1.  

    Year B / Ordinary Time / Week 11/ Sunday

    Readings: Job 38.1, 8-11 / Psalm 107:23-24, 25-26, 28-29, 30-31(R/v 1b) / 2 Corinthians 5.14-17 / Mark 4.35-41   



    “Then from the heart of the tempest the Lord gave Job his answer.”

    Here is God revealing himself to Job, even more, caring for him, whose life is turned upside down by severe trials and afflictions. God’s concern assures Job that everything is still alright between himself and God.


    Like Job, our lives are sometimes topsy-turvy because of struggle and pain, confusion and loss. This may be because of hurt in our relationships with others, may be with God too. With faith, we turn to God for answers. Yes, we are the Jobs in the first reading who the Lord addresses to redeem.


    Today's gospel reading amplifies this Good News; no other but Jesus can really hear and answer us. And He does to save us from the heart of the tempests and storms in our lives.


    You and I are on that same boat with the disciples. The boat is a metaphor for the relationships we have. Unexpectedly, it may now be in darkness, rocking about wildly on turbulent waters and in howling winds. Perhaps, going nowhere, it is trapped in these maelstroms of relationship: suspicion and uncertainty, disappointment and avoidance, lovelessness and brokenness. Tossed about, we are scared, directionless, ever worried about our relationships drowning and dying. We gasp and grasp anything to keep them afloat. As we do, we realise our frailty; even more, we admit the fragility of our relationships. 


    Yet, like the disciples, we need one another to row to the other side. When we do, we will save our embattled relationships. We’re a motley crew, not of our choosing. God put us together to get across safely and happily, as family, as friends, as God’s people.

    When our relationships are in stormy weather, we may cry out with those disciples, “We are perishing.” More than a plea for help, it’s a confession that something’s wrong with a relationship we share, even more, value. Maybe we’re recognising that we can’t go on thinking only about ourselves, and not the other. No more, what I don’t want and you want. No more, that I am right and you are wrong. No more, I love you like this and you either take it or leave it. 


    Today we hear Jesus rebuking the wind, calming the waters, quieting the storm and bringing peace to those afraid. Because Jesus is the miracle worker, some want Him to miraculously make our relationships better, straighten those on the mend and restore those broken.

    For most of the gospel story Jesus sleeps at the stern of the boat, trusting his Father. After calming the storm, he reproaches the disciples: “Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?”

    His questions have nothing to do with the disciples having no faith. In fact, they call on Him because they believe in Him. Rather, His questions wake them up to their forgetfulness that He cares for them. Listen again to those disciples: “Teacher, do you not care if we perish?” They think that Jesus is not interested nor does he care about them. 


    Nothing hurts us more grievously in any relationship than to hear these words: “Do you not care about me?” It's an open wound that smarts, a storm breaking down our minds, an emptiness that screams in our hearts, a hope dashed, a love smashed. 


    How do you and I respond when we hear those words said? What happens to our relationships when those words are said? Who are we really to one another when we say those words?


    Jesus must have been painfully hurt when His closest disciples asked, “don’t you care?” He must have because He, more than anyone, cares about us. 


    Yet He responds. To save them from their discouragement. To dispel their fear that they don’t matter to Him. He turns up on time and in time because they are His friends. And in spite of their careless attitude towards Him, they remain His friends.


    “Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?” Today Jesus asks us these same questions. He is challenging us to have faith, once again. Not faith to believe in Him. Rather, that we have faith to trust and turn to Him even more, when our relationships are dark, stormy, even lifeless.  


    Wise are we to want this. Jesus is truly the peace we need in every relationship. “Peace I give you, my peace I give to you.” This is the same peace the disciples needed as they battled the storm but forgot because they lifted their eyes off Jesus who was already with them.


    Jesus’ peace does not remove us from strife and hurt. Nor does it resolve division or take away pain. His peace sets us free because, no matter our relationships, good and bad, life-giving and life-denying, He is with us. 


    His peace is not an outcome to a problem solved or a reward to achieve. Rather, Jesus’ peace is the assurance that in Him we will know God is with us, totally for us. “I am with you always.” His peace is ours, if we turn towards Him. Even more, when we make real his commandment: “love one another as I have loved you” (John 13.34). 


    His way of living transforms every relationship; his manner of loving redeems all relationships. Then, there’ll be peace amongst us. That peace the world cannot give. That same peace rooted in, expressed by, celebrated as the love shared by Father, Son and Spirit in relationship. Here is peace, the fruit of  belonging together, of loving each other, of living in communion together.


    Isn’t this the peace we yearn for in every relationship we have and hold, we cherish or hope for? 


    Today Jesus is helping us find faith in each other again. Faith begins when we realise we are in need of salvation. Relationships remind us of this truth. We cannot be self-sufficient, not self-absorbed; by ourselves we founder. In faith and salvation, we need the Lord, like the wise men needed the Star that led to Jesus. On earth and in daily life, we need one another to row the boat to the other side. 

     

    And if we want peace as we interact, care and accompany one another, invite Jesus into the boats of our relationships. Then, hand over our fears, disappointments and pains about them to Him. Also, surrender our hopes, contentment and joy to Him. When we do, we will, with those disciples, experience no shipwreck nor getting lost on uncharted routes because Jesus is on board with us.

    So, let us trust Jesus; He always answers our pleas. He does by bringing serenity into the tempests and storms of our lives. He makes everything, especially, the broken, alright. Truly, with Him life never dies. Neither will the relationships that matter most to each of us, especially those we love and cherish as precious and to be treasured.

    Shall we?



    Preached at the Church of the Sacred Heart
    Photo by Tom Jur on Unsplash




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  2.  
    Year B / Ordinary Time / Week 11/ Sunday
    Readings: Ezekiel 17.22-24 / Psalm 91.2-3, 13-14, 15-16 (cf. 2a) / 2 Corinthians 5.6-10 / Mark 4.26-34   

    “This is how it is...”

    I’d like to imagine Jesus saying these words instead of “This is what” as he does to describe the kingdom of God in today’s gospel reading. In my favourite translation, Jesus does in fact say, “This is how it is.”

    When we hear the phrase “This is how it is,” many of us react with a shrug of the shoulder, a sigh of resignation, an air of acquiescence. There’s a sense that things are just the way they are, nothing will change.

    But Jesus uses this phrase in a refreshing way. He does to help us appreciate the kingdom of God anew in our lives. Even more, he excites us that this is possible because God enables this; it will be accomplished. Indeed, “This is how it is with the kingdom of God,” Jesus declares.

    In the Gospels, Jesus describes the kingdom of God in many ways. It is like a hidden treasure in a field that one finds or a fine pearl that one sacrifices everything for (Matthew 13.44-46). It is like a net cast into the sea only to catch all kinds of fish (Matthew 13.47). It is like a wedding feast that a king calls everyone to when his guests refuse to come (Matthew 22.2-14). 

    Today Jesus compares God’s kingdom to seeds growing, grain harvested, and plants sheltering. Using two parables, He teaches us that God’s kingdom is possible when our work cooperates with God’s work.  

    A man plants the seeds and God’s action gives life, nurtures growth, and produces fruit. As people of faith, this is surely the Good News that God’s kingdom is assured – the scattered seed will yield a rich harvest and a tiny seed will grow into the largest plant. This is how it is – really is with God! God does His best; he nurtures and grows. We do the rest; we plant, manure and water  And because both God and mankind do this, it will be very good.

    Indeed everything God does is to bring forth life. This is not a promise to know now or wait for at a future time. This is God’s action, here and now. How true this is when God plants the cedar on the mountain and creates a forest in the First Reading: “As I, the Lord, have spoken, I will do” (Ezekiel 17.24).

    On earth, Jesus made God’s kingdom visible and fruitful to everyone He encountered. In everything He said and did, He revealed God and God’s goodness in their midst. This experience must have impacted John the Evangelist so profoundly that he proclaims the Good News with this truth near the beginning of his Gospel: “From His fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.” (John 1.16). Aren’t we receiving these same graces each day? Isn’t Jesus’s Spirit labouring for our good?

    Our simple successes each day, even the big ones now and then, are possible when we cooperate with others. Imagine how much more God’s kingdom can be in our midst if we really cooperate with God. Bringing God's kingdom to life is first of all God’s work. Our task is to reveal God to one another in loving, forgiving, reconciling, and sharing life. God chooses us for this. Are you astounded?

    This is particularly true for you who are fathers and for whom we celebrate Father’s Day. No one is a father from day one. One grows into his fatherhood. Yes, wife and children, and the extended family, help one to know and do live the fatherly role and carry out the fatherly responsibilities. Interacting with them, a father is challenged to be a better father each time. But it is really God who nurtures one’s vocation as father through the gift of family. How good it is that He partners our fathers here to mature in your love to father those He has entrust into your love and care.

    The Evangelist Mark reminds us that though Jesus tells parables to everyone, not all understand. To his disciples, he explains everything. Like them, Jesus’ Spirit works in us through the catechism we learn, the spiritual reading we do, and the scripture we pray to learn the deeper meaning of the parables. They are not lovely stories of birds, plants, and nature. They are to challenge us. Through them, Jesus wants us to wrestle with the demands of God’s kingdom. Then, we will follow him, not blindly because we have to obey. Rather, He yearns we follow Him because we want to. And we have two particularly good reasons to do this: for Jesus calls us to conversion to save us; and with Jesus, for us to build the Kingdom of God for everyone.

    Sometimes we hear Jesus’s parables, and with little, even no, prayer, study or reflection, we claim we know what Jesus is saying or teaching. Our pride seduces us and we bluff ourselves that we know what Jesus really means. It’s as if we alone have the password to Jesus because we’re Christian. 

    It shouldn’t surprise us then that we cannot really hear Jesus because we assume his message remains the same old one and it is stale. This is why we are no better than the ignorant and stubborn. When we proudly assert we know the Scriptures better than others, our interpretations become self-righteous and rigid. This is why we live like the domineering and arrogant. When we claim to know what Jesus teaches but live without really listening, dialoguing and caring like Jesus, the parables remain just words, not God’s life-giving Word. We become hard-hearted and foolish.

    Today Jesus confronts us with our all too familiar understanding of the parables. This is the Good News; he does this to save us. He demands we open our ears to hear anew, our eyes to see afresh, our hearts to experience and know yet again what he is really proclaiming – that with everything in our lives, God’s ways are not our ways. And His ways are indeed always for our good.

    Isn’t this how it must be for you and me who profess to follow Jesus?




    Preached at the Church of the Sacred Heart
    Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

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  3. Devotion to the Sacred Heart 
    Reflection based on Matthew 14. 22 - 36


    “After sending the crowds away, he went up into the hills by himself to pray.”

    St Matthew tells us Jesus prayed after a long day of ministry and hearing about John the Baptist’s death. In prayer, he shared all that was in his heart with His Father.

    Here we are; we’ve come to pray too. Our work day is done. Most of us bring the burdens and hopes in our hearts to Jesus. Some want to rest in His Sacred Heart and receive healing. 

    However, don’t we all struggle to pray because everything and everyone else demands our attention and response? This challenges many of us, myself included, to find time for God. So often, we tend to leave God to the very end of the day’s schedule. 

    Also, aren’t we too distracted to pray? Just consider how the first thing almost all of us do when ending a meeting or a family dinner, even Mass, is to dive into our pockets or purses for those digital masters that rule our time and focus, our minds and hearts. Even when our phones aren’t dinging, they demand our attention and cut us off from other communication.

    We’ve seen these. Two people walking down the street together, both glued to their phones and ignoring each other. Parents who are too absorbed into their virtual world that they abandon their children to their own devices.

    This reality suggests that as a society, we tend to freak out about solitude and silence that are the very spaces we need for prayer. If we come into an empty house, we turn on the TV for background noise. In the gyms we exercise in blaring music to distract us.

    That Jesus intentionally makes time and space to be still, keep silent and pray is the reminder we all need for our spiritual lives. Unless we do as Jesus did, we will find it hard to hear the voice of God; and God does want to say something to us.

    Isn’t this why we’re invited into silence during contemplative or meditative prayer and retreats?

    Recently, I facilitated a retreat for 110 church workers from the various church offices, ministries and commissions in our diocese. After it ended, they feedbacked that they wanted “more quiet time” in future retreats.  I wonder if this is because they experienced the goodness of quiet time with God this time instead of the usual talk after talk, praise and worship after praise and worship, conversation after conversation. 

    I’d like to believe they experienced how the uninterrupted time for prayer allowed them to hear God. Even more, I can’t help wondering how God might have invited them to reflect on their lives and faith. Many said they emerged from the retreat with a sense of peace that no homily, spiritual book or text message could offer.

    Here’s my suggestion for this weekend. Make time for God. Choose prayer. Turn off all noisemakers in our houses. Put your cell phones away for an hour or so, and invite the Holy Spirit to speak to you.  Try to really listen. You might be amazed at what God will say, whether as a challenge to help you grow or a delight to encourage you onward.

    Can we do this? Yes, we can, with the help of Jesus. He shows us how to pray. So, let us turn to Him and say, “Draw me nearer to Your Sacred Heart: there is where I can learn best.” Shall we?



    Shared at the Church of the Sacred Heart
    photo 'praying' by adrian danker, the chapel at sji, november, 2018



     

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  4.  
    Year B / Ordinary Time / Week 10 / Sunday
    Readings: Genesis 3.9-15 / Psalm 130.1-8 (R/v 7bc) / 2 Corinthians 4.13-5.1 / Mark 3.20-35


    “He was out of his mind.”

    What a statement about Jesus! We hear it in today’s gospel reading. This is how his family thinks of him because he is so busy with the crowds that he has no time to eat.

    Interestingly, the word for ‘being out of your mind’ is ecstasy. It originates from the Greek word “ek-stasis,” meaning “being outside of oneself.” It suggests a certain joy in living for others; much like when you and I are in love. Our whole world revolves around that special someone, oftentimes losing ourselves in them and their lives. Sound familiar?

    The saints had this crazy kind of love too for Jesus. It is said that St Francis of Assisi and his followers called themselves ‘i pazzi di Cristo,’ meaning the crazy ones of Christ. They were because of their radical choice to live and serve like Jesus poor. Closer to home, Dr Tan Tai Yong is our local crazy Christian for Jesus; he sacrificed his medical career to spent 15 years in Yunan to care for the poor. 

    A number of us spend much time and energy in church ministry or serving others in greater need. Haven’t we been labeled ‘too churchy,’ another way of saying ‘crazy for Christ?’ Hearing this might make some concerned about the opinion or criticism of others. This might stop them from giving themselves to Jesus and his mission. Sadly, some return to just being Sunday Catholics.

    In the gospels, many criticised Jesus for his good works. Today we hear of the strong criticism he receives. He is told he is possessed by the devil and that he drives out demons with the help of Satan. Jesus answers directly that Satan cannot overcome Satan. Only God can do this; only God is truly powerful enough to do this. This is why Jesus speaks about the Holy Spirit today; we should pay attention to these words. They point us to a greater truth. Not only is the Holy Spirit always fighting for us, He fights with us. What a great partnership this is for Christian living! Yes, with the Holy Spirit we can live for others like Jesus did. Indeed, this should strengthen our faith. Shouldn’t this also make us bolder to be a little bit crazier for Jesus? 

    St Paul was crazily in love with Christ. Today we hear his declaration that he can speak as he does because he believes in Jesus. This is an important statement. We must hear it. Even more, make it our way of life. Most of all, we must generously share it. We must because its message is clear: faith is important to our preaching and sharing of the Word of God. If we believe we also need not be so worried about the opinion of the world. Truly, proclaim to everyone, Jesus said, and be not afraid.

    Pope Benedict XVI echoes this message. “We cannot keep to ourselves the words of eternal life given to us in our encounter with Jesus Christ: they are meant for every man and woman. Everyone today, whether he or she knows it or not, needs this message….It is our responsibility to pass on what, by God’s grace we ourselves have received” (Verbum Domini no. 91).

    This is the Good News as  today’s gospel reading ends. We hear Jesus’ teachings about who his family are and how they are to live. Listen again. Jesus is speaking to the crowds. Upon being told his mother and brothers have arrived, he replies, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” Then, looking round at those sitting in a circle about him, he says, “Here are my mother and my brothers. Anyone who does the will of God, that person is my brother and sister and mother.”

    This episode is not about Jesus denouncing his family because he would be the first to uphold the commandments of honouring our mothers and fathers. Rather, Jesus is simply saying this: that, to be Christian is to be part of the family of Jesus and with him, be a source and generator of divine life for others. If we are serious about listening to the Word of God and putting it into practice, and doing the will of God then we must live and love one another as Jesus did. 

    Yesterday, we celebrated the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Many came praying for themselves and others, as they also did during the Triduum. Each face standing before me told a story of concern or suffering, of love and hope. Every face revealed profound belief that Jesus will answer their prayers. All of them witnessed the power of this belief in Jesus calling them to care for others.

    We too are called to this witness; and yes, we can. “We have the power to change the world, and that power lies within our breasts, for when we live in the love of Jesus, we will come to love as Jesus, with the very heart of Jesus, which transfigures and glorifies all that it touches” (Br. James Koester, SSJE).

    This is the kind of craziness we need to live as Christians. It’s the craziness we experience in the Sacred Heart of Jesus; it is inflamed with craziness for the love of God that makes Jesus’ love big-hearted and sacrificial. 

    If we really want to follow Jesus and be like him, we must ask for his heart; to have an equally crazy love for God alone. If we dare to, we’ll live differently; we’ll be out of our minds. But then, we can better understand the will of God, and like Jesus, serve, care for and save everyone's souls. Even more, this craziness of God’s love will humble us to hear more clearly that we are God’s family when Jesus says, “you are my brother and sister and mother.” And if I dare to imagine, He would add, “I am crazy for you too!”

    Seriously, then, what love do we need but the crazy love of Jesus for us?





    Preached at the  Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
    Photo by Gift Habeshaw on Unsplash
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  5.  

    Year B / Ordinary Time / Week 9 / Solemnity of Corpus Christi

    Readings: Exodus 24.3-8 / Psalm 115.12-13, 15, 16bc, 17-18 (R/v 13) / Hebrews 9.11-15 / Mark 14.12-16, 22-16



    “Take, eat, this is my body. Take, drink, this is my blood.”


    These are Jesus’ words and actions in the Gospel reading. They are not just a remembrance for us. They come alive at this and every Eucharist and every time we partake of it. 


    Indeed when we take and eat and drink we proclaim loudly and clearly what the Israelites said to Moses:  “We will observe all that the Lord has decreed; we will obey.” Indeed we must because every Eucharist celebrates the gift of God’s own self – Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. 


    Jesus’s sacrifice on the Cross makes this gift possible. He lived and loved sacrificially because he trusted God completely. Participating in Jesus’s sacrifice at the Eucharist allows us to trust God like Jesus did.


    We need to trust like this because we are prone to sin even as we aspire to be saints. St. Paul reminds the Romans that “Where sin has increased, grace has abounded all the more” (Romans 5.20). Have we not experienced this redeeming love of God in the Eucharist? 


    “The Eucharist,” Pope Francis says, “is not only a reward for the good but also the strength for the weak and for sinners. It is forgiveness and sustenance which help us on our journey.”*


    Scripture is filled with stories of God accomplishing His loving plans even when humankind failed to trust Him. God brought the Jewish people to the Promised Land in spite of their failings. The risen Jesus returned to love his disciples even when they failed him and fled.  Hasn’t the Lord been keeping an eye on us to save us no matter how many wrong turns we’ve made in life? 


    Mercy sums up God’s actions in these stories. Mercy is God’s singular desire to never allow us to be satisfied with anything less than Himself.


    Maybe this is what Jesus learned when he fed the people with five loaves and two fish. It is never enough to feed them, even with abundance. Indeed, bread is not enough. What they needed, like we need, is Jesus himself. Jesus who is God’s word to fill our minds. Jesus who is God’s bread to nourish our bodies. Jesus who is God for us because no one can do without God for life. 


    I imagine this is how Jesus probably came to understand himself as bread, for he knows he is indispensable for us. “I am the living bread that came down from heaven,” Jesus proclaims, “whoever eats this bread will live forever” (John 6.51).


    Bread becomes food when it dissolves in us; this is how we are nourished. It becomes one with us. In Communion, Jesus invites us to make real in our lives what he himself did on the Cross – give everything, all that he is, to everyone.  When we do, we can give ourselves to all, including those who hurt us and we have hurt. And we can do this like Jesus is for us – as bread broken to give life. 


    Isn’t selfless self-giving what lovers do? Not just them, all people who want to love sincerely, wholeheartedly and generously. What kind of loving is this but the total self-giving of themselves to another, to all others. If you and I want to love like this, there is a cost: it will be our complete surrendering, our entire undoing, our total disappearance into the other. We will no longer be ourselves; we will be one with the other.


    Indeed the Eucharist accomplishes this for each of us because here is Jesus giving himself to us wholly, gratuitously and unreservedly, and through us, to everyone. This story illustrates this very well:

    On the Feast of Corpus Christi, in a small village in Germany, a priest carried the monstrance with the sacred Host in procession. Little girls tossed flowers; there was endless singing and clouds of incense. The next morning a young reporter from the local newspaper interviewed the priest. "Why Father," he asked, "were you carrying that beautiful little mirror through the streets yesterday? What was the significance?" 

    The priest explained: “not a mirror at all, but perhaps the Mirror we need. The fragile, sacred Bread is truly God who mirrrors for each of us how we can see one another and ourselves – fragile, vulnerable, and truly worthy of reverence by one another.”

    Today, we receive Jesus in communion and know his love. Then with Jesus in our hearts, who should we give ourselves to so that they too can savour God’s love?


    Preached at the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
    photo: faithmag.com

    This homily was first preached in 2021



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"Bukas Palad"
"Bukas Palad"
is Filipino for open palms
Greetings!
Greetings!
Peace and welcome, dear friend.
I hope you will find in these posts something that speaks to you of the God who loves us all and who always holds us in the palm of his hand. Blessings!
The Liturgical Calendar / Year C
The Liturgical Calendar / Year C
Faith & Spirituality
Faith & Spirituality
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About Me
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is a 50something Catholic who resides in Singapore and works for the Church. He is a priest of the Roman Catholic Church.
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©adrian.danker.sj, 2006-2018

The views I express in these pages are personal. They do not speak for the Society of Jesus or the Catholic Church.
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