You are my son, the beloved, my favour rest upon you

The baptism of the Lord has always been a scripture passage that I have turned to in times of troubles and challenged. But it is also a passage that has baffled me for a while, particularly the part about the baptism of Jesus. The church teaches us that Baptism, is to remit sin especially original sin, restores us to communion with God and so that we are given this indelible mark that claims us a God’s children.

Yet why did Jesus actually needed to be baptised, since He is the divine, true God and True Man. Jesus did not carry any taint of original sin, nor would he have committed any sin, and He already is the son of God, and is in Communion with God. 

So this passage today in my reflections, has revealed 3 things to me. 

1. The heavens open

Jesus was sent by God the father to fulfil his ultimate covenant, to bring mankind back to communion with God. By His action in baptism, he affirms his obedience to God the father, which opened up the Heavens , not for himself, but for us mankind. It was a hint to the mission of Jesus here on earth, the building of God’s kingdom here on 

earth.

2. Baptism of Jesus

As the 2nd reading from the Letter of St Paul to Titus, “By means of cleansing water of rebirth that he GENEROUSLY poured over us through Jesus Christ … so that we be justified by His grace”. Jesus is the divine, and did not need the sacrament of baptism like us, but unlike our baptism, where the waters of baptism sanctifies and remits our sins, Jesus’s baptism sanctifies the water. It was by this action, that Jesus instituted the first sacrament that opens up for us the promise of ever lasting life with God.

3. You are my son, the beloved, my favour rest upon you

This is my favourite part. This is where God the father affirms his Love for Jesus and calls him “My beloved”. It is a beautiful phrase, to hear and know that I am the beloved of God. When you know you are God’s beloved, somehow the troubles of this world doesn’t seem to get to you as much. 

Many of us will not recall our own baptism, as we have been baptised as a baby. Yet this somewhat small and probably insignificant action by Jesus, actually speaks volumes of his ministry here on earth for our own salvation. 

Through the waters of baptism which Jesus has sanctified, we are recipients of the abundant graces of God and the promise of salvation. Through this sanctified waters, Jesus has claimed us to be God’s Children. Through His actions and by virtue of our own baptism, we are called to be like Jesus to build God’s kingdom here on earth, in our obedience to God the father. Finally, just as Jesus has claimed us as God’s Children and for us the rewards of eternal life, we too can claim a share to “ You are my son, the beloved, my favour rest upon you”

Amen

Spirituality of A Diocesan Priest

"Taken from the community , by the community, and for the community"

During my parish pastoral assignment here at Assumption Church, Petaling Jaya, I have come to a deeper realization of the spirituality of a diocesan priest. In my discussions with Fr Gregory Chan, the Parish Priest of Assumption Church, he explained to me that the charism of a Diocesan Priest is availability and the spirituality of the Diocesan Priesthood is from the people, for the people.

As I sat in the pews in reflection during Mass, I came to realization the depths of his view of the spirituality of a diocesan priest. Particularly with the readings from  Mark 6:34-44 ( Tuesday after Epiphany's Gospel).  A diocesan priest, draws his spirituality from his congregation, like how Jesus takes the 5 loaves and 2 fishes from the crowd that was following him.  From there, the priest sanctifies, blesses, break and gives back to the congregation their offerings, feeding their spiritual growth. Just like how Jesus took the bread and fishes, blessed it, broke it and shared it out - feeding 5,000 over with 12 basketfuls of leftovers.

Hence a diocesan priest, draws his spirituality from his flock, and returns it back to his flock, just as Jesus did at the feeding of the five thousand. As the congregation prays for their priest, he too prays for them in return, as well as to administers to their spiritual needs. This is how a diocesan priest, reflects the spirituality of Jesus Christ in his daily ministry.

Act of Love of St. John Vianney

This beautiful prayer struck me deeply , with it’s simplicity and humility, yet a beautiful and powerful prayer.

 

“I love You, O my God, and my sole desire is to love You until the last breath of my life.  I love You, O infinitely lovable God, and I prefer to die loving You than to live one instant without loving You.

I love You, O my God, and I do not desire anything but heaven so as to have the joy of loving You perfectly.

I love You, O my God, and I fear hell, because there will not be the sweet consolation of loving You.

O my God, if my tongue cannot say in every moment that I love You, I want my heart to say it in every beat.  Allow  me the grace to suffer loving You, to love you suffering, and one day to die loving You and feeling that I love You. And as I approach my end, I beg you to increase and perfect  my love of You.” ~ St John Vianney

 

Sacraments Vs Sacramentals

 Holy water plays an important role in the sacraments of the church , as well as the sign of the cross – a self blessing. However the use of Holy Water during the Sign of the Cross is not a necessity to celebrate the sacraments in the church or to begin worship. As the article writes , it serves as a  reminder of our baptism in Christ. Similarly , during Easter Mass, when the priest blesses the congregation with Holy Water, or during the Passion Mass, when the priest blesses the Palms, if the holy water doesn’t touch you (or the palms) , does it mean that you are not “Baptized again” or that your palms are not “Blessed” , This is certainly not the case  !

 My question to you , is our faith based only on such external signs. Then without it , is our faith weakened ? The practice of our faith , should be based on a deeper understanding of Christ’s Love and Mercy, as well as the mysteries of the Sacraments that he instituted for us. The celebration of the Sacraments are key foundations to our faith. Would the Hail Mary’s be less devoted if we used a Rosary that isn’t blessed ? Is a house blessing by the Head of the household, any less meaningful ? Would my prayers and blessing for you be any less worthy of God’s attention , then that of a priest ? Is the sign of the cross, any less holy without Holy Water? Can we pray, even if we do not have a holy picture in front of us ?

 I believe that the sacramentals such as Holy water, and blessings are important aspects of the practice of our religion , but not a necessary part. It serves as a reminder of the practice of our faith, externally to the public as well as internally to ourselves, but our Faith in Christ should never waver even with the absence of the sacramentals.  He is the Lamb that paid the price of our sins with His own blood, and that is what is important in our faith.

 I personally see the Sacraments brings us to Communion with Christ and the Church, while the Sacramentals serves as a daily reminder of the practices of our faith

The Pain of Lent

Lent is often called the blessed season; rightly so as it is a season of spiritual preparation and renewal. The Catholic church realizes that we as human may not truly appreciate the season of Lent if we just blitz through it in 3 days like what Jesus did in the Passion Death and Resurrection. Instead a preparation of 40 days is needed for both the individual and the church to prepare for this great mystery. Even Jesus prepared his disciples over a period and He himself went through 40 days of fasting and prayer to prepare Himself for the task at hand.

However I realize that in the season of lent, we ourselves face a spiritual darkness, or perhaps we are more aware of our own spiritual darkness. It is in this season, if truly observed and practiced brings to us an awareness of our sins. This awareness highlights the impact of our sins on our soul and our relationship with God. It is a painful awareness that in our failings and weaknesses, we distant ourselves from our Loving God.

No doubt that the focus of Lent is rarely on this spiritual darkness but instead on the Loving grace of God's mercy. The focus is instead using this spiritual darkness to lead us to a conversion of our hearts and minds, after being painfully aware of our sins. Rightfully so, as the focus of christ has always been on our salvation and not on the account of our sins and failings.

That is truly and rightfully the objective of Lent. I guess before we can truly appreciate something good, we need to experience what we are missing, then only we will appreciate the Gift Christ gave us on the cross.

This is also why the. Sacrament of reconciliation is so important during lent. It allows us to partake in the mysteries of lent in that short 10 mins , where we suffer for our sins when we confess, we die to our sins in the act of contrition , and we are resurrected again through the absolution given in confession.

No doubt lent is a beautiful season when taken seriously and practiced whole heartedly.
Regards ,

Lincoln Lee

Sent via BlackBerry from Maxis

Mark 3:13-19

In todays gospel jesus called his 12 disciples to the mountain and they came to him including Judas the one who'll betray him.

As we are called by Him, we have 12 body parts that we can use for his service. 2 eyes, 2 ears , 1 mouth, 1 brain , 1 heart , 2 hands, 2 Legs , 1 body.

And since we like the disciples are called to his service annointed and empowered, so are our ourselves called to do the same. But like the 12 disciples where 1 betrays Jesus , we too have a part of Judas in each of us. Which one of our 12 body parts will betray Jesus each day.

Will we turn our eyes from injustice, or a deaf ear to a sympathetic friend, or use our minds for mischief, or use our hands to hurt some one , or our mouth to spread gossip, or close our heart to other ppls's suffering. Each time any of ourselves betrays Jesus, we betray His love and annointing, and we crucify him again.
Regards ,

Lincoln Lee

Sent via BlackBerry from Maxis

Talk about Expectations & Annointing

I went to this site on the net, out of fun to check out which bible verse is associated with my Birthday. Boy was I in for a shock. Haha talk about high expectations and anointing. And only yesterday I was praying for God's anointing ! Sigh…….

 

Isaiah 9:6 NIV
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.