Tag Archives: Christianity

May 5 2012

Just being the branch on the vine: Secret of our Christian Journey

Homily for 5th  Sunday of Easter 2012

  1. The other day, my friend and I took the train to Melbourne to hang around the city. The train was almost full when we left Bendigo and more passengers took on board at different stations. I don’t know what prompted me, but I just said to myself ‘Thank God’ our Christian journey is not like travelling on this train.’  I noticed that though there were many people on the train, people don’t care for each other. There was one young lady sitting across of us just didn’t care. She started painting her fingernails. Then she made her face up with layers of cream and stuff.  In one station, another young lady got on board and sat beside a young man. They chatted for a while then went back to what they are doing in their own laptops. There was just no personal relationship and real communication between the many people there. If our Christian journey and life is without personal relationship, our life would have been so boring.

  2. Friends, our Christian journey is not meant to be a lonely one. It is not meant to be a boring one. We are to go together. And not only that we go together but really to go hand in hand, sharing one’s life, sharing our joys and sorrows, enriching one another with our personal and unique skills and abilities. With the gift of our selves to one another, we can make our journey more meaningful and enjoying.

  3.  Yet we must not forget that we are  in a journey for a purpose. We are in a journey, as Christians, because of Christ. Without him, we are nothing according to our gospel today. When we travel by train, once we arrived at our destination, we go on separate ways to do the things we want to do. However, our Christian journey has a sole destination-God. It might be a difficult journey, but among other things, our readings today offer us hints or tips to make our Christian journey worth a trip.

  4. First and the most important one is in our Gospel today: to remain in Jesus. Jesus is our vine and we are the branches. As branches, we can get only get life and sustenance through the vine, Jesus. Without him, we can do nothing, John told us in our gospel today. Remaining in Jesus does not however promise us a smooth journey, or walking on a red carpet, or lying on a bed of roses. Remaining in Jesus means discipleship. And discipleship means sharing in and learning from the life our master. If he carries the cross, we can expect that we would also have crosses to bear as he said. Jesus himself told us this that God expects us to bear fruit, and we can only bear fruit if we are connected with Christ always.

  5. Second hint is found in our First Reading today: to proclaim Christ in our lives more boldly, courageously and with conviction as St Paul did. Like St Paul we may be under suspicious looks by many as we start doing it, but if we are true to ourselves and to who we are as witnesses for Christ then, despite all odds we would proclaim him to all the world. No matter what the cost. Again we should not forget that we are not sole missionaries of Christ. We are community, a community of witnesses. So even if our work seems to be boring, tiring, disappointing, and discouraging, if we work as a community, as one Church of Christ, then our work would be eased up. We also need to realize that as a community we need ‘Barnabas’ [son of encouragement] in this work just as we are also called to be ‘Barnabas’ for others as we work together.

  6. Third hint is found in our Second Reading today: ‘to love one another.’ This is quite a difficult one because John here would tell us not to just to be contented by saying we love one another, but really to express our love in our actions, in our lives. Yes, it is important to remember that this is an important part of  our main vocation- part of our calling to love God and our neighbours as ourselves. Yes it is hard, considering our limited resources and all these different persuasions that the world has to offer for us now. But let us note St Francis, St John Bosco, St Francis Xavier, St Therese of the Child Jesus, Mother Teresa. They are just few of the many people like us, who have concretized in their lives the mandate of our Lord to love. If they can do it. Why can’t we? Again, the problem always is not that we can’t do it, but because we just won’t do it.

  7. As we continue our Celebration of Easter, let’s pray that we may never let go of Jesus in our lives and that we may be the concrete expression of God’s love for our sisters and brothers around us. In this way, our Christian journey would never be a boring one. Amen. 

Jul 27 2011

God’s plan for us…

Have we realized by now, what is God‘s plan for our life? Do we allow God to work in us, with us and through us?

It’s not always helpful for us to imitate someone else. God does not want us to become another ‘St. Francis’ or ‘Mother Teresa.” He wants us to be our real selves just like what all the saints did. 

Look at this amazing video of a young talented Filipino guy who can sing with both male and female voice.  I supposed he might have been ridiculed before as ‘doble-kara’ [double-faced] because of what he is capable of. But he has realised this is God’s plan for him. So he joined the reality TV show in the Philippines and showcased his incredible and unique talent. He won the grand prize of 2 milllion pesos plus all other awards. However the most rewarding of it all for him is that he has united all his family members which he has been dreaming of ever since he was a child.

(N.b. if you don’t want to listen to the interview or you can’t understand the language just play forward to 2:34.)

or ponder on this story…

Once upon a time three young trees were growing side by side in a huge plantation. With a typical youthful enthusiasm, they shared with one another their hopes for life when they reached maturity.

One hoped to be used in the building of some mansion, so that its grain and quality would be admired by the great and the famous.

The second hoped to form the tallest mast in the most beautiful sailing ship, thus gaining full attention as it sailed into any port.

The third hoped to  be part of some big public spectacle, well out in the open, so the passers-by would stop and look on in wonder.

The reality for the trees, according to the legend was:

- The first was cut down and part of it was used to make a trough for animals, and it later became a manger in a stable.

- The second was cut down, and part of it was used to make a very simple fishing boat that spent a lot of its time tied up on the shores of the Sea of Galilee.

- The third was cut down, and part of it was used to form the beams of a cross, which was used for crucifixion. 

*The ideal is to be available for God to use me in any way he chooses to establish,to promote, and to build up the kingdom of his Son Jesus Christ.* [J. Mcardle]

Jul 23 2011

Homily for 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A)

17th Sunday Homily (Year A)

A few months ago,  I read a news of a 13-year-old boy in Cebu Philippines who committed suicide for the reason that his mother did not buy him a laptop computer. Reading that  I felt so sad and upset. I didn’t blame anyone though, because I realized that it was not anyone’s fault. It’s a symptom however of our materialistic society. Many people think that material thing is all that is. Many believe that material things can really make us happy and contented. Not a few people think that money is all that we need because through it, we can get everything that we need or want.

But we know, we who are here today don’t really believe that material things are all that we need, do we? If we do, we would not have been here. We are here because we believe as our faith- experience tells us that there is more to our life than material things. We are here, I hope and pray, because we are looking for that treasure of the kingdom that would really guarantee us of eternal happiness, real contentment and complete satisfaction.

In our Gospel today Jesus tells us another set of parables about the kingdom of God-a priceless treasure, that once it is found, we would consider all other things as mere shadows. But what is this treasure? What is this kingdom of God?

It is the kingdom of love, of peace, of justice, of solidarity, of sharing, of making God as the centre of our life…The point in our gospel today, is for us to seek for this kingdom.  But where? Jesus said, the kingdom of God is among us now, is within us. So let’s look at our heart. What are our priorities? If we feel sad hearing the news of  starvation in Somalia, it’s the sign of the Kingdom of solidarity and of justice. If we feel sorry for that boy who took his own life because he couldn’t get a laptop, it’s a sign of the Kingdom that we want God to be focus of our life rather than things. And as we read the papers everyday, we are in some ways moved to reflect on  some of the events happening around us. But  reading or reflecting on these things are not enough. We have to do something. As I mentioned last week, each one of us is given a ‘seed’ of the kingdom. Let’s work from there. Let’s develop it, share it, make it bear fruit.

But to do it in our time, is quite a challenge. Because there is another kingdom that is in opposition to the Kingdom of God-the kingdom of Satan. Satan is real and he is working now, more than ever. He even seems to have succeeded in some ways. Sin becomes so rampant now, that as John Paul II observes, leading us to believe that doing ‘it’ is just normal and part of our ordinary human life. The late Pope said, because of this reality of sin pervading in the individuals and in the structures, we lose the sense the sin. We are experiencing the eclipse of sin.

But seeing us here today in this Eucharistic celebration is a sign of hope that still we seek for the Kingdom of God, that we want to promote the kingdom of God, that we want to defeat the forces of evil around us.

But what can we do? What do we do then?

Three things: First, more than ever, we need the wisdom of Solomon to help us discern the Kingdom of God from the kingdom of satan; to discern between good and evil;  between right and wrong; between truth and lie; between life and death. Let’s pray that God would grant us this same wisdom.

We need Jesus in defeating the evil forces us. He stood for the truth, no matter what happens, even if he was standing alone, even if it led him to his death. Let’s keep close to his side.

And finally we need to do something to help those people who are really in need, not only of our prayers which is the first thing, but also because we have the means and the ways to do this. We have Caritas, Red Cross, St Vinnies, Catholic Mission, etc. God gives us these ways and these means NOT to put burden on us, but to enable us to share in promoting the kingdom of God here on earth. Let’s seek first the Kingdom of God, and everything else will be provided.  Amen.