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“God is pleased even with your most distracted form of prayer”
Just remembered some words of encouragement from a priest while receiving the sacrament of reconciliation, and I thought I’d share it for whoever needs to hear it too, while I retreat away to reflect and ponder on these words more.
“My God ‘I choose all!’ I don’t want to be a saint by halves, I’m not afraid to suffer for You, I fear only one thing: to keep my own will; so take it for ‘I choose all’ that You will!”
- St Thérèse of Lisieux (A Story of a Soul)
This portion from St Thérèse’s biography, really moved my heart as I was reading. This simple sentence really embodies how I desire to live my life, and I can only pray for the grace to one day be able to say whole heartedly that ‘I choose all’ for God
Mass Readings and Homily Takeaways June 2023
14 June [2 Corinthians 3:4-11, Matthew 5:17-19]
The truth of the law is Charity. We as Catholic Christians need to be careful not to be legalistic. For example, abstinence of meat on Fridays is meant to build the spirit of penance in remembrance that Jesus died for us, that is t he spirit of the law. Ordinary time is a time for us to grow in our faith and knowledge of our faith.
18 June [Exodus 19:2-6, Romans 5:6-11, Matthew 9:36 - 10:8]
The world is like a parched mouth, thirsting for God. God is still relevant as he was 2000 years ago, he is the solution to the widespread loneliness that has become prevalent in our society today. Our actions have a tongue of our own. We need to live a life that reflects unity (words and actions are the same), and not a dichotomous one.
It is true that the church is in need of vocations, but our situation cannot be more dire than that of Christ. He changed the world with 12. The laity is the sleeping giant of the church. Labourers are not just priests and religious, they are lay people who want to be true disciples of Christ. And if the the majority of our labourers are lay people, it is only logical that the church must grow, and we as it’s members need to boldly and courageously defend and preach the Gospel (evangelise), and grow in our capacity to love.
21 June [2 Corinthians 9:6-11, Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18]
God loves a joyful giver. If we cannot be happy on Earth, we cannot be happy in heaven. To live a joyful life, we should strive only to be known by God (we don’t have to go around pleasing men).
I was also reminded of the Gospel reading from the Sunday that just passed, specifically the verse, “You received without charge, give without charge” - Matthew 10:8.
22 June [2 Corinthians 11:1-11, Matthew 6:7-15]
St Teresa Avila gave total praise and attention in prayer, that’s why she took 1 hour to pray the Our Father.
“Our Father, …” - addressed to God the Father, but it’s also a reflection that prayer and the faith is communal. “… who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.” - always praise and thank God first before beginning your petitions. “Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven.” - Recognising that as we bring our petitions before God, we should strive to have our wills be United with our Father’s.
“Give us this day our daily bread. ” - Once again prayer and faith is communal, we now bring not only our petitions, but the needs of all before God.“And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.” - We forgive because we were first forgiven. Hence, we need to reconcile with those we have hurt. Forgiveness is recognising that the anger and frustration you have experienced has gone down over time, to forgive completely is to let go of the hurt, to let God and let go. “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from all evil.” - Experiencing temptation is a sign that we are alive, it reveals our in most desires and longings that have yet to be ordered around God, and it calls us to be vigilant in our spiritual lives.
29 June [Feast of Sts Peter and Paul]
I attended mass to celebrate the feast of Sts Peter and Paul and the Anniversary of the founding of the Pauline Sisters in Singapore. It was truly a blessed time with the a Lord and the Sisters. Here are the main takeaways I got from Fr Colin’s homily.
Our lives follow the otter of Descending, Transcending and Ascending. Descending: we are all born of God the Father we come and descend from him. The act of descending is also a call to humility at every single moment of our lives, the recognition that we are nothing without out our Lord.
Transcending: we live in a world that is not perfect. We have to learn to transcend human weaknesses and sinfulness even though it is not easy. Pauline spirituality is a call for self-transcendence (dying to oneself) as St Paul once said, “It is not I who lives but Christ who lives within me.” (Galatians 2:20). St Paul is a great example of self-transcendence and humility, putting aside one’s need for ambition and recognition and accepting God’s plan whole heartedly.
Ascending: through this action, we learn to rise above all the pettiness and sufferings of life. To rise above the imperfections of ourselves and others. To know that at the end we are called to ascend back to the Father. Our own human mortality and frailty is a struggle, but we need to recognise that we will one day leave this world and ascend to our creator, it is and invitation to detachment from material and earthly things. Do we desire to be able say at the end of our journey’s, “Lord, whatever you have called me to do, I have don’t to the best of my ability”.
I found these words from The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence really profound in the simplest of ways. I’ve been enjoying his writings so far and found his words of wisdom quite helpful in my own walk with God in this busy season of life.
“… walk in God’s Spirit, since in the spirit-life not to advance us to fall back.” - Brother Lawrence
A Collection of Sporadic Personal Reflections on Mass Readings in April
Life sort of imploded, and I’ve been struggling to sit and reflect on God’s word daily. But, I’ll still keep trying to persevere. Here’s a compilation of my personal reflections in the days in April that I did manage to make time for reflection (which are not a lot, but I tried, and am still trying).
9 April 2023
The resurrection cannot happen without the cross, and the suffering of the cross would not have meaning without the resurrection. You cannot have one without the other. In order to be raised to (new) life [Acts 10:34, 37-43] or brought back to true life with Christ [Col 3:1-4] without experiencing the fullness of life, which is life with all it’s gifts and sorrows. In other words, we cannot be given new life and experience life in abundance without embracing our own crosses, fullness of life is not without suffering.
11 April 2023
“… for with him at my right hand, nothing can shake me …” [Acts 2:14,22-43]. The lord constantly reassures me that he is in control. I may be in a raft going down the rapids, and all I see in front of me is the rushing water, strong currents and sharp rocks that threaten to rip holes and overwhelm my flimsy, inflatable raft and all I want to do is to take control and pick up the oars to ensure my own safety, but the Lord reminds me that He is in control, he is the one that holds on to the oars and steers my raft to safety. Ultimately, He knows the best route and what to do amidst the rapids better than my finite mind ever could. He controls the currents, and the rapids.
“And there, coming to meet them, was Jesus …” [Matt 28:8-15]. Our Lord God is not a passive God, he is the initiator, the inviter. He always first extends his hand out to us, meeting us where we are at. Such humility, love and mercy that flow forth from Him, in the action of God first making the effort to meet us, to seek us out, what a privilege it is indeed to be a child of God.
12 April 2023
In Acts 2:36-41 the phrase “Cut to the heart” stood out to me. It made me realise that repentance is important, in the sense that we need to be truly sorry for our sins. From John 20:11-18, what struck me was how Mary only recognised Jesus when she heard him call her name, it reminded me of the verse "My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me." [John 10:27]. It stirs in me a desire, and hope that I too will be able to recognise the Lord's voice immediately when he calls me by name, and that I too will respond to Him in faith.
13 April 2023
The word "firm" stood out to me from Acts 3:1-1. It made me ponder on whether I am standing firm in the lord, casting all my worries and anxieties at the foot of His cross, and fully depending on Him, instead of my own strength. Luke 24:13-35 made me ponder on the following questions, "Am I looking back on the past (Emmaus) instead of focusing on Jerusalem where the Lord has risen bringing new life with him?" and "Am I too distracted like the disciples, keeping my head down and eyes cast on things that separate me from God, preventing me from recognising Him when he speaks to me?". Sadly, the reality to these questions is that often times, I don't focus on what's ahead of me instead on looking back, and I am more often than not swept up and distracted by the currents of the World, but I think the invitation to me in this season of life, would be to continue to persevere and to depend on the Lord of the strength to carry on, to take baby steps towards these desired dispositions in my spiritual journey with Jesus.
16 April 2023
In our humanness, like Thomas in John 20:19-31, we often want a Master that we can physically touch, to be physically able to put our finger into the wounds of His nail marks and the gash in his side. Perhaps Thomas was not present with the other disciples because he was hurting due to the death of Jesus, all his dreams of a glorious Kingdom were dashed, but Jesus did not give up on him, like he does not give up on us.
17 April 2023
In the reading from Acts 4:23-31 the word “boldly” made me realise that I want to live a life that is bold in defending and proclaiming the word of God, even if it means that I do not get to lead a comfortable or easy life.
Communion as Parish and Church
Some things that spoke to me in this talk/session I attended on Communion as Parish and Church back in February.
We all come from a family, whether it’s a close knit, distant or broken one, we all have one. Our families should be like a dart board with God at the centre, and all other things flowing from Him. When you do not have God at the centre, human capacity runs out eventually.
St Paul on the way to Demascaus gives us a good insight to the mystery of God. Through the death of Christ and our Baptism makes us one family. The Church is called to be like mother, to produce children through Baptism. We are both and Earthly (pilgrim church) and Heavenly (those gone before us) church. And we as members of the Church are called to be God’s family.
As God’s family, we are called to help those who need it, as they are our brothers/sisters. This means everyone, not just confined to parish, or to Catholics, but all we encounter.
To fulfil this vision of family/church, we have a model (heaven). But in reality, we struggle because we are all sinners. And in reality, many in our Church today still do not know Christ yet, many have said ‘yes’ but still do not fully want Christ. In other words, the heart is willing, but the flesh is weak. And in all honesty, these are the people that are most difficult to love (the hypocrites). Yet, we are still called to love all, these people included. Sin damages the earthly church, it causes it to miss the mark of perfection. But even amidst our imperfections, the Lord still invites us to be His authentic disciples, which is a true privilege. However, wing an authentic disciple means a life of the cross, giving ourselves to God first and it is not a comfortable one.
We seek the holy spirit to grow to a higher standard. Light to people so they can see God, salt to bring the flavour of Christianity. The mystery of the spirit forms us and guides us - when God works, he works in mysterious ways but we walk in faith, having a “seeking mentality”, don’t be contented with the bare minimum and pray for awareness, of our shortcomings.
Mass (05/03/2023)
Main take always from today’s homily at mass.
Matthew 17:1-9
Moses is the representation of the law, Elijah represents the prophets, and Jesus is what bridges the law and prophets.
Simon Peter was attracted to the divinity in front of him on the mountain, and from this attraction/awe struck wonder he suggested pitching the tents. The tents imply that Simon Peter wanted to remain on the mountain, as the Lord was transfigured before him, Simon Peter had encountered the joy of experiencing the divine, and receiving the good news (Jesus the saviour of the world). Despite this desire to remain, Jesus still led the disciples down the mountain, to return back to the ordinary, to reality and the mundane.
Similarly, as Catholics, life is often times does not help us remember the joy and holy awe that we experience upon having our own personal encounters with God. But just as Jesus still led the disciples down the mountain back to ordinary life, we too are called to live out our often times dreary and repetitive day-to-day lives, which is in itself an invitation from God to share the joy and holy awe that we have received, to live in remembrance of all the Lord has done for us, and most importantly to be that spark/light that disrupts the mundaneness of the world, to be a catalyst of change, to live radically and be messengers of the Good News, to show those of around us, that there is indeed something more.
As the words of the prayer Jesus taught us; “Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from all evil.” God didn’t promise a life of no suffering, but we as Children of God are all called to strive in faith in the highs, lows and ordinariness of life.
I just finished up the fourth week of the 33 Days to Morning Glory, and the last reading from yesterday on mercy really moved my heart. Perhaps because I’ve been reflecting more on the meaning of mercy and on the Sorrowful Mysteries of the rosary this past week.
Often times, I think we Catholics have a very distorted view on mercy. On a subconscious level, I think many of us (me included) often think of mercy as a “God don’t punish me for my sins”. But in reality, the mercy of God our Father goes beyond that. Mercy in a biblical understanding actually comes from the word “hesed” which means unconditional love (thank you Dr Edward Sri) and personally to me, the sorrowful mysteries embody that same unconditional love. To me, it is God saying personally, I did all this “for you”, which I think perfectly encapsulates the intimacy of God’s mercy.
Lastly, the fact that God first entrusted himself to Mary, the source of mercy Himself placed himself in the hands of a mere mortal woman, I think that has so much depth and meaning, but what really stood out to me yesterday was that if the source of mercy entrusted himself to Mother Mary, then how much more trust should we have in her, and how much more should we be turning to her in our day to day lives?
