My Gospel Reflection 3 (Matt 16: 13-19)

Although Simon Peter acknowledged that Jesus is Christ and Son of the living God then, he eventually denied knowing Jesus three times. Jesus clearly could forsee that happening but He still trusted Peter and declared him as the rock, on which He would build his Church. This shows that Jesus does not label others and thereafter condemns them. Instead, Jesus is ultra-magnanimous and merciful. Jesus had not only regarded Peter as worthy to serve Him, but even appointed him as leader of His Church. All human beings are weak in certain ways, but have we ever then disregard any person’s value because of their flaws? If that is the case, are we still imitating Christ?

In addition, Jesus told Peter, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: whatever you bind on earth shall be considered bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth shall be consider loosed in heaven.” Having keys of something means that you have access to something and for Peter, Jesus gave him the authority to determine who should enter the gates of heaven. Imagine if Peter were someone who abused his authority, wouldn’t heaven be in chaos? Hence, first of all, a spirit-filled leader should have humility and recognize that without God, nothing can be achieved. In all our work, we should strive to love Him, serve Him with a pure heart, and seek to exalt Him. The second essential quality is to act in righteousness, thereby showing obedience to our Lord. Finally, spirit-filled leaders are mindful that they are only stewards of whatever ministries they are called to lead and thus the need to demonstrate accountability, both in terms of material resources as well as the spiritual well-being of their people.

My Gospel Reflection 2 (Luke 9: 18-24)

“If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross every day and follow me.” What is the meaning of to ‘renounce’ yourself? It means giving up voluntarily something, for instance the worldly pleasures, our human nature and desires. Taking up our crosses every day to follow Christ is never easy, but as long as we choose to walk in the light of Christ, God is always with us. God, our Heavenly Father, will send the Holy Spirit to teach us everything and make us remember all His teachings.

Moreover, The Christ of God was also not spared from the suffering. Jesus had chosen to fulfill His Heavenly Father’s will and was thus subjected to rejection, humiliation, physical torture, and later crucifixion. But Jesus was raised up on the third day! He had taken precedence over us, so what else should we fear when following him?

Reflection on Day 16

Qn: Honestly, are relationships my first priority?
Ans: Honestly, relationships with people is never my top priority, partly because I believe people tend to be unfaithful. Even if they can be loyal to you, circumstances change and this causes relationships to fade. Just like the way I'm slowly losing touch with my primary, secondary, junior college and even NIE friends. Hence, to prevent such a disappointment, I often remind myself not to commit deeply to any relationship, lest I can't take the emptyness of losing a friend.
In recent years, I also increasingly feel that only God's love for me is eternal and ever-present, which transcends all time and physical constraints, NOT even friendship. Hence, I often prefer solitude, which allows me to be in communion with God. God is forever there for me, despite my busy schedule and despite my sinfulness.
Until in Parish Assembly held at my church towards end of 2009, God sent Uncle Louis and Uncle Peter to tell me that spirituality is not only about your personal relationship with God, but it's also about how you spread the love you receive from God to others. I was stumped!

Qn: How can I ensure that relationships is now my first priority?
Ans: Having a mother who has a lot of hidden insecurity, I can only do my utmost to preserve my relationship with her. I had tried different approaches or 'schemes' to get a little freedom, but they all failed. Each time, we ended up in great agony, adding onto our emotional scars.
Fortunately, by the grace of God, my craving for freedom has somehow mysteriously disappeared. I no longer want to try to engage myself in activities in an attempt to escape from her. I now only pray that she has no more misunderstandings about me, that's all!

However, this means that I would have no choice but to regard friendship as less important. It's not that I don't appreciate true friends, or I don't need them, but it's just that I can't do much for them, given my unique family situation. I'm sincerely sorry, Angeline!

Day 16 - What Matters Most

Life is all about love.
It is in loving that we are most like Him.
"The whole Law can be summoned up in this one command: 'Love others as you love yourself.' " (Galatians 5: 14)
Love cannot be learned in isolation. To develop the skill of loving, you have to be around people -- irritating, imperfect, frustrating people.

Relationships must have priority in your life above everything else. Why?
1) Life without love is really worthless.

• Often we act as if relationships are something to be squeezed into our schedule. But God says relationships are what life is all about.
• Four of the Ten Commandments deal with our relationship to God while the other six deal with our relationships with people.
• Paul said, "No matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love." ( 1 Corinthians 13:3)
• Relationships, not achievements or the acquisition of things, are what matters most in life.
• Busyness is a great enemy of relationships. (Is Coral slowly eroding our friendship? We see each other every day but we just don't have the time for a heart-to-heart chat?)

2) Love will last forever.
Love leaves a legacy. How you treated other people is the most enduring impact you can leave on earth. (A surge of warmth rose in my heart when I saw Zhan Ying and Agnes Lim that night outside Tampines One, running towards me from a far distance, shouting, "Miss Lee." Then, we met each other again at Tampines bus interchange and had quite a long chat.)

3) We will be evaluated on our love.
One of the ways God measures spiritual maturity is by the quality of your relationships.
God will review how we treated other people, particularly those in need.

The Best Expression of Love is Time

• Time is your most precious gift because you only have a set amount of it. You can make more money, but you can't make more time. When you give someone your time, you are giving them a portion of your life that you'll never get back. That is why the greatest gift you can give someone is your time.
• The most desired gift of love is focused attention.
• Whenever you give your time, you are making a sacrifice, and sacrifice is the essence of love.
• Love means giving up - yielding my preferences, comfort, goals, security, money, energy, or time for the benefit of someone else. (And I think very often, love also means giving up your dignity or so-called 'face'.)

(My top three priorities these two years have been school work, church work and spending time with my mum. I'm already struggling to juggle my time between these three priorities. When school term starts, I will have to focus on school work followed by spending time with my mum. When holiday starts, I will switch my focus to catechism ministry work followed by spending time with my mum. My life is very much driven by work. Reading, blogging and praying in the adoration room are the only times I leave for myself. I have no complaints, especially about my heavy responsibility in the catechism ministry.

My only regret is I can't afford to spend more time with my best friend, Angeline. She's the only one who seems to have telepathy with me. She can sense that I'm upset or behaving rather awkwardly even when we don't get to talk face-to-face. I truly thank God for giving me such a close and reliable buddy but I often feel guilty for not being able to keep her company for as often as I would wish to. Many times, when she asked me out, I had to reject her for various reasons. This year, when she most needed a listening ear, I wasn't by her side as well. In fact, our communication with each other this year is more on sms rather than talking face to face.)

The Best Time to Love is Now

• Because you don't know how long you will have the opportunity.
• Circumstances change. You have no guarantee of tomorrow.
• If you want to express love, you had better do it now.

- taken from Rick Warren's The Purpose-Driven Life.

My Gospel Reflection 1 (Luke 7: 36- 8: 3)

This is the first time I wrote a Gospel reflection. Thanks to the inspiration given by the Holy Spirit. Praise the Lord! (Anyway, I'm not that pious or hardworking. As part of the Lectors' Ministry duty, we have to write Gospel reflections for my church bulletin for a month. Since I've written, might as well post it on my blog! :>)

The theme for this week's Eucharistic celebration is the forgiving Christ. Indeed, Christ's mercy is once again manifested in today's Gospel reading. However, I am even more stricken by the courageous acts of the woman. Despite being aware of others' condescending looks on her, she slipped into the Pharisee's house. She wept profusely as she was deeply repentant for her bad life. When her tears dropped on Jesus' feet, she wiped them away with a woman's prized possession - her hair. Then, she kissed Jesus' feet and poured perfumed ointment on them. She was an uninvited guest or might be regarded as a trespasser, but she was doing all the gestures of hospitality that a good host should show for his guest. In contrast, the Pharisee who had invited Jesus to his house did not do anything to welcome Jesus, not even the basic courteous act of washing a guest's feet with water. But this repentant woman risked being accused of showing audacity in her process of seeking forgiveness from Christ. Look, just how determined and fearless she was!

When we commit a sin, do we have the courage to confess to God? Do we dare to seek God's pardon and mercy? Are we just as determined to restore our relationship with God by getting our sins removed or are we still hindered by pride or fear of embarrassment?