Waiting in Faith.

I believe all of us do not like ‘waiting’ though waiting seems to be part of life. It is like we spend more than half our lives waiting. We have this culture that has slip into our way of life now; that is, we want everything instantly; we want quick answers to all questions and problems! This is why waiting is so hard. We can get annoyed with the long queue at the MRT/LRT stations, the lengthy checkout lines at the store. We get frustrated by long red traffic lights. Because waiting seems to be part of our life now, many of us spend a lot of time waiting. We wait for a baby to be born, and then we wait for them to be grown up and be steady in life. We wait for someone who is late and we wait for time to go by. Travelers wait for buses and planes, students wait for exam result and workers wait for 5pm to go back home or waiting for vacation time. We even have waiting rooms and waiting lines nowadays. But many a times, whatever we are waiting for shows up sooner or later. And when that happens, wow! such great satisfaction, relief and joy that we experience then.

In the Gospel today, we see two elderly people, Simeon and Anna who spent their whole life in and around the temple in Jerusalem and like us they too were waiting. What were they waiting for we ask? From our Gospel readings we see they were waiting for what Luke called ‘the consolation of Israel’. They teach us that there is something worth waiting for. Luke in his Gospel describes Simeon as just, pious and the Holy Spirit was upon him. As for Anna, a widow, she is a prophetess who was constantly in the temple, worshiping day and night in fasting and prayer. Now, they like the rest of the Jew prayed and hope that the Messiah would come and bring peace and comfort (‘consolation of Israel’). ‘The Consolation of Israel’ is a reference for Jesus and is a frequent theme found in Isaiah 40-66. Isaiah says the Messiah would come and so they were waiting for him. And this sometimes is what God is inviting us to do too, to wait. Yes, waiting for the Lord can be difficult, but it is not a passive activity like waiting for a dentist or waiting for a surgery where we feel so nervous or in anxiety. For us Christians, waiting on the Lord is an act of faith.

The Jews were waiting for the Messiah to deliver them from the Roman rule, and who would conquer the enemies of Israel. But Simeon and Anna who waited patiently on the Lord with prayer, fasting and in faith recognized that the Messiah has come and instead of coming to crush the gentiles as expected by the rest of the Jews, the child Jesus is the ‘light to the Gentiles’ and He is going to ‘deliver Israel’ and the rest of the world through His passion, death and resurrection. He is going to defeat sin and death. So how then was Simeon and Anna able to see it this way and not the rest of the Jews? This is because they waited on the Lord in faith.  All their lives they waited quietly and patiently upon God.

So what are we waiting for then? What are we looking forward to? Is it to settle in life and getting married? Maybe having a child? Is it that next vacation? Or getting that promotion at work? Maybe retirement? Or to pursue a higher degree or to finally completing studies?All of these things are good things to wait for. All of these things are good things to accomplish in life. All of these things are blessings from God. But real contentment in life comes from knowing what to look forward to, from knowing what to wait for. 

Simeon and Anna knew what to wait for. They waited for and looked forward to Christ’s first coming. And similarly, we are to wait for Christ’s Second Coming. The New Testament tells us over and over that we should eagerly wait and anxiously look for the blessed appearing of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Living with this in mind, knowing that Jesus could come today, or tomorrow, causes us to live with the right priorities. It causes us to live with eternity in focus. It causes us to do things that will matter for eternity, rather than just for next week. We wait for the day we can finally be with the Lord eternally. Until we are finally together again with the Lord, let us, like Simeon and Anna, wait for the Lord in prayer and be ready to do His will when He calls. 

My letter to St. Francis Xavier.

Dear St. Francis Xavier, I would like to thank you for bringing Christianity to Malaysia. And I am very blessed indeed to be actually serving now in the very state that you visited which is in my diocese of Malacca-Johore. Every year we have your Feast Day Mass at the site where your body lay for 9 months while waiting to be transferred to Goa, India with people coming in thousands from all over Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand and even from Korea, Japan and Hong Kong. Though the site has been ruined during the war, the government tried to save the site and has named it a ‘Heritage Site’. We have many tourists including local Muslims coming to visit the site every day. I believe and hope that when they read about you and the life you have witnessed, they will be inspired by your zeal for preaching Christ and would want to know more of the Christ you preached.

I have three questions for you dear Saint. You are from a very rich family; you had everything including servants to look after your needs. My first question is how were you able to leave all these luxuries and a comfortable lifestyle to follow Christ and be his missionary? In another word, what was the zeal (or turning point) for wanting to preach Christ to all peoples?

Malacca was your stop-over for the various destinations you had traveled. And during your short stay at Malacca each time you came, you had some unique experiences such as the time when you faced a fierce storm and lost your precious cross and you found it later on the shore presumable that a crab was holding on to it only to give it back to you. I believe you had also many encounters with many different people from various countries coming to Malacca to do some trading and it is there you met Yajiro (Anjigo) and became his friend and your first Japanese convert who opened the door for your mission trip to Japan. So now it seems Malacca has a special meaning for you and for the Malaysians. My second question is; do you have any particular story for the Malaccans about their pioneers of the Christian faith?

Dear Saint, the church, recognizing your works and life for Jesus Christ, canonized you a Saint in the year 1622 and made you a Patron of the Missions.  Reflecting on your life, I can come to a conclusion that you feel you do not deserve this recognition. But it is important for us here living now. Through the proclamation that you are a Saint, invites each one of us to be like you, a worker in the Lord’s vineyard, and a missionary for the Lord of the Harvest. My third question is; what is your advice to all of us who is taking up missions in the various fields in the life of the Church especially priests and seminarians in this current era?

Once again, I would like to thank you for all the sacrifices and your missionary work especially in Asia and in particular in Malacca, Malaysia. You are indeed ‘a good and faithful servant’ and I know you are ‘sharing in your master’s joy’ (Matthew 25:21). I ask you to pray for me that I too may be faithful to my calling and be a missionary like you in the Master’s vineyard.

Yours sincerely,

Adrian Francis Mathews.

Is religious education enough for our children to defend their faith??

The recent happening in Malaysia in regards to the miraculous image of the Blessed Virgin Mary (click here to read about it) on the window pane of a hospital not only brought excitement, fear and curiosity among the faithful but also criticism especially from unbelievers. Reading a comment from a young man who left the Catholic Church recently and went to a Pentecostal church brought me thinking what do we actually teach our children in their Catechism classes? What do our children take back from the faith education classes? I personally know this young man and to read his criticism on the Catholic faith I was indeed very sad. I was thinking what did he learn from his catechism faith? What happened to all those prayers and practices while he was a Catholic? Why is there so much anger and confusion on the church now? His criticism was basically what he learned (or supposed to be taught) at the catechism classes. He seems not to understand the meaning behind what the Catholics do, pray and profess. I guess there must have been a sort of ‘brain-washing’ or rather false teachings of the Catholic faith in his new church but how was he able to bend over to the other just like that?

I fear now. I fear for the future of our children and their faith. Frankly the weekly 1hour or so of religious education for our children is not enough. Parents have to help and do more in this area if they want their children to be ‘faith-filled’ human beings having the tools to face life challengers. The happenings in Europe where churches are getting empty and being close down should be a lesson for us in Asia. Currently the Asian family values seem to be eroding too. Our children need to defend their faith. Can they? 

 

Reflecting on this I am challenged. I am challenged to teach my faith to others. To teach in a way that the Catholic faith is not a mere ‘feel good’ religion but a religion with full of love and joy that comes with a full pledge commitment of each individual baptized Catholic to be a priest, prophet and king. I hope to explain to all especially the beginners of the faith the meaning behind what we do, pray and profess. I look forward to my ministry of preaching and teaching and living life of faith in Jesus Christ in the Catholic Church. 

  

Take, O Lord, and receive my entire liberty,
my memory, my understanding and my whole will.
All that I am and all that I possess You have given me.
I surrender it all to You to be disposed of according to Your will.
Give me only Your love and Your grace;
with these I will be rich enough,
and will desire nothing more.

- St. Ignatius Loyola (Jesuit)- 16th century

Chapel of St. Pedro Calungsod.

As mentioned in my previous post, here are some pictures of the chapel under the patronage of Saint Pedro Calungsod that I go for my daily prayers. It is located at San Jose Seminary, Ateneo de Manila University Campus, Quezon City, Philippines.  Looking around the chapel and it's traditional settings (basically everything is made of bamboo), a visiting priest one day after Mass, shared with me that he feels this chapel was designed and built by St. Joseph (the Carpenter) himself together with his son Jesus Christ.

Saint Pedro Calungsod

For my blog followers especially from Malaysia and all the youths and teenagers, I would like to introduce Saint Pedro Calungsod.  Canonized just today by Pope Benedict XVI. 
He is the 2nd Saint from the Philipines after St. Lorenzo Ruiz canonized in 1987.

Pedro Calungsod was a young catechist from the Philippines. He was a faithful assistant to the Jesuit priest, Blessed Diego Luis de San Vitores in the Marianas Mission and was trained and educated by the Jesuits to be a catechist. Pedro Calungsod may only have been in his early teens (between 12 and 15 years old) when he went with Padre Diego to Guam in 1668. He was about 17years of age when he was martyred on April 2, 1672. Indeed he is a patron saint for all youths especially the teenagers who are called to imitate his life and be inspired by his example and aided by his prayers.

Bl. Pope John Paul II, a pope of our recent time has this to say about Pedro Calungsod during the beatification..."Young people today can draw encouragement and strength from the example of Pedro, whose love of Jesus inspired him to devote his teenage years to teaching the faith as a lay catechist....Today Pedro Calungsod intercedes for the young...and he challenges them."  

Click here for more read on Saint Pedro Calungsod.  
 
My dear young friends, I really hope that you may consider seriously of being a missionary in your own simple ways to proclaim God's Kingdom. You may want to be a lay catechist at your parishes. I myself was a young lay catechist in my home parish, taking up the responsibility immediately after my Sacrament of Confirmation. Thanks to a friend, Malcolm Gomez who encouraged me to take up this role with him. I really did enjoy in this ministry not only teaching to the younger children and youths but also continuing to learn more of my faith in the church of Christ.

Prayer to Saint Pedro Calungsod

Saint Pedro Calungsod,
student, catechist, young migrant,
missionary, faithful friend, martyr,
you inspire us
by your fidelity in times of adversity;
by your courage in teaching the faith
in the midst of hostility;
and by your love in shedding your blood
for the sake of the Gospel.

Make our troubles your own
(here mention your request)
and intercede for us
before the throne of Mercy and Grace
so that,
as we experience the help of heaven,
we may be encouraged to live
and proclaim the Gospel here on earth.
Amen.

See next post on the chapel of Saint Pedro Calungsod.

"Every flower is a soul blossoming in nature" - Gerard De Nerval.

Lately whenever I am free especially during the weekends and when there is feast of the Lord or Mother Mary, I would make some floral decoration for the chapel that I go to for my daily prayer. I even started making flower garlands. I will pick the flowers known as 'White Angel' near the garden at my place and make a garland or two depending on the amount of flowers I get.

One day my friend noticed that I even pick flowers that are dying and old; that will fall from the plant any moment. He was surprised that I even use them and those flowers that have some defects and do not look perfect. I replied him that I am very sure that even the buds would wish they were fully bloomed so as to be a garland of offering to the Lord, to beautify the Lord and His Mother, Mary.Yes, this is my reflection. Even the flowers that dropped on the ground would wish that they were a day or 2days late, so I can use them to make a beautiful flower garland offering.

As I mix all the flowers and make them into a garland, I bring up all my prayer intentions and those who have asked me to pray for them especially the sick and those in serious need. The old and the deformed flowers remind me of them. They become a beautiful offerings of prayer in the formed of the garland.

Jesus loves EVERYONE especially the poor, the outcasts rejected by their own community. His ministry was a barrier breaking ministry where he tried to include everyone. He had many table fellowship with 'sinners' showing them His love and care and revealing to them the Father's mercy and forgiveness. 

I pray and hope that I will imitate Jesus in His service for all people.

Since today is the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, I dedicate this post to him and all the Franciscans. Pope John Paul II proclaimed St. Francis of Assisi the patron of ecology in 1979. The pope cited him for being "an example of genuine and deep respect for the integrity of creation..." "St. Francis," he added, "invited all creation--animals, plans, natural forces, even Brother Sun and Sister Moon--to give honor and praise to the Lord."

Mother Earth

by St. Francis of Assisi

Dear mother earth, who day by day

 Unfolds rich blessing on our way,

O praise God! Alleluia!

The fruits and flowers that verdant grow,

Let them his praise abundant show.

O praise God, O praise God,

 Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia.

'White Angel'