Can a Christian have ambitions?

I remembered one day, when I chatted with a friend of mine, and she asked whether it’s ok for us as Christians have ambitions? And I remembered this recently since I began to enter the working life. Is it wrong? Is it right? Can we have a better life without ambitions?

And I found what the Lord teaches just in the Mass readings for one of the weekdays last week. It’s again from James You can read the whole 1st reading from James 3:13-18.

This is what James said about ambitions:

[14] But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth.[15] This wisdom is not such as comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish. [16] For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.

It’s earthly St. James said, when we have this jealousy and selfish ambition.

This is from Oxford English Dictionary on the word ambition:

1. The ardent (in early usage, inordinate) desire to rise to high position, or to attain rank, influence, distinction or other preferment.
2. Ostentation, display of the outward tokens of position, as riches, dress; vain-glory, pomp. Obs.
3. A strong or ardent desire of anything considered advantageous, honouring, or creditable. Const. of (rarely for) a thing, to be or do something.
4. The object of strong desire or aspiration.
5. Canvassing, personal solicitation of honours. (L. ambitio.) Obs.

If you read through those definitions, you can see that ambitions can have two directions, one is “self”, and the other one is “other” (cf. definitions 3 and 4).

James condemned all those selfish ambitions. It’s earthly, unspiritual, and devilish, he said (what a word: devilish). But if want to be true to the Gospel, we know what James said is true. These selfish ambitions go against the Gospel values. It is against the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ. We can see what James said is true: there are disorder and every vile of practices. Can’t we see this in the world today?

This is why we are “troubled” when we ask this question. We know it is against our faith, and we know it is against who we truly are, a Christian, not of the world, but a pilgrim in this world.

Before I end, let me say another trap that is very subtle. Our human brain has the capacity to rationalize things. We have the tendency to look for selfish things and we say that is for our spouses, for our families, for the better of human society, so that we can give more the Lord, etc (of course there are people who have sincere desire to do good for others and for the Lord, I am not talking about this, we know which one is which). And hence, we rationalize our desire and say it is good because it is for others. I know this because this happens to me very often.

There is a true story of two men which I know. One of them said to the other, “I want to get more money so that I can give more the poor, I can build houses just like this and that person did”. The other man said, “I already have money from my work, and have been giving to the poor, you can do the same if you want to.”

And so let us pray for one another that we may live the Gospel truthfully as it is.

Things coming out from our tongue, this must be wrong

One day on a bus to St. Mary’s church, I was chatting with my fiance about two things that I felt God is asking me to change: first is pride, second is my tongue.

Strangely that night, after I went back from prayer meeting and did my night prayer, I read this scripture passage from James 3:1-10. Since I was involved in a teaching ministry, the first line struck me quite hard:

Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, for you know that we who teach shall be judged with greater strictness.

I was stunned, and a bit scared to read further, but I know the Lord is trying to say something to me. Please do read the passage from the link above, if you have not. It’s a beautiful passage.

And then it moves on to speak about tongue:

[5] So the tongue is a little member and boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire!
[6] And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is an unrighteous world among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the cycle of nature, and set on fire by hell.
[7] For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by humankind,
[8] but no human being can tame the tongue — a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
[9] With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who are made in the likeness of God.
[10] From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brethren, this ought not to be so.

The last sentence linger in my mind for a few minutes, “My brethren, this ought not to be so”. How many times do we praise God with our tongue? But with this same tongue, we gossip, blame others, boast, lie (small or big, white or black), grumble, complain, and even curse sometimes.

What words that came from our tongue when we were at the office or at the school? What kind of things that shoot up when we chat with our friends, or colleague? What kind of words that we speak to our parents or spouses?

Are they praises? or are they curses?

With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who are made in the likeness of God.

Are we aware that these things are sin? When we go to mass, do we confess it before the Lord? I find it interesting that when the prophet Isaiah saw the glory of the Lord, this is what happens:

[2] Above him stood the seraphim; each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.

[3] And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”

[4] And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.

[5] And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”

[6] Then flew one of the seraphim to me, having in his hand a burning coal which he had taken with tongs from the altar.

[7] And he touched my mouth, and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin forgiven.” (Isaiah 6)

I found it interesting that the first few words that Isaiah said is “Woe is me! for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”

Woe am I, for I know too that I am a man of unclean lips. I know how bad I am in controlling my tongue. I am aware that I sometimes hurt others with my words, I sometimes joked the Lord’s priest and not speak the Lord’s name with honor, I sometimes did not speak the truth. Woe am I.

But the Lord is slow to anger and full of compassion, just as the Lord touched Isaiah’s mouth and made it clean, and send him out, we too are made clean and send out.

This is what is happening in the mass, we have the chance to be forgiven, we have the chance to be purified. And by the Lord’s grace, and not on our own, we can praise the LORD, “Holy, Holy, Holy is the LORD God of hosts”, and we can embrace him humbly in our mouth as we receive Holy Communion.

And, at the end of the mass, as the priest sends us out “to serve and love the Lord in each others”, we too are sent.

And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.” (Isaiah 6 : 8 )

God set us free from the prison

Few days back, the mass reading speaks about the story of Paul and Silas who were put into prisons. It’s one of the interesting story that I remember  since I was small. I used to read the comics bought by my mother

One of the things that caught my attention recently was that, they were set free when they were “praying and singing hymns to God” (v. 25). When they pray and sing? How interesting it is.

One of the great things to read the scripture in the Tradition of the Church is that we will get insight more to the Word of God. If you read the responsorial psalm on that day, it’s taken from Psalm 138. We may consider this is one of the possible song they sing. From the Grail Translation it says

Psalm 138(137) Confitebor tibi

1 I thank you, Lord, with all my heart,
you have heard the words of my mouth.
In the presence of the angels I will bless you.
2 I will adore before your holy temple.

I thank you for your faithfulness and love
which excel all we ever knew of you.
3 On the day I called, you answered;
you increased the strength of my soul.

4 All earth’s kings shall thank you
when they hear the words of your mouth.
5 They shall sing of the Lord’s ways:
“How great is the glory of the Lord!”

6 The Lord is high yet he looks on the lowly
and the haughty he knows from afar.
7 Though I walk in the midst of affliction
you give me life and frustrate my foes.

You stretch out your hand and save me,
/8 your hand will do all things for me.
Your love, O Lord, is eternal,
discard not the work of your hands.

I felt it speaks what Paul and Silas pray and sing to God. And It speaks about my heart as well everytime I felt in darkness and in prison.

No matter how difficult the situation is, we can always thank God, we can start to look at God and put our trust in him. Sometimes for us the prison is not physical, but rather it’s our problems, our “thoughts”, we don’t want to come out from the thoughts, or maybe our sins, we prefer to dwell in it. Or maybe simply our Ego, We are imprisoned by our desires, dreams, and selfishness, by our own “I”, everything in our lives is about “ME”.

And it’s when we pray, and sing to God, our eyes change from looking at our selves and they start to look at God. We are set free!

I want to close this short sharing, with the last few verses, and It’s a kind of prayer always for me everytime we sing a psalm.

6 The Lord is high yet he looks on the lowly
and the haughty he knows from afar.
7 Though I walk in the midst of affliction
you give me life and frustrate my foes.

You stretch out your hand and save me,
/8 your hand will do all things for me.
Your love, O Lord, is eternal,
discard not the work of your hands.

Brothers and sisters, we are the work of God’s hand, and he will not discard us, for his love is eternal. He is faithful.

Psalm 114: A Reflection on Easter

The second evening psalm throughout the Easter Octave is from Psalm 114(113A).

Psalm 114(113.1) In exitu Israel

ALLELUIA!

1 When Israel came forth from Egypt,
Jacob’s sons from an alien people
2 Judah became the Lord’s temple,
Israel became his kingdom.

3 The sea fled at the sight:
the Jordan turned back on its course,
4 the mountains leapt like rams
and the hills like yearling sheep.

5 Why was it, sea, that you fled,
that you turned back, Jordan, on your course?
6 Mountains, that you leapt like rams;
hills, like yearling sheep?

7 Tremble, O earth, before the Lord,
in the presence of the God of Jacob,
8 who turns the rock into a pool
and flint into a spring of water.

Isn’t it interesting to sing this psalm on Easter? Why would we choose to sing this psalm every evening throughout the Easter Octave?

The psalm describes the moment when God brought Israel out of Egypt. But if we read and reflect slowly, getting out of Egypt is not the main message. Why? Because even in the language itself, that’s not the main clause.

In verse one, the sentence “when Israel came forth from Egypt,” only leads to verse two, which is the main message of the Psalm.

Judah became the Lord’s temple,
Israel became his kingdom.

It is when God deliver them from Egypt, Judah became the Lord’s temple, and Israel became His kingdom. The main message is that now Judah is the Lord’s Temple!

What does this signify? A temple for them is God’s dwelling place. It is the house of God. So when they say Judah became the Lord’s temple, it simply means that God dwells in Judah. God dwell in Israel! He is in their midst!

And isn’t it what is described in the following verses?

5 Why was it, sea, that you fled,
that you turned back, Jordan, on your course?
6 Mountains, that you leapt like rams;
hills, like yearling sheep?

7 Tremble, O earth, before the Lord,
in the presence of the God of Jacob,

“Tremble, O earth, before the Lord”, the Psalmist said. Why? because the Lord of heaven and earth now walks on earth. Tremble, because you are in the presence of God. Tremble O earth, because now God dwells in our midst. He is walking with Israel.

It’s wonderful to see that God dwells in not a building or a fixed place or location. He dwells on Judah. He dwells on his “people”. And when Israel walks, He walks (Actually the more appropriate is when He walks, Israel walks).

We, the church, is the new Israel. We, the church, is God’s Holy Temple. We, the church, proclaim that God is Emmanuel (God is with us). What is its relation to Easter?

Jesus, after cleansing the temple, said

“Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” John 2:19

And John commented in verse 21

[21] But he spoke of the temple of his body.
[22] When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken.

Through his death and resurrection, Jesus has raised the new Temple, the new God’s dwelling. It is in his body, the church, that now God dwells. The LORD of heaven and earth dwells in his people.

The story of Israel prefigures what God will fulfill in his Church. In his church now He dwells.

Do we see this? Do we recognize it? It is in the church that God walks on the earth.

“7 Tremble, O earth, before the Lord,
in the presence of the God of Jacob,”

And so the mystery of the Incarnation and the mystery of Easter links together.

” And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.” John 1:14

It is in Incarnation that the Son of God took on humanity, and it is in Easter, he raises humanity to God forever. And just as we cannot separate the Godhead of Jesus with his humanity, so now, we too cannot separate man with God. Thanks be to Jesus Christ our Lord.

[35] Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
[36] As it is written, “For thy sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
[37] No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
[38] For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
[39] nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:35-39

Psalm 110: a reflection on Easter

Throughout the Easter octave, the evening prayer starts with this psalm 110:

Psalm 110(109) Dixit Dominus

1 The Lord’s revelation to my Master:
“Sit on my right:
your foes I will put beneath your feet.”

2 The Lord will yield from Zion
your scepter of power:
rule in the midst of all your foes.

3 A prince from the day of your birth
on the holy mountains;
from the womb before the dawn I begot you.

4 The Lord has sworn an oath he will not change.
“You are a priest for ever,
a priest like Melchizedek of old.”

5 The Master standing at your right hand
will shatter kings in the day of his wrath.

6 He, the judge of the nations
will heap high the bodies;
heads shall be scattered far and wide.

7 He shall drink from the stream by the wayside
and therefore he shall lift up his head.

As I pray this psalm day by day. I felt that we are drawn into the dialogue of the Father and the Son. We are drawn into the relationship between the two which is one.

The psalmist starts by saying that the LORD (YAHWEH) speak to his master,

“Sit on my right:
your foes I will put beneath your feet.”

And Jesus in Matthew 22:41-46 refers to himself as the Master of the psalmist. And so the LORD says to Jesus “sit on my right, your foes I will put beneath your feet”.

But the following few verses, the psalmist begins to address the Master, the Son of God.

2 The Lord will yield from Zion
your scepter of power:
rule in the midst of all your foes.

3 A prince from the day of your birth
on the holy mountains;
from the womb before the dawn I begot you.

God the Father will bring Jesus victory in the midst of all his foes. Jesus is the prince from the beginning. In the beginning was the Word, and the word was with God, and the word was God (John 1:1). And the psalmist continues…

4 The Lord has sworn an oath he will not change.
“You are a priest for ever,
a priest like Melchizedek of old.”

Through his death and resurrection, Jesus has become our high priest. Through his sacrifice on the cross, he has offered up mankind to God. This is a perfect offering that is pleasing to the Lord.

This is an interesting part. On verse 5, the psalmist starts to address the LORD,

5 The Master standing at your right hand
will shatter kings in the day of his wrath.

6 He, the judge of the nations
will heap high the bodies;
heads shall be scattered far and wide.

7 He shall drink from the stream by the wayside
and therefore he shall lift up his head.

It’s interesting because, the psalmist is drawn to converse with the Master and the LORD. He first talk to the Master and what the LORD is doing for the Master. Then he talks to the LORD telling how the Master will reign victoriously.

It is enlightening to read this psalm in the light of Easter. Through Jesus’s death and resurrection, God has made him both Lord and Saviour. It is on that Cross that he became our high priest offering up himself with his humanity to the Father.

But it is also in the light of Easter we can understand this conversation. It is through the death and resurrection of Jesus that we are drawn into the conversation between the Father and the Son. By his death and resurrection, we are drawn into the eternal relationship of God the Father and God the Son, into their loving relationship.

It is the fruit of Easter that we can call God, “Abba!”. Just as Jesus calls his Father “Abba”. It is through Easter that we are called children of God, and that is who we are!

“See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.” 1 John 3:1

Indeed, it is through Easter, that we obtain eternal Life. We today are confused with many opinions about God. Sometimes we are also confused what Jesus has done in our lives. Is Jesus necessary?

Yes, He is necessary. It is only through him that we can be drawn into this Eternal conversation between God the Father and the Son. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. And only through him, we can obtain Eternal Life.

“And this is eternal life, that they know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.” John 17:3

He wakes me to listen like a disciple

I realized yesterday reading was the same as the one in Palm Sunday. It’s from Isaiah.

[4] The Lord GOD has given me
the tongue of those who are taught,
that I may know how to sustain with a word
him that is weary.
Morning by morning he wakens,
he wakens my ear
to hear as those who are taught.
[5] The Lord GOD has opened my ear,
and I was not rebellious,
I turned not backward.

The translation from Jerusalem bible used the word “disciple”. It says

“he wakes me to listen like a disciple.
The Lord has opened my ear.
For my part, I have not resisted,
neither did I turn away.”

This is what a disciple ought to be. To listen to the Master. The reading shows as if all the work belongs God’s work. It is He that teaches and trains the disciple. It is he that even wakens our ears. But for us, the disciple, we are simply invited to follow, and not to resist. We are invited not to turn away.

Have we been resisting God all this time? Have we shut the doors of our heart? Have we no longer listen to His voice in our conscience, or the Scripture, or even through the Church?

He is our shepherd, He will lead us through the green pasture. For our part, we are simply invited not to resist his gentle calling, we are invited not to turn away from him.

Lazarus Come Out

Two days ago the reading was about Lazarus.

It’s interesting to see that the people believed on account of Lazarus who came out of the tomb (v45). St. Escriva wrote that we can read the story in its spiritual sense, it is to tell us who are raised from sin to new life.

And the beauty is that when we rise from sin, it is Jesus that is glorified. People believed in Jesus.

I believed many occasions in our lives prove this truth. When we rise from sins, our lives becomes a testimony.

Most of the time, however, we don’t think we need to raise up, we prefer in the tomb. We don’t even know we are in the tomb!

Let us pray to Jesus to help us. Let us ask for His help. May he deliver us as he raise Lazarus from the tomb, from darkness into His wonderful light. And let our lives be a testimony that people may believed in Jesus.

Do we not perhaps also allow idols to enter even into the world of our faith?

This is the question asked by the pope in his homily during Palm Sunday. You can read the full in this article

It is a wonderful reflection. The one that caught my attention is the following paragraph

Benedict XVI said that Christ’s zeal for the temple should lead Christians of today to reflect: “Is our faith pure and open enough that, beginning from it, the ‘pagans’ — the persons today who are seeking and have their questions — can also intuit the light of the one God, can associate themselves with our prayer in the atriums of faith and by their seeking perhaps become worshippers?
“Does the awareness that greed is idolatry also reach our heart and our life practices? Do we not perhaps also allow idols to enter even into the world of our faith? Are we disposed to let the Lord purify us again and again, allowing him to chase out of us and the Church what is contrary to him?”

(emphasis mine)