Hello dear brothers and sisters in Christ!

Here’s a mid-week reminder to do your journal reflection! This past weekend (25 July), we discussed the sacrament of Holy Communion in which we receive the Eucharist. As mentioned at the end of class (it was a packed lesson, and I don’t suppose you remember!), your journal activity should consist of two parts:

1. Read John 6:26-66 in silence. Contemplate the meaning of this passage. Ask yourself: What is Jesus saying in these passages in the Gospel? Why did many of his disciples leave him?
2. Write an entry responding to the question: “What does the Eucharist mean to me?”

I hope you all remember the key points of this lesson as you journal. Bear in mind that in receiving the Eucharist, we receive the real Body and Blood of Christ. Remember the concept of ‘transubstantiation‘ which refers to the transformation (changing) of the substance (nature) of the bread and wine. (As opposed to the transformation of the form (appearance), a la Transformers )

Refer to those other Biblical passages about the Eucharist if that will help you with your reflection. And I hope that this activity and lesson will help you appreciate the Mass even more!

In Christ,
Stephanie

John 6:26-66

²⁶Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. ²⁷Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.”

²⁸Then they said to him, “What must we do to perform the works of God?” ²⁹Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” ³⁰So they said to him, “What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? ³¹Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” ³²Then Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. ³³For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” ³⁴They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” ³⁵Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. ³⁶But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. ³⁷Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away; ³⁸for I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. ³⁹And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. ⁴⁰This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last day.” ⁴¹Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” ⁴²They were saying, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” ⁴³Jesus answered them, “Do not complain among yourselves. ⁴⁴No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day. ⁴⁵It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. ⁴⁶Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. ⁴⁷Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. ⁴⁸I am the bread of life. ⁴⁹Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. ⁵⁰This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. ⁵¹I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” ⁵²The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” ⁵³So Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. ⁵⁴Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; ⁵⁵for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. ⁵⁶Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. ⁵⁷Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. ⁵⁸This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.” ⁵⁹He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum.

⁶⁰When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?” ⁶¹But Jesus, being aware that his disciples were complaining about it, said to them, “Does this offend you? ⁶²Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? ⁶³It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. ⁶⁴But among you there are some who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the first who were the ones that did not believe, and who was the one that would betray him. ⁶⁵And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father.” ⁶⁶Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him.

Hi all!

It’s been a long time since I blogged here. So just thought I’d post a little something related to today’s lesson.

Today we began with 4 different impressions of God, and we asked you to pick out one that best fits with your impression of God. All of you probably picked different options =) It was meant to be a useful activity for you to articulate how you think of God (and in turn, reflects how you would expect your relationship with God to be).

Then we went through 2 parables: the Parable of the Lost Coin, and the Parable of the Lost (Prodigal) Son. (Both are in Luke 15.) And showed this video:

The Parable of the Prodigal Son carries so many important messages that Jesus had for us. As was mentioned by various peers of yours, through that one story, there were messages about selfishness, jealousy, forgiveness, and God’s unfailing love for us. So great is the Heavenly Father’s love for us, that no matter how far we’ve strayed, when we are desolate and utterly empty and want to return to Him, He will not only welcome us with open arms. Indeed, He will run to us! (He must miss his lost children terribly!) No matter how sinful we’ve been, the Father would gladly take us back if we were to feel sorry for our willful actions.

One more thing the Parable highlighted to me about our relationship with God is that we are responsible for how strong this relationship is. (That’s the beauty of having free will, isn’t it?) Do we choose to stay with Him in his house? Or do we choose to leave His presence with the gifts He has bestowed upon us (our talents, for example) and use them for selfish, worldly purposes? The Father will never turn his children away. No matter how much we have hurt Him.

And how will He react to the homecoming of one lost child? Recall the Parable of the Lost Sheep (Luke 15:3-7; Matt 18:12-14)

“What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? “When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. “And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’
“I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.”

It was mentioned by your friend in class, and it’s worth mentioning again: God does not give up on us, He goes in search of those who run away from Him. (Chances are, though, those who stray refuse to pay heed to the tugs in their hearts which tend to be the Father calling them home.)

Think of the love you have for your most prized possessions, or your parents’ & friends’ love for you. These are but a fraction of God’s love for us. In my favorite Bible passage on love, St Paul wrote:

For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. (1 Cor 13:12)

The love we witness in our lives with fellow human beings are but ‘dim reflections in the mirror’. But when we are reunited with the Heavenly Father, when we are in communion, we will “fully know” what love is. For God is love (1 John 4). (And through God’s grace we will be able to love even our enemies.)

And what if we are not ‘lost’, but continue to dwell in the Father’s house? Think of what the Father said to his older son in the Parable of the Prodigal Son:

And he said to him, ‘Son, you have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours.’ But we had to celebrate and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found.’

Be joyful for your Brother- or Sister-in-Christ who has returned home to the Father’s love. For that does not mean that God is unfair, or that you are less important to Him. No. You have just been faithful to Him, and the Father is fully aware of that =)

Hopefully, reading the Parable of the Prodigal Son and the Parable of the Lost Sheep have reminded you that God is ultimately a loving God. We do not expect you to change your initial impressions of God accordingly, for your impression of God isn’t one that is meant to be memorized. Rather, it’s something you form by yourself. Hopefully, through today’s lesson, you will come to realize God’s love and mercy; and will grow to understand and recognise His love for you. (Such a realization is a transformation of the heart.) Only then can you attest with conviction that the God with whom you have a relationship with is one of Infinite Love and Grace.

Have a wonderful week ahead! See you next Saturday!

- Stephanie

P.S. Go read more of the Parables if you can. Each of them contains valuable lessons for the followers of Christ.

Hi all! 

For those who didn’t attend class, today’s lesson was on the Miracles of Jesus. At the start of the lesson, we discussed certain Bible passages such as the Feeding of the Five Thousand, and the Wedding at Cana; and talked about the differences between miracles and magic.

I think the gist of the lesson is best summed up in this passage from the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

Jesus accompanies his words with many ‘mighty works and wonders and signs’, which manifest that the kingdom is present in him and attest that he was the promised Messiah.

The signs worked by Jesus attest that the Father has sent him. They invite belief in him. To those who turn to him in faith, he grants what they ask. So miracles strengthen faith in the One who does his Father’s works; they bear witness that he is the Son of God. But his miracles can also be occasions for ‘offence’; they are not intended to satisfy people’s curiosity or desire for magic. Despite his evident miracles some people reject Jesus; he is even accused of acting by the power of demons (see Jn 11:47-48; Mk 3:22).

By freeing some individuals from the earthly evils of hunger, injustice, illness and death, Jesus performed messianic signs. Nevertheless he did not come to abolish all evils here below, but free men from the gravest slavery, sin, which thwarts them in their vocation as God’s sons and causes all forms of human bondage (see Jn 8:34-36).

The coming of God’s kingdom means the defeat of Satan’s: ‘If it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.’ (Matt 12:26, 28 ) Jesus’ exorcisms free some individuals from the domination of demons. They anticipate Jesus’ great victory over ‘the ruler of this world’ (Jn 12:31; Lk 8:26-39). The kingdom of God will be definitively established through Christ’s cross: ‘God reigned from the wood.’

[CCC 547-550]

One important thing to note about miracles, however, is this: the importance of faith. Consider the passage in the Gospel of Matthew where Jesus heals the centurion’s (Roman officer) servant (also see Lk 7:1-10, Jn 4:46-53) — The centurion was so sure that as long as Jesus “[gave] the word… [his] servant will be cured”, and Jesus was surprised. He remarked to his followers: “I tell you solemnly, nowhere in Israel have I found faith like this.”. Most importantly, look at what he finally said to the centurion: “Go back, then; you have believed, so let this be done for you.” And the servant was cured without even having met Jesus in person.

And so, it is our hope this week that you will perform a minor miracle in someone else’s life. Through one simple action (anything that you deem doable), “bear witness that [Jesus] is the Son of God” and in doing so, help someone else “strengthen faith in the One who does his Father’s works”

Have a wonderful week ahead! And see you the week after National Day =)

- Stephanie

Amongst the many interesting questions raised in class today, we had the age-old concern: “What is faith?” or “What do we mean by ‘faith’?” (Thanks, Simeon =)). As promised, I’ve found the passage from one of Paul’s epistles (i.e. one of his letters) that speaks of faith.

To have faith is to be sure of the things we hope for, to be certain of the things we cannot see. It was by their faith that people of ancient times won God’s approval. It is by faith that we understand that the universe was created by God’s word, so that what can be seen was made out of what cannot be seen. (Hebrews 11:1-3)

The rest of the passage goes on to describe the faith of the ancient figures such as Moses, Noah, and Abraham. It is as if St Paul knew that such an explanation of faith would be difficult to grasp, and these subsequent descriptions are like illustrations or examples that can help us better understand what he means in Hebrews 11:1-3. 

Recall the story of Abraham and Isaac in Genesis 22 in which God had called Abraham to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice. Now, this command is perplexing on so many different levels. First, why would God demand that a parent sacrifice his son? (And seemingly for no real reason!) Moreover, Isaac was the son through whom Abraham was to have the descendants that God promised (see Gen 21:12) — but how would that happen if Isaac really lost his life on the sacrificial altar? These are questions that reason cannot answer.

St Paul writes:

It was faith that made Abraham offer his son as a sacrifice when God put Abraham to the test. Abraham was the one to whom God had made the promise, yet he was ready to offer his only son as a sacrifice. God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that you will have the descendants I promised.” Abraham reckoned that God was able to raise Isaac from death — and, so to speak, Abraham did receive Isaac back from death. (Hebrews 11:17-19)

Indeed, ‘reckon’ seems to suggest some sort of reasoning going on… But how certain can we be of such a possibility? This is one example of faith at work. 

So that’s what St Paul has to say to the Hebrews.

To me, faith is trusting in God even when there’s no apparent or obvious proof that something that I am hoping for will come true. Faith doesn’t need proof, because it is certain in itself. It isn’t conditional — it doesn’t say: Ok, I will believe in you if you show me a pink elephant in my bedroom in 5 seconds. Someone once mentioned to me with a smile: “If there’s evidence in front of you, you can’t help but believe it because to believe otherwise would be absurd and irrational. If you believe it even if you don’t have evidence before your eyes — that’s faith.”

Well, of course now there may be a temptation to say silly things like: I have faith that there’s a pink elephant in my room now even though I cannot see it.
But you and I know that faith isn’t as trivial as that =)

I hope this post has been useful for you. And maybe faith isn’t such a hard concept to grasp after all. Maybe it’s simply ‘trust in God’. Especially when the odds are against you.

- Stephanie 

P.S. The version of the Bible I used in the above quotes is the Good News Bible, which I think is what most of you are using. Do read the rest of Hebrews =)