A Reason to Live: How to Make Sense of Life

                                                     This summer I wish to share with you a reflection on how we could make sense of life. One of the most interesting stories I heard this past month was the story of the American woman Sarah Rosetta Wakeman who disguised herself as a man and served in the American Army during the Civil War. Susan Macatee summarizing the account of Sarah’s life told through her letters in the edited volume, An Uncommon Soldier underlies the courage and heroism of Sarah.  Sarah was born on January 16,1843, the eldest in a fairly large farm family. She was used to hard work and in 1862, at the age of 19, with no prospects for marriage; she left home to seek outside work to help with the family finances that included a large debt owed by her father. Disguising herself as a man, she found work as a manual laborer on a coal barge for $20.00 for four trips up the Chenango Canal in New York State. On her first trip, she encountered soldiers from the 153rd New York Regiment, who urged her to sign up. The enlistment bounty of $152.00 would have been more than a year’s wages, even if Sarah continued civilian work as a male, and so was a great enticement.

Sarah told the recruiters she was 21 and on August 30, 1862, signed up under the name of Lyons Wakeman. Her regiment was stationed in Washington, as one of many, to guard the Capital from the surrounding hostile territory. In her frequent letters home, she asked her family not to be ashamed of her for the choices she’d made. She also sent money home on a regular basis, much more than she could have earned as a civilian. In February 1864, the regiment was transferred to the field to take part in the ill-fated Red River Campaign. By the end of the campaign, Sarah developed chronic diarrhea and ended up at a regimental hospital. She died on June 19, 1864, never having been discovered. Like Sarah, most of the over 400 American women who disguised themselves as men to serve in the army were lower class, or immigrants, who had little education. Sarah is unique, however, in that she could read and write and, as a result, left her legacy of letters so we’d have the opportunity to see why a woman would choose to hide her identity to serve her country. In one of the most insightful lines in this collection of her letters, she wrote: “I am as independent as a hog on the ice. If it is God’s will for me to fall in the field of battle, it is my will to go and never return home.”

Today, there is still argument in her home town in Illinois as well as in many parts of the US as to whether Sarah was driven by the monetary value of her service or by love for her country. There is also the argument as to whether the country should honor her and project her as a model since she was dishonest in using false identity to her own benefit. However, I think that Sarah or Lyons depending on which one you choose, made a choice based on her inner convictions. Her letters are a profile in courage and conviction as she sought to make sense of her life. She did what she thought was right for her own good, the service of her country and her family. She not only had a strong desire to follow her dreams, but she did whatever it took to live her dreams. In the darkness of the Civil War, the degrading treatment meted to women, and the poverty and suffering of her family, Sarah assumed a male identity not for her own selfish end as some have argued, but for her family and the good of her motherland.  

For many years, she fought alongside men, she did the daily drills with the men, and she in her own small way showed that ‘what a man can do a woman can do also.’ This was in the era of discrimination against women, and blacks, an age in which inequality and unfair treatment of minorities were considered the norm instead of the exception. Here was a woman who stood tall because of what she believed, and stood against all odds in season and out of season to realize some good for herself, her country and her family.

If one wishes to make sense of life, he or she must find a reason to live and also a reason to die. Thousands of years ago when the Greek empire was flourishing, Greek soldiers went to war singing this hymn: “for everyone upon this earth, death comes soon or late, but how can a man live worthily than by fighting against all odds for the ashes of his fathers and the temples of his gods.” I often marvel at the courage of many men and women along the ages who find reason to live beyond the shadows that surrounded them: grand mothers in my continent of Africa who refuse to sink into despair because they have lost all their children and grand children to AIDS and have to care for numerous orphaned grand children. Canadian soldiers who know they face possible death in Afghanistan and yet take their turn of duty with cheerful face and determination to serve for the freedom of people who they never met. Single mothers and fathers who take up their lives again after a terrible break up in their married life, knowing that there could still be life and more fun after a break up. Thousands of people in Canada and the US and many parts of the world who are losing their jobs because of the economic recession and still continue to hold their heads high in hope beyond present uncertainties. Millions of great and tall souls in many hidden alleys and corners who are working with the sick, the homeless, the hungry, the dying, the troubled in mind and soul believing that people on the margins of life and those who face limit situations in life can still be turned around. Many people who have no job, no money, and in some cases nothing to hold on to but still believe that they cannot drop the prospects offered by life because of temporary setbacks.

The only way to make sense of life is to find a meaning in life. Meaning is not something we invent out of nothing. Deep within each heart lies a hunger for meaning which is rooted on our dreams and aspirations for happiness, peace, security and a place we can call home. Meaning in life is based on what we consider important about life and it must be something bigger than ourselves. People who give up on life are usually those who have lost a reason to live because they do not find meaning in their daily lives. That is why George Santayana advises us that “There is no cure for birth and death save to enjoy the interval.” Perhaps the best way to live is to find something bigger than ourselves, and to strive to enjoy what we do or the gift of who we are, even when it appears that we are not what we want to be. Life is not always an upward swing; there are pauses in life, downward slide, emptiness, and even darkness. Sometimes we are gifts to others not because of what we do for them but because of what we bring out of them.  Sometimes our lives are meaningful not because we are active and effective but because we are who we are. It is in understanding this movement between going up and going down, doing something and doing nothing, being rich and being poor, being active in work and being laid off that we see the meaning of life. There is no point in life where we cannot find a reason to live or a reason to give our lives as gifts. This happens especially when we begin to appreciate that living is not about what we gain for ourselves or how the world should revolve around us, or how we will control everything and everybody around us. Living is all about giving, but the only gift and indeed the best gift we can give is the gift of who we are and nothing more. Many say that love is that which sets the world revolving. But the world can only revolve with me when I accept myself and the circumstances around me and make the necessary sacrifice to make sense of my situation and take responsibility for who I am.

Love is something which is bigger than ourselves, the more we love the more we grow. Selfishness is like a deadly toothache and we can never be okay until it is pulled out, but love is an infinite horizon which continues to expand as we approach the margins. Maybe we need some pointers to guide us in these uncertain times of economic uncertainty. When I turn my television on or read the news on the internet I wonder about the future for a world that is often torn apart by conflict and pain, poverty and disease, suffering and brokenness. However, when I visit the day care center at the Civic center in Hastings and see the friendship and love displayed by the wee ones; when I watch the Hastings soccer clubs play different teams from the area something tells me that there is a better future for us here on earth if we can learn to play fair, to love others, to make friends with people, to see the good in ourselves, in others and in our world. Maybe, doing these things can help us to make sense of life, to enjoy the gift of each day, and to place the needs and good of others above our own or at least make them as important in our choices as we make ours. Sarah Rosetta Wakeman is one of my many heroes. I do not know who your heroes are or maybe you are already a hero to many people by your generosity, kindness, and graciousness. Wherever you are this summer season, we need to find a reason to live, a reason to love, and a reason to hope just as Private Lyons Wakeman did in the darkest moment of American history.

Stan Chu Ilo
This summer I wish to share with you a reflection on how we could make sense of life. One of the most interesting stories I heard this past month was the story of the American woman Sarah Rosetta Wakeman who disguised herself as a man and served in the American Army during the Civil War. Susan Macatee summarizing the account of Sarah’s life told through her letters in the edited volume, An Uncommon Soldier underlies the courage and heroism of Sarah. Sarah was born on January 16,1843, the eldest in a fairly large farm family. She was used to hard work and in 1862, at the age of 19, with no prospects for marriage; she left home to seek outside work to help with the family finances that included a large debt owed by her father. Disguising herself as a man, she found work as a manual laborer on a coal barge for $20.00 for four trips up the Chenango Canal in New York State. On her first trip, she encountered soldiers from the 153rd New York Regiment, who urged her to sign up. The enlistment bounty of $152.00 would have been more than a year’s wages, even if Sarah continued civilian work as a male, and so was a great enticement.
Sarah told the recruiters she was 21 and on August 30, 1862, signed up under the name of Lyons Wakeman. Her regiment was stationed in Washington, as one of many, to guard the Capital from the surrounding hostile territory. In her frequent letters home, she asked her family not to be ashamed of her for the choices she’d made. She also sent money home on a regular basis, much more than she could have earned as a civilian. In February 1864, the regiment was transferred to the field to take part in the ill-fated Red River Campaign. By the end of the campaign, Sarah developed chronic diarrhea and ended up at a regimental hospital. She died on June 19, 1864, never having been discovered. Like Sarah, most of the over 400 American women who disguised themselves as men to serve in the army were lower class, or immigrants, who had little education. Sarah is unique, however, in that she could read and write and, as a result, left her legacy of letters so we’d have the opportunity to see why a woman would choose to hide her identity to serve her country. In one of the most insightful lines in this collection of her letters, she wrote: “I am as independent as a hog on the ice. If it is God’s will for me to fall in the field of battle, it is my will to go and never return home.”
Today, there is still argument in her home town in Illinois as well as in many parts of the US as to whether Sarah was driven by the monetary value of her service or by love for her country. There is also the argument as to whether the country should honor her and project her as a model since she was dishonest in using false identity to her own benefit. However, I think that Sarah or Lyons depending on which one you choose, made a choice based on her inner convictions. Her letters are a profile in courage and conviction as she sought to make sense of her life. She did what she thought was right for her own good, the service of her country and her family. She not only had a strong desire to follow her dreams, but she did whatever it took to live her dreams. In the darkness of the Civil War, the degrading treatment meted to women, and the poverty and suffering of her family, Sarah assumed a male identity not for her own selfish end as some have argued, but for her family and the good of her motherland.
For many years, she fought alongside men, she did the daily drills with the men, and she in her own small way showed that ‘what a man can do a woman can do also.’ This was in the era of discrimination against women, and blacks, an age in which inequality and unfair treatment of minorities were considered the norm instead of the exception. Here was a woman who stood tall because of what she believed, and stood against all odds in season and out of season to realize some good for herself, her country and her family.
If one wishes to make sense of life, he or she must find a reason to live and also a reason to die. Thousands of years ago when the Greek empire was flourishing, Greek soldiers went to war singing this hymn: “for everyone upon this earth, death comes soon or late, but how can a man live worthily than by fighting against all odds for the ashes of his fathers and the temples of his gods.” I often marvel at the courage of many men and women along the ages who find reason to live beyond the shadows that surrounded them: grand mothers in my continent of Africa who refuse to sink into despair because they have lost all their children and grand children to AIDS and have to care for numerous orphaned grand children. Canadian soldiers who know they face possible death in Afghanistan and yet take their turn of duty with cheerful face and determination to serve for the freedom of people who they never met. Single mothers and fathers who take up their lives again after a terrible break up in their married life, knowing that there could still be life and more fun after a break up. Thousands of people in Canada and the US and many parts of the world who are losing their jobs because of the economic recession and still continue to hold their heads high in hope beyond present uncertainties. Millions of great and tall souls in many hidden alleys and corners who are working with the sick, the homeless, the hungry, the dying, the troubled in mind and soul believing that people on the margins of life and those who face limit situations in life can still be turned around. Many people who have no job, no money, and in some cases nothing to hold on to but still believe that they cannot drop the prospects offered by life because of temporary setbacks.
The only way to make sense of life is to find a meaning in life. Meaning is not something we invent out of nothing. Deep within each heart lies a hunger for meaning which is rooted on our dreams and aspirations for happiness, peace, security and a place we can call home. Meaning in life is based on what we consider important about life and it must be something bigger than ourselves. People who give up on life are usually those who have lost a reason to live because they do not find meaning in their daily lives. That is why George Santayana advises us that “There is no cure for birth and death save to enjoy the interval.” Perhaps the best way to live is to find something bigger than ourselves, and to strive to enjoy what we do or the gift of who we are, even when it appears that we are not what we want to be. Life is not always an upward swing; there are pauses in life, downward slide, emptiness, and even darkness. Sometimes we are gifts to others not because of what we do for them but because of what we bring out of them. Sometimes our lives are meaningful not because we are active and effective but because we are who we are. It is in understanding this movement between going up and going down, doing something and doing nothing, being rich and being poor, being active in work and being laid off that we see the meaning of life. There is no point in life where we cannot find a reason to live or a reason to give our lives as gifts. This happens especially when we begin to appreciate that living is not about what we gain for ourselves or how the world should revolve around us, or how we will control everything and everybody around us. Living is all about giving, but the only gift and indeed the best gift we can give is the gift of who we are and nothing more. Many say that love is that which sets the world revolving. But the world can only revolve with me when I accept myself and the circumstances around me and make the necessary sacrifice to make sense of my situation and take responsibility for who I am.
Love is something which is bigger than ourselves, the more we love the more we grow. Selfishness is like a deadly toothache and we can never be okay until it is pulled out, but love is an infinite horizon which continues to expand as we approach the margins. Maybe we need some pointers to guide us in these uncertain times of economic uncertainty. When I turn my television on or read the news on the internet I wonder about the future for a world that is often torn apart by conflict and pain, poverty and disease, suffering and brokenness. However, when I visit the day care center at the Civic center in Hastings and see the friendship and love displayed by the wee ones; when I watch the Hastings soccer clubs play different teams from the area something tells me that there is a better future for us here on earth if we can learn to play fair, to love others, to make friends with people, to see the good in ourselves, in others and in our world. Maybe, doing these things can help us to make sense of life, to enjoy the gift of each day, and to place the needs and good of others above our own or at least make them as important in our choices as we make ours. Sarah Rosetta Wakeman is one of my many heroes. I do not know who your heroes are or maybe you are already a hero to many people by your generosity, kindness, and graciousness. Wherever you are this summer season, we need to find a reason to live, a reason to love, and a reason to hope just as Private Lyons Wakeman did in the darkest moment of American history.

            Holy Thursday celebrates the institution of the Holy Eucharist, the Institution of the Priesthood, and the commandment of Love. We thank God for the gift of the Holy Eucharist through which we mortal men and women are fed with the food of the angels. Through the Eucharist we touch God and God touches us. May we never neglect to feed of this Bread from heaven, the source and destiny of our Christian life. At the head of every Eucharistic celebration is the priest, who serves God’s Holy People the gift which he has received freely from God.  The priesthood is not a right that any of us can lay claim to. I am not a priest today because I am holy or because I am wise or for any other qualities and talents that I can lay claim. God did not choose me for this office because I am the most qualified in my family or my class, but the Lord has equipped me and given me the qualification because he has chosen me. Today is a fitting day, therefore, for me to give thanks to God for the gift of my parish family, that is, you all my brothers and sisters for whose sake my priesthood has meaning and value. With you, I am a fellow Catholic, with you I share in the gift of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the salvation he won for us, for you I am a servant and a fellow disciple walking in the footsteps of our Master in loving, sharing and serving until it hurts.

            The Eucharist that we receive is not simply a gift to be consecrated, received, contemplated, and adored, it is a gift to be imitated. We Christians are ‘other Christs’ (Gal; 2: 20); we are what we eat, and through us God continues to be present in our world. I wish therefore, to reflect on the meaning of Christian service as we see clearly in the Lord’s washing of the feet of the disciples.  The rule of service is what we find in Romans 15: 3, “Christ did not please himself.” He came to please others. He gave us the model of service when he stooped to wash the feet of the disciples, but he did more than that. In Luke 22: 24: “Among the pagans it is the kings who lord it over them, and those who have authority over them are given the title of Benefactor. This is not to be found among you. No, the greatest among you must behave as if he were the least, the leader as one who serves. For who is the greatest, the one at table or the one who serves? The one at table, surely? Yet, he Am I among you as one who serves.” Elsewhere in Mark 10:43 “Anyone who wants to become great among you must be slave to all. For the Son of man himself did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

            Christian service, the kind that Jesus showed us by his example is based on authentic Christian love and humility. In John 13: 5 we see the meaning of service as rooted in love when the account says, that Jesus loved his own to the end. Divine love is the virtue that gives rise to service; and this service is well understood by Paul in his letter to the Corinthians 13: 5 when he writes that love does not insist on its own way. Jesus stooped to wash the feet of his disciples. It was not his place to do that; he did not need to wash their feet, but he did it anyway. Feet washing was the job of a slave. In those days when the rugged and dusty paths in Jerusalem were unpaved, and in the dry or muddy seasons of the years, the feet of visitors were covered with dirt. Feet washing were not simply a hygienic ritual, it soon developed into a religious ritual of cleansing and purification.  As we see in the case of the woman who washed the feet of Jesus with her tears and cleaned them with her hair.  Jesus made himself a slave that we might have the freedom of the children of God; Jesus made himself poor so that we might have the riches, wealth, and glories of God’s children. Think of what happened on this day during the last supper, the Creator of heaven and earth kneeling before those he created. But this is the reason he came down to earth: to serve and this is why he enjoins us in Matthew 11:29 “learn from me for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls.” St Bernard use to say himself when he feels a sense of pride in himself “Proud ashes, blush with shame. God humbled himself and you exalt yourself.” The same sentiments led St Francis of Assisi to write to Christians: “Look at God’s humility…and pour out yourself before him. Humble yourself so that you may be exalted by him. Keep nothing for yourself, so that he who has given himself wholly to you may receive you wholly.”

            Today, we therefore, come to thank Our Lord Jesus for loving us so much and showing us that the way to the heart of God is the path of service of faith, service of love, service to the poor, and service to God’s kingdom. The opposite of service is the wish to domineers, to control others, to place all attentions on ourselves, and to place ourselves before every other persons. Sometimes we are so attached to our own way of thinking, and our own ways that people around us continue to suffer. A person with a disposition to dominate or a domestic tyrant sometime does not even realize the pain and suffering they bring to others. Much of the sufferings in our world today and in our families are brought about by selfish people, self-centered people, who only want their ways or the high way.  How many families have broken up and how many are in severe stress and strain because a spouse wants to please himself or herself and not having a spirit of service and sacrifice. Even within our churches how many priests and bishops have created division in the parishes and dioceses because they have made an idol of themselves, their time, and their agenda while the plan and program of the Lord for love is delayed.

            Dear friends, we must imitate God’s way of acting, God’s simplicity, God’s humility, and God’s selfless love, the love that stops at nothing to reach down to those he loves without counting the cost. Authentic Christian service is one that is not driven by the desire for recognition or the desire for praise. He who exalts himself will be humbled and he who humbles himself will be exalted. Nothing, Tertullian wrote, better portrays God’s way of acting so much as the contrast between the simplicity of the ways and means which he works and the magnificence of the spiritual results obtained. The world needs a great show to act and impress, God acts magnificently through the most shameful sign of the Cross. The majesty of God is found in the humble Son of God who gave his all for us. We want to thank the Lord for the gift of the Lord Jesus Christ who has given us this wonderful gift of body and blood as a foretaste of eternal life, and the gift of the priesthood to continue the same sacrifice on the altar, and the commandment of love. We want to ask God in this Mass to give us the grace to serve and to teach us how to love. May we follow the example of Jesus, for it is only through our service of one another, through our unconditional and unfailing love for one another that we can show that we belong to Christ. May the love we show, and the service we render become testimonies to the world that we are Christians indeed and not only in name.

            New life in Christ signifies living in hope. All those who met the Risen Lord after his Resurrection were filled with a new hope, courage and strength to face the future. Think for instance of the disciples. They all ran away when Jesus was arrested. The head of the apostles, Peter, was so afraid that he denied that he ever knew Jesus. However, after the Resurrection they were filled with new hope and new strength, and began to publicly proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ and profess without fear that Jesus Christ is Lord. If we believe that Jesus Christ is Lord, and that he has triumphed over sin, evil and death, then we should face the future with hope. This is because nothing we face in the future is outside the control and sphere of Christ.  Christian hope is built on this firm faith which we have in the Risen Christ that God is in control of our lives and our destiny as the beginning and end of all things. As Easter people, we are called to live a life of hope which is filled with positive optimism about ourselves, our world and our future. This does not mean that all our problems and challenges will disappear, it means that we can no longer run away from our problems or allow them to wear us down, because we can lay hold on the Risen Lord, to gives us the courage to soar above the challenges of life. 

            New Life in Christ means to live in the happy and joyful expectation of the coming of the Lord in a new way at the end of times. All those who met Jesus after his Resurrection were filled with joy beyond their imagination. Jesus scattered the gloom in the hearts of all his friends and followers when they met him.   His friends were filled with grief and pain that came with losing someone so near and dear to them, but in the shadows of their gloom the bright morning star rose in the darkest moment of the night to shine the bright ray of joy on the hearts of all who look up to him. We Christians are people who look beyond the shadows. Christians are people of joy not because we are naïve or unrealistic but because we are people of hope who believe in the power of God to turn our grief into grace, and our pain into gain. Is this not what God did in Christ? The death of his Son became for us and entire humanity the birth of new life, and the sure guarantee of human salvation. Death has thus become in the light of Christ not the end of life, or of dreams, or of relationships, but the transformation of our lives, our dreams and our relationship into a more perfect life, into the Lord’s own dream and into a final communion of life and love which will never end.  

            The new life of Easter which we receive in Christ requires our faith and commitment. As St Paul says, we have to die with Christ to sin so that we can rise with him to new life.  We Christians are people who understand that our salvation was not cheap, it cost God his Only Son. The grace of salvation we receive is expensive and demands our all. The challenges of today demand Catholics who live new lives, whose exemplary Christian lives become like salt and light to the whole world. The world will not be convinced that Christ is alive unless we show by our courage, sense of hope about ourselves and our world. May we all renew our commitment to love and to the poor, to our families and friends, and to our parish family, and this way show that the Risen Lord is present in our lives, giving us the surplus grace to live a new life for a new world. May the Risen Lord give all of us the abundant blessing of new birth. May Jesus meet each of us where we are in our life’s journey. Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of the faithful and renew a right spirit within us so that we can become again a new people consecrated to God, equipped for service, praise and prayer. Happy Easter!

            New life in Christ signifies living in hope. All those who met the Risen Lord after his Resurrection were filled with a new hope, courage and strength to face the future. Think for instance of the disciples. They all ran away when Jesus was arrested. The head of the apostles, Peter, was so afraid that he denied that he ever knew Jesus. However, after the Resurrection they were filled with new hope and new strength, and began to publicly proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ and profess without fear that Jesus Christ is Lord. If we believe that Jesus Christ is Lord, and that he has triumphed over sin, evil and death, then we should face the future with hope. This is because nothing we face in the future is outside the control and sphere of Christ.  Christian hope is built on this firm faith which we have in the Risen Christ that God is in control of our lives and our destiny as the beginning and end of all things. As Easter people, we are called to live a life of hope which is filled with positive optimism about ourselves, our world and our future. This does not mean that all our problems and challenges will disappear, it means that we can no longer run away from our problems or allow them to wear us down, because we can lay hold on the Risen Lord, to gives us the courage to soar above the challenges of life. 

            New Life in Christ means to live in the happy and joyful expectation of the coming of the Lord in a new way at the end of times. All those who met Jesus after his Resurrection were filled with joy beyond their imagination. Jesus scattered the gloom in the hearts of all his friends and followers when they met him.   His friends were filled with grief and pain that came with losing someone so near and dear to them, but in the shadows of their gloom the bright morning star rose in the darkest moment of the night to shine the bright ray of joy on the hearts of all who look up to him. We Christians are people who look beyond the shadows. Christians are people of joy not because we are naïve or unrealistic but because we are people of hope who believe in the power of God to turn our grief into grace, and our pain into gain. Is this not what God did in Christ? The death of his Son became for us and entire humanity the birth of new life, and the sure guarantee of human salvation. Death has thus become in the light of Christ not the end of life, or of dreams, or of relationships, but the transformation of our lives, our dreams and our relationship into a more perfect life, into the Lord’s own dream and into a final communion of life and love which will never end.  

            The new life of Easter which we receive in Christ requires our faith and commitment. As St Paul says, we have to die with Christ to sin so that we can rise with him to new life.  We Christians are people who understand that our salvation was not cheap, it cost God his Only Son. The grace of salvation we receive is expensive and demands our all. The challenges of today demand Catholics who live new lives, whose exemplary Christian lives become like salt and light to the whole world. The world will not be convinced that Christ is alive unless we show by our courage, sense of hope about ourselves and our world. May we all renew our commitment to love and to the poor, to our families and friends, and to our parish family, and this way show that the Risen Lord is present in our lives, giving us the surplus grace to live a new life for a new world. May the Risen Lord give all of us the abundant blessing of new birth. May Jesus meet each of us where we are in our life’s journey. Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of the faithful and renew a right spirit within us so that we can become again a new people consecrated to God, equipped for service, praise and prayer. Happy Easter!

THE LORD HEALS THE BROKEN-HEARTED

            All of us know the story of Job. The story of job is indeed the story of the human condition. There are many unanswered questions in life. How do we explain for instance the suffering of many poor and helpless children in Africa who are dying of poverty and diseases? How do we comprehend the sinking of a ship last two days in the Red Sea that killed close to a thousand people? I have passed through the dark night like Job when I lost my elder sister, who was just 30 years. She died during child birth three weeks to my priestly ordination and I kept on saying like Job: what is life all about? God, where are you? What do we think of the many people who are waiting for their deaths because the doctors have told them that their days are numbered? What do we make out of life and existence in the midst of so many unexplainable evils, tragedies and diseases? The message of Job is that evil could sometimes happen to good people. However, those who believe in God and trust in him would triumph over evil. Evil can never have the last say in the life of any Christian. The cry of Job is the cry in the hearts of many Christians today. Many of us are struggling with both physical and emotional pain; many of us may have made some mistakes in life; life has not been fair to some who may now think like Shakespeare that life is a tale told by an idiot full of fury signifying nothing. However, it is important that we stop blaming ourselves, or hanging on to the past with its regrets. When the night appears too long and the day so dark, we must remember that we are not alone. We must look up to Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour. Like Job whenever we find ourselves in difficulty we should always say: I know that my Redeemer liveth-I know him in whom I have placed my trust.

            Jesus Christ shows us in the Gospel of today that he has the power to change our condition. That is why the apostles say to him: Everyone is looking for you. Yes you and I are searching for Jesus. Why are we searching for him? We are looking for Jesus because He alone can heal us of our hurts and pains; he alone can change our financial condition; he can take care of our families and children; he alone can forgive us our sins and strengthen us to serve him in others. The Gospel is filled with evidence of the many miracles of healing and deliverance that Jesus did for all those who came to him. The miracles of Jesus are signs of the coming of God’s kingdom. They are also the manifestation of the loving care of God and his desire to restore his creation. They also reflect the power of God over the forces of evil, over the forces of nature and all creation. Jesus came to heal those whose hearts have been broken by failed relationships and human ingratitude; Jesus came to heal those whose lives have been a story of disappointments and missed opportunities. He came to liberate those who are slaves to pride and exaggerated sense of self. Jesus came also to heal the world of the wounds of hatred, wickedness, selfishness, war among other evils. In the Gospel today we see Our Lord showing that he can and wishes to heal all those who are suffering from physical diseases and spiritual imprisonment brought about by sins. He took upon himself our infirmities and bore our sufferings. Sickness, death and pain, which destroy life, can never stem directly from God. On the contrary, they arise from the presence of evil in our human world. Christ, our Messiah, who came into the world to restore creation, wishes to conquer sins, sickness, evil and death. This he did for us on the Cross. The healing which our Lord brings is total: he heals us spiritually by forgiving our sins; he heals us physically by freeing us from pain or giving us the courage and fortitude to live with it knowing that suffering leads to character.

            The Lord invites us today to lay our pains and wounds before him. What is it that is making you sad today? What is it that makes it impossible for you to sleep well at night? What is the pain or disappointment that is the cause of your depression and anxiety? Why can’t you smile today?  Like Simeon’s mother-in-law, the Lord can heal us if we come to him with faith. There is nothing impossible for him. He wants to use each and every one of us to do some great work in the Church and the world; that is why he wishes to heal us so that we can serve him with our whole being. In Corinth, as we read in the Second Reading, St Paul demonstrated that Christ has the power to make bad people good and to change bad situation into opportunities for miracles. We need to find time in our busy schedule to pray like Jesus did in the Gospel. We ought to lay our uncertainties and wounds at the feet of Jesus. We may have habits which are difficult to overcome; we may have ailments which we think cannot be cured; we may have some patterns of behavior which many people find offensive and which have led us into trouble many times; we may even have a very sad past and wounded memories. The Good News is that if we accept Jesus as our Master and Lord, he can do for us what we could never do for ourselves. Yes, Jesus has the power to change our conditions. He wishes to transform our lives here and now in this Mass and to heal our broken hearts, if only we believe in the power of miracles. 

Fifth Sunday in Ordinary time, B. Mark 1: 29-39

Prayer: The Divine Password

Stan Chu Ilo

            How do we know the mind of God? This is obviously a very difficult quest. One may wonder why we need to know the mind of God. The answer is that our ultimate human fulfilment and salvation depends on knowing the mind of God. When I speak of the mind of God, I mean God’s will. We are not simply accidents in the wide constellations of the cosmic order. We are each and all the work of a Master Designer. Thus, it is important to know the mind of God so that we can understand God’s will for us and the purpose of our existence on earth. This is where prayer plays a decisive role. Prayer is the password that leads us into the secret of the inner life of the Trinity. In the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, we already have in history the revelation of God; and he tells us repeatedly in scripture that no one knows the mind of God except the one who was first with God from all eternity. The same Son who knows the secrets of the Most Holy Trinity has revealed God to us and given us the surest guarantee that if we seek God through him in the power of the Holy Spirit that we will find God. The path through which we seek and know God is prayer. Prayer grants us access into the divine presence.

            We see here that prayer means entering into communion and communication with God through Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit. In prayer, there is an intimate and unlimited access between the believing Christian and God. Prayer is, as we learn in our catechism, to lift up our minds and hearts to God. In prayer, we lift our whole being to God; we ascend as it were to God’s Holy presence, and create a divine presence around us. In prayer, we lift our world with all its joys and sorrows to God; in prayer we lift humanity in its brokenness and woundedness to God.  Every prayer changes us because in prayer we listen to God and God listens to us. We look upon him and he looks upon us. In prayer we contemplate the face of Christ, and how this face reflects to us the meaning of love and the loving gaze of God inviting us to commune with the Most Holy Trinity. God also looks at us in prayer. He looks on the different faces of the many people kneeling in prayer and worship: the joyful faces, the angry looks, the hungry faces, the wounded faces, the tired and wearied faces, the wrinkled faces, the worried faces etc. In this exchange of a contemplative heart and a loving heart, there is an exchange. When we lift ourselves to God in prayer, God reaches down to us to lift us up. He transforms our prayers into sacrifice and our sacrifice into grace and new life.

            Prayer is not a wish-list we make to God. God is not our servant who we command on what to do for us. God is our Master who knows what we need and wishes that we seek his will in prayer so that we can understand his wonderful plan. In this light, there is nothing like an unanswered prayer. Every act of communion with God in prayer is perfective of the faithful Christian and in this regard adds up to making us who God wants us to be. Such a divine-human exchange which is perfective of the human creature is always grace-filled and life-giving. However, if we understand prayer as our shopping list for God, wherein we check off the things that God has done from our list, then we might think of an unanswered prayer. Prayer is not words, or empty phrases as the Good Lord reminds us; prayer is to attune our whole being to the whole of God; to offer up ourselves to God as a living sacrifice, to put God at the center of our lives and see ourselves and our future in the light of God.

            This does not mean that we should not say prayers of intercession and penitential prayers. We often have to tell God what we need. We often have to cry out to God in our times of troubles and in our times of joy. There are so much that weigh down on many souls today as it was the same for our ancestors in the past. Many people need to pour out their pains to God. How often we meet such weary souls in the office, in the pews and at the confessional. It could also be any of us in our search for the meaning of our lives, events, and circumstances around us. There are many Christians who live lives of quiet desperation and need to tell God what is going on in their lives. However, we must understand that prayer is not simply the enumeration of what we need or what we have done; the decisive point in prayer is to enter into the divine presence where the most hidden pains and joys of the heart are so present in our consciousness and transparent to God. In such a moment of grace and exchange, the Lord sees us totally and we see God fully and clearly as possible.

            It is because we do not know how to pray that St Paul reminds us in his letter to the Romans that we need the Holy Spirit, the Master of the spiritual life to teach us the communication strategy, the password to enter into the divine presence. It is also because we do not know how to pray that the Good Lord taught his disciples how to pray. It is  paradoxical that prayer is communication with God, but that God has to teach us how to communicate with him. But we know that God’s ways are not our ways; his thoughts are not our thoughts, and we know God only partially or not at all. Prayer at the end of the day is God’s gift to us, through which we become a gift to God in return. It is such a wonderful privilege that we can communicate with God. God, who is so holy and perfect; who is so mighty and transcendent makes himself available to us; stoops down to our level to communicate with us by allowing our human language to become a channel for divine communication. God allows our human hearts and the unspoken words of our souls to become for him the means of communion with us. This  indeed is a great miracle that the unseen God can be seen by mortal men and women in prayer ; that we can touch God in prayer and be touched by God, and that we can even touch the margins of heaven; that we can see the glory of God and be enraptured in the glory of the Lord like the Lord was with his three disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration.

            For every Christian, prayer should encompass our whole existence. Prayer should become a part of who we are. Indeed our lives should become prayer. If our lives become prayer then nothing we say or do will be performed outside of God’s guidance and God’s plan. That way, we become conformed to God as God turns us towards him because our lives becomes indeed fulfilled when we turn towards God and direct our every step in the path of God towards our ultimate human destiny. True prayer terminates in the union of the human will with the eternal will of God, and the joyous celebration in our daily lives of the gradual manifestation of God’s will in our lives. Because such a union is never fully perfected here on earth, we constantly have to bear with the limitations of our communion with God; we also have to bear with the patient waiting upon the Lord to fulfill in us the journey he has begun. But the act of prayer is above all an act of faith deriving from our trust in God whose truth we have embraced in the Wisdom of His Son; it is an act of love of the God who first loved us and whose love can never be surpassed; and an act of hope that our lives and futures are in God’s hand and we want to do whatever it takes guided by the Holy Spirit to conform our deeds to the wonderful plan of God for us. Thus, here and now, the uncertainty of the future, and the ever-expanding present needs of our human desires leave us with some unfulfilment and taste of incompletion. However, prayer always begins in us a journey with God; it completes in us the fulfilment of a desire and anticipates even the greater fulfilment of this desire when we embrace God fully in the eternal communion of heaven. But for now, we can only be content with the truth that in prayer we are responding to God’s invitation, to come to him. This invitation is so loud and persistent in this Lenten season when we hear anew the divine summons: Return to Me. Return to me so that you will understand your origin and ultimate destiny. Return to me so that you will understand the reason for your existence here on earth. Return to me so that you can experience my unconditional love for you. Return to me so that you can find rest from the challenges, thrills, and pains of life. Return to me so that I can give you that which none else can give you: the gift of divine life. Prayer, is our constant return to God. When we lift our lives to God, we are returning to God that which God has given us. When we lift our holy hands in prayer we are giving God praise for the gift of who we are. When we as sinners come to God in tears for sins and pains of life, we are indicating our faith that God first watered our lives with the tears of his pain, and can also now purify us and empower us anew. It is in that light that we ask God in this Lenten season to receive our sacrifice of praise; to take the gift of our penance and the gift of our whole being and transform them as a burnt sacrifice totally and fully given for the glory of the Lord. May our lives become prayers, O Lord, and may our prayer become sacrifices, and may our sacrifices become new life, new strength, new grace, and new blessing for us and the whole of creation, Amen.

This is your Parish…..Please know that this church is yours. I hope everyone can feel at home here. Whatever your gifts, whatever your concerns, whatever personal challenges you have, bring them to our parish family.
Fr Stan Chu Ilo

This question posed by John the Baptist through his disciples to Christ raises a lot of questions for us: Does it mean that John did not know that Jesus is the Messiah? Was John in doubt like the rest of the people about the person and the mission of Christ? The answer that Jesus gave John which proves that he fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah about the coming of the Savior is significant. Good News is preached to the poor, the sick are healed, those possessed by the powers and forces of evil are liberated, those who are held in the chains of any form of addiction are set free, so that they can use their freedom in a healthy manner. This weekend (third Sunday of Advent) is traditionally called Gaudete Sunday because this weekend we focus on what Jesus brings to us as God’s people. Are you truly happy in life? Is this Christmas going to be a time of joy for you or a time of sorrow? I believe the Lord brings us true freedom. He brings us true joy. He brings us true and lasting strength. Even when, like John, we begin to question whether the Lord is indeed Savior, it pays to take time and meditate on what Jesus said in the Gospel and what he does in our lives. Why don’t we give Jesus the chance this Advent to enter into our lives so that he can give us the answer to the questions in our hearts and the most intimate and hidden desires and fears of life.
Stan Chu Ilo

The Gospel of this week presents Jesus as the Good Shepherd who came to grant us abundant life. The image of a good shepherd will be familiar to most of us who are farmers and who live in farms because we are dealing daily with sheep, horses, cows, goats, chickens etc. I am always amazed at the connection between us and animals, especially our pets. Sometimes, I even think that we get along more with pets and other animals than we do with fellow human beings. The Lord is saying in the Gospel today that he is connected with each and every one of us in a special way. He is saying that the bonds between us and himself is so deep that he knows each of us by name, and he knows what is going on within us. The Lord wishes to grant us abundant life, because like a good shepherd he wishes to grant us fullness of life. Abundant life does not mean simply the offer of prosperity and pain-free existence, it means much more. Abundant life in the Gospel of John refers to the life of God. The one who lives fully on earth is the person who lives the life of God. Living the life of God is our calling and our ultimate human destiny. But the life of God is not just a mere spiritual existence that withdraws from the world or that is not connected and sometimes contaminated by the world. Abundant life means that God offers us himself in the person of Christ, he gives us knowledge of the inner life of God, he makes available to us his abundant grace, to support us to engage with the world. What God offers us is the answer to the questions about life with all the complexities and challenges of the day. The Abundant life, which Christ offers is capable of making us fully human and fully acting persons, who are able to realize here on earth the joy, peace, and better living conditions which the Good shepherd grants to those sheep who listen to him and follow his steps. This abundant life is the beginning of the fullness of life that we shall experience beyond the joys and sorrows of our earthly existence.

Who is a Good Parishioner?
The one who asks the pastor: “What can I do for the parish?”

I will not grow tired of reminding all our parishioners that being good parishioners does not mean fulfilling your Sunday obligation only. It means being part of a family. The parish is our family. This parish should be able to offer everyone who comes to our doors visible signs of love, compassion, and openness to sharing.