Week 4 #2: Response!

(The passage about the woman who touched Jesus’ cloak can be found in Matthew 9:18-26, Mark 5:21-43 and Luke 8:40-56).

I was quite surprised when I read Alexis’s entries, simply because there are countless stories in the gospel where Jesus healed sick people and I used to think all of them are similar to each others. So how could a person be impressed with a story more than the others? However, when I read the passage closely, her favourite bible passage is different! Jesus did not heal the woman intentionally, but the woman had a strong faith that she was able to draw Jesus’ power by just touching his clothes, thus, she was healed immediately.

I disagree to say that she had a blind faith because she had a strong faith on what she did. She didn’t say “If I just touch his clothes, hopefully, I could be healed or I might be healed,” but she firmly believed that “If I just touch His clothes, I WILL get well” (Mark 5:28).

Her faith was definitely as big as a mustard seed (Luke 17:6), or even bigger! A faith with hope, not the ‘desperate hope’ like those people buying 4D and hoping to win (because they don’t know whether they will win), but the hope with confidence, such as our HOPE that Jesus will come again at the end of time. We must have confidence when we proclaim that Jesus will come again, as written in Acts of the Apostles 1:11 “…this Jesus, who was taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way that you saw him go to heaven.”

After reading it a few times now, I’m amazed with the woman’s faith, because I really want a faith like hers. Honestly speaking, I had doubt and fear whether my prayer would be answered. Often time, I would start asking if Jesus would grant my petition, especially when I was alone in adoration chapel. I could just sit there for hours and questioning over and over again. Now I realised that it is because I have so little faith in Him.

The time is different now, we no longer see Jesus walking around to heal people literally, but we still can witness His healing power in every one of us, why? It is because He IS risen. At the Christ’s tomb, the apostles heard these words from the angel: “He’s not here” (Luke 24:5). Thus, the apostles’ faith came from the Resurrection. Nothing more concretely and conclusively proves Christ’s divinity than His resurrection. I don’t know whether the woman knew that Christ was God but we know that Jesus Christ is God and “…there is nothing that God cannot do” (Luke 1:37). Having said that, shouldn’t we have a stronger faith than the woman as we know that Christ IS risen?

Father God,
Let the splendour of the resurrection
Light up our hearts and minds.
And in your kindness increase your gifts of grace within us,
so that fervent in faith, hope and love,
we will be the witness of the risen Christ
especially to those who do not know You yet.
Amen.

(Pictures are courtesy of One Year Bible Reading and personal collection)

Week 4 #1b: My Favourite Bible Passage

As mentioned in the previous entry, my favourite Bible passage is the Annunciation (Luke 1:26-38).

This passage is about Mary's vocation to be the Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ.

She was about 15 years old when the Angel Gabriel came to her. As a young girl, I believe Mary had a dream (as many other girls do!). Since she was betrothed Joseph, it was likely that her dream was to have family with Joseph. You know, get married, have children, be a good wife and mother, grow old and die peacefully. Just the typical life cycle of human being.

However, God had other plan for her. An extremely special plan that He sent His Angel Gabriel to deliver the message personally, can you imagine that? It was the Angel Gabriel, not just any other angel, that was sent to tell Mary the news.

Last week, I was contemplating this passage when it struck me that Mary was probably confused and sad when she heard the message. When I was 15, I remember I had a big dream of becoming a successful actor, earns lots of money and lives in a luxurious condominium. If an angel were to appear and tell me that God has other plan for me, I would be freak out; I might reject His plan!

After she listened to the news, there was a doubt whether it was real from God. So she asked "I am a virgin. How, then, can this be?"
This is so understandable. After all, it was miraculous event. She might not know it whether it was truly from God. Ladies, try to imagine if an angel comes to you and say that you would become pregnant and give birth to the son of God. Will you believe it?

However, God prepared everything perfectly. He knows that Mary would ask for proof, so He gave an evident of His great power. It was Elizabeth's pregnancy. Mary knew that her cousin was barren, so only by God's power that she could get pregnant in her old age. It showed that there is nothing that God cannot do. Having heard this, Mary submitted herself fully to God, without even thinking of her own plan (Not even asking Joseph!).

Mary is a model for us when we answer God's calling in our life;
1. She was troubled by the message; the Angel Gabriel explained it clearly
2. She had doubt; The Angel replied by telling about Elizabeth's pregnancy
3. She accepted it; be submissive to God's will for her
4. She confirmed it; by visiting Elizabeth (she stayed 90 miles away from Mary). Have you ever thought that the visitation was to confirm the Angel Gabriel's message that her cousin was pregnant?

I learnt that I have to be ready whenever God calls me, whether to priesthood/religious life, married life or single life. I believe each vocation is unique thus none is superior than the others. A priest told me that if I don't accept the vocation that God gives me, there'll be something missing in my life. So I've been discerning where God is leading me and praying that I have a heart like Mary that I'll be able to accept my vocation with all my heart.
(Pictures are courtesy of Catholic Source)

Week 4 #1a: Favourite Bible Passage

I'm glad to know this week topic (Glad it came out this week, not last week!), I just attended a recollection last week and there was a bible passage that really touched me deeply. It's Luke 1:26-38, the Annunciation. Since the passage is quite long, so I divided this week entry into two; the first one is the Bible passage and the second post will be the discussion.
Let's read the bible passage first:

26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy God sent the angel Gabriel to a town in Galilee named Nazareth. 27 He had a message for a young woman promised in marriage to a man named Joseph, who was a descendant of king David. Her name was Mary. 28 The angel came to her and said "Peace be with you! The Lord is with you and has greatly blessed you!"

29 Mary was deeply troubled by the angel's message, and she wondered what his words meant 30 The angel said to her, "Don't be afraid, Mary; God has been gracious to you. 31 You will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High God. The Lord God wll make him a king, as his ancestor David was, 33 and he will be the king of the descendants of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end!"

34 Mary said to the angel, "I am a virgin. How, then, can this be?"
35 The angel answered,"The Holy Spirit will come on you, and God's power will rest upon you. For this reason the holy child will be called the Son of God. 36 Remember your relative Elizabeth. It is said that she cannot have children, but she herself is now six months pregnant, even though she is very old. 37 For there is nothing that God cannot do."

38 "I am the Lord's sevant," said Mary; "may it happen to me as you have said." And the angel left her.
(taken from Good News Bible)

A Tribute to Priests

A few priests celebrated their anniversaries of ordination recently. So I think it will be appropriate if I make an entry for them, since they have given up their life for us. Without them, we will not be able to receive sacraments, especially Eucharist and Reconciliation. Can you imagine if there is no priests around to celebrate sacraments for us? Well, let's pray for more vocation to the priesthood and religious life. God bless you.

To live in the midst of the world without wishing its pleasure;

To be a member of each family, yet belonging to none;

To share all sufferings; to penetrate all secrets;

To heal all wounds;

To go from men to God and offer Him their prayers;

To return from God to men to bring pardon and hope;

To have a heart of fire for charity and

a heart of bronze for chastity;

To teach and to pardon, console and bless always.

My God, what a life!

And it is yours, Priest of Jesus Christ!

Jean Baptiste Henri Lacordaire(French Dominican priest, 1802-1861)

Take a Break, listen to this song!

While many songs and albums have stories behind them, Al Denson's 1997 release Take Me to the Cross literally has a tale that is linked to the title song. It is the story of a lost little girl, unaware of the way home. A man and his wife stop to help the young girl; however, being three years old, she does not even know her last name or her phone number. Finally she tells them that if she sees a cross that sits on top of an old church near her residence, she can find her way home.

This story is the allegorical message of Denson's album, which points to the cross of Calvary as the way home.

~Ashleigh Kittle, All Music Guide

Al Denson - Take Me to the Cross

She's daddy's little girl, only three years old
All dressed up in her Sunday clothes
He held her hand on bended knee
He said, "I need to show you how
To find your way home"

As they walked along, how sweet the sound
Church bells ringin', people gathered 'round
Remember this church and the cross way up there,
"Sweetheart, if you ever get lost say...

Take me to the cross, high upon a steeple
The one where Jesus died for all the lost people
If you can't find home, know you're not alone
Take me to the cross

As the years went by, daddy's little girl
Lost herself out in a big, big world
And the day her daddy died
She said, "I need to know why"

Take me to the cross, high upon a steeple
The one where Jesus died for hurting people
If you can't find home, know you're not alone
Take me to the cross

Now that same little girl, thirty years gone by
She still knows her daddy's by her side
She raises her little boy in her father's way
And she smiles when she hears her son say
"Hey, mom...

Take me to the cross, high upon a steeple
The one where Jesus died for all the lost people
If you can't find home, know you're not alone

Remember the cross, high upon a steeple
The one where Jesus died for all the lost people
If you can't find home, know you're not alone
Take me to the cross, Mama,
Take me to the cross
Take me to the cross

Week 3 #2: Response!

This week is definitely the hardest so far, because the participants have quite similar points and there is not much diversity in the first entry of the week. Therefore, it's difficult to choose one and response. In addition, there are not many participants posting their entries for this week makes it even tougher. Well, I shall be committed and post an entry. =)

I would like to response to Cassandra's entry. It's true that no Catholic Churches in Singapore allow female altar servers, it's because our Archbishop Nicholas Chia does not allow it. I'm not sure why, but I think it's because there is still no demand for female altar servers at the moment. As Cassandra mentioned, there is no shortage of male altar servers.

I'm sorry, but I have to disagree that altar servers represent the apostles, who were all male. As she mentioned that there are increasing numbers of female altar servers in certain countries now, does that mean female could be his Apostles too if Jesus would come today instead of 2,000 years ago? The answer is no.

The apostles were actually chosen by Jesus to continue his ministry on Earth when He ascended to Heaven. They were the Pope and the Bishops. Saint Peter was our first Pope (who was bishop or Rome) and the other apostles were bishops too. So it is incorrect to say that they are represented by altar servers today. Btw, isn't it amazing how we still could trace back Apostolic Successcor all the way to the first Pope? Pope Benedict XVI is the 265th pope. I believe there is no other religion that have the successfor from their first leader. Another reason to be proud that I'm a Catholic.

"we cannot argue that as in the past, women were treated like slaves and were considered unimportant. They had to be submissive and the care giver of the family...Women were considered lower than men and had to learn where they stood in society. This was the culture in the past, and thus, Jesus had males as His apostles, and NOT females."

Another interesting paragraph. In Genesis 3:16 God told Eve what her 'punishment' would be "I will increase the your trouble in pregnancy and your pain in giving birth. In spite of this, you will still have desire for your husband , yet you will be subject to him."

And the punishment for Adam was 3 verses long!! O.o (Okay, I just realised it now). It's in Genesis 3:17-19, "You listened to your wife and ate the fruit which I told you not to eat. Because of what you have done, the ground will be under a curse. You will have to work hard all your life to make it produce enough food for you. It will produce weeds and thorns, and you will have to eat wild plants. You will have to work hard and sweat to make the soil produce anything, until you go back to the soil from which you were formed. You were made from soil, and you will become soil again."

So it's clear here than the Adam had to work to support the family whereas Eve had to givebirth and obey her husband. So God was the one who gave the role to man being the head of the family, who need to work and provide food for his family and Eve was told that she would give birth and obey his husband. Looking at the world today, this is no longer the case, especially in the developed countries where both parents need to work in order to provide financial resources to the family. However, it's difficult to point finger at anyone, especially in countries like Singapore where the living cost is very high.

That is a reason why we have Family Life Society in the Church today, which is to remind people the importance of keeping the family together as the basic unit of the Church. For the second part of the paragraph, I explained already, Jesus chose only males because of the requirement for Sacrament of Holy Order.

(Pictures are courtesy of Punch Stock Photography, Art.com, and picture of Pope Benedict is in my hard disk and I couldn't locate the source. If you know the source, please let me know so that I can give appropriate credit).

Week 3: Female Altar Servers? Hm...

I started to be an altar server when I was in primary 4. For ordinary Sunday usually only 6 altar servers were needed at that time. So the altar servers were divided into group of 6 and I was 'fortunate' to be the only male in my group, because I got to do all the works that were supposed to be done only by male, it made me work... harder! =p

From the time I was involved in the altar server ministry, there were more female altar servers and it still continues until now. Nowadays, when I attend mass in my parish in Indonesia, it is strange if I don't see female altar servers. It's likely that they are no longer exception, but it has become a norm.

There are three pillars of the Catholic Church; Sacred Scripture, Traditions and Magisterium. Since altar servers cannot be found directly from the Sacred Scripture, we need to find out what Traditions and Magisterium have to say about it.

What did the Magisterium say?
In 1970, Pope Paul VI said in Liturgicae Instaurationes, “In conformity with norms traditional in the Church, women (single, married, religious), whether in churches, homes, convents, schools, or institutions for women, are barred from serving the priest at the altar.” And in 1980, Pope John Paul II stated in Inaestimabile Donum, “There are, of course, various roles that women can perform in the liturgical assembly: these include reading of the Word of God and proclaiming the intentions of the Prayer of the Faithful. Women are not, however, permitted to act as altar servers” (source).

However, the Magisterium has finally approved the female altar servers on July 11, 1992 (source), but why doesn't the Holy Father allow female altar servers in his own diocese of Rome? =p
I'll leave it up to you to guess...

Let's have a look at the history.
In the Old Testament, God created male and female, so they are equal but they are not the same because God created them for different purposes.

In New Testament, Jesus came and chose 12 apostles, all male (btw, the apostles were all male because they represented the Pope, Bishop and Priests today, which is another discussion about why only male can be ordained to the priesthood). Does it mean that God discrimated women?

It's definitely no, because from the very beginning, He specifically chose Mary to be the Mother of Jesus. So we know that a woman is equally important as men and has a part in our salvation history. If you want to see the biblical proof, it's in Genesis 3:15 "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He will strike at your head, while you strike at his heel." This is the only time in the Bible, where it mentioned about the offspring of a woman. We all know that He was referring to Mary.

Men are different from women in their thinking and spiritual growth. They need other men to lead them into the ways of mature manhood, especially on spiritual level. Being an altar server was like a 'right of passage,' a masculine activity that led young men into the closeness of the liturgy that was reserved only for Holy Orders. Just like my little sister who like to act as the mother of her dolls, the role of altar server is a pre-formation and also discernment period for young men to the priesthood.


Some may argue that by becoming altar servers, young women could also discern their vocation
to the religious life. Unfortunately, this is an incorrect view (source).

We do see the religious sisters in retreat house, hospital, old folks home, erm.. on television (Mother Angelica!) doing works of mercy, whereas the religious nuns are cloistered, which mean they stay in their monastery and don't usually meet people, such as the Carmelite nuns. During Mass, usually we only see them sit on the pew, not standing around the altar to assist the celebrant priest. So being an altar server would not help young women in their discernment to the religious life. If the female altar servers are poorly cathecized, soon they may forget their place and aspire to be priests also, which could be a threat to the Church.

Looking back now, I wish that my bishop (in Indonesia) did not allow female altar servers in the first place, because it reduces the importance of being altar servers; to foster vocation to the priesthood. Of course, we didn't get good faith formation also, which was a reason why I didn't know the meaning of becoming an altar server. Back then, altar server was just a trend for students. Well, it's more about getting more friends and It wasn't much about serving God.

Nowadays, I don't see many male altar servers or even young boy sitting on the pew. One of the reason was because "... easier to ask the girls to go to the Church." So, the parents usually encourage the girls to be altar servers and leave the boys at home. I do hope it won't happen in Singapore, because the Catholic Church here is so wonderful. If everyone, male and female, wants to be an altar server... who will do other ministries, such as the Mustard Seed? =)

(Pictures are courtesy of Te Deum Laudamus, Michael Weinberg Photography, Hestoff photography)