Tag Archives: Evangelism

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

Reflection for the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time

17th Sunday of the Year (A)

A  young man in his mid-twenties, from a well-to-do family, was strolling one day when he met a deformed leper. At first he would have felt an unholy revulsion towards the leper but something in him insisted that he would not only give alms to the leper but also to touch him. This he did, and he did even more, he kissed the leper. That experience changed his life radically. He started to help the poor and the sick from the money of the family of course, which angered his father so much that he was unmercifully beaten, locked up, and even stripped off of his inheritance. His father also demanded that he would pay back the money he spent in buying the goods to help the poor and  the sick. But  this experience of being disowned by his own father did not change his mind, in fact, it strengthened it all the more. He even stripped off the clothes that he was wearing and gave them back to his father saying, “The clothes I wear are also his. I’ll give them back. From now on, I no longer have father on earth. I only have my Father in heaven.”

This man is no other than St Francis of Assisi. He found the real treasure that no amount of wealth in this world can give him. He found God in  two  things that characterize his Order henceforth: poverty and humility. He found the treasure of the Kingdom that he went out and gave up everything he had just to purchase and to acquire that heavenly treasure.

Friends, in our Gospel today Jesus again speaks in parables, and again about the Kingdom of God. Here he speaks of three things. First is that the Kingdom of God has a priceless value that no amount of earthly wealth, treasure, possessions can buy. Second is that we are to seek for this Kingdom with willingness and openness of heart. And third is that the Kingdom of God is already here and now, in us, among us… And we can have a glimpse of this kingdom of God in the Church which is the icon, the sacrament of the Kingdom.

Yes, we may find it distressing or distasteful at times that the Church does not only welcome the saints, but also the sinners. If there is a church that welcomes only ‘the saints’ we have to think twice about going there, since Jesus did not establish the Church only for the saints, but for the sinners who are journeying to become saints.

I’ve spoken last week in my homily, that each one of us is given a ‘seed’ of the kingdom. Today, have we looked at this seed? Have we found this seed? If we do, then are we willing to give up everything, just to make this kingdom alive and real in us?

But how can we seek the Kingdom of God in our world today, when at a touch of a button we can get most of the things if not all that we imagine we need or want? How can we see the kingdom of God as the realization of all our ideals and aspirations,  when we feel we already that on our own, we can  reach our ideals and aspirations?

Friends, like St Francis, we have to realise that the characteristic of the kingdom of God is not ‘hoarding’ or ‘possessing’ the things that we think we need, or realising our dreams and ambitions. NO. Our first Reading today reminds us this. As Christians we  believe that God invites us all to his Kingdom. He has the masterplan, the blueprint of the Kingdom. So what we can do is to be at the same mind with God. To be at the same mind with God means that we would ask him to give us the ‘wisdom’ to see what is true, proper and right. It means that we have to ask God to give us wisdom to understand how to discern between good and evil, between right and wrong, between truth and lie, between life and death. In doing these we are cooperating in God’s work of establishing his kingdom and making us ‘images’ of his Son as St Paul tells us today in the Second Reading.  

So as we continue our reflection today, like Solomon let’s pray that God would give us wisdom to enable us to seek the Kingdom of God in  the world today, to discern between the things in the world that are beneficial from those that are destructive to the Kingdom of God. And like St Francis, let’s be humble and be poor in Spirit, in such a way we can be assured that we can find the Kingdom of God and that everything else [we aspire] will be added unto us.

Jun 2 2011

Are you saved? Then Look like ONE….

A man dived into a raging swollen river to rescue a boy who had fallen in. It was a tough struggle. The river was in full spate, and it was a miracle of God that the man succeeded in grabbing an over-hanging branch, while clinging to the boy with the other hand.He brought the boy to safety, none the worse for his near brush with death. He brought him home, and gave him over to the care of his mother. As the man was leaving, the boy said, ‘Thank you very much, sir, for saving my life.’ The man put one hand under the boy’s chin, and looked him in the eye, and said, ‘That’s OK son! Just make sure your life was worth saving.’ [j.mcardle]

Jesus would also remind us now with these or similar words, to acknowledge the value of our life. Each one of us is unique and special in the eyes of God. Just imagine this, on the sixth day, God made us human beings, man and woman. Then after creating us, he just loved us so much that he couldn’t help but enjoy looking at us, that he didn’t create anymore after us.

There’s no point imitating those people whom we think our model in life. God wants us to be ourselves. Jesus asks us to love God and our neighbors, as we love ourselves. But how can we love ourselves when we don’t even know our real selves? How can we face our true selves, when we are living in fantasy, of what we want ourselves to be?  God has already done in us, what we are supposed to be…and that is to be loved. And proof to this love is his death on the cross to save us from death in sin, and to give us life…life to the full…the fullness which  can only be found in God.

SO: “If we are saved, we should look saved, and live like people who are saved.” [j.m.]