Holy Family Year C 2024

Some Holy Doors in Rome have opened. The Jubilee Year with its theme on hope has been inaugurated by the Holy Father to encourage the faithful to strengthen their faith, repent of their sins and to renew their spiritual focus.

Interestingly, the Holy Father has chosen to launch the Jubilee for the Church world-wide, on the Solemnity of the Holy Family. New beginnings are signs of hope precisely because our Catholic jubilee has a Jewish past. Then, a jubilee occurred once in every 50 years. Its aim was to restore equality amongst all children of Israel. Families which have lost their property and individuals who have lost their freedom might have them restored. Celebrating a jubilee reminds society that a time would come when everyone, slaves included, will become equals. It is a hope based on God’s promise.

Thus, the jubilee was a powerful instrument of social renewal. It aimed to restore society to a balance or an equilibrium which reflected or mirrored God’s design for the human race. What exactly does it mean that society is restored? Sometimes we easily forget that society is only an abstraction or a conceptual structure because right at the heart of any social renewal, lies the family. Society is not made up of disparate or distinct individuals because everyone must come from somewhere.

The “somewhere”, which is the context, is the family. For example, when we speak of Church, which is a kind of society, it is not the sum total of all the individuals there are. Nobody here who is baptised, had walked up to baptismal font, scoop Holy Water, tilted the head and poured water over it saying to oneself, “I baptise myself in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”. We are always baptised by someone. In other words, we are a web of inter-related individuals.

The densest or the most basic relationships are to be found within the family. Therefore, society is composed of a network of families. Go to a small town and you get the sense of the “society” there because it is made up of all the relationships amongst the families who are often intermarried. But when towns developed into cities, anonymity soon becomes a part of our social setting. With anonymity and larger societies, the extended family is under pressure to retreat into the nuclear family. It may be the basic building block of society but it is besieged by various anti-family ideologies. For example, in some places, the state or rather, the nanny state, will step in to dictate how a family should raise a child.

The family is crucial to our well-being. As mentioned earlier, we live in an atomised society in which we reduce everything down to the individual, measured by his or her wants and desires. I remember an incident between my elder brother and mother. He said to my mother, “Ma, I can marry again but you, I only have one”. The statement was not to relativise his marriage as if it were not important but it did bring home the point on the irreplaceability of one’s family member and how important family is to one’s well-being. I am not merely a sum total of my likes and dislikes. I am also a reflexion of my family to a certain extent, whether it be functional or dysfunctional.

We need the family because society cannot function fully without the family. According to Pope John Paul II, civilisation blossoms amongst the fields and flowers of the family. Whatever happened to the family will affect civilisation. The etymology of the word is “civis” or the citizen. Precisely being a citizen involves politics, a city (or civilisation) can thrive only because it is watered by the aqueducts of familial relationships. The health of any civilisation is dependent on the health, not of the individuals, but of the individuals who come from families. We easily forget this fact, that is, whether we like it or not, we are a web of clans and tribes. When we forget that society is family, meaning that relationships characterise us, then it becomes easy to forget those who are weak and vulnerable amongst us—the unborn, the elderly and those with no access to decent human services. Dysfunctionality in the family weakens a society’s well-being.

Every society is an aggregation of families. Therefore, when we speak of restoration, it is not merely a restoration of an individual. The Sacrament of Confession is a perfect example of what it means to be restored. “I stole”. Nobody steals from nobody. We always steal from somebody. There is no such a thing as a sin which does not hurt someone. Every sin hurts and destroys the fabric of society. Through the Sacrament of Confession, we are restored in our relationships, thus, revealing how important relationships are to our health, physical, psychological and spiritual.

As we enter into the experience of the Jubilee, maybe this year we want to give more thoughts to our family. Much of our hurts come from the family and its broken relationships. When there is no love and loyalty involved, betrayal is just that, betrayal and it is not personal. But when there is love and trust, betrayal leaves an enduring scar on some of us. We are often hurt by people we love most.

Clearly, civilisation cannot thrive when families fail and as rightly pointed out by John Paul II, the family is key to fixing the serious destruction of the environment because the family is the most important environment. In the context of Laudato si, protecting the family is key to protecting the environment.

Not only does the country or society need the family. The Church too. Without healthy and functional families, the priesthood will suffer and marriages too. The start of the Jubilee Year beckons us to celebrate forgiveness and reconciliation within the family as moments of mercy and healing. We get hurt by siblings and parents but the family is where we also learn to offer mercy and pardon and ask for forgiveness when we have hurt others. The Church holds up the Holy Family for us not because they were perfect. They are models because of their faith and their selfless love for one another. Pope Francis highlighted in Amoris Laetitia that “Jesus, who reconciled all things in himself, has restored marriage and the family to their original form. Marriage and the family have been redeemed by Christ and restored in the image of the Holy Trinity, the mystery from which all true love flows”. Our fervent hope for this Jubilee is that the same love of the Holy Family may flow in and through our families.

Christmas Mass of the Day

We have now arrived at technically what is called the Mass of the King. This is my favourite Mass for Christmas for this reason. While the Infancy Narratives of Matthew or Luke stretches back to Abraham or Adam, John skips the details surrounding Christ’s birth. Instead, he transports all the way back to the beginning of time.

There, in the beginning, we enter more deeply into the mystery of the Incarnation of the King of kings. The contemplation is profound. The Baby that lies in the manger is basically God Himself. Through Him all things came into being. Thus, the plan of salvation was already there at the beginning of creation.

Jesus is God’s profound personal love for humanity. In the example of Moses, he encountered God but only through a burning bush. On Christmas, the shepherds were able to behold the face of God Himself in Jesus Christ. The author to the Hebrews states that “in times past, He spoke through the prophets and in various diverse ways. Now He has chosen to speak to us through His Son”. The invisible has now become visible as St Paul explained to the Colossians that “He is the image of the unseen God”. Perhaps it makes sense that Catholics express this reality through sacramentals like statues and pictures of Jesus.

God has never forsaken us but it is a struggle to grasp this truth. “God-with-us” should give us pause for joy. Yet, we are not wonderstruck. Recently, the Pope came to Singapore. Imagine the number of people who went gaga over the Holy Father. A personal picture with him would be a dream. But in the case of a babe in the manger, whom are we beholding? He is someone who ranks far higher than a prince or a pope.

God speaking through His Son is a big deal. Through Him we have been given the privilege of adoption. “To those who accept Him, He gave power to become children of God”. But more than He speaking to us is the desire to be with us. According to John’s Gospel, “He pitched His tent amongst us”. The translation we are accustomed to, like “The Word became flesh” is rather pedestrian. Whereas God pitching His tent amongst us is more inspiring. Picture the Israelite having escaped from Egypt with bare necessities. Pitching His tent amongst the fleeing refugees, God shares their hardship, for He is God with us.

Modernity’s problematic with the idea of Emmanuel may spring from a fatigue which has endured wave after wave of catastrophe. Humanity has witnessed the scale of global suffering that the feeling is rather of the absence of God. Where is God? Why are we suffering?

Our materialistic blinkers are blinding. We are engrossed with pleasure that life’s purpose escapes us. God is with us in all the messiness of life even if we do not feel it. Tomorrow, we celebrate St Stephen, the proto-martyr. Two days later we commemorate the Holy Innocents. Right after Christmas, the Way of the Cross is already revealed to us. The death of innocent children offends our modern sensibility because we have lost the sense of sin and necessity of salvation. The children in Bethlehem may have suffered death in their innocence but they still need their Saviour. In other words, the King in the manger will be the suffering servant for He has come to save us from eternal damnation. God with us is not a guarantee that there will not be pain. In fact, the price of God’s presence is the death of Jesus on Calvary. The cradle becomes the Cross, the Christmas tree stands in the shadow of Calvary.

Therefore, God with us is not the same as heaven is here. When we mistake God’s presence to be heaven on earth, then we will have difficulties navigating through the problems and pains that life throws at us. Creation, though beautiful, is imperfect and it is groaning because it hungers for salvation. Prior to Christ’s coming our human race was disfigured by sin, lost and wandering in a dark world. Christ’s coming ushers in a new chapter of salvation history. He is with us makes is possible to live in a world which has been redeemed but is still on the road to final perfection.

In other words, Christmas is the already and not yet. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says: “Though already present in his Church, Christ’s reign is nevertheless yet to be fulfilled ‘with power and great glory’ by the King’s return to earth. This reign is still under attack by the evil powers, even though they have been defeated definitively by Christ’s Passover. Until everything is subject to him, ‘until there be realised new heavens and a new earth in which justice dwells, the pilgrim Church, in her sacraments and institutions, which belong to this present age, carries the mark of this world which will pass, and she herself takes her place among the creatures which groan and travail yet and await the revelation of the sons of God’” (671).

Emmanuel gives us the strength to live this already and not yet. In the meantime, be always on the guard and watchful because we live as if we are waiting for the Son of Man to come again. In other words, our conduct should be that when we face judgement, we are confident. It is hopeful and trusting that through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus (the already), we will be brought to the finality of completion in the future (not yet).

We have been freed from domination by sin and death and freed for a life in the Holy Spirit. Jesus who pitched His tent amongst us gives us the ability to stand with Him gives us the privilege to call God, Abba, Father. In this time of in-between already and not yet, we continue to pray “Thy Kingdom come”.

Christmas Day Mass at Dawn

I read somewhere about the four stages of life. The first stage, one believes in Santa Claus. The second, one does not believe in Santa Claus. The third, one is Santa Claus. The fourth, one looks like Santa Claus. Some of you parents here may be broke because you are breathing the 3rd stage. You are Santa Claus.

Whatever stage in life, and whether or not you believe in Santa, we can agree that we are here to glorify God. The Gospel continues from last night’s birth of the Child. Closer to midnight, the first of the Christmas Masses showcased the battle between darkness and light with the focus on the announcement of the Angel. This morning after the Angel’s announcement, the Shepherds hurried to Bethlehem to behold the birth of the Child Wonder. The fruit of their encounter of the Saviour was their proclamation of what they had witnessed. According to social hierarchy, the shepherds rank right at the bottom of the ladder. They had nothing. It was their lack that allowed them to behold so great a sight.

The birth of this Child lifts earth to heaven and stoops heaven to earth. One can even say that shepherds who came to behold the Child were indeed coming to behold, like us, the Eucharist. It is like sitting in front of the Blessed Sacrament and adoring Christ. He came as an insignificant Child, choosing to be born in such a humble setting so that we can all marvel at what God can accomplish. He did not come with power, not as emperor or king, MP (member of parliament) or congressman. He came as God to show us what He can accomplish just by being Himself.

In fact by His helplessness, He drew to Himself, the powerful like the Magi and the powerless like the poor shepherds. But sadly, we are afraid of nothingness. Maybe we are even afraid of our shadow. Have you noticed that our Christmas has to be filled with plenty. This is supposedly the season of emptying like Christ emptying Himself but judging by gifts galore in the shopping malls, it is the season of getting. Commercially we have been corralled to adopt a kind of bazaar behaviour. And Christmas has been reduced to nothing more than a consumer’s haven. Consumerism could be a sort of overcompensation for our fear of nothingness and it leads to an obsession with the self.

How then can we be more than consumers? How should we not overcompensate?

Perhaps the English language can help us. It is the word “present”. We have taken the reality of “present” to new heights of materialism. While giving is part of Christmas, the greatest present we have and can give is the presence of ourselves. It is personal. How present are we to one another? What is the quality of my presence to my family or friends? The beauty of the lowly shepherds is their ability to adore the Lord fully present in His humility and helplessness.

Sometimes we substitute our presence with presents thinking that sheer material pleasure is enough to take the place of the simple truth of being present—physically, psychologically and even spiritually. Many struggle to be present, let alone be still. Imagine sitting down and doing nothing? For almost all of us, that would be the definition of boredom. Visualise the motorcycles 5 or 6 abreast and the queue is one-kilometre long enduring the daily drudgery of crossing to and from Singapore. Everyone, if not all, silently gives thanks to the Lord for social media and the internet. To be able to watch a movie while waiting is not “wasted” time. For many this represents progress.

But what have we lost in this unstoppable “march of progress”? It is an ability to withdraw, to take a step back and to contemplate. The shepherds hurried away from their already quiet lives of desperation when they went to see the child. They found Him and they contemplated Him in His humble glory. The description that Mary pondered these things in her heart shines the path forward.

Christmas Mass at Dawn helps us to contemplate the event of human salvation. We are saved by the coming of the Lord. We marvel at what Christ can do and has done for us just by being Himself—God made man. In our withdrawal we gather fruits for the sharing.

However, an inability to step back and to ponder will have an impact on the world we live in. Recently, a CEO of an insurance company was shot dead in broad daylight in cold blood. Some young people have taken to social media to hail the murderer as a hero. Maybe this phenomenon suggests a normalisation of violence amongst the young but what is evident is a loneliness and emptiness in society that provides a fertile ground for a narcissistic glorification of the self and reflects a loss of the sense of the sacred.

Hence, rather than focussing on giving material gifts perhaps we can come away with the idea of making ourselves as gifts to others by our sincerity, our caring and our love. Have you ever as a parent or an adult experienced this? Your child did something incredibly stupid and in a moment of anger you punished your child? Or your wife said something which offended you deeply and in an uncontrollable rage you land your hands on her? Later you regret and you try to make up for it by buying a gift? Can you imagine what your child or your spouse would have liked? A present or you being present?

You know the answer to that question. To be present to others in a lost and lonely world is a gift far beyond any material gain. We can become gifts of love and patience to others. You see, the shepherds were not only the first visitors, they also became the first missionaries. It is not impossible to walk their footsteps. To be the Gospel, the path forward is to move beyond an obsessive focus on the self. Contemplating a humble and helpless Child invites us to marvel that what lies in the manger is none other than the mighty Saviour of the world. O come, let us adore Him.

Christmas Vigil Mass Year C 2024

Some of you may have been celebrating that it feels like Christmas is over already. There has been much excitement that when the event finally arrives, we are already exhausted. Notwithstanding how we feel, the liturgy bids us to remain at the cusp of Christmas proper. It is the Vigil Mass, where we are given a sense of what is to come. Isaiah proclaims a message of consolation for those who are waiting for the Saviour to be born. For the Gospel, we had to choose the shorter version that excludes the genealogy of Jesus. The simple reason is, reading it in Mandarin, I would have murdered every single one Jesus’ ancestors, AGAIN.

History appears to be central to the event that will take place closer to midnight. For the Vigil, we stay with the genealogy of Jesus. Its genesis begins with Abraham. The entire list of names is not a Litany of the Saints. Rather it is a salad mixture of saints and sinners. An important note is that many of them may have been great leaders but even then they too had been waiting for salvation to dawn upon them. It is indeed a history of frailty where the constant remains a God who desires to save. The ancestry presents Jesus as the ultimate commitment of God to the history of salvation. Jesus Christ is the long-awaited Messiah, the anointed one, the Saviour.

At the 4th Sunday of Advent, we highlighted Mary’s pivotal role in the drama of salvation. Now we turn our attention to Joseph. Learning of Mary’s pregnancy, he wanted, as an honourable man, to spare her the indignity of being accused as an adulteress. Instead he chose to discreetly break off the marriage. But God has other plans. Through a dream, the angel directed Joseph not to forsake Mary but instead Joseph is informed that the Child of his future wife had been conceived by the Holy Spirit and given a name which means God saves. That plan requires Joseph to lend his name to the Child. In summary, up until and including the Vigil, everything has been in preparation to welcome the Saviour. In other words, the Vigil encapsulates the Advent of alert and anticipation of Christ’s coming.

According to a British writer, GK Chesterton, he mentioned something about drawing a line before Christmas itself. For him, the very essence of any festival is that it should break in rather brilliantly and abruptly, that at one moment, the great day is not and the next moment, the great day is. It explains why there is a sense of penitence which includes a kind of purification, that is, our souls are scrubbed in order for us to fully appreciate and receive Christ coming at Christmas. This penitential principle preserves us from a kind of entitlement that we are now accustomed to. For example, if each day is celebrated as if it were a birthday, after a while, when the birthday comes, it will no longer be special.

It makes a lot of sense that the Church gives us Laetare Sunday during Lent and Gaudete Sunday during Advent. There is value in anticipation because hope springs from absence of grace especially when one is surrounded by sin. Perhaps this is where Christmas becomes a challenge for so many of us. We no longer believe in sin. Or maybe this statement has to be modified. We are somewhat familiar with sin but we do not think of it as such a big deal.

If the Catechism we have been taught holds true, then the line for Holy Communion should be shorter. Why? When we miss Mass on a Sunday we generally do not receive Holy Communion the next Sunday because we have been taught that to do so, it means that we need to go for Confession first. The truth is that many of us have no problem “waiting” until the penitential service to confess the sin of missing Masses. In other words, sin is sin but yeah, they are not that crucial. It can wait. So in the meantime we get on with the reception of Holy Communion.

Ask this question, who are we waiting for? A Saviour. But why do we need a Saviour if we are sinless? Thus, we have to recover this wonder of waiting which comes from a repentant heart. For if we do not, then our attitude towards Christmas will always be of an entitlement. It is time to celebrate and so, come hell or high water, we are entitled to celebrate. And we will. In the meantime, a season pregnant with a joy that comes from an appreciation of the salvation won for us will be nothing more than just an excuse for us to have a good time.

A good time is just that. It satisfies temporarily but it will never fill the divine emptiness which God our Lord has put into our souls. Our hearts will remain restless until they have found Lord. A good time is great but allowing Christ to come into our hearts is best for the souls. O Emmanuel, You are our King and judge, the one whom people await and their Saviour. O come and save us, Lord our God.

4th Sunday of Advent Year C 2024

The joyful meeting between mothers and sons of last Sunday is carried forward to this Sunday where attention is now shifted to Mary and her role in the work of Christ’s salvation. The Visitation can be viewed as a joyful response to the Annunciation. The event of the Incarnation, which according to the liturgical calendar took place on 25th of March, is the pivotal mystery of salvation. It is so central that we return to it every day whenever we recite the Angelus. It is a prayer that makes us relive the moment that God comes to Mary and from her Fiat, He begins to take flesh in her and from her.

The Collect of the Mass shines on Mary and it is basically the same prayer we recite at the end of the Angelus: “Pour forth, we beseech you, O Lord, your grace into our hearts, that we, to whom the Incarnation of Christ your Son, was made known by the message of an Angel, may by His Passion and Cross be brought to the glory of His Resurrection”.

The Kingdom sprouts from events that are insignificant to most people. The description that Christ’s Kingdom is like a mustard seed may just have its origin from the moment of Christ’s conception. Hence, in the Gospel we heard, Mary’s Magnificat goes beyond the simple and almost inconsequential encounter between the mothers and sons. Look at the 1st Reading. Bethlehem that little negligible hamlet will soon take centre stage for from there the Saviour will come. Hebrews underscores that Christ by His death has replaced the old sacrifice with the one perfect sacrifice of His Body. Once again, God is working to save us.

God works great with small things. All we need is faith. Imagine a 14-year-old girl venturing out without supervision under any male family member is almost unthinkable culturally. The fact that she dared to walk alone to another place is a testament of her faith. The Child promised her by the angel gave her the confidence that He will protect her from any danger. The cousin leaping in his mother’s womb just confirmed it for Mary.

The joyful encounter now hits us. What do we do with joy? On a personal level, if joy is a repudiation of sin, then would the joy of our preparation have seen us going for our Christmas confession?

But more on a social level. Have we brought joy to others? Evangelii gaudium, you remember that? “The joy of the Gospel fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus. Those who accept His offer of salvation are set free from sin, sorrow, inner emptiness, and loneliness. With Christ, joy is constantly born anew” (#1).

The joy of the Gospel challenges each Christ to be good news to those whom we meet. This sort of evangelisation is perfect in a country as diverse as ours. There is nothing spectacular to announce except that the inconsequential visit of Mary to Elizabeth signals that God is at work in every facet of our lives, no matter how negligible.

That being said, we are not talking here of a wholesale conversion. Rather we are speaking here of bringing the joy that allows others to give space to God in their lives. “Blessed are you amongst women and blessed is the fruit of your womb”.

Mary’s visit to Elizabeth gave voice to her benediction. Thus, can we be a blessing to others whom we encounter most especially in our daily lives. It does not have to be something grand. We can begin small and maybe even insignificant. As Christ conquers hearts one by one, so too our outreach to others is always one at a time. What we often miss out is the obvious. We often expect success in rather spectacular terms failing to appreciate the unexpected.

For example, have you ever forgiven someone who does not expect your forgiveness? Like your spouse or your child or your parent? A relationship can be so broken that one does not expect anything at all. This is where conversion takes place. Every day you interact with your spouse and you react to him or her in the usual manner, by raising your voice or ignoring him or her because in your mind he or she is like that and cannot change. Perhaps you take a different tack this time like with your aged parent is stubborn. On the other hand, you are quite certain that you hold the answer to your mom or dad’s health. Maybe you could love them where they are and not where you think they should be.

Rightfully this Sunday highlights Mary’s role as the Mother of Christ’s Body, the Church. Even though she is pivotal to Christ’s salvific mission but nowhere does the Church claims her to be saviour. Instead she is our model of faith because she allowed Christ to take flesh and gestate in her heart and wholeheartedly she shared Him with the world. She modelled for us to do the same. The little spaces which we free up by our small gestures of kindness and love can be evangelical. Start at home if we want to convert the world for Christ.

Much can be said about how sad the world is or how tough life can be for many. What can be said also is how much are we a source of sadness to the world. The Gospel is carried by the joy that permeates our soul and shines onto the world. Christmas is around the corner. You can catch a glimmer of joy in our decoration but the real joy should come from inside us, from the little spaces of our hearts where we allow Christ to take flesh, like Mary did.

3rd Sunday of Advent Year C 2024

Rejoice in the Lord for He is near. That is the general sentiment for this weekend’s liturgy. The title Gaudete Sunday is derived from the Latin antiphon: Gaudéte in Dómino semper: íterum dico, gaudéte. In English, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice”. The antiphon itself is taken from the Letter of St Paul to the Philippians. It echoes the joy that comes with Christ’s nearness and it is aptly reflected in the colour of the vestment. We dare to be joyful even in the midst of our penitential preparation because our Salvation is near.

The basis for this joy harkens us back to the moments of the Annunciation and the Visitation. In the former, Mary is visited by the Archangel and given the good news of Christ’s taking flesh in her womb. As a response, she goes to visit Elizabeth her cousin, who at that time, was already pregnant with John in her womb. The elated embrace between the two exhilarating mothers merely hides a far more profound cosmic drama. The Preface for the Nativity of John the Baptist states that “His birth brought great rejoicing; even in the womb he leapt for joy at the coming of human salvation”. Somehow I still prefer the pre-2011 translation because it is more poetic in expressing proximity for “even in the womb he leapt for joy, so near was man’s salvation”. An analogy is going to a durian farm and as you approach the farm, the ripening durian already exudes the fragrance (or the stench) we are familiar with that in smelling you can almost taste the durian.

Thus, the question is how often we recognise that Christ is near to us or that He is already in our midst. Since He is in our midst, what should our response be? The people who went into the desert asked John for signs of repentance. He gave it as sharing one’s resources, cessation of plundering or pillage and being just and honest in our dealings. We are not unawares that this is Gospel requirement. The path charted by the Baptist is no less than a whole-hearted embrace of the Kingdom’s values.

The change in our life’s direction is the beginning of joy. It is derived from our desire to love God and neighbour. When we choose to love God and neighbour, we will know joy which means that this is a matter of choice, that is, one chooses to be joyful. The writer of the letter to the Hebrew exhorts us, “Let us gaze upon Jesus, as the Author and the completion of our faith, who, having joy laid out before Him, endured the cross, disregarding the shame, and who now sits at the right hand of the throne of God”. Despite the violence that Jesus had to endure, His love for His Father and His desire for our salvation became the source of His joy.

Joy is radical for it touches the core of our being. It cannot be manufactured. For example, today, it has become almost impossible to counsel a grieving parent to be joyful. When people are suffering, we naturally shy away from asking them to look beyond their grief. And yet, the very experience of Christ, according to the author of the Hebrews, reveals us that spiritual joy is not incompatible with suffering. Such joy is far remove from the present notion that equates joy as a palpable happiness. In this sense, we may have constructed a sand-castle that associates happiness as an emotion which is to be enveloped or surrounded by creatively comfort. Every advertisement suggests that. Each newer model of a car is designed to enhance our bodily pleasures. Think of camping which is not what people do today. Instead what is sold is glamping. Glamping is a portmanteau consisting of two words, glamour and camping.

Is it possible to be joyful even when not feeling it? Take a look at John the Baptist. He is living in the desert, devoid of any creaturely comfort. How is it possible that he could endure such hardship? Perhaps it was from that single encounter with the Saviour that gave consolation to sustain him, to be his strength and hope as he embraced the hardship of prophecy and finally his own beheading. It might not be easy to appreciate this but think of a man or woman who has seen someone for just a fleeting moment but from there fell in love and yet separated for almost forever. That person lives from that moment of having fallen in love. The entire epic of the Titanic was premised on that one iconic scene where Jack and Rose stood at the bow of the ship with Celine Dion belting “My heart will go on” in the background. Joy is an ability to live for that moment which sustains us for a lifetime.

However, we have become experts at living out the so-called “joyful” part of Christmas meaning we are good at embracing and enjoying all the so-called fun part so much so that we tend to forget that there is a repentance part too. Trouble begins when we reduced well-being to material expressions that it becomes almost impossible to be joyful especially in times of trouble. Joy, like peace, is not the absence of conflict or of pain. Rather it is experienced as a serenity in spite of conflict and suffering. It is an ability to persevere despite trials. As Jesus warned the apostles of their future martyrdom, “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete”. John 15:11

Joy requires that we live in the present, not trapped in the past nor frightened by the future. A way of living in the past is by unforgiveness. Sometimes we are weighed down by hurts in the past and we continually hang onto them so much so that we do not know how to let go. It is sad to be burdened by what has been that one fails to see what can be. On the other hand we can also be trapped by a fear that God cannot take care of us in the future that we no longer know how to enjoy the present moment.

For the past, we take advantage of the season because it calls us to go for confession. The practice of examining our conscience daily may be a good start before we go for the Sacrament of Confession. For the future it means we become a bit more aware of the heart’s inclination to love the wrong things. When we are fearful of the future we will begin to fill the hearts with security which we might not really need. Loving the wrong things will not give us the space to be joyful and be present to the Lord.

This Sunday, choose to be joyful. It is not a feeling but rather the attitude. It is a capacity of the heart to say to God, I am here. This attitude does not require that we go away but rather be intentional in recognising that we can choose. As St Francis de Sales used to say, “Bloom where you are planted”. John the Baptist bloomed in the desert. May be we can bloom in Johor Bahru even in the shadow of a Singapore that is soon to be extinct. (According to Elon Musk).

Immaculate Conception 2024

Today we celebrate two solemnities because we could not celebrate one yesterday. Since the Immaculate Conception fell on the 2nd Sunday of Advent and because the Sundays during Advent rank higher than the Solemnities of our Lady, it is relegated to the day after. So for today we have two Solemnities. Firstly, the Immaculate Conception. Secondly, being my birthday it is the Solemnity of the Immaculate Misconception. Jokes aside, did you know that originally 9th Dec was the date for the celebration of the Conception of Mary. At least it was in the Orthodox Church.

Is it important to celebrate this solemnity? Obviously it is because we could have skipped it, like some of the feast days, instead of moving it from Sunday to Monday. I would like to approach this Solemnity from the perspective of what the world will soon witness next month: the inauguration of a new old president of the USA. He has already started to form his cabinet. In the process of shaping his administration, each nominated member has to go through the scrutiny of the confirmation process by the Senate. It is a bruising affair. But what is interesting lies behind the process.

In the last few decades or so, the world may have finally caught up with the Immaculate Conception. By this, I do not mean that they have finally accepted the dogma. We have to look at a cultural phenomenon known as cancel culture. What is cancel culture but a tacit or unspoken approval of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. How many nominations have been or scuttled or sunk because of a past sin? How many celebrities, for the sake of their fame, have had to apologise for a mistake of the past? A singer or an actor at 20 years old twitted a racist statement and forever he or she would be coloured by a stupidity of the past, that is, when someone finally discovered that twit. In other words, the process leading to the confirmation of a cabinet member is nothing more than the affirmation of the Immaculate Conception.

Everyone who ever harbours the ambition to be a minister or secretary should be sinless. In other words, even though the world does not believe in the dogma, the truth is the world expects the dogma to be operative in everyone’s life. One is supposedly born immaculate. How have we come here? Such a notion arose from a positive philosophy that man is “naturally” good and he is capable of becoming like god through his own efforts. We can deify ourselves without God. Divinisation is God’s gift to us. The little liturgical act of adding a drop of water into the wine later recognises that. “By the mystery of this water and wine may we come to share in the divinity of Christ who humbled himself to share in our humanity”. This process of deification is God’s work on us.

Hence, in light of this great work of salvation to divinise creation, the Church proposes that only one human, apart from Jesus Christ, in all human history who is immaculately conceived while the rest of humanity is prone to sin. Two points to note. Firstly, that a person is sinful is not new knowledge. Never be surprised by the ability of man to descend to the lowest pits of hell. Secondly, true freedom is best exercised not on our own but best preserved when, like Mary, the creature answers Yes to God’s divine will. And it is this yes to God that begins for each one of us the road to redemption. A person may have a sinful past but no one is condemned to the prison of one’s history. Instead through grace, man is lifted from the darkness of sin into a future of hope. People make mistakes. They are marked by their mistakes but they are never canonised in their mistakes. Original sin is not a blight on human nature. Whether Adam ate the apple or not, humanity was always going to need the Saviour. Since humanity has been vitiated by sin, still, conversion is made possibly by grace. Even the most hardened criminal is loved by God and saved by Christ, if he desires redemption.

In summary, the Immaculate Conception is such an important dogma for us today especially because we seem to have repudiated Original Sin as exemplified by an almost wholesale embrace of cancel culture. As a result of this rejection of Original Sin, faith in the Resurrection makes no sense to a humanity caught in despair of its fallen nature. There is no afterlife because there is no possibility of redemption. Therefore, the Immaculate Conception is even more important for us because its full flowering, which is the Assumption of Mary into heaven, affords us a vision of what is possible when we die in God’s grace. Indeed Mary is the hope of tainted humanity for she is Advent of what is in store for each man, woman and child. She is our sweetness and our hope. Indeed as the poet says, she is tainted humanity’s solitary boast. If ever we want to say to God, “Hey, we are great”, it is never anyone of us, except Mary.

Mary, conceived without Original Sin. Pray for us.

2nd Sunday on Advent Year C 2024

The theme of preparation remains this Sunday even though the focus is shifted to the person of St John the Baptist. For him, vigilance and preparation must include reparation. The voice in the wilderness calls us to make straight the paths of our hearts. Asking for forgiveness does not mean we have no past to amend or to correct.

Christmas is fast approaching and we are definitely excited but in terms of preparing, is it mostly focused on the external? And we have plenty of reminders of how Christmas should look or feel like. They are simply materialistic and emotional. For example, friends have sent me fruit cakes. What do I do with them? Well, I added more brandy so that the cakes can drown in it. As you know, instinctively we are geared towards the physical preparation.

Thus, the 1st Reading is helpful. The Prophet Baruch announced to a people in exile that even in their darkest moment, the Lord has not forgotten them. They will be accompanied by justice and mercy. Those who are exiled, energised by hope, are waiting for God to fulfil His promise. Waiting for God flows into the 2nd Reading. While St Paul may speak of his affection for the Philippians, what is relevant for preparation is how one should be waiting. He exhorts the Philippians to grow more and more into the shape of Christ. In other words, hope is more than just a desire for change in one’s material status. It is also a longing for the conversion of one’s spiritual state.

With a heavily therapeutic cloud hanging over our heads, the care for our health is indeed a paramount concern. Following this focus, perhaps the state of our soul should be a consideration too. The Baptist in the Gospel urged the people to prepare the way for the Lord through the repentance for sins. “Paths are straightened, valleys are filled, mountain and hill be laid low, rough roads are smoothened. Mankind shall see the salvation of God”.

Indeed, the season for a more profound self-examination has return. But this soul-searching is not just an invitation to shine the light on ourselves. In fact, the word repentance can have a rather negative connotation because it is evocative or suggestive of a negative self-examination, a kind of chest-beating self-flagellation. It is not as “Santa Claus is coming to town” suggests, “to find out who has been naughty or nice”. The Gospel is not that. Instead our repentance must come from a positive space, that is, from opening our hearts for Christ to enter. Spiritual preparation is therefore giving space to Christ to be born in our heart. If sin separates us from God, then the return to God signals the repudiation of sin.

Even the Eucharistic Liturgy itself is really an invitation to turn to God with hope and it is more a rejoicing trust than it is a sad personal recrimination. For example, the penitential rite is never meant to be a moment of indulgent self-beating. Instead, we turn our attention to the Lord. Our penitence is based on God’s merciful love coming towards us. Listen to this appeal: “You, O Lord are magnificent in your mercy and for that we ask you, O Lord, have mercy on us”. Contrast this invocation with “We have been bad, Lord, have mercy”. There are two different foci here.

Our penitence is basically a recognition and a praise of God whereas the second is rather “indulgent”. Why? The point is who amongst us has not been bad. At the beginning of Mass, do we enter into His presence by reminding Him who we truly are? Would that be considered a wonderful discovery that we have been bad or that we are totally sinful? The fact is, there is nothing new about our sinfulness and the beginning of Mass might not be the best place for us to highlight that. Instead, if Christ’s sacrifice is anything, the Mass is where we acknowledge, remind ourselves by celebrating God’s goodness to us. That is why we come before Him.

We enter God’s presence not in fear but with confidence in His kindness towards us. Our preparation and reparation might just make better progress if we turn toward God and recognise that it is up to Him to change us. That is why we come to Him all the time despite our failures.

Think about it. We would like to be a better person but a better self is not our gift to God. A better self is God’s gift to us. How to be a better self is when we give space for God to make the changes in us. St Paul is the perfect model for us. He complained of the thorn in his side and asked for God to remove it. The Lord replied that His grace should be sufficient. From that moment on, St Paul left it to the Lord to shape him into a better person. Sadly and this is my reading of l’esprit de l’époque or the spirit of the times. Current philosophy leans heavily on the idea that we are basically good and because of that we can be gifts to God. Coming to Church is simply a good person doing God a favour. Perhaps you can detect this in one particular phrasing of the Act of Contrition? “And because You are so good, I will try not to sin again”. It is true that we have been redeemed but as long as we are here on earth, there will never be a moment when we do not need our Saviour.

In summary, Christmas preparation is still afoot for many of us. Just like the renovation is ongoing in the Cathedral, that is the state of our souls. Change is ongoing. Even as we put up the tree at home to ready ourselves for Christmas, what is central is to remember that the heart should also be prepared for Christ’s coming. Turn our hearts to Christ and offer Him the space that He needs so that we may be a part of the perfect sacrifice that He offers to God our Father.