Embracing Our Call To Consecration & Mission

That was the topic of the first session of the MSC Formation program.
Basically it was for us to remember our baptism, and what it means to us, in the light of what Jesus experienced in His own baptism.

As Fr Ho pointed out, I think it was really a matter of God's timing that we had the session on the 28th Jan. That our formation session should start on the day where the gospel was the parable of the mustard seed. Mk 4:26-34 the same passage that is on our t-shirts. And just amazing how when the formation was supposed to on the 14th Jan, it got pushed back because of the tsunami memorial mass and our chalet.

And I guess for myself, it brought a connection to baptism that I never saw before. As Fr Ho started talking about the mustard seed, I recalled what edmund told me when he first found out that we changed name to Mustard Seed Community. He discovered something about seeds which only gardeners (i don't mean those staying in serangoon gardens) will know. He said, unless a seed is dry when planted it will not grow. He said the moisture will make it rot. But if the seed is dry, then when it is planted, and watered, it will start to grow.

So at the session, it dawned on me, how baptism, and Jesus' saying

'unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.' (Jn 12:24)

was so connected. The seed is dry and dead, and it springs to life and starts growing when it receives water. So we alike, when we receive the waters of baptism, it jumpstarts our growth process in the Spirit. Perhaps John should have said "but if it dies and receives the water of life,". But I guess the people of that time were gardeners and that was understood. Unlike us "gardeners" who dun know that green beans grow into plants.

Even in the CCC, #1253 "Baptism is not a perfect and mature faith, but a beginning that is called to develop" and #1254 "faith must grow after Baptism". And that is the call of baptism. It is a beginning, it is the start of growth, which has to lead to bearing fruit, as Jesus uses so many parables to illustrate. The vine and the branches, the parable of the sower, Jn 12:24.

The challenge for me of embracing my call to baptism is one of growth and bearing fruit. One which is about constantly developing my faith, and the other about my mission to bring Christ into the lives of others.

And ending of with the word's of Fr Ho at the talk.

"There's no baptism without mission"

Gerasene Demoniac & Singapore's Casino

Today's Gospel was about Jesus & the Gerasene Demoniac (Mk 5:1-20)
And as I reflected and as Fr Gerard spoke in his sermon about how the people begged Jesus to leave the area, it just brought to mind the article in the papers about how religious institutions should keep out of the debate over the casino. (Too bad I can't find it online)

But if i remember it correctly, it was saying how religious bodies should not interfere with matters of the economy or something like that. And it just seemed so funny how the situation seemed so much like what was happening in the time of Jesus.

Lets say the spirits in the man are the evils of the casino. Then comes someone who says, let me cast out the evils into those pigs, and you get this human being back again. But the people say, why do you want to do that for? We have managed to isolate all the evils into one man, put all the controls in place where he will be less of a nuisance, and we have our pigs to keep us rich. Why don't you mind your own business, and not come and bother us.

But the problem is as in the gospel, the evil is not so easily contained.

"he had frequently been bound with shackles and chains,
but the chains had been pulled apart by him and the shackles smashed,
and no one was strong enough to subdue him" Mk 5:4

And so just for the sake of the cash cow or pigs, we are willing to sacrifice the few humans who might be affected by the casino. The gospel really puts it into perspective.

And of course, Jesus, once again is told, don't come and tell us how to run our lives. Praise God for all you who raised objections, we need to continually pray hard for the human dignity to be placed above money.

"Quiet! Be still!" --- Peace

Today's Gospel from Mk 4:35-41 reminded me of a quote I saw at the house of a customer back in my plumbing days.

"God will either calm your storm, or let it rage while he calms you"

Although I pity the poor disciples.

"A violent squall came up and waves were breaking over the boat, so that it was already filling up. (Vs 37)"

In this kind of circumstance, what else were they to do. And I guess the did the smart thing of going to their master to seek help. So why did Jesus scold them?

On reflection, I guess their approach was wrong... but so human. So many times, when we meet some trouble, some obstacle in life, we turn to God. But instead of humbly asking Him for help, we say, "Do you not care that we are perishing" And He answers, "Do you not yet have faith?" Reminds me of Fr Fossion and his rebuttal to people who say "Father, you have no heart." when he doesn't cry at funerals. And he simply replies to them "You have no faith."

And it brought up the memory of another story about a storm

There once was a King who offered a prize to the artist who would paint the best picture of peace. Many artists tried. The King looked at all the pictures, but there were only two he really liked and he had to choose between them.

One picture was of a calm lake. The lake was a perfect mirror, for peaceful towering mountains were all around it. Overhead was a blue sky with fluffy white clouds. All who saw this picture thought that it was a perfect picture of peace.

The other picture had mountains too. But these were rugged and bare. Above was an angry sky from which rain fell and in which lightening played. Down the side of the mountain tumbled a foaming waterfall. This did not look peaceful at all. But when the King looked, he saw behind the waterfall a tiny bush growing in a crack in the rock. In the bush a mother bird had built her nest. There, in the midst of the rush of angry water, sat the mother bird on her nest...

perfect peace.

Which picture do you think won the prize?

The King chose the second picture. Do you know why?
"Because," explained the King, "peace does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble, or hard work. Peace means to be in the midst of all those things and still be calm in your heart. That is the real meaning of peace."

'and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus' - Philippians 4:7

Jesus was trying to be that example of peace for the disciples, until they woke Him up. And so often we panic in our own anxieties and fears, that we rush our Lord for an answer. And sometimes He says "Quiet! Be still!" to us, to have faith that He is in control, to surrender.

Earthlights - Rich/Poor Divide

I got this from Edmund when I got back from the chalet. Another example of the great divide in wealth in the world.

Click to Enlarge

This picture was taken on the 27th of November by a number of NASA satellites. It shows all the inhabited and uninhabited regions of the world.

The amount of light seen represents the development or underdevelopment of the region.

The world is brightly lit up in the three main developed areas:
North-America, Western Europe and Japan while the south is mostly in darkness (except for more developed areas such as Australia, South Africa and Brazil) but you must not forget the natural boundaries, like the Sahara and the rain forests.

Weekend Reflection - Part 3 - Human Weakness

Now the third part of the reflection was on what we humans are doing.
Because on Sat night, someone brought up the topic of why there are poor people in the world. And so the the discussion was steered towards social justice. Quite a few examples were brought up.

Jude brought up how there is still hunger in the world, while in the US, it was documented that farmers or some organisation would rather throw away tonnes of tomatoes, than let them be sold, so that there would not be an over-supply and result in a drop in prices.

I brought up the point of how it appeared in the papers, the map of the world, and how it contrasted the numerous tsunami warning stations in the Pacific ocean compared with none in the Indian ocean.

And the other examples of how those who have are not giving to those who do not. Now I think of it, those people in melbourne protesting over the exploitation of third world countries, of Nike, of the rich-poor divide, they had a point. I used to think that they are whackos, just protesting to safeguard australian businesses.

If only the richer countries like japan, usa, australia, who set up such a network of stations had helped the poorer countries of indonesia, india, sri lanka, maldives set up one also. If the thailand tourist promotion board had not worried so much about how a false alarm would affect the economy.

And like Jude brought up, yes, so 150,000 died in this disaster, and so much money was raised to help them. But there are so many other places where hunger, sickness, poverty, abortions, drugs, suicides are killing much more. But there's nothing sensational about those, so they just get brushed past.

How reflective of the human nature, to be selfish, to want power. No wonder so much of the new testament is about loving your neighbour. And how Christ's way is not the way of the world.

So where was God in all that. He was there. Where were we humans. We only came after that. Now there are plans to build by the US to build tsunami stations in the indian ocean. Too little, too late.

Weekend Reflection - Part 2 - God's Creation

While at the chalet, on sat morning, I woke up to do my Morning Prayer. So I walked out to the beach, sat on the breakwater, and started.

Staring at the sea and the hills of johor across it, while saying the invitatory psalm brought much meaning to the verses :

"A mighty God is the Lord, a great king above all gods. In his hands are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his. To him belongs the sea, for he made it, and the dry land shaped by his hands." psa 95:3-5

So there I was, admiring the beauty of the His creation (i guess this is wat Sr Carol meant by creation spirituality) when our great God decided to greet me good morning with a rainbow. This despite it not having rained & not a raincloud in sight.

Then it started to drizzle. And then it occurred to me that if i wanted the beautiful rainbow, i had to accept the rain too. Similarly as we learn in geography, mountains are formed through the movement of the earth's crust. And earthquakes are a result of that movement. So this got me thinking about the tsunamis. And whether it was all part of God's plan. Cos just the day before, I was reading the forum page, and how different people were "arguing" over where God was in the whole tsunami tragedy. But more on that in the next part.

For me, I was just enjoying the nice rainbow, the cool breeze, and the light drizzle that God sent to water his grass and plants around me.

Weekend Reflection - Part 1 - God's Will

Over this weekend chalet, there was time to get away from it all and to reflect, many thoughts came to mind, which were all somehow related, yet different. To make it easier to read, there are 3 parts to it: Gods Will, Creation, What are we doing.

The first part is called God's Will, because as I was packing my stuff, I was switching channels, and I reached the MTV channel, which I would normally bypass because of all the trash they show these days, when I heard the words 'I've been searchin, praying'. So I stopped switching channels. (of course partly becos the singers voice was sweet and the tune was slow and soothing)

Anyway, after that came the words 'God's Will'. And of course this intrigued me, as I also try to search for God's Will for me. but it so happened to be the end of the song. So I went online, to search for the lyrics of the song. And it provided an interesting view of God's Will.

I met God's Will on a Halloween night
He was dressed as a bag of leaves
It hid the braces on his legs at first

His smile was as bright as the August sun
When he looked at me
As he struggled down the driveway,
It almost made me hurt

Will don't walk too good
Will don't talk too good
He won't do the things that the other kids do,
In our neighborhood

[Chorus:]
I've been searchin', wonderin', thinkin'
Lost and lookin' all my life
I've been wounded, jaded, loved and hated
I've wrestled wrong and right
He was a boy without a father
And his mother's miracle
I've been readin', writin', prayin', fightin'
I guess I would be still
Yeah, that was until
I knew God's Will

Will's mom had to work two jobs
We'd watch him when she had to work late
And we'd all laugh like I hadn't laughed
Since I don't know when

Hey Jude was his favorite song
At dinner he'd ask to pray
And then he'd pray for everybody in the world but him

[Chorus]

Before they moved to California
His mother said, they didn't think he'd live
And she said each day that I have him,
Well it's just another gift
And I never got to tell her,
That the boy showed me the truth
In crayon red, on notebook paper,
He'd written Me and God love you

I've been searchin', prayin', wounded, jaded
I guess I would be still
Yeah that was until...
I met God's Will on a Halloween night
He was dressed as a bag of leaves

God's Will - Martina Mcbride

And after reading the lyrics, and spending time at the chalet thinking of the words over and over again. I came to the conclusion... so often we are like the singer of the song, "searchin', wonderin', thinkin' Lost and lookin' all my life" trying to find this complicated explanation of God, His plan for us, when actually its really simple, and it really brings to life what Jesus meant when he said,

"Amen, I say to you, whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it." (Mk 10:15)

So simple yet as the singer says, we are 'wounded, jaded' by the world around us, that we can't believe that God's Will for us is that simple. And yet this small boy, dispite his physical disabilities, has accepted God's love, and so willing to bring that love to others, praying for all except himself. Compared to that post on the msc blog which Tim brought up about praying for ourselves instead of others.