Feast of the Holy Family 2023

Where this is no Sunday between 25th Dec and 1st January, the feast is celebrated on 30th Dec. In 2022, it was marked on Friday. Whether it be 30th Dec or on the Sunday after Christmas, it makes a lot of sense to celebrate the Solemnity or Feast of the Holy Family right after Christmas.

What do the readings tell us about the Holy Family? In the 1st Reading, Abram and Sarah were given the promise of an abundance of descendants despite the sheer reality of the impossibility that accompanies declining years. Yet God’s promise was fulfilled when an old man and a barren woman was gifted with a son Isaac. The 2nd Reading simply repeated the saga of Abram and Sarah in the context of faith in the Lord. This leads us to the Gospel. Both Mary and Joseph, according to the customary practice, brought Jesus to the Temple, fulfilling the instructions found in the Book of Exodus that every 1st born male child be consecrated to the Lord. Meeting both Simeon and Anna in the Temple who both predicted the future of the Child, both Joseph and Mary kept faith in the Lord.

Faith in God and His promise fulfilled seem to run through the readings. Even though the focus is on faith, the spotlight is not on God because faith already presumes that there is a divine being. The attention is rather on the subjects, that is, on those who have faith. In the context of this Sunday’s celebration, the Holy Family, the focus may not really be on the faith per se but on the family itself.

What is it to be called the Holy Family? We should perhaps begin with our understanding of an ideal of what it means to be a model family. The notion of an ideal or a model suggests of nobility or excellence. In other words, what should the best expression of a family that has faith in God be like?

In a way, our perception of the Holy Family is derived from present experiences of celebrities and personalities. It feels like the way we appreciate holiness is to begin with the all too familiar experience of dysfunctionality. We have Joseph, the silent type who did not want anything to do with a younger woman pregnant with a child not from him. Mary conceived a child out of wedlock. Jesus lived with His parents until He was 30 and then became an itinerant preacher. Somehow there is comfort when the Holy Family looks less holy and more like us.

Such a description reveals that our definition does not begin with a call but rather a mirroring. Perhaps it explains our mediocrity more than anything else. Holy is considered too holy or out of reach for most of us. Sadly, one of the excuses we hear all too frequently is that the models of personal holiness encountered in Church are hypocritical and Pharisaical. If not, the holiness of saints, judging by the iconography is rather insipid or lifeless. Imagine statues and images of St Joseph holding lilies, never mind that the flowers symbolise his purity and abstinence. In defining the Holy Family through our experiences, in trying to make them identify with us, we may have settled on mediocrity in the matter of holiness.

While it may be true that the circumstances surrounding the Holy Family resemble many typical families, the truth is, unwittingly we may have replaced beauty with ugliness. Thus, the Holy Family is not an ideal to strive for, as we are more comfortable defining them according to our moral state of being. Since we are unable to ascent the steep incline to holiness, we are more likely to shape holiness according to our poor standards. Across the board we can recognise this turning in on ourselves. In fact, we desire a Church that reflects our sensibilities rather than a Church, like a good mother, challenging us to a higher moral standard.

The Holy Family is like us but we are not the standard. They still remain the measure for our families. The circumstances affecting Joseph, Mary and Jesus have shown us that the climb to holiness is hard work. Joseph despite his reservation took on the mantle of fatherhood for Jesus born of Mary. In all the travails from the Annunciation to the Resurrection, Mary is measured by one thing. She pondered everything in her heart. She must have had many experiences but never once did she step away from the will of God. This is why the Holy Family is holy.

In being the Holy Family, the greatest challenge that Joseph, Mary and Jesus posed to us is how we want to define a family. What is a family? In as much as we attempt to make dysfunctionality the model for the Holy Family, we will find ourselves struggling to define what marriage is and what it is supposed to consist of. We also find ourselves agonising over what a family is. The Catechism is quite clear on this matter that “a man and a woman united in marriage, together with their children, form a family”. (CCC2202). This definition is increasingly challenged by what is seemingly a progressive society that measures “improvement” from the perspective of accommodating any permutations possible in the way we arrange human relationships. Anyone who dares question the morality of possibility will be judged as uncompassionate. The present moral code stands as anything which is possible should be permitted and it does feel like that some parts of the Church are already giving in to the secular[1] definition of marriage and family.

The idea that celebrates Mary as an unwed mother is not correct because she conceived at a time when she was already betrothed to Joseph which meant that he too played a role in the Incarnation of the Son of God. In the context of marriage, God chose a proper family for His Son to be born into. Christ was born into a family where motherhood and fatherhood are part of His human experience.

The Holy Family is not holy simply because of who they are. Jesus is the Son of God, sure. He is by nature, holy. Mary is conceived without Original Sin, sure. She is holy by grace. Joseph is a good father, sure. He is a holy and honourable man. No, they are holy not because of who they are. They became holy because in their lives, they strained and strove to do the will of God the Father. Rightly so, the Church proposes the Holy Family as the ideal for our contemplation because they may resemble us but there is more to their resemblance. By their faith they point us in the direction of God to whom their holiness is modelled on.



[1] I dare not even use the word “unholy”. That is how fearful one must be of the thought-police.

Christmas Mass of the Day Year B 25th Dec 2023

We have arrived at the “final” Mass for the Solemnity of Christmas. The Vigil last evening was the first of four Masses. Each Mass has been allocated its own set of readings to assist us in contemplating Christ’s birth. The Vigil taken from Matthew’s Gospel focused on the genealogy of Christ. The Midnight Mass spoke of Christ’s humble birth through Luke’s Gospel. The Mass at Dawn continues with the narrative surrounding the birth of Christ that ended with the Shepherd’s visit. The Mass of the Day with its Gospel from John makes the connexion creation and God’s salvific action through the Incarnation. At the same time it also highlights the true cost of discipleship.

The evangelist John does not have the Infancy Narratives that are found in both Matthew and Luke. The language is poetic but more than that, it is spiritually symbolic because it copies the Book of Genesis by using the same words, “In the beginning…”. The Evangelist draws us into the drama of creation by bringing us back even before the advent of time to illustrate that the Logos, already present when time and space were created, is now the Word made flesh.

The Evangelist quickly introduces the Baptist whose sole purpose was simply to be the precursor to the Light. Before the Word was made flesh, the humanity only knew the Laws. As the 2nd Reading reminds us, if in the past God spoke to us through the Prophets, He now speaks to us through His Son.

There is not a hint of sentimentality in the 4th Gospel but it is still most powerful because it goes into the very purpose of Christ’ birth at Christmas. Jesus is how the Father would speak to us and to those who accept Him, He gives power to become His children. In Christ, we have a secure path to the Father because no one has seen the Father except the Word made visible.

Caught up in the celebration, we might have difficulties appreciating that God has spoken to us through His Son. Thus, if we remove all the partying and the Christmas paraphernalia prior to 25th Dec, we may be able to appreciate better what Christmas stands for. Why? For even 24th Dec remains a part of Advent, the period that prepares for Christ’s birth and properly the season of Christmas begins only on 25th itself. How many of us can wait until 25th itself to begin our Christmas celebration? Practically nobody and in fact, by today, Christmas proper, many of us would have had enough—drinks, food and parties. Some malls are already dismantling their Christmas décor in favour of Chinese New Year trinkets.

What is most jolting are some of the days organised after Christmas. Tomorrow is the Mass of St Stephen. In every sense of the word, he is called Proto-Martyr. It is true that he was stoned to death post-Easter but right after Christmas the Church commemorates St Stephen, sending a loud and clear message on the link between Christmas and discipleship. To become children of the Father and brothers and sisters to Christ, the cost of discipleship is real. In fact, just three days after Christmas and two days after St Stephen’s, we encounter the “comites Christi”, (companions of Christ) the Holy Innocents whose very short lives gave unique witness to Christ.

Fun and frolic belong with Christmas. We ought to celebrate Christ’s birth because the Bridegroom is with us. But Jesus Himself told the Disciples, the days of fasting will come when the Bridegroom will be taken away. If we play hard, then we should remember to pray hard, that is, by keeping an eye on Christ for Who He is and what He represents. He is the Light that shines in darkness. And we must never forget how pervasive the darkness of sin can be. Even then, we should be prepared to follow the footsteps of John the Baptist in bearing His light and bringing His love to others through our witnessing meaning that sometimes we may even have to pay with our very own lives. But losing our lives is not a loss. Instead, martyrdom is a gain as St Irenaeus used to say, “God did not tell us to follow Him because He needed our help, but because He knew that loving Him would make us whole”. The real value of Christmas is counting the cost of the Cross, the true price of discipleship. Enjoy life because it is a gift to us but always keep close to Christ and His Cross.

Christmas Midnight Mass Year B 24th Dec 2023

The liturgy close to midnight celebrates the birth of the Son of God. The Gospel taken from Luke narrates the occasion of Christ’s birth in Bethlehem. It was not only a stupendous event but importantly, it was one that fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy. For today is born for us a Saviour. Rightly so, the Responsorial Psalm acknowledges that the Saviour is Christ the Lord.

So close to Christmas proper, the darkness rejoices at the birth of Jesus. Recently, Times Square in New York City took up the Nativity scene with surrounding screens projecting a panoramic video leading to Bethlehem. It was captivating to watch shoppers stopped in their tracks, more so with Silent Night as the background carol. It sent out a comforting vibe because the birth of God’s Son seemed to pierce through even the most hardened shield of rabid consumerism. It exuded a soothing reassurance that Christ’s light has not been in any way dimmed.

The scene at Times Square felt as good as in the past when Scripture exulted: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light and on those who dwelt in endless gloom a light has come. For a child is born this day. Rejoice. Rejoice. Daughters of Zion awake. The glory of God is near”.

We may not be fully aware of what Christmas stands for. Somehow, there is a qualitative difference in how we appreciate Easter and Christmas. Easter is the central Solemnity of the Church. Without a doubt it is the Solemnity of Solemnities. In fact, our ordinary week is patterned after Easter which explains why every Friday is a day of abstinence (except when a solemnity falls on that day) and that each Sunday is a mini-Easter. Yet Christmas gets all the glamour. We may prepare for Easter through Lenten practices but we go all out for Christmas. Nobody changes the decor of the house for Easter but we bedazzle the senses with the glitz and the gleam of Christmas frills and fuss.

Glitz and glamour, parties and presents have a way of limiting our vision of Christmas. We most certainly curb our horizon when we focus on Christmas as simply a historical commemoration. That He came to us has a rather passé perception when we remember that event as a happening in the past. However, He is born for us TODAY expands our vision giving us a sense that He is as present to us NOW even though He was born in the past.

Mass at Midnight expresses the Mystery of the Incarnation that goes beyond the anniversary of Christ’s birth. Indeed a Saviour is born today points to Christ’s birth in the past and through His birth, it refers to the salvation that He has initiated. However, the description or designation of His birth “TODAY” means that it is still ongoing. In other words, even though the sacrificial act of Christ’s redemption of humanity took place at a definite time, the Incarnation at the Annunciation and the subsequent birth of the Saviour at Christmas broke the barriers of time and space so that He can be with us and we can have access to Him today. Christmas is deeply a celebration of the True Presence of Christ, the Word made flesh.

In conclusion, we are good at celebration. No doubt we excel in fun and living it up. Eat, drink and be merry. But we should be better at discipleship. Christ showed us the perfect example. While He feasted with men, He also fasted. He came and we rightly celebrate His birthday. We feel good. But He came so that we can be good too. To feel good and to be good, though related, can be miles apart. The 2nd Reading is our clue and instruction. To feel good is quite straightforward and rather uncomplicated. However, in order to be good, we have to give up everything that does not lead to God. We restrain ourselves in order to live good and religious lives. To be good is as simple as “giving up everything that does not lead to God”. Easier said than done. Everyone knows that to be good takes an entire lifetime.

He is born TODAY makes Christmas a season of strength. In the midst of having a good time, the vocation is to be good. His coming as Man is our lifeline to His strength to be good disciples for He is also Mighty God. Every Christmas, we are reminded that His reign will never end. The Prince of Peace is here to stay and therefore we can draw grace and strength from Him to be good. The most powerful access to Him are His Sacraments. Blessed Christmas and be good.

Christmas Vigil Mass Year B 24th Dec 2023

We begin with the end. In Matthew 28: 20, in Galilee at the appointed mountain, the Evangelist concludes the Gospel with the promise of Jesus Himself that He would be with the Church until the end of time. Tonight, Matthew’s genealogy which meanders through characters and plots is truly a testament of God’s promise to be “Emmanuel”, that is, to be with us. Jesus fulfils the promise made to Israel and from Israel to the world.

As the night skies over Gaza light up with bombs and while the military strikes continue in Ukraine, we might ask ourselves how present God is to humanity when at the moment that Christ’s birth is celebrated, the world seems to be tethering on the brink of global annihilation.

In this moment of uncertainty and confusion, the Gospel today is our source of hope. When our tired and harassed spirits look for rest from the relentless struggles surrounding the world, we should contemplate the genealogy. It is through Joseph’s ancestry that we come to know that the Child, born of Mary, is the one who will save us from our sins. The list of names in Jesus’ ancestry reads like a litany sinners rather than a litany of saints. Through these colourful characters, the genealogy truly represents the history of a God who is forever the faithful Saviour. The messy imperfection reflected in the family tree is a strong reminder that we should never give up hope. Whatever struggles we have in our family’s past, with ourselves in our concrete present and in our encounters with the world, we can hold onto Christ.

In the context of hope as we cling onto our Lord, what the Vigil Mass teaches most is the value of praying. A vigil is a time of patient waiting for the Lord to make known His salvation. What is patient waiting if not prayer? It is not easy because we are used to a sort of mechanical and logical thinking. We expect life to behave like it is a well-oiled machine when in reality, life does not always obey logic. On the contrary, what the genealogy of Jesus has revealed is how unwieldy life can be. What makes life less tolerable or harder to bear is a confusion and an expectation that we have imported into our spiritual world.

As more of normal everyday existence is organised by artificial intelligence, we have come to expect that the concept of immediate result or instant solution can be applied to life. What we demand in life is exemplified by the electrical switch. Clap your hands and the light is turned on. Press a switch and the coffee is brewed. Turn on the tap and water flows out. The expectation of immediacy can actually deepen our anxiety or as the Teochews call it, “pek chek”. When solutions are not immediate, one is easily overwhelmed and afflicted by minor complications that one becomes depressed and gives up hope. We are readily affected by inconvenience. The proof is how we complain but most of all, how one simply stops praying. How many of us have given up praying because the solution is not immediate? Why pray when nothing seems to work?

We assume that life should follow a mechanical trajectory or that it should always be smooth sailing. More so when we pray. We have come to expect that God will bend to our will and things must turn out well. But Christ’s ancestral history reveals an important truth. Life is definitely messed up and nobody is born without a history. And crucially, when we find ourselves in such Prayers might not solve our problems because they do not guarantee solutions. Yet, no matter how dire a situation can be, darkness cannot overcome the Light. In fact, darkness has never overcome the Light. Considering the numerous flaws of the kings and leaders of Israel, what is crucial to note is that every single character is a milestone along the path of salvation. Each ancestor of Christ was a witness to the history of salvation—each one stood as a solid reminder that creation, since the beginning of time, has been waiting for the Saviour to come.

Indeed, our wait is coming to an end. The Vigil beckons us to place our trust in God who will keep His promise to us. What we need to do, and do constantly, is to keep praying as St Paul had counselled. If peace eludes or escapes the world, then it just means more prayers are needed for the cosmos to recognise, acknowledge and accept the Prince of Peace. However, we pray not only for answers but also for the patience to wait for God to reveal His salvation. In any situation which is difficult and tough, more prayers are needed, not less, for the clarity of God’s light to shine through.

The Vigil signals that the end is in sight. God’s love through the birth of the Saviour shows forth His great love for humanity. So, today, as we enter into the spirit of Christmas, we dare to rejoice because God is in charge. We are joyful because God will prevail. We are exultant in appreciation and joyful in praise because Christ, the true Holy Communion between God and humanity, is born tonight. We are happy because the God who is with us is also the God who saves us.

4th Sunday of Advent Year B 2023

Last Sunday the focus was still on John the Baptist. Today the spotlight lands on Mary. Later in the evening and much later into the night, the stage belongs to Jesus. What can be said about Mary in the drama surrounding the incarnation and the birth of Christ? Since Mary is at the centre of the Annunciation, the Gospel is rightly taken from Luke.

Both John and Mary prepare for the coming of the Messiah. Through the figure of John the Baptiser, we are reminded that we can be so jaded as to be unawares that Christ is already amongst us. Through Mary, we are shown what our response should be to the Lord when He comes.

In the 1st Reading, King David felt that he needed to remedy a situation. Moved with devotion, David intended to render to his Lord God an abode befitting His honour. The Lord did not reject David’s good intentions. Instead, He furthered David’s response through a promise. In other words, David, rather than rushing off to prove his love for God was given a promise of the future, one which would be time-proof. A temple can surely decay or be destroyed but God’s promised future will stand the test of time. David’s great temple would be a living Ark of the Covenant.

David’s desire and God’s promise remind us that there exists an unequal relationship between God and man but it is definitely one which opens up to great possibilities. Therefore, when the angel appeared to Mary to announce the birth of God’s Son, Mary’s question was unlike Zechariah’s. The old man had asked for proof of Elizabeth’s pregnancy. Whereas Mary’s “How can it be since I am a Virgin?”, was a question that opened up the possible.

Mary’s question actually furthered her desire to cooperate fully with God. In the first place, children should naturally be expected in any marriage, meaning that when one enters into marriage, the children should come as part of the package. Mary’s dialogue with the Archangel makes no sense unless her question can be rephrased as “How can it be since I intend to remain a Virgin?”. Here, virginity should be seen as an expression of self-donation to God and understood within the context of desiring to do God’s will.

Mary’s total self-giving to God now takes on a new expression. Giving herself entirely to the Lord, He elevates her virginity through the Incarnation and the birth of Jesus the Son of God. In a way, Mary shatters the idea of freedom centred on autonomy. We define freedom as self-fulfilment, meaning that we want to be able to live according to our desires. Whereas Mary defined freedom as the will of God to be done in her life. Indeed, Mary’s fiat challenges our modern mentality where the more we try to define freedom as absolute autonomy, the less free we become. But the more we embrace God’s will, the freer we become.

At the cusp of Christmas, both David and Mary are symbols of humanity. While both figures stand for the possibilities of love for God, Mary’s total love gave us the fullest expression of God’s love for us—God’s only Son. Christmas is the fruit of the Incarnation of God’s love for Man. You may know of how a parent and a child play the game of love. One says, “I love you”. The other replies, “I love you more”. Well, whenever we desire to love God, He responds by loving us more. Naïvely or innocently, we believe that we can love God by performing great feats for Him. Our example was David through his temple. But in the Annunciation to Mary, our greatest achievements pale in comparison to God’s gift to us.

Today’s focus on Mary at the Annunciation reveals not only the possibility of Man’s response to God but it also represents the depth of God’s love for us. In Mary’s “fiat”, she became the bearer of God, the true Ark of the Covenant. She alone carried God in her womb making her the only Theotokos. But Mary is not alone. In her response, she invites us also be the bearer of Christ her Son. Her “yes” to God gives us to the courage to say yes to God.

Christmas is later tonight when all our Advent preparations will come to their conclusion. At this 4th Sunday of Advent, we stand alongside Mary, the Theotokos, praying that our preparations can pave the way for Christ, her Son to be born in our hearts, both through our thoughts and actions. That way, we can become truly Christotokos[1] in the world and for the world.


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[1] Theotokos and Christotokos belong the controversy that gave rise to the Nestorian heresy. The original discussion centred on Mary and who she is in relation to Jesus. Is she the bearer of God or the bearer of Christ (the man)? The Council of Ephesus settled on Mary’s title as the bearer of God. Mary is Theotokos because the divine person of Jesus Christ has two natures—human and divine. As such Mary is rightfully the mother of God. The usage of the terms here respects Mary as truly the Mother of God for she alone bore God physically in her womb. Whereas we are not bearers of God physically. We bear Him morally and so we can be called the bearers of Christ in and to the world. The use of the term Christotokos here does not carry the same baggage of the Nestorian heresy. We are truly bearers of Christ (Christotokos) who is both human and divine.

3rd Sunday of Advent Year B Gaudete Sunday 2023

Gaudete Sunday in Cycle B makes a transition from Mark to John’s Gospel. Today we are still focused on John the Baptist and the Gospel passage is made up of two parts. First, there is a part of the Prologue that points to John and second, we witness John himself having a conversation with some enquirers. In this dialogue we find the basis for our celebration today. John alerted his hearers that the Messiah was already with them but they did not recognise Him.

In a way, Advent’s Gaudete signals that Jesus the Saviour is already here and for this very reason we dare to rejoice. Visually, the colour change in the vestment symbolically expresses a tension that we feel in our lives brought about by a reality characterised as the “already and the not yet”. 

This contradiction between the “already and not yet” is observed in the Gospels where Jesus Himself makes such opposing remarks. In Mark 1:15, we hear “The Kingdom of God is at hand” whereas in John 18:36, Christ says, “My Kingdom is not of this world”. Such a tension is natural or expected because on the one hand, Christ’s Kingdom is partially realised in the Church He had founded. We experience this concretely in the saints who enjoy full communion with God in heaven. On the other hand, we are keenly aware that there are aspects of the visible Church that are still in need of renewal and thus acknowledge that the full realisation of the Kingdom will only take place when He comes again to establish the new heaven and the new earth.

The framework between what has already begun but not finished provides space for rejoicing. How does one rejoice? Despite the reality of incompleteness, St Paul describes to the Corinthians that it is possible to rejoice even though there is sorrow, to enrich others even though one is poor and to possess everything despite having nothing. This ability to embrace the tension of waiting for final fulfilment is crucial because our notion of joy is diametrically opposed to the idea of suffering, or pain or privation. For many, joy is indistinguishable from emotional happiness and it is associated with being on top of the world, unencumbered by pain or suffering. For example, can a person be joyful despite having cancer? Can a person rejoice when he or she has lost her sight?

We find such scenarios rather difficult to imagine because the idea of joy seems to exclude discomfort. To be joyful despite pain and sorrows requires that we hold a more sober view of this world. Sadly, what we have done is to have erased from our philosophical framework the truth of Original Sin and in a manner of speaking “photo-shopped” or edited this imperfect world of this wrinkle. In unwittingly editing out Original Sin, the result is we no longer need a Saviour nor His salvation. Instead, the world can go on and on because there is basically no Resurrection to look forward to.

The focus has shifted from a “heteronomous” vision to an “autonomous” worldview. Take a look at how “justice” is conceived of in such a “perfect” world. Especially in the arena of politics, the game consists of trying to find the sordid past of a public figure in order to disqualify him or her. A good example is “Black Face” or having an opinion in the past that in the present slights or denigrates a group considered specially protected. Whenever a past sin is uncovered, there is no consideration that perhaps the person who did something wrong years ago may have changed. [1] The cynical part of me is already rolling the eyes but conversion is always a possibility because of grace. Closer to reality is that the “past sin” is held against the person as if he or she were conceived without Original Sin and that one should never have fallen. In other words, he or she were born perfect and therefore could do no wrong.

In a perfect world, without Original Sin, what need would we have of a Saviour and His salvation? Without redemption, the idea of the Resurrection does not make sense. In any attempt to right a wrong in the past, it would be incredibly unjust if there were no Resurrection. Why? It would mean that an undetected crime in the past that remained unpunished would amount to an eternal miscarriage of justice. Without the Last Judgement those who have suffered and are uncompensated are irretrievably lost. Think of all the Holocaust victims or victims of unjust wards. In short, losers!

The idea of the Resurrection corrects this illusion of a perfect world. It is linked to the 2nd Coming of Christ and it provides a big picture. No, it does not make the world better because it does not remove our suffering or any prevailing injustice. Instead, the Resurrection gives space for us to let God be in charge. If one were to think about it, the current woke ideology and its deformed baby cancel culture operates from a constricted and temporal space whereby all imperfections have to be resolved within this lifetime because the conclusion of this life is a sad end.

The tension of the “already and not yet” provides freedom for going beyond a notion of reconciliation that is fixated by temporal resolution, that is, we do not need to settle everything here on earth. It is this space that allows for us to rejoice despite not having any resolution to the injustice of the world. Or even in the face of suffering, persecution, dishonour etc. Joy cuts through all these and it makes sense of what Jesus Himself told the Disciples: 

“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you”. 

We dare to rejoice because the Lord has entered into this tension of waiting by coming near to us. The joy of Gaudete is related to Christ’s proximity and it beckons us to let Him take charge of what is beyond our control. Joy means letting God be God because Jesus is the Lord. He is coming. He is here.

[1] It may not even be wrong in the past because it was accepted behaviour. Extreme, corporal punishment of children then followed the adage, “spare the rod and spoil the child”. Today that is considered child abuse.

2nd Sunday of Advent Year B 2023

This Sunday, the spotlight lands on John the Baptist. Mark does not have an Infancy Narrative. It starts simply with the figure of John, the voice in the desert who is the bridge between the Old Testament and the New Covenant. Everything about John is preparation and into the mixing bowl of watchfulness, there are a few inter-related themes. Today’s 1st Reading actually foretold the coming of the Precursor and when he came, he preached repentance as preparation for the coming of the Messiah. As part of our readiness to welcome the Christ, the 2nd Reading chimes in with the encouragement to grow in holiness.

The idea of progressing in holiness makes sense since we are making a transition from the Laws and Prophets to the truth and grace that Christ would bring when He came. John humbly recognised his unworthiness to untie the sandals of the Redeemer, noting that his baptism with water would be enriched by the baptism of the Spirit.

For some of us, holiness sounds like an impossible word. Given the innate sense of unworthiness, it appears that we can never be holy or worst still, some are allergic to being “too holy”. The fear concerning our “worthiness” arises because we are performance-centred, meaning that we look at holiness as a box to tick off. In other words, holiness feels like an achievement but it is not. Instead, holiness is more a state of being or better still it expresses a desire to draw towards the Lord. Take a look at both the Collects and Prayers over the Offerings for last Sunday and this. They help us to reframe the way we conceive and think of holiness.

For the 1st Sunday of Advent, the Collect reads as “Grant your faithful the resolve to run forth to meet your Christ”. For today, “May no earthly undertaking hinder those who set out in haste to meet your Son”. Both these express the sentiment that holiness comes from the resolve and haste to meet the Christ.

The weakness of present society is to define who we are in terms of what we can achieve. Nobody should be a failure for life. It is important to succeed and while a sense of accomplishment is crucial to one’s mental health, the Prayer over the Offerings last Sunday and today acknowledge that firstly, everything we are and have is God’s gift to us and secondly, that we have no merit to plead our own cause. Nothing is ever ours which should draw us into an acute awareness that we are dependent on God to deepen our desire to meet His Christ.

Think, for example, of the simple suggestion last Sunday to pray as a family around the Christmas wreath. It was a means to an end but some might find that too troublesome because we are unused to making spiritual preparations. Moreover it requires a silence which we are unaccustomed to. Even though we may be quiet, the fact is that our lives are too noisy. A preparation to welcome the Saviour as suggested by John calls for a cultivation of an interior life.

In fact, the desert of Advent symbolises the meeting between God and the soul. There is a way of creating the desert which has fallen out of use. In the past, when a Jesuit went for his annual retreat, no newspapers would be the first thing he noticed. Then there were no TVs nor radios. The privation (or lack of outside engagement) was to provide for little or no distraction so that the soul may encounter the Creator where one was either challenged (on account of our sins) or comforted (on account of our brokenness) by Him. Outside the retreat setting, this space for encounter was created by what we called “major silence” where all forms of noisy activities ceased and Jesuits retreated to the room for quiet, to calm the senses and also to heighten the senses for a greater reception of God.

Today, such practices have fallen on the wayside. No newspapers? No problem. Podcasts or YouTube are now streamed into the cell (or the hermitage) and no one is ever disconnected. In other words, the desert of silence has surrendered its walls.

Holiness requires the cultivation of an interior life. It is not focused activity per se. St Ignatius defines any spiritual exercise (activity) as a training of the soul for the long run. Just like jogging, running, weight-lifting are all training that benefit the physical body, the activities we engaged in are merely means to an end. The goal is a soul disposed to or opened to the will of God. Holiness is not an activity nor even a series of activities but really a way of life. Activities does not prove holiness as much as holiness manifests itself through every action that we take.

There is a popular adage, whether fact or fiction, that might give us a sense of where society is. “Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times.” There may be truth that wealth and an easy life does make for decadence in society. The notion of a “snowflakes or strawberry” generation comes from this observation. What is relevant is how we are having life so good that we might find it difficult to conceive the idea of giving ourselves over to God for a better life. After all what can God promise that we are not already enjoying it? The best luxury holiday in a remotest corner of the world. The most delectable durian you can sink your teeth into. The creamiest cheese cake to ever roll through your tongue. Contrast that with many who are dedicated to God. They suffer. So, how can we buy into the proposition that doing God’s will can ever bring us the deepest happiness.

Which is why without an interior life, we will always be distracted by the momentary pleasures the world promises. Athletes take a couple of months prior to a major competition to intensify their training in order to be prepared for that moment. Lent and Advent provide space for the growth of our interiority. The voice in the wilderness cries out, “Make straight a path for the Lord”. Next Sunday it is Gaudete. The colour change in liturgical vestment creates a sense of what it means to be near to the Lord. The self-denial we practise these days is not meant to deprive us but to heighten our anticipation so that when He comes our hearts are already primed to receive Him.

Finally, apart from the Christmas wreath you may have set up, other exercises during Advent might help to prepare for the coming of the Lord. First, gather as a family for prayers around the Christmas wreath. Second, go for your confession. Third, if you are attending Mass only on Sunday, go for one more during the week and finally, adoration before the Blessed Sacrament. Take the extra step by giving more time to the Lord because holiness springs from our desire to encounter Christ. As Paul advised Timothy. “Train yourself for devotion for, while physical training is of limited value, devotion is valuable in every respect, since it holds a promise of life both for the present and for the future”.

1st Sunday of Advent Year B 2023

We begin the new Church Year of Cycle B by using Mark’s Gospel. Like last Sunday, the passage for today is taken from a point in the life of Jesus just before He enters into His Passion. The mood this Sunday feels like there is no difference between the end of the liturgical year and its new beginning because the theme continues with watchfulness.

With regard to the next two Sundays we will circle round two Advent themes. First, we are longing for the coming of the Christ. In our case, it is the Second Coming at the end of time which is ritualised through a yearly remembrance of His Birth. Second, the figure of John Baptist looms large. He, who plays a pivotal role as the precursor to Christ, is a symbol of watchfulness and preparation in both words and deeds.

In memorialising Christ’s birth in the past, the Gospel reminds us that there is need to be ready for we do not know the exact time that He will come again. The obvious question is how we can be prepared.

At a basic level, a “commercialised and consumption-fuelled” Christmas, with twinkling lights and rounds of merry making, can distract and lure us away from being watchful. The purple of Lent is replayed during Advent which should actually make us stop to think for a while. Death, a taboo topic, is very much a part of this readiness. As the Lord says in the Gospel that no one knows the hours of His return, this scenario is played out daily for us especially when death catches us unawares. Basically, to be prepared is to be prepared for death because we never know the moment we kick the bucket. A few days ago, a death notice went viral, of a religious priest who up until two weeks ago, was healthy and yet he passed away rather suddenly. Unexpected death reminds us not to be lulled by a false security that life is a given and to remember that life is more contingent than certain. Here today. Gone tomorrow.

Advent does not mean that we have to wallow in sorrow or sadness. It does mean we need to think how we can prepare for Christmas. We are experts at living it up. We know how to have fun meaning that we are adept at the physical preparations that make Christmas feel Christmassy. Already, the tree if it is old, it has to be dusted and be brought out for putting up. The tinsels and the trinkets too. Cakes and cookies have to be baked, presents have to be bought and wrapped, carols have to be sung and parties have to be organised etc. Christmas joy is coming.

While it is right to think of having a great and grand Christmas celebration, what we might miss out would be the spiritual preparation. Think of a home enhanced by the beauty of a realistic crib with its exquisite figurines, a majestic Christmas tree by the side decked with glass baubles, angels and encircles by twinkling lights. While it is natural to desire a beautiful Christmas celebration with family and friends, what about the accompanying spiritual preparation?

We begin with Jesus. You may have seen tee-shirts spotting the slogan that “Jesus is the reason for the season”. Indeed He is to be born in our hearts but will our hearts to be like the inn, unable to welcome Him. Every crib sets is a stark reminder of how little prepared the heart can be to accept its Lord and Saviour.

If the crib represents the state of our heart, then the challenge is to balance our disproportionate preparation. If we go through lengths and jump through hoops to make sure that we can have a great Christmas, we can certainly make the same preparation spiritually. For example, the Cathedral does not have the Christmas Advent wreath. This tradition can be adopted by the family and it is even more meaningful because the family can gather for a short prayer each day or night. Each candle proper to the Sunday in Advent is lit every night and the family may spend some reading the Gospel narratives of the Birth of Christ and pray the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary. This is a simple form of a spiritual preparation for the family.

A more fitting spiritual prelude to Christmas is to go for confession. There is no reason to wait until the penitential service since confession is available before Mass. Even though there is no sin for missing out on the penitential services, confession acknowledges that we need the Saviour. To fully grasp the depth of Christ’s love for us we must accept that we are unable to save ourselves. Self-help cannot bring us to heaven. The Israelites in the 1st Reading knew most keenly that redemption required the Redeemer.

Finally, there are many ways to prepare ourselves spiritually. One of them is to be conscious of our ecological responsibility. The spirit of Christ poor and humble calls us to reduce the wastage of food and drink. St Paul warned us against intemperate living and overindulge. Christmas is not just a season of plenty. It is also a season of wastage.

The result of overindulgence is always dissatisfaction suggesting that we should enter Advent preparing not just practically but also spiritually. The result will change us. According to Saint Augustine, Mary before she conceived Jesus in her womb, she had already conceived the Word in her heart. So, whilst she carried the Baby Jesus physically in her womb over a period of 9 months, she had already given birth to Him in her heart when she said yes to God. Advent invites each one of us to make our journey toward Christmas spiritual so that like Mary, before all else, we can give birth to the Lord in our hearts first. Let Jesus be born in our hearts. The rest is just icing on the cake!!

Solemnity of Christ the King Year A 2023

The talents last week have come home to roost in today’s Gospel. It is the final Sunday of the year which the Church names as the Solemnity of Christ the King. It is a relatively recent addition to the liturgical calendar when Pope Pius XI in 1925, as a response to increasing secularism, instituted the Solemnity. For Year A, we are using Matthew’s Gospel and we have come to the end of Christ’s public ministry as the chapters following today will focus on the Passion and the Resurrection. Thus it is fitting that we can zero in on one of the Final Four Things which is the Last Judgement.

In the 1st Reading, God is the presented as the Shepherd. He will lead His flock as we hear in the Responsorial Psalm. However, in the Gospel, the scene shifts to the Last Judgement where Christ will sit, sift and separate the sheep from the goats. While there is selection, the criterion for judging is based on the 1st Reading, that is, how well we have served like God the Shepherd has.

At first glance, reading the Gospel, we see the King’s rather heavy-handed judgement until we realise that He is doing nothing more than to use the criterion of service. Here the talents are at play. Christ the King judges on account of our use of His blessings. He identifies as the poor, the hungry, the naked. In short, He places Himself in the shoes of the disenfranchised. Thus, to serve these marginalised is to serve Him. Blessings which are resources on loan to us are meant for our service of Christ in the poor and the rejected.

The question is how can we serve better? What does it mean to serve?

This year we have decided to bless and commission the Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion on this Solemnity. They have been called to provide a valuable service in the Cathedral. We often associate service in terms of fulfilling one’s duties. But service is more than discharging one’s obligation. To be able to provide a service is good because it is allows the Cathedral to function. Thus, we will soon ask for new lectors and commentators to proclaim the readings, sing the psalms and make announcements. We also require sacristy helpers, the people who wash, starch and iron the sacred linen. We seek for artists to arrange the flowers to beautify our sacred space. We need hospitality ministers who can greet and welcome the faithful who attend Mass. We want a cleaner crew to help upkeep the cleanliness of the Cathedral on a regular basis.

All these are necessary for the smooth running of the Cathedral. We have all come to accept and expect such services to be rendered so that we can worship in comfort. When the microphone does not work or now the LCD are growing dimmer, we are immediately conscious of how crucial the cogs must come together for a fully functioning Cathedral.

The commissioning of these extraordinary ministers on the Solemnity of Christ the King is a good way to get a sense of what it means to be a servant. As mentioned earlier, we naturally associate servants with service. But the truth is that to minister is more than just providing a service.

In the Last Judgement, the separation of sheep from goats seems to suggest that serving the poor is the only criterion used. In reality, it is more profound. Here perhaps we can appreciate that Christ the King is actually inviting us to imitate Him. What do I mean? We all recognise that service can be clinical and cold. Do you remember the scandal where some doctors, fearing religious contamination through touching, used pens instead to examine their patients? Likewise, the  Cathedral can run like a clockwork. But what happens if it runs without the heart?

Without the heart, duties will soon turn heavy and burdensome. An EMOHC or anyone who ministers can actually get by with simply serving dutifully. If everyone takes his or her duties seriously, the Cathedral moves along just nicely. And yet, the question to ask is this. Do we resemble Christ? Is our heart like Christ’s heart?

We have placed a devotion at the centre of our liturgical life outside the Eucharist. Another term for the Adoration before the Blessed Sacrament is the “Eucharist prolonged”. Each Thursday we allocate two hours for parishioners to come and spend time with the Lord. Now we have added in Confession during the duration of our adoration so that the connexion between recognition with contrition for our sins and the Eucharist can be maintained. But more than this awareness of sin and grace, we are providing space and time so that the extraordinary ministers might come before the Lord. It is logical for an EMOHC to be present at the Eucharistic Adoration because their duty at the altar requires that they recognise the logical link between who they are and what they do. More so, Adoration before the Blessed Sacrament is the time and space for growing more and more into the Heart of Christ.

The ability to perform one’s duties is vital to a functioning Cathedral community. But loving Christ and beating with His Heart is so much more critical. Perhaps when we focus on Christ the King in His capacity as Judge, we may just miss the point that in order to be able to serve the poor and disenfranchised, it is not about more service that we have to provide. Rather, to be able to see Christ in the poor, our heart needs to beat more and more in rhythm with the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ the King.

33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A 2023

We continue with the idea of action and accountability in the face of the Last Four Things. Today, the parable shifts not towards the end of the world but rather fixes its focus on where we are. This is clearly brought up in St Paul’s Letter to the Thessalonians.

The Christian community was emblematic of an inability to hold the tension of being here in this world and yet being ready for the next. They were waiting rather anxiously for the 2nd Coming and yet complacency managed to set in. The thinking was that the “here and now” was not important since Christ would be coming already. They were wrong and St Paul exhorted them to labour while at the same time be ready for the Lord’s coming.

In the Gospel, the three players represent the spectrum which marks humanity. Two of them are truly engaged and they are commended for their stewardship. However, one of them chooses the path of safety and self-interest over courage in the face of risk and self-sacrifice.

It is true that we are on a journey. It is a pilgrimage with an end but the terminus is not necessarily in sight. This means that the journey is filled with choices to be made. Here, the logic of the Parable sounds rather commercial. God invests and He collects the interest. But if we think of the talents not as investments but rather from the perspective of collaboration and gifts, then the scenario will look different. We are put into the world not as if it were a salt mine, to work and pay back. Rather, we enter the world in order to enrich it. The question is how we can cooperate with God in this enterprise.

The measure of a talent is important. Different interpreters will give different values for them. According to one commentator, if we were to calculate value, a talent is worth an incredible amount of money. So, the man who was entrusted with one mere talent was actually given that much to begin with. The immensity of that amount suggests that “talents” are beyond the personal exhibition of one’s abilities as per BGT or AGT. It is much more than “personal” expressions or ownership.

Instead the parable is focused on the stewardship of God’s graces and gifts and our accountability for what we have been blessed with. When we view stewardship in terms of ownership, narrow selfishness can creep in. We might view stewardship as developing one’s gifts for self-improvement or to enrich oneself. Development in itself is not a bad thing. But when we take “blessings” as “ours” or “mine”, in general, we become afraid of losing what we have and the result is “possessiveness”. By and large, the world regards the blessings of gifts and talents to be personal possessions.

But what if we were to consider that everything we own is on loan, would we be more willing to share and sacrifice? The oft-quoted saying, “we do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children” expresses the truth of living on borrowed time and space. If we were not caught up with being entitled, then the idea of stewardship can flow into an attitude of taking care of things that do not belong to us.

Thus, the first two servants were freer in the “divestment” of the talents simply because they were caretakers of God’s gifts. In the end, they went out and got more. If we are able to accept that talents are not personal wealth but their goal is to benefit all, then we might not be “selfish” in guarding our possessions. Instead, while waiting for the 2nd Coming, we begin to see where our talents can be best utilised for the furthering of God’s Kingdom.

In this enterprise, noteworthy for consideration is the widening chasm between the poor and the rich. The pandemic has enlarged the pool of poorer people. And a minority has benefitted from the industries surrounding the prevention of infection. For example, glove and mask manufacturers, not to mention the pharmaceuticals. A simplistic solution would be to force the rich should share their wealth with the poor. After all, the Church has adopted the option for the poor which places the onus on the rich to be generous in divesting their wealth. This remedy is a bit naïve and possibly superficial because what is not obvious in the stewardship of wealth is the necessity of prayer. It is readily forgotten that wealth is also a spiritual reality. The more we have, the more prayers we need because the wealthier we are, the more tempted we are to vain-glory and pride. If a person has more money, he or she will be tempted to acquire a newer model of cars or a fancier dress. The list for consumption is endless because people with extra disposable income are urged through advertisements to indulge in luxury. Again luxury is not wrong in itself. We should not criminalise prosperity because it is meant to be enjoyed.

However, as Christ Himself pointed out, possession is more than a material reality. When the Rich Young Man came to Jesus to ask what more he could do to gain eternal life, he had to turn away because he was rich and was unable to part with his wealth as suggested by Jesus. The solution to bridging the gap between rich and poor has to be a spiritual undertaking because wealth is more than a material issue. It is a deeply spiritual challenge. We pray that in the spiritual struggle of those who are rich that they may be helped by the Lord against the sin of selfishness and be blessed with spiritual strength to use their good fortune for furthering God’s Kingdom. It is not easy to part with even what is not ours or what is on loan to us. All the more we need to pray not just for the poor but also those who have been endowed with more that they may come to recognise and accept the responsibility of true and humble stewardship.

It is a blessing to be given much by the Lord but it is a greater blessing when we freely render to Him what was His in the first place. The Parable of the Talents remind us that right stewardship of God’s blessing, used in accordance with His will, will have a significant impact on the world, especially for those whom God has placed in our care and this will become clearer when we read next week’s Gospel. Stay tuned.

32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A 2023

That we get judged as biblical illiterates is not an issue. The challenge is that we have come to believe it ourselves that we are indeed scripturally incompetent. “Catholics don’t know the bible” is often bandied about even by Catholics themselves.

The idea that Catholics are unbiblical might just stem from a schizophrenic understanding of Catholicism. The central worship of Catholicism, the Mass or the Eucharistic Sacrifice is profoundly biblical. For example, today’s parable of the Wise versus Foolish Virgins echoes loudly each time we celebrate the Sacrament of Baptism. When the lit baptismal candle is passed on to the godparents of the infant, there is an exhortation that they help the child to keep the flame alive until the time that Christ comes.

In other words, the newly baptised child is exhorted to be like the Wise Virgins who were ready to welcome the Lord. As we approach the end of the liturgical year, naturally, the themes inherent in the Last Things, namely death, judgement, heaven and hell are highlighted. We are asked to be prepared because we do not know when the Lord will come.

This preparation ties in with the 2nd Reading. The Thessalonians were not sure about Christ’s Parousia. The Lord did promised that He would return during their lifetime but members of the community were dying already. The point made by St Paul was that no advantage would be granted to those who were still alive at the 2nd Coming. What mattered most was to live as if each day would be our last and at the point death, to give an account for the state of our soul before God.

In the context of the Last Things, the question is: Are we ready to meet our Maker?

The 1st Reading points out an important difference in being ready. It is to be wise. We are heavily information-based society. Knowledge is power but knowledge is not the same as wisdom. One can know so much and yet be totally clueless. Many of our prayers at this time of the year ask for the grace to appreciate between things that are passing and things that endure. Wisdom is to discern the difference so that we are not caught unawares at the moment when we have to meet God.

The truth is many of us are not ready to meet Him. When it comes to God, we always feel that there is still time to prepare. Or given that life runs a typical trajectory of birth, life, old age and death, we presume that there will be time in the future to handle the will, for example. What is more urgent is “now” rather than “here-after”. In a way, procrastination is a perfect expression of unreadiness. Still, we are plugged in electronically and connected, just in case, something significant turns up. We are somewhat ready and in the meantime, we aimlessly scroll through YouTube hoping for something worthwhile to hold our attention.

How many of us do this first thing in the morning, that is, reach out immediately for our mobile devices to check for messages? This instinct has become second nature to us. Maybe it expresses the innate need to connect or ingrained craving for relationship. If that were the case, if that were true, then would it not be more natural for us to tune into God first, who is our source of being and connexion. We can safely say that we are in a period of the post-pandemic and a striking symbols of man’s unease when it comes to meeting God is the face mask. On the surface, the mask signals our readiness to engage the hostile world of diseases. With it, we can face the Covid with better confidence. At the same time, it can also be a token of our unreadiness to meet the Lord. For on the one hand, the mask protects but on the other hand, it is also a symbol that veils our fear of facing death.

The Wise Virgins remind us of a kind of constancy that is different from being plugged in and be connected that goes beyond noise and superficiality. Their waiting can come across as exhausting and life-wasting. But that is exactly the whole point of the Last Things. It is to be sober, ready and vigilant because we never know when the Lord Himself will show up. In a way, creation has been waiting for Him to come again whether we know it or not, whether we want it or not.

A crucial point about the state of readiness is that current sentiments might suggest that the so-called Wise Virgins were “selfish” for they refused to share their oil. It is not selfishness as the inability to be prepared for another person. Each individual must personally render an account of himself or herself before the Lord. It is impossible to ride on the coat-tail of another person when it comes to meeting the Creator.

The current “Gospel of Nice” preaches a message of universal salvation and would have us believe that we will inevitably be saved. The frightening reality is that even though God intends to save all, the truth is not everyone will be saved. There are people who do not think beyond this life. If we are to be like the Wise Virgins, it is to know where our assistance will aid a person but also to be firm in denying help because our good intention may create more harm than good.

In the meantime, every breath we take is one breath used up, one breath closer to death, and one step closer to giving an account of our time here on earth. In the Gospel, death clearly marked all the Virgins. Everyone grew drowsy and they fell asleep, symbolic of the fact that they all died. But death is also temporary. When Christ, the bridegroom arrived, they all woke up and the Wise Virgins, well-prepared, were able to welcome the Lord.

The sad picture is that we may not be the most prepared people and when we are not ready to welcome the Lord, we tend to escape through shopping, recreational drugs, casual sex, excessive eating or mindless entertainment. How much can we eat? How much can we shop? How much can we be entertained. All these are temporary fixes and escapades. After the highs are gone, we still need to face ourselves and God. As Christ the King approaches, may we grow in the grace of readiness for it is better to face Him prepared rather than not.

31st Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A 2023

In the first reading, Prophet Malachi castigated the priests for having led the people astray. In the Gospel, Christ Himself warned the people not to follow the hypocritical behaviour of the Pharisees. These readings make priests uncomfortable. Given the many scandals exposed and brought to light, any priest standing in front of the congregation should feel ashamed. Scandals are indictments of our present pastoral leadership.

While it is certainly uncomfortable, this should give us pause to reflect. The clue comes at the end of the 1st Reading. God is the Father of us all. He gives us our identity. Priests are father-figures who lead others to God the Father. The measure for leadership is to lead others to the Father.

The mark of a good priest is one who narrows the gap between his belief and his behaviour. The deficit in credibility gap remains an issue in an “ever-present” reality meaning that everyone is always “online” and supposed to be “accountable”. Kick a dog publicly and see what it means to be “online” and “accountable”. What more, our broadcast media continually highlight the failures of many leaders. Daily we are exposed to this or that scandal. Rightly so, priests are judged for their failure to live according to what they preach.

The word “hypocrite” is interesting. We have no problem that others are called hypocrites. Just not us. This is where it becomes challenging. In the scrutiny of our clergy’s lack of credibility, our fragmented consciousness seems to have missed a bigger picture. A priest may have had a lot training to become highly qualified. One should expect that after all the formation, he should be able to function professionally. But a person is not a machine. Development and progress do not follow a mechanical logic. Why? Sometimes we forget where a priest comes from. What is his background?

The fallibility of priests can be reflexions their broken past. So many of us come from dysfunctional families and we carry traumas into our vocational and professional lives. This is not an excuse for failure. It is an acknowledgement. The unholiness of priests is also a mirror of the irreligiousness of our society. We do not pluck a holy priest out of the blue. We harvest them from the poisoned wells of our dysfunctional and disordered families.

There is an organic connection between the family, that is, marriage and the priesthood. The heart or the direction of criticism may come from a place of truth or of seeking justice. But it should also come from responsibility. Everyone is responsible. It is easy to demonise but infinitely difficult to see ourselves and take responsibility. It does not make sense that leaders are expected to live a higher standard while others, namely the family, can have the luxury of remaining disordered. To give an example, some priests are authoritarian and clerical. It is straightforwardly simply to push clericalism off as a systemic problem instead of admitting that a clerical priest often mimic his experience of an authoritarian father.

We want great priests in the Church. We want leaders who have incorruptible qualities. The present-day crises of paedophilia, together with sex trafficking and human exploitation, are telling us that there are disorders detrimental to the health and viability of our civilisation and human existence. The quality of family life is deteriorating. Leadership cannot not exist in a vacuum but it can come up higher if we have quality families. Each time when we look at the pathetic quality of our priesthood, we must take an honest look at how flawed our families have become. The family remains bedrock of any stable society. Perhaps we ought to start by strengthening the foundation of our family life and then better priestly vocations can come from there.

If a priest who had a questionable background turns out to be a good priest, then he does so by the grace of God. But many priests struggle simply because they need to rise above and overcome many negative facets of their history. It is not easy. Imagine juggling a vocation with all its professional challenges while battling the demons you have from your childhood. The more we reform our family life, the easier it might be for the Church to gain new and better vocations to the priestly life.

If the greatest amongst us is to be the servant of all, then the readings exhort us towards the height of humility and holiness. The priesthood is always meant to be a service in that direction. Since it is a powerful institution, it is also prone to abuse. But as long as priests recognise that their role is to serve, the Church is protected. St Augustine gives us an example. “For you, I am a Bishop. With you I am a Christian”. In being a Bishop, he recognises that he is different. He has a role to play and a responsibility to carry out. In being a Christian, he accepts his duty to live just like everybody else. That is how a priest should be.

Today, it is tempting to shine a spotlight on the glaring or apparent failure of our clergy. It is not easy to detect the shadows cast by our dysfunctional and decaying society on the priesthood. In a way, the 1st Reading and the Gospel cut both ways. They criticise, and rightly so, the failure of priesthood in the community. In the case of the Church, the crisis of the clergy is to have forgotten what their mission is. Their role is to point to the eternal, to the place where God can be Father of all. We have failed. Our failures challenge our Catholic and Christian community also to honestly take a look at our family relationships and how traumas in the family will have a deleterious effect on the quality of our vocation. It is easier to blame the priest for his sins and failures. It is much harder to recognise the family’s poverty in this equation. While the Church is committed to proper safeguarding protocols, the laity should also be encouraged to relook the role that family and society plays in providing the Church with holy and humble priestly vocations.

All Saints Day 2023

We may be the most connected age in history. Yet hyper-connectivity has created the loneliest generation the world has ever seen. It feels like everyone has a very busy social life if we observe how individuals eating at the same table do not converse with each other. Instead each one is engrossed with communicating outside the circle of physical presence.

This sad reality of how “un-present” we are to each other physically is a good starting point for reflecting on why we are here today.

Our actions have impact on others. Before, now and after. In short, we affect people, past, present or future. It is not a one-way street affair. Others affect us too. We may have benefited from the actions of someone whom we have never met in the past, now or even in the future. This ability to affects others is at the heart of the Communio Sanctorum. “The Communion of Saints expresses a reality that there exists a communion of goods in the Church. The most important member is Christ since He is the head. Therefore the riches of Christ are communicated to all the members through the Sacraments (CCC#947). The Church who is governed by the same Spirit means that all she has received necessarily becomes a common fund”.

The Communion of Saints is not restricted to the list of canonised saints because we ourselves can contribute to the spiritual goods being exchanged as well as become recipients of such goods. In other words, every action of ours is not restricted to ourselves only.

A good analogy for the communion of saints is a big cooking pot of soup. All the goodness in the soup comes from Christ and He gives it out to those who are most in need of the nourishment. What happens is that our individual goodness is not wasted. Remember your morning prayer. “O my Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer you my prayers, works, joys and sufferings of this day for all the intentions of Your Sacred Heart, in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world, in reparation for my sins, for the intentions of all my family, friends and relatives and in particular for the intentions of the Holy Father”. This Prayer powerfully expresses the “communion of saints”.

Whatever little good we do, Christ can take it and use it for the good of souls anywhere in the world. Our loving actions can reach out and benefit anyone across space and time. Of course, we are also beneficiaries of the meritorious acts of love performed by someone else across space and time!

If every meritorious deed we perform adds to the goodness of the soup in the pot of Christ, then a way to understand sin is that whenever we sin, Christ will need to work harder to save us. No good deed is ever wasted, just that our evil deeds make Christ’s work of salvation a lot heavier. Those of you who pray hard for the conversion of a hardened soul know that you can be praying for decades.

In the light of this wonderful idea of what we can do for others, perhaps we should take time to consider three things.

Firstly, to give thanks to God for the spiritual goods that have already been conferred on us by virtue of other people’s loving actions. Strangers help us without our awareness of it. This kind of spiritual communion makes the world less frightening.

Secondly, to pray that the soup of Christ’s merits and the spiritual goodness of the communion of saints be conferred on those who need our prayers. St Theresa of the Child Jesus said, “I will spend my heaven doing good on earth”. The saints especially Our Holy Mother Mary is a reservoir that is gushing forth goodness for all who want to drink. Pray that sinners may drink deeply, from the “flowing fountain” of the Communio Sanctorum.

Thirdly, strive to be a producer of spiritual fruits for others, engaging in acts of love, and offering up any suffering that comes your way on behalf of those most in need of that fruit. Our suffering is never wasted. United with Christ, He uses it for saving others.

Finally, people feel compelled to leave legacies of themselves. They build mausolea and monuments. But in time, these material memorials crumble. So, what better legacy than to be meritorious in our actions so that others can benefit from it. Even though we may be dead but in a way, we live forever by our goodness.

Our “acts of love” send ripples as they join the cosmic waves of Christ’s goodness that radiates outward to touch and save the lives of others. The caveat is this and it is related to All Souls Day. We are able to do good for others and benefit ourselves when we are alive. The moment death closes its door on our earthly life, the only avenue available is to do good for others but never to benefit ourselves. The souls in purgatory pray for us. But they will have to depend on us to pray for them in their journey towards the beatific vision. So be good and do good before we die.

30th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A 2023

This week, we witness yet another attempt to trap Jesus. His enemies approached Him with the question of interpreting the greatest commandment. From the basic 10 Commandments, the body of Mosaic Laws had expanded to more than 600 precepts. But Jesus was able to reach into the seething mess of do’s and don’ts to string together two strands of the tradition that combined both the love of God which was taken from Deuteronomy (6:4-5) and the love of neighbour which was taken from Leviticus (19:18).

There appears to be a priority when it comes to how we love. Jesus began by stating that we ought to love God with all our being and might and that the second love resembles the first and that is to love our neighbour as ourselves.

This priority does not indicate that the latter is less important. To better state, perhaps it can be phrased that the love of the invisible God is expressed through the love for our neighbour. The 1st Reading provides the context of knowing who our neighbour is. The Israelites were reminded that they were once disenfranchised and that the Lord heard their cries and came to their rescue. In other words, God reaching out to the oppressed Israelites becomes the basis for our assistance toward those who need help—namely, the stranger, the widows and the orphans. God loves the poor and those marginalised by society.

We express our love for God through expanding space for these whom the Lord Himself loves. Take for example these quotes by two Church Fathers. A homily of St John Chrysostom is cited in the Catechism (#2446) that “Not to share one’s wealth with the poor is to steal from them and to take away their livelihood. It is not our own goods which we hold but theirs”. He is echoed by St Ambrose who remarked that “You are not making a gift of your possessions to poor persons. You are handing over to them what is theirs. For what has been given in common for the use of all, you have arrogated to yourself. The world is given to all and not only to the rich”.

The richer we are, the more alien this sounds and the more danger of becoming lukewarm. There could be an explanation for our jadedness or forgetfulness. As broadcast media evolved from print to video, we have become accustomed to seeing people die unnecessarily that death does not faze or impact us anymore. Disaster numbs us and when requests come one after another, some might call it compassion fatigue. In the same manner, branding and advertisements have helped to promote wanton wastefulness as normal. Just like “clutter-blindness” at home, we are no longer moved by the reality that many are languishing from the wants of basic necessities in life.

The Church has been consistent in sounding out that the love of God must always have as its horizon the love for the poor. As gap between rich and poor widens, the Church embraces a position consistent with God’s option for the marginalised. God is called the Father of widows, orphans and the poor. The Church in her desire to be authentic stands with God on this option.

The two phenomena of compassion fatigue and lukewarmness possibly indicate that our priority has been underemphasised. In fact, compassion fatigue is actually a call towards understanding our priority. Love for the poor is never proof of our love for God because so many philanthropists love the poor and work on behalf of them. Many are of them are atheistic humanists who have no belief in God. But the contrary is true. Love for the poor is a direct consequence of our love for Christ.

Part of our challenge is that we will always be faced with the existential reality of inequality. When Judas protested about the expensive nard used for anointing, Jesus said, “The poor you will always have with you”. No matter how tempting, the solution is not more programmes to eradicate poverty. Noble or “Nobel” as it may be in this post-pandemic era where more are pushed into the category of extremely poor. The answer to poverty is to encounter Jesus at a personal and existential level.

Mother Teresa is our prime example in this era of global inequality. We are fascinated by her reach towards the poor. But the truth of her love for them is Jesus Christ. Her intense love for Him opened her eyes and heart to the destitute and the rejected. It was not an idea of equality that drove her charity. It was Jesus Christ and not an idea of how the world can be reorganised or reshaped. The way to love the world was and still is a person, Jesus Christ. In Him everything we are and do find its meaning. He is God for whom we ought and desire to love with our whole being. He is man from whom every man, woman and child finds his or her image. He is not an idea but the only Person who can give us joy and the inclination to love.

In the love of our neighbour, the presence of the poor remains our challenge. St James says that faith without good works is dead. Love for the poor is really a test of faith. In way, many are taking St James seriously in desiring to make the world a more equal place. The mistake is to begin with the idea of justice for all humanity. Philanthropy has shown us that it is possible to love one’s neighbour without loving God. The greatest experiment of philanthropy was Communism. The heart of Communism is based on love for our fellowmen. The philosophy that everyone should have equal access to the goods of the world springs from a noble love of humanity. While the principle is laudably philanthropic, it does not flow from the love of God and the systematic failure of Communism has shown us that our love for humanity cannot flow from an ideal because it will lead to abuse.

What we can do is to turn the saying around in order to ground these two commandments. The usual pose is pivoted on “How to love the invisible God if one does not love the visible brother?”. When the order is reversed, it is precisely that “I give honour to the invisible God and love Him with my entire being that I am able to love the Christ who is in front of me. Philanthropy is not “theophilic”. Rather Theophilus, “the love of God” is the reason for philanthropy. Sit in front of the Blessed Sacrament in adoration and you will understand what that means. The same Jesus hung on the Cross, in His love for the Father, He cried out “Forgive them for they do not know what they are doing”. He showed us that our path to a better world has to be different. The highway to a graced society begins with our personal and existential encounter with Jesus, not an ideal! Even the Synodal process will be a failure if it is not centred on Jesus.

It is Jesus. It is always Jesus. It will always be Jesus.