Author's Note: This is a post from 2006 which I felt was worth resurrecting.

The people of the world often seem keen to exalt others who can be heroes for them.

Perhaps we live in a disappointed world that seeks hope. Perhaps the haste in exalting "heroes" emerges from a universal human search for a reason to sustain a dream for a better future.

But could it be that "heroes" can be heroes only when they are gazed at from afar? Could it be, if we approached the life of a "hero" in close proximity, that we would find "heroes" to be (after all) the very kind of frail, broken and wounded beings that we are. Could it be that heroes are simply people who have found creatively constructive avenues of coping with and expressing their human struggle?

Could it be that they have become "heroes" simply because we have hurried them to become symbols of hope for ourselves, and that they never intended to become heroes for anyone in the first place? Could they just be "hurried heroes"?

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Thinkativity :

Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

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Thinkativity :

The opening prayer in today's Holy Mass: "...even the tensions and tragedies of sin cannot frustrate God's loving plans... give us the strength to follow God's call, so that God's truth may live in our hearts and reflect peace..."

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One of the most difficult things in life, I've found, is the excruciation of waiting. It's the uncertainty which comes along with the waiting that kills, really. You know you need to get somewhere, but never know if you'll eventually arrive there. Worse still if there seem to be a thousand and one hindrances between your present point and the intended destination.

Still, waiting is often something that's imposed on us. It's not something we choose to do, for if we could have what we thought was ours to have, we'd all want it instantaneously. We'd want to avoid that pain of unsureness and have in our ready possession that which we think is rightfully ours.

The problem with waiting in anxiety is that we so lose sight of the present and fixate our attention on a future which hasn't yet come to pass. When one is obsessed with waiting, one stops living. The two cannot exist in harmony.

Maybe one needs to know what it means to live in the present and let the waiting deal with itself. If we live faithfully in the present, fulfilling all that is our lot to fulfil, perhaps the waiting itself is immaterial as time will unfold the fruit of our present faithfulness.

The problem is, faithfulness does not always seem to yield the desired fruit. There are times when faithfulness to truth and justice often seems to place us at a grave disadvantage. But only if we measure it in terms of temporal time. With the world being the way it is, the law of cause and effect may not always work the way we expect it to.

But there is another world I know of, where all the faithful waiters who have failed to reap the fruit of their patient waiting will find their their deep consolation. All that has been unduly owed to them will be paid up a hundredfold and they shall come out rejoicing.

Waiting is a discipline that needs to be cultivated. Not just waiting, but waiting faithfully. And if the waiting does not yield that which we have hoped for, then we'll just have to trust that things have a way of sorting themselves out one fine day. It may not turn out to be what we've hoped for; in fact, it may be more than what we've hoped for.

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After a respite of one day, another place of worship has been subjected to attack by unknown persons early today.

The latest incident occurred at the St Elizabeth Catholic church which was splashed with red paint early this morning. This was confirmed by Kota Tinggi OCPD Osman Mohamed Sebot who said that the incident happened between 6 am and 7 am.

"There were seven marks of two types of paint on the church including on the main gate entrance, the front door, and the compound," Osman was quoted by Bernama as saying.

He said the individuals involved in the incident were found to have put two types of red paint in seven plastic bags before throwing them at the church, either from the front gate or from the side.

He said police found two paint cans in a drain outside the church fence, and added that the work could have been done by more than two individuals.

"We do not want to speculate and are investigating the motive of the incident including looking for witnesses. Anyone who had seen the deed is urged to come forward and make a police report, " he said

Priest wants swift action
According to priest Michael Teng, most of the paint was splattered on the wall and only a little paint was smeared on the back of the Mother Mary statue.

He added that the church was informed of the incident by a passerby at 8.30am and the Parish Pastoral Council chairperson John Lee lodged a police report after looking at the damage.

Commenting on the attack, Teng said, "I feel it is a very cowardly and despicable act. I hope the authorities will take action swift enough".

At present no one stays in the church and Teng said his home was 25km away from the church.

When asked if the church would employ someone for security purposes, Teng said:

"Actually Bukit Aman (federal police headquarters) had called and informed me about this a week ago... but I don't see the necessity because if they want to do it, they can do it with or without a guard here," he told Malaysiakini.

He also asked everyone to remain clam and pray for peace.

This is the first time a church in Johor has come under attack.

10 churches attacked
This latest incident brings to 11 the recent attacks on places of worship, with 10 affecting churches.

The last church to have been attacked was the SIB church in Seremban on Monday where some unknown persons had attempted to set fire to the door of the church.

On Tuesday a Sikh temple in Sentul suffered minor damages after some 20 garden stones were hurled at it.

The attacks on churches started last Friday when firebombs were hurled at three churches, including the Metro Tabernacle Church in Desa Melawati which suffered the most damage.

No one has claimed responsibility over the attacks but these attacks are believed to be caused by a High Court ruling allowing Catholic weekly Herald to use "Allah" in its publication.

It was also discovered earlier today that the office of Herald's lawyer had been broken into last night.

[Reported in Malaysiakini]

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The attacks on places of worships in Malaysia escalated today with another attack - this time against a Sikh temple in Sentul where stones were thrown damaging a glass door.

Police found about 20 big stones near the broken window of the 100-year-old Gurdwara Sahib Sentul temple this evening.

Temple volunteers who were doing gardening said they heard sound of broken glass at 6.45pm and went to investigate. One of the volunteers, who is a police officer, informed the police about the attack.

Temple committee chairperson Gurbial Singh said that no one spotted the assailants. He said that the Sikh scripture use the contentious word 'Allah'. Temple officials are urging devotees to remain calm.

The latest attack came in the wake of a spate of fire-bombings against churches across the nation, triggered by the High Court's Dec 31 decision to lift a government ban on non-Muslims using 'Allah' as a translation for 'God'.

The ruling in favour of Catholic newspaper The Herald, which argued for the right to use 'Allah' in its Malay-language section, was suspended last week pending an appeal, after the government argued that 'Allah' is exclusive to Malay Muslims.

At least nine churches have been attacked in Malaysia since last Friday in the wake of the High Court decision.

Seven churches were firebombed - four in the Klang Valley, two in Taiping and another in Seremban.

The worst hit was Metro Tabernacle Church in Desa Melawati, Kuala Lumpur, where the ground floor of its three-storey building was gutted.

An additional two churches were attacked - a church in Malacca was splashed with black paint, while stones were thrown at a church in Miri, Sarawak, breaking one of its glass windows.

Selangor executive councillor Elizabeth Wong and Selayang parliamentarian William Leong visited the Gurdwara Sahib temple at 10.30pm.

'Allah' in Sikh holy book

During the court hearing of the Herald case, Malaysian Gurdwara Council president Jagir Singh filed the application seeking an intervention.

In his application, he said the word 'Allah' was contained in the Sikh holy book, the Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji.

Jagir said the Sikh scripture was from God and that not a single word in it could be changed, amended or replaced.

The council, which represents the Sikh community, was among those which applied to intervene in the matter.

A number of Muslim organisations - the Penang, Terengganu, and Perak Islamic Religious Councils, Malay Customs Council and the Federal Territory Islamic Council - had also applied to intervene, arguing that they too had an interest in the case.

However, their applications were rejected by the court.

(Reported in Malaysiakini, January 12)

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BISHOPS FROM MALAYSIA, SINGAPORE AND BRUNEI WITH THE HOLY FATHER DURING THEIR AD LIMINA IN JUNE 2008. From L to R: Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Hii and Bishop Dominic Su (Sibu), Bishop Cornelius Sim (Brunei), Bishop Cornelius Piong (Keningau), Archbishop Nicholas Chia (Singapore), Bishop Antony Selvanayagam (Penang), Archbishop John Ha, Archbishop Tan Sri Murphy Pakiam, Pope Benedict XVI, Bishop John Lee (Kota Kinabalu), Archbishop Emeritus Dato’ Sri Peter Chung, Bishop Anthony Lee (Miri), Bishop Emeritus James Chan and Bishop Paul Tan (Melaka-Johor), Bishop Julius Dusin Gitom (Sandakan)

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Malaysian Catholic bishops called the escalation of violence against Christian churches in their country a "worrisome and delicate," situation, according to Fides, the Vatican missionary news agency.

"The Malaysian church is concerned and did not expect that the question of the use of the word "Allah" would be followed by a reaction of this kind, with attacks against churches and Christian buildings," the bishops said Jan. 11, according to the news agency.

"There is an urgent need to work for dialogue and social harmony, to defuse the conflict that fundamentalist groups are trying to ignite in the nation." they said.

The violence was triggered by a recent Malaysian court ruling. The High Court in Kuala Lumpur ruled that a national Catholic weekly can use the word "Allah" to refer to God and that the Home Ministry's order banning certain uses of the word was illegal.

The court decision met with opposition by many in the Muslim-majority nation, and some Malaysians responded with violence.

A series of reprisals on Catholic and other Christian churches, including firebombings and acts of vandalism, began soon after the Dec. 31 court decision.

The violence escalated Jan. 10 when two churches were attacked, one Catholic and one Anglican, in Taiping in the state of Perak. The same day, a Baptist church in Malacca was marred with black paint and a Catholic church in Miri was pelted with stones, according to Fides.

An Evangelical church in Malaysian Borneo was attacked by vandals on Jan. 11.

The escalation of violence prompted the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei to change the agenda of its previously scheduled meeting, which began Jan. 11, in order to deal immediately with the mounting crisis, Fides reported.

It said the Malaysian Catholic bishops began meeting with Malaysian civil authorities to help to restore order in the country.

"Meetings with civil authorities and dialogue with Muslim leaders are ongoing and will continue in the coming days," the bishops said.

"We must act in harmony and seek the necessary cooperation of the government and the high religious authorities in order to restore a peaceful environment to Malaysian society," they said.

The bishops said Christians "will do everything possible to keep calm, not retaliate, and pray to avoid a dangerous escalation of the violence."

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I absolutely abhor the fact that the places of worship belonging to the Christian community in Malaysia are being violated. It is hurtful and painful, not to mention harmful to the harmony of society. And as a Christian myself, I feel fear when I leave my house. That fear is real.

Inasmuch as the Christian community claims that the word "Allah" has been used by the Arabic Christians even prior to the existence of Islam, I can, to a certain limited extent also understand the fear that sets in among our Muslim neighbours of how the use of God's name by both religions may pose a threat to the purity of their respectable religion. Whether or not the fear on their part is founded on reality and whether the threat is a true possibility or a mere imaginary perception, that fear is real.

Fear begets violence; violence in speech and action. It makes us threaten the dignity, even the lives, of people; an inherent dignity our very religions preach about. Fear makes us want to eradicate the perceived sources of threat. It makes us want to thicken the lines of our boundaries and appear brutal so the perceived source of threat will stay way beyond those boundaries we have established for our safety and significance. So yes, some of them explode our churches to intimidate us, while we speak, condemn, and "pray against" them.

I swear some Christians are praying not because they think God is really going to help them through these trying times; they're praying in defiance, to show the perpetrators that they can have their churches violated but that they cannot have their faith taken away. It is a demonstration of sorts, a silently violent one; a demonstration not of good faith, but of bad faith against those who have harmed them.

We are still in the Christmas season, but the Christ-child is already beckoning us to embrace his passion experience. After all, his own persecution began at his very birth, when his parents had to flee to Egypt because their own king was on a headhunt for this baby. It is that very dimension of Christmas we are challenged to internalise as a People of God at this time of our history.

In times like these, it is difficult to love. It is difficult to uphold the greatest virtue taught in the very religion we seek to protect. But these are precisely the times when we must begin to talk about love. How hard it must be. How necessary it is, that we may preserve the integrity of the Jesus for whom we stand during these difficult times.

"'You have heard how it was said: eye for eye and tooth for tooth... You have heard how it was said, you will love your neighbour and hate your enemy... But I say this to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you..."

~ Jesus, Son of God ~

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

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