Sometimes when I watch some of these talent shows that have really brilliant kids performing, it can be a somewhat heartbreaking experience.

Some of these kids have made really good friends with one another, and when one of them wins, he weeps because his winning means his friends losing.

Kids know what it's all about in life. They know that winning loses its meaning when it comes about at the expense of relationships. They understand that such winning means nobody wins, and everybody loses. They're nothing like grownups.

Kids are so real. In their purest form, they can't handle competition. Because they know it means excluding others, and they're by nature inclusive people.

The grownups need to grow up.

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May the angels lead you into paradise
May the martyrs come to welcome you
And take you to the holy city
The new and eternal Jerusalem

The Lord is my light and my salvation
There is nothing at all I fear
The Lord is the refuge of my life
Of whom should I be afraid?

May the angels lead you into paradise
May the martyrs come to welcome you
And take you to the holy city
The new and eternal Jerusalem

One thing I ask of the Lord
There is only one thing I seek
To dwell in the house of the Lord
All the days of my life

May the angels lead you into paradise
May the martyrs come to welcome you
And take you to the holy city
The new and eternal Jerusalem

For God will hide me in His house
And conceal me in the shelter of His tent
Even now my head is held high
Over those who would see me fall

May the angels lead you into paradise
May the martyrs come to welcome you
And take you to the holy city
The new and eternal Jerusalem

Posted by SK at 9:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Thinkativity :

I find myself sad - somewhat mourning - over the death of a very elderly friend. Wanted to blog more about it, but my memories of her are now too sacred to be spoken of. She is very much missed.

Posted by SK at 12:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Just hardly two minutes ago before I began with this post, I was in a half-hour conversation with someone I met at the Toyota Service Centre (and I'm still here, having my car put through a thorough servicing).

This lady whom I happened to be sharing the same table with at the waiting room began the conversation with me by asking, "Excuse me, are you a Christian?" I said, "Why, yes, I am. And you?", to which she answered "I'm a Jehovah's Witness".

It was an extremely interesting conversation, because I'd always wanted to have a more detailed conversation with a Jehovah's Witness. Not so much because I wanted any sort of argument (I'm interested in nothing of that sort), but because I've always wanted to learn firsthand about the faith of these nice people.

It was very enlightening to learn what they believed about Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, the 144,000 chosen ones who'd be taken to heaven with Jesus at the end, what the death of Jesus on the cross means for them, the way life in their faith community is regulated, etc. I'm extremely impressed at how fervent they are about the necessity of sharing their faith in obedience to the command of Jesus to go and preach to all peoples.

However, I began to get offended when she started talking to me about MY faith. She was perfectly nice when talking about her faith, and I was very happy to listen and learn. But when she started telling me, "Catholics believe in three Gods", I said "No, we don't". And you know what, this was the very first propositional statement I had made throughout the course of the entire conversation!

With great audacity, she replied, "Yes, you do believe in three Gods. If you believe that Jesus and the Holy Spirit are God, then it means you believe in three Gods". I said, "Yes, we do believe that Jesus and the Holy Spirit are God, but we don't believe that the Trinity is about having three Gods. We believe in one God." And my goodness, she persisted, "If that's the case, it's three Gods".

I was terribly irritated at her lack of respect for my faith claims. I told her, "NO. What you've just said is what YOU believe we believe; it's not what we truly believe. There's a difference. We reject the view that the Trinity comprises three gods. The Trinity is three persons in a unity of one Godhead. Now, THAT'S what we believe."

When she realised I had got offended, she was stumped for a while. And as I blog now, she's still trying to engage me to continue the conversation with her, which I refuse to do. She asked me (in trying to further our conversation), "Do you Catholics believe that all people will go to heaven". I just briefly answered, "No, we don't".

I have decided that our conversation is over, and I refuse to engage in any theological conversation with her anymore. Because it's not a mutual conversation. She was preaching at me, not sharing with me. And I was made to feel demeaned and disrespected.

It is utterly offensive when we try to tell people of a certain religion what they believe, as if we knew their religious claims better than they did. Obviously, she had no intention of listening to anything I had to say; all she wanted was for me to listen to her pontificating about her truth claims.

In the end, after several minutes of silence, something suddenly clicked for her - she probably realised on hindsight (through our earlier conversation) that my earlier questions were so clearly directed, which most likely indicated that I had a deeper than average understanding of Christianity. So she asked me, "Are you a pastor?" I said, "I'm a theologian". And she nodded.

She is still seated with me at the same table this very moment. But our conversation is stumped. Because she has offended me by insulting the fact that I know what I believe better than what she thinks I believe. I hope she learns.

Well, at least her fervency in sharing her religious convictions in a car service centre is still something I can admire. But that's where it ends today. And I think my car is probably almost ready too.

Posted by SK at 2:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

Yup, so the system is good to go! I've managed to embed a Twitter box onto this blog so friends can keep tabs on my whereabouts.

I think there are times when Twitter is just terribly slow or totally stuck. But it's good when it functions.

So I'll be using this frequently, especially when I'm on the road. That way, I'll be able to keep you, dear readers, informed of what's going on throughout my day from wherever I am.

All right, 'nuf said... let's twit!

Posted by SK at 8:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Thinkativity :

This blog may look slightly disorientated in the next few days. I'm trying to integrate Twitter into it. If my attempt fails, I'm ditching Twitter. It's terribly slow.

Posted by SK at 10:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

While walking along the sidewalk in front of his church, a minister heard the intoning of a prayer that nearly made his collar wilt.

Apparently, his 5-year-old son and his playmates had found a dead robin. Feeling that proper burial should be performed, they had secured a small box and cotton batting, then dug a hole and made ready for the disposal of the deceased.

The minister's son was chosen to say the appropriate prayers and with sonorous dignity intoned his version of what he thought his father always said:

Glory be unto the Faaather, and unto the Sonnn, and into the hole he goooes.

Posted by SK at 11:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The world has changed so much and so fast.

Just twenty years ago, I never knew of the existence of the Internet. At the age of 12 or 13, I was marvelling at this new machine they called the "computer". And of all my friends, only one had this machine, which his family had purchased for nearly 10 thousand ringgit. It was something that would cost around 2 thousand ringgit today.

Through most of secondary / high school, I remember how letters were either handwritten to our very treasured friends or typewritten (using the conventional typewriter) to our less precious acquaintances. There was something about handwritten notes that reflected the quality of a friendship.

When I bought my first computer at the exhorbitant price of almost 5 thousand ringgit, it was years later, and was purely purchased for the completion of assignments given at the university. It was also subsequently that I discovered the power of the Internet. Even so, it was a rather obscure feature in our daily living. We went to cybercafes and friends' houses who had snail-paced Internet dial-up facilities.

By then, I had an email account. But still, the frequency of checking and replying my emails was probably fortnightly or monthly, which was extremely regular in comparison to that of my contemporaries. Such things were just never very much a part of our daily lives back then.

I don't remember having seen a mobile phone before during my schooldays. At university, I began by owning a pager, as a mobile phone was at that time a luxury for the rich and a necessity only for businessmen. My pager attracted admiration and stares from people around. It was technology.

Even when I subsequently owned a mobile phone, I had never heard of short messages (SMS). It was many years later that SMSes became a part of my daily way of communication.

Today, I am on the Internet practically every day. I check my email countless times a day. I communicate using my handphone from wherever I am. I can even check my email and surf the Internet using my handphone when I choose to.

I don't write letters anymore. I send emails. Ten years ago, people would've complained that I had lost the personal touch; but today, no one's complaining. Because that's what we're all doing now.

Things have changed so much and so fast. Has the world become better? Has the human race become better? Have people become better?

Have I become better?

Posted by SK at 4:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

One night I had a wondrous dream.
One set of footprints there was seen,
The footprints of my precious Lord.
But mine were not along the shore.

But then some stranger prints appeared.
And I asked the Lord, “What have we here?
Those prints are large and round and neat
But Lord, they are too big for feet.”

“My child”, He said in somber tones,
"For miles I carried you alone.
I challenged you to walk in faith.
But you refused and made me wait."

“You disobeyed, you would not grow.
The walk of faith you would not know.
So I got tired and got fed up.
And there I dropped you on your butt."

“Because in life there comes a time
When one must fight and one must climb,
When one must rise and take a stand,
Or leave their buttprints in the sand.”

Author unknown.

Posted by SK at 11:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Thinkativity :

By the way, I convocated yesterday. It was a simple affair. No fanfare. This is probably the last convocation of my life.

Posted by SK at 11:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Click on images to have a full view of the newsletter.

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Posted by SK at 5:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

St Augustine, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (354-430 AD), was once walking along the seashore, meditating on the unfathomable mystery of the Holy Trinity.

A boy was using a shell to pour seawater into a little hole.

When Augustine asked him what he was doing, he replied, “I am emptying the sea into this hole.”

Thus did Augustine understand that man would never penetrate to the depths of the mystery of God.

Posted by SK at 11:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Thinkativity :

A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still.

Posted by SK at 10:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I was around the city area of Singapore yesterday afternoon. I decided to attend the celebration of the Mass at the Cathedral at 1.15 pm.

There at the Mass, I noticed a very young man (probably in his early twenties) who was evidently a student from the university across the Cathedral. Carrying a backpack and two books in his hands, formally dressed, he took his seat most reverently at the Cathedral.

At the Holy Communion, he received the body of Christ in his hands with such reverence and caution - hence the deep impression his gesture had left on me.

Coincidentally, I had an appointment to have lunch with a couple of friends at the food court of the university across the road after Mass. And as I entered the food court and was about to take my seat, there was this young man again. He had bought his lunch and was carrying it to his seat.

As my friends went to get lunch for me, I had nothing to do. So I further observed him. He carefully placed his lunch on the table, took his seat, clasped his hands together, closed his eyes and with his head deeply bowed, prayed for two whole minutes. And then he made the sign of the cross, and began to eat. In that noisy food court where countless numbers of other university students were making merry, there was an aura of reverence even in this young man's eating.

So he finished his lunch as mine began. As he walked out of the food court, I was quite tempted to approach him to ask him for his name. After all, we had just partaken from the one body of the Lord just a moment ago.

But I decided that I'd leave it at that, so that the story of this unknown young man could be an anonymous story of inspiration to many other young people like him.

Today, there is hope. For among the countless young who make little out of life, there is at least one young man in the world who seeks God with all his heart despite the disruption of affluence and the temptations of success surrounding him.

The sad thing is, this young man was very likely a misfit among his peers. All other young people in that food court were gathered in intimate clusters; he was the only one sitting alone. He probably did not fit into the way of life prevalent among his peers; because he treasured the holy life.

So there he sat all alone, like a pearl among swines, that would soon be trampled upon. Like the Master whom he serves.

Posted by SK at 1:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Life consists of a series of negotiations.

There must be a negotiation between that which is desired and that which is possible.

Human desire is such that we always desire what is not possible or is utterly difficult to attain. That is what makes it so desirable in the first place.

Much of life, then, involves managing that tension between our desires and what life offers.

The sooner we learn to do so, the sooner we become happier people.

Posted by SK at 1:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Easter isn't over yet, contrary to the notion of many of our non-Catholic friends. The Easter season lasts for 50 days, beginning from Easter Sunday and ending on Pentecost Sunday.

There is yet more to be pondered over, more to be reflected upon, more to be said about the Christian experience of the paschal mystery. It's a journey.

These two past Easters have been among the most intense Easters I've ever had. Last Easter was intensely painful. This Easter intensely joyful. I consider the past Easter and this Easter the two landmarks of a singular journey into the mystery of God, like two bookends.

What began as a pain of separation, isolation, and condemnation has now been turned into a joy of discovery, reunion, and communion. What stood in the way of the resurrection of the heart stands in the way no more. The scars remain as witness to the paschal sacrifice, but life glows as witness to the restoration of life.

Many things in our lives stand in the way of truth. The very things sanctified by God - relationships, vocations, marriage, family, work, material goods - may just be those things that keep us from recognising truth in its greater fullness. When these things drive us to a fear of loss, their sanctifying value diminishes; of what good is it if a man gains the whole world but loses his soul?

This is why the season preceding Easter, i.e. Lent, was instituted, so that we might crucify those things we fear to lose together with the fear of loss itself. And when that is brought about, the springtime of the heart truly begins.

And when the springtime of the heart begins, Easter begins with the singing of the excultet summoning all creation to rejoice in the work of the mighty Redeemer to reconcile all creation back to Himself, that He might present creation to the Father. The glory of this Easter evening never ends.

Every Christian baptised into the One Body of Christ Jesus carries with him/her a personal Easter story. What's yours?

Posted by SK at 9:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Almighty, ever-living God, you give strength to the weary and new courage to those who have lost heart.

Hear the prayers of all who call on you in trouble, that they may have the joy of receiving your help in their need.

We ask this through Christ our Lord who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen.

Posted by SK at 8:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Almighty and eternal God, you know the longings of men's hearts and you protect their rights.

In your goodness, watch over those in authority so that people everywhere may enjoy religious freedom, security, and peace.

We ask this through Christ our Lord who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen.

Posted by SK at 9:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)