1. Year B / Ordinary Time / Week 17 / Sunday 
    Readings: 2 Kings 4.42-44 / Psalm 144.10-11,15-16, 17-18 (R/v cf 16) / Ephesians 4.1-6 / John 6.1-15


    “The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs” (cf Psalm 144.16)

    This is how today’s Psalm speaks about God. He looks out for us. He satisfies our needs and desires.

    This morning we might struggle to recognise this proclamation of God’s goodness after the tragic killing of the 13 year old by another student in one of our schools last Monday. Many are still in shock and pain. Many are suffering and grieving. Parents are loving their children more. Schools are looking out for them even more. “Where were you Lord?” is our honest cry.

    People of all faiths greatly need and desire God in our worst suffering. But what actually is our need?

    A need is something without which we cannot live. To live, we need food, water, clothing, and shelter.  To grow and flourish, we need education and opportunities to develop and work. To socialise, we need company, common law to guide our interactions, and justice to share our common goods. To have a meaningful, happy life, we need the love and care of family and friends to root us. To live hope-filled lives, we need faith and truth, goodness and beauty to lift us up.  We need all these for life to matter. If they are missing, we will be deprived and wither away.

    More than these, Christians know our souls need God. In life, we want God to be with us. In death, we want to be with God eternally. The martyrs remind us that God answers this need. They are killed for their faith yet they still live, their souls are one with God eternally, His love sheltering them forever. Maybe this is why we fear drowning in disappointment if we do not have God.

    Today’s Gospel reading focuses us on Jesus. In him, through Him, with Him, God meets our needs. 

    When Jesus asks Philip about where to buy food to satisfy the hunger of the large crowd, he is not thinking about a store and purchases. He is really asking a question about who he is. Jesus knows full well that he himself is the real food they need. “I am the Bread of Life” Jesus proclaims to them and us.

    Such is the fullness of Life Jesus gives — his very self. He gives more than just enough. He gives a superabundance. This is the immeasurability of God’s love and compassion. The answer Philip should have given Jesus is this: “Give them yourself, Lord.”

    In this scene from John's Gospel God’s goodness comes alive in Jesus feeding the poor and lowly with more than they need. He is the Good Shepherd who brings his sheep to recline on the very green grass where he has prepared a banquet for them. 

    Today, Jesus invites us to join them. Yes, join them to feast but also to join Jesus and give abundantly to everyone. 

    We can do this Pope Francis reminds us because “Whatever we have can bear fruit if we give it away — that is what Jesus wants to tell us — and it does not matter whether it is great or small. The Lord does great things with our littleness, as he did with the five loaves (and two fish). He does not work spectacular miracles or wave a magic wand; he works with simple things…And love can accomplish great things with little.”*

    In a few moments, we will receive the Eucharist. We find God himself in this simple, essential piece of bread, broken and shared. “The Eucharist we receive,” Pope Francis teaches, “allows us to see things as God does. It inspires us to give ourselves to others. It is the antidote to the mindset that says: ‘Sorry, that is not my problem’ or ‘I have no time, I can’t help you, and it’s none of my business.’ Or that looks the other way.”*

    This past week many have looked our way, made time for us, and busied themselves to help us. They comforted those grieving Monday’s tragedy. They assisted others to solve study or work problems. They accompanied and cared for you and through life’s daily grind and struggle. Didn’t they make God’s goodness visible and real in meeting our varied needs? 

    Today’s Psalm ends with hope-filled words: “the Lord is near to all who call upon him.” This is the Good News we yearn for. It assures us that when we need the Lord, even in our worst suffering, He himself is always with us. Yes, it is the Lord we actually need. And if his hand feeds us daily in life, surely he will feed us even more in eternal life, till we will want no more. 

    Isn’t this the hope we need now and always?





    *Pope Francis, Homily on Loaves and Fishes, 23 June 2019


    Preached at St Ignatius Church, Singapore
    photo: glenallenchurch (internet)


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  2.  

    Year B / Ordinary Time / Week 16 / Sunday
    Readings: Jeremiah 23.1-6 / Psalm 23. 1-3, 3-4, 5, 6 (R/v 1) / Ephesians 2.13-18 / Mark 6.30.34


    “...his heart was moved with pity for them” (Mark 6.34)

    Compassion moved Jesus to respond to the crowds at the end of today’s Gospel Reading. He began to teach them because they were “like sheep without a shepherd.” 

    Jesus shepherds lovingly by gathering and caring. His heart is tender: so, he reaches out to many. His heart is big: so, he embraces everyone. Indeed, He yearns to be close to the people, to care for them, and to save all. No one is excluded from His concern. Jesus is indeed the Good Shepherd.

    Let me suggest that Jesus’s way of shepherding is His demand that Christians do likewise. 

    He calls us to imitate Him because we are all givers of care whether as parents or teachers, priests or lay, family or friends. Those who lead, especially in the church, government, and community, should seriously heed Jesus’s command.

    Christian leaders aren’t Christian because they get the job done and meet the KPIs, and so can say, “I have done my duty.” Nor are they because they craft vision-mission statements, right-fit people to jobs, roll out programmes effectively and secure the ROIs, and so can say, “I have used my talents well.”  They certainly are not when they steer everyone for God’s mission and say, “I am leading like Jesus” but refuse to listen and dialogue with others. Here are leaders whose decisions and actions focus on themselves and their needs, on making their work and success priorities, and on demanding much from others whilst providing inadequate care.

    Whether we lead or follow, don’t we all sometimes make similar choices and treat people less? 

    If we do, listen to Jeremiah’s complaint in the First Reading about the leaders of his day. They refused to do justice for the poor, the foreigners, and the widows of the land. Justice is an essential aspect of their covenant with God to lead but they refused to practise it. They were not shepherding as God commands leaders to – before all else, care for the people. Their actions scattered the people, drove them away, and cared little for their wellbeing. 

    These leaders excluded people from God and the community. They acted like hired men caring for sheep they have no connection to or cared for. They just do the job and get the work done.  When the thief comes, they abandon the sheep and run away (John 10.11-18)

    In contrast, there is the good shepherd. He knows his sheep. He stays to protect them. He is willing to lay down his life for them. He cares because he is ever ready to be inconvenienced. 

    Indeed this is how Jesus ministered to the people. He and his apostles took a boat to get away from the busyness of ministering to the people and to rest. Yet when they arrived at the deserted place and saw the crowd, he allowed himself to be inconvenienced. “Moved with pity for them,” Jesus cared. 

    Jesus did more than pity. His compassion moved him to act. He met their needs. He taught them many things. He healed the sick. He took bread, blessed it, and fed them with his own hand. Eventually, he sacrificed himself to save them.  

    Together, Jesus’s genuine compassion and resolute will to act relieved their misery. This is how Jesus revealed God’s mercy: a heart that lovingly bears the sufferings of others and a firm and effective will to do something about it. 

    Isn’t this how God cares for us daily – with mercy? Do we care for others in a similar way?

    Today’s readings invite us, especially those who shepherd and lead, never to forget what Jesus’s teaching is all about, what his message means, who Jesus’s church is for, and what the Christian life amounts to. It is this: “Christ Jesus is our peace, who made us both one and broke down the dividing wall of enmity” (Ephesians 2.14). In him, no one is excluded. In him, everyone is welcomed and cared for. In him, all are saved. In him, all have God’s peace.

    It is therefore good and right to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. He leads us to what is right, frees us from fear, and holds everyone in his mercy. In the Eucharist, he gives us the power to do the same for all. 

    People will look to us for help. They will demand our attention. They will inconvenience us. As Christians, we have a choice to make. We can harden our hearts and exclude them. Or, we can allow compassion to move us and care. Jesus has shown us the way. Isn’t the choice obvious?




    Preached at St Ignatius Church, Singapore
    photo: www.hospicepharmacysolutions.com

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  3. Year B / Ordinary Time / Week 15/ Sunday
    Readings: Amos 7.12-15 / Psalm 84.9ab and 10, 11-12, 13-14 (R/v 8) / Ephesians 1.3-14 / Mark 6.7-13


    “take nothing for the journey” (Mark 6.8)

    This is part of Jesus’s instruction to the apostles as he missions them to preach repentance, drive out demons, anoint the sick and cure them. Isn’t this odd, especially because we know from our various journeys to study or sightsee overseas, to go on pilgrimage, and even to camp, that we can never pack enough?

    Yet Jesus says, “travel light through life and mission.”  He invites his disciples and us to do this. “Take nothing for the journey, but a walking stick — no food, no sack, no money in their belts. To wear sandals but not a second tunic.” 

    Isn’t this scary because it means we may not have enough and be in control? God however is and He provides.

    Like when a kind soul paid for my lunch one day while I was in New York City for summer school. At the café’s checkout, the cashier asked for a credit card to pay for my salad bowl: “Pay by card only.”  As a religious, I have no credit or debit card. I have cash only. I could see my lunch disappearing, my hunger growing. A café staff, Bernard, spoke to the cashier. Then he smiled and said, “Lunch is on me”. 

    Not having a card to pay is a little bit like traveling light. I didn’t have, and God provided. Bernard had, and God moved him to care.

    Traveling light, or taking nothing, for the mission, is Jesus’s wisdom for us to live happily. First, we can live in peace knowing God never fails us. He is faithful. He provides. So, we can hope. Second, we can live with faith knowing that God labours in us and through us. This is how God cares for us and for everyone. So, we can serve.

    Traveling light frees us to become more like God who is good to all. It also frees us to act like Jesus on mission. His disciples learned this by traveling light.

    Today Jesus invites us to embrace this same wisdom to be free. Free from worrying about being the right one to build God’s kingdom. Free from fears and shame to partner Jesus on mission. Free from self-righteousness and rigidity to let the Spirit lead. Yes, free from acting like everyone’s saviour to allowing Jesus to be our saviour.

    Simply put Jesus is inviting us to travel light by depending on God totally. 

    We can do this confidently for we are “in Christ” as St Paul reminds us. In Christ, God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing and chosen us. In Christ, we are God’s own, redeemed, forgiven, and saved. In Christ, our lives are to praise God. Indeed, in Christ alone, we can travel light in life, in faith, and on mission. We can with trust that when we let go God will lead. 

    This is how prophets live, pray and do God’s work. God chooses them, like he chose Amos, not because they are educated or trained to prophesize. Nor because they are pious and devout, or obedient and God-fearing. God chooses them because they believe in the call to travel light and so witness to His saving love like the Twelve did in today’s Gospel. Today, God calls us again to live and serve like them.

    Many, including the Church, may regard us as not ready, ill-suited, or unworthy to be on mission. God however desires nobody else but you and me for Jesus’s mission.

    St Teresa of Avila writes that “Christ has no body on earth but ours.” We are to be Christ to others. This is what Christian means: bearing the name of Christ. This is what Communion does: transform us into the Body of Christ.

    This is why traveling light matters: it opens us to trust in God and through his labour in us to proclaim God’s goodness to all: 

    like the many Bernards who make God’s compassion and kindness real in life.

    like those who forgive the unfaithful and sinful among family and friends and bring them home to God. 

    like those who overcome hatred, prejudice and discrimination to accept and welcome the divorce and unwed, gays and lesbians, criminals and refugees because God’s love embraces all.

    like those who feed the hungry, seek out the lost, comfort the afflicted, and free the burdened because God’s life is for all.

    Our everyday acts of kindness, compassion, forgiveness, care and love make God real and alive for kin and kind, friend and foe, stranger and crowd. This is how we live prophetic lives, in deeds, more than in words, for all. 

    Yes, travel light to travel far with God: this is how we can partner Jesus for everyone's good and happiness. Shall we?





    Preached at St Ignatius Church, Singapore
    Photo by Jed Villejo on Unsplash 
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  4.  

    Year B / Ordinary Time / Week 14 / Sunday
    Readings: Ezekiel 2:2-5 / Psalm: 123:1-2, 2, 3-4 (R/v 2cd) / 2 Corinthians 12:7-10/ Mark 6:1-6


    “My grace is enough for you: my power is at its best in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12.9)

    Here is St Paul testifying to the power of the risen Jesus in his life and ministry. This is God’s Spirit at work. It moves God’s own “to bring glad tidings to the poor” (Luke 2.18). This same Spirit empowered Ezekiel to prophesize God and God’s salvation to the Israelites.

    It is easy to recognise God’s Spirit working through prophets and apostles, saints and martyrs, holy persons and devout faithful. It’s more challenging to recognise God’s Spirit also working through struggling sinners, lukewarm believers, and ordinary people of all faiths. Yet, doesn’t God’s Spirit blow where it wills, to do what it must for everyone to have life to the full?

    I believe we are more accepting of God’s Spirit working in someone from another time, like prophets, or from a distant place, like charismatics overseas. We however struggle with the possibility of God’s Spirit working in someone close to us and in the ordinary.

    Jesus finds himself in this context in today’s Gospel. He preaches in his native place. Many are astonished. Many are sceptical. Many have questions.

    “Where is a prophet heard and honoured?” Not among kin or in familiar surroundings as we see with Jesus’ own. They lack faith in him. And because they do, he could not perform any mighty deeds. 

    An underlying point today’s Gospel makes is that everything Jesus does is relational in nature. For Jesus, healing and preaching is not something he does alone, like a surgeon operating on a patient. Yet, don’t we do come to Jesus like this sometimes – fix it, Jesus, fix it?

    For Jesus to bring about healing, conversion and redemption what matters is our relationship with him. Particularly, the choices we make to relate with him. When we choose to live with Jesus intimately, we become freer to see ourselves as we really are – in need of Jesus – and to see Jesus as he truly is for us – alive with God’s Spirit to save.  This is how the Christian faith works. We should not be surprised then that today’s Gospel ends like this: “He was amazed at their lack of faith.”

    There are times, aren’t there, when we are like Jesus' kinsfolk. We lack the faith to recognise God’s Spirit working in our midst. In particular, I am thinking of how much we struggle with God’s Spirit working in our lives, challenging us to be prophets and apostles for all. 

    Oftentimes we are reluctant, providing many excuses: “I am too young, too unprepared, too old, too weak and sinful, too busy and preoccupied, too homely, too nice.” Alternatively, we insist on going far away to do God’s work, speaking from the pulpit, finding the right ministry, and being holy for God. Doing all this sounds like “not here, not now, not me, Lord.”

    A reason for this is our awareness of how weak we are before God and inadequate we are to follow Jesus for God’s mission. Our talents and zeal, we doubt. Our failures and frailties, we make our burdens. No wonder we judge ourselves never good enough to partner Jesus.

    Today’s Good News is that we are good enough.  In fact, we are the chosen. We can believe this to be true by reflecting on St Paul. Paul is like us. Plagued by a sense of his unworthiness and inadequacy, he begged — three times — that God remove the “thorn in his flesh.” It seems his prayer was never answered.

    Instead, he learned to be “content with his weakness, for the sake of Christ.” His very weakness, he learned, is paradoxically a holy space for God’s Spirit to make him strong to live and serve.  

    We need this wisdom. It is hope-filled. It consoles and strengthens us because we are always hard and harsh on ourselves whenever we fail as Christians. It will because God’s Spirit never leaves us. 

    Yes, the truth is that God's Spirit is with us always — continually labouring for us and our salvation. It is indeed at its very best in our weakness. Isn’t it good and right then to profess, “God’s grace is truly enough”? 

    Shall we?



    Preached at St Ignatius Church, Singapore
    photo by  jeremy yap on unsplash




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"Nothing is more practical than finding God, that is, than falling in love in a quite absolute way final way. What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination, will affect everything. It will decide what will get you out of bed in the morning, what you do with your evenings, how you spend your weekends, what you read, who you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and gratitude. Fall in love, stay in love, and it will decide everything."

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