Is new life possible? 2nd Tuesday of Easter

Yesterday I did something I regretted. I was careless and now, others and I have to pay for it. It is not the end of the world, but it disturbs me. Being careless can have serious consequences. Now I wished I had not done that. This is an act of repentance, which may become a virtue when we repent often, easily and rightly. This virtue is called penance, nowadays very much misunderstood and mistaken for some strange decision to suffer.

An act of repentance provokes an uncomfortable feeling: the realization that you were the person you don’t want to be. Two false strategies are thus to be followed.

One: do not provoke this uncomfortable feeling and just be the person you are, without any demand that makes you try to be what you really are not. This is the road of complacency. In other words, I could just tell myself, “Well, everyone is careless, we cannot be perfect, so it is okay to be careless, and I just need to learn to accept myself as a careless person.”

The second wrong alternative is to just despair into thinking that there is no remedy to continuing being the person you don’t want to be. You therefore condemn yourself to live in the perpetual discrepancy between what you are and what you want to be. Despair or neurotic guilt is the result. Both are lethal for the soul. It would be like telling myself, “I cannot accept myself being careless because being careless is wrong and I just cannot bear the fact of being the wrong kind of person.” Therefore, I hide and repress my “wrong self” or I despair into thinking I am hopeless. The throng of people afflicted by neurotic guilt take the first path; Judas chose the second.

At times, the first path appears in the disguise of condoning mercy; the second, under the form of a cruel imposition of unrealistic moral standards. These paths are today the hero and the villain of our culture: “If high standards of morality were not imposed, everyone would be happy”, “Live and let live” seem to be the cliches of today’s duty of tolerance.

Today’s gospel (Jn 3:7b-15) speaks of another alternative. Jesus asked Nicodemous to be born “anöthen“. The adverb “anöthen” is impossible to translate into English with a single word. Like most adverbs, it has a primitive connotation. It has a spatial reference “from up there”, with a temporal equivalent, “from the beginning” and lastly a prepositional correspondence “again”, “once more.”

So, the phrase, “to be born anothen” could be translated as “to be born from above,” “to be born from the beginning,” or “to be born again.” The gospel of John is full of double meaning expressions that the author use to deepen the meaning of his key concepts. In the passage of the Samaritan woman, she takes the meaning of “water” as plain water, while Jesus refers to “living water.” It is most probably then that Jesus is referring to being born “from above” when Nicodemus misunderstands it as the ridiculous being “born again”.

The desire that being born again would be possible, that a new birth could change us into the person we really want to be is the yearning of every penitent.

To be able to be born again, to be a different kind of person is the desire of all penitents, that being born again would be possible, that a new birth makes one a new person, the person whom he finally wants to be.

Some people achieve this through a successful effort of their wills. They want to change and they do it. Good for them. But what about those who don’t have the luxury of an athletic will, those whose spirits are “willing but whose flesh is weak”?

Jesus knew that, so He recommended another solution to Nicodemus : to be born not again from the mother’s womb, but from above where the Spirit abides. To be a child of the Spirit means that God who created the person can recreate the person by fixing what we have willingly spoilt.

Christian hope is not so much a hope in the strength of the will, with the risk of becoming a new breed of self-righteous new Pharisees, as it is a hope that God has the power to initiate a new birth in us. Unlike in our first birth where we had no say, in this second birth, we have a responsibility to accept God’s invitation and to cooperate with Him in our own re-creation.

Daily Wisdom

“It is impossible to go through life without trust: that is to be imprisoned in the worst cell of all, oneself”

Graham Greene

A loving forsaking God: Good friday

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Was the Son of God forsaken by his Father, or did he merely “felt” forsaken? Theology scholars are divided over the issue. But how should we take those unmistakable words of Jesus?

Once I read a story that may help us understand:

“In that place between wakefulness and dreams, I found myself in the room. The room was empty except for a wall covered with small index card files. I got closer to the cards and read, “Friends I betrayed”, “Books I read”, Comfort I have given”, etc. Each was written in my own handwriting. Each signed with my signature.

I was disturbed by some titles, “Things I have yelled at my brothers”, “Things I have done in my anger”, “Bad thoughts I had”. An almost animal rage broke on me. One thought dominated my mind: “No one must ever see these cards!” I fell on my knees and cried. I cried out of shame. But then as I pushed away my tears, I saw Him. No, please, not Him. Not here. Oh, anyone but Jesus.

I watched helplessly as He began to open the files and read the cards. He seemed to intuitively go to the worst boxes. Why did He have to read every one?

A subtle humility: Holy Thursday

Surprisingly, the history of sin repeats itself. Abused children end up being abusive parents. As ironic as it may sound, statistics continually confirm that disheartening fact. It seems that sin is infectious. If that is the case, we should ask, is love infectious too? Should we be loved in order for us to love?

Only the gospel of John tells of the washing of the disciples’ feet. Washing of the feet was something everyone was supposed to do by himself. Slaves could not be obliged to wash their master’s feet. But occasionally disciples would do it for their teacher.

We tend to interpret this in terms of the humble service that Christ showed towards his disciples, and it was, of course, correct. In fact, Peter protested of this service. If ever, he should be the one washing Jesus’ feet.

But what Peter was called to exercise was also a kind of humility. It was pride, or false humility, that prevented Peter from letting Jesus wash his feet. Only when Jesus told him of the reward, does he go to the other extreme of asking Jesus to wash even his head.

God knows, not only that sin is infectious, he knows that the only cure, His love, is infectious too and Jesus wants to begin infecting everyone starting with his disciples. The first letter of John explains it explicitly, “God loved us first.” Only if we accept in humility a God who serves us, can we learn to serve and love as He serves and loves.

Daily Wisdom

“It is not true that progress, but ignorance, in knowledge extinguishes the faith. The more ignorance prevails, the greater is the havoc wrought by incredulity.”

St. Pius X

Now Jesus cannot be followed, Holy Tuesday

Jesus had put himself in a difficult situation. Not only was he vulnerable, and in fact Judas betrayed him, but no one could follow Him: “Where I am going you cannot follow me NOW,” Jesus tells Peter. After asking so many people to follow Him during his ministry, NOW not even Peter could follow him, much to his disbelief.

What is so special about NOW? Why did Jesus call people to follow Him before and Peter could follow Him after, but not NOW? Now is the hour. The hour, in the gospel of John, is a technical term to explain the moment when the hour of darkness and hour of glory meet.

Basically our Christian lives can be understood as following Jesus, which means to go where He is going. He went to the Father, which is why Christian life is simply about how to go to the Father. However, this section of His journey is for Him alone. Only Jesus, because He is man, He can be vulnerable to be reached by man’s sins; but, the same time, because He is God, He can attract and exhaust the sin of the world.

Only after the Son had finished this section of the journey, can we, as God’s children, follow him.

Practical Judas, impractical Jesus: Holy Monday

The first confrontation between Jesus and Judas in the gospel of John is about practical matters. Judas uses the poor, “not because he cared about the poor” but because, being a practical person, he liked money enough to take from the common fund Jesus and his disciples had to live on. Being practical, he could not agree with the wastage of the ointment used at Jesus’ anointing.

The Mary of this anointing, Mary of Bethany, (not Mary Magdalene, nor the sinner in the synoptics) has overtones of burial rituals. The following day, Jesus will go up to Jerusalem to die and be buried, but He did not have the chance of having his corpse embalmed. He rose before Mary Magdalene had the chance to do that.

Jesus then understands that this anointing is therefore an anticipated burial ritual, which he welcomes and accepts as an act of charity more important than the act of justice that was to give alms to the poor.

Jesus is not a man of results but a man of the people. People mattered to him more than efficiency. Judas was a man of results, not because he cared of how the results would benefit people, but because he liked the financial result itself.

Our world has made economic success the primary objective of development. When citizens have to decide whom they want to vote for during election, most of the time they think about the economical reasons. We measure the standard of development based more on GNP, than on personal authentic growth.

Like new Judas, today’s policies use the poor to control family life decisions, they use the sick to push for anti-life scientific research. We sacrifice people in the name of progress for the people.

As the church today, we are called to confront the Judas of pragmatism with Jesus’ concern for the WHOLE being and for ALL persons. Efficiency without care is bureaucracy, not life.

Daily Wisdom

Let us now take ourselves to Calvary.

“Jesus cried out in a loud voice: ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ And Jesus cried out again in a loud voice, and gave up his spirit.”

I am now about to pronounce a blasphemy, but then I will explain. Jesus on the cross has become an atheist, one without God. There are two forms of atheism: the active or voluntary atheism of those who reject God, and the passive or suffered atheism of those who are rejected (or feel rejected) by God. In both forms there are those who are “without God.” The former is an atheism of fault, and the latter is an atheism of suffering and expiation. Mother Teresa of Calcutta, about whom there was much discussion when her personal writings were published, belongs to this latter category.

Fr. Reiniero Cantalamessa, (Pontifical Preacher)

Palm Sunday

In the Western culture, donkeys were associated with the “vespa” of the means of transportation of the pre-car times, while horses were the “BMWs”. For the people of Israel, however, donkeys and mules could be very regal. Prince Absalon was riding a mule when he died. When Solomon was anointed king, he was mounted on David’s donkey (1 K 1:38). Even a second-hand donkey was regal enough for the most powerful king of Israel.

But there is something more to the choice of riding a donkey to enter Jerusalem.

Dreams and nightmares: St. Joseph

St. Joseph’s dream of having a typical and happy family was turned into a nightmare when he found out what no husband-to-be would want to find out. The gospel tells us that he awoke, took Mary and her son from their home, then fled to Egypt.

How many times did we perceive God’s intrusion in our lives as nightmares rather than the fulfilment of our little dreams? Will we dare to have the humility of the quiet St. Joseph, to just accept and let God be God?

You are gods! 5th Friday of Lent

“Every man who knocks at the door of a brothel is looking for God,” G. K. Chesterton said. True. But I would add, every one of those wants to be God. Jesus himself quoted the Scriptures, “Is it not written in your Law: ‘I said, you are gods?’ “

The desire to be gods must be a deep one, because the serpent, the most astute of the animals, knew it was man’s soft spot. The one lie with which the serpent could tempt Adam and Eve out of the garden was this : “If you eat…, you will be as gods.”

Like all desires that God put in the human heart, the desire to want to be like God is a good one. What is wrong is the use of strategies that fail to achieve that end. We call those bad strategies sin.

The sin of Adam was to want to be god without God. Jesus shows the right strategy. No man can be god apart from God. Not even the Son can be God apart from the Father.

Who can fail to notice the obsession the gospel of John has for the verbs “abide”, “dwell” and “remain”. That concept opens the key to the mission of Jesus. He shows us how to remain in God, and in so doing, he heals the rupture Adam caused. Jesus abided in the Father and the Father in Him. When His word abides in men… then and only then, can men fulfil the age-old dream of becoming gods in God.

Tradition and traditions: 5th Thursday of Lent

There is a difference between Tradition and the traditions that men arbitrarily add and abandon. Tradition is a living entity. We say that the caterpillar and the butterfly that it becomes are the same organism because, in spite of the differences, there is a continuity that links the two together, they are the same individual. This connection is what gives the insect its identity.

In the same way, there is a Tradition that links the word of God from Abraham to today’s pulpits. Jesus did not invent a new religion. He knew and taught that He was very much linked to the Tradition of Abraham and Moses. The Jews failed to see that connection and that prevented them from believing in him.

In the same way, our faith today should be traditional, in the right sense of the word, or it will not be faith at all. But at the same time, it is distinguishing the living Tradition from the added traditions that helps to liberate us from the weight of traditions that burdens us down in our pilgrimage.

LiveJournal Tags: tradition,traditions,Christianity,traditionalism,faith

Truth for true freedom: 5th Wednesday of Lent

Jesus said to the Jews who believed in him, “But now you are trying to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God.” One cannot but wonder what kind of belief the gospel of John was talking about when the believers themselves wanted to kill Him. Obviously, not a true one. So, Jesus needed to add, “If you remain in my word, you will TRULY be my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

The Jews misunderstood freedom just like our culture misunderstand freedom today. For the Jews, it was a matter of political liberation and lineage (freedom inherited from Abraham). For us today, freedom is liberty to do whatever we like, as long as we don’t interfere in other people’s freedom.

Our idea of freedom necessarily makes of the “other” the threat to our own freedom, and therefore our enemy. The importance of privacy today as compared with few years ago, is a symptom that we perceive the neighbour, not as the one that must be loved, but as a threat. This makes us enemies of each other. Believing without TRUE freedom, is just planting the seeds of a criminal culture: “but now you are trying to kill me.” Perhaps, we are not as far as we think from those believers in Jesus who tried to kill him.

Learning to be children: 5th Tuesday of Lent

“If you do not believe that I AM, you will die in your sins,” said Jesus in today’s gospel. Yahweh introduced Himself to the people of Israel as “the One who is”.

Now Jesus is the man who makes himself equal to God, but not as one who stands side by side in a competitive manner — as Adam and Eve wanted to — but as one who is in total dependency: “What I heard from him, I tell the world.”

The only way for us to be the adoptive children of the Father is to learn to be sons like the Son is son: in total acceptance and enjoyment of our dependency of He who alone IS.

Neither Do I Condemn You: 5th Monday of Lent

Jesus makes finding the balance between truth and mercy look so simple: “neither do I condemn you. Go and do not sin anymore”. Why isn’t it so simple for us today?

What we really want to hear today was recently explained in a simple sentence by a journalist not long ago: “if you want to be merciful, do not call it a sin”. This is today’s version of mercy. Mercy that chooses to ignore the reality of sin is mercy without truth and in the end, not mercy but blind cruelty.

We suffer today from a cultural disease that we could call the culture of pride. We do not like to acknowledge that we have sinned. We forget that to sin is normal, meaning, unavoidable. It is even more normal to acknowledge the sin than to ignore it. But for that, of course, we need a culture of humility.

Daily Wisdom

“There is no more evident sign that anyone is a saint and of the number of the elect than to see him leading a good life and at the same time a prey to desolation, suffering, and trials.”

St. Aloysius Gonzaga

No true faith; no true life: 5th Sunday of Lent

There is a difference between living and just surviving. If someone asks us how we are and our answer is, “I am just surviving”, we know that something is wrong. In other words, we need more than mere sustenance to feel fully alive, to be happy. But what is that something?

In times of crisis and distress,

Absurdity of the forces of evil: 4th Saturday of Lent

Evil makes its way into our world through the back door. It cannot introduce itself with all the honours. It started with a lie in Genesis, and has pushed its way in by means of absurdity ever since. The gospel of John makes sure we understand how true this is.

God’s Uncertain Plans: 4th Friday of Lent

It would be good if God gave us a manual of instructions to go about life. But He did not. This creates a lot of uncertainties in our lives, and God, rather than help, seems to add to these uncertainties. For example, in today’s gospel,

A Brave New Singapore: Cloning Humans in Animals

Is the recent attempt of creating cybrids a leap of progress or a technological trespass?

By now we already know that human cybrids are embryos fabricated with enucleated animal eggs and the nucleus of a human body cell. These embryos will be terminated when their harvest of embryonic stem cells are removed for the sole purpose of research on the said cells. We also know that Singapore scientists want to make human cybrids and that the Bioethics Advisory Commission (BAC) is seeking a response from the Singaporean public to know what is their opinion on this issue.

Two things strike me about this matter,