The rest of my life (prayer meeting 21/08/2013)

Few years back, the whole world is experiencing an economic downturn due to the subprime crisis which began in 2008. The crisis happened due to the rise in subprime mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures. The crisis has brought a tremendous impact on our economy that lead us  into a recession,which ultimately brings unemployment to the country. 

In today's Gospel, what can we understand the parable given by Jesus about work and wages, welfare and the unemployed that tell us about the kingdom of God? In the parable of the laborers in the vineyard, we see the extraordinary generosity and compassion of God. There is great tragedy in unemployment, the loss of work, and the inability to earn enough to live and support oneself or one's family. In Jesus' times laborers had to wait each day in the marketplace until someone hired them for a day's job. No work that day usually meant no food on the family table. The laborers who worked all day and received their payment complain that the master pays the late afternoon laborers the same wage. The master, undoubtably, hired them in the late afternoon so they wouldn't go home payless and hungry.

We can see God generosity. God is generous in opening the doors of his kingdom to all who will enter, both those who have labored a life-time for him and those who come at the last hour. While the reward is the same, the motive for one's labor can make all the difference. Some work only for reward. They will only put as much effort in as they think they will get back. Others labor out of love and joy for the opportunity to work and to serve others. The Lord calls his disciples to serve God and neighbor his heavenly kingdom and our earthly community with generosity and joy. Do you perform your work and responsibilities with cheerfulness and diligence for the Lord's sake? And do you give generously to others, especially to those in need of your care and support?

Perhaps, you might have wasted your life in "doing your own thing." Now, we are the follower of Christ through baptism, we have given our life to Jesus, we don't want "to spend what remains of the earthly life on human desires but on the will of God, because we know that the will of God always is the best for us. We don't want to do something that hurt our relationship with God. Already you have devoted enough time to what the pagans enjoy" (1 Pt 4:2-3).

Today, the Lord wants to change your sorrow into joy (see Ps 30:12) by assuring you that He will give you a full-day's pay even if you've only worked for Him a very short time (Mt 20:14). The Lord "will repay you for the years which the locust has eaten" (Jl 2:25), that is, for the wasted years of life. The Lord in His mercy often saves the best for last, as He did at the wedding feast of Cana (Jn 2:10). So "give no thought to what lies behind but push on to what is ahead" (Phil 3:13).

The Lord has died to atone for our past, so forget about it. Let us thank the Lord that we have the privilege of living for Him in the present, at the same time, let us make the following promise: "For the rest of my life, I will serve the Lord alone, in every way, with all my heart." Amen.

God Compassionate love for all person

Prayer Service: In Loving Memory of our Departed Brother, Brian Lim Beng Choon

For an economic student, the term “opportunity cost” is one of the most familiar term that we use throughout our degree study in university. Consider this as a technical term or not, the meaning of opportunity cost, simply put, it refers to the second best alternative that we have to forgo in effect of choosing the first best alternative. Basically, this is the term used in decision making. For me, this term is also applicable in life, apart from our decision making in an organization. We can either choose God, whom bring life to us and lead us to a happy joy or the devil that brings ultimate destruction that lead us to death. If one were to choose, as the term opportunity cost here suggest by choosing the best alternative, we as a human, we will definitely choose God that send us abundant blessing.

Recall Satan’s promise to Eve when he tempted her to disobey God and eat the forbidden fruit: “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Gen. 3:5). “That is,” the tempter was saying, “you can decide for yourself what is good and what is evil. You can be your own boss.” This is the sin of pride: the illusion of self-sufficiency, the illusion that a person can be his own source of his fulfillment. This is the root of all sin.

We are living in this secular world, the world that blur our vision of God. Religion might not be the first priority in life as a young adult like me, what concerns me the most, perhaps, getting a good job with a good salary, good wife—beautiful, nice body & etc may be at the top of the list. However, we fail to recognize the relationship that we should have in life, that is the life with God, our creator. We fail to recognize that He can provide everything that we need in life. He is our creator, He create us out of His abundant love and blessings, of course, He also know that what we need in our life.

One may ask how can we deepen our relationship with God? The answer is simple: PRAYER. Prayer is the best way that we can communicate with God. We can leave all our sorrow to God, I guess this is the best way to deal with our inner feelings that make us feel so depress in life.

Today, as we pray for our brother who had passed away last week, it is also re-awakening for each one of us the importance of relationship. The importance of reaching out the love, the abundant blessing that we received from the lord, to the people out there. What is the greatest commandment of the Lord? I guess most of you would know the greatest command is “Love your God with all your heart and with all your being, with all your strength and with all your mind, and love your neighbour as yourself” (Lk10: 27-28).

In today's gospel on the Gospel reading of the Prodigal son, The Parable of the Prodigal Son is probably the best-known and most-loved of all of Jesus’ parables. It has been called “the pearl and crown of all the parables of Scripture.” It has even received the title Evangelium in Evangelio, “the Gospel within the Gospel.” Together let’s savor some of its richness. The younger of two sons asked for his share of his father’s property (Lk. 15:11–12). We know from Deuteronomy 21:17 that under Jewish law, the younger brother’s share would be half of what the elder brother would receive. This request by the younger son expresses a desire that has plagued us human beings from the beginning. I mean the desire for independence from God, the desire to be in charge of one’s own life.

That’s how it is with us and God. By His creation, God gives us a free will. When we begin to think we want to be free from God’s service and find our liberty somewhere else, God lets us make that vain attempt. Eventually we learn that in turning from God’s will we inevitably become slaves of our own selfish desires. Our God-given free will gives us our grandeur, but our misuse of that free will gives us our misery. Immediately, it seems, the younger son went into “a far country” and spent all he had. For us, says St. Augustine, “the far country” is forgetfulness of God. In the slavery of his own desires, the younger son used up all his resources in a vain attempt to find happiness.
A famine arose in that country, and the younger son was broke and hungry (Lk. 15:14) That prodigal son’s suffering in that far country is itself a parable of the suffering which sin always brings.
And then the man “came to himself”—opened his eyes to the truth about himself (Lk. 15:17).When we come to our true selves, the selves God created us to be, we have to come to God through His Son. As the Second Vatican Council reminds us, “Christ the Lord, . . . in the very revelation of the mystery of the Father and of his love, fully reveals man to himself and brings to light his most high calling” (Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, no. 22). Having come to his senses, the prodigal son decided to return to his father (Lk. 15:18). Why would he dare go back home? Probably because he knew he had once been a member of that family, and perhaps still was. When you and I turn away from our sin and back to God, we know we shall not be rejected. At our baptism we were adopted as sons and daughters of God, and nothing—not even our worst sins—can cancel that adoption.

Notice that the father welcomed back the prodigal son even before the son made his confession. Imagine the son’s surprise. And imagine his immediate awareness of how totally undeserving he was of such mercy! In our return to the Father, the more we receive his love, the more grievously do we look on our sins. Repentance is a continuing process: As we grow in understanding God’s forgiving love, we mourn that we have sinned against that love. When the saints urge us to bemoan our sins, they’re not talking about remorse—”why did I do such a thing?” No, indeed! Bemoaning our sins means sorrowing because of the suffering our sins inflicted on our Lord Jesus on the Cross. The more we know and love our Lord Jesus, the more we despise our sins.

The Church proclaims this parable to us, not to entertain us, but to hold up a mirror to us. Let us now reflect, in the prodigal son, can we see an image of ourselves? Who of us has not turned away from the Father? Who of us has not put great distance between ourselves and the Father, by our sins? Or take the scornful, self-righteous, unforgiving elder brother. Who of us has not harshly judged persons who grievously distort their own lives? Who of us has not withheld forgiveness—or at least been reluctant to grant it—to those who need our forgiveness?

In these and countless other ways, you and I too often wander off into far country and squander or grossly misuse God’s good gifts. That’s what sin is.
God grant that every time we go away from God, we will accept His grace to come to ourselves. Come to our senses, and turn back to the Father. His Son has made it perfectly clear that the Father is always waiting for us, always watching for us, infinitely eager to welcome us back home.

Follow Him with Joy

I'm happy that I was able to partake the Eucharistic celebration with the students in one of those university that located in Kuala Lumpur. It is a great honour and pleasure that I'm invited to pray and to shared some of stories with them. At the same time,to get some input from the students. I still remember there a few non-catholic students joined in and celebrated this wonderful mass with us and praising our Lord. I was amazed that these non-catholic shared with me their interest in the catholic faith, importantly, they found peace! They love the prayer that we pray, they love the hymns that we sung, they love everything! Most importantly, I can see their love for Christ, the anointed one, which is our Savior and Messiah.

As a president of the Catholic student society, to play a role as a leader, we need to face different types of problems. We need to deal with some unexpected situation. Even, we need to take criticism. When something goes wrong, you are the first who will be shot by the people, members or lecturer. Well, in any organization for that matter, leaders are facing problems with all kinds. they need to face critics often! I guess this is the heaviest burden that a leader got to bear on their shoulder.

In today's gospel reading, what does Jesus mean when he says his disciples, the follower of Christ, or leader for that matter, must be sheep in the midst of wolves? The prophet Isaiah foretold a time when wolves and lambs will dwell in peace (Isaiah 11:6 and 65:25) This certainly refers to the second coming of Christ when all will be united under the Lordship of Jesus after he has put down his enemies and established the reign of God over the heavens and the earth. In the meantime, the disciples must expect OPPOSITION and PERSECUTION from those who oppose the gospel. Jesus never hesitated to tell his disciples what they might expect if they followed him. Here Jesus says to his disciples: This is my task for you at its grimmest and worst, do you accept it? This is not the world's way of offering a job. After the defeat at Dunkirk. Churchill offered his country blood, toil, sweat, and tears. Often, this is not the message that we prefer to hear when the Lord Jesus commissions us in his service. Nonetheless, our privilege is to follow in the footsteps of the Master who laid down his life for us.

Now, are you willing to to accept hardship and suffering in following after the Lord?

Back to the topic as a leader. In many times, we might face difficulties in dealing with our members or some authority! Now, the question is can we bear our cross with joy?  As a young leader like me, sometimes I face hardship! sometimes I might discourage with things and matter that just suddenly pop-ups. But,  I know that our Lord Jesus is cheering for us in heaven, so that we may accomplish our task at the finish line. He is the one who always support us and give us the grace to accomplish our task in life.

Don't be surprised if "You will be hated by all on account of Me. But whoever holds out till the end will escape death." (Matthew 10:22) Jesus commanded His disciples to be on "guard with respect to others."( Mt10:17) because He would send His disciples out "like sheep among wolves"( Mt. 10:16). He said that they may be handed over to the police by their own families (see Mt10:21) because we are Jesus' disciples, we may be handed over to be beaten, tried, and executed, after having witnessed for Jesus by the power of the Spirit (see Mt 10:17-21) That is why throughout centuries, many Christian who died for their faith which known as Martyr. We must arm ourselves with the mentality that we will suffer in flesh (1 Pt 4:1). Expect the privilege of persecution (see Acts 5:41) as a Christian. However, the great consolation for us as a Christian is that Jesus will be our refuge, and He will be there always to love us and protect us. He will give us strength.  Importantly, we will be enjoying with Him in His everlasting Kingdom that He prepare for each one of us in heaven.

My Group Thesis!!!

Done! Finally I'm done with three papers for my final exam. I have one more paper to go. This is not the point I would like to elaborate today. I'm happy that the hard work that we done for our group thesis is out!

Yes, this is our outcome as a reward for our hard work! However, we do not know what will be the result for it. At least, we can proudly say that we have done our every best to work on it. Regardless what will be the result, at least this is the work the we have done to achieve the result that all of us desire the most.

This is the sharing about me today! I will eventually share more after my exam!

Have a wonderful day :)

Come all you Sinners

Sin, that make us break away from God. Literally, sin damage our relationship with God. Yesterday, Gospel reading (John 8:1-11) tell us about the woman who was caught in adultery. This incident tells us a great deal about Jesus attitude to the sinner. The scribes and Pharisees wanted to entrap Jesus with the religious and civil authorities. That is why they brought a woman caught in adultery before Jesus. Jesus turned the challenge toward his accusers. In effect he said : Go ahead and stone her! But let the man who is without sin be the first to cast a stone. The Lord leaves the matter to their own consciences. When the adulterous woman is left alone with Jesus, he both expresses mercy and he strongly exhorts her to not sin again. The scribes wishes to condemn, Jesus wishes to forgive and to restore the sinner to health. His challenge involved a choice either go back to your former way of sin or death or to reach out to the new way of life and happiness with Him. Jesus gave her pardon and a new start on life. Gods grace enables us to confront our sin of what it is unfaithfulness to God, and to thankful spirit of Gods mercy and forgiveness. Do you know the the joy of repentance and a clean conscience?

Gospel Reading (John 8:1-11)

1 but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.

2 Early in the morning he came again to the temple; all the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them.

3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst

4 they said to him, "Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery.

5 Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such. What do you say about her?"

6 This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground.

7 And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her."

8 And once more he bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground.

9 But when they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the eldest, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him.

10 Jesus looked up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"

11 She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you; go, and do not sin again."

Tradition holds that the woman was Mary Magdalene. Tradition also holds that Mary Magdalene became a close follower of the Lord and that this was the Mary who was the first to experience the Resurrection. She was also the first, in a long line of sinners, to come before the Lord in guilt and in shame, feeling the weight of sin, knowing that punishment was deserved, yet hoping to receive a share in His compassion. 

Throughout this season of Lent, there are many who will approach the Sacrament of Penance during these remaining days of lent. Some comes to church regularly, lead a good christian lives, but recognize that they are full of little sins, venial sins, that are holding them back. Others might have been away from the Lord for a long time. Full of guilt, full of shame, they seek restoration. They seek redemption. ALL ARE WELCOMED BACK. All receive the compassion of the Lord. All are told, 'Neither do I condemn you, Go now and sin no more'. Imagine now, Christ is calling us. Christ is calling us to go back to His holy church. 

Let us refer back to the gospel reading. The women who was caught in adultery. Let us put ourselves in her situation. She also must have been ashamed. People were laughing at her. They treated her like dirt. Perhaps she herself thought she was dirt. If they didn't kill her, what type of life would she have left. Who would marry her? Who would give her a place to stay? Who would have mercy on her? She might as well die.

The better-than-thous of her society, shouted that she had to die. The Law of Moses demanded it. What would this Jesus say about that? They were certain that they had him. His hands were tied. This, the Kindest Man to ever live, would have to oppose the Law or agree that she should die.

And through the clamour, she looked up, and saw the Lord looking at her. Compassion for her flowed through him. Nobody cared about her before. The man or men who used her sexually, didn't care that she was going to die, The leaders of the people didn't care about her. Her own family probably disowned her. But Jesus CARED! Then there was a silence. He knelt down and began writing on the ground. Silence. The silence must have been overpowering,. Finally he spoke. 'Let he who is without sin cast the first stone'. And the sheer dynamism of this voice, the kindness and compassion of his voice, forced her accusers to return to the holes from which they had climbed out.  Certainly these men were going to kill her. Women have been killed for far less. Even in our modern times, women are treated throughout the world as chattel, their lives completely dependent on the will of their fathers, brothers, or husbands. Horrible things continue to happen to women in the name of religion.

Now, look at the way that our Lord's answer upheld justice without forgoing clemency. He was not caught in the snare his enemies had laid for him; it is they themselves who were caught in. He didn't say the women should not be stoned, for then it would look as though he were opposing the law. But he had no intention of saying 'let her be stoned', because he came not to destroy those he found but to seek those who were lost. 

What is this Lord? Are you giving approval to immorality? Not at all! Take note of what follows: 'Go and sin no more'. You see that the Lord indeed pass sentence, but it is sin He condemns, not people. 

One who approved of immorality would have said; 'Neither will I condemn you. Go and live as you please; you can be sure that I will acquit you. However, how much you sin, I will release you from all penalty, and from the tortures of hell and the underworld'. This is what human often think, BUT, Our Lord didn't say that. 

He said: "Neither will I condemn you; you need have no fear of the past, but BEWARE of what you do in the future. Neither will I condemn you: I have blotted out what you have done; now observe what I have commanded, in order to obtain what I have promised". 

We pray today for the conversion of sinners, beginning with ourselves. The time is right for the harvest. This is the time of year, the last weeks of Lent, when many people will be reconsidering their lives, thinking that they can be better, infinitely better than they have been, Pray for the conversion of sinners, starting with ourselves, and extending our prayers to all who are full of guilt, full of shame, afraid to change, and wondering is there any hope of forgiveness for them. 

Jesus died on the cross for us, to bring salvation for us. 

Great Blessing for this New Year from God

Two weeks from now, the Chinese community including me will be celebrating Chinese New Year. We can see that people start to decorate their house with new year accessories, which believe will bring luck and joy for them throughout the year. Besides decorating their homes, people were also busy with those magazine that explain about their zodiac throughout the year. In summary, they are more concern toward their luck for this coming year.

We often equate good fortune, happiness and luck as things that are subject to fate. There are greater forces beyond us that determine whether we would have a good year or a bad year. The type and number of crystals that we should display in our house or wear around our wrists; the colour of our hair; the animal zodiac and its influence throughout the year; the number of gold fish that I should rear in my aquarium. We often equate good fortune, happiness and luck as things that are subject to fate. There are greater forces beyond us that determine whether we would have a good year or a bad year. The type and number of crystals that we should display in our house or wear around our wrists; the colour of our hair; the animal zodiac and its influence throughout the year; the number of gold fish that I should rear in my aquarium. 

For this coming new year, I’m not going to tell you what’s your fortune for this year, whether you would be experiencing lots of good luck or bad. No. I have a much better prediction for year. It’s going to be great year, a year full of blessings, a year of true joy. Why? Because God has promised to be with you. If God is with you at all times, you don’t need good luck or good fengshui or good omens. God will be you sustaining you, giving you strength to bear with all the burdens of life. God will be with you to help you through the darkest moments. God will be with you guiding you when you feel lost. God will be with you comforting you in your loneliness and pain. God will be with you healing you, forgiving you and blessing you with his grace. 

Prayer is the only way

Have you come across a difficult moment in your life? Have you ever feel hopeless? Feel sick with everything in your life? Perhaps, you might find that you are in a situation that no one in this world can truly understand your feeling and you feel yourself is abandon by the society. In this modern era, we are facing many different types of challenges,in term of economic and society challenges. The rewards of these challenges might lead the person to the dead end of the road in life. Undeniable, in every aspect of job that we enroll our-self in, we cannot escape from the word ''Pressure'. Pressure is a negative emotion to human beings, it harms a human emotion and bring them to the stage of depression. I'm pretty sure that none of us can escape from this experience in life. However, it is normal for human to have this experience in this modern era where everything require us to be fast.

Due to the high statistic shows that many people in this modern era are experiencing this types of pressure in life, we can see that in the market, there is a lot of psychology trying to making profit out of it by writing some books to teach people how to reduce and handle their stress when they are facing some difficulties in life. of course, I'm not a psychology writer who can produce psychology advice for those who are facing challenges in their life. But, as a lay person like me, the only way out of it is prayer. Prayer is the communication with God. We can lift up our problems to Him, who created us and know each of our strong points and weaknesses.

When I was a kid, I always find that by praying, it does not help me much. When the verb 'praying' appears in my mind, what comes after next is bored. However, I start to embrace this wonderful gift that God has given it to me after my baptism. I start to feel the power in it! I start to enjoy talking with my creator! I start to lift up my problems to Him (partially, at this point of them. Hope I can improve further on it.)

As a Catholic, I can pray at anytime and anywhere that I want because God is everywhere. We can talk to Him anytime when we feel like like doing so. They should seek God in the hope that they might feel after him and find him. Yet he is not far from each one of us. (Acts 17:27)

Often, people always thinking that praying in a one way communication with God. Actually that is not true! God often speaks to us. The problem is whether we can identify it or not. If you do not know how to pray, ask him to teach you, and ask your heavenly Mother to pray with you and for you (POPE BENEDICT XVI,  to the young people of Netherlands, November 21, 2005)

If you are seeking God but do not know how you should begin, learn to pray and make the effort to pray everyday (Blessed Teresa of Calcutta).

Besides praying alone, sometimes we might need someone to intercede for us. This is because we find that is better to call some other friends to pray for our own special intention or petitions that you need for that particular moment. Besides calling some of my friend to pray for me on certain occasion, I specially like to call the Blessed Mother (Blessed Virgin Mary) to intercede for me. This is what most of the Catholic like the most by calling the Blessed Mother to pray fro us in heaven. Mainly because she is the mother of the universe and she is the closest to Christ. Always, we find that her intercession is the most powerful in heaven.
Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks, it will be opened. (Luke 11:9-10)

So, have you pray today?

What do you think?

Superstitious is a killer! A Hong Kong drama that is showing on T.V reminds me that. The story illustrate this topic by showing that during the olden days, especially in the Chinese society, peoples will do sort of funny things, in order to get lucks in their life. The believe something called 'Good Luck' and 'Bad Luck'. Of course, good luck period, people will believe that everything comes to them is good. What about someone who are experiencing their downfalls, in the Chinese society, people would say you're experiencing some bad luck! In that particular drama, because the mother believe that two of the brother and sister cannot stay together because both of their lives will curse each others. At the end, one of them will die if the mother didn't separate this two siblings. Does it make sense to you? Of course you might be laughing and saying that the mother is stupid in acting that way to their own children. But, we seldom reflect on ourselves that we sometimes might act in a superstitious way even one might not realize that actually we are doing or supporting the act.

Let us pause for a moment and think. Does superstitious play a very critical role in our life? Does it determine  the day of your life?
Superstitious is not the way of life. Superstitious is not the way for a comfort life instead of bringing more and more problems to your life.

The only thing we can only do is Believe in God, and He will bless with a abundant of blessing. This inner peace of life you will never get it from any others on earth!

Christmas Diary

How is your Christmas celebration going on? Having a great time with your love one?
Christmas day, besides celebrating the birth of the Lord, is a season for us to gather around. You might meet up with some of you relatives which you didn't meet often. I guess it will be a great time to mingle around during this festive season.

Christmas Eve, my family and I use to attend mass before the actual day of Christmas. The feelings is good when I got a chance to be present at God's house. The feelings is just good. Of course, I manage to meet some of the church members who are really close with me and received some warmly greetings from them.

Christmas day itself, we will have some gathering with some relatives and friends. Some of you might be wondering, what about the present I'm receiving? Well, this year I got a limited edition t-shirt  with the printing of the formal Kuala Lumpur's archbishop wording on it. This present mean a lot to me because we cannot get it from anywhere else.

This is the wonderful present that I got it from my Parents and brother. Love it so much!

During of the day, I also did some prayer as well. Always feel good to pray for others who are in need.

Assumption Church, Pj. First time attending their mass. The feeling was always great.

This is my celebration for Christmas. What about you?