Football is Life...

22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)

Readings: Jeremiah 20: 7-9; Psalm 62 (63): 2-6, 8-9; Romans 12: 1-2; Matthew 16: 21-27

Picture: By on Connor Coyne Unsplash

Does the name Dani Rojas ring a bell? Some of us may recognise it as belonging to a fictional character in the delightful TV comedy series, Ted Lasso. In the show, Dani is a skilful and super-energetic professional football player, whose total devotion to the game is summarised in a mantra he keeps repeating with great enthusiasm: football is life! Then one day tragedy strikes. In a freak accident, while taking a penalty, Dani kills his club’s mascot, a dog named, Earl Greyhound. After that, Dani is stricken with guilt, unable to shake off the feeling that he is a murderer, and that football is death. Which severely affects his game. His worried coaches send him for therapy, and are pleasantly surprised when, after just a few sessions with a sports psychologist, Dani shows dramatic improvement. When asked how this came about, Dani reveals few details, except to say rather cryptically: (the psychologist) helped me remember that even though football is life, football is also death. And football is football, too. But mostly football is life!… Football is life. Football is death. Somehow Dani was helped to reconcile and accept these apparently contradictory realities, allowing him to return to his beloved game with renewed vigour…

There are no footballers in our scriptures today. But what we do find are people who have devoted the whole of their lives to something or some-one else. In the first reading, Jeremiah is a prophet, dedicated to proclaiming the word of the Lord. And in the gospel, Peter has left everything to follow Jesus, the Word-of-God-Made-Flesh. As we may recall, just last week, we heard him profess his belief in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God. So for both Jeremiah and Peter, the Word of God is no less than what football means to Dani Rojas. It’s much more than a favourite game, or a Sunday obligation, or even a professional career. No, to them, the Word of God is the whole of life itself.

Which makes it all the more difficult for them to bear when, in the course of serving the Word of God, they encounter severe trials, and even the very real risk of death. The word of the Lord has meant for me insult, derision, all day long, says Jeremiah. While, in the gospel, we’re told that, at Caesarea Philippi, Jesus began to make it clear to his disciples that he was destined… to suffer grievously… to be put to death… and to be raised… The Word of God is life. And the Word of God is also death… What to do when one is faced with these apparently contradictory realities? In the gospel, Peter’s initial reaction is to cling to one, while rejecting the other. Heaven preserve you, Lord… this must not happen to you… In other words, the Word of God is life. So it cannot, it must not, be death. And yet, much as we humans prefer to avoid talking or even thinking about it, isn’t death an unavoidable part of every human life? Isn’t this why Jesus rightly criticises Peter’s reaction not just for being too human, but also for being satanic? For whether he realises it or not, at Caesarea Philippi, Peter is doing precisely what the Devil did in the wilderness. He is tempting Jesus to be in-human. Yet we believe that Jesus, the divine Son of God, came to save us, not by escaping, but by fully embracing, our humanity.

The Word of God is life. The Word of God is also death… How is Peter to reconcile and to accept these apparently contradictory realities in a truly life-giving way? The gospel presents the process as one of re-location. Peter must relinquish the place of a tempter — who stands in front of the Lord — and resume the position of a disciple — who follows him closely from behind. And doesn’t the second reading give us more details as to what this might involve? First, one needs to think of God’s mercy. To ponder, to reflect on the immense love and compassion that led God to embrace our own weak and fallible humanity, even to the point of accepting a shameful death on a cross. Next, we need to resist being conformed to the world around us. And, instead, be transformed, or reformed, by the renewal of our minds. Only then can we discover, or recognise, the will of God… what it is that God wants. Reflection and resistance, reformation, renewal and recognition. For Paul, this is also a process of true worship. This is how we Christians join ourselves to the offering already made by Christ once for all. This is how we offer our living bodies as a holy sacrifice to God. As we are doing here and now, at this very Eucharist.

Reflection and resistance, reformation, renewal and recognition. Isn’t this a process that our world still sorely needs today? In his 2024 book, The Perfection Trap, social psychologist, Thomas Curran details how (t)oday, burnout and depression are at record levels, driven by a combination of intense workplace competition, the comparative world of social media, the quest for elite credentials, and helicopter parenting. Society continually broadcasts the need to want more, and that we have to be perfect to get it… And Curran links all this to a form of idolatry. According to him, (e)conomic growth… is the almighty secular God. We worship at its altar and place it on a gilded pedestal high above all other considerations. Whatever the economy needs to grow, no matter the human or environmental costs, it’ll inevitably get… Yet, in contrast, we Christians profess to be disciples of One who mercifully became poor for us, even to the point of death, only to be raised up on the third day.

Sisters and brothers, like football for Dani Rojas, for us Christians, Christ is life, and Christ is also death… How is the Lord  helping us to reconcile and to accept this anew today?

Yearnings of a Yo-Yo

 Solemnity of the Assumption of the BVM

Readings: Apocalypse 11: 19, 12: 1-6, 10; Psalm 44 (45): 10-12,16; 1 Corinthians 15: 20-26; Luke 1:39-56

Picture: CC Bartolomej Jahoda on Flickr

Have any of us ever played with a yo-yo? It can be fun right? Especially if we know how to perform tricks with it. But what does it feel like to actually be a yo-yo? To have to keep scrambling back to the safety of the player’s hand, after being flung out into the unknown… And to have to do this again… and again… and again… In ways beyond our control… Until our body gets too old for the game… Or until it eventually breaks apart and is discarded or simply forgotten… If a yo-yo could speak, what might it say?… I’m not sure, but perhaps it’ll use words similar to those spoken by a 71-year old prison inmate in a recent CNA news report. Reflecting on his experience of being jailed no less than 14 times over the last 50 years, he says: It’s like a monkey clinging on to my back, this heroin, I just can’t take it out. And then, moreover, due to ageing, I have lost my sense of worth already… Sometimes I think to myself, it doesn’t make any difference… whether I’m outside or inside…

Although he doesn’t say it explicitly, after decades of yo-yo-ing in and out of jail, isn’t the inmate grappling with a truly profound question? The same question I recently heard someone else pose from behind the bars, not of a prison, but of a viewing gallery at the local crematorium. As the casket slowly made its way to the furnace, one of the mourners turned to me and asked rhetorically, What’s the point?… Faced with the stark simplicity and apparent finality of what he was witnessing, in his grief, the mourner was moved to question the very meaning of it all. Not just what’s the point of fighting to be free of addiction, and to stay out of prison. But what’s the point of struggling with the inevitable ups and downs, the unpredictable and repeated yo-yo-ing, of life itself. If this is how it all ends, then why even bother?

What’s the point? Isn’t this question capable of haunting not just inmates and mourners, but any one of us as well? Except that we Christians see neither the prison nor the crematorium as our true end. Isn’t this the deeper significance of the feast we are celebrating today? We are recalling and reaffirming our belief, not just that, at the end of her earthly life, the Blessed Virgin Mary was assumed body and soul into heaven. But also that this great blessing, bestowed on the one we call Mother of God and Mother of the Church, is bestowed also on us, the disciples of her Son, and her children by adoption. We rejoice in the belief that, like her, we are not meant for destruction or disintegration, but for wholeness and integrity. Like a yo-yo making a final return to the safety of the player’s hand, all of us are destined to remain, both body and soul, in the loving embrace of God.

For as the second reading reminds us, the raising of Christ from the dead isn’t just a one-off event. Rather, Christ was raised as the first-fruits of all who have fallen asleep… Meaning that, just as the Master was raised, so too can his disciples expect to be raised. Just as we believe Mary was raised. For more than just his mother, wasn’t she also his chief disciple? Like the string wound around a yo-yo, didn’t the rhythms of her Son’s Life, and Death, and Rising––the rhythms of this Eucharist–––govern her whole life? A life she devoted to the furthering of his kingdom? Isn’t this what she is doing in the gospel?

The reading tells us that, after the Annunciation, after accepting the invitation to bear Christ to the world, Mary set out. The word translated as set out, shares the same root as the one used elsewhere to describe Jesus’ rising from the dead. So even before she had given birth, Mary arose and bore Christ to the members of her extended family. Like a yo-yo, she allows herself to be flung out, while paradoxically remaining safely within the hand of God’s holy will. Something she will keep doing again and again… At the wedding in Cana… At the Cross on Calvary… In the Upper Room on Pentecost Day… And amid the many ups and downs of discipleship, like the inmate and the mourner, Mary too is moved to reflect on her own existence. But in a different way. Instead of asking, What’s the point?, she sings the praises of God. Just as her life remains wrapped up in the Divine Will, her soul proclaims the greatness of God… The One who has routed the proud of heart… and exalted the lowly…

All of which may remind us that in order to share in how Mary ended her earthly life, we need also to partake in how she lived it. Isn’t this the deeper message of the first reading? Scholars tell us that, even though we typically associate the woman in the reading with Mary, in the biblical context, she also represents the young Christian community. Flung out to live in the mighty Roman Empire. And under constant threat of being either persecuted for its own beliefs, or seduced by the empty promises pervading the surrounding culture. Just as a helpless baby might be in danger of being devoured by a scary red dragon. Yet God keeps her safe, by preparing for her a refuge in the desert. Allowing her to remain spiritually secure, even as she strives to keep bearing Christ in the world.

And isn’t this our vocation too? Living as we do in an economically advanced, yet rapidly ageing society, anxiously grappling with its own failure to reproduce? Could it be that in addition to material support, what’s needed is also help to ponder the yo-yo’s query: What’s the point? Sisters and brothers, how might the Lord be helping us address this question today?

So Far & Yet So Near

19th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)

Readings: 1 Kings 19: 9, 11-13; Psalm 84 (85): 9-14; Romans 9: 1-5; Matthew 14: 22-33

Picture: By Stoyan Kolev on Unsplash

Has anyone here been to the Ikea store at Alexandra? I expect many of us have. When we stand at the entrance on the second level, how far away are we from the exit on the first? It depends on the route we take, right? If we choose the scenic route, going through the showroom, like most shoppers do, it can be quite a long walk. But there are also shortcuts that bypass certain parts of the showroom, considerably shortening the walking distance. Actually, if we wanted to, we could use all the shortcuts, and bypass everything. But then why bother visiting the store in the first place? Wouldn’t it be great if we could somehow reduce the distance without taking any shortcuts? Without bypassing any of the scenery?… Bringing near what at first seems so far away. Isn’t this something like what we find in our readings today?

The gospel focuses our attention on two different locations. After miraculously feeding more than five thousand people in the reading we heard last week, today we’re told that Jesus and his disciples have a brief parting of ways. He makes them get into the boat, and set off across the sea. He himself, however, goes up into the hills to pray. In another translation (NRSV), he goes up the mountain… The disciples on the sea…and their Master on the mountain. How far away is one location from the other? The gospel provides no measurements. But can’t we imagine what a great distance this must have felt like to the disciples? Struggling, in their little boat, against a head-wind and a heavy sea? Knowing that it was Jesus who had made them do this, while he himself stayed on land. Perhaps we ourselves have had similar experiences too. Had to endure one type of trial or another, because we’re trying to obey the Lord. To stay true to him. Yet, for some reason, he remains all too silent and distant. Seemingly as far away as a high mountain from the choppy sea.

But is the distance really as great as the disciples may think? Is the mountain really so much more peaceful than the sea? The gospel doesn’t tell us what the Lord’s prayer was like. After all, who could say? No one else was with him. But can’t we at least make an educated guess? Remember that last week’s gospel began by telling us it was after receiving news of John the Baptist’s death at the hands of Herod that Jesus withdrew… to a lonely place… Isn’t it reasonable to suppose that the Lord was not only grieving John’s passing, but also coming to terms with the realisation that a similarly violent fate was likely to befall him too? In other words, even in his prayerful seclusion, Jesus was likely struggling with winds and waves of his own. So that, whatever might have been the physical distance between the mountain and the sea, experientially, the Master was actually very close to his disciples. Even so, by the time he descends from his lofty retreat, Jesus is able to walk calmly across the turbulent waters of the sea. How does he manage this?

Again, the gospel doesn’t tell us. But the first reading gives us an indication, by inviting us to ponder the experience of someone else at a mountain retreat. Someone whose life was also under threat, as a result of his obedience to God. For this is what had brought Elijah to Mount Horeb. Burnt out and despairing, while fleeing for his life from a vengeful queen, the prophet was led up the mountain by the Lord. So the violent wind, and fire, and earthquake, swirling around him externally, actually mirror Elijah’s own turbulent interior state. What does he do? How does he cope? Instead of panicking, the prophet simply waits in the cave of his own heart. Waits till the turbulence passes. Till he hears the sound of a gentle breeze. In other words, like the psalmist, Elijah patiently listens out for what the Lord God has to say, a voice that speaks of peace… Not the naive bliss that results from apathy or wilful ignorance. From bypassing the inevitable tumult and storms of life. But the God-given calm that comes after one has courageously faced them. Only then does the prophet exit his cave. Except that now the exit has also become an entrance to a new God-experience. Bringing near what had once seemed so far away.

Isn’t this what Jesus is teaching Peter and the other disciples to do too? Not so much to look for shortcuts, in order to bypass the storms. Much less to deny their presence. But rather, how to respond to them when they do come. To patiently manage them in prayer. So that the storms might become new pathways to a fresh encounter with God. And what at first looks like a scary ghost is revealed to be the loving presence of a caring Lord. Isn’t this also the experience of St Paul in the second reading? For what is he describing if not his own stormy interior state? His sorrow and mental anguish at the way in which many of his fellow Israelites continue to resist the gospel. And yet, Paul is somehow able to accept this trial, while clinging to the sure hope that those who now remain so far away will, in God’s time, be brought very near.

By now, probably many of us have seen the recent news report telling us that, in 2024, suicides among those between 30 and 39 years of age rose by a whopping 50%. And what is suicide, if not the ultimate shortcut? The bypassing of life itself. Could this disturbing statistic be a clear sign to us, that what the scriptures are teaching us is something we urgently need both to learn and to share with others? Particularly those struggling in some way? Sisters and brothers, today, how might the Lord be inviting us to help bring near what may still seem so far away?

From Finger to Moon

18th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)

Readings: Isaiah 55:1-3; Psalm 144 (145):8-9, 15-18; Romans 8:35, 37-39; Matthew 14:13-21

Picture: By Kitera Dent on Unsplash

My dear friends, can anyone help us complete the following well-known saying?… When the wise person points to the moon… What comes next? Many of us know this, right? When the wise person points to the moon… all the fool sees is the finger… So a difference between the wise and the foolish lies in the ability to see beyond the obvious finger, to ponder the more important moon. Simple enough to understand in the abstract, but not always easy to apply in the concrete. Especially if the finger is either too attractive, or not attractive enough. Such as the one we find in our scriptures today.

As we’ve probably already noticed, today, the word food appears in all our readings. The first reading and the gospel speak specifically of the provision of food in abundance. And not only in abundance, but free of charge. Food in abundance, free of charge. If this is truly a finger pointing to the moon, don’t these characteristics make it hard for us to look beyond it? For on the one hand, we live in Singapore. And we know the lengths to which Singaporeans will go, not just for delicious food, but for a good deal. Isn’t it hard for us not to fixate on such an attractive finger? And don’t we find an example of such fixation in the so-called Prosperity Gospel? The idea that, if only I profess Jesus as my personal Lord and Saviour, and devote ever more of my time, talent and treasure to his cause, to his church, and, most of all, to his ministers, then I will be blessed with material wealth and success. Since God cannot be outdone in generosity. Never mind that the One I profess as Lord came as a homeless baby, laboured as a poor carpenter, was rejected as an outcaste, and executed a criminal… only to be raised on the Third Day.

On the other hand, our parish is located not just in Singapore, but also in District Ten. And how many of us can honestly say that we need free food? (T)hough you have no money, come! Buy corn without money… How many of us actually hear this generous invitation as addressed to ourselves? And if not addressed to us, aren’t we likely to ignore it? And if we ignore the finger that’s so close by, how to ponder the faraway moon to which it points? How to experience the real benefits, the deep peace and hope and joy that it might bring? Aren’t we more likely to remain bored and indifferent, even here at Mass, as we go through the motions of what may feel like no more than a routine weekly obligation?

Fixation and indifference. If these are among the tendencies that prevent us from following the finger to ponder the moon, then how to avoid them? One way is to deepen our understanding of the scriptures, by posing the following five questions: where, why, who, what, and how… First, consider where food is being promised and provided… The gospel begins by telling us that Jesus withdrew… to a lonely place… The word lonely can also be translated as wilderness. In other words, Jesus enters the same kind of place to which the Spirit had led him at the start of his public ministry, where he was tempted by the devil (Mt 4:1). And this place is not just a geographical location, but also a spiritual one. For consider why Jesus goes there. He does so as a response to a devastating piece of news. His cousin, and fellow proclaimer of the Good News, has just been killed. Beheaded for doing what Jesus himself is doing, speaking truth to power. It’s a dangerous time for prophets. Can we not at least begin to imagine the likely state of the Lord’s heart at this point? The interior wilderness mirroring the one outside?

But even as Jesus seeks solitude in the wilderness, he is not alone. Others follow him there. Who are they? The gospel identifies two distinct groups. The first it calls the crowd. Those whose daily lives already regularly feel like a wilderness. And who come to Jesus needing and seeking his ministry. Much like how the people addressed in the first reading need ministry. People experiencing exile, feeling separated, and far away from God. The second group the gospel labels disciples. Those who have already experienced the Lord’s ministry, and now remain close to him, and share his mission. They too follow their Master into the wilderness. And this group includes not only those mentioned in the gospel, but also those for whom the gospel was likely written. The early Jewish-Christian community, experiencing persecution for its belief in Jesus. In a very real way, they too have followed their Lord into the wilderness.

And it’s helpful for us to consider what Jesus does for each of these groups. To the crowd, he offers healing, and an abundance of free food. Satisfaction for not just their empty stomachs, but their restless hearts. Not just their superficial appetites, but their deepest desires. And for his disciples, he does the same, but in a deeper way. How? By giving them a share in his mission and ministry. Letting them participate in his ministerial actions, of taking and blessing, breaking and giving. The same four actions we ourselves perform at every Mass. Through which we are again given a taste of the consoling conviction, so movingly expressed in the second reading: Nothing can come between us and the love of Christ, even if we are troubled or worried, or being persecuted, or lacking food…

Sisters and brothers, if this is truly the moon to which we are pointed, then how shall we help one another to keep pondering and drawing strength from its serene splendour today?

Beyond Our Immediate Point Of View

16th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)

Readings: Wisdom 12: 13, 16-19; Psalm 85 (86): 5-6, 9-10, 15-16; Romans 8: 26-27; Matthew 13: 24-43

Picture: By Natalia Marcelewicz on Unsplash

How many of us have ever witnessed a baby being born? What does it feel like? It depends, right? For one thing, it depends on where we happen to be. I remember visiting the old Singapore Science Centre as a child, and being captivated by a video of a human birth. But watching a recording is very different from actually being in the birthing room itself. And even in the room itself, there are different possible points of view. That of the midwife or doctor is different from that of the mother, which is, in turn, different from that of the little one being born. Nor does our point of view vary only with where we happen to be. Doesn’t it also depend on when? At the beginning, just before the contractions start? Or at the end, when the freshly sponged and tightly swaddled newborn is safely placed in its mother’s arms? Or right smack in the messy middle, when all the excitement and action, the pain and confusion, is still going on?

And isn’t this true not just of childbirth, but of other experiences as well? Our point of view depends on our particular location, both in space and in time. It’s helpful for us to keep this in mind today, as our scriptures draw us to ponder another experience. Not exactly the birth of a child, but the coming of the kingdom of heaven. Isn’t this what Jesus is describing, in those three parables? The kingdom of heaven may be compared to… first, weeds (or darnel) among the wheat… second, a mustard seed in a field… and third, yeast mixed with flour… And in each of these comparisons, there are different possible points of view, depending on one’s specific location.

For a start, there are at least three possible locations in time. A calm beginning and a peaceful end, as well as a messy middle. Both at the start and at end of the first parable, the wheat and the weeds are neatly separated. It’s only in the middle, when they are mixed, and easily confused, one for the other. Similarly, although it starts out very small, the mustard seed already enjoys a useful existence. It can spice up our food. Just as the mature plant can offer shelter to birds. It’s only in the middle, when things get messy. When the seed has to struggle to survive and grow, wherever it’s been sown. And can’t the same be said about the yeast and flour? For we know that, the mixing of yeast into dough involves a process of great agitation. Plenty of kneading and pounding, folding and flattening. Which is difficult enough for the one doing the work. But think of what it must feel like for the dough, which has to suffer the agitation… Or what it must feel like for the tiny mustard seed, fighting to grow… Or the fragile wheat, struggling to avoid being strangled by its dangerous parasitic impersonator. Against which it has to carefully guard itself in order to survive…

And yet, as challenging as these experiences are, Jesus’ parables invite us to see them as part of the coming of God’s kingdom. Just as labour pains are part of natural childbirth. To accept the struggles and trials, the dangers and risks of the messy middle, convinced that they will lead to a fuller life in the end. But isn’t this easier said than done? Especially if one has lost one’s family in war, for example, or one’s life-savings to a scam, or one’s childhood innocence to abuse, or one’s mobility to a drunk driver, or one’s reputation to gossip, or one’s freedom to addiction… In such situations, and wherever our lives may otherwise be touched by evil, isn’t it natural to take the point of view of an unsuspecting baby, in the midst of being born? Forced to suffer the rude shock of being expelled from its mother’s body? Without any inkling of the new life that awaits beyond? Feeling as if the process must lead only to death? How then, and from where, do we find the strength to carry on?

The scriptures address this question by offering us a glimpse into yet another point of view. One that transcends space and time. No less than the eternal perspective of God. Calling us to believe that if God permits the presence of evil in our world, it’s not out of malice or negligence or incompetence, but an expression of power mingled with mercy. As the first reading reminds us, God shows strength when (God’s) sovereign power is questioned… And God’s power is what enables the mustard seed to grow into a tree, and the yeast to leaven the dough. Yet God is also mild in judgement. Giving ample opportunity for sinners to repent. Patiently waiting till harvest time, before eradicating the weeds, so as avoid destroying the wheat. Even more, God’s power and mercy is shown especially when God humbly shares our own fragile human point of view. Isn’t this what brought Jesus from heaven to earth, to Cross and grave, and then back from whence he came? And isn’t this also what the Spirit continues to do even now, for us and in us? For when we cannot choose words in order to pray properly, the Spirit…expresses our plea in a way that can never be put into words…

But in order for us to keep clinging to God’s perspective in times of trial, we need the ability to look beyond our own obvious points of view, to what so often remains hidden. We need the three virtues that we prayed for at the start of this Mass, when we asked God to make us fervent in hope and faith and charity, so that we may be ever watchful in keeping (God’s) commands. Fervour in hope, faith and charity. By which we may keep seeking the good and resisting evil. So as to enjoy rebirth, into the fullness of life in God’s kingdom. Sisters and brothers, how is God helping us to receive this precious grace anew today?