12-11T00:03:00.000+08:00

A buddy was lamenting the recent divorces of some people we knew, and as the subject revolved around matrimonial vows, I was astonished to discover how many of my own friends took their sacred oaths with surprising nonchalance.

One couple who has already decided that they don’t want any children, said that it mattered little to them if they were married in Church or merely through the state, and that they opted for the sacramental details only because of the ceremonial pomp and grandeur of a traditional Church wedding.

Another who swears by contraception cited the expectations of family and friends to fulfill, while also admitting that a Church wedding lent an unquestionable air of social respectability to their union.

But hang on, what about the explicit promises attached to the vows?

Were they perhaps ignorant of the fact that their matrimonial oaths obliged them under canon law to remain open to life, to view marriage with a sacramental permanence, and to bring up their children in the dignity of the Catholic faith?

The lady sitting opposite me chuckled in embarrassment and said, “Well, we just say the words but such decisions should be left to individuals.”

In other words, say the vows but in your hearts, think otherwise!

Now in a court of law, a witness who clamps his hand on the bible and swears to tell the truth, but elects in his heart to dismiss the promise of his oath is guilty of perjury, and by law, he can well expect to be rewarded with some hefty penalties.

But in the Sacrament of Matrimony, a Catholic couple take their oaths not just on the written word of God, but upon the testimony of the Church who bears witness to their union, and if they so choose to consciously ignore their obligation to be faithful to those promises, claiming that words not meant are not binding, will they be liable to some kind of spiritual penalty?

After all, what is a Sacramental oath or vow if not words we say to God?

It occurred to me that in any kind of agreement or promise, (and Matrimony is infinitely more than just an agreement, it is a religious covenant), the authenticity and binding strength of such an agreement lies in the full extent of its conditions and clauses, freely promised upon and freely undertaken in full knowledge.

However at the point of making this promise, if one or both parties had intended not to carry through their promises in the first place, does not this charlatan act of goodwill void the original agreement, since its contractual assertions were founded on a web of lies?

We must remember that the Catholic formula for matrimonial vows include a requirement that the couple promise to obey the Church’s teachings regarding the gift of life and the need to educate and form their children in the Catholic faith; even if one party is not a member of the Catholic Church.

In addition, there is also the stern warning that marriage must be entered into with permanence and commitment.

And although these conditions apply equally to both spouses, this canonical ruling is especially pronounced for the Catholic spouse, whose duty it is to ensure that the Christian identity of the Catholic faith is kept alive, and nourished by the sacramental vocation about to be embraced.

This is a very serious commitment that recalls the covenantal promise of God with the people of Israel, and in particular; the faithful and sacrificial love of Jesus for His Bride, the Church.

Now, it is true that many Catholics mouth their marital oaths without any real discernment or worse, with intended disobedience in their hearts.

If so, what shall we say of their dishonest vows? What is the repercussion of such adultery before the altar of God, since true Christian fidelity must not only embrace one’s spouse, but indeed, the very sacred ideals of Christian marriage itself?

If perjury clings to the man who lies under oath in court, does not blasphemy denote the man who lies under oath before the foot of the altar?

At the very least, I am certain that such an approach to the altar robs us of much needed grace and blessings, the very kind that every couple needs so desperately to make marriage a success, and which in very real ways is poured from heaven through the sacramental nature of their vows.

Yet in truth, what is the nature of a sacrament and what conditions are necessary for it to be truly effective and authentic?

Sacraments are powerful channels of living grace established by Our Lord and Redeemer Himself, by which the sublime mysteries of God’s love is externalized and efficaciously applied as a living heritage to those who receive it for the sanctification of their lives and the salvation of their souls.

Each of the seven Sacraments – baptism, penance, holy communion, confirmation, matrimony, anointing of the sick, holy orders - is a divine gift that enables us to enter more deeply into the life of the Holy Trinity, thereby proclaiming our inheritance as sons and daughters.

It is the visible sign of His Love for the soul, the external seal of His grace in the internal dwelling of our hearts.

And Matrimony is not just a social institution…it is a SACRAMENT.

So what makes a Sacrament valid?

I can think of at least three reasons to start with – a proper understanding of what the Sacrament entails, the desire and willingness to receive it, and last but not least, the correct or proper disposition for reception.

Consider this example:

Confession or the Sacrament of Penance as it is called is an indisputable pillar of our spiritual life.
But in order for us to receive the healing graces of this spiritual encounter, and in order for us to merit the absolution that we desire, we must first approach this sacrament with the repentance and contrition that is necessary for our pardon, holding nothing back intentionally as we prostrate ourselves before the Divine Mercy.

In addition, joined to a contrite heart must also be the firm determination to avoid sin, even though we know that future weaknesses may still cause us to stumble in our frailties.

Now supposing a penitent rambles off his sins without any real contrition or repentence but simply to obtain absolution or even just to ridicule the teaching of the Church, will that absolution be valid and will he receive sacramental grace to reconcile him to Almighty God, much less receive spiritual help to strengthen him on this earthly pilgrimage?

Without a doubt, that sacramental encounter would be a mockery and the effects of grace nullified. For apart from certain saints in history, the average priest, not having the supernatural gifts to look into another man’s heart and expose his lies, would not have been able to tell the difference.

The absolution would then indeed be given in good faith, especially if the penitent deserves an Oscar nomination for his efforts.

Nevertheless, that kind of confession will be no more valid than if the penitent had not declared his sins in the first place, since God sees the falsehoods concerning this man.

Truly, we must not take the patience and mercy of God for granted.

Going back to the Sacrament of Matrimony…

Will anyone be the wiser if a couple promises to be open to life and then betrays that promise as soon as the rings are exchanged?

Can the Church be assured that a couple will bring up their children in the patrimony of the Catholic Faith once their vows are sealed before the altar of God?

In fact, does the priest know with certainty that the couple who requests this Sacrament is committed to a lifetime together, or have they privately agreed to give the marriage 5 years before moving on to other people, even as they consciously make their vows upon the Body and Blood of Christ?

It is crucial that young couples understand that in Matrimony, it is the couple themselves who confer the solemnity and grace of this Sacrament on each other, not the priest.

The priest is there to represent the Church and the Hierarchy in witnessing your decisions before God. Likewise, your friends, family and parishioners gathered in the pews that day stand in place of the communion of saints in witnessing your promises.

A solemn vow must need public witnessing, in order for it to be communally recognized and validated.

Hence, can you imagine the implication of an insincere or dishonest vow made in the presence of the whole communion of saints, who stand as witnesses before God as testimony to the “truth” of your promises?

No one but God knows the designs of the human heart. And yet, the decisions of those who have chosen wrongly come back to haunt them with the chaos of life.

After all, even if the validity of your marriage is not called into question, it is indisputable that you shall suffer much from such a blasphemy.

The Catholic Sacrament of Matrimony is so deeply enriched by God that it draws down spiritual favours and graces to transform and unite a couple in a way that is otherwise humanly impossible.

And as anyone who has rung the chimes of wedding bells will tell you, the road to conjugal bliss is paved with many thorns and human obstacles once the initial notes of romance start to fade.

That is why Christ Our Lord elevated marriage to a Sacrament, since it is in the sacraments that He gives Himself to us for nourishment, strength and hope.

In the Sacrament of Marriage, every Catholic has a treasury of supernatural graces to appeal to as they encounter the challenges of their new life together, without which, they cannot fully sustain their love for each other amidst their human struggle against sin and selfishness.

This unique Sacramental Grace is given to every Catholic couple who elects to undertake Matrimony as their vocation to Love, not only because the Lord has seen that it is good and helpful, but because He knows that it is crucial and necessary to their success as a couple, without which a Christian marriage cannot survive the onslaught and values of this secular world.

But if you choose to make a mockery of your sacred vows, turning this great sacrament into a sacrilege by not taking your oaths and promises seriously, then you rob yourself of that sacramental help which you desperately need for happiness and peace.

In truth, what shall be the portion of those who promise to be faithful with sullen lips while their hearts remain cold to the exhortations of the Church, as they pronounce their hidden intentions before the judgement seat of God and the whole communion of saints?

In so doing, they desecrate the very vows meant to sanctify and sustain them. And since the graces given at matrimony are not just for romance, love and holiness, many will also lose out on the blessings of God in terms of their career, health and finances, since these too are essential for the wellbeing of the family life.

Indeed, to paraphrase St Paul, “do you not marry unworthily in this sacrament of grace, and in place of blessings and joys, do you not instead marry judgement on yourself?”

Is it any wonder then that so many Catholic marriages end in divorces and adultery, or struggle with unending stress?

For those of us miserable enough to marry unworthily and who now have to contend with the deficiencies of a marriage robbed of real grace, what does the horizon hold for us?

Is there any hope for reparation and healing?

As surely as the sun rises, there is always hope and grace in Christ Jesus.

No line however crooked cannot be straightened and strengthened by the Lord.

No fault however sorrowful cannot find redemption with contrition and sincerity.

Let us take heart and realize that God is ever ready to forgive and heal us if we only turn to Him in repentance and hope.

But to do that, we must first acknowledge our mistakes both to God and to each other, make a good confession, and then rise with renewed courage to live our wedding vows with a firm conviction in the teachings of the Church.

To quote the Council of Trent: “God commands not impossibilities, but, by commanding, both admonishes thee to do what thou art able, and to pray for what thou art not able (to do), and aids thee that thou mayest be able.” Sess 6, cap 11

Thus, let us humbly pray for the help we need, since prayer often obtains for us the graces we need to do that which we can’t do save by the grace and mercy of God. And being poor no longer, let us reclaim the sacramental happiness and fullness of our inheritance as Catholics. So that in loving Christ, we may learn to love each other in happiness.

Not just for now…but for all eternity.

Man to men

2006-12-10T23:31:00.001+08:00

One of the most painful identity crisis of my generation is that we’ve forgotten how to be men. Perhaps we never knew to begin with. The traditional role of men has suffered so much deconstruction in contemporary society that we spend the rest of our adult lives looking for clues to give meaning and dignity to our existence.

We search everywhere for answers. We invent manly pursuits, make fashionable statements, enjoy risky friendships and risqué entertainment, and forever seek the holy grail of admiration so worshipped by popular culture. Unfortunately, some of us succeed only too well. And little by little, we lose ourselves even more in the lies and delusions that we create.

What does it mean to be a man today? We look into the mirror and see so much of what society has crafted, and behold so little of true dignity in our lifestyles and choices. How many of us have destroyed ourselves and the lives of those we love, because we were too lazy or cowardly to abandon the false idols we serve?

Society tells us we’re made in the image of GQ, Hollywood, Wall Street and stylish success. Scripture tells us we’re made in the image of God. If we are to save ourselves and our manhood from spiraling into hell, some things need to change. But where do we start?

Let’s begin with a basic truth – no man is an island. We're not an army of one. Women often don’t realize how much men need the company of other men to grow. It’s a natural instinct for us to be around our own, to bond and relax and be ourselves in a language that is entirely unique to us.

If you walk down any street from Greece to Hanoi, you’ll find pockets of men sitting around a café drinking, laughing and talking about everything and nothing. From teenagers to octogenarians, many will take time to be around their buddies for a good laugh, a game of football, coffee and cigars or just some easy entertainment. This is good but it is not enough.

As men, we desperately need to invite Christ into our company if we want to save ourselves from the onslaught of darkness. We must redeem our gatherings from a purely social setting and restore Christian dignity to our conversations, activities and entertainment. Above all, we need compatriots to help us, brothers to support and encourage us, friends to pray with us and for us, buddies to watch our backs and keep us honest. For our own sanity, we need to belong to a band of Christian brothers. It’s not easy, but the alternative is to live lives of deception. We cannot compartmentalize our personalities into neat little boxes of behavior; where we are different people to different communities, where we hide dark secrets beneath the light of our respectable facades.

Do we live double lives? Do we lie and scheme without conscience at work while playing the role of a responsible parent at home? Do we feed the lust of pornography in the shadows of our marriages and relationships? Do we flirt dangerously with affairs that threaten our families, or gamble away our lives and our souls in habitual sins?

These inner “demons” and struggles must be exposed to the light of Christian fellowship and prayer, so that stripped of their scandals, they can be cast out with brotherly love and support.

If like me, you’ve found the way to heaven burdened with more failures than success, take heart and realize that you are not alone. Instead, there are countless others like us, and we need to rally around each other under the leadership of Christ our Lord, in whom we find our true dignity and humanity as men. There is no room for judgment or shame among brothers, since we all bear the scars of Adam upon our souls. A leper has no derision to offer another leper, but only the strength and consolation that come from being one in our common weaknesses and struggles.

Hence, if you don’t already belong to a community of Christian men who can journey with you in your struggles, it would be helpful to find one. If none are available in your area, you can organize a group of three to four Christian friends who are committed to living the gospel difference together. As you meet regularly to pray and study the word of God, enquire about each other’s lives with brotherly concern.

Allow me to share a few suggestions from Mario Cappello, the international director for ICPE; a Catholic mission committed to training lay people for world evangelization.

1. Tackle the hard subjects - ask about each other’s prayer life and relationships with families and friends. Discuss our work ethics and commitment to chastity. Affirm each other in our fidelity to Christ, and raise the question of how we view and treat women. Do all this with great charity, but also with a firm determination to keep each other accountable.

(Again, let no man judge his brother or be scandalized by what he hears in sacred trust. Rather, let him love his brother in support and encouragement, and repay that trust with his own confidence.)

2. Be truly committed to share your burdens and struggles, holding nothing back. Realise that if you’re not serious about keeping each other honest and free, you’re just wasting everyone’s time.

3. Bring into the light every dark corner of our lives. Be transparent and honest; hold nothing back intentionally. If you do not attend to that small chink in your otherwise perfect armor, the enemy of your soul will use that to destroy you. You might confidently say that ninety-five percent of the time you are righteous and true, but it’s that five percent of darkness that can easily dominate you and ruin everything.

4. Don’t be a spiritual schizophrenic. Don’t compartmentalize your life like you would your wardrobe. Grace and righteousness are not jackets you put on and take off depending on the occasion. By virtue of your baptism, you have put on Christ twenty-four-seven. Be integrated in your spiritual character, allowing no occasions to deprive you of your Christian vocation.

5. Lastly, always look to Christ and his Church for your moral reference, and do not seek the oracles of wisdom that the world offers you. Society will tell you there are no moral absolutes, that everything is relative to a man. But in order for us to choose one set of values over another, there has to be an absolute benchmark to measure our decisions upon, some kind of natural law upon which the drama of human life can depend on for moral certitude.

After all, if darkness is the absence of light and evil the absence of good, then some definitions about the nature of light and goodness must remain firmly established in order for those contrasts to continue existing. Remember that morality can be likened to a compass that shows us where we are, where we've been and more importantly, where we should be going. Otherwise, we should get hopelessly lost.

But like a compass, its usefulness is dependent on an immutable principal. For a compass to work, it needs to have for its reference an unchangeable feature, (in this case, the north pole). If the polar regions of the earth kept switching around, it would be impossible to find your way around since there is no fixed point of reference.

Morality is much the same. Truth is immutable and unchangeable. We are not the benchmarks of morality in our own lives. Christ is! And more than ever, he is calling us to a new manhood and a new dawn in him.

There are good men and there are bad men, and there are men who are so lukewarm that they are neither good nor bad. We know what kind of rewards await the first two groups, but where do men who are lukewarm end up? Revelation 3:16 quotes the Lord as saying, "So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth."

Ouch! Surely such indifference can only rob us of a life of grace.

May God liberate us from every false desire and illusion, and free us to live the truth of our sonship in him, so that through the Son of Man, we may truly regain our dignity and freedom as Sons of God.

Soul mates or cell mates?

2006-12-02T02:05:00.000+08:00

In the course of a conversation, I was asked this question by a rather disgruntled person sometime ago, "Why is the Church so rigid and outdated in its views on marriage? It’s cruel to force couples to stay together when things don’t work out. If marriage is an institution, I don’t want to be institutionalized."

Institutionalized? That was the first time I ever heard marriage referred to in that way. It sounded almost like the metal bars of a prison cell shutting close. What is our response to something like that?

Well first of all, the Church does not force anyone to do anything. Faith and love are both actions that are either freely taken and embraced or freely rejected and scorned, in as much as the consequences of our choices do leave their impact on our lives.

Secondly, it isn’t outdated at all to emphasise the traditonal importance of marriage. Too many people undermine its sacred character and deprive themselves of necessary grace to either benefit from its holy effects, or know what a great calling it is to emulate Christ in His love for the Church.

When we sell marriage short as just an human institution, or perhaps just a natural progression of a relationship that has seen the days grow into months and years, then we fail to appreciate and respond to the great power that this Sacrament calls us to embrace.

A Christian marriage should mirror Christ's covenantal love for His Bride, the Church.

If the Body of Christ is not a visible community of believers with one Lord, one faith and one baptism as St. Paul wrote in Ephesians 4, but rather a mystical, loosely amalgamated version of different Churches with conflicting beliefs tied together in some generic confession of Jesus as Lord, that would certainly make Christ the mystical spouse of many different brides or Churches, with an army of bickering and disunited children, each laying claim to having been fathered by the same man - which unfortunately is what some Christian Churches resemble today.

In most civil societies, there is a name for someone like that; we call him a creep among other things. Instead, Jesus' fidelity to His one bride; the Church, is unquestioned and true. And his commitment to her is everlasting.

The Catholic Church imitates the example and authenticity of Her Lord and Master when she insists on the indissoluble sanctity of marriage.

After all, which other religion proclaims an unswerving fidelity to Christ’s teaching against divorce and remarriage?

Islam allows up to four wives. There are no distinct religious impediments to polygamy in Hinduism, Taoism or any other mainstream pagan religion. Traditional Buddhism is in itself more of a philosophy than a religion and it too tolerates polygamy in some parts of the world, or at least doesn't oppose it in writing. And who isn’t familiar with Solomon's army of concubines within the history of ancient Judaism?

Truly, western civilization and modern society takes its monogamous tradition from Catholic Christianity.

Even Protestantism doesn’t insist on monogamy when you think about it. Despite the teaching of Jesus, you can have many different wives and husbands. You just have to marry them one at a time, literally churning out serial polygamists through the practice of divorce and remarriage.

Sadly, even many secular Catholics today are jumping on the bandwagon, either going through civil divorces or seeking Church annulments or threatening to leave the practice of the faith if pastors seem insensitive to their longings.

Of course, there are serious reasons why some spouses should not stay together for the safety and health of the individuals or the children, but all in all, marriage has become an institution to be done away with, rather than a sacrament to be faithful to.

Whether it's religious life or marriage, both vocations mirror the commitment and sacrificial love of Jesus for His Church.

In a certain sense, marriage IS religious life!

After all, like all religious professions, we make a solemn and public declaration of our intentions and promises before God and His Church to remain faithful to our witnessing of Christian love and the gospel truth.

We take our vows before the altar as we call on the Holy Spirit to sustain our commitment to die to ourselves so that the other may live.

In the vows we take before the Lord, we promise spiritual "poverty" in our marriage so that the values and ambitions of this world may never supersede the simplicity and reality of what truly matters in life, namely heaven and each other.

We promise spiritual "obedience" so that our marriage may be founded upon the "Rock" of Church teachings and the promptings of the Holy Spirit, no matter how hard.

And we promise "chastity" so that not only will we remain exclusively true to each other in our sexual and emotional bonds, but that we will not reduce each other to objects of lust at the expense of our Christian dignity.

Marriage as an institution divorced from the spiritual and mystical calling of our Christian faith is a highway leading to self-obsession and disappointments.

Likewise, every religious calling to serve as a priest or a nun is a mystical marriage to the human family of God. It’s hard not see God’s beautiful plan in that.

But if Christian marriage embraces such high ideals, who among us can adequately answer that calling with confidence?

A dear friend of mine recently complained about how difficult it was to find a Godly partner in our day, having noticed in her own experience that many Christians, particularly Catholics, lack a deep desire for holiness in marriage.

She shared that even as she drew closer to God, it became increasingly frustrating to find a relevant soul mate to share this earthly pilgrimage with. And in a way, I can understand and empathise with her feelings on this subject, seeing as how many people who fall in love with the Lord, find the challenge of discovering a kindred soul in religion almost insurmountable.

The truth is, she is right in saying that it is hard to find a partner. (Well at least one that rises up to our hopes and dreams). Maybe that's why everyone seems to fall short of our expectations in some critical way.

It is interesting that St Augustine, after having lived a life of licentiousness, worldly ideals and promiscuity, once reflected on the eternal longing in his heart and quipped famously, "Our hearts were made for you O Lord, and we shall not find rest until we rest in You."

As much as most of us do not want to admit it, we unfairly seek divine satisfaction from poor struggling creatures like ourselves, and that can most certainly set us up for disappointment.

Somewhere between our intense passion for our faith and our human longings for love and companionship, the Christian virtues of charity, meekness, compassion and gratitude often get lost in translation.

It is almost as if we seek the perfection that we desire from our union with God in imperfect creatures, who fail miserably to give us that vision for which no man or woman is equipped to give.

There is obviously a reason why providence has arranged that we should never find the perfect partner.

In an ideal or perfect relationship, what need is there for patience, forgiveness, sacrifice and hope since all your personal ideals are happily satisfied? Where then shall we seek the means for purifying our desires and intentions? How then shall we attain holiness and heaven?

Remember that the athlete is made stronger by challenges and obstacles. That is why two people come to live together - to learn to love the right way with Christ as our example and inspiration. And learning suggests differences, disagreements and difficulties, but for those who persevere in Christian hope, the love of Christ will conquer all and seal our hearts in the charity of faith and sacrifice.

When Blessed Damien of Molokai first discovered that he had contracted the painful cross of leprosy, he said, "God knows what is best for my salvation. Fiat voluntas tua."

In the same way, putting aside our ideals for a “perfect” partner, we too should trust that God not only knows what is best for our souls, but also who is best for our salvation.

And it might come as a shock to us that the spouse He intends for us may indeed be lacking in all those things that we have inscribed in our hearts as our shallow formula for marital bliss.

Instead, God knows how best to bring us to the gates of salvation, and who best to help us reach that gate.

Often, it might just be someone with whom we need to labour hard in love, patience, sacrifice and forgiveness in order to win heaven. And although this person may not look anything like whom we imagined and hoped for initially, they may just be the one anointed to purify and teach us about Christian love, and so enable us to win salvation.

Now I am not suggesting we find the most offensively secular and unbearable person to romance but rather, the beauty and attractiveness of the soul may not always be apparent to us at first glance. Because of that, we will need the help of the Holy Spirit to divine for us the wellsprings of living waters in a person's soul, despite initial appearances to the contrary.

We need the grace of divine wisdom to see and appreciate the goodness beneath the surface, which in itself is a challenge since many of us are so conditioned by our mind's eye that more often than not, we can be blind to the vision of grace.

Where we look for angels, Christ our Lord sees our humanity and uses it. With Blessed Damien who saw the beauty of souls in the lepers of Molokai, we can also say with him, "Fiat voluntas tua" - Thy will be done Lord. You know who best to send me, open my heart and my eyes. It is in human beings; with all their grime, failings and poverty, that we will also find redemption and hope, although it make take us years of dedicated work to till this garden of grace, both for ourselves and for those whom God has entrusted to us.

But knowing the temptations of modern society and the frailty of our human nature, how shall we find the strength to commit ourselves to such a grand vocation of love and faithfulness when we are but children of Adam?

The answer lies in what Jesus said to His disciples when they lamented the disadvantage of marriage after learning that divorce was not an option. “With men, it is impossible. With God, all things are possible.”

One is never perfectly ready and sufficient to embrace a great calling.

Instead we can only make the effort to cling to the hand of our Blessed Mother, and ask her to imbue us with the awareness and appreciation of the mystical destiny and dignity that her Son so painfully died to give us.

Otherwise, no one person will ever enter the priesthood or embrace matrimony if they seek the perfect conditions for saying yes. It is the nature of our spiritual life that we shall always remain insufficient in our responses to Grace. All we can do is surrender our weaknesses and insufficiencies to God with love and confidence, trusting in Him whom St Paul says, we can "do all things in Christ who strengthens" us.

But to be aware of these things...(of the immense calling that marriage extends to the human family, to share in the life and love of the Holy Trinity, and to bring forth life in this communion)...is not just necessary but critical like the air we breathe.

To not be alive in our royal and princely dignity as sons and daughters of God is to exist as a petrified log of wood in a field of flowers. The majestic beauty and wonder of nature would be lost to us, who remain hardened to anything but the horrendous gnawing of insects and bugs beneath our stoic appearances, consuming us from within and painfully reminding us that we are often, more dead than alive.

Unfortunately these days, Christians hardly give a thought to the sacred calling of marriage, partly because this sacrament has been so secularised that people marry for a variety of reasons that are more illusory than real, only to find out later that the commitments and responsibilities that come along are all too realistically harsh.

Truly, can any of us aspire to a love more noble and higher than what secularism offers if not for the participation of the Holy Spirit?

It takes three to make a marriage work, according to Archbishop Fulton Sheen. It is God’s presence and reality in the hearts of a loving couple that binds them in charity and gives them hope and strength over adversity. And in this way, a young couple seeking holiness in love will certainly be better prepared to succeed in marriage than a mature couple steeped in the cynicism of our secular age.

After all, was the boy Samuel ready for God's call for him to be a prophet? Was Moses confident in accepting his role as the deliverer of Israel? Was Joseph ready to become father to the Son of God?

Scripture tells us that they thought otherwise, but God knew better.

Perhaps with most of us, it is the same.

We can only crown our life decisions with an abiding faith in the mercy and love of God and the wisdom of the Church, trusting in the faithfulness of the Holy Spirit in helping us choose wisely and righteously.

Can it be otherwise in our journey to the Promised Land?

All we can do is face our storms together bravely, holding hands, humbly confident in our love for each other...and God's love for us. Because in the end...“with God, all things are possible”.

Viva Christo Rey! (Long live Christ the King!)

2006-11-27T01:31:00.000+08:00

To all my friends, happy feast day. I write this on the night of the grand solemnity of Christ the King, the very last Sunday of the liturgical year.

What a beautiful way to end the old and begin the new. The Alpha and the Omega as today’s scripture reading proclaims; the beginning and the end.

In him, all is complete; our struggles, our hopes, our fears and trepidations, our dreams and purpose in life…all of these things find their ultimate meaning and fulfillment in Christ the King, whose sovereignty is eternal, and whose domain lies in the hearts of his people.

As this night draws to a close and the dawn of advent beckons, the whole paschal mystery renews itself for our sakes, accompanying us like a faithful lover through the seasons and times of our lives, sustaining us, loving us, encouraging us on our journey to the promised land.

No, we are not alone. And no, we should not be afraid. As children, many of us were afraid of the dark, of not knowing what lay hidden in its shadows. As adults, we continue to cower at the uncertainties of life, of not having any guarantees of success or happiness. It seems fear dogs our very steps, paralyzing us with worries, anxieties, and sometimes despair over our losses and failures.

At the heart of this fear is often loneliness. But the Church’s calendar reminds us that Christ the evergreen is always with us, never leaving our sides. Indeed he carries us in the warm embrace of his love, through the ups and downs and hopes and pains of this life. And at the end of this liturgical year of messianic birth, poverty, work, persecution, hope, suffering and death, he emerges triumphant as Lord and King.

All of human experience is captured in this man Jesus, who takes upon himself our own human tragedies and triumphs, and redeems us in his great passion, resurrection and glory.

The Latin word for “passion” means to undergo, to encounter in all its bitter dregs the fullness of our human experience. The greatest passion of our Lord was not so much the scourging, thorns and nails, but rather, it was taking upon himself the whole darkness of our human pain and despair, which he continually undergoes, redeems and transforms in his solidarity with us.

In truth, his victorious crown was won not for Himself, but for us whom he lifts up in his coronation as his beloved children and heirs to his kingdom.

How often have we seen portrayed in fiction; that great champion of the underdogs, that courageous saviour of the downtrodden, that hero who takes up the cause of those he fights for and wins? He suffers for them, gives his life for them and finally triumphs for them, seeking their freedom and fulfillment as the ultimate prize.

This my dear friends is the kingship of Christ - a crown worn not just in majesty and splendour, but glorious in humble service to those he loves.

Behold the servant king, whose reign is made magnificent by his love and service to his subjects.

And because “our God reigns”, as the hymn rightly proclaims, we have nothing to fear, since all our weaknesses, sadness and frailties are taken up in his mercy, and given hope, meaning and victory; both now and forever. The darkness of despair cannot stand up to the light of his crown, and if we let him – he who faithfully journeys with us year after year, day after day – he will fill us with courage and princely dignity, no matter what sadness assails us in life.

This king ascends his throne to be made a greater servant, unlocking the treasuries of his grace and riches for us, beckoning us come to him in confidence and joy, since as St. Paul reminds us, we have a royal champion and advocate who gave his life for us, that we may live free from fear.

Christ has raised us from servants to friends, and from friends to sons and daughters. Remember this famous quote? - “The Son of God became the son of man, so that the sons of men may become sons of God.”

Rejoice therefore sons and daughters of God. The feast of Christ the King is also the feast of us all who have been made royal and princely in his blood.

In his kingship, let us hold our heads high and face life courageously with God as our champion, and Christ as our King.

Viva Christo Rey!

Some thoughts on freedom

2006-11-21T02:46:00.000+08:00

It’s amazing how quickly time passes. As I review the endless tasks before me each morning, I sometimes feel like a wizened actor trapped in a bad rerun of “Days of Our Lives”.

There are things to do, commitments to keep, mails to answer, decisions to make, errands to run, people to meet, and all this before the first sip of coffee even passes my lips.

For most of us (whether lay or religious), it’s a real challenge balancing the demands of our lives with the needs of our souls, and in the whirlwind of commitments and preoccupations, it’s easy to forget the man inside, the face we see each morning in the bathroom mirror, the heart of flesh that continues to beat with human frailty.

Our many duties - personal and professional - can drive us from the intimacy of ourselves when they bury us with obligations. I sometimes wonder in the story of “Quo Vadis” if Peter wasn’t just running away from death, whether in fact he was also fleeing the overwhelming demands of his flock, his duties and his ministry, which can also crucify a man without respite in its own way.

I often joke that I’m in the valiant process of digging a tunnel from under my desk with a spoon, and any day now, I shall make a run for it. The truth is, I have little to complain about since many of you reading this share an equal, if not more challenging quest for simplicity and freedom.

But before we can find it however, we need to recognize what authentic freedom is. And since most of us are not languishing in real dungeons, our quest for freedom is better described as a desire to be liberated from every obstacle to our authentic happiness.

In this, some might argue that liberty comes with more time, a better job, a beautiful wife, a house in the country or anything else that we can add or do to increase our personal treasury of things to have for fulfillment.

On the contrary, I think freedom is less what we have or do, than who we are.

By that, I mean that the world’s perception of freedom as having more choice to choose from (since the greater your choices, the more freedom you experience) is greatly at odds with the “Christian freedom” of choosing the better good because it’s spontaneously who you are, and not what you do.

If freedom is merely seen as choosing between alternatives, then one’s life is measured simply by a succession of good and bad decisions - pros and cons, Coke or Pepsi, him or her, this or that.

But as Christians, we are making decisions about who we are, and not what we do or what we have. And the greatest authentication of Christian freedom is being able to spontaneously choose good, because that is what our souls most desire - the same way some athletes spontaneously respond to the ball or some dancers spontaneously turn to the rhythm without missing a beat.

This spontaneity is unhesitating, generous and giving. At its best, it is instinctive.

Of course, it takes years of mastering the clumsy basics for Michael Jordan to leap to the skies and slam-dunk the winning shot. But at some point in the flight plan, deliberation and calculation blend into instinct and reflex.

In the same way, the long years of persevering in small good acts, making mistakes and trying again and practicing Christian spontaneity, all add up to that wondrous moment of transfiguration when a Christian soul acts, chooses and thinks from the depths of who he really is in God’s love, and not what he does.

It is the freedom to be a prince, to live our princely dignity wherever we are, even in the slums of human decadence and restrictions. It is the freedom of one in harmony with his dignity in Christ, who enjoys a liberation beyond his physical and circumstantial chains.

Above all, it is the freedom to do what must be done, as in the case of our Blessed Saviour.

At the last supper, Jesus performs the freest act in human history…he gives away his life for love. What he must do expresses who he most deeply is…the beloved Son of the Father. Indeed, his deepest freedom was that he could do no other than the Father’s will.

Christian freedom is ultimately an act of obedience to God, since the Christian soul is enobled in fidelity and not success.

To love and believe in Christ and his gospel truth sets us free from our own delusions and false ideals, it liberates us from bad decisions, wrong choices and destructive patterns because it shows us the truth about ourselves, our world and our eternal destiny in Him.

"Because God is the very embodiment of love, his love inspires you to be what you are meant to be: a free person in the highest sense of the word. The more you are led by God's love, the more you become yourself, and it is all done without even losing your freedom." - Archbishop Fulton Sheen.

This my friends, is God's gift to us...the freedom to live in the Holy Spirit, freedom from sadness, from guilt, from repression, from sin, from oppression, from the inability to see, recognise and choose rightly. What we do with this freedom is our gift to God.

The art of statues

2006-11-19T22:34:00.000+08:00

It is an often repeated answer that no Catholic worships a statue or image. Many Catholics do however use these images as visual aids to help them meditate and pray, granted that in any situation, there are always those who ignore the teachings of the Church in favour of superstition.

There is nothing wrong with having images or statues in Church, or representations of biblical scenes if their purpose is to glorify God and draw souls closer to Him. Man is after all a physical creature with dimensions and senses. In addition to a soul, we have a body. In as much as we strive for heaven, we still continue to live on earth, and in many ways, still need to experience the invisible in concrete ways.

That is why the medium of art flourishes where words and ideas often don't seem enough, or in the case of the illiterate masses of the past, completely inacessible. Statues, stained glass and paintings then became the bridge of communication for those whose hearts could recognise eternal truths but whose minds lacked the sophistication for heavy doctrine.

The real question is: Do we really worship these images or merely use them as visual props to mental prayer?

The concern for many Protestants is not so much the artistic and architectural expression of a Catholic Church (although most of our separated brethren would accuse us of complicating a simple faith with all kinds of paraphernalia) but rather the biblical evidence that such images are abhorrent to God.

To be fair, scripture does mention the worship of graven images as an abomination to God. The most quoted passage in support of this must surely be God's instructions to Moses, “You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them or serve them” (Exodus 20:3-5).

Deuteronomy 27:15 also says, “Cursed be the man who makes a graven or molten image, an abomination to the LORD, a thing made by the hands of a craftsman, and sets it up in secret' And all the people shall answer and say, ‘Amen.’”

Most Christians are familiar with these passages as well as others throughout scripture that condemn the idolatry of images. But these passages must be understood in the context of their meaning. Indeed, there is nothing in scripture that explicitly condemns the use of images in liturgical worship. What God forbids is the actual worship or idolatry of the image itself; as if it was a living, breathing person.

If not, how do we account for conflicting passages like Exodus 25:1, 18-20, 22; cf. 26:1, in which God commands the same Moses to "make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work shall you make them, on the two ends of the mercy seat. Make one cherub on the one end, and one cherub on the other end; of one piece with the mercy seat shall you make the cherubim on its two ends. The cherubim shall spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings, their faces one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubim be. . . . There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are upon the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you of all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel”

Sheesh, talk about being wishy-washy.

If Moses had not understood God's real intent in forbidding idolatry instead of images per se, he would've thought that the Most High was schizophrenic. But because Moses recognised that the two commands were not contradictory in nature, he was able to obey the Lord in good conscience.

This is important because later on, God would command him to once again make an image; this time of a bronze serpent that would cure those who had been poisoned by snakebites. (Numbers 21:8-9)

Obviously God had no problem with images or statues, but when the people began worshipping the bronze snake, it was then that the statue was destroyed because the Israelites had begun perverting their use of it.

Now, no Catholic man who kneels before a statue of Jesus believes that the plaster artifact is truly the Son of God in the flesh. No Catholic woman who places flowers at the feet of a granite Mary thinks that she is doing so before the Mother of Christ herself, just as no husband believes he is actually kissing his wife when he pulls out her photograph and plants a loving peck on it. He knows it's just a representation of the woman he loves, no more.

And yet the photograph, despite being only a glossy image of the wife he adores, is able to excite his love and affections more eloquently than if he had nothing concrete to cast his eyes upon in the first place, particularly if he suffers from a chronic lack of imagination.

It's one thing to visualise the suffering passion of our Lord, it's another to watch Mel Gibson's The Passion and then meditate on those images on screen. No one will deny that the latter is most helpful in fleshing out the details.

But for a Protestant Christian to darken the hallways of a Catholic Church, the rising horror of beholding so many statues and graphic images can be bewildering as well as frightening at first.

Some of these statues of course are fashioned with better taste and artistic finesse than others.

Nevertheless, the shadow of idolatry can give the unfamiliar visitor a case of extreme scruples, especially since I've heard Protestant fundamentalists refer to the statues in Catholic Churches as being inhabited by evil spirits that masquerade as saints.

Imagine the amount of prejudice to overcome.

Would it surprise them to know that Solomon's temple was much the same? According to 1 Kings 6:23-35, 7:25, 36, this magnificent temple was resplendent with statues and images of angels, trees, flowers and animals.

Instead of cursing Solomon for erecting this menagerie of worship, “the LORD said unto him, I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication that thou hast made before me: I have hallowed this house, which thou hast built, to put my name there for ever; and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually” (1 Kings 9:3).

Does this sound like the warnings of a God who was displeased with such images in His holy temple?

In fact, the Lord even blessed the temple of Solomon and promised to reside there forever.

Who has crossed the threshold of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris or St Peter's Basilica in Rome, and not be transported to heavenly realms by the sheer beauty of their religious art? Such beauties are crafted to raise our minds toward God and lift our souls to heaven, as befits the house of God. As Mother Angelica of EWTN famously quipped, "If you worship in a church made like a garage, you come out feeling like you've been in a garage. We need to see beauty or we don't know what beauty is. Did you even get inspired by a warehouse?"

To persevere in a fundamentalist interpretation of "graven images" would oblige us to systematically rid ourselves of every family portrait at home, every cute and cuddly soft toy, every monumental statue in public parks, every hobby collectible and perhaps even our money since minted coins have graven images on them as well.

That would be rather extreme to say the least.

But then again, so is accusing Catholics of idolatrous worship just because they sometimes pray before statues in their Churches, the same way some Portestants kneel before a barren cross or pray with a bible in their hands. And yet in the latter case, no one questions a pious Protestant who devotedly hangs a symbolic reproduction of the worst kind of Roman execution on their bedroom wall.

But it's the cross you say; it represents our faith and redemption. Well it's still a faithful reproduction of something that used to exist as an instrument of torture, so what's the difference? Even though it may not be the image of a person or creature, nevertheless why do you bow to it or cover it with kisses, or keep it in your wallets or hang it around your necks?

In truth, we are sacramental beings by our very nature. And in order for love to remain love, it cannot be kept in the silence of our hearts. Instinctively, we would seek to give it form and expression.

It is not enough for us to know and feel, we need to express these intangible emotions in a concrete way, in order that what passes through our minds and hearts may materialize in a touch, a gesture, a hug or a physical expression. Which husband would not want to manifest his love for his wife with hugs, roses and kisses instead of just words?

The biggest example of how divine love became extraordinarily close to us was when the Word of God became man, when the eternal Son took on our human nature to give a face and a smile to the invisible God, so that no longer do we just know Him in spirit, we could actually love Him in the flesh.

Jesus walked upon the earth so that we wouldn't know God just theologically, but corporally as well.

Two milleniums ago if a man wanted to, he could hug his God, listen to His voice, eat with Him, walk with Him, look into His eyes and if he chose to betray His love, he could even crucify Him.

The moment Christ assumed our human nature, He elevated our physical bodies to a dignity and purpose far beyond the material. From then on, we would be sacraments of His love to each other; physical expressions of God's love in the internal dwelling of our souls. We would show forth in a tangible way through our lives and actions the invisible movements of grace in our hearts.

Finally, it might interest some people to discover that contrary to popular fiction, Protestants were not the first people to question the proper use of statues and images in the life of the Church. Eight centuries before Protestant kings like Henry VIII began tearing down Catholic images in their realms, the Catholic Church had to intervene twice to suppress the heresy of Iconoclasm in the Byzantine East.

Begun by a Nestorian Bishop, Xenaeas of Hierapolis, who believed that such images were abhorrent to true worship, a movement began to seek and destroy all images and icons, an effort which later found support in the person of the eastern Emperor, Leo III himself, (716-41) who ordered his troops to support this endeavour with a violent show of arms.

Unable to distinguish between the spiritual reality represented by the image and the image itself, the Iconoclasts (or image breakers as they were called) embarked on a crusade to smash every statue and image they could find.

Eventually, the 2nd Council of Nicaea put an end to this madness by refuting these errors and affirming the legitimate use of holy images in the life of the Church.

This little episode in Christian history reminds us that most heresies are hardly ever original.

The condemnations of some Christians regarding the use of statues and images are merely echoes of former errors already disproved by the majority of Christians in former times. For as we have seen, the Bible not only does not forbid the use of statues and images in liturgical worship, but in many places actually commands it.

It remains only for us to open our eyes to God's wisdom, and ask Him for the grace and clarity to see the forest as well as the tree, so that in beholding a Christian heritage older than ourselves, we may appreciate the truths beyond the image.

Getting your "Logos" right

2006-11-19T13:33:00.000+08:00

Earlier this evening, I got into a crowded elevator in my brand new polo t-shirt, one of those special edition ones with a huge horse and rider woven across the chest and a number 3 on the sleeve.

As I entered the lift , I heard someone exclaim, “Whoa that’s a big polo logo, I’ve never seen anything like that, I hope they pay you for it.”

Startled by this stranger, I suddenly felt like a walking billboard for Ralph Lauren, except I was the one who did the paying as far as advertising money was concerned.

But it got me thinking about the secular symbols we proudly wear, and the religious symbols we hide away in embarrassment lest anyone sees them and snicker at our piety.

Why do some of us spend so much money and effort decking ourselves in the biggest brands, the latest trends, and the coolest names…whether it’s in the form of fashion, cars, real estate, corporate jobs or even the schools we attend…and politely decline wearing our crosses over our breasts, saying grace in public, or in the case of clerics and religious; sporting a roman collar or habit?

Perhaps we don’t want to be thought of as some religious whacko, since any kind of religious sentiment today is often decried in our enlightened societies as intolerant, fanatical and generally clouded in medieval superstition.

To even admit that you are a Christian can invite scorn in some parts. So what happens to the kingdom of God when we continue to hide our rosaries, crosses, beliefs and bibles beneath the fabric of popular fashion and political correctness?

It’s interesting to see that as we abandon the symbols of our spiritual heritage, and put on the armour of materialism to ward off any uncomfortable criticism of our faith, the world greedily picks up these abandoned symbols of Christianity and plants them on the altar of unholy mockery in the name of fashion and art.

Since believing Christians are embarrassed to honour and reverence the images of their association with Christ, why should the secular world (which is often hostile to Christ and his teachings) feel any embarrassment about mocking these symbols and images, and indeed, displaying them in a public arena long declined by Christians?

The more embarrassed Christians are in using these images with reverence, the more audacious the pagan world becomes in using these images in sacrilege.

From fashion-customed rosaries, crucifixes and crosses to blaspheming motifs and designs on t-shirts, to gallery art pieces like a crucifix immersed in urine or a statue of the Virgin Mary covered with a condom, nothing is sacred or off limits when sacrificed to the idols of free expression.

But amidst the desensitizing of our times, there is hope on the horizon. A younger generation of Christians are witnessing with a dignity and openness that gives courage to orthodoxy.

You see them proudly wearing their crosses in public. They’re not ashamed to read their bibles on the train. They stand up for their faith in any public debate, often with great charity and respect for the dissenting views of their critics. They display a natural comfort with saying grace in public, or confessing their love for Jesus with unfeigned honesty. And in little ways, they begin to rescue contemporary culture from the edge of irreligion.

I used to avoid the Catholic tradition of making the sign of the cross when saying grace in public, preferring instead to quietly mumble a thanksgiving under my breath, until I heard a professor of theology once exclaim to a class, “Peter was crucified upside down, Paul lost his head for it, and the early Christians were torched, killed and eaten by wild beasts for witnessing to this symbol of our great redemption. What are you afraid of? That unkind snicker, that patronizing look, that uncharitable comment?”

Thank God most of us live in a free society where the practice of our faith will not endanger our lives, where we can freely worship and witness without repercussions to our health and reputation. So why don’t we?

Our refusal to do so for fear of losing human respect is a travesty and insult to the many Christians of our own time, who continue to risk imprisonment and death by boldly practising their faith amidst the horror of totalitarian regimes hostile to religion and God. Even for those who worship secretly in “underground” communities, the threat of being discovered, tortured and sent to labour camps are all too real.

Let us begin to rescue our schools, our homes, our offices, our entertainment and society from a chronic amnesia of God, particularly when in some parts of the world, crosses are being removed from Catholic classrooms, Christian worship is banned, carrying a bible can get you arrested, and priests are increasingly forbidden to wear their cassocks and collars.

Will we succeed overnight? No, all good habits take time to foster, but we can begin with renewed love for that most basic embrace of our Christian vocation – the cross.

From this powerful symbol of our great redemption, we can begin to reclaim our world for God and goodness; one prayer, one witness, one grace before meals, one bible in the hand, one crucifix on our breast, one Christian bumper sticker, one inspirational t-shirt, one rosary in our fingers at a time.

And yes, “advertising” like this does pay handsomely…

"If anyone acknowledges me publicly here on earth, I will openly acknowledge that person before my Father in heaven." Matthew 10:32

P.S (By the way, the Greek word “Logos” is commonly used to describe Christ, the divine word made flesh.)

Enjoy the Journey

2006-11-15T11:15:00.000+08:00

A friend recently asked me in frustration how we could possibly know God's will for our lives? Do we take it for granted that when the Lord doesn't bless our efforts with success, it's an indication that He may not want us to take those paths? Or do we look at our lives and try to discern the "closed doors and open windows" of our journeys as showing us the paths we should take?

I guess in some way, we could see God's hand in the various opportunities and blessings that either come to us or not. But I believe rather that we cannot discern God's will in our lives by a standard of success or failure, nor can we judge His Holy plans for us by expecting concrete results that we can see and measure.

The reason is because faith is more than success, and perfection cannot always be seen in obvious results. We are so used to measuring our lives by results that we forget that Christianity is about faithfulness, not success.

To believe in God and love Him does not necessarily guarantee success, good health and material blessings. In fact, a real Christian can always look forward to the cross as the only guarantee...but despite the painful difficulties of that...a great sweetness can still be found in our crosses.

I think that God's will is simply for us to be happy, not just for a day or a month or for some years, but for eternity. In a word, it is God's will that we should be SAVED, in order to know and enjoy indescribable happiness with Him, both here and in heaven.

Everything that happens to us here, both crosses and blessings, are meant to help us on that journey and secure our salvation. To do God's will is to find the cheerfulness and humility in accepting all that happens to us with faith, confidence and peace, since all things come from His divine hand for our good.

As people, we are interested in doing things all the time, in the expectation that what we do will make things better, brighter and more meaningful. God on the other hand is not interested in doing things, He is interested in saving us.

So whether we have our prayers for a certain need answered or not, whether we succeed in a certain effort or not, or whether we win certain spiritual battles or not, God's will is not so much to be found in the end result but in the struggle, the journey, the via crucis that is sometimes so hard to bear.

In other words, God's will is found in accepting life's many challenges with faith and patience, since it is His will that whatever happens, we should learn things about ourselves and about our relationship with Him, and thus grow in our Christian journey, mature as good wine, take greater shape in the hands of the craftsman who moulds us, and everyday resemble more perfectly the image of His Son Jesus.

To help us achieve that, He sends us lessons in this life, whether that means having our prayers answered in certain ways or not. Heaven is the goal, everything else is only a tool to help us get there.

Everything that happens to us, good or bad, wil only have meaning if they help us on our way to eternal happiness.

And that includes marriage as well I guess. The most important thing is to find the spouse whom God desires for our sanctification and to aid us on that journey to Himself.

The search for love is always a great adventure. Unfortunately, finding love is not quite the same thing as shopping for clothes. I know what is beautiful and pleasant and graceful. But I cannot read hearts, and must depend on the Lord to help me discern.

Sadly it gets harder and harder to meet the right people. But we must take consolation in the knowledge that God does not give us desires to frustrate us, but to fulfill us. In love; let us always be ambitious, let us aim for eternity.

For those of us enjoying the embrace of someone special in our lives, let us give thanks for our partners, even as we continue to discern our vocation to love. For those of us still seeking a kindred soul, let us ask God to help us seek what he desires us to find, and to find what we seek.

But for all us us seeking God's will, let's celebrate what we find in the journey, allowing the Lord to take the wheels of our lives, and not echo with childish impatience as we continuously cry out from the back seat, "Are we there yet?"

Cathedrals of Flesh

2006-11-14T22:56:00.000+08:00

Reading the biography of Mother Angelica of EWTN today, I'm humbled by the legacy of this extraordinary woman who built an empire of faith on a mountain of pain, spiritual trust and an unbeatable sense of humour.

From poverty and afflictions to physical dangers and crippling opposition, she took on every challenge to faith with a gladiatorial commitment to trust in providence and the fidelity of Christ, often insisting that "unless we are willing to do the ridiculous, God will not do the miraculous."

How lovely to know that. It's true of course that it's not always easy to find clarity in our lives. Still, we can't be sure about anything. The most we can do is to try and make the best decisions we can, and trust that as we step out in faith, God's hand will raise us up and carry us over our fears and difficulties.

I'm suddenly reminded by what I saw on television last night; about how an eagle chick desperately tries to conquer its fear as it steps over the edge for the first time. The tiny bird looks so small and the cliff so high. The winds are so strong and the wings of the chick so frail. And yet...a little trust, a little step...and for a few brief moments; a little fall....and all at once, the wind picks her up and carries her safely over the world.

If we don't take some steps, we shall remain always in the tiny nest of our lives, where it's comfortable and safe, but never what we were meant to soar over and celebrate.

God's love does indeed want to carry us over the plains, mountains and rivers, freeing us to be happy and alive...but it requires us to step out in faith...and perhaps for a few brief moments, even know what it's like to fall in fear. Then and only then, shall we pass from fear to joy, from falling to flying, from sadness to celebration. And from hope to love.

If the Lord inspires us to do something, let's just try and do it, even if we don't know half of what we're doing. In anycase, with God as the architect of our lives, we don't need to keep glancing at the blueprints.

I am never one to build my life around work, so I remain quite dissatisfied with career achievements and such. I think the real legacy of a man is in the lives he affects rather than the things he accomplishes. The real success of a man is measured more by how much he loves, than how much he has or does. After all, more than what we have or what we eat, or what we achieve...a man is really what he believes...because from what he believes in his heart, is how he will live and love.

When I was in Italy gaping in awe at the beauty and strength of cathedrals and ancient churches, I noticed also that these same cathedrals were built to last. The effort, materials and labour came from everyone in the community, not just the architects and the church. Everyone had a part in the old days in contributing their time, talent and resource to building this great temple to God, this great inspiration to faith. And because these cathedrals took decades, centuries to complete, it was always a work in progress. The builders knew they would never see the end result, but they still worked hard to leave a beautiful legacy for others to continue and enjoy.

I'm reminded of the gospel story of how Our Lord cautioned his apostles that even though they work the vineyard, others may harvest the fruits...but it doesn't matter...because anything worth doing is worth sharing. In love, your joy is my joy.

And a man is not measured by success, but by love.

We too must build cathedrals in our hearts, in our lives, in our families. We may never live to see them completed, but it doesn't matter. Others will carry on our efforts. And God will be blessed and praised in the cathedrals of flesh that live on forever in our hearts, and the hearts of those we love.

I pray that both you and I will begin to build this cathedral within our hearts...one brick at a time...one day at a time..so that together, we may raise a temple to love.

Was Judas fated to betray Jesus?

2006-11-14T00:31:00.001+08:00

I was recently told that it was pointless to struggle for justice and righteousness, since for the most part, our destinies are cast in stone and sealed. "Take poor Judas for instance"...said my friend, "the man was the ultimate fallguy if ever there was one. What choice did he have in the designs of providence?"

At first glance, Judas' predicament does seem to be somewhat unfair. But if it is true that each man accepts his own fate with no more choice in the matter than a plunging apple following the dictates of gravity, then what reasons do we have as Christians for aspiring to Godliness and salvation? Why run the race or fight the good fight if the outcome is already pre-ordained?

If such is the reality, faith and righteousness are no more acts of free will than John Calvin’s doctrine of predestination, where only the elect are chosen by God to be sealed with his mark of redemption while the rest of mankind spirals into oblivion regardless of their virtues and goodwill.

But since we know God to be Just, there must be a deeper and more authentic answer to the question of Judas, which in many ways is relevant to every human person since all of us at some point in our lives have wondered about this - whether we are just poor hostages bound by an unfeeling web of fate or do we indeed have any say in how our days unfold.

There is such an imposing amount of material existing on this subject that we get as many varied answers as we do more questions. Nevertheless in my own journey, I have found that the tragedy of Judas can surprisingly lend some very consoling insights into our personal struggles.

And as there is no better place to investigate a scriptural character than in the Bible, we look to the Gospels where it is written that Jesus would be betrayed by one of His own. In fact, Our Lord Himself had this to say about His infamous disciple, " Have not I chosen you twelve; and one of you is a devil? Now he meant Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon: for this same was about to betray him whereas he was one of the twelve" (John 6:71-2).

The Synoptic Gospels when naming the Apostles had no qualms in calling Judas a traitor or betrayer either.(Matthew 10:4. Cf. Mark 3:19; Luke 6:16). Obviously this was not the most pleasant way to remember one of your own. But in this unflattering description, the Gospel writers were not trying to be malicious or unkind, they were merely appealing to a well-known and widely accepted notion of Judas' role in the early Church.

Peter himself in Acts I, 16-20, referred to the prophecy of David concerning Judas and the horrific end that awaited him. Indeed the Old Testament foretold a betrayal, without revealing who it would be. It was Jesus who revealed it. And the early Church under the leadership of the apostles recalled and confirmed it.

Even so, did not the eternal wisdom of God the Son handpick this man only after spending a whole night in prayer before God the Father? So what went wrong? Was there a miscommunication between The Trinity?

Of course, we don’t really know what transpired between Father, Son and Holy Spirit on that quiet night in the hills, but we do know that Jesus made a decision that evolved from much intense prayer and consideration. And yes, Judas was part of that conscious decision. All was foreseen by Divine Wisdom and all went according to Divine Providence.

In truth, nothing went wrong. There are those who say that Our Lord specifically chose Judas despite his weaknesses, to remind the Church that she will always have to bear with similar Judases throughout the ages. Others suggest that Judas was a counterpoint to Peter, that in allowing Judas to march within the ranks of His lieutenants, Jesus was also pointing to Peter and affirming his appointment as the Rock foundation of the Church. In other words, the Church will never be conquered by darkness because Peter is the key that holds us together in spite of the failures and betrayal of some of our leaders.

But Judas’ role was more than just playing black sheep to Peter’s shining knight. If a person's attitude and affections can be observed from the way they treat one another, then this is clearly evident from the way Our Lord treated His Apostle in the three years of His sacred ministry. No degree of love and affection was withheld from Judas at any time.

Even though John was known in scripture as the “beloved disciple”, there is no doubt that Jesus loved all of them dearly, including Judas.

Time and again, Our Lord reached out to Judas in a special outpouring of love and attention that you seldom find mentioned for the rest of the apostles, except maybe apart from Peter himself. It was almost like the increased devotion given to a sick and difficult child by a mother dying to restore his health. The experience can be exasperating and exhausting at times, but never a temptation to lessen her unconditional love.

As an Apostle commissioned by Jesus Christ Himself, Judas shared in all the priestly powers and prerogatives of the other eleven. Like the rest, he was called from among the multitudes to embrace a new life of grace, he was witness to the countless miracles of healing and deliverance performed by his master, he received from Christ an indomitable authority over evil spirits and different illnesses and as a prominent member in the intimate circle of Our Lord, he ate with Him, listened to Him, saw His compassion, watched Him walk on water, raise the dead, perform fantastic miracles and above all, he had every opportunity to drink endlessly from the grace and wisdom of the eternal teacher, who explained so many divine secrets to His beloved apostles that were often hidden from the crowds.

Whatever Jesus gave to His other Apostles, He gave gloriously to Judas as well. And perhaps even more! After all in John 13: 29, we hear that Judas was given charge of the money necessary for Jesus’ apostolic journeys, even though the Gospel of John was very blunt in describing his penchant for wealth: “This he said, not that he cared for the poor but because he was a thief, and as he had the money box he used to take what was put into it.” John 12: 6

Why this immense gesture of trust and confidence for a man who apparently had a notoriety for treachery? This is all the more striking since the Master deliberately went out of His way to show confidence in His disciple in the very thing that hangs over the poor man like a cloud of mistrust.

With a reputation like that, it’s not hard to be the most unpopular guy on the ship. And whether justified or not, the Apostles were still humans with prejudices and personal judgements. If they did not question the wisdom of Jesus in choosing this man openly, they surely pondered it in their hearts. And anyone who has ever been made to feel unaccepted will tell you that it’s traumatic to be kept at bay and ostracized, even if that discrimination should be restricted to wary looks and whispered mumblings.

Our Lord who could read the hearts of men probably sympathized with Judas more than His troubled disciple ever knew. Indeed, Jesus loved and surrounded him with every encouragement and sign of His friendship than would have been necessary for anyone else in the group. Not only did the Divine Master entrust Him with the apostolic funds as an act of faith and confidence, He also washed the feet of Judas and bestowed the lifeblood of His divine love upon him at the Last Supper, when the Son of God offered His Body and Blood to be broken and shed for the salvation of the world.

Did Jesus not know that Judas would spurn His love and sacrifice for him? Of course He did. Right after His discourse on the Eucharist which offended and scandalized so many of His disciples in John 6, Jesus said in Vs 64: “'But there are some of you that do not believe.' For Jesus knew from the first who those were that did not believe, and who it was that would betray him.”

Still our Lord so persevered in hope and charity that at the Last Supper, He once again offered His own sacrifice for the salvation of His wayward Apostle, whom He loved and treasured as the Good Shepherd would the lost sheep.

The Eucharist is the ultimate sign of communion for the entire Church, and in not denying Judas this privilege and invitation to belong as one, even at this late point of his deterioration, was truly an enormous act of Godly mercy and love for the prodigal son. Towards the very end, Jesus would not give up on the wretched man even though Judas had already chosen to give up on his Lord.

Some scholars say that the final catalyst for Judas’ impatience with Jesus was the scandal of the Eucharist; all this hogwash about eating His Body and drinking His Blood was hardly the image of a triumphant King who will fulfill Judas' vision of the worldly messiah. From that moment on, disappointment and cynicism unleashed their final seduction of evil over his captive heart and conquered.

Even then, Our Lord kept this cruel desertion hidden from the other disciples (quite possibly not to further embarrass Judas) since it was obvious they had no idea who the traitor was. But He also gave Judas to know that as God, He was aware of the stirrings of his rebellion. Perhaps this was a last attempt to shock his muddled conscience and turn the traitor from his intended treachery.

John the evangelist described all this with moving detail in his Gospel. (John 13: 21-28)

The crucial question is, since Jesus knew to what end Judas was headed (John 13: 18 “I am not speaking of you all; I know whom I have chosen; it is that the scripture may be fulfilled, He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.”) how could the Apostle avoid what seemed to be inevitable?

Elsewhere in John's Gospel, Our Lord called Judas the "son of perdition", which has led some to conclude that Judas' fate was truly sealed. (Incidentally, "Son of Perdition" in reality sounds less fatalistic than our modern ears are accustomed to. It is a Hebrew phrase that simply means "He who would have lost himself", and not "He who is destined to be lost". Big difference.)

Now, why would the Lord take so much trouble to deflect Judas from his path of perdition if there was no avoiding it? Is destiny truly an unbending weight pressing upon our free wills? The answer to that is twofold.

In some ways...yes.

Falling objects as discovered by Newton are destined to fall in obedience to the law of gravity. Mankind was not fated to breathe under water or we would have been granted gills. An atom has no choice but to bow to the laws of physics. And humanity since the fall of Adam is destined to die a mortal death.

And yet in other ways...not at all! We’re not ruled obsessively by the clenched fists of fatalistic karma.

Gravity despite being a reality can still be challenged by rockets and turbine engines mounted on titanium wings, underwater life can be experienced with some nifty scuba gear, an atom can be spliced and reassembled by harnessing the very physical laws that govern its nature. And since the dawn of Calvary, humanity can vanquish and overcome death through the resurrection of Christ.

As human beings made in the image and likeness of God, we're given a power and dominion over most other things in creation. It wasn't just over the animals, birds and plants. With the gift of inspired intellect and wisdom, we share in the creative powers of our maker who grants us the ability to subject and tame the very laws of nature for our own good, even though that process of discovery comes with trial and error. That is a God-given talent that separates us from animals and allows us to be masters of our own destinies, while at the same time accepting that we live in a world of realities that although limiting our free will in some things, cannot take away our power of choice in everything.

Spiritually, we have an even greater advantage in supernatural grace. Knowing how to use this noble gift will empower us to influence our present and our future, regardless of the errors of our past. No one is a slave to an unchanging destiny. After all, every person who believes in Christ is destined for eternal life. But that doesn’t mean that everyone will automatically find themselves at the pearly gates. Salvation depends on their personal cooperation with grace in this life. Since every saint has a past, every sinner can look forward to a potentially glorious future.

God respects our free will. The very nature of love itself is dependent upon choice and freedom. Love cannot be imposed nor elicited by force. And as every Christian child knows, God is Love.
How then do we explain Our Lord's knowledge concerning Judas' impending treachery?

Even from a human perspective, (and Jesus was infinitely more than just a man) it is amazing what you can see when standing from a vantage point. When a bowler sends his ball speeding down the alley, he can tell by the momentum of the ball what its final contact will be if it continues rolling down the same path.

When an air-traffic controller scrutinizes the flight path of any airplane, he does this with a judgment and predictability that is denied to individual pilots. Why? Because he has the advantage of a more powerful radar that helps him guide pilots away from destructive routes that only he alone can see.

In the same way, just as it is easy for someone with an unobstructed view to predict the final destination of a ball rolling down a straight line, it is easy for Jesus to see how Judas would end up if he persevered in an attitude of sin and rebellion, granted that Our Lord had the benefit of Divine insight and saw more into the hearts of men than anyone else ever could.

This is not difficult to understand since we too share in this gift in a limited way. We know with some precision that a child who shirks his studies and plays excessively to the detriment of his schoolwork will inevitably fail his exams if he perseveres in that attitude. That’s not destiny, that’s common sense.

Now in order that a projectile be deflected from its path of motion, something stronger and more forceful than itself must intercept its course and either stop or push it in another direction.

For instance, if you want a ball to stop rolling in a certain direction, you can either kick it or throw something else at it to break its moving pattern. The rolling ball itself cannot effect this result, trapped as it were by the force of its own momentum.

Our human lives are much the same way in practice, trapped as we are by the force of our own egos and selfishness. Unless a greater force than ourselves intervenes through the power of grace and directs us to a new beginning away from sin and disaster, we shall continue to be trapped in the motions of our bad habits. There have been countless examples of immoral personalities whose lives changed for the better because of the friendship, faith and sacrifice of a virtuous friend or family member. Somewhere, somehow, someone believed in them and it made all the difference. John of the Cross certainly subscribed to this philosophy when he said, "Where there is no love, put in love and you will find love."

The key to unlocking this power for change and redemption of course is in acceptance and cooperation. So although the wisdom of God knew that at the first fall of Eden, it would require something as scandalous and yet marvelous as the sacrifice of Calvary to redeem mankind, and although He knew that the betrayal of the messiah was inevitable, given the weaknesses of our human nature, Judas’ "fate" was not cast in stone as was evident in the loving and hopeful attitude of Jesus towards him.

In other words, even if Judas had not been the one to betray our Lord, some other human individual or community would likewise be responsible for the betrayal of Jesus in the designs of providence. This does not mean that Providence simply waited around for the most convenient scapegoat to pick, but rather, the weaknesses and fallen nature of human beings almost always guarantees that there will be some who will reject and betray the message of the Gospels. Not all who listen to the voice of Christ will accept the movements of grace. Isn't that how it has always been and always will be?

Otherwise, the whole world would be converted by now. Yet we see that even in Jesus' own ministry, the multitude of unbelievers and those seeking to oppose Him outnumber His believers. We should remember that the Old Testament simply hinted that the betrayer would come from among His own people, not necessarily from among His apostles.

But as it happened, Judas chose to reject Jesus despite Christ’s many attempts to reach out to him. And perhaps because he was an Apostle, the powers of darkness knew that he had greater access and opportunity to betray the Master by virtue of his friendship with the Lord. After all, what can be more treacherous and painful that the cruel kiss of a traitor whom you consider a beloved friend? Without question, Satan understood this and used Judas' special position and privilege to humiliate Christ more cruelly.

But lest we forget, to all who are tempted by the spirit of darkness, even more grace is offered to overcome the enemy. The Lord does not leave His sheep to the mercy of the wolf, even if some of us deliberately seek out such dangers. “For the Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that one by whom the Son of Man is betrayed!" (Mk 14:21) This very warning implies a choice, despite the frightening prospect it paints for the one who chooses wrongly.

If Judas had indeed trusted in Our Lord and accepted the immense grace that was being offered to him everyday, who knows what great sanctity he would be remembered for today, for if Satan cannot be overcome and withstood by those who are tempted, then what is the basis of Our faith in a God who leaves us completely vulnerable?

Truly, it can be said of Judas that never was one man given so much, and yet bore so little fruit. And the same is said for many other Judases throughout history and within the ranks of the Church today. Again, were not all the disciples equally poor? Did they not all depend on the mercy of God to supplement their weaknesses? And did they not all doubted and failed at one point or another?

Even Peter the Rock was not spared - "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail; and when you have turned again, strengthen your brethren." (Lk 22, 31-32)

Contrary to popular belief, treachery was not the great sin of Judas since all the apostles could be considered traitors for abandoning their Lord at a time when He needed them most. Peter blatantly denied knowing Jesus three times! If that isn’t disloyalty and treachery I don’t know what is.

Some might argue that their fear of the Jews was a mitigating factor. Nevertheless, these men had spent three amazing years with Him, oftentimes boasting of their unquestionable loyalty and allegiance to His Lordship even under the threat of death. And yet at the crucial moment, they rescinded every oath they ever made to serve Him in order to save their lives.

History is full of men who have been shot for being traitors whilst attempting to abandon their posts under infinitely lesser leaders. And here we have the crème de la crème of Jesus' disciples who could hardly do any better.

No, Judas sealed his fate not because he betrayed Jesus, but because he refused to submit his pride to the mercy of God. His pure arrogance and self-worship was his ultimate undoing. Alas for human respect which has a greater hold on our frail egos than the goodness of God.

It takes a certain humility to not just ask for forgiveness, but also to gratefully accept that God’s love and mercy is greater than our gravest sins. Peter and the rest of the apostles found redemption because their faith and love for Jesus prepared them to also accept His healing forgiveness. To do that, one has to relinquish any obsessive hold on our egos and go humbly on our knees before The Almighty and admit that we cannot even aspire to the least good without Him.

This reality is tenderly portrayed in the beautiful scene of forgiveness and redemption that we read in John 21: 15-17, where Peter is not only forgiven for his treachery, he is restored to wholeness and granted a greater glory and prominence in the Church, which is to take the place of Jesus as chief shepherd and to crown that high calling with the glory of martyrdom.

But the tragedy of Judas is that he could not help refusing the Lordship of Jesus even in his sorrow. Anyone who has ever wallowed in self-pity and depression knows that the focus of our being in such a mental state is often our own bloated self-image.

Ironically, this has caused some people to stubbornly cling to their self-pity by inventing a world where their personal tragedies take on Shakespearean proportions and importance. Nothing else matters in reality, only the great sorrow of their lives take centre stage in some kind of melodramatic encore. Indeed, the magnification of their troubles and tragedies, whether real or imagined, can give some individuals a demented sense of self-importance.

“If I cannot be the best, at least no one can take away from me the distinction of being the worst”, which is what some people in this life feel when they refuse to crawl out of their self-pity because misery can feel so comfortable.

The reward for such extreme self-obsession is despair, which is nothing but the lack of faith, hope and charity. If Judas had only sought the Lord's pardon, Jesus would have only been too happy to restore him to his princely dignity. After all, isn’t there more joy among the angels in heaven over the conversion of one repentant sinner than over ninety-nine who need no repenting?

But this particular Apostle did not, could not, would not concede his pride! He had convinced himself that his betrayal was even greater than the compassion of Christ, and who knows, perhaps in some twisted delusion of grandeur takes concealed pride that at least in this, he stood out from the rest of the Apostles.

In so choosing, he lost not only a chance at becoming a great saint…but ultimately…his life.

At the height of the sexual scandal in the American Church, I once noticed someone wearing a t-shirt that read ‘Don’t abandon Peter because of Judas’. I couldn’t agree more. Especially since each one of us has the capacity to choose Peter over Judas in our own struggles. So that when the enemy of mankind seduces our minds and exaggerates our failures and treacheries, we may confidently count on Jesus to help us choose faith over despair, grace over sin and life over death.

It's all about making the right choices.

I often come across good people in the church who despite having clear signs of a religious or priestly vocation, would nevertheless say that they have no choice in the matter because they already have a boyfriend or girlfriend in their lives...as if no priest or religious in the history of the Church has had to make that difficult choice. There are also those who are afraid to choose righteousness at the risk of jeopardising an imminent promotion at work. Or witness to their faith at the expense of losing influence with friends and peers.

Yet in each of these circumstances, we have indeed exercised our choices, albeit cowardly. And no matter how much we excuse ourselves in our weaknesses, we can never silence the memory of the martyrs who were forced to choose between their faith in Jesus or the fires of execution, between the will of the Father or the heavy blade of the executioner, between the teachings of the Church or the firing squad of her enemies.

Did they have an easier choice when the only other alternative was death at the hands of men? Yet with the grace of God, choose they did. Not just for themselves but also for us, since it is by the blood of the martyrs that the seeds of faith are planted and grown.

For most of us, we are asked far less in the way of sacrifice than the martyrs. Even then, we continue to squirm and try to respond to what God asks of us grudgingly, looking for the easiest way to live our Christian calling with minimal sacrifice, trying to answer God's invitation without actually having to answer it, and then convince our muddled consciences that we have done our best in that situation.

Unless we are committed to following the Gospel imperative to die to ourselves each day, how can we live in Him who so respects our free will that He will not dethrone our egos despite His rightful place in our lives as Lord and King?

In the end, it is always easy to choose that which we love. If we do not choose God, perhaps we do not love Him quite as dearly as we imagine. God on the other hand loves us! His infinite mercy overwhelms us and there is nothing so precious as the generous gift of free will that He bestows on us.

In humble gratitude, we can only ask Our Lord for the grace to choose wisely in all that pertains to this life. So that having made our choices to live for Him...we may win the grace to live with Him for all eternity.

Soul Food Anyone?

2006-11-12T14:10:00.000+08:00

Someone once said to me that fasting seems like a very masochistic way to draw closer to the Lord. How does starving ourselves of nourishment please a loving God?

Reflecting on that, I understand how some people can see fasting as simply abstaining from food and drink. Yet even though that may be the physical feature of undertaking a fast, Christian fasting is much more than sacrificing your yummy treats. It’s not so much refusing food at all costs as it is to embrace a spirit of humble poverty, enabling the one who fasts to pledge solidarity with the poor, the hungry, the suffering and the oppressed, whose hunger and lack of nourishment is a daily struggle that goes beyond a meal or a day.

Fasting in its essence is a participation in the redemptive mission of Christ.

But before we go any further, let’s be clear that there’s nothing sinful in enjoying your food, except for maybe the killer waistline it can slap on. There’s nothing in the nature of divine law that frowns upon the “daily bread” that is so necessary for our survival, and which all of us receive from divine providence all our lives anyway.

As the gospel writers teach so clearly, love always goes beyond the law. There’s some truth in the old adage that “We should refuse our appetites what is lawful so that we may learn to deny ourselves what is unlawful”. However, true love is always more than just denial or abstinence, it is first and foremost always a gift, both in response to our God and to our neighbour.

In choosing to eat less, you choose to deprive yourself of your right to more so that you may be filled with greater riches. I remember an early John Michael Talbot song with a line that went “I am just a cup to overflow your will but I know I must be empty to be filled.”

That’s what we do when we deny ourselves little luxuries, it’s nothing less than an exercise in moving away from our passions and wills, and moving towards God.

Fasting isn’t so much about food and drink than about the will. I don’t know of many successful people who don’t unconsciously worship their own strength and ego and who find it hard to bow their heads to another kingship other than their own.

Hence when we choose to eat modestly or abstain for a spiritual intention (always taking care not to harm our health), we’re simply fasting from our conditioned impulses to ingratiate our appetites. This shouldn’t be seen as an indictment against the joys of culinary experience. We should most definitely enjoy our meals, which are nothing less than blessings from our Lord.

In fact, I think it’s great that some people love their food. I certainly do and with a passion, seeing as how there are times when I can barely keep my will from buckling under the aroma of a sizzling dish.

Obviously, food is so intrinsically tied to our basic instincts for survival that it sometimes takes all our discipline to keep our cravings in place. We are programmed to survive, which explains why our sexual instincts are also very strong impulses. Like the food we eat and the air we breathe, our need to propagate is part of our biological instinct to keep the human race alive. But above them all, there is our spiritual intellect and will which animates our quest for eternal life and salvation. As is so often the case, pandering to the body can often suffocate the soul, for if all we know are our physical needs, we shall soon forget that we have any spiritual ones.

Thus when we abstain from food or drink, take time to perform some minor mortification, deny ourselves some luxury (whether it’s time, sleep, cigarettes, television or money given in charity to our neighbour), we’re sometimes swept off our feet with surprise at seeing how such freely chosen expressions of love for God can impart to us extraordinary graces and consolations in our lives. And that kind of joy stays in our hearts more surely than any pleasure we may find in the world.

Of course, that's not to suggest that we should embark on some cruel masochistic adventure to rise to sanctity. No one can raise herself by pulling on the roots of her own hair. It’s God's grace that surrounds someone and gently lifts her off her feet in a cloud of love and carries her to the bosom of her Father.

Ok, but what about the saints and their frightening mortifications and excessive fasts? Tales of St Francis of Assisi treating his body with such disregard, or St Ignatius Loyola having a field day torturing his ailing stomach by refusing to eat for long periods seem extreme to post-modern minds to say the least, perhaps even insanely unnecessary.

Nevertheless, we shouldn't begrudge the saints their particular inspirations despite their being somewhat peculiar to us today. After all, who among us having been madly in love before does not know the extravagance of the heart for its object of affection?

Divine love lies behind the fasts and mortifications of the saints. And that's something of a paradox to a world used to ingratiating every appetite and passion as an expression of personal freedom and fulfillment. One wonders how liberated and free someone with such addictions are, particularly the addiction to worship our own ego as the paradigm of all morality, which we can shift and adjust to compensate our needs.

In the end, there is the pursuit and gratification of so much...and the true realisation of so little.

Somehow when we deny ourselves what is lawful and good by starting with food, we often find that naturally, it becomes easier to deny ourselves what is unlawful like lust.

This works for other temptations in our lives as well. No Easter without a Good Friday, no little resurrections without little crosses.

These days, I make a resolution to try and eat what's set before me without much fuss, which is an incredibly difficult thing for me to do as I'm such a fussy eater. Every month I also set aside a day for fasting and recollection, which admittedly isn’t much. But even then, I can see how that pays off in my life. I’ve begun to enjoy a certain freedom and healthiness from my usual over-indulgence that quietly covers me like a blanket of contentment. Furthermore, I am also learning to be more sensitive to other things as well, especially people.

That's not to suggest that I don't dive gleefully into my favourite dishes anymore when I get the chance, but sometimes I just prefer not to...and you know what?

It has made all the difference in helping me on this earthly pilgrimage I call my life.