I'm afraid, if I don't begin authoring my concluding blog post for this year now itself, that it will never come to pass. When 1 January 2010 begins, so does my frantic travel schedule for the month and for the rest of the year. So these final few days leading up to the New Year's Day of 2010 need to be spent in preparation for what is to come. Hence, with the little luxury of tranquility I have on my hands now, I will reflect on what has been in order that I may be better made ready for what will be.

This year, 2009, has been one of the most pleasant of my past three years. Not that there was much fun or partying in it. In fact, many moments occurred throughout the year when I was forced to spend lots of solitary time in attempting to make sense of what was happening in my life and the lives of those closest to me. But by and large, the year was rather smooth sailing compared to some of the recent years past.

Of course, this doesn't mean that there weren't certain dramatic "points of impact" throughout the year. If there is one main thing that characterises my life, it is not mundaneness. Now, if I had to be selective about naming the most impactful events in my life this year, I would say that there were three.

First, there was the sudden passing away of a very dear friend and mentor who had helped me along through life in the past decade, from the time I began my seminary formation all the way to the time just before he had passed away.

Mr Anthony Yeo, being both my personal counsellor and my seminary lecturer, had strengthened me to go through all the storms that had struck me and prepared me for the many impending storms I was going to have to brave through. Even now, in the face of what often seem to be complications, I still ask myself the very question he used to ask me, "What is the worst that can happen?" And my soul is still.

Just as the storms were about to cease and my life was about to drift into one of its calmest seasons, he passed away. I miss him. But his time in my life, and on this earth, was up. Truth be told, he was too good a man to be left here for too long. I am glad for him, and I am sad. I still pray for him and frequently ask that he be praying for me.

Second, there was the occasion of my permanent profession into the Secular Franciscan Order (SFO). Not many people know about the SFO. It is a secular institute in which men and women, laity and diocesan clergy, make a life commitment to live the Evangelical Counsels by "going from gospel to life and life to the gospel". The SFO was started by St Francis of Assisi himself some 800 years ago and continues to exist today as an Order recognised by the Holy See and having its own Rule and Constitutions. I love this order for its ordinariness and simplicity, for its inability to boast about anything.

As an Anglican seminarian, I was quite well formed in Franciscan spirituality by a very elderly Anglican priest (who has since passed on). We used to have long conversations about Franciscan spirituality and how life would be like as a Franciscan Tertiary (the Anglican equivalent of the Secular Franciscans). But for providential reasons, I never made a profession as a Franciscan Tertiary. It was only upon my reception into the Holy Catholic Church that I actively pursued the intention to become a Secular Franciscan.

What was so impactful about this occasion of my permanent profession into the SFO? I supposed it's that we seldom make life commitments, and when one does make such a commitment, it's a big thing. For me, being a Secular Franciscan is truly about a commitment towards simplicity - having simple people as my brothers and sisters in the Lord, people who might otherwise not have been considered by the rest of society as being significant in any way. But the more I know them, the more I know Jesus loves them.

Third, there was the relocation (yet again!) of my family from Seremban back to Johor Bahru, 300 kilometres down south. The reason for this relocation was my appointment by His Lordship, the Bishop of Melaka-Johor, as Director of the Melaka-Johor Diocesan Pastoral Institute and candidate for permanent diaconal ordination.

Since I officially commenced duty on 1 August 2009, I moved down first to Johor Bahru, leaving my family in Seremban for several months. But just before this past Christmas, the entire family (father, mother, wife, two dogs) moved down to Johor Bahru. We have now settled comfortably into our old house which has been repainted and slightly refurnished.

So I would say these are the three major events that have taken place over this past year. They're not the only important events, I assure you. A good many other crucial and impactful events took place. But I would think that these three events are guaranteed to have an almost permanent effect on my present life as I know it.

What am I expecting to happen in the coming year? Some really big things. Yes. But I'm not living my life each day waiting for those big things to happen. When the time is ripe for that which has been ordained to take place, that which is necessary will come to pass.

For me, my daily struggle and constant cry is that of faithfulness, even in the small and insignificant things of life. I just want to be a faithful son to my parents, a faithful brother to my sister, a faithful husband to my wife, a faithful child of God and His Church, a faithful friend to my acquaintances, and a faithful master to my dogs. If I can be that for those around me, I think God would be rather pleased.

So I'm intentionally fixing my heart on the little vitalities of life amidst the big bangs that take place. For someone who thinks in big pictures and acts at macro levels, it is not easy. But this is precisely why it is so important for me.

For all that has been, for all that will be, I make the words of this song my own:

Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side.
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain.
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In every change, He faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul: thy best, thy heavenly Friend
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

Be still, my soul: thy God doth undertake
To guide the future, as He has the past.
Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;
All now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul: the waves and winds still know
His voice Who ruled them while He dwelt below.

Be still, my soul: the hour is hastening on
When we shall be forever with the Lord.
When disappointment, grief and fear are gone,
Sorrow forgot, love’s purest joys restored.
Be still, my soul: when change and tears are past
All safe and blessèd we shall meet at last.

I wish you a Blessed New Year, my dear friend.

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Admittedly, I have often found it strange that you would come in such vulnerability and insignificance. Honestly... did you truly think this was how it should be? Your divine intrusion, I mean. Because had I been God, this was not how I would have come.

I would have come in splendour. I would have engaged the world with some class, because what they thought of me would have mattered to me. I would have wanted them all to know who they would be dealing with in time to come; that I - this little baby - was not to be dismissed as one of life's trivialities.

But this is precisely why you came, wasn't it? You came to show me that my sense of self was simply a vain symptom of my disease which you call "sin". You came that I might be emptied of myself and filled with you alone. You came that I might have life, and have it abundantly.

I have never said this enough... Little Child, my Lord, my God, I worship you. May your will be my delight, your love my guide, all the days of my life.

Pray for us, most holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

A Blessed Christmas to you all, fellow Brothers and Sisters of the Christ-child.

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This afternoon I visited an Evangelical Christian community to watch my little nephew's performance in his Sunday School Camp's concert. Over a hundred children were there, and since it was their concert, many parents were around as well.

To my surprise, I met a couple of old friends of mine from seminary. It had been close to ten years now since we'd last been in touch. What surprised me about meeting them at this event was more that the last time I knew them, they weren't a part of this particular community.

Anyway, we managed to catch up. And of course, the big news: Sherman was now Roman Catholic.

This was the reaction I received to this news release: "You?! Of all people?? Sherman - the free-spirited open-ended Charismatically-inclined guy we knew at seminary - you?!" Yeah, me. "But... but... what made you decide to become Catholic?"

I was hardpressed for an answer, because what would've taken me an hour and a half to relate had to now be compressed into a fifteen-second answer. For the first time, I realised I had to have an instant fifteen-second answer for pressing moments when people asked me, "Why have you become Catholic?" I had to have an answer that was compelling enough, that wouldn't communicate a wrong impression that being Catholic was equivalent to joining "just another Christian denomination" like all other Protestant denominations to which I'd belonged prior to this.

(Just a by-the-way clarification: the notion of "denominations" is a Protestant notion. For the Catholic Church, the concern is simply whether a particular community constitutes a true Church or not based on the four marks of the true Church. So you're either a Church or you're not; the word "denomination" doesn't come within our ecclesiological radar.)

As I began searching my mental database for an answer, my mind quickly started racing down the hierarchy of truths, and it stopped at this point: APOSTOLIC SUCCESSION. And I quickly told my friends, "I became Roman Catholic because my conviction led me to an understanding of Apostolic Succession". And of course, there wasn't time to explain further.

But why Apostolic Succession? Because of this:

• Apostolic Succession gives you the Magisterium which is responsible for guarding and transmitting the Deposit of Faith in its purity. With this, there is no longer a need to make ourselves the arbiters of truth as if we could be wiser than Holy Mother Church which has existed through the guidance of the Holy Spirit for 2,000 years.

  
  

• Apostolic Succession gives you a validity of the Holy Orders of Bishops, Priests and Deacons. Your sacraments are valid, and your Eucharist is truly the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ through which you receive divine life. No more having to struggle with 300 possible alternative interpretations for the sacrament; you can just return to the most ancient understanding / reality embraced by Jesus and His Apostles.
  

Perhaps I was once free-spirited and open-ended because I never truly knew what to believe. Or who to believe. Despite all that I'd thought I knew, I felt disconnected (in many ways) from my faith and the institutions with which I was associated.

As a Catholic, because of having received the entire Deposit of Daith and having accepted the duty of loving obedience to Holy Mother Church, I know that what I believe is the very faith lived by the Holy Apostles of Christ.

So what made me become Catholic? It's a one-and-a-half-hour story. But here's what it was if I had only fifteen seconds to answer this question: Apostolic Succession.

Posted by SK at 8:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

BANGKOK: Bishop Paul Tan Chee Ing of Melaka-Johor says the Church in Malaysia must continue to push for the rights of non-Muslims amid growing Islamization in the country.

The 69-year-old Malaysian Jesuit gave an interview to UCA News on the sidelines of the recent Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences symposium on Religious life, held in Hua Hin, Thailand.

He spoke about the ongoing controversy surrounding Malaysian Christians' use of the word "Allah" and various aspects of Islamization taking place in Malaysia. Muslims comprise about 60 percent of its 28 million people.

This year, the government reportedly confiscated 15,000 Malay-language bibles because they contain the word "Allah." The national Catholic weekly, "Herald," has also become embroiled in a dispute with the government over its use of "Allah" in its Malay section.

Bishop Tan co-founded the Malaysian Consultative Council for Buddhism, Christianity, Hindusim, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST) in the 1980s and has served as its vice president. He has also served as assistant secretary and later as an executive committee member of the Christian Federation of Malaysia.

The interview follows:

What is your view of the ban on non-Muslims using the word 'Allah'?

When Christian leaders met in Kuching in 1989, it resulted in a declaration that says we have the right to use the word "Allah" for God. No one has the right to forbid its usage, and it is part of the national language. It is a pre-Islamic word. All the Arab Christians and Indonesian Christians use the word "Allah." Why should Malaysia forbid it? But what we call "Islamization" is not only a question of forbidding certain Arabic words and phrases.

What more does it involve?

To understand this concept, one has to understand that for Muslims in Malaysia, there is no such thing as separation of state and religion. Islam, for them, is all-embracing. Therefore, it should penetrate all strata of life -- from daily living to politics. As a result, Islamization is a long-term plan in which Islam, with all that it entails, should gradually seep into the life of Malaysians -- Muslims and non-Muslims.

Forbidding non-Muslims from using certain Arabic words and phrases that have become part of the Malaysian language is, according to them, "to prevent non-Muslims from confusing Muslims and thus converting them subtly." Of course, this would involve the whole political scene of fishing for votes.

This Islamization process has now begun to penetrate our Federal Constitution, which is rooted in British common law. Using their own words, the federal law should be made "compliant with Islamic Law."

Our mission schools have all but lost their character, with non-Christian headmasters and headmistresses. The conversion of children under the age of maturity, which is 18 years old in Malaysia, becomes automatic when one of the parents converts. There is also the taking of dead bodies of people whom the Islamic department claims have been converted.

The present controversy surrounding Banggarma Subramaniam is another case. They claim she was converted as a child. Now she is married to a Hindu, and the Registrar of Marriages has refused to register them because it claims she is Muslim. Now 27 years old, she "asserts that she has lived as a Hindu for most of her life."

I could give you a whole string of attempts made to Islamize Malaysia.

How should the Church respond?

It should have the fortitude to continue standing up for the rights of non-Muslims and, at the same time, push for equality in dialogue with all parties.

Catholics form a small portion of the population, slightly more than 3.5 percent. Christians altogether form 9 percent of the population. Hence, it is vital that we join hands with all the other non-Muslims in the framework of the MCCBCHST. This way we will not be singled out as being against the Muslims, and we make our voice louder along with the others -- about 40 percent of the population.

(The Church should also) dialogue at all levels -- from dialogue of life to intellectual and spiritual dialogue. The Church, in spite of everything, must be open to dialogue with others, especially with Muslims, without allowing herself to be trampled upon.

What has MCCBCHST accomplished?

It has made itself accepted by all as speaking for the non-Muslims, not a small achievement seeing the political situation. All in all, it has not done a bad job, taking into account it is such a diverse group with various views. It has protested when rights were trampled upon. It has approached government authorities to put right what is wrong. Most of the time, we have been listened to, but no action has been taken to right what is wrong.

What is the role of East Malaysians in the future of the Church?

We have been pushing the East Malaysian Church to play a greater and more prominent role, because its Catholics are largely bumiputra. [Editor's note: Bumiputra, literally "sons of the soil," is a term used to describe the indigenous peoples of Malaysia including Malays.]

Having a larger number of Catholics (in East Malaysia), the Church will have a stronger voice with the government. If they take a stand, the Malaysian government cannot ignore them, because of their votes. It depends on the Catholics and the Catholic politicians from there.

[From UCA News]

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Personal commentary: Many people, Protestants and non-Christians (and even some Catholics!), often accuse the Roman Catholic Church of being rigid in its theology, of hampering explorations, and most of all, of being opposed to scientific progress. Well, look here:

The Pontifical Academy of Science recently hosted a gathering leading scientists from around the world to assess the most recent research on life in the universe and to discuss the possibility of life on other planets.

Though Father Jose Gabriel Funes said questions on life’s origins and whether life exists elsewhere in the universe offer “many philosophical and theological implications," the chief papal astronomer said the five-day conference – which attracted 30 astronomers, physicists and biologists, including non-Catholics – “focused on the scientific perspective.”

"The questions … are very suitable and deserve serious consideration," Funes said, according to the Vatican news service.

In recent years, technological breakthroughs have led to the discovery of more than 400 planets beyond the solar system. And with the field of astrobiology only just burgeoning, scientists such as Prof. Chris Impey of the University Arizona believe the discovery of life elsewhere may be just around the corner.

"If you were going to take a set of bets of the 30 scientists gathered for that meeting, I think most of them would have said on about a time scale of 10 years maybe," said the Tucson, Ariz.-based astronomer, who was one of the organizers of the Nov. 6-10 Vatican conference.

But Impey was quick to point out that there is a big distinction between the finding of microbial life such as bacteria – the most likely form of life to be discovered initially – and intelligent life.

“[I]t (microbial life)'s not likely to challenge the world's major religions,” he told The World Today, “but if we find creatures that rival us or exceed us in intelligence, then I think that's going to be very interesting."

Though the philosophical and theological implications of the discovery of intelligent life elsewhere were not discussed during the conference, several attendees weighed in afterward with their thoughts – most of which suggested that such a discovery would not contradict scripture nor pose a problem to their faith.

Evangelical scholars, similarly, have expressed such sentiments, holding that the existence or non-existence of other people, other planets, and other universes is of no significance concerning the Christian worldview.

“If there is or is not something out there beyond our knowledge – whether it’s a conscious or unconscious creature – it really doesn’t matter,” commented Dr. R. Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, in a radio broadcast last year.

“What matters is what God’s revealed concerning His plan for this world, this cosmos and this creature – human beings, the creature made in His image – and His redemptive purpose for us for His glory,” the preeminent evangelical scholar stated.

According to Funes, participants of the recent Vatican-hosted meeting hope to publish the conclusions from the event in a book.

Topics discussed included “Formation of Earth-Sized Planets,” “Habitability of Exoplanets,” and “Searching for Multiple Origins of Life.”

Participants included two professors from the California Institute of Technology, three professors from Harvard University, and two professors from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, among others.

The event was held to mark the International Year of Astronomy, a year-long celebration of astronomy that coincides with the 400th anniversary of the first recorded astronomical observations with a telescope by Galileo Galilei and the publication of Johannes Kepler's Astronomia nova in the 17th century.

Eric Young
Christian Post Reporter

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I was having bedside chat with my little 8 year-old nephew tonight. It went like this:

Nephew: Sigh... my life is very difficult...

Me: Why is that?

Nephew: Because I can't get everything I want.

Me: What do you want that you can't get?

Nephew: I want maaaaany things. But I can't get them.

Me: What are they?

Nephew: I want a DS, I want a PS, I want a DVD player of my own, I want a CD player, and many other things. But I can't have all of them.

Me: Yeah, I know what you mean. There are also many things that Uncle Sherman wants but cannot have. The same goes for your daddy and mummy.

Nephew: Huh???

Me: Yes. You think grownups can have everything we want eh? Not true. But we have learned to be contented with what we already have.

It was a big life lesson for this cute little man tonight. He thought that grownups always have what they want.

And so begins this little boy's lifelong search for rest - rest from desire. And one day, he may perhaps discover that the only thing that can quench the deepest desire in man's heart is, as St Augustine said, GOD.

Even some grownups never manage to find that rest they seek, hopping from one object of desire to another, eventually turning themselves into what St Augustine called "human wasteland" (regio egestasis).

"You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts will be restless until we find our rest in you."

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