David or Herod?

When you read up on the passages given for the mass celebration of Friday, 4th Week in Ordinary Times, of this month (February), we come across two men who have wielded great influence over their subjects or people's life but from opposing values between them.
 

One, David, though not a perfect human being, was always concerned about his relationship with God. He may not always got things right in his life as king of Israel but David understood acutely that God sees the heart. David understood that evil cannot be hidden from God. David chose ruthless honesty when he evaluates himself and begs God’s forgiveness for his wrongdoings and sins.

The other, Herod (Antipas), never understood what evil was in his life and allowed it to swallow him, through the many ruthless atrocities and engagements with people whom he labeled as enemies or threats. On one occasion, not wanting to lose face in front of his guests, he had a prophet beheaded.

We can learnt quite a lot from these two men. They can help us come to terms with what kind of life do we want. Is it a life that allows us to engage in the rubrics of happiness or is it that which oppresses us in the cycle of never ending rubrics of suspicion?

Today, more than ever, we need to come to terms with our own brokenness and like David, throw ourselves in God's embrace of healing love, so that all our fears can be cast away. We must learnt to allow God's grace to help us fight fear with faith and to actively use goodness and truth to overcome the temptation to compromise with wrongdoing and falsehood.

"... choose this day whom you will serve... but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." (Joshua 24: 15)

Related articles

• David's Choice: Vengeance belongs to God (thoughtsonscripture.com)
• David, A Great King, Yet With a Critical Flaw. What is the Lesson for us Today? (adw.org)
• On Ordinary Time (acatholicdad.wordpress.com)
• The Demonic Jezebel Spirit and Its Rabid Hatred of God's Prophets (getrealchristianity.wordpress.com)

Love

This is time of the year when the Seminary takes a break - two months of it, to be exact!

During such moments, the place here resembles a little bit more on the side of a cemetary than that of the Seminary. Much of the main activities here have slowed off or shut down. The staff is almost a skeletal crew. Yet, it still doesn't stop some parish groups from having their time for retreats and other related engagements in the Seminary.

In this lull moments, one would be forgiven to think that I would be free and have much more time than during the term times. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Besides having to prepare and do up the notes for the next semester's classes in the Philosophy cycle, I also have to contend with my other Archdiocesan work in the Priestly Life and ad-hoc committees, and other minor talks and retreats, all with need to do some preparation and research, etc. These, again, means time needed to work on the items trying to juggle all of them, finding a decent balance to what my body and mind can cope with.

Tomorrow, for the entire day into the night, I shall be at IHM retreat house giving a session to one of the parish choir on the theme of God's Love For Us. It is an apt moment to consider this and also for myself, because for most of the time that we exist, we don't ever find the time to look into the awesomeness of this love that is always enveloping and sustaining us and providing life all the time.

This coming Sunday's celebration happens to be Trinity Sunday and is also a great day to celebrate this love for it speaks of the fiery and deep relationship between the Father and Son which the Holy Spirit unites in the embrace of utter unconditional love that wants to ignite the world with its power.

Our human version of what love is all about pales in total comparison with what the prophets of the Old Testament experienced, the apostles and disciples of Christ engage it, and the early Christians felt when they allowed themselves to be wrapped up in this ferocious and passionate love that knows no end but only limited by how we response to it.

No matter what we can say about this, perhaps no one can put it in a better way than Paul himself who touched that powerhouse of love and was burned to the very core by its fiery passion:

For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels,

nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us

from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Rom 8: 38 - 39

Love Is In the Air?

Today is Valentine's Day. So, you'd expect love to be in the air and so on.

I happened to pass by the Cathay Cineplex and opposite the road, where the traffic junction is along with the ERP gantry, lies the Presbyterian Church. It had a huge poster that was draped across its railings which said, "Love is not in the air, it is in the cross." Quite apt, I must say!

Love is a four letter word that has many times been taken for granted. With the frequency of divorces and breakdown of marriages these days (even among Christians!), Love and all its other related matters seem to be trivialised and seen as commodities to be thrown away when their usefulness seem to have gone. And we call ourselves civilised and modern today! *shake head*

Today's saints we celebrate are two special persons and none of them refer to a St. Valentine! If we can promote the love that God always meant us to be, it would be the best gift we can give to any of our love ones!