17th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2020

This Sunday we hear parables about extreme behaviour and reasonable behaviour. The first two is speaks of people who would sell everything to get something precious. I remember asking myself, after getting the treasure and the pearl, how is the man going to eat? He has sold everything! The third parable is rather reasonable. Fishermen with a huge haul of fish would need to sort the fish out to sell them. So what was that about? God sorting those who are fit for heaven and those who are not? It seems so. The fourth parable seems similar and yet it is not the same. There is mention of different things: old and new, but there is not mention of which is the one kept and the one thrown away. Yet, how are these parables connected to the first two?

We see that all the parables are about possession. The man wants to possess the treasure in the field. The merchant wants to possess the precious pearl. the dragnet possess the fish by trapping the fish in itself. The householder possesses things old and new. All these are connected to the Kingdom of Heaven.

The first parable tells us that the Kingdom of Heaven is a precious treasure that we should acquire at all costs. We should allow God to rule in our hearts. The second parable tells us that the Kingdom of Heaven looks for precious things. We are the precious pearl, meaning that God would do everything to rule in our hearts, and we know that the rule of God is a rule of real and true love. Despite gathering everyone into itself, the Kingdom of Heaven is not accepted by everyone. So those who despise God would be allowed to leave it. However, outside the Kingdom of Heaven is the blazing furnace. Despite that, the Kingdom of God is meant for everyone, as the things both old and new in the storeroom.

This last point is also what the second reading is about. God chooses everyone. He sent His Son so that all would be justified and saved. However, he also allows us to make up our own minds. Thus, the third parable reveals to us the fact that there would be those who choose not to be justified and saved. How do we know we have chosen correctly? Our first reading tells us of the choice of Solomon. He asked for a heart to discern good and evil according to the dictates of God. In the world today, there are so many shades of good and evil because they do not follow the dictates of God but according to one’s own choosing. That is why one gets arguments like, “it is better to terminate a pregnancy than to bring a child into a world of suffering,” or “we need to be permissive to show the young that we love them, so we should not deny them anything.” More tragic is the argument that “I believe this is the right thing to do because it feels right.” Notice how the last one is dependent on oneself and not on what God has taught?

Today’s parable tells us to let the kingdom of heaven rule our hearts with love. The kingdom of heaven is precious; it welcomes all peoples. However, we enter the kingdom of heaven because we choose to follow God. We should ask God to give us wisdom so that we can be discerning, choosing the kingdom of heaven and rejecting that which is evil.

16th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2020

Today we are confronted with two more parables that deal with farming. Last Sunday it was about sowing the seed. Today the first two parables is about plants and the third is about yeast.

The first speaks of darnel and wheat and how they look similar to each other when young but then they act differently when mature. The parallel here in our region here (at least in Singapore) would be the two grasses we find in undeveloped areas: elephant grass and lallang. Both look similar when young but the latter catches fire easily when mature. Obviously we would prefer to have the less dangerous grass. In the gospel, wheat is a food plant and darnel is actually toxic to humans.

The second parable speaks of mustard, which has really small seeds but can grow into rather sturdy plants. We actually eat quite a bit of their leaves and stems as the vegetable mustard green. The third talks about the small amount of yeast added to a dough and it permeates all of the dough.

The common thread here is growth. How does growth occur? Today, science can explain and describe the processes that give rise to growth, but at the time of Jesus, there were no microscopes and laboratories to explain the growth. People simply accepted the fact that there is growth. The last two parables explain to us that the kingdom of God will grow but we don’t know how. The fact is that the Kingdom will grow. It is then not difficult to attribute the growth to God Himself. 

The first parable tells us that besides the kingdom, there is something else that grows. This other thing that grows is the opposite of what the kingdom is. Many would say that this other thing belongs to Satan. I would add that sometimes it is we ourselves who oppose the growth of the kingdom. Our pride and egos can be obstacles to the kingdom as well. There is a saying: the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

When we evangelise, we are doing a good thing. However, we must not have the idea that we are the cause of the growth of the kingdom. God gives growth to the kingdom. When we serve God we should discern regularly, asking if what I am doing is for the right motives. The discernment might not be clear at the early stages of our service, but as time passes, we should be able to discern. We should be humble enough to ask God to help us to weed out all wrong motives in our service of God.

We might have gone for courses to help us serve God better. However, we must regularly discern if what we have learned was for the service of God or was in fact to feed our own ego. We might have started to visit the less fortunate because we genuinely cared for them. Along the way we might have allowed our egos to taint our motives. After all, when someone praises us for doing good work, we feel good. If we do not discern and purify out motives, we might find ourselves visiting others so that we might be recognised for our efforts. We have allowed the darnel to overtake the wheat in the field. In our quiet time this week, let us ask God to help us do some weeding. We should weed out the darnel in our lives and allow the Lord to give growth to the wheat.

15th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2020

 We are familiar with the parable of the sower. Perhaps we are so familiar that it does not impact our lives as much as it did before. Jesus understood the human heart well because he explained why he taught using parables.

You will listen and listen again, but not understand,
see and see again, but not perceive.

(Mt. 13:15, Jerusalem Bible)

At the end of the quote from Isaiah 6, Jesus tells us that God wants to convert and heal us, but we seem to be resistant to it. Our pride is the problem: we want what we want, not what God suggests. God’s word comes to us to remind us of what is truly important. Yet, we would prefer to understand it from our perspective.

Some years ago, there were advertisements on TV showcasing a Radio station. The adverts showed a tennis coach telling a man that his son was hopeless in tennis, but the man simply heard what he wanted to hear: that his son would one day be a champion. It was about selective hearing.

The Bible contains God’s word and we read it to get to know God. In it we would also come to discern God’s will for us. Do we allow our pride to only read what we want to read? Are we selective in our hearing of God’s word. This is what it means about listening and listening again and not hearing. Sometimes, we are so preoccupied with our own concerns that we cannot see or refuse to see the needs of others. It is not to say that we would like is immoral or wrong. It is just that God’s view would show us a better way to looking and dealing with the issues we have in our lives. When we have decided on a course of action and are not open to God’s recommendation, we end up short. We could have done better but did not.

So in line with the parable of the sower we have heard this morning, do we want to receive the word on rich soil? We will have to open our hearts, not just our ears and eyes. We need to open our hearts to God. We should not expect God to do our bidding. Rather, we should think of discerning God’s purposes. If not, we might end up thinking we have done well when we were actually like the the rocky ground or the ground with thorns. We listen but it does not produce fruit.

14th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2020

Jesus exclaimed, ‘I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to mere children. (Mt. 11:25, Jerusalem Bible)

If we read a little before this verse, we would realise that Jesus was lamenting at the towns that had refused to listen to the Good News. It sounds strange, does it not that Jesus praises His Father after experiencing the stubbornness of those towns! When we consider that Jesus tells us in a later chapter in St. Matthew’s Gospel that unless we become like little children, we cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven (see Mt. 18:3), we may be able to see a little light. Jesus reminds us today that it is not learned and clever adults, with all our experience in life that will accept the simple mystery of the kingdom of heaven.

During these difficult months when we are not able to do things we used to, we begin to question God about our discomforts. We would like answers but cannot seem to find any. We murmur against rules about taking risks and such. I should know. I have done my share of complaining to God. If only I could remember that the learned and clever in this world won’t be able to understand what God is trying to communicate to us these days. Whatever God gives is a blessing. Even if it means that we cannot receive holy communion! 

I still remember that growing up, I did not have as many toys as many children do these days. We had a set of plastic soldiers and animals. My younger brother and I would use these animals and soldiers to make up stories and have adventures. A tiger would be a hero one day and a villain the next. We accepted what we had and made use of the few toys we had. I don’t remember complaining to my father for our lack of toys. On the other hand, I do remember getting many earfuls when we did not put back our toys after playing them.

Can we not see what our situation here as blessings? I may need to celebrate the sacrament of reconciliation, but do I see it as a right that God has to give me, or a blessing that God gives at His own time. While I yearn to receive the grace that comes from the sacrament, can I not see the present situation as a blessing that we can begin to treasure the sacrament more?

Jesus tells us to shoulder his yoke for it is easy and light in burden. I believe because we do not see this time as a blessing, we tend to shoulder our own yokes. We have yokes of desire and wants, Jesus’s yoke is one where we will find rest for our souls. Jesus tells us to shoulder his yoke and learn from Him. Many times we shoulder yokes but forget the second part: learn from Him. Like Jesus’s not being able to convince the towns of Chorazin and Bethsaida to accept the Good News, things may not go the way we wish despite our best efforts. We still would bless and praise God because what happens is also a blessing and gift from Him. The registration system for Mass will not satisfy many who want to come to Mass every Sunday. Yet, if they follow what Jesus does today, they should look at everything as God’s blessings and give thanks to God.