Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam

Why do we exchange gifts during Christmas?

2007-12-24T11:23:00.000+08:00

Dearest all,
It's been quite a while since my last post. Anyway, I attended a Christmas party in my parish last week and we have this gift exchange. I was suppose to be in charge, and I felt bad because I mess them up :)

By the way, have you ever asked yourself why do we have this gift exchange during Christmas? I never really thought about that until that night. Well, I guess the one that realized about why we exchange gift was one song that our worship leader chose that night.

I believe the very reason is that on Christmas night, God has become a gift for us. He chose to be a gift, so small and so weak. He chose to be carried by human hands, to be in a human family, and loved by little and poor human beings.

What is God's gift to us? How can we number them? Isn't everything that we have and see and we cannot see are God's gift to us? God has given us everything! From the sun to the moon, from the hills to the valleys, from the ocean to the skies, from our little toys to our computers, from our clothes to our foods. Isn't our family is a gift from God?

But more than that, on Christmas day, God has not only given us the Universe and everything that exist, on Christmas day, he has given us himself.

But just as in every gift exchange, we too in our part are invited to give. What can we give then?

If you recall every time we have this gift exchange, they will tell us the range of price to buy, for our case it was from $5-$10. But I guess the point is that we know that our gift must be about the same value as what we would receive. We can't give a toilet paper when someone give us a condominium.

When God has given us his everything, and when he has given us his own self, what should we give in return? We know that deep in our heart we are called and invited to give him our everything, we are called to give him our very self.

Jesus said, those who lose his life will find it.

There are many ways to lose our wallet. We can drop it along the way, or someone may steal it. But we can also lose our wallet by "giving" it. I believe this is what Jesus meant when he says, Those who lose his life will find it. We can lose it by giving it to him. And only by giving our lives to him, we will find what "life" is all about, the true life. It's not the life that the world offers, but the life that God has planned for us, the life of God himself.

But too often, we cling to our lives. Just in any gift exchange, we are too busy to think what we will get, in lives too, we are too busy in what we can get. We forget in the "losing of our lives", we forget that they only way to find lives, is by giving it.

But Christmas reminds us again of the meaning of our lives. Lives becomes meaningful in giving, just as God gives himself to us.

How can we give our lives to God? One way is by giving our lives to others. Mother Teresa said, love must be put into action. I recently just watched a documentary of Mother Teresa. What a wonderful woman, she gave her lives to the poorest of the poor. She was full of energy, she kept on giving.

Who are the people in our lives that God has entrusted to us? Who are the people that God has called us to love? Are they our family members? Are they our friends? Are they our enemies?

Christmas gives us this glimpse of life. On christmas day, a child is born, a son is given to us. On Christmas day we are reminded of our deepest calling to give...to love. We are reminded that we are created to be Love, just as God is love.

Love is man's origin,
Love is man's constant calling,
Love is his fulfillment in heaven.
--Eucharistic prayer for wedding--

526 ... Only when Christ is formed in us will the mystery of Christmas be fulfilled in us.²⁰⁷ Christmas is the mystery of this "marvelous exchange":

O marvelous exchange! Man's Creator has become man, born of the Virgin. We have been made sharers in the divinity of Christ who humbled himself to share our humanity.²⁰⁸

(Catechism of Catholic Church)

This is the meaning of Christmas, God has become man, so that man may become divine. This is why we exchange gifts during Christmas.

your brother in His love,
oka

Praise and Worship (V): Creation in the Silence

2007-02-10T11:40:00.000+08:00

---continuing

In the last post we mentioned that Worship is the self-giving act of God and the self-giving act of ourselves in totality. Just as the temple was designed with different degrees of holiness or consecreation, so is the praise and worship session. The movement of praise and worship is the movement of consecrating oneself to God step by step, litlte by litle, until in worship, we give ourselves totally and wholly to God.

In this time of communion with God, in this time of setting ourselves apart wholly for God, we have come face to face with God. And as we come face to face with God, we can only bow down and worship Him in silent adoration. In this worship there are no words left, only adoration and love.

The church teaches that

(CCC 2628) ... Adoration is homage of the spirit to the "King of Glory," respectful silence in the presence of the "ever greater" God.

We adore God in silence before the presence of the "ever greater" God! And in a true adoration, a true sacrifice takes place. In other words, true self-giving takes place.

(CCC 2099) It is right to offer sacrifice to God as a sign of adoration and gratitude, supplication and communion: "Every action done so as to cling to God in communion of holiness, and thus achieve blessedness, is a true sacrifice."¹⁶

In silent Adoration, we learn to give ourselves, we learn to Love. Loving is self-giving. To love is to give oneself. To love is to sacrifice oneself.

And St. Therese of Avilla once said about prayer

Prayer is an act of love, words are not needed. Even if sickness distracts from thoughts, all that is needed is the will to love."

All that is needed is the will to love. Prayer is an "act of love". Love is the essence of prayer. And to love is to give onself, and to give oneself is to worship. Maybe that's the reason why worship is an imporant element in a "prayer" meeting.

But it is interesting that St. Therese said, "words are not needed". And I guess this is very true when we worship God from our whole being. Just as Jesus stretched out his hands with his head bowed down in his total self-giving to the Father and to us, so too in worship. Words are not needed.

In this worship we give ourselves, and in giving ourselves we are in communion with God. In this total communion with God, we enter into the silence as the Lord of Lords comes to take his place in our hearts.

In the writing of the prophets, "silence" always precedes and heralds the coming of the Lord (NJB study bible notes on Rev 8:1).

Zach 2
[10] Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion;
for lo, I come and I will dwell in the midst of you, says the LORD.
[11] And many nations shall join themselves to the LORD in that day, and shall be my people; and I will dwell in the midst of you, and you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you.
... [13] Be silent, all flesh, before the LORD; for he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.

We are invited to "sing and rejoice" because He is coming, he is coming into our hearts! After all the songs and the rejoicing, this is what is said, "be silent, .... all flesh". We enter into silence as the Lord of hosts comes and dwells in our hearts and lives.And as the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings comes and dwells in our hearts, we can only give ourselves totally in return.

And maybe this is the reason why we all pray in silence after we receive communion. Because in this very moments the God of the Universe comes with Love to meet us, to be in union with us. It is a union when God gives himself to us, but also as we give ourselves to God in return.

Fr. Gino once taught us in a workshop that Worship in a catholic tradition is "silence". Worship for us catholics is not yelling and screaming, but silence. Worship for us is not a state of "high emotion" or the "feeling" of deep worship. For us, worship is adoration, respectful silence for the Lord who is coming, it is a receiving attitude to the Lord who gives himself, but also a self-giving act of ourselves, worship is a decision.

What else can we do before the Lord of Lords other than to adore him? What is the best adoration other than being in silence? But what do we do in silence? This is what we do: we allow ourselves to be embraced by the Lord who is coming with Love. This is what we can do, to embrace him in return with our whole being.

In this worship, we learn to be in silence. And in this silence we enter into the Holy of Holies. The inner most of the temple where God dwells!

The Hebrew words for Holy of Holies can also be translated as "Oracles" or God's voice. This is the place where God speaks. It is only in silent worship that we enter into the Holy of Holies and encounter the voice of God. And so the Psalmist says

Ps. 95
[7b] O that today you would hearken to his voice!
[8a] Harden not your hearts

In silence, we encounter the voice of God. In silence, we encounter the God who speaks. I am aware that many of us feel that they are unable to "hear" this voice. But we often "listen" using the wrong ears. We tend to use our physical and intellectual ears, but not the ears of our hearts.

Sometimes we forget that his voice is no ordinary voice. His words is no ordinary words. His voice is the voice that creates the universe, it is the voice that says "Let there be light", and "there was light". It's the Powerful voice of God that always "creates" a new.

Ps. 33
[6] By the word of the LORD the heavens were made,
and all their host by the breath of his mouth.
[9] For he spoke, and it came to be;
he commanded, and it stood forth.

The Word of God creates! This word of God is Jesus! (John 1:1). This Word, this voice of God, that we encounter is not just a sound, it is a "person". And together with the Word is the "breath of his mounth" (Ps 33:6). When the word is spoken, the breath is sent forth. The Hebrew word for "breath" is Ruah which also means "Spirit". And so together with Jesus, the voice of God, is also the Holy Spirit, the breath of God.

And so this "hearken to his voice" is the "encounter" with God himself. And how should we "listen" then? We need to accept Him, we need to embrace Him, and to allow him to "speak" with the words that "creates" us anew. We need to allow him to change us! This "change" is what the Evangelist called in Greek, metanoia, or simply means "con-version".

And so the Word of God together with the Spirit of God come to those who give themselves to God...and God will create them anew.

Ps. 104
[30] When thou sendest forth thy Spirit,
they are created;
and thou renewest the face of the ground.

In worship, something happens! In worship, as we enter into silence, we will encounter the voice of God, Jesus is the voice of God. And as we encounter the voice of God, we will surely be renewed, changed, transformed, refreshed, and born again! And this is the promise that will never fail!

Is. 55
[10] "For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
and return not thither but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
[11] so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

This is what we are doing in a praise and worship session. We are called to move from our "world" to God, to set ourselves apart, to be consecrated, to give ourselves wholly to God. And as we give ourselves in silent worship, we will surely encounter the God who loves us, we will surely encounter His voice, encounter his embrace of Love. It is the moment when we are loved. This loves "changes" us, this love drives us for a "conversion", for a "change of lives", for a change to be "more like Christ" every day.

Just as mankind came into being when God "breathed" his "breath" or his "spirit" into the man's nostrils, so are we in the time of worship. The Spirit is "breathed" when God speaks. And when the spirit is breathed, our lives will never be the same again. We begin to live the life that God wants us to be. And this is the life that God wants us to be

Joh 15:12 "... that you love one another as I have loved you.

Every time we come out from a prayer meeting meeting, this is what must happen in our lives, that we want more and more to love as God has loved us. And this is how God Loves us, he died and rose again, so that forever he can say to you and to me, "This is my body,...given for you.., and this is my blood,...poured out for you".

Let us close with an invocation for the "breath of God" that changes and renews us as we learn to listen to "His voice" daily.

Come, O Holy Spirit
Fill the hearts of your faithful
and enkindle in them the fire of your Love
Send forth your spirit O Lord,
and they shall be created,
and you shall renew the face of the earth.

your brother in His love,
oka

Praise and Worship (IV): Praise brings true Worship

2007-02-08T19:13:00.001+08:00

---continuing

In the last article we discussed how the Temple was designed and how that helps us to see the flow of the Praise and Worship. The temple was designed with different degree of "Holiness", and the inner most is the Holy of Holies. The Praise and worship is also designed with different degrees of "Holiness". What is meant is how the heart of the people are "set apart" for the Lord. From Thanksgiving, where we start to enter as through a gate, and then we start to gaze on the Lord in Praise, and as we look at him, how can we fail not to worship him? And so the psalmist says

Ps. 95
[6] O come, let us worship and bow down,
let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker!
[7] For he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture,
and the sheep of his hand.

As we start to gaze on the Lord, we are invited to "Worship". In fact, the literal meaning of worship is to "bow down". In this worship, we enter into the Holy of Holies, we began to "set ourselves apart" wholly to God. In Praise, we begin to set aside our world to enter into God's presence. Here in worship, we are truly in God's presence. As the temple was designed with the inner most as the Holiest, so in Worship, we are called to "set apart" ourselves wholly to God. I guess the key word is "wholly".

In Praise we see How beautiful this God is, how kind, and how loving he is. And this gaze drives us to "give ourselves" wholly to God. This is Holiness, wholly set apart for the Lord.

And that's why I feel verse 7 of Psalm 95 explains a lot of Worship.

[7] For he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture,
and the sheep of his hand.

The main thing in worship is the "self-giving". And this is what the Psalmist said, "for he is our God". This reminds us of what God says, "You shall be my people, and I will be your God" (Jer 30:22) . God says that he wills to be our God. This God gives himself to us! And he truly gives everything to us, even his own body. And maybe that's the reason why the highest worship of our catholic faith is the Holy Eucharist as Jesus says

This is my body, given for you

This is my blood, poured out for you

God has given everything, and there is nothing that he has not given to us. And in this time of worship, as much as it is the time of God's self-giving act, it is also the time for us to respond to this wonderful self-giving act of God.

and we are the people of his pasture,
and the sheep of his hand

Now, we are His! We are his people, the sheep of His hand. In Worship we give ourselves to God. And we are not invited only to give part of ourselves, but we are invited to give ourselves "wholly" and "totally" just as Christ gives himself for us "wholly" and "totally".

And so in Praise and Worship, we are led to this "total self-giving" which we find its most meaning in "Worship". I believe this is what Worship is.

If you ever attend a catholic charismatic prayer meeting, you might see that people usually open up their hands as they worship. Some people feel that it is a bit unusual for catholics. But we find this gesture of "hands opened and lifted up" mostly in a catholic priest as he celebrates the mass. How often does he open up his arms and pray! And in some parishes, the congregation also pray the Our Father with their hands opened and lifted up (see figure).

And in the book "Introduction to Christianity", Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) states that this gesture is the gesture of how the early Christians pray!
Even the church has a name for it, since the church tries to "preserve" the gesture in the liturgy. We usually call it the "orantes" gesture.

The early Fathers of the Church see that this gesture of prayer and worship points to the gesture of Christ on the Cross. Pope Benedict then said that this shows that Christ is the true worshiper!

And for me, this shows again the meaning of worship. That the true worship can be seen on the Cross, on the man Jesus who gave himself for us totally and completely.

This is the worship that we are invited to, the worship to give ourselves totally to God. We are invited to give him our worries, our burdens, our hurts, our joy, our whole life, to give him our dreams and future, but also our presents and past, to give every area in our life, our needs and difficulties, our family, and our health, everything, and everything.

To this God, and in this worship, do we give our whole being. Not reserving anything for the "I" of our ego. Just as St. Paul writes,

it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Gal 2:20

And this is worship, that it is no longer I, but it is Christ. I live by faith in the Son of God. And Pope Benedict once said that faith is about standing and giving our whole being to stand on this ground of our whole being. In this worship we learn not to stand on ourselves, but to stand on Jesus, the meaning of our whole being, our love, our God, on Jesus who loves us and gives himself for me out of love. This love, that he gives himself for me, is the one that drives me to give my whole self back to Him in return, that is in worship. And no wonder we shouldn't worship only in a Prayer Meeting.

Worship is a decision, to stand no longer on I, but on Jesus.

it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Gal 2:20

--to be continued

Praise and Worship (III): Giving thanks leads to Praise

2007-02-05T19:02:00.001+08:00

---continuing

As we have seen earlier, the psalmist starts by inviting the people to "give thanks" to the Lord. And then, he invites them to make a joyful noise with "songs of praise". Psalm 100, which is also used as an alternative "invitation to praise" in the liturgy says

Ps. 100
[4] Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him,
bless his name!

I think it helps to see how the Temple of Jerusalem was designed to understand the flow of Praise and Worship (We know in detail mostly the last temple which was built around 35BC, which is much later than the time when the psalm was written, but I hope it helps to give a glimpse of the design) . If you see the plan of the Jerusalem temple, it is constructed with several areas or layers. The outer most is the "Court of the Gentile", then moving inward, there are various courts, and then in the inner most of the temple, there is the Holy of the Holies, where no one can enter, and even the priest can only enter once a year. This is the holiest place for the Jews, where they put the ark of the covenant. This is the place of God's presence.

Psalm 100 tells us that the Jews enter the gate of the temple with "Thanksgiving". Then they come into the courts with Praise!

The temple of Jerusalem was built with different degrees of Holiness, from the holiest inside (God's presence) to the least holy at the outside (that is the world, this is how they see). You might wonder what this means, and how it is related to our flow of Praise and Worship.

I guess we need to understand the meaning of "Holy". It comes from the word "consecrated" or literally means "set apart". So this is how the temple is designed. From the outside, that is the world and the gentile, we come into the courts of the Israelites, that is God's chosen people in the world. Israel is "consecrated" or "set apart" for the Lord.

[6] "For you are a people holy to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, out of all the peoples that are on the face of the earth.
Deut 7:6

Then moving inward, only priests can come to the Court of Priest. Priests are the "consecrated" people among the Israelites, they are "set apart" for the Lord among the Israelites.

Aaron was set apart to consecrate the most holy things, that he and his sons for ever should burn incense before the LORD, and minister to him and pronounce blessings in his name for ever.
1 Chr 23:13

And then the inner most is the Holy of the Holies, where God dwells. It is the holiest place because God as the Creator of everything is set apart from the creation, but the beauty is that he set himself apart "for" us, his creation. This place is the presence of God for the Jews.

Of course, for us, the new testament people, we are God's Holy Temple. St. Paul said

1Cor 3.
[16] Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?
[17] If any one destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and that temple you are.

And so the flow of the praise and worship helps us to achieve the same thing. Just as the Temple is designed with different degrees of "holiness", so the praise and worship is also designed to bring the people's "heart" to different degrees of "consecration" to God, that is bringing the hearts of the people to be set apart for the Lord, to be consecrated for the Lord, to be Holy for the Lord our God little by little, or step by step, until we truly enter the inner most of the temple, that is God's dwelling place, where we consecrate ourselves fully to God.

Let us say it again, the movement of praise and worship is the movement of our hearts to be set apart for the Lord step by step until we come to the full consecration for the Lord in the deepest of our selves, until we give ourselves set apart for the Lord wholly and fully.

We enter the presence of God with thanksgiving, just as the Jews enter through the gates with thanksgiving. As we give thanks, we passes through from "our world" to "God", just as the Jews enter from the "world" to the "temple" through the gate.

Do you know what happen when you give thanks? You start to look in your life, and in your world, where God is, where his blessings are, where you have received grace upon grace. And for all that God has given to us, we give him Thanks! And as we give thanks, we "enter through the gate" into what God is doing, into the kindness and the love of God. And only with this awareness, can we start to Praise God for who he is. We praise God because he deserves our praise.

Ps. 147
[1] Praise the LORD!
For it is good to sing praises to our God;
for he is gracious,
and a song of praise is seemly.

The psalmist says we enter His gate with thanksgiving, and so we start from our worries, our world, our self-centredness, and we turn to what God does for us in our lives. We learn to see what we have received: Love, kindness, grace, and blessings. And for these we give thanks to God. And as we give thanks to God, we start to see who this God is. We started to see the Love that he has for us. And we move on from "the gift" to the "Giver". If in thanksgiving we look into "our lives", then in Praise, we fix our eyes on THE "God".

In praise we start "to set aside" the so called our "world", and we move into the courts of God to gaze in his sanctuary, to see the God who loves us, and the God whom we love.

Ps. 27
[4] One thing have I asked of the LORD,
that will I seek after;
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
to behold the beauty of the LORD,
and to inquire in his temple.

And together with the Psalmist, we start to Praise God with our eyes fixed on him!

Ps.150
[1] Praise the LORD!
Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty firmament!
[2] Praise him for his mighty deeds;
praise him according to his exceeding greatness!
[3] Praise him with trumpet sound;
praise him with lute and harp!
[4] Praise him with timbrel and dance;
praise him with strings and pipe!
[5] Praise him with sounding cymbals;
praise him with loud clashing cymbals!
[6] Let everything that breathes praise the LORD!
Praise the LORD!

--to be continued

Praise and Worship (II): the structure

2007-02-05T18:32:00.001+08:00

-- continuing

Well, in the last post we already mentioned that in the liturgy of the hours, the prayer of the church, the main components are the Psalms, the silent time, and the Word of God. The silent time, in fact, is very important, that they are inserted every time we finish singing a psalm and listening to the Word of God. In fact, Fr. Gino told us that the best worship is "silent".

What do we have in a catholic charismatic prayer meeting? A praise, a worship, and the Word of God. Is it a coincidence?

But let us take sometime to read the Scripture and focus only on the praise and worship session. Let's read Psalm 95, which is usually used an an "invitation to praise" to begin the liturgy of the hours.

Ps.95
[1] O come, let us sing to the LORD;
let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
[2] Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
[3] For the LORD is a great God,and a great King above all gods.
[4] In his hand are the depths of the earth;
the heights of the mountains are his also.
[5] The sea is his, for he made it;for his hands formed the dry land.
[6] O come, let us worship and bow down,
let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker!
[7] For he is our God,and we are the people of his pasture,and the sheep of his hand.
O that today you would hearken to his voice!
[8] Harden not your hearts, as at Mer'ibah,as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,
[9] when your fathers tested me,and put me to the proof,
though they had seen my work.
[10] For forty years I loathed that generationand said,
"They are a people who err in heart,and they do not regard my ways."
[11] Therefore I swore in my angerthat they should not enter my rest.

I am aware that we usually have the tendency to skip the scripture passage, but you might want to read it slowly. Well, maybe let us pray the psalm slowly. I hope we can feel the flow and the elements that we have in the Liturgy of the Hours, as well as in the prayer meeting.

The psalm starts by inviting the people to sing and to make a joyful noise (can you figure out what "joyful noise" means? Could it be music?)

[1] O come, let us sing to the LORD;
let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!

And then, the psalmist invites the people to come into God's presence with "Thanksgiving".

[2] Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!

But not only with that, he invites them further to make "a joyful noise" with ....? Guess what? He invites them to make a joyful noise to God with "songs of Praise"!

Then the psalmist does not stop only in inviting, but he starts to "praise" God in verse 3 to 5

[3] For the LORD is a great God,and a great King above all gods.
[4] In his hand are the depths of the earth;
the heights of the mountains are his also.
[5] The sea is his, for he made it;for his hands formed the dry land.

This must be a tiring one. If you ever watch the movie "David" and see how they dance and sing before the Lord, you will open wide your eyes. David even took off his clothes and started to dance almost naked! (2 Sam 6)

[14] And David danced before the LORD with all his might; and David was girded with a linen ephod. [15] So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouting, and with the sound of the horn. [16] As the ark of the LORD came into the city of David, Michal the daughter of Saul looked out of the window, and saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD; and she despised him in her heart.

Even, David's wife was embarrassed with what David did.

[20] And David returned to bless his household. But Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David, and said, "How the king of Israel honored himself today, uncovering himself today before the eyes of his servants' maids, as one of the vulgar fellows shamelessly uncovers himself!"

Maybe some of us also experience the same thing as David. This is how David answer

[21] And David said to Michal, "It was before the LORD, who chose me above your father, and above all his house, to appoint me as prince over Israel, the people of the LORD -- and I will make merry before the LORD.

It is before the Lord that we dance and sing, that we raise our hands, that we make a joyful noise with musics and clapping hands. It is before the Lord! and we shall make merry before the Lord!

But let us continue. After this, the psalmist invites the people again

[6] O come, let us worship and bow down,
let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker!
[7a] For he is our God,and we are the people of his pasture,and the sheep of his hand.

He invites us to "Worship" or to "Bow Down" which is the literal meaning of the word worship in Hebrew. Then, after we worship, he invites us to "Listen to His voice".

[7b] O that today you would hearken to his voice!
[8] Harden not your hearts, as at Mer'ibah,as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,
[9] when your fathers tested me,and put me to the proof,
though they had seen my work.

And so this is what the psalmist invites: to give thanks, to praise, to worship, and then to "listen" to his voice. Isn't it wonderful! What we are doing in a catholic charismatic prayer meeting is similar to what the Scripture is teaching us! It is similar to how the Jews prays! It is also similar to how the church prays!

----to be continued

Praise and Worship (I): and how the church prays

2007-02-05T17:15:00.002+08:00

I would like to dedicate this reflection for Jesus, to whom we give our worship, and who leads us to worship the Father in spirit and in truth. And I also want to dedicate this reflection for all people who leads God's people to encounter the true and living God, to the worship leaders. And not only to the worship leaders, but to everyone who are involved in this "Prayer", from the musician, to the logistics, and to the people who just come and Pray.

Let me start by saying that, I am not a worship leader (in fact, I am having difficulty to sing in the correct tune). So why would a non-worship leader write something about praise and worship? Well, maybe because to praise and to worship is what God calls each and every one of us to do. This is a personal reflection of what it means to praise and to worship God in my daily lives.

For those going to a catholic charismatic prayer meeting, praise and worship session is something that is common to them. This article is meant to share the things that we do in a charismatic prayer meeting, particularly the praise and worship session. Why do we do what we do? Do we have the same structures or flow all the time? Is quiet or silent moment necessary? What does it mean to praise? or to worship?

Let us start by reflecting on the structure and the elements of Praise and Worship. If you have ever been to several prayer meetings, anywhere, you will be astonished to see that in many variety, we can identify certain elements in a catholic charismatic prayer meeting. We usually start with thanksgiving or praise songs, then after sometime, we start to slow down the tempo and go into worship. And then, certain prayer meetings (a good one hehe) will spend some quiet or silent moment before the Lord. Then, usually the worship leader allows a time for prophecy or words of knowledge. Ah, at this point, usually the praise and worship closes with a song or a prayer which is then continued with a talk or preaching on the word of God. Anyway, of course there are some variety, but this is what I usually encounter.

The very fact that the same elements and structure can be found everywhere is quite astonishing, I would say. It is as if God's spirit is working and shows us what to do. Anyway, my question is "are we copying someone else worship style?" This is quite bothering me actually. Are we, as catholics, just trying to copy some other tradition outside our catholic tradition?

Yes and No, I would say.

Yes, in the sense that we use some of our protestant brothers and sisters' songs. Yes in the sense that we use the "contemporary music" and not a hymn for mass. But I would like to say No in the sense of the elements and the structure of the prayer meeting.

Last Easter, after Good Friday and before Easter vigil mass, I came to my parish for a morning prayer. Well, this is not just my morning prayer. It is the Church official morning prayer. Some people call it liturgy of the hours, some say divine office, etc. Anyway, it is the official prayer of the catholic church.

And as I reflect upon it, I found that there are the same elements just as what we have in a catholic charismatic prayer meeting. In the liturgy of the hours, we usually open with a psalm, called "invitation to praise". The most commonly read or sang is Psalm 95. I will share more about this psalm later on. Another psalm that is usually used for "invitation to praise" is Psalm 100. This "invitation to praise" is only read at the very beginning of the day, and so I believe, it explains what is happening in the liturgy of the hours as a whole.

Anyway, after that, we sing the Psalmody, usually three psalms, after each we usually spend some silent moments. And after we sing the psalmody with the silent prayer, we listen to a scripture passage. If the priest presided the prayer, he usually give a short homily. Then there usually a prayer of intercession and concluded with the Our Father. Then there is a closing prayer and a closing hymn.

Well, I know that's a lot of thing. But basically, the liturgy of the hours are composed of several things: the Psalms, the Word of God, prayers intercessory, and all these intersperse with silent moment. The psalms are usually a prayer of praise and thanksgiving to God (sometimes petitions). We pray not just one but Three Psalms to praise God. Then we usually spend some silent moments after we finish each psalm. Then we listen to the Word of God from the scripture and the homily.

Well, if you haven't found any similarities, allow me to share what I reflect. But I would like to use the "invitation to praise" Psalm 95 at the beginning of the liturgy of the hours to show the elements of the prayer of the Church, which also came from the prayer of the Jews.

---to be continued

My House shall be called the house of prayer

2007-01-02T21:38:00.000+08:00

Introduction

Dearest brothers and sisters, I am writing this reflection as I came across the story of Jesus cleansing the temple, and I was reminded of the desire that God has put in my heart, for me and for my family. Let us begin the reflection by reading once again the story.

Mark 11:15-19

15 And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons; 16 and he would not allow any one to carry anything through the temple. 17 And he taught, and said to them, "Is it not written, `My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations'? But you have made it a den of robbers." 18 And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and sought a way to destroy him; for they feared him, because all the multitude was astonished at his teaching. 19 And when evening came they went out of the city.

We all know well this story. In fact, this story is quite controversial, since it potrays Jesus who were “Angry”. It is very seldom to find passages when Jesus was angry (besides to the Pharisees). And here, Jesus is not only angry, but was rather aggressive. He started to overturned the tables and the seats! He even made a whip of cords to drove them out! (cf. John 2:15).

And most of the time, this image still lingers in our mind. And most of the time too, we failed to listen to the message of the Good News. Now, let us reflect on what Jesus wants to say to us.

Destroy this Temple

It is interesting to note that the same story is told by John (John 2:13-22) in his gospel. And let us see what was happening after Jesus did all those aggressive deeds: The Jews were criticizing Jesus. They asked

..., "What sign have you to show us for doing this?" (v18)

in other words, they were asking, “Who are YOU? Who you do you think you are that you can do this to the temple?”. And this was what Jesus said in reply.

..., "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." (v19)

They were confused of course! What was he talking about?

The Jews then said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?" (v20).

But this time, Jesus didn't give an answer to those people. But John, wrote what Jesus meant,

But he spoke of the temple of his body. (v21)

Well, some of us will think immediately, “Oh, so this is the meaning, he is not talking about the temple, he is talking about his body.” But what Jesus intended to tell is this: My Body is the Temple! My Body is the true Temple! The old temple in Jerusalem will be replaced with a New Temple, and that is my body, Christ's own Body.

A House of Prayer

And so when Jesus quoted the prophet Isaiah,

My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations (Mark 11;17, Isaiah 56:7)

What he meant was more than just a building, or a temple in Jerusalem. God promised through his prophet, that God's House shall be called a house of prayer for all people, and this God's house would be Christ's own Body.

Christ's Body is the true God's house, the true temple, the true God's “dwelling” place, since in Christ,

...all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,(Col 1:19)

And the Good News is this: You are Christ's Body!

St. Paul said,

16 Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? 17 If any one destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and that temple you are. (1 Cor 3:16-17)

And so, what does it mean when Jesus said

My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations'? (Mark 11;17, Isaiah 56:7)?

Maybe this: that we Christian should be a house of prayer, a house where God dwells, a house where people can encounter the loving God.

Man and Woman of Prayer

And so the message is this, that we should be a man and woman of prayer, we should be a person who prays! St. Paul exhorts the Christian with these words

...be constant in prayer (Rom 12:12)

Pray at all times in the Spirit...(Eph 6:18)

This is what Jesus told us to be: a house of prayer. Jesus did not only tell us, but he gave us the example. He prays at all times, at important moments of his life, before his passion, he even prayed in the midst of the crowd, and he also taught us how to pray to our Father (Mat 14:23, Mat 26:36, Mrk 1:35, Luk 9:18,29, Mat 6:9, Joh 17, and many others).

His life gives us the glimpse of the intimacy with the Father, and this is what he is inviting us to. He is inviting us to be intimate with God.

And so Jesus reveals to us of what it means to pray. To pray is to have this intimate relationship with our Father in Heaven. A relationship that is beyond words, that goes into the silence of our heart, which reaches into the deepest of our heart.

Deep calls to deep at the thunder of thy cataracts; all thy waves and thy billows have gone over me. (Psalm 42:8)

Deep is calling unto deep! The deep of our heart is calling unto the deep of God's heart. Prayer is a time of Loving as St. Therese of Avila said.

Prayer is an act of love, words are not needed. Even if sickness distracts from thoughts, all that is needed is the will to love."

For mental prayer in my opinion is nothing else than an intimate sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with him who we know loves us. The important thing is not to think much but to love much and so do that which best stirs you to love. Love is not great delight but desire to please God in everything.

Our relationship with God is not measured by our ministry or works that we do, but rather by how we pray. This prayer, this relationship, is the one that will shine out in our lives, in all the works that we do, and in all the words that we say.

The Cleansing of the Temple

This might be the reason why Jesus became so aggressive in cleansing the temple. Because in God's “house”, God “dwells” in it. And you are God's house by virtue of your baptism, you are God's holy temple.

It is worth reading again from John what Jesus did to the temple,

15 And making a whip of cords, he drove them all, with the sheep and oxen, out of the temple; and he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. 16 And he told those who sold the pigeons, "Take these things away; you shall not make my Father's house a house of trade." 17 His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for thy house will consume me." (Jn 2:15-17)

Zeal for God's house consumed Jesus! Not because of hatred but because of Love that Jesus did all those acts. Jesus was zealous because the temple Is his Body, and His body should be the dwelling place of God, and the dwelling place of God should be a house prayer where all people can encounter God. But now the house has become a house of trade (Jn 2:16). It has become a house where “self-interest” dwells. Now the house has become a house of robbers (Mark 11:16). It has become a house where selfishness and injustice dwells.

How is then the house of God... in us? How often have we failed to be a house of prayer, how often have we failed to pray? How often have we became no longer a man or woman of prayer, but we filled our lives with many other things to satisfy us only? How often have we become a house of trade, with its self-interest? How often have we become a den of robbers with its selfishness and injustice? How often that other people cannot see God dwelling in us? O Lord, have mercy on us!

Maybe we need to kneel down once again before Jesus and ask Him to cleanse us.

While he was in one of the cities, there came a man full of leprosy; and when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and besought him, "Lord, if you will, you can make me clean." (Luke 5:12)

And we know for sure how Jesus would response to our request, he will embrace us gently with full of love,

And he stretched out his hand, and touched him, saying, "I will; be clean." And immediately the leprosy left him. (Luke 5:13)

A Household of Prayer

There is another message in the words, “My house shall be called the house of prayer”. Besides indicating that a Christian is ought to be a man or woman of prayer, Jesus is indicating that His Church is a house of prayer. We have seen that the temple is Christ's own Body, and here the Church collectively is Christ's very own Body, God's House, God's Holy Temple, God's “dwelling” place. And we all know that a Family is the unit Church. In fact, the words in Greek (oikos) and in Hebrew (bayith) used for “House” is the same as those for “Household”, or in other words, a family.

And so, Jesus is even inviting us to go further from just becoming a man or woman of prayer into a “family that prays”. This is Jesus' invitation: pray as a family! My Family, Jesus is saying, shall be called a “household of prayer”.

And these same words have been echoed by our late Pope John Paul II,

a family that prays together, stays together.

This is the reason why this story of Jesus cleansing the temple is sometimes proclaimed in the “House blessing” ceremony. For Jesus is inviting not only to clean the “building”, but also inviting the household in that house to be a “household of prayer”.

This is Jesus' yearning: to see families to pray together, and so be a witness of God's image into this world.

Jesus also told us that

For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them." (Mat 18:19)

And where else do we think that these words of Christ are most perfectly fulfilled than in our family? The smallest Church of Christ! In the family, we image God in his fullness as communion of persons, in his intimacy, in his exchange of love.

Closing

I share this reflection out of my yearning to pray in my family. I grew up as a Catholic in a Catholic family. And I remember that my mom often told me to pray before I slept. Yet, seldom did we meet as a family to pray together.

As I studied in Singapore away from my family, God helped me to appreciate my family and their love for me even more. And every time I went back to Indonesia for holiday, I tried to use my time as best as I can with my family, rather than hanging out with my friends. And then one day, I came across these words of our late Pope John Paul II

a family that prays together, stays together.

And God gave a desire in my heart to pray together as a family. Never did I know how difficult it is. The difficulties did not arise from the other members of my family, but rather from myself.

All my pride and thought was telling me, “What do you think you'r doing? Wanna be a good boy? Wanna change something? They will think 'what's wrong with you'!”. I had never experienced such a fear before, a fear to “ask my family to pray together”. It might sound ridiculous, but that was what I felt.

And so that night, I prayed to God to help me, and to give me the strength. He who gave the the desire will help me to fulfill it. And so I came out of my bedroom to my living room where my mom was. And I asked my mom, whether she wanted to pray together. And amazingly she said yes! And so I ran upstairs to my sister's room, and told her (with some hidden truth) “Mom wants to pray together!”. And she said yes! And my sister suggested that we pray the rosary. Then I came to my Dad's room and said (again with some hidden truth) “Sis and Mom wants to pray toghether”. And he said ok! Wow, I couldn't believe it.

And so we prayed that night, the rosary, and amazingly with some laughter and joy. I was so happy that night. I was happy because God helped my family to start to pray together. It had not become easy since then, but God showed me that it is possible! It is possible to have a family like His own family, the Holy Family.

And so I shared this reflection with you all with a prayer in my heart for you and for me. I pray that we may become a man and woman of prayer that shines in the darkness of this world, that attracts people to the Love of God, and I also pray that our family may be like His family, a “house of prayer”. It is in this “house”, that we experience the God of Love, and it is in this “house” that others too will come to know this Love. Let us close with a prayer

The LORD is my light and my salvation;

whom shall I fear?

The LORD is the stronghold of my life;

of whom shall I be afraid

One thing have I asked of the LORD,

that will I seek after;

that I may dwell in the house of the LORD

all the days of my life,

to behold the beauty of the LORD,

and to inquire in his temple.

For he will hide me in his shelter

in the day of trouble;

he will conceal me under the cover of his tent,

he will set me high upon a rock.

I believe that I shall see the goodness of the LORD

in the land of the living!

Wait for the LORD; be strong,

and let your heart take courage;

yea, wait for the LORD!

Psalm 27:1,5,6,14,15

Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam

-For the greater Glory of God-

Advent, Oh, Advent (I)

2006-12-03T15:27:00.000+08:00

Dearest brothers and sisters,
I would like to share one of the song that we sang in the church today as we begin this new season of Advent.

CHRIST, BE OUR LIGHT
- Bernadette Farrell

Longing for light, we wait in darkness.
Longing for truth, we turn to you.
Make us your own, your holy people,
Light for the world to see.

Chorus:
Christ, be our light! Shine in our hearts.
Shine through the darkness.
Christ, be our light! Shine in your Church
Gathered today.

---

I personally feel that it is very appropriate that we reflect on our "Advent" as we approach this Christmas. And I myself found how beautiful the song tells us about Advent.

In today's celebration we light up the first candle of Advent as we move forward with hope for the full light of Christ in our lives.

"Longing for light, we wait in darkness.
Longing for truth, we turn to you."

Sometimes we are a bit confused of what we are waiting for in Advent. But in the midsts of all the expectation and hopes that the World offers, we are called to "retreat" and to look into our lives. We are called to look into our deepest longing and desire.

And as we journey in this life with difficulties and trials, with joy and sadness, deep in our hearts, we search for peace and rest. We search for light in the midst of the darkness of this world. We search for truth about who we are. The glamour of Christmas shopping and holidays sometimes leave us with emptiness to search for a deeper meaning of Christmas.

And in the midst of this darkness, and searching, we know that we can find the answer in Jesus. As the priest in my church today said in the homily, we are not called to do more activities in this Advent seasons, but we are called to look back into our life. We are called into a reflection of our lives and of who God is in our lives, of "Emmanuel", God who is with us.

It is in this christmas that we are called to see our faith of "God who is with us". God who is with us in our difficulties, in our darkness, in our problems, but also in our joy. We are called to ponder like Mary, of what it means of "God who became flesh". God who dwells in the midst of his people.

And as we celebrate the Eucharist, Jesus said to us, "this is my body", and as we receive Him, his body becomes ours, and ours become his. And the two shall become one. And only in this light and faith, we can cry out as the song cries...

"Make us your own, your holy people,
Light for the world to see."

It is only in union with this Light of the World, can we become light for others. Make us your own, your holy people, light for the world to see. And we all cry with great Joy and Hope.

"Christ, be our light! Shine in our hearts.
Shine through the darkness.
Christ, be our light! Shine in your Church
Gathered today."

Christ, be our light! this a cry of hope. I guess many of us are terrified with the gospel reading of this first Advent. Many of us, would feel unworthy to stand erect before the Son of Man. And I feel the same way as well. But this is not the message of the Gospel. The message can be read in the light of the First reading: that God will send the Messiah to "Save", and this is the meaning of Jesus, "God saves"!. As Jesus himself said, that he came into the world not to condemn the world, but to Save. This is the truth that we have lost. The truth that is often blinded by the Father of Lies, who tries make us run away from the Love of God.

God is Love! as St. John said. And this is the truth that we long for. The truth that will set us free.

And so in whatever situation we are now, let us run to Jesus, our light, and when we fail to stand erect before the son of Man, let us kneel down before Him, crying

"Christ be our light! shine in our hearts..
shine through the darkness...of my heart"

And Jesus, as the Loving Father in the prodigal son story tells us, will raise us up, and embrace us. And with tears in his eyes and smiles in his face, He will hold us tight in His arms, for how much he loves us. And this is the meassure of His Love,...that He lays down his life for us.

----to be continued...

Light of the World, you are.

2006-06-13T22:02:00.000+08:00

Mat 5:14-16
(14) "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid.
(15) Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.
(16) Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Dearest brothers and sisters, what a striking statement! You are the light of the world! Jesus did not say “please be the light of the world”, nor he say “You will be the light of the world”. No my brothers and sisters. This is what Jesus said, “You ARE the LIGHT of the world”.

I was shocked when I reflected upon it. This is a strong statement. But the question that came to my mind is that how can that be, look at me and my life, surely I am not the light of the world. I even feel that I may walk in the dark. I am confused about life, about my reason of living. How can then I am the light of the world?

But this is what Jesus said to his disciples, and we are his disciples aren’t we? This is what Jesus told those who follow him. These words are spoken when he went up to the mountain and taught those who follow him.

Mat 5:1-2 Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down his disciples came to him. (2) And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying…

We, Christian, are those who follow Jesus. And to us, Jesus said, “you are the light of world”. And Jesus truly understands our questions, our doubts, our unbelief, that we are the light of the world. And so Jesus said to His disciples in the Gospel of John:

Joh 8:12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

Brothers and sisters, we are the light of the world simply because Jesus is the light of world. We are the CHRIST-ian; we are the people who follow Christ. And to those who follow Him, they will have the light of Life.

This is why we are the light of the world: because we bear Christ within us. We carry Christ, the Light of the World, in our own person, in our own lives.

This is why Jesus said, “Let your light shine before men”. Christ is our light. As we follow Him daily, we have the light of Life. And what we are called to do is to allow the Light of the world to shine before men.

And this is the sign that we carry Christ, this is the sign that we let our light shine before men, “that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”. This is the fruit of having Christ. This is the fruit of having the light of the world. This is the fruit of walking not in the darkness but in the light. The fruit is the good works. But what kind of works does God talking about? It’s the work of the Christ as prophesied by Isaiah.

Isa 42:5-7
(5) Thus says God, the LORD, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread forth the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people upon it and spirit to those who walk in it:
(6) "I am the LORD, I have called you in righteousness, I have taken you by the hand and kept you; I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations,
(7) to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.

And again

Isa 61:1
(1) The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good tidings to the afflicted; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

This is a Christian. We are the people who bring good news and not bad news. We are the people who heal and not hurt intentionally. We are the people who bring freedom and who bring out the best of the person we meet. We are the people who bring joy, light, and happiness. In short, we are people who LOVE because Christ is Love.

1Jo 4:16 So we know and believe the love God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

It seems impossible; it looks like a fairy tale. But it is not. It is not if we allow God to work within us. Did not Isaiah said, “the Spirit of the Lord is upon me”? Did not God says, “I have taken you by the hand and kept you”?

It is not impossible if we allow God to Love us and change us every day. We know that is not impossible because it has happened before. Two thousand years ago, a young woman was visited by the angel Gabriel who said to her that she would bear the Light of the world. And she was confused as we would. She said, “How shall this be?”. And this is what the angel said to her,

Luk 1:35 …, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.

The light of the world!

Many of us would think, that it is impossible for us to bear the light of the world. But the angel again said

Luk 1:37 For with God nothing will be impossible."

And this is the beautiful answer of Mary:

Luk 1:38 And Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word." ...

We are the handmaid of the Lord, do we allow our lives to be changed according to His word? Do we allow Him to make us the light of the world, to bear him daily within our very person, just like Mary bear Jesus within her very self?

Do we believe in the Love of God? Do we believe in the power of God?

I once doubted that I can be a good person. I struggled with my weakness and I asked God, how can I be what God wants me to be?

And one night I read the passage of Mary and the visitation of the Angel. It was God who empowered Mary; it was God who would overshadow Mary, so that Mary would be able to bear GOD. And what God need from us, is our “yes” every day. Our yes to choose Love. Our yes to choose Life.

And so I decided to allow God to change me. I decided to allow God to show me my weakness. I allowed God to show me my pain and my hurts, and all the things that hinder me from loving. I allowed God to love me. And I allow God to love the people around me, through me. I allowed God to be God, a God who is Love. And I am still in this process of allowing God to help me to Love, to carry him daily. Yes, we all do struggle. But happy are we who believe that God is able to finish what He has started.

Luk 1:45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her from the Lord."

Yes, my brothers and sisters, we are the light of the world.

Mat 5:14-16
(14) "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid.
(15) Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.
(16) Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Go Light Your World
by Kathy Troccoli

There is a candle in every soul
Some brightly burning,
Some dark and cold
There is a spirit who brings the fire
Ignites his candle and makes his home

Carry your candle,
Run to the darkness
Seek out the hopeless, confused and torn
Hold out your candle for all to see it
Take your candle and go light your world

Frustrated brothers,
see how he's tried to
Light his own candle some other way
See now our sister,
She's been robbed and lied to
Still holds a candle without a flame

So carry your candle,
run to the darkness
Seek out the lonely,
the tired and worn
Hold out your candle for all to see it
Take your candle and
go light your world

We are a family whose hearts are blazing
We raise our candles and light up the sky
Praying to our Father, "In the name of Jesus
Make us a beacon in darkest times!"

Carry your candle, run to the darkness
Seek out the helpless, deceived and poor
Hold out your candle for all to see it
Take your candle and go light your world.

Reflection on the Parables of the Talents (II)

2005-11-11T21:23:00.000+08:00

----continuing

One of the best thing that I like is the words that are said by the servants. The first one said,

And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, 'Master, you delivered to me five talents; here I have made five talents more.'
(Mat 25:20)

and the second one said,

And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, 'Master, you delivered to me two talents; here I have made two talents more.'
(Mat 25:22)

While the third one said the followings,

He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, 'Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not winnow; so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.'
(Mat 25:24-25)

Did you notice the difference? What is the difference?

We know that the five and the two talents belong to the Master, but the beautiful story lies when the the two servants gave "all" that they made to the Master. The first one got five and he made another five, but He gave all the ten talents back to the Master. And so it was with the second one. The Master did not know how much they made, but they gave them all.

On the other hand, the third one was afraid and hid the talent. What did he afraid of? The answer is found in his reply, "Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not winnow, so I was afraid". He was afraid of his master. In his thought, his master is someone who reap where he did not sow, and gather where he did not winnow. In other words, the servant is afraid that if he traded the talent and made more talents, the Master would take the talents from him. This is his fear. He is afraid that all his effort would be taken away. If he traded the talent and made more, those should be his, and not the master. He was afraid that the master would take it from him and so he hid it in the ground.

What does this tell us? The first two servants acknowledge that all that they have belong to the Master. And out of Love and faithfulness, they gave all what they made to the master. As the master gave "himself" by entrusting the properties, so did they return what they made as "a gift of themselves" to the master. Why did I say this?

Do you notice that we love to give "gifts" to someone we love? Why? Because we want to share something with that person. We want to give something out of ourselves and so we give them presents and gifts. And all those gifts and presents actually represent "a giving of one self". If you don't believe it, consider the case when you love someone and you give something that is precious to that person, yet the person does not even want to accept it. What would you feel? Part of you is rejected. This is because when you give that gifts, you actually give some part of your lives.

And as the master gave himself, so the two servants gave themselves back to the master by growing what the master gave. No wonder the master said

... enter into the joy of your master.'
(Mat 25:21,23)

He even wanted to share His own Joy.

The third servant, however, refused to give himself back to the master. He made a distinction of what was his and what was his master's. He not only refused to give, he even refused to use what the master gave. In short, he didn't care at all for his master. Imagine that you give a beautiful dress to someone special, and yet that person does not even want to try the dress. What a hurt!

And so the Gospel story is more than just a "develop your gifts" story. It is about giving our whole self to God. It is about acknowledging that God gave himself to us. Our most inner persons reflect this giving of self. Because we were created in His image. He gave us more than just talents and gifts, he gave us himself.

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
(Gen 1:27)

And everytime we look inside our inner most self, we can find His gift.

Actually the first time I was thinking about this reflection, I was reflecting about giving faitfully even though it is small, '...you have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much; ...'(Mat 25:21). However, it seems that God wants me to share more on the giving of oneself. This is what is precious to Him, when we give our whole self back to God, our Loving Father.

I would like to close this reflection with the verse near the end of the parable,

For to every one who has will more be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away.
(Mat 25:29)

This is one of the verse that used to confuse me. I used to read it this way, "If God gave you many talents, than he will give more, but if you don't have anything, everything will be taken away". Of course this is not true. As we said before, the master rewarded the two servants with the same rewards. And if we have nothing, how can it be taken away. So this cannot be the meaning.

If you look at the the reference in you bible, you might notice that the same sentence is used several times and, amazingly, with different context. But what explain the meaning to me is from the Gospel of Luke. Jesus was telling a parable of the sower and the parable of the lamp, then he said,

Take heed then how you hear; for to him who has will more be given, and from him who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away."
(Luk 8:18)

This is the same words that is said by the master. But take a look at the first few words, "take heed then How you hear". This is the answer. Jesus was telling a parable and then he told us to take heed how we should hear it, and then after that Luke wrote about question of who is the mother and the brothers of Jesus, and Jesus said,

But he said to them, "My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it."
(Luk 8:21)

This is the link. Take heed how you hear the message, don't only hear, but do it. And so the words "for to him who has will more be given, and from him who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away." is not refering to having talents or not. It is about our attitude, our response, our disposition.

This why the master in the parable of the talents said those words at the end. You have two kind of servants, one is willing to acknowledge God and give themselves back to God, the other one refused. And so Jesus is simply saying, "take heed how you live your lives". This is what the first reading and the responsorial psalm is saying: Blessed are those who fear the Lord.

... but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.
(Pro 31:30)

Lo, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the LORD.
(Psa 128:4)

It is not a fear like what we have when we are afraid of something. It is a fear of Love and Respect as we Love and respect our Father.

Who shall not fear and glorify thy name, O Lord? For thou alone art holy. ..."
(Rev 15:4)

And so, now we know what the following verses mean.

For to every one who has will more be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away.
(Mat 25:29)

For those who have the right disposition to give their lives to God, will be given more "life". While those who have not the right disposition, who refused to give their lives, will be taken away.

For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
(Mat 16:25)

And how should we live our lives that would be pleasing to God? Fruitful!

He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them; and he made five talents more. So also, he who had the two talents made two talents more.
(Mat 25:16-17)

By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples.
(Joh 15:8)

And what is the best fruit that we can produce?

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such there is no law.
(Gal 5:22-23)

But how can we bear this fruit? It seems imposible, Yes we will never be, alone. But with God, everything is possible.

Jesus looked at them and said, "With men it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God."
(Mar 10:27)

We need to be with God...

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
(Joh 15:4-5)

And you might ask how to abide in God?

If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.
(Joh 15:10)

by keeping His commandment, but His commandment is simple and beautiful, that is to love.

"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
(Joh 15:12)

And this is not a commandment to burden us, but to make us fully alive, to be happy in lives.

These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.
(Joh 15:11)

This is what the parable of the talents is all about. It is an invitation to give our whole selves to God fully, to give our lives as a beautiful sacrifice by bearing fruits. And the most beautiful fruits that God wants us to bear is the fruits of the Spirit. But how can we bear these fruits if we do not abide with the vine, Jesus? Only when we Love one another, then we will abide in Him, and when we abide in Him, we will bear His fruits. And all this he tells us so that you and I may find the full ness of joy.

..., I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
(Joh 10:10)

Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam
-For the Greater Glory of God-

your brother in His love,
oka

Reflection on the Parables of the Talents (I)

2005-11-11T20:16:00.000+08:00

Dearest brothers and sisters,

I would like to share some of my reflection on the the Parable of the Talents. You can read the full passages here: Mat 25:14-30

We all know the story. It's about the three servants whom the Master entrusted with his properties. The first is given 5 talents, the second is 2, and the third is only 1. And we are all aware of the end of the story, that two of the servants return what they have traded to the Master while the last one hid it on the ground. The fates of the three of them are popularly known.

I believe that we all know the message of the story. That God wants us to use the talents that He has given us. However, we have this tendency to skip the bible passages for familiar stories, such as this one, and miss the small messages from the passage.

And so let me share my little thoughts.

This passage is proclaimed on the 33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time (A). The first reading is taken from the book of Proverbs (Prv 31:10-13, 19-20, 30-31). It speaks about how beautiful it is to have a God fearing wife. And so the responsorial psalm sings "Blessed are those who fear the Lord" (Ps 128:1-2, 3, 4-5). And the second reading is taken from Paul's first letter to the thessalonians (1 Thes 5:1-6). Paul encourages the people to "stay alert and sober" in waiting for the coming of the Day of the Lord.

And then the Gospel speaks about this parable, the parable of the talents. It is much related to the second reading and the first as well. Let us start from the second reading.

The Gospel speaks of a Master who went for a journey and entrusted the servants with His properties. And after a while, He returned.

Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them.
(Mat 25:19)

And so the story is about those servants who were waiting for His master return. And St. Paul also speaks about this Master return, the Day of the Lord. And on this day the Gospel says that the master will settle accounts with the servants. And because of this, St. Paul told us to be "alert and sober". What accounts is this all about? It's about what we do with our lives.

I used to read the parable of the Talents in this way: that God has given me gifts and talents in my lives, and I have to use it to my very best, that's all. But one thing I forgot: my LIFE is a gift.

And so the question of "what do we do with the talents?" is not only about whether we develop our gifts, talents, and abilitities, but it is also about "what do we do with our Lives?". And the gift of Life is clearly seen in our very soul. What do we do with our soul?

We often forget to take care of our inner lives, that is our soul. How many of us would think that praying is as important as eating? How many of us would consider hearing the Word of God as important as studying and working? How many of us would see that receiving the Holy Eucharist is as important as having a good physical health? And so St. Paul helps to remind us today to "be alert and sober", for we have to give account of what we do with our lives.

However, we shouldn't look at God as a cruel Judge, no He is not. He is a Loving Father. But what does a Father mean to us? Do we see Him as a Father? God is Father because God gives Lives. God is the Giver of Life, and so our lives and all that we have comes from God. Well, why don't you see where your lives come from. It's from your parents, your father and mother. Without them, you do not have lives. And all our earthly father is in some way represent God as Father, the giver of Life. And that is why the Gospel say

And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven.
(Mat 23:9)

Not to forbid us to call our parent as father, but to remind us of God who is our true Father. And that is why we pray "Our Father".

But what does this relate to the parable. God is the Giver of Life and everything that we have. And this parable reminds us again of this truth.

"For it will be as when a man going on a journey called his servants and entrusted to them his property; to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away.
(Mat 25:14-15)

It was God who Gave. The "talents" is not ours, it came from God. Our Lives and all that we have belong to God. And so when we say about "giving account to the Master", we simply giving back what belongs to God.

This is the problem with most of us. We no longer see God as the master of our lives, instead we thought we are the master. We say that this is "My Life" and so we can do with whatever we want. This is why we have abortion, euthanasia, suicide, etc, etc. We "thought" that we are the master of our lives. We all know that we came to life not by our decision, we don't make "we", you don't create "you". And so the lives you have come from someone else, that is God. As Pope John Paul II once said, "we should be at the service of life, and not as the master".

And in this lives, God gave so many things, His gifts for us: parents, family, intellects, natural abilities, talents, etc, etc. And all this He gave according to His beautiful and wonderful plan.

to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away.
(Mat 25:15)

You may wonder why some is given more than the others. But God gave according to His beautiful plans and His love is the same for each and everyone of us. You can read the parable again, and take a look what did the Master said to the first two servants. The first was able to make another five, while the second is only two, but to both of them, the Master said

His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much; enter into the joy of your master.'
(Mat 25:21)

His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much; enter into the joy of your master.'
(Mat 25:23)

Wow, the rewards are the same. The Master even did not compare the amount. He only said, "Well Done!". And this is our Loving Father, He knows best. He knows how much He should give, He knows what He should give, He knows how to make us grow to be the best we can be. He loves us and He gave His gifts according to His beautiful plans.

to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away.
(Mat 25:15)

Next: Reflection on the Parables of the Talents(II)
------ to be continued

Is Christianity a religion or a lifestyle? A religion! (IV): Closing

2005-10-13T18:59:00.000+08:00

-----continuing

Dearest brothers and sisters.

This is our religion, our binding together, our union with God: Christianity. It is in Christianity that God came down and became man, and unites man to Himself, so that man might experience the very Life of God. And this is the very Life of God: Love.

He, then, gives us the "pledge" or "first fruits" of our inheritance: the very life of the Holy Trinity, which is to love as "God [has] loved us."127 This love (the "charity" of 1 Cor 13) is the source of the new life in Christ, made possible because we have received "power" from the Holy Spirit.128
(CCC 735)

I have much to say but I guess we all can begin to see the richness of our Christian religion. It is sad to hear christians saying that we do not need sacraments, we do not need prayer, we do not need to read the bible, and what we need is to be good only. We are trying to be good away from the source of All Goodness, God.

Only when we see ourselves in union with God and in our neighbor, then we will be like God who is good and loving. And the richness of Christianity shows this union in many things, all the sacraments help us to "enter", "remain" and "grow" in this union of Love.

In Baptism we are united into Christ, and into His Body. And only in this Union can we understand why the Church is the Body of Christ, why St. Paul said that we are all one, we must have the same mind and the same heart.

This is also the reason why Christ gave the power to the Church to forgive sins. Because we keep on breaking the Union and in the sacrament of Reconciliation we are United back in the Life of God.

No wonder the Christianity respects Marriage very much. We see Marriage as a symbol of Christ Union with His Church. And this Holy Sacrament of Matrimony Unites man and woman. Only in this light we will understand why God created Man and Woman: so that they may become One.

Only in this Union we can see why is it necessary for us to receive Holy common-Union every Sunday. In this Holy Sacrament, we are united fully in Christ and in His Body, the Church. No wonder the Eucharist is called the source and the summit of Christian Life.

This is our religion, Christianity. And through all these sacraments we are in union with the Very Life of God. And when we are sharing the very Life of God, we will begin to Love as God has loved us, for God is Love.

This is the will of God, so that we may have our Happiness, our desire, that is a union of Love. What are we looking for in Life if not Love? In God alone we will find our happiness, and in this union with God and with His people we will find our heart's desire: Love.

For he has made known to us in all wisdom and insight the mystery of his will, according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fulness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
(Eph 1:9-10)

Our hearts are made for You, O Lord, and it will not rest until it rests in You
-St. Augustine-

Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam
-For the greater Glory of God-

your brother in His love,
oka

Is Christianity a religion or a lifestyle? A religion! (III): What about doing good?

2005-10-05T21:58:00.000+08:00

----continuing

And so what about doing good? I thought religion is about being a good person? I thought religion is teaching how to live a good life?

I love this story about the rain which waters the earth. It is about a drop of water in a lake. This water always looked to the sky and it always amazed at how beautiful it was to be a rain. This water wanted to be a rain, because a rain can create a wonderful rainbow, and people love rainbow. And so everyday this water always prayed so that one day it would become a rain that create rainbow. And so one day, the wheather was so hot and the water was changed into gas and lifted up to the sky, and it meets other waters who became gas as well. And the next day, the sky became dark, the rain fell down to water the earth.

The question is: can the water choose not to water the earth once it becomes a rain? Of course Not! Rain waters the earth. This is what rain is.

And God is Love. How is it possible that we do not love when we are in union with this God?

"... By this we may be sure that we are in him (Jesus): he who says he abides in him (in Jesus) ought to walk in the same way in which he (Jesus) walked."
(1Jo 2:5-6)

"He who does not love does not know God; for God is love."
(1Jo 4:8)

"No man has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us."
(1Jo 4:12)

"... God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him."
(1Jo 4:16)

And so Love, Good, and Kindness, is the character of God. And when we are in union in Him, we will be like Him. We will be loving, good, and kind.

And this is the problem with todays Christian: we find it so difficult to follow the teaching of Christ. We say, "How can it be that I can be loving, good, kind, etc, etc? That is for the saints". We find The Invitation as a Rule. We look at the calling as things that we can never do.

The question is not "How can I be...". The question is: "Am I in this union with God?". Yes, we will only reach the perfect union when we are in heaven. However, we need to change our mind set about Christianity. If we see Christianity as just a rule to be good, to do this and that, then we are 100% WRONG.

Christianity is about this union with God. It's about sharing The Very Life of God: a perfect union of Love. And when we are in union with God, we will see ourselves change, day by day, to be more like God. And all those are no longer rules, but they are just the manifestations of who we are as we come closer and closer to God.

The problem is that many of us trying to be good without God. And we find it so difficult, and so we choose not to be good. And yet God calls us to be in union with Him. And only in union with Him, we will find the source of Love that will never run dry: God, who is Love.

Why don't we listen for a while to what Mother Teresa said.

Non believers, but also christians, wonder where this sister, this small creature in cheap white sari, finds the courage, the power and the strength to do what she does since years and that seems to us both genius and heroic.
When you ask this question to Mother Teresa she points to the whole community of the Missionaries of Charity and above all to the love of God.

The activity of the sisters, all what we do is only the fruit of prayer, of our unity with Jesus in the Eucharist. Thanks to this unity it is possible for us to spend ourselves in the service of the lepers, the dying, the children, the unwanted and other people. When we come home in the evening, we have an hour of adoration. This is the biggest treasure of the Missionaries of Charity. (M. Teresa)

All that she did is only the fruit of prayer, of her unity with Jesus in the Eucharist. Doing good is not a rule to do, it is just a fruit of union with God.

Next: Closing
-------to be continued

Is Christianity a religion or a lifestyle? A religion! (II): Christianity and the Loving God

2005-10-05T21:38:00.000+08:00

----continuing

We have mentioned before, that Christianity is more than just a lifestyle. And we have also tried to change our mindset on what is religion. Religion is about union. It is about union with God and union with our fellow men. This religious tendency, this tendency for communion, has existed since the beginning of human history. We all have this desire for God, we all have this desire for the Infinite. This is the reason why none on earth is able to satisfy us, not even money, not even food, not even success, NOTHING, except God.

And because of this religious, this call for union with God and others, there are a lot of religions in this world. Every religion is trying to find the Infinite in human lives. But how can we, a mere creation, unite ourselves with The Infinite Creator? This is the answer:

It is God, the Infinite, who reaches down to us the finite creation. It was God, the Immortal, who came down from His Heaven in order for us, the creation, comes to Heaven.

"In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins. "
(1Jo 4:10)

The Word became flesh to make us "partakers of the divine nature":78 "For this is why the Word became man, and the Son of God became the Son of man: so that man, by entering into communion with the Word and thus receiving divine sonship, might become a son of God."79 "For the Son of God became man so that we might become God."80 "The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make men gods."81
(CCC 460)

This is what the Christianity Religion is all about. It is about God (The Word) who became human (flesh) so that we might become gods.

"The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make men gods."81

This is man's desire, to unite himself with God, with the Infinite. And this is what God has done: God became man, so that man might become gods, so that man might share His Infinity, His Divinity. God satisfies our hearts' desire. God chose to share His Divinity with us, a creation.

This God who became man is Jesus the Christ. And He is the centre of our religion, He is the centre of our Union, and that is why we call ourselves The Christ-ian.

This is what Christianity is all about. It is about God the Creator who chose to be a creation for love's sake. For the sake of Love, God became man. Out of Love, He came down from Heaven, so that we might experience what our hearts yearn: God, who is Love.

Next: What about doing good? I thought religion is about doing good?
-----to be continued

Is Christianity a religion or a lifestyle? A religion! (I)

2005-10-01T10:43:00.000+08:00

Dearest brothers and sisters,

I would just like to share my opinion on this topic. We, young people, often heard or read e-mails telling that Christianity is not a religion, rather, it is a lifestyle. We heard that Jesus never found a religion, He never found Christianity even. What is most important in our faith is about doing good and loving other people. There is no need for "so many rules" that our church has: going to church, pray, read bible, etc, etc. What important is about being a good and loving person. Is all this true?

I was one who used to think that Christianity is not a religion. I used to prefer Christianity as a lifestyle instead. I realized why I preferred lifestyle than religion. Religion sounded like "rules, beliefs, must-go-to-church, etc, etc". It didn't sound interesting at all. Rather lifestyle sounded so nice, good lifestyle, happy lifestyle, loving lifestyle => we all want this don't we?

However, as I reflected about this, I realized that I was wrong. First, I was wrong about confining Christianity only to just a lifestyle, and Second, I was wrong of my understanding on what religion is all about. So just let me share with you one by one.

I was wrong by just confining Christianity to a mere lifestyle. Well, I do agree that Christianity is a life style "to a certain extent". But it is more than that. Why is it wrong to say that Christianity is only a lifestyle? Because, a life style "does not always" need God. Some of us who tend to say that Christianity is a life style "would" (not necessarily always) describe Jesus as a teacher who teaches us how to live a good lives. He tells us how to live our life. But the question is: Is Jesus "just" a teacher?

Saying Christianity just a life style would confine Christianity to what happens in our "lives on earth only". Our lifestyles only exist when we live here on earth. But what happens after that? Is Christianity only about living our lives here on earth?

Unfortunately, many of us Christian have lost the hope of Eternal Life. Many of us have reduced Christianity only to what happens here on earth. Many of us have lost the faith and the hope of the first Christian martyrs who died for Christ. Most of us do not really understand their sacrifice.

Christianity is more than just a lifestyle as Jesus is more than just a Teacher.

"and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God."
(Joh 6:69)"

Christianity is much bigger than just lives here on earth.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."
(Joh 3:16)

And when we say what is most important in our faith is about becoming a good person, a kind person, a loving person, etc, etc, and ignoring other things, we tend only to do the "second half" of the main teaching of our faith: Love your neighbor. We tend to forget the first one "Love your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength".

Have we truly LOVEd God? Do we even "aware" of the God whom we love? This is the question that we need to ask to each and everyone of us.

And so what is Christianity? Let us first change our mind set on what religion is all about.

We often think that religion is just a set of beliefs, rules, good and bad, etc, etc. And so we often miss what religion is all about. I too was mistaken.

One day, I read an article about Christianity and religion, and it says what religion means. And I was surprise from what I read because I never thought about this before.

Religion, the article says, comes from a latin word "religare". This latin word means "to bind together".

That was something new to me. Religion means to bind together. But what are the things that are binded together? Men and God, men and men.

This is what religion is all about. It binds us. It binds us with God and it binds us with our fellow men. And for Christianity, the amazing thing is that, GOD CHOSE to bind Himself with men, His creation.

This is what religion is all about, it is about Union. Everywhere on the surface of the earth, we can see people have this religious tendency. From the ages of long ago until now, we can see people trying to have religion. People tend to look for God. People are desiring God. People try to bind themselves with the Creator, to "Someone Beyond them". And this beliefs bind them as one, and we call it religion.

People are searching for God. That's the irony with today's world. We are hungry of God and yet we avoid God. We look for the Infinite in the finite pleasure of the world. We say that we do not need God. We say that God does not exist. And we keep on searching and searching, and we all know that none will ever satisfy us, and yet we keep on running away from the One who can satisfy us.

This Truth, that we need God, is what Christianity reveals. The Church says.

"The desire for God is written in the human heart, because man is created by God and for God; and God never ceases to draw man to himself. Only in God will he find the truth and happiness he never stops searching for:

The dignity of man rests above all on the fact that he is called to communion with God. This invitation to converse with God is addressed to man as soon as he comes into being. For if man exists it is because God has created him through love, and through love continues to hold him in existence. He cannot live fully according to truth unless he freely acknowledges that love and entrusts himself to his creator."
(CCC 27)

We are created to find this happiness in God, and God has called us into this happiness. And we cannot live fully unless we acknowledge that Love and entrusts ourselves to our Creator.

"Our hearts are created for you, O Lord; and it will not rest until it rest in You."
-St. Augustine

And this is the reason why there are so many religions in the world. People are trying to find God. And yet how can we, the finite, reach the Infinite? How can we, the creation, unite ourselves with the Creator? How is it possible for a bee to unite itself with a Man? How is it possible for a man to unite himself with The God?

Next: Christianity and the loving God
----to be continued

The wine and the Blood

2005-09-07T20:32:00.000+08:00

Dearest brothers and sisters,

I would like to share one of my experience regarding receiving the Blood of Christ in eucharistic celebrations. I believe you are all aware that it is very seldom for us to receive communion in bread and wine. Most of the time we only receive the host. In rare cases, though, like in smaller celebration, we have the opportunity to receive Christ both in bread and wine.

In Indonesia, when we receive the wine, what we did was to dip in the host into the cup filled with wine. In NTU, however, it is quite different. I was a bit surprised at the first time. I was told to drink directly from the cup. This is the first time I tasted the wine during eucharistic celebration. It tasted nice.

Every week, every time I went to the mass, I drank the wine. What I actually want to share with you is actually my mistake in receiving this precious wine.

I still remember the time when I had a conversation with my friends and we were talking about wines. Not wine for mass of course. But somehow, here and there, we started to say that wine that was used for the mass tasted better. It was sweet, and etc, etc.

And I heard this conversation again and again. And people seemed to love the wine that was used for the mass. It was nice and sweet.

One day, however, the Lord warned me of my mistaken attitudes...towards Him. At one time during the mass, the father was talking about receiving communion. I can not really remember what he was saying but he mentioned something when the wine dropped to the floor. What surprised me was what he said, "For God's sake, It is the Blood of Christ".

Somehow, I was shocked with that words, "It is the Blood of Christ". Yea..yea ..we all know that the wine is the blood of Christ, and so what? I was shocked simply because I did not treat the wine as if I was treating the blood of Christ. I was talking about it as nice and sweet. For God's sake...It is ... the Blood of Jesus.

And I was so sad for what I said and what I did. I was so sad because I did not appreciate the Blood that has been poured out for me. I simply took it for granted, and the worse is that I compare it with other drinks. And I also realized that sometimes I did not receive it worthily. There was this thought of wanting to drink the wine greedily.

The problem is that the wine that I tasted and I said nice and sweet was God's own blood. The wine that I wanted to drink greedily was Jesus's own Blood that dropped from the Cross. It was the blood from His body. It was His Blood.

I was reminded again from the scripture when St. Paul says

The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?
(1Co 10:16)

and about drinking the wine greedily, St. Paul mentioned

When you meet together, it is not the Lord's supper that you eat. For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal, and one is hungry and another is drunk. What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No, I will not.
(1Co 11:20-22)

And How painful it is for the Lord if we do not receive this precious blood worthily. It is something serious.

Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For any one who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself.
(1Co 11:27-29)

A man who has violated the law of Moses dies without mercy at the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by the man who has spurned the Son of God, and profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and outraged the Spirit of grace?
(Heb 10:28-29)

And last of all my brothers and sisters, let us all examine ourselves as we receive Our Lord's body and blood. May we receive it worthily and full of respect. Since it is for us that He died, for us that he was crucified. The Blood has been poured out for our sake, for the forgiveness of our sins, and so that we may have life in Him.

And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, "Drink of it, all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
(Mat 26:27-28)

So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.
(Joh 6:53-56)

Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam
-For the greater glory of God-

your brother in His love,
oka

The story of the little wood and the everlasting Fire

2005-07-22T20:13:00.000+08:00

Once a upon a time, when the earth was young, there was a place that never went dark. It never went dark not because night never came, but because there was an Everlasting bonfire that never dies.

There were thousands and thousands of woods in the everlasting bonfire. There were big woods and small woods. All of them made up the everlasting bonfire.

There was a small little wood inside the bonfire. This small little wood looked to the world outside and saw how beautiful it was. She wanted to go. To go away from the bonfire. To go and look at the world. And so the little wood said to the everlasting Fire, "Fire, I wanted to go away and find my happiness". The everlasting Fire said to the little wood,"Little wood, This is the place where you belong. This is where your happiness lies.". But the little wood refused to stay and went away from the everlasting Fire.

The little wood walked step by step. She walked further away from the bonfire. How beautiful it was, the little wood thought. How great Life is, said the little wood in its heart. The little wood walked and walked, and the bonfire could no longer be seen.

The little wood kept on walking, but the little flame in its body started to dim, the little flame in its body started to die out. The little wood walked further and further, and the cold of the wind started to buffet its body. The cold weather made the little wood stopped. "This is too cold", the little wood said, "This is too cold", she repeated.

But the little wood kept on walking further away. And she started to get tired. The air was too cold, the wind was too strong, the sky was so dark. The little wood tried to warm herself, but there was no more flame in her body. So the little wood sat down and cried.

While the little wood cried, she started to remember the time when she was in the bonfire. How warm it was, how nice it was to be with other woods. The wind might be strong, the bonfire stayed there, and the little remained safe. But that was the past. Now was different. Now it was cold, alone, no more flame to warm her body. And the little wood sat, and cried.

"This is not my happiness", the little wood suddenly said. And the little decided to come back to the bonfire, the her home, to the place where she belongs. So the little wood walked back. Slowly. The dream of being with the everlasting fire kept the little wood moving, the desire to have the warm in her body kept the little walking. And the little wood walked and walked.

And one day as the little wood walked, she noticed that the sky was no longer dark, the air was no longer cold. And the little wood saw the everlasting fire, and she ran, she ran toward the everlasting fire and she jumped and lied down inside the everlasting fire. The everlasting fire said, "My little wood, How great it is to have you back, I missed you and I kept on thinking about you."

And the little wood cried and said, "Fire, you are right. My happiness...my happiness is here...it is here with you.". The everlasting fire smiled joyfully and he hugged the little wood with his flame. "I love you little wood", said the everlasting fire. And the little wood looked up and said, "I love you too Fire. I do not want to leave again. I want to be here with you, always.". And the everlasting Fire hugged the little wood and kissed the little wood.

And the little wood felt something in her body. She felt the flame. She felt the warm. She saw again the litte flame that was in her body. It was great. She felt alive. This is Life. This is great.

And the little wood stayed with the everlasting fire forever. Time past by and the little wood was still with the Fire. The little wood started to change, the colour of her body became white. Time past by and the little wood realized something. She could no longer saw her body. She looked everywhere and asked everyone. But she just couldn't find her body. And so the little wood asked the everlasting Fire, "Fire, where is my body, the wood and all its part?". The everlasting Fire answered the little wood, "You are no longer a little wood". The everlastin fire continued, "You are part of the everlasting fire". The little wood just could not understand, what does that mean? So the everlasting fire knew that the little wood was confused, so he said, "My fire, little wood, has transformed you ...from a little wood...to be a fire, a part of the everlasting fire. You are no longer little wood, but you are the fire, you are with me and you are part of me, the everlasting fire."

And the everlasting Fire continued, "I need your help little fire. I need your help to be like me. I need you to help transforming other little woods, just like your old self, to be like what you are now. That is what fire is meant for, to purify, to transform.". And so the little fire did what the everlasting fire asked her to do. She helped other little woods to be another little fire. And she found something that was missing all this time, she found her reason to live, she found the purpose of her being.

Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam
-For the greater glory of God-

your brother in His love,
oka

Commitment to God and the Prodigal Son (II)

2005-07-21T20:47:00.000+08:00

----continuing

And I saw how wonderful it was to be close to my Father. How wonderful Life was with Him, to be in His house. And I saw myself got up and walked back to the house. I told my self, I wanted to give this life back to Him, I wanted to serve Him back, to be His servant. And so I walked, and I saw the house, and I saw my Father ran toward me, and I felt on my knees.

I wanted to give my life back to Him, I wanted to give myself. I said to my father, "Father, I am no longer worthy to be called your son, treat me as your hired servant.". And my Father opened His arm, and he said, "No...". He hugged me, and kissed me, and he whispered these words, "You....are ..my..son....., my beloved. I do not want you to serve me as a slave or servant. Love me and serve me like a son love His father. You are my son, my beloved".

And I felt again the Love which I lost, I felt again the joy in being with my Father, the joy of being loved, the joy of loving.

And I realized how God showed me what commitment to God is all about. It's about experiencing the Love of the Father and this Love drived me on to give myself back to Him, to stay close to Him forever, to commit myself to my Loving Father.

You might want to know what a Dictionary (Collins) said about the word "commit". It is written:

"If you commit yourself to someone, you decide that you want to have a long-term relationship with them."

This is what commitment is all about, to have a long and everlasting relationship with our Father, our Loving God. Commitment to God is not about burden. It's about experiencing the Love, and because we know that we are loved, we can freely give ourselves to the one who loves us. And as we give ourselves, we love that person. Love is always giving.

This our reasons to commit ourselves to God. Not because God "demanded" it. But simply because it is our home, it is the place where we should be. We commit ourselves simply because we experience the Love of God, and we know that the only way to Love back is to give our whole life back to Him, to commit ourselves to Him.

This is what Jesus said as He was on the cross.

"Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, "Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit!" And having said this he breathed his last. "
(Luk 23:46)

Jesus knew that the Father loved Him, and He experienced that Love in His life. And that Love drived Him to go to the cross, to give himself fully to the Father. Into the father's hand, Jesus commited himself. And He knew that it was his place to be in the Father's hand, to enjoy His love, and to Love Him back.

And this is what God is inviting us to do. To commit ourselves into the Father's hand. Because in His hand we will experience Love, in His arm we experience what Life to the fullest is all about.

And this is what the Father said to his sons who stays with Him.

"And he said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. "
(Luk 15:31)

As we commit ourselves to God, God is saying to us, "My Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours.". All that the Father has is yours. All that God has since the very beginning is yours. All that God of the universe has, God of Love has, all that God the source of Joy has, is yours. All that the Father has is yours.

Some people are afraid of the words commitment. Maybe because we see that word as a duty. We do not see it in the context of experiencing Love. I remember one of my brother said that love starts with a beautiful feeling, but true love goes to commitment. We need to commit ourselves to God out of Love and not out of fear or duty. And as we Love God by commiting ourselves, there won't be anymore fear.

"There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and he who fears is not perfected in love."
(1Jo 4:18)

My brothers and sister, God is Life. As we walked away from Him, we walked away from Life. We will not be able to survive. We might thought that we could survive. That prodigal son thought that he could survive. But we cannot. We cannot simply because we walked away from Life. That is why death entered into the world when Adam walked away from God.

It is only when we come to God, and give our Life to God, we will find Life.

"For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it."
(Mat 16:25)

"It was fitting to make merry and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.'"
(Luk 15:32)

My brothers and sisters, let us come before Him. Not out of fear, not out of duty, but out of Love. Come and give ourselves to the one who loves us. Come and be loved, Come and give Love.

"My beloved speaks and says to me: "Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away;"
(Son 2:10)

"Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, "Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit!" And having said this he breathed his last. "
(Luk 23:46)

Next: Story of a little wood and the evelasting fire.

-----to be continued

Commitment to God and the Prodigal Son (I)

2005-07-21T19:34:00.000+08:00

Dearest brothers and sisters,
I would like to share about my reflection on Commitment to God. Last night I tried to reflect on this. And I started to ask my usual questions like why do we have to commit ourselves to God, what is so great about commiting ourselves to God, and etc, etc. I asked so many logical questions and while asking those questions I tried to find passages from the scriptures that could give answers to my questions.

But I heard a voice telling me to stop asking questions and to start looking at my life, to reflect on what is happening in my life. And this is what I would like to share with you.

As I flipped through the scripture pages, I finally stopped at the story of the prodigal son. Well, I said to myself that I knew this story quite well, and so I just scanned the story. I didn't think I could find anything related to commitment to God in this story. It's about sins, conversion, and the loving and forgiving Father, full stop.

But I decided to read again slowly since I learnt to read the scriptures out of love and not just "to know the story". And so I read the story again. You can read it from Luke 15:11-24,31-32.

As I read the story again and tried to reflect on it, I began to forget on my intention to reflect about commitment to God. I started to reflect on my own life. I started to listen what the story means for me.

And as I reflect on it, my mind was drifted back to my past. To the time when I just had an experience of God that changed my life, to the time just after I joined the Life in Spirit Seminar, to the time when I was so close to God, to the time when I felt life is so great even in the midst of difficulties, to the time when I felt the joy of serving God, the time when I felt the joy of giving my life to God.

And then my mind was brought to another time after the previous one. It was the time when I started to get busy with study. It was the time when my prayer time was reduced to study. It was the time when I thought that it's ok since I still went to church every Sunday. It was the time when my prayer time was taken to have a chat with my friends. And my thought said it's ok, since there were many people who were worse than me. It was the time when I was so tired and I made an excuse not to read the bible just for that day. And my thought said many people even didn't read bible at all. It was the time when I served God out of my rutinity. And my thought was saying that it's better rather than not to serve God at all. It was the time when now and then I made excuses for this and that. And it was the time when everything became so dry.

And suddenly I saw the scene of the prodigal son in my mind. The scene when the younger son left the house of the Father. And I saw me, myself, walking away from the house. I saw my self took a little step further away from the house everytime I made an excuse to reduce my prayer life. I saw myself took another little step further when I made an excuse not to read the bible for that day. And I saw there were more steps walking away from the house out from the same reason "only today". I saw myself walking away evertime I compared to the world and I saw myself better. I saw me walking away evertime I decided not serve God. And then I saw that the house could no longer be seen. I have walked far away from the house, from my home. And I saw that "me" felt dry, felt tired, felt empty, felt that life was without purpose.

And then I saw that the younger son, myself, came to his senses. He started to remember the time when he was close to his Father, the time when he was at home, the time when he felt Love, the time when he experienced the Love of the Father, the warm of the family, the joy in giving, the joy in serving the Father.

And that son, myself, remembered the time when I was close to God, the time when I prayed regularly, the time when my prayer life was good, the time when I served the Lord. That son remembered the time when he felt joy in serving God, the joy in seeing other people's life was changed and touched by God through him, the time when he could see the fruit of loving the Lord in service, the time when God was so close, the time when Life was beautiful even in the midst of difficulties. The time when he was at home, when he was at the Father's house, when he was at the Father's arm.

I realized that I was that prodigal son. I was the one who limited my relationship with God, I was the one who little by little walked away from my Father. My father has always been there and He never leaves. It was I who walked away from Him. I thought I would see the world, I thought I had other things to do, many things, and I walked away from my father. He was there, and I walked away.

Next>>
-------- to be continued

Story of Elizabeth Leseur

2005-06-24T16:46:00.000+08:00

By Bishop Fulton J. Sheen

Just at the turn of the century, there was a woman married in Paris, just a good, ordinary Catholic girl, to an atheist doctor, Dr. Felix Leseur. He attempted to break down the faith of his wife and she reacted and began studying her faith. In 1905, she was taken ill and tossed on a bed of constant pain until August 1914. When she was dying, she said to her husband, "Felix, when I am dead, you will become a Catholic and a Dominican priest."

"Elizabeth, you know my sentiments. I've sworn hatred of God, I shall live in the hatred and I shall die in it."

She repeated her words and passed away. She died in her husband's arms at the early age of 47.

Rummaging through her papers, Felix found her will. She wrote:

"In 1905, I asked almighty God to send me sufficient sufferings to purchase your soul. On the day that I die, the price will have been paid. Greater love than this no woman has than she who lay down her life for her husband."

Dr. Leseur, the atheist, dismissed her will as the fancies of a pious woman. He decided to write a book against Lourdes. He went down to Lourdes to write against Our Lady.

However, as he looked up into the face of the statue of Mary, he received the great gift of faith. So total, so complete was it, that he never had to go through the process of juxtaposition and say, "how will I answer this or that difficulty?"

He saw it all. At once.

The then reigning pontiff was Benedict XV. Then came World War I. Hearing of the conversion of Dr. Leseur, Pope Benedict XV sent for him. Dr. Leseur went in the company of Fr. Jon Vinnea, orator of Notre Dame. Dr. Leseur recounted his conversion and said that he wanted to become a Dominican priest. Holy Father said, "I forbid you. You must remain in the world and repair the harm which you have done."

The Holy Father then talked to Fr. Vinnea and then again to Dr. Leseur and said:

"I revoke my decision. Whatever Fr. Vinnea tells you to do, you may do."

In the year 1924, during Lent, I, Fulton J. Sheen, made my retreat in the Dominican monastery in Belgium. Four times each day, and 45 minutes in length, I made my retreat under the spiritual guidance of Father Felix Leseur of the Order of Preachers, Catholic Dominican priest, who told me this story. [12]

Nota Bene: The cause of Elisabeth Leseur's canonization is proceeding in Rome. Fr. Leseur died a priest in 1950. [13]

The condition of following Christ (III)...finding Life

2005-06-23T20:15:00.000+08:00

----continuing

God is inviting us to experience His Life, a life with a perfect communion of Love. And He told us "the only way" to have it. It is by "giving out Love". And we give Love with little sacrifices.

This is what St. Therese taught us about Loving.

How shall I show my love is proved by deeds? Well - the little child will strew flowers...she will embalm the Divine Throne with their fragrance, will sing with silvery voice the canticle of love.

Yes, my Beloved, it is thus that my life's brief day shall be spent before Thee. No other means have I of proving my love than to strew flowers; that is, to let no little sacrifice escape me, not a look, not a word, to avail of the very least actions and do them for Love. I wish to suffer for Love's sake and for Love's sake even to rejoice; thus shall I strew flowers. Not one shall I find without shedding its petals for Thee...and then I will sing, I will always sing, even if I must gather my roses in the very midst of thorns - and the longer and sharper the thorns the sweeter shall be my song.

Story of A Soul, Chapter XI

How beautiful it is to Love. It is by Loving that we find ourselves.

For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
(Mat 16:25)

If we lose our self by giving sacrifices, by loving, then we will find our "life".

In the scripture, the word "life" or "soul" that is used means the entire human person. It refers to the innermost aspect of man, that which is the greates value in him, that by which he is most especially in God's image. (CCC 363)

By following Him, we enter into a beautiful relationship with God. And with this, we find our life, our true self, our inmost self that is created in the image of God.

I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
(Joh 10:10)

What will we find in this inmost self?

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
(Gen 1:27)

And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, a sixth day.
(Gen 1:31)

We will find that we are "very good". Have we lost this image? Have seen ourselves differently? not beautiful? not good? Follow Him, and we will find that we are "very good", ... very good and beautiful.

Behold, you are beautiful, my love, behold, you are beautiful! ...
(Son 4:1)

Closing: Story of Elizabeth Lesseur

Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam
-For the greater glory of God-

your brother in His love,
oka

The condition of following Christ (II)...the cross

2005-06-23T19:49:00.000+08:00

---continuing

Do we want to follow Jesus then? Do we want to experience God's Love? And if we do, Jesus told us how

Then Jesus told his disciples, "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
(Mat 16:24)

This is how!

The New Jerusalem Bible add a subtitle for this passage as "the condition of following Christ". But we shouldn't read it in a negative sense. We should understand it as "Jesus is telling us a secret". And what is this secret? That "the only way" to find true happiness in God is by denying ourself, taking up our cross, and following Him. And by following Him, we enter into a relationship with God. And in this relationship, God shares His own Life. And God shares His own Life so that we may experience what Life to the fullest is all about. It's about giving Love and being Loved.

When I read this passage I realized that my thought was saying "Oh My, I have to cary my cross". I used to think cross as the symbol of burden, heavy burden I mean. I used to think that the cross symbolizes our problems and difficulties and trials, and so many other bad things. And I realized one thing then, I was wrong.

Jesus said, "take up your cross, and follow me". Where do you think Jesus is leading us to when He told us to take up our cross? It's to the place of sacrifice, the calvary.

Cross does not symbolize burden, or problems. Rather, it symbolizes a "sacrifice". And what does a sacrifice mean? Sacrifice means Love. Sacrifice is the realization of true Love. There is no true Love without sacrifice. If we are unable to sacrifice in loving, then it might be a selfish love. We love for the sake that we are loved. But true love is not that. True love gives Love. True Love is able to sacrifice himself.

Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
(Joh 15:13)

This is true Love. This is the Love of God, the unconditional Love of God.

And this is exactly what Jesus is asking from, "give love". It's not about carrying a burden or problems. Burden or problems is not The Cross if we do not carry them out of Love. They are our Cross, only if they become our sacrifice of Love.

So this is actually what Jesus is saying when He said, "take up your cross, and follow me". He is saying to us to "give Love by sacrifices". Why must we sacrifice? Because there is no Love without sacrifice. As the old saying once said, "It is Love only when it is given".

Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
(Joh 15:13)

"This is my body which is given for you"
(Luk 22:19)

Next >>
----to be continued

The condition of following Christ

2005-06-22T22:20:00.000+08:00

Dearest brothers and sisters,
I would like to share my reflection on the following passage in the scripture.

The condition of following Christ

Mathew 16:24-28

24Then Jesus said to his disciples, 'If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25Anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake will find it. 26What, then, will anyone gain by winning the whole world and forfeiting his life? Or what can anyone offer in exchange for his life? 27'For the Son of man is going to come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will reward each one according to his behaviour. 28In truth I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of man coming with his kingdom.'

This passage talks about what should we do if we want to be a follower of Christ. But I guess, the first question that we might ask is that why do we want to follow Christ? Do we really want to follow Christ? Because if we don't, then there is no need to talk about how to follow Christ.

Do we want to follow Jesus then? As I reflect on this, I realized that I had a wrong impression on this theme "following God". I often felt and saw that God looked like a commander, and what we have to do is to follow Him. We have no other choice. Our parents told us to follow Him. If we do not follow Him, then others will see us as "bad". And without realizing it, maybe we have started "not following" Him, even when we thought we are trying to follow Him.

Do we really want to follow God then? to follow Jesus? Why do I have to follow Him? Have you ever asked yourself that same question?

But before we answer that question, we need to correct the wrong impression that we have about "following God". If we still think that we "have to" follow God, and if we feel that what He does is to "command" us to do this and that in order to follow Him, and if we felt that God is like a tyrant who wants followers, then we need to correct our impression.

We need to ask ourselves, Why do I want to follow God?

As I think about this, I recalled the story when Jesus called His first disciple and He said, "Come, Follow Me". We all know the story, that they left everthing and started to follow Jesus.

"As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. And he said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." Immediately they left their nets and followed him."
(Mat 4:18-20)

I used to stop at the last sentence as if they have done what Jesus ask, that is to follow Him, and there is no more story about following Jesus. But I was wrong. I realized that I need to finish the whole Gospels to understand what it means of following jesus. I did realize that after that moment, Peter and the others, followed Jesus everywhere. They ate together, they went together, Jesus even brought them to his house, and so many other things.

What does all this thing means? When Jesus said, "Follow me", Jesus is inviting Peter and the rest to share His Own Life. From that moment, Peter shared the Life of Jesus. Peter ate from the same table, which means he is part of Jesus family. And this "sharing of life" with Jesus made Peter able to say, "Yes Lord, You know that I love you".

"He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, "Do you love me?" And he said to him, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep."
(Joh 21:17)

This is what it means to follow God. This is what it means to follow Jesus. It's about sharing Life with God, it's about sharing Life with Jesus. And when we share life with God, we share life with LOVE himself. And what else do we actually want in this life except LOVE? What are we looking in this life? Isn't to Love and to be Loved? We may called it Happiness. But let us recall, when is the happiest moment in our life? Is it when we get a lot of money? is it when we are success? No. It is when we are loved. It is when we are able to Love.

And when Jesus said "Come Follow me". Jesus is inviting us to share His own life, He is inviting us to be Loved by Him, by Love himself. And when we experience this Love, we will be able to say like what Peter said,

"Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you."

So God is not an army commander that is forcing us to follow Him, He is not a tyrant who are exhausted for follower. No! God is Love. And what He wants is simply for us to experience this Love. To have a share in the very life of God. And this is the very life of God, that is to Love as God has loved us.

"He, then, gives us the "pledge" or "first fruits" of our inheritance: the very life of the Holy Trinity, which is to love as "God [has] loved us." This love (the "charity" of 1 Cor 13) is the source of the new life in Christ, made possible because we have received "power" from the Holy Spirit."
CCC 735

So this is what it means to follow Him. To share His Life, to Love as He has Loved us.

Next >>
----to be continued

St. Thomas Aquinas and the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ

2005-05-28T10:40:00.000+08:00

Do you know the history of the feast of Corpus Christi (Body and Blood of Christ)?

The feast was instituted by Pope Urban IV. There was a Eucharistic Miracle happened in Italy which prompted Pope Urban IV to institute this feast. You can read the whole story at this link

http://www.therealpresence.org/eucharst/mir/bolsena.html

But one interesting for me is the story of St. Thomas Aquinas. Pope Urban IV asked St. Thomas to compose the Proper for the Mass and an Office honouring the Holy Eucharist as the body of Christ.

One night, in the chapel of the Dominican priory in Naples where St.
Thomas was then living, the sacristan concealed himself to watch the
saint at prayer. He saw him lifted into the air, and heard Christ speaking to him from the crucifix on the chapel wall:

"Thomas, you have written well of me. What reward will you have?"

"Lord, nothing but yourself."

source: http://www.ewtn.com/library/DOCTRINE/TAEUCHDV.TXT

The answer touched me so much, "Lord, nothing but yourself.".

Can we say the same thing when Jesus ask us? Can we answer Him: "Lord, nothing but yourself.".

"Nothing Lord,... only You".

Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam
-For the Greater Glory of God-

your brother in His love,
oka

a Reflection on "Service" (V) Closing

2005-04-19T22:47:00.000+08:00

--continuing

This is what service is all about. It is about giving our Life fully to God. It's about sacrifice. Since there is no Love without sacrifice as there is no happiness without Love.

Service is not just a duty. It's not about what we have to do. It's about giving our Life fully. It's a realization of Love. For Love comes not in words but in deeds. It is not in flower but in blood.

To serve means to Love. Since we do not really Love if we do not serve. If Love is only to satisfy our selves, and if Love is only directed to our ego, then it is not Love. It is selfish. Love is true only when it goes outward, only when Love is being given. Love is true when we serve, for when we serve we give Love. It is not a service then, when we do not Love.

This is the reason why we serve: because we Love. Because we Love, then we simply want to give our Life fully. To serve is not to be a worship leader, to serve is not to play music, to serve is not to give teachings. To serve is to give our Life. Some give themself by being worship leaders, others by stacking up the chairs. But what is the same is that both give themselves fully.

It is in service that we learn to Love. It is in service we learn to sacrifice, which is the true Love. It is in service that we find our happiness.

9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you; abide in my love.
10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.
11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.
John 15:9-11

12 "And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul,
13 and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD, which I command you this day for your good?
Deut 10:12-13

"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. "
John 13:34

45 Man is made to live in communion with God in whom he finds happiness: When I am completely united to you, there will be no more sorrow or trials; entirely full of you, my life will be complete (St. Augustine, Conf. 10, 28, 39: PL 32, 795}.

Psa 37:4 Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam
--For the Greater Glory of God--

a Reflection on "Service" (IV)

2005-04-19T20:27:00.000+08:00

--continuing

Now we realized that "to serve" the Lord goes along with "to Love" the Lord. And by this Love we find our desire.

How does service and Love related to one another? I still remember the time when I reflect this, and it was during the Holy Week, the day before Good Friday, it was on Holy Thursday. I entered the church for the celebration, and the Gospel was taken from John, the Washing of Feet.

you can read the passage at here.

As I reflect on John 13, I realized that God speaks about Love and service. Most of the time we read the passage of Washing of Feet only in the context of service, and not in the context of Love. But John started the story in the context of Love.

1 Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
John 13:1

Love must begin the story. Love was the motive. Love was the reason. It is because Jesus Loves us who are in this world, He loves us to the end.

What story to begin then? is it the washing of feet? No, It's the story of the greatest sacrifice. It is the story when Jesus gave Himself to us, body and blood.

You might be wondering why do I say this. In Holy Thursday, we celebrated the Feast of the institution of the Eucharist. It is the Feast when Jesus gave Himself, body and blood, out of Love.

It is surprising that John never told the story of the Institution of the Eucharist itself. The other Gospels wrote about the institution of the Eucharist when Jesus said, "This is my Body...This is my Blood". Instead, John replace it with the story of Washing of Feet. And the more surprising is that during the Feast of the Institution of the Eucharist it is the Gospel of John that is being read.

I then realized that the story of Washing of Feet, the story of service, is actually the story of Sacrifice, it is the story of Love.

Joh 15:13 Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

There is no Love when there is no sacrifice. Love shows it self not in rommance, but in sacrifices.

Mat 20:28 even as the Son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

I often read the verse in Mat 20 as something seperate. That Jesus came to serve and to give His life. But I never realized that actually Jesus said about the same thing. This is His service, to give His Life as a ransom for many.

Bishop Fulton Sheen once said that Jesus did not come only to teach or to do miracles, but Jesus came to die on the Cross.

This life giving is His service.

"the Son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

That day, the Holy Thursday, is the day of sacrifice, is the day of Love. On that day, He started the sacrifice which He completed on Good Friday. The washing of feet is the giving of His body and blood. The story of service is actually the story of Life Giving. The reason is simply Love. Because He loves us to the end.

And this what Jesus told us after He washed the disciples' feet.

"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. "
John 13:34

To Love as Jesus has loved us, to Love by giving our Life as Jesus gave His Life.

Next: Closing >>
---to be continued.

a Reflection on "Service" (III)

2005-04-19T20:11:00.000+08:00

--continuing

It is by Loving and being Loved that we enter union with God, and by entering this union with God we find our desire.

Love is the greatest commandment. I once thought that this is a new commandment that Jesus gave but I was wrong. The old testament has mentioned the same thing and Jesus,-- the Word of God Himself, the author of the Old testament-- reinforced what He has spoken.

4 "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD;
5 and you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.
Deut 6:4-5

Does this sound like what Jesus said? And in another passage of the Old testament, it is written.

12 "And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul,
13 and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD, which I command you this day for your good?
Deut 10:12-13

It is for our good (v13) that God gave His commandments. His commandments is to Love, to Love our God above all else.

It is interesting to note that Deut 10:12 is about the same as Deut 6:5.

love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.
Deut6:5

to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul,
Deut 10:12

The difference is that in Deut 10 adds the word "to serve" after the word "to love". We often have a wrong impression about service since our thought would always think about a duty, a thing we have to do, an obligation.

But here, to serve the Lord is only related by the word Love. Serving the Lord must be seen in the context of Love. Serving God must be based on one motive, that is Love.

I remember when I joined the ministry in my prayer meeting, there was a session given by my brother Riko and He asked what was our motive in serving the Lord. We all had our answers, and yet he said the only motive is Love. Out of Love do we serve God.

Next >>
---to be continued

a Reflection on "Service" (II)

2005-04-19T19:51:00.000+08:00

---continuing

We might ask, how is this all related to serving God? Do I have to serve in order to find my happiness? Why don't we forget the topic about service at all. Let us just talk more on finding our happiness.

St. Augustine said,

45 Man is made to live in communion with God in whom he finds happiness: When I am completely united to you, there will be no more sorrow or trials; entirely full of you, my life will be complete (St. Augustine, Conf. 10, 28, 39: PL 32, 795}.

It is by living in communion with God that we can find happiness. It is when we are fully united to God, fully united, that we will surely find happiness. For God is Love, and in Love we find happiness, and this happiness is our desire in Life.

How do then we live in communion with God?

9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you; abide in my love.
10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.
11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.
John 15:9-11

This is what Jesus told us, to Live in communion in Him means to live in a communion of Love. But how do we enter into this communtion? How do we enter the union of Love of God. Jesus told us by "keeping His commandments". Most of us always have a negative impression on the words commandments, yet His commandment is simply to Love.

12 "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
John 15:12

36 "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?"
37 And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.
38 This is the great and first commandment.
39 And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Mat 22:36-39

It is not a burden since in Love we find what we actually want, that is happiness, our desire. It is by Loving and by being Loved that we enter union with God, and by entering this union with God, we find our desire.

Next >>
---to be continued

a Reflection on "Service" (I)

2005-04-19T19:13:00.000+08:00

Dearest brothers and sisters,
I would like to share my reflection on service. I often ask myself what is the important of service and serving the Lord. Why do we serve? Do we have to serve God?

My first thought why we serve God goes back to my first Life in the Spirit Seminar (LISS). In the "Growth" session the speaker told me and the other participants about four things that makes our spiritual lives going: prayer, reading the Word of God, community, and service. And since that LISS, I went to my prayer meeting and tried to serve God in the community.

But why do we have to serve God? can we not just enjoying our lives? Well I sometimes ask this questions.

Recently I came to a prayer meeting and the speaker said something that made me realize onething. He said, "We usually think that doing the will of God is something that contradicts our will to be happy. It does not."

It does not contradict at all. Achieving our own happiness and the doing the will of God is something that goes along the way. But most of us, if not all of us, always think that if I do the will of God, then it means I have to sacrifice my own happiness. It shouldn't be.

As I reflect on this, I realize that it is true. It does not contradicts at all. It is not that we have to serve, but we Want to serve. It is our desire to serve God. Hey, wait a minute! you might say, I don't really think so. It's not me.

I love to start by thinking what do we actually really desire? We have a lot of answers to this questions. But if we really go deeper and ask ourselves, each and everyone of us would answer the same thing,"Happiness".

Deep inside our hearts, we long for happiness.

We all want to live happily; in the whole human race there is no one who does not assent to this proposition, even before it is fully articulated.

---St. Augustine

The cathecism of the catholic church even speaks of this:

1718 The Beatitudes respond to the natural desire for happiness. This desire is of divine origin. God has placed it in the human heart in order to draw man to the One who alone can fulfill it:

How is it, then, that I seek you, Lord? Since in seeking you, my God, I seek a happy life, let me seek you so that my soul may live, for my body draws life from my soul and my soul draws life from you.

--St. Augustine

God alone satisfies.

--St. Thomas Aquinas

It human desire to be happy. It my desire to live a happy life, it is your desire as well. And this desire is natural, it is in every human heart.

Where can we find this happiness? How can we obtain this happiness? I tried to think about this and what I found is that we can find happiness in Love. It is when I experience Love and when I give love to others that I feel most happy. Doesn't it make sense?

We desire for happiness, and this happiness can be found in Love. And God is Love.

1John 4:8 " He who does not love does not know God; for God is love."

45 Man is made to live in communion with God in whom he finds happiness: When I am completely united to you, there will be no more sorrow or trials; entirely full of you, my life will be complete (St. Augustine, Conf. 10, 28, 39: PL 32, 795}.

Next >>
----to be continued

Baptism, why? (X) Closing...

2005-04-18T22:53:00.000+08:00

---continuing

This is the wonder of being part of the Body of Christ, which is the Church. That we, as His Body united with Jesus the Head, receives Life. The head gives life to the Body.

This is what Baptism brings to us, New Life in God. So that we may be one with God, truly one. And this is What God wants from our lives, to be united fully with Him in His Love, to Love and to enjoy His love.

This is what Jesus prayed before He was arrested. This is His prayer for us.

20 I do not pray for these only, but also for those who believe in me through their word,

21 that they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.

22 The glory which thou hast given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one,

23 I in them and thou in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them even as thou hast loved me.

24 Father, I desire that they also, whom thou hast given me, may be with me where I am, to behold my glory which thou hast given me in thy love for me before the foundation of the world.

25 O righteous Father, the world has not known thee, but I have known thee; and these know that thou hast sent me.

26 I made known to them thy name, and I will make it known, that the love with which thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them."

This is what Jesus wants from us, so that we may be in Him, united through His Body. So that we may enjoy the Love of the Father who is in Jesus, the source and the Giver of Life.

Dearest brothers and sisters, how wonderful it is our christian life, how amazing it is our destiny, which is to be with God and to share Life with God. And how precious it is our baptism as we enter into this communion of Life with God. That we become the children of God who are waiting to be fully united with God at the end of our lives.

As I reflect on my own baptism, I realized that sometimes I could not appreciate the gift of being "born catholic". I still remember there was one time when someone asked me "Why were you baptized as a catholic?". And I answered him, "Well, I was born catholic, I do not know, I did not choose to be". Well I did not lie.

One day as I am reading the bible, I came across the passage of the Samaritan Woman. I believe that you all know the story. Jesus was sitting at the well and there came a samaritan woman. And jesus asked her "Give me a drink".

And you know the rest of the story, the samaritan woman found that Jesus is the Messiah and the whole town people were converted and believe in Jesus.

One interesting thing is that until the very end, the samaritan woman never give Jesus a drink. Sound ridiculous right? But even when His disciple offered Him a food, Jesus refused and said, "I have food to eat of which you do not know....My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work. " John 4:7-34

Then why the first time Jesus asked the woman "Give me a drink"? Why did not jesus take a drink by himself then? Have you ever wonder the same thing?

Jesus knew very well what He is going to do when He said , "Give me a drink". Jesus is the one who calls the samaritan woman and not the samaritan woman who is choosing Jesus. Jesus is the one who took the first step. He is the one who calls and He is the who draws people to Himself.

"Give me a drink" is Jesus personal invitation to the woman so that she may find the true God. Jesus started the conversation. Jesus took the initiatives. He did not interested to drink the water, He is interested to call the samaritan woman.

And how the Bible reminds us when Jesus said, "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide; so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. " John 15:16

I did not choose Him, but He chose me.

Brothers and sisters, let us be aware of this wonderful of baptism, the grace of New Life with God. And no matter how we are baptized or for whatever reason it is, Jesus knows what He is doing. Jesus starts the call. Jesus takes the initiatives. We did not choose but Jesus chose. We are simply chosen.

As I end my sharing here, let us all live our baptism daily. To die to ourselves and to live for God, to say no to ourselves and to say Yes to God daily, to say yes to the Life of Love. Let us unite ourselves in His own Life, in His love.

"And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. "

Baptism, why? (IX) The mystery of the Body...

2005-04-18T22:52:00.000+08:00

---------continuing

How great it is to be called the children of God, yet sometimes we just do not realize it. St. John the apostle said, "See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now;..." 1 John 3:1-2

This is wonderful, we have become part of God's family, God's household as St. Paul said, "So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, ..." Eph 2:19

What is this household? household is a family, God's own family. But Paul give another name to this Family. In Paul's letter to Timothy he said, "... you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and bulwark of the truth. " 1 Tim 3:15

We have become part of the Church. God's household, or God's family is The Church, the Body of Christ.

Through baptism, by dying and rising, we have become the Body of Christ.

What is so great about being the Body of Christ?

Have you ever wonder why St. Paul used the analogy that the church is the Body and Christ is the head? "For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. " Eph 5:23

Why head and body?

I myself never realy bother about this until one day I read the notes in my bible about the word "head".

In the first century medical point of view, the head is the source of live to the whole body. Head gives Life to the Body. Body has its Life only from the Head. This is how they think. And this is why St. Paul use the word of Body for the Church and Christ as the Head.

We are His Body. And by being His body, we receives Life from Him. We receives Life from God. And this is our purpose, this is our destiny. To be in union with God, to be a real sharer of God's own Life.

And we obtain this Life, by being His body, by being the Church. Through Baptism, We have become part of the Body of Christ. And by becoming part of the Body of Christ, we receives God's own Life. By being members of God's Church, We Live.

Next: Closing...
-------to be continued

Baptism, why? (VIII) Baptism...amazing Love

2005-04-18T22:50:00.000+08:00

----------continuing

This is our baptism. To die to our old self together with Jesus, and to rise again to live in a new Life in Jesus. In the words of St.Paul, "We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life." Romans 6:4

Through Baptism, we might walk in newness of Life. What kind of life is it? It's the Life in union with God. It's the union with God's own Life. It's the life in a communion of Love with Love itself. And this is the purpose of what we have been created for. To be with God, To love God as God loves us. To be in union with God. Through Baptism, which dying to our self and being born in God, We obtain our heart's most desire.....union with God.

This dying and rising again is our baptism. This is what everyone of us have to undergo if we want to be in union with God. "We must be born a new". What is the fruit of this dying and rising? We become in union with God. What is the most perfect union that we may have? A family! We become God's own family. We are God's children, part of God's household, a real sharer of Divine Life.

Let us pause for a moment to think about this reality. I called this reality because most of us would feel nothing about it or amaze about it. But reality does not require whether we believe it or not. Reality happens already either we believe it or even if we do not. Our believe and feeling does not form reality.

Let us reflect the wonders of being God's own children. Let's think what does it mean when God shares His life to us.

I love to imagine things when I reflect. And I would like to ask you to imagine together with me as we reflect this reality.

Imagine that you are a poor man or woman, have nothing but your own body. And suddenly one day, a good old man see you and decided to take you as his own children. What would you feel? It's great. The old man decided to share everything that he has to you, even his love. What a great feeling to be loved.

Now imagine that the old man who adopt you is not just and ordinary man. He is a King of a mighty country. And Now, you are the children of the King. You, from a poor man or woman, now become the King's own children. And amazingly the King give anything for you, the King love you very much that He shares His very own Love and feeling with you, the poor.

And Hey, Imagine if the old man is the master and King of the world, he has everything in the world, and everything in the world belongs to him. And now you become His children, a poor man or woman, now sharing life with the master of the world.

Now stop for a while, and try to imagine the universe in your mind, how big is the universe with the stars and the galaxy. and This King of the Universe look at you and say, "From now on you are my children".

How amazing it is. And God is not just the King of the Universe, He is the Creator of the Universe, if you can imagine universe with its boundaries, then God is even greater than those.

As I think about this, I started to reflect on this wonders on the other way around. What is other way ?

Imagine now that you are the old man. And you see a poor kid. And then you decided to take him as your own children. You give everything for this kid. You love him and you care for him.

And now, you see a dog on the street. And you look at this dog, and you said to this dog, "I want to take you as my own, my own children". What a strange thing this is. A man want to be in common-union with a Dog. And you Loved this Dog, and You share everything with this dog as your own children. Can you imagine this is you?

And let us go even further. Imagine that you see a mosquito. And you said to yourself, "I love this mosquito and I want to share my life with you." then you give everything to this mosquito. You called this mosquito your beloved son. And you shared your life to this mosquito.

Wow, and not just sharing your life, you decided to be a mosquito simply because you want this mosquito to be in union with you. You became a mosquito so that this mosquito may be come like you and share your own love and life.

Did I go to the extreme? It is not that I want to degrade the dignity of human being, No. I simply want to exalt the greatness of God. God has created us worthy and precious.

If you can imagine yourself and mosquito then try to fit in the size of the universe and its boundaries into your head. If you can not, then realize one thing. What God is doing to us can not be comparable to what you would do to this mosquito, for God is even greater than the universe. God is much much much greater and holy than we, his creation.

How amazing is this Love, a God, the Creator of all things decided to look at us, a creation. And this is the reality. Through baptism, we have become God's own and God shares His Love and His life to us.

Next: The mystery of the Body
----------to be continued

Baptism, why? (VII) Now..baptism..

2005-04-18T22:49:00.000+08:00

--------continuing

Finally we mention something about baptism. And this is really what Jesus did. After He talked with Nicodemus that we Must be born anew, Jesus went and baptized.

Many of us, I believe, would feel that this topic "dying to oneself and rising to new Life with God" is something that is too theological. This is not something practical or something down to earth. This belongs to the spiritual realm that we do not understand.

But as I think again, this is not so. This is human being Life. This is what Nature lives. Look at the seed that dies to give life to the new plants. Look at the caterpillar which dies to itself and become a butterfly. Look at our family.

What is better to express this dying and living to new life rather than when a man and a woman enters into a communion of life. As the man or the woman stops living for themselves only, they start to live for each other. They leave their old lives and enter into a new life that is self-giving. As they become parents, they stop to think of their own happiness and they start to give themselves to love the children. How many sacrifices that each has to made for the love of the other. And this is what the church says about marriage

1609 ..... After the fall, marriage helps to overcome self-absorption, egoism, pursuit of one's own pleasure, and to open oneself to the other, to mutual aid and to self-giving.

And so are we with God. This is not "not down to earth". This is human life. As we enter into a communion with God which is self-giving and loving unconditionally, we have to died to our old life that is full of self-absorption, egoism, pursuing our own pleasure.

As Jesus said, "You must be born anew".

And it is interesting to see that as Jesus put the necessity to be born anew, He started to baptize. Several time Jesus talked about baptism. This is one occasion when Jesus mention about His own baptism

Another passage is at Luke

"I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how I am constrained until it is accomplished! " Luke 12:50

Hey, take a look at the chapter where gospel writer put it. It is Luke chapter 12. But Jesus is baptized at the Jordan in Luke chapter 3. So what does that mean? What baptism that Jesus is talking about in chapter 12? What kind of baptism that Jesus wishes to be accomplished?

Let us look at another passage from Mark.

37 And they said to him, "Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory."

38 But Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?"

39 And they said to him, "We are able." And Jesus said to them, "The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized;

Mark 10:37-39

James and John want to sit in Jesus' Glory, but what did Jesus answer? Are you able to drink the cup that I drink? to be baptized with my baptism?

What baptism is it?

Jesus is refering to His Passion and His Ressurection. This is Jesus Baptism. This is what Jesus wishes to be accomplished. And this is the way the He said to James and John if they want to sit with Him in Glory. This is what Jesus is telling each and everyone of us to be united with God, to enter into this communion of Love, to love as God loves us. This is our baptism.

Next: Baptism...amazing Love
------to be continued

Baptism, why? (VI) The paschal mystery...

2005-04-18T22:46:00.000+08:00

----continuing

How wonderful it is to be in union with God. It's about loving and being loved by Love itself. Isn't Love that man are looking for in their life? And Now Love is inviting us to come. Love has told us that it is our destiny to Love and to be Loved.

How to be in this union? how to unite ourselves with this Divine? How to enter into this communion of Love? ......This is what father Errasto Fernandes called the Paschal Mystery...

If you recall the first time I mentioned about the purpose of our lives, I quoted from a book. And the chapter title where it says about this wonderful purpose of our lives is "The Paschal Mystery".

The writer of the book told us that Paschal mystery is about enter the union of God. It's about dying and rising. It's dying to ourselves and rising into new life with God. There is no other way to enter into this communion of Love other than dying to ourselves and rising into new life with God.

Why is it so? why is it so difficult? why can't we just enter into union with God? Why do we have to die to ourselves? What does it mean to die to ourselves?

The writer also said that we, human, are not able to accept God's Life unless we first leave or surrender our own distinctive (yet selfish)human life.

We, human, can not be in union with God's unconditional and unselfish love unless we leave our self centred Life. I was surprised by this statement because I realized that I sometimes, or more exactly often, lives only for ME.

Who is the centre of my life but not Me?

And this is the very reason that we cannot enter into God's own Life. God's union is self-giving, God's love is unconditional, His Love is faithful and sacrificial. This is impossible for us if we put ourselves in the centre of our lives.

But then how to enter into this union if this is impossible? It is impossible for man, but nothing is impossible for God. God came down and became flesh, he died and rose again. Jesus in his humanity brings all human race in His dying and His rising.

From CCC
654 The Paschal mystery has two aspects: by his death, Christ liberates us from sin; by his Resurrection, he opens for us the way to a new life. This new life is above all justification that reinstates us in God's grace, "so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life."526 Justification consists in both victory over the death caused by sin and a new participation in grace.527 It brings about filial adoption so that men become Christ's brethren, as Jesus himself called his disciples after his Resurrection: "Go and tell my brethren."528 We are brethren not by nature, but by the gift of grace, because that adoptive filiation gains us a real share in the life of the only Son, which was fully revealed in his Resurrection.

Wait, wait. This passage is too long, I get lost when I read it. What does it tells us, Jesus by His dying and His rising has open for us the way to New Life. And what is this new Life? This is a new Life as God's children. Take a look again at the last sentence, it says this adoption (to be God's children) makes us to have "a real share in the Life of the only Son". a real share in the Life of Jesus, the Life of God.

Isn't it what we are meant to be, to share in God's own Life, and What is the Life of God ? isn't it simply Love. And What is a communion of Love if not a Family? And here we are now, God's own family.

Here we are. We are called to die to ourselves and rise again into new Life. How is it possible for us except by uniting ourselves to Jesus who has died and rose again for us? This is what is written in CCC

793 Christ unites us with his Passover: all his members must strive to resemble him, "until Christ be formed" in them.227 "For this reason we . . . are taken up into the mysteries of his life, . . . associated with his sufferings as the body with its head, suffering with him, that with him we may be glorified."228

This is how we are taken up into the mysteries of Jesus's Life, the Mystery of God's Life, by uniting ourselves with His suffering and at the end we may be in union in His Glory. This is the way to enter into God's Life, by dying and rising together with jesus.

This might sound too difficult. But this is what God is telling us. What does it mean when Jesus said, "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. " Mat 16:24, What does it mean by "deny himself"? What does it mean by taking our cross? It is to die to our old self and be born again into New Life.

Let's listen to Jesus as He speaks to Nicodemus.

3 Jesus answered him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God."

4 Nicode'mus said to him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?"

5 Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

7 Do not marvel that I said to you, `You must be born anew.'

And after Jesus speak to Nicodemus, Let us see what Jesus did.

22 After this Jesus and his disciples went into the land of Judea; there he remained with them and baptized.

Next: Now Baptism
------to be continued

Baptism, why? (V) The purpose..What does it mean

2005-02-12T09:15:00.000+08:00

---continuing

Have you ever ask your self? what does it mean by union with God? What does it mean sharing in Divine Life? What does it mean by Divine Life?

To be honest, it is still a mystery to me. I keep on reflecting on this, and I do not know when or how I will understand it. And yet I have tried to say to myself. This is my purpose in life, to be in union with God, to be with God for ever and ever.

As I read CCC again, there is one passage that get my attention. It mentioning on "the very Life of the Holy Trinity". Well, I tried to reread again. Could it be what Divine Life is all about.

735 He, then, gives us the "pledge" or "first fruits" of our inheritance: the very life of the Holy Trinity, which is to love as "God [has] loved us."127 This love (the "charity" of 1 Cor 13) is the source of the new life in Christ, made possible because we have received "power" from the Holy Spirit.128

Is this the very life of God is all about. It is "to love as God has loved us". Is this what sharing in His Divine Nature is all about? To love?

Love! This is why St. John said , "God is LOVE". That is why the first commandment is "Love your God ... and Love your neighbour". That is why what God wants is not burnt offering but simply LOVE of his people. That is why 6 years ago when I prayed in the praying meeting asking What God wants from me, and God says in a prophecy, "What I want from you is simply to Love Me".

Love God, and Love the people around us. I still remember what my brother Riko said about holiness is all about. He said it's about Loving God above all else. And I just could not forget this thing. To Love God above All Else. And how do we Love God but not by loving one another.

" Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No man has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us." 1 John 4:11-12

What does a communion mean but not a loving union? What is the most vivid image of a perfect communion in our society? A Family! A marriage! and what binds them except Love. What Unites Man and Woman to be one except Love? What brings New Life from this union of Man and Woman except but Love? Love unites, Love gives birth, Love brings forth New Life.

Next: the Paschal Mystery
------ to be continued

Baptism, why? (IV) The purpose..our desire

2005-02-01T18:11:00.000+08:00

---continuing

Dearest brothers and sisters, I do hope that you do not get bored to receive e-mail from me :)hehehe. Let me continue my sharing on my reflection on baptism.

All this time I have been talking on the purpose of our lives. Well, How does that relate to baptism that I intended to share with all ofyou. I will try to explain it later on.

Before that I would like to share more on this purpose of our lives.You know, it might seem simple and obvious to us. The church and the bible said about sharing life with God, about union with God, about partaker in Divine nature. Don't you think that this is too difficult to comprehend. What does it mean? How do we have this share in God's Nature in His loving plan for us?

But I believe the more important questions that I ever ask is not what does this whole thing means. But simply, Do I believe in His plan and Am I willing to Follow Him?

It is not easy to follow what God wants, I say. And most of the times we choose our own purpose, our own plan. We seek what our lives is all about in things that will not give us the answer.

I still remember one sentence that Br. derrick mentioned during RCIA.It's the words of St. Thomas Aquinas, "God alone satisfies".

I asked my self then, do I really believe God ALONE satisfies? As I reflect on this thing I found one passage in the CCC.

27 The desire for God is written in the human heart, because man is created by God and for God; and God never ceases to draw man to himself. Only in God will he find the truth and happiness he never stops searching for:

The dignity of man rests above all on the fact that he is called to communion with God. This invitation to converse with God is addressed to man as soon as he comes into being. For if man exists it is because God has created him through love, and through love continues to hold him in existence. He cannot live fully according to truth unless he freely acknowledges that love and entrusts himself to his creator.

Wow, I was amazed at this, it says we canNOT live fully unless we acknowledges God's love and give our live to God.

We cannot Live fully until we say to ourselves, "Yes, God is in mylife, God loves me, and I want to entrust my life to God, I want to give my life to God".

Have I said that to my self? Have I live fully then all this time? inGod alone we find our fulfillment. God alone satisfies. Do weacknowledge this truth?

I once reflect on this irony of life. In certain degree in our liveswe know that in God alone we find our happiness and our fulfillment inlife, and yet somehow we just ignore it and we just could not give ourlives to God.

And we keep on looking for things that satisfies us, things that bring us happiness, and yet we might never find it, simply because of that "somehow" we just could not trust God and give ourlives to God. Do we acknowledge that in God we will find what we are looking for? God alone satisfies. This is our desire. this is our desire because it was God who planted it. That is why we have this feeling of "notsatisfied" in life, because there is none that can satisfy us, none except God.

"Our hearts are made for You, O Lord. And it will not rest untill it rests in You." --St. Augustine

Next: The purpose..what does it mean?
----to be continued

Baptism, why? (III) The purpose..what the church say

2005-01-25T17:25:00.000+08:00

continuing...

Well, yes, why don't we ask God what is His purpose in creating us? What is our lives purpose then? Where can we find answer from God? where can we hear His voice? Maybe we can start from the Bible and the Church.

I have been reading CCC (Cathecism of the Catholic Church) for sometime, and it is great. I found the wisdom that God gives to the church. And even amazingly, the questions on why God creates us and what is His purpose, is written plainly inside it.

The bible also says that God has revealed this mystery."For he has made known to us in all wisdom and insight the mystery of his will, according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ " Eph1:9

This is what is written in CCC.
51 "It pleased God, in his goodness and wisdom, to reveal himself and to make known the mystery of his will. His will was that men should have access to the Father, through Christ, the Word made flesh, in the Holy Spirit, and thus become sharers in the divine nature."

St. Paul said, "for through him we both have access in one Spirit tothe Father. " Eph 2:18

And let us listen to our first Pope, St. Peter, said "by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, that through these you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of passion, and become partakers of the divine nature. " 2 Ptr 1:4

from CCC again
460 The Word became flesh to make us "partakers of the divine nature":"For this is why the Word became man, and the Son of God became the Son of man: so that man, by entering into communion with the Word and thus receiving divine sonship, might become a son of God." "For the Son of God became man so that we might become God.""The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make men gods."

How amazing it is, it speaks the same thing as the book that I read before. God's will was that we, all of us, should have access to GOD, and in this way we become sharers in the divine nature. God wants to share His life to us. He wants us to become sharer in His divinity, His divine nature. We become partakers of the divine nature, St Peter said. And as St.Thomas Aquinas said, "The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man,might make men gods."

Next: The purpose...our desire
---to be continue

Baptism, why? (II) The Purpose...

2005-01-15T09:23:00.000+08:00

continuing....

Yes, What is Paschal Mystery? and How is it related to our lives' purpose? What is the purpose of our lives?

I will not try to give a close answer for this questions for everyone, I simply share how I feel as I read the books and how I feel that this is what God is telling me.

I could not remember exactly the words. But this is what is planted in my mind and in my heart, "God created us so that He may share His own DIVINE Life. So that we may be in Union with this Divine Life, in union with GOD".

How amazing it is!!. we are created so that we may in union with GOD. We, the creation, in union with the Creator. GOD, the Creator, wants to share HIS own LIFE, His own divinity to us His creation. I am so amazed at this statement.

For some of us, it might be difficult to see this as a purpose of our lives. Of course, It is difficult for me as well. And why is it we can not except this truth as our life's purpose? Simply because this is not what we are thinking of life. This might not be what we want. This is the purpose that is being imposed to me. Why should we accept it?

I once read the book "Purpose Driven Life". It is a christian book. And the opening chapter realized me of one truth in searching my life's purpose. I started from the wrong starting point.

As we ask ourselves what is our life's purpose, we always start from ourselves, we ask what we want? what are the things that bring us happiness? what is my dream? How do I want to spend my life? Who are the person that can bring me happiness?

And the writer of the book said we won't find our live's purpose if we start from ourselves, from the point of view "ME" and "I".

Where then we should start? We should start from the one who creates us! We should seek the creator and find the answer in the creater. How can we find answer on what's the purpose of creation is if we us the creation itself?

If for example our friend invent something new. We might try to guess what is it meant for but we never really sure. How do we make sure? We should ask our friend who invent it. So ask God.

We never finds our lives' purpose might be because we start form ourselves. And when God is trying to tell us, we are having difficulty to accept it. If only we try to accept it, maybe we will find what we are looking for this time long.

Next: The Purpose...what the church say
----to be continue

Baptism, why? (I)

2005-01-05T09:45:00.000+08:00

Testing.. testing :)
I would like to post my reflection on the wonders of baptism:

Dearest brothers and sisters,
I would just like to share some of my reflection on baptism and the purpose of our lives. It might be quite long, so I will share it in several e-mails hehehe.

You know, I was born Catholic. And I believe for many of us who were baptized when we were baby, we might wondering what is baptism is all about.

I was wondering as well. I asked my self, "What is baptism? I don't remember it, I do not feel it, it seems I do not experience it at all, I only know that my parents told me that I have been baptized."

Another questions that I often ask is that what is the purpose of my life. It seems to be the questions that everyone is asking, or yet to ask in their lives. And there was one moment in my life I decided and said to myself, "Well, maybe it's a mystery by itself, I do not need to bother with the purpose of my life, I just need to live it as best as I should. Maybe I would never know the real purpose of my life."

Well, to me my life's purpose is still clouded with questions. But God shows me that we should know the purpose of our lives. It is this purpose that drives us, it will moves us, it will help us to see the reality of God's love. It shows the splendour of Christian lives. It makes our lives directed to one end. What is this end then?

You might be wondering why I jump from baptism to the topic of life's purpose. Well, to be honest I was reflecting about baptism when suddenly God reminds me on this life's purpose and how baptism leads us to this end.

Going back to our lives' purpose. I started to reflect about this in this recent year. There was a Eucharistic Congress in Singapore and the Archdiocese invited a speaker from Blessed Sacrament priest to preach in this congress, his name is Errasto Fernandes. Before that time I was attending a retreat Youth in The Spirit Seminar and during the retreat they are selling books, religous books.

I was interested in one of the books, titled "The Bread We Break", it's about Eucharist. It was written by this Father Errasto Fernandes. Unfortunately, I have spend up all my money in my pockets, and it lefts 4 dollars only :p. But I really wanted to read the books because I really wanted to know more on the Eucharist, the sacraments that I receive and yet most I could not appreciate. After a while I realized that they give the books and CDs for free. Amazing ! We only need to give a love offering. And I give my 4 dollars to see what is inside the book.

When I read this book, I was touched and strucked as I read the chapter "Paschal Mystery". It talks about The Purpose of our Life. And What is Paschal Mystery is all about.

Next: The Purpose...
----to be continued