tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7853204965986587589.post6901158776542036936..comments2024-03-17T22:48:00.427+08:00Comments on Reflections and Ruminations: Learning to appreciate mysteryFr Luke Fonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03079016104331055895noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7853204965986587589.post-3337841087238814992012-03-09T17:57:42.969+08:002012-03-09T17:57:42.969+08:00Dear Father, I read your blog on Monday morning bu...Dear Father, I read your blog on Monday morning but could not figure it out. Today I read the sharings of dummy and sf and don't feel so stupid. I also was looking for the magic moment and really like sf I ask where? I feel solidarity as I also feel 'blur' although I attend mass everyday and are not inclined to supress my spirituality. It IS a way of life and we are too dumb as a human race to grasp what ww have all at once.<br /><br />Thank you.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7853204965986587589.post-40815388678567821412012-03-09T12:54:01.643+08:002012-03-09T12:54:01.643+08:00Have you been to magic shows with your friends? M...Have you been to magic shows with your friends? Many will be intrigued with the performances but there would be this one friend who after the magic had ended and the lady saved would turn around and asked, “Did she die?” Somehow, there is a disconnect in this person’s brain who could not relate to the same lady being “sawed” moments ago and was later standing up.<br /><br />And I am most certain that you had many times sat down patiently with your parishioners explaining to them the spirituality of why we carry the Rosary or the Brown Scapular only to be asked at the end, “So Father Luke, must we carry them to have special power to protect us from evil?” What about those moments when you tell them that the blessing of sacramental is meant for the ears of the person using the sacramental only to be rebuked, “Just bless lah, Father. I will tell so-and-so bless by you can already.” <br />Finally, if you had given your discourse above as a talk, they would be at least one person who would come to you with “Great talk, Father. I learnt a lot. But so how? OK to be late right?”<br /><br />In the first example, I believe that there are some people whose minds are too educated in logic and science, they cannot appreciate mystery. Everything has to be understood. We cannot “stand under” the mystery of having bread and wine changed into body and blood of Christ.<br /><br />In the latter examples (I got carried away), I believe it is a result of the world having sold us the advantages of instant coffee, instant oats, instant information on smart phones. The path to prosperity and success is depended on quickness. Our modern world is so geared towards instant gratification that even in spirituality, we need instant karma!<br />Hence, with where our modern education is heading and where the seductions of our secular world are leading us, we really NEED our priests to constantly remind us of the beauty in beholding and of appreciating the mystery who is God. Only when we are able to do the above right, would we then be able to allow God to unfold our own mysteries, especially the suffering ones, in life and to live well.<br /><br />To end this on a cheeky note…”So, when is the cut-off moment when it is considered that one has actually missed Mass?” My guess is that it started 2,000 years ago and has never ended. Jesus Christ had finished his works on Calvary but as Church, we are asked to continue his life, passion and resurrection even today. We participate in Masses and the Church gives us seasons, of Advent and Lent, so that we can have deeper appreciation of the different aspects of this mystery. We are just too dumb a human race to know it all at once.Dummynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7853204965986587589.post-55502665077681551782012-03-08T16:00:57.008+08:002012-03-08T16:00:57.008+08:00Dear Fr Luke
While there is no 'lent for dumm...Dear Fr Luke<br /><br />While there is no 'lent for dummies', there certainly is 'catholism for dummies'. I think I am no closer to understanding this mystery of transubstantiation What has changed? Where? How come I can't see or feel it? What's wrong with me? <br /><br />When I was younger, I tried in vain to identify when the highest point of the mass actually occured, believing it be an epochal moment - a make-or-break moment where there is either a great leap forward or annihilation. Today, contemplating this mystery is like a paradox. A mysterious paradox as I get excited in one one way and calm in another. But I'm still 'blur' as to when it actually occurs, and ready to pinch myself to guard against imagining things. <br /><br />I am extremely guilty of trying to compartmentalize and even suppress my spirituality. But God works in strange and compassionate ways, with both soft prompting and astute representatives. And having taken more than a single step on that journey of a thousand miles, I realize that in suffering there is beauty and I see Catholism now as not about looking for the magic moment of change, but rather living a way of life consistent with God's love. <br /><br />God Bless.<br />Sf.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7853204965986587589.post-44224543126723394372012-03-06T22:03:06.170+08:002012-03-06T22:03:06.170+08:00You said that “it ( transubstantiation) is mystery...You said that “it ( transubstantiation) is mystery that one is not meant to understand but instead, to behold in awe. Beholding is not something that comes automatically to the average human person...........” and to behold one needs a certain innocence, a certain willingness to be awestruck, a certain docility..........<br /><br /><br />What struck me about what you said was that to behold, to appreciate and to experience mystery- depends on the beholder.....his attitude and personality, something very similar to what Fr Rolheiser shared in one of his writings. He talked about porous personalities, citing the example of his mother who in a ‘situation of fragility and helplessness, dropped to her knees and turned to God as if by natural instinct and how today this kind of response is no longer our natural instinct’.........(as opposed to a buffered personality or what is termed ‘self-sufficient humanism’ in the secular world today) The stress he placed on getting in touch with this - “ our inner porous self– namely our deep down fragility, helplessness, insubstantiality and lack of self-sufficiency was not to instill fear but rather ( surprisingly!) – gratitude.........for “it is only when we realize that we are not in control and our lives and our safety are in the hands of a great and loving power beyond us that we will bend our knees in gratitude, both when we are joyous and when we are afraid.’’<br /><br /><br />I believe that it must be this child-like openness and trust that enables one to appreciate the mystery that is God and to live in His presence daily. One of the first oblate to the Christian Meditation Community and a close friend of Fr John Main- Rosie Lovat, shared fully in the life of the community by giving of self and service. After her death, one of her diary entries read...... “ I will never get used to the wonder of baking bread, saying my mantra to the rhythm of the breading – putting my whole heart into it – then at Mass, it becomes the Body of Christ. What greater happiness could there be? ........” I feel that Rosie not only beholds and appreciates the Mystery but lives fully the Mystery. Beauty truly lies in the eye of the beholder!<br /><br />God bless you, Fr<br /><br />tessaAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7853204965986587589.post-69843435476936179552012-03-06T09:49:23.637+08:002012-03-06T09:49:23.637+08:00Apologies, I just realized I wrote Te Deum, but I ...Apologies, I just realized I wrote Te Deum, but I had meant to write Adoro Te. Mea culpa =)The Anti-Modernisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03108312974688755489noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7853204965986587589.post-69293837832718375082012-03-05T19:50:21.381+08:002012-03-05T19:50:21.381+08:00As usual Padre, I enjoyed reading your entry. In d...As usual Padre, I enjoyed reading your entry. In discussing the theological concept of transubstantiation and the moment when the Lord becomes present, I am often reminded of the Te Deum. In it I am aptly reminded that our Lord is hidden under the mysterious veils of bread and wine, but it is an act of faith that He is indeed there. It is faith that guides the one to trust enough in the divine message of our Lord and we must have faith to let go enough to trust in Him. I have experienced a long journey back to Rome and it has been my experience that our Lord is always talking to us, but we (humans) are often too distracted to pay heed to our conscience and to His message of love and guidance. Sometimes those distractions are like you said, the objects of media like phones and Facebook, but other times it is our pride and our presumption of knowledge. Let us all pray this Lent to quiet our minds and our hearts and be as children of faith, humbling ourselves before our Lord and casting out those things which separate us from Him.The Anti-Modernisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03108312974688755489noreply@blogger.com