Tag Archives: Religion and Spirituality

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.

Jul 21 2011

Just looking at…

The bright side of LIFE:

The elderly priest, speaking to the younger priest, said, ”You had a good idea to replace the first four pews with plush bucket theatre seats. It worked like a charm. The front of the church always fills first now.” The young priest nodded, and the old priest continued, ”And you told me adding a little more beat to the music would bring young people back to church, so I supported you when you brought in that rock ‘n roll gospel choir. Now our services are consistently packed to the balcony.” 

”Thank you, Father,” answered the young priest. ”I am pleased that you are open to the new ideas of youth.”

”All of these ideas have been well and good,” said the elderly priest,  ”But I’m afraid you’ve gone too far with the drive-thru confessional.”

”But, Father,” protested the young priest, ”my confessions and the donations have nearly doubled since I began that!”

”Yes,” replied the elderly priest, ”and I appreciate that.  But the flashing neon sign, ‘Toot ‘n Tell or Go to Hell’ cannot stay on the church roof!” 

Jul 9 2011

Reflection for 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time

15th Sunday of the year

A middle-aged woman walked into the slums of a large city. She had two dollars in her purse, had no income, and no place to stay. All she had was deep conviction that God was calling her to doing something for the poor in that area. And she felt certain that, if the call was really from God, that he would provide all that was needed. She was convinced later that it was God calling her to do something special, thus she declared, ““I was to leave the convent and help the poor while living among them. It was an order. To fail would have been to break the faith.”

That woman was Mother Teresa. She founded the  Religious Order called  Missionaries of Charity, whose mission was to care for “the hungry, the naked, the homeless, the crippled, the blind, the lepers, all those people who feel unwanted, unloved, uncared for throughout society, people that have become a burden to the society and are shunned by everyone.” To date her legacy continues to flourish and cherished by many having over 4,500 sisters and is active in 133 countries in the world.

Friends, Mother Teresa is one of  the many ‘heroes’ of our Christian faith, who had really listened to the word of God, accepted it, embraced it, nurtured it. We know, that because of her willingness and openness to the word of God, she bore fruit a hundredfold. It was just because she accepted the word of God with an open heart, trusting that God will really provide whatever she needs in her mission to care for all people, regardless of color, race, religion, status, etc. She listened to the pleading of a dying person hanging on the cross, ‘I thirst.’ For her, this is the Word of God, and truly is. She listened to the word God faithfully and now we believe she is in  the company with the saints in heaven.

Our Gospel today  tells us of a parable of a God as a sower who  is sowing seeds on his field. This is a rather unusual gospel since here, Jesus explained the meaning of the parable, unlike the other parables in the gospels when the audience are expected to figure out what the parable means.

We know and our experience can affirm this, that God speaks to us in many and varied ways. Sometimes it’s hard to take in. Sometimes, it’s do-able, and sometimes impossible. Sometimes we might say, “God must be crazy,” if he wants us to do this or  to do that. But no, it is not the issue for God. The real issue is in us, on how we take in his words. As Jesus explained in the gospel, it depends on our disposition, on our attitude towards the word of God. True, we can say, “Oh it’s the only the saintly people who can take the word of God, with an open heart, with total trust and absolute acceptance.” Yes, it is difficult for us, but it is not impossible.

Furthermore, in our day and age, it is a big challenge to listen to the word of God very well. We have ‘google’ to answer our questions. We have shops to go to and to buy our needs and wants. We have places to go and enjoy and break the monotony of life. We have PC, i-phone, ipad, ipod, that would break our boredom by listening to music or whatever. So, what else do we need? Or we say, “I couldn’t hear God speaking to me or anything.” Yes, maybe because of all the different voices and noise in the world that hinder us from listening to God. Yet, no matter how loud the voice and noise of the world today, God’s voice always prevails. And we can tell this. No matter how rich we are, no matter how updated we are in terms of modern technologies, no matter how famous we are, no matter how safe we are, at the end of the day, especially when alone, we feel this inner longing, craving for something deeper and meaningful, we feel certain emptiness within.

This is for me God, calling us to a deeper union with him, to a personal relationship with him. He continually calls us everyday. He always speaks out his word to us everyday, in every aspect of our lives, in whatever we do, wherever we go, whoever we are. Whether we listen to it with open heart, or we play deaf to it, it always leaves something in us, as Isaiah would tell us today in the First Reading, “As the rain and the snow come from the heavens and do not return without watering the earth…so also with the word of God…”

How to listen the voice of God today amidst the different voices and noise in the world? Few Practical hints: 1. Get a Bible, read it not all at once as in a novel, but reflect on certain passage. 2. Spend some time with a good friend and talk about what’s happening in your life. 3. Reflect on your life’s experiences, go to a retreat or a recollection. 4. Review your life’s priorities. 5. Go to Church, and be one with the community, listening to God speaking in, through and on behalf of the assembly. 6. Develop a daily meditation on the Scriptures, or spiritual reading. 7. Read the Lives of the Saints.

There are just but few of the million other ways and means through which God speaks to us. Like Mother Teresa, we are invited to listen to God speaking to us in and through our unique, personal and individual circumstances, capacities and abilities. Likewise, we are also called to reflect on our attitude, our disposition towards God’s call for us. Let this be our prayer today. And if we accept God’s word with an open heart and respond to it faithfully, according to His will, we can be assured that He will be our guide, our counselor, our best friend, our provider, etc. Mother’ Teresa’s life is a concrete testimony of this faithful response to the word of God.