Your sacrifice means something to the world

It won’t be an exaggeration to say that this weekend’s first reading is one of my personal Old Testament favourites of all time. Every time I read the story of God asking Abraham to give his son up, I find a personal relevance to the story and find myself more and more convinced that my confirmation name (Isaac, which I picked for quite a shallow reason) was indeed meant for me.

But I think, in the context of our journey together this Lent, reflecting about Abraham is likely to be more relevant than thinking about Isaac. After all, Isaac, a type of Jesus the true sacrificial Lamb, did not really have a choice to live or die; Jesus had the choice, but willingly laid down His life.

Abraham was the one with the difficult decision to make.

What makes a challenge... challenging
Mind you, God was not giving a deliberate demand of Abraham. The Hebrew wording for the text actually implies God asking in a very gentle manner, sort of like, “Please take your son…”. If you ask me, for us who are genuinely seeking to please God, I think that might be a more difficult situation than if God had given a command – “Do this or else!” Abraham would not be punished if he had refused.

He was asked to give up something good for something better, and he agreed. To take your son “whom you love” (Gn 22:2) and offer him as a burnt offering must have been the most difficult thing in the world. And to do it not knowing why he was asked to do this ridiculous thing, and not knowing what good it would bring out, it must be like dying itself. That’s why it was such a “test” – Abraham had to choose: Do your duty as a father by protecting your son, or do your duty as a son by obeying the Father.

God understood that position. He also had to give up His Son, make Him the sacrificial offering. The difference is that unlike Abraham, God knew the outcome. Clearing the sins of the world would not remove all future sin. He knew that a couple of thousand years later, we’d still be rejecting His love and His sacrifice for us. But God still gave Himself to us.

The one Absolute
This was a severe obstacle in Abraham’s faith. And he passed his test. He willingly gave up what was good for what was best. He didn’t know why, he didn’t know the result. All Abraham knew was that if God asked for it, God must know what He’s doing. That alone was good enough.

That's what God is asking of us: to take your favourite snack, your favourite TV shows, favourite everything - things we "love" and to offer them up as sacrifice (burnt offerings?). God's test for us is similar to His test for Abraham - do you love Me more than the things in your life?

If you’re still struggling to give up 15 minutes of your time for the Lord, if you’re fighting to spend a few minutes three times a day in honest prayer, if you’re still tempted to eat more than you need, and to eat meat on Friday, and to forget about saving money for the poor, consider Abraham. He didn’t give up his son because it was demanded of him. He gave up His son because He wanted to please God.

God is the absolute. And because He is absolute wealth, because He is absolute fulfillment and satisfaction and because He is absolute contentment, He is worth us giving up a day worth of meat, or our hard-earned money, or the food that we love.

Your efforts mean something
Part of why we are so blessed today is in part due to Abraham’s act of faith. “Because you have not refused me your son, your only son,” God told Abraham, “I will shower blessings on you … [and] all the nations of the earth shall bless themselves by your descendants, as a reward for your obedience” (vv. 16, 18).

Know and trust that by our sacrifice and willingness to put God above all our desires, God can and will bless others. Today, by our training our souls to live “on every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Deut 8:3), and by training our souls to depend on God for happiness rather than material things, we become better people living as Christ wants of us – selfless and God-full.

As God promised to bless all nations because of Abraham’s faith, He will bless the world by our actions. If we try whole-heartedly, if we honestly put in effort to be more selfless and Christ-centred, we will become more like Christ. And by becoming more like Christ, we will be Christ to those around us, we will be the blessing to the rest of the world. All that we need is simply to act. Now.

Did you pray for grace?

Reflection from Word Among Us Lent 2009:

As we are praying for healing, we also face a crucial question: If I am meant to embrace this cross, will I do it out of a "noble" position of faith or through an "empowered" position of faith? There is an important distinction here: A "noble" person who accepts a cross does so with good intentions, trying his or her best not to complain or give in to self-pity. While this is the right way to embrace the cross, if it is done solely out of our own noble intentions and human strength, there will likely be some degree of discouragement, anger, or self-blame attached. After all, some crosses are downright heavy, and their burdens are just too painful to bear on our own.

This is where the "empowered" position of faith comes in. God wants to give us his own divine grace to help us embrace the crosses of life. Jesus once told St. Paul: "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness." These words so moved Paul that he was able to write: "I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and constraints, for the sake of Christ; for when I am weak, then I am strong"? (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).

Embracing a cross with the help of God's grace is quite different from nobly trying our best to accept a cross without grace. Those who embrace a cross through grace find themselves depending on God more and more each day. They find reserves of strength, trust, and surrender that they know are not their own but that come from a loving, merciful God. Rather than dwell on their own sufferings, they find themselves moved with compassion for other people, even as they themselves endure pain and difficulty. In short, they become more and more like Jesus.

This is the paradox of the cross: We accept suffering not because it is good and not because we like it but as part of our vocation as followers of Jesus Christ. These crosses can become opportunities for us to grow closer to Jesus and give him glory.

Saw this on my friend's blog and realised that it put across very nicely a point that I forgot to write down in the previous post due to the exciting discovery of the auntie walking through "walls".

The last two lines of the first paragraph sum up the feeling that I had when I attempted to keep my resolutions by my own strength and effort. Other than the realisation that these resolutions were to bring me closer to God. I also realised not to see my resolutions as means to reach an end, but as processes that I need God's graces to help me carry out to deepen my relationship with Him.

It brought to mind the question that my SD for my 8-day silent retreat kept asking me everyday.

"Did you pray for Grace?"



- posted on behalf of Br Terence Kesavan

What's your sign?

Saw this post by Mary DeTurris Poust from Our Sunday Visitor, and thought I'd share it with you guys. Perhaps in the spirit of self-denial and dying to self, we can appreciate this:

This morning at breakfast I was lamenting the state of our world and, more specifically, the state of our country. As I read the seemingly endless stories about the seemingly endless bailouts, I told my husband that I no longer feel like I can honestly tell my children that if they work hard and treat people right, they will get ahead in this life. I mean, we all know that life is not inherently "fair," but deep down I think most of us hope that general fairness will follow those who don't succumb to the gospel of greed and me first.

I have to admit, justice and fairness are a big part of who I am. I want to see justice done, not just for myself but for those around me. I hate to bring in astrology here, but I truly live up to my classification as a Libra with its blatant need for balance on that symbol of the scales. So when I picked up my Lenten reflection for the day, I was smacked right between the eyes with this statement:

"We are called to follow a way of life that is unconventional, drastically different. The nicely balanced scales of justice are not our logo. Our logo is the cross."

OK, I get it. Message received, even if it isn't an easy message to hear. The scales of justice make a lot more sense in our society than the cross does. In fact, for many people, the cross doesn't make any sense at all. All the more reason that those of us who follow Christ have to live by his commandment to love others as ourselves or, even one better, to love our enemies and those who hate us.

No one wants to willingly take up the cross, and yet that is what we are called to do. So maybe in place of preaching my credo to live right to get a just reward, I can remind my children to love right. The reward will come later. Much, I hope.

Source.

We are called to follow God's ideals, and much of the time that means giving up our own ideals - at least until we think in sync with Him. I pray that each of us on our journey will be willing to give up ourselves and our desires for what He desires of us.

Have a blessed Day 10!

Excuse me, are you an angel?

Lent this year has been a surprisingly new experience for me. Normally I would approach Lent like one going for chinese tuition class, dreading and dragging my feet. But I'm not sure why this year, Lent looks to me like a 40-day retreat. A time to really spend time with my Lord and renewing my relationship with Him.

Another different thing about lent for me this year were my resolutions, or more like how I was approaching the carrying out of my resolutions. Year after year, I would begin with hope of keeping all my resolutions for the whole 40 days, but along the way, a minor hiccup would throw it all into disarray. Disappointment sets in, doubts start to seep in, and I'll be convincing myself that I've set the standard too high, or that I just don't have the discipline to see it through. But this year my focus for my Lenten resolutions has been on the end which is Easter. My resolutions should be preparing me spiritually for Easter and beyond. Much like a retreat builds up and culminates on a high, these 40 days and what I do in this time was to help me reach that high in my relationship with God. And that is a gradual process, not one that I can expect right from the beginning.


The above realisation came to me one morning when I was in the adoration room (one of my resolutions to begin the day). The room was crowded, so there was no space for me to lean against the bench and face the Blessed Sacrament. So with my back to the side wall, I sat facing the door of the adoration room. While I was thinking through this issue with resolutions (obviously because I encountered a minor hiccup), one of the morning mass aunties got up and walked out, and what she did surprised and amazed me.


From the photo you can see that there is a curtain that shields the inside of the room from the eyes of people walking outside, forming something like a false wall. And almost everyone coming into the adoration room or going out would walk around it going through that small opening on the left, as if it was a real wall. But this auntie took the direct route to the door, walking to the right side where the curtain meets the wall, gently pulled it aside and walked "through" the "wall". This reminded me of the common phenomenon I observed in the church canteen. If there are two doors at the entrance, and one of it is open, everyone would walk out the open one, and nobody would open the closed one, even if it was crowded.

And it just occurred to me, that so often we see an obstacle in our spiritual journey, and we assume it to be a wall, or we fail to see that it is just a curtain and choose to go around it and avoid it. In actual fact the obstacle is not as difficult as it seems, but because there is the option of going around it, we choose it because it is easier.

I walked out of the adoration room, heart lightened, and encouraged to perservere on this Lenten journey. That night I was going for a meeting, and the girl who was to bring me to place of the meeting told me she went to the adoration room while waiting for me. So I decided to share with her this revelation that I had gotten in the morning. Her first reaction was "Oh my, are you an angel or something", because she had just been praying of some obstacles in her own life. That's the first time in my life that I've ever been called an Angel. Praise the Lord for sending me an Angel in the morning, and allowing me to be an Angel at night too.



- posted on behalf of Br Terence Kesavan.

On fasting

Thought I'll share on my experience on fasting.

I started with a good intention to fast for a meal and abstain from meat today. I was grateful that I kicked off the day by observing what I have committed to do. Everything was good and well until I received a call for lunch. I informed my lunch date that I wasn't going to eat but I could accompanied him.

The thing is we went to a dim sum place and very soon temptation was everywhere – my fave egg tarts came round at least 3 times among other yummy food! I became increasingly edgy and soon my face was very long. I was unhappy that I couldn't eat. I was unhappy that my husband brought me there despite me telling him that I was fasting.

After putting up with my black face for sometime he said this to me, "perhaps you want to fast from being such a grouch instead." Ouch! It struck me that he is right and God has issued a lesson right there for me.

The journey of suffering and self-denial is the narrow road. It is way easy to miss the point at times. Maybe that is why it is so crucial for us to focus on the goal and not be discouraged when we are less than perfect in carrying out our intentions. Also in addition to fasting from food, we might want to consider fasting from bad attitudes and/or behaviours.

Shalom.



- posted on behalf of Winifred Ling.

Television vs. the Bible

Like a few others, this is my first time taking Lent seriously, other than just giving up chocolate - without even understanding the meaning behind fasting.

I feel that God has prepared me for a spiritual cleansing this Lent, teaching me the importance of fasting, almsgiving and praying. With the help of His instruments of love, such as my choir ministry, Quadragesima and some friends, setting aside some time for praying and reading the bible has never been so easy!

From one of the penitential activities of Quady that I have chosen, I've decided to make holy all my leisure time, sacrificing my favourite nua-in-front-of-the-telly sessions and spend that time on spiritual reading everyday. I realised that it is actually possible to make time for God in the midst of my busy schedule, despite my previous protests of not having anymore time. Initially it was really hard... giving up my favourite channel-surfing habits and trash programs sounded like robbing me of my precious wind-down moments. But now picking up the bible to read at anytime of the day seems perfectly normal and easy, and in fact a preferred option for me.

Recently I've attended a bible study held by Fr Ambrose Vaz at OLPS regarding the Letters of St Paul and I begin to understand why the year 2008-09 is dedicated to St. Paul, the faithful and wise disciple of God.

Like what St Paul has taught us: If the decisions we make does not contribute to any closeness to God, it's a waste of time!



- posted on behalf of Priscilla Chua

Combating poverty brings about greater possibility to peace

B16 addressed charitable associations last Friday, but his message on helping the needy is for all of us. Perhaps considering what the Pope has to say about fighting poverty will inspire us to help the poor more heartily this Lent.

Referring to Paul's analogy of the body, he reminded us that the Church is the Body "through which the very life of Jesus circulates". The pope addeded that since every member of this body is united in a very profound way to all the others, we cannot and should not ignore each other's needs.

May we recognise that by our "yes" to the our call to give alms, "the members of the Body of Christ affected by poverty are alleviated and thus become more alive and free to give witness of the Good News".

Source.

Prayer Intentions (2-9 Mar)

Here's the first set of intentions for the week.

Please print a copy of this, and remember to mention these people by name (you may simply read off the list if you wish) when you do your Lenten prayer each day this coming week.

1. For a successful operation for Dawn;


2. For all unborn children, that the Lord will protect their helpless lives;


3. For Alphonsus Josemaria Soh's discernment for a vocation in life; also for Alphonsus’ godfather, godbrothers and godson;


4. For Christine Liu to live with optimism; also for her well-doing in the coming examinations;


5. For Jane, who is taking her examinations;


6. For Nicholas, that the Lord will guide and form His child;


7. For Rina Celestine to graduate and secure a suitable job; that Rina’s family members and loved ones be blessed and protected always – may the Lord inspire more conversions in the family; for Rina Celestine to keep a good relationship with God and with Mother Mary;


8. For the abundance of emotional and spiritual strength for Lynette Chen;


9. For the family of Shaun, Tiffany and Ayden Soong – that the Lord will continually show them His boundless love;


10. For the family, friends, studies, future job and well-being of Aloysius Vetha;


11. For the health of Daphne Ng;


12. For the reversion of fallen away Catholics, may they come home to Christ and discover the will of God;


13. For the rich, that they ground themselves with humility in spite of their monetary strength;


14. For the soul of Cecelia;


15. For the soul of Peter Heng;


16. For the spiritual growth, career advancement, studies, family and financial stability of Maria Koh;


17. For the strength and health for all in the family of Melissa Lau;


18. For the well-being of Lynette Chen and good relationships with her godchildren;


19. Good health for Lynette Chen's father, Zhi Hui's father and Francis

Lord, you are the Creator of the world. Only You have the power to change things. May we, as pray-ers and creatures realise that You care for everyone mentioned above more than any of can ever care for them. Help us to trust You as we well should. Whatever happens, may Your will be done. Amen.

If you're not on the journey yet, please join us.

Footprints in the sand: the sequel

We've all heard the story about the two sets of footprints in the sand becoming just one.

One night a man had a dream.

He dreamt he was walking along the beach with the Lord.

Scenes from his life flashed across the sky and he noticed two sets of footprints in the sand, one belonging to him and the other to the Lord.

When the last scene of his life had flashed before him, he recalled that at the lowest and saddest times of his life there was only one set of footprints.

Dismayed, he asked, "Lord, you said that once I decided to follow you, you'd walk with me all the way. I don't understand why, when I needed you most, you would leave me."

The Lord replied, "My precious child. I love you and I would never leave you. During your times of trial and suffering when you saw only one set of footprints...

"... That was when I carried you."

In today's Gospel reading, we witnessed Jesus entering into the desert. He fasted for 40 days, and after that faced temptations from the devil.

Lent is the time for us to write a sequel to that story. As He faces the real challenges that the devil poses, let's run to the Lord and be with Him. Just as He carried us when we suffered, let's not make His one set of footprints become two.

Pray lar...

I read a story about two priests who were praying the Vespers together one evening when a massive thunderstorm suddenly occurred. At the point when the fallen trees had knocked against the glass of the prayer room and the wind seems set to blow the church down, one priest interrupts his recitation, turns to his fellow priest and says, "I think we'd better put our breviaries down and start praying!" This story is a reminder of how sometimes, we view the rosary, breviary and even the Mass as something that Catholics need to do, and not as a personal invitation from God to enter into His embrace. It's sorta like an oxymoron; when we try to be attentive, it somehow becomes not quite sincere. Falling into a routine prayer (and not prayer routine) may be a regular affair for many, yet coming out of it leads nowhere either. The thing is, when we find ourselves getting distracted or being insincere in prayer, that is not the time to stop praying or to pull out Plan B (which is to break out in spontaneity). Rather, it is a time to recall that without Christ, we can do nothing. Yes, not even pray. Therein lies the power of formulated prayers, together with the aid of the Holy Spirit to guide us when our hearts and actions are empty. "The Spirit too, comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit itself intercedes with inexpressible groaning." (Rom8:26) As we embark on the season of Lent together, may you persevere in prayer and be steadfast in deed. - posted on behalf of Joann Chia