Lent Seasoning

When we use the word "season" for Lent, we are usually referring to the period of fourty days of preparation before Easter. But the word "season" also bears another meaning, which the dictionary defines as "to improve and enhance the flavour of food"

I remember when I was young, there was this Maggi Seasoning in its uniquely shaped bottle, that I would add to my half boiled eggs to enhance the taste and flavour. This same seasoning was used by my mum to marinate everthing from chicken and pork to stir-fried vegetables.

It is this image of seasoning and marinating that I find relevant to the season of Lent. When we season a piece of meat before cooking, we usually cover the meat with the seasoning, making sure that it is completely covered, sometimes even rubbing or massaging so that the seasoning will go into the meat. Often we would leave the meat to soak in the seasoning to allow the flavour to soak all the way through.

Similarly when we look at our "Lenten Seasoning", we are given forty days to be "marinated" by the various Lenten Practices that we are undertaking. First what are we seasoning ourselves with? There are the 3 practices of Fasting, Almsgiving and Prayer that the Church recommends as the best seasoning. Because they help us look at 3 areas in our lives. Fasting looks at our lives and what are the things that we have allowed to take control of our lives, not just food, but other distractions or addictions. Almsgiving makes us look at others, not just about giving money, but giving our time, energy and love. And prayer of course makes us turn back to God.

Meat that is seasoned properly makes it tender, enhances the taste, and it is not just on the surface that it can be washed away. So too our Lenten Seasoning, has to be something that transforms us internally. The effects of our fasting cannot be that we lose weight, but are we tempering our desires and feelings. Our almsgiving cannot result just in a lighter wallet, but are we more aware of the needs of others and growing in our relationships. And our prayer has to result in an increase in our relationship and love of God. Though we will stop our lenten practices at Easter, the effects of a properly "seasoned" person will continue in the lives we lead.

So let us pray that our Lenten Seasoning this year may not just be "garnishing" that is put on externally and just looks nice, but that it will truly transform us within to be tastier, tender and holier when we celebrate the gift of New Life at Easter.

Open House Report 2010

Last Sunday, the seminary has it first Open House for 2010. We had groups from various churches here to visit our humble abode. This time, about 70-80% of the visitors are teenagers. In the presentation about the seminary, we decided to screen a video to show nature of the priesthood.


In this video, we are told that the priesthood is counter cultural, where men give up their lives to remain celibate and serve the people of God. Bro Jude reiterated this when he said that we have decided to not get married, not have children and not have a family. We will embrace the people of God as our family.


Though not many dare to raise their hands when we asked them if they have any inclination to the priesthood or religious life, we do hope that in some way, we did open their minds to this way of life and in the future, when they are considering their paths in life, dedicating their lives to God in a religious community or at the altar will be one of their choices.

In any case, do look out for our next Open House in October. Remember to register through your parish offices.

Wound-er & Wound-ed

‘And when you stand in prayer, forgive whatever you have against anybody, so that your Father in heaven may forgive your failings too.'

Building a relationship is never easy, maintaining it is even harder, and yet losing it is perhaps the easiest. In all forms of relationships, the main prerequisite that must exist is trust and forgiveness. Trust comes from a generous heart and forgiveness comes with a bruised ego.

Why a bruised ego? Think about it; can we accept forgiveness? Because when we accept forgiveness, it is to accept the fact that we are dependent on the other party to seek forgiveness from our part. This is contrary to what most of us might perceive then; that we are wrong and thus entitled to forgive when approach. When we forgive, a little part of us dies as well, just as that part of the person seeking forgiveness dies as well.

Is this notion wrong? Think about it then. What might possibly prevent us from seeking forgiveness and reconciliation? Pride. What might cause the unjust man to turn his back to God? Pride. What causes a just man to turn away from God? Pride. We simply trust too much of ourselves rather than relying on the graces that God Himself is ever-ready to grant us.

It is not easy to forgive at times and even harder still to accept the fact that we are in need of forgiveness. During this season of Lent, let us pray for the grace to accept that pride exists within each of us, and yet to temper this pride with humility and docility, and to recognize that besides being the wound-er, we are also the wound-ed in need of forgiveness and healing.

“Lord Jesus, help us to recognize our limitations and give us the grace not to limit you with our limitations, but instead grant us the grace to fall freely and out of control into your Father’s Divine Love, and help us to heal others and let others heal us too. Give us the Spirit of humility and docility for indeed, ‘the truth will set us free!’ Amen.”

Invisible Christ

“Christ is the image of the unseen God and the first-born of all creation, for in him were created all things in heaven and on earth: everything visible and everything invisible.”
Colossians 1:15-16

When I was in Initiation Year, I had the opportunity to attend a series of sessions of Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, and during one of sessions, I was shown a short video, where a child of 5 or 6 years old was asked if he can explain what the Holy Trinity is all about. The child went to a drawing board complete with paint brushes and palates of colours and he started painting the whole picture green, and after doing so, he said “This is God the Father”, after that he painted over the green with yellow and then he said, “This is God the Son”, and lastly he took red paint and painted over the green and yellow, and after doing so, he said “This is God the Holy Spirit, and together they form the Holy Trinity.”



To us, if we can picture it, that painting was just a mix-mesh of colours and doesn’t tell us much, much less the Holy Trinity. However, for that child of 5 or 6 years old, he encountered the mystery of the Holy Trinity in a most personal and profound way.

Children seem capable of seeing the Invisible, almost as if it is more tangible and more real than immediate reality. Children are able to penetrate beyond the veil of signs and perceive their meanings as if no barrier existed at all between the visible and invisible. Whereas for us, if the thing is invisible, we grow suspicious about it and because it cannot be confirmed by sight and touch, we grow leery of it. Yet there are many things that are invisible; the air we breathe, the wind we feel and the electricity that runs through our lights and equipment.



We are thus invited to regain that wonder that we had lost. Jesus is visible, yet invisible in the Blessed Sacrament. For the unbelieving eyes, it is just a piece of bread, but for us Jesus is real in the Blessed Sacrament. Jesus remains invisible in the Eucharist so as to awaken the childlike wonder within us. His hidden mode is mercy for us. If we want to ‘see’ Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, then we need to regain our sense of wonder. For when we wonder, we are tuned into this Mystery that Jesus is drawing us into.

Let us cast our gaze onto Jesus and contemplate him with the eyes of our heart. Let us remain focus on him in the Blessed Sacrament and with filled with wonder, and Jesus will seem as if we have never seen before. Let us cast our gaze onto Jesus, for Jesus is present even when our hearts seems overwhelmed with other things. This gaze of love searches for Him and this search takes time, for as Scriptures says, “Be still and know that I am God”.

"When we are before the Blessed Sacrament, instead of looking about us, let us shut our eyes and open our hearts; and the good God will open his. We will go to him, and he will come to us, the one to give, and the other to receive. It will be like a breath passing from one to the other. What delight we find in forgetting ourselves that we may seek God!"
- St. John Vianney

New blog for the reflections of our Seminarian Brothers

Good News!!

The official blog of the St Francis Xavier Major Seminary has been launched and will have the contributions of our Brother Seminarians... all of them...

Please drop by http://sfxms.blogspot.com and give them your support!!!

God Bless!!!

Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows – 15 September 2009

Most if not all of us have our favourite image of Our Lady. I have mine as well, and it is the icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour. About four years ago, through one of Fr Ignatius Huan’s homilies or lessons, I was introduced and have since added another favourite image of Our Lady, the image of Mary standing at the foot of the Cross.

When confronted by the imminent death of her son Jesus and the horrific sufferings that Jesus was enduring, Mary herself was also at the foot of the Cross undergoing her own passion. Yet in John’s Gospel, Mary was not depicted as weeping her eyes out, beating her chest as the women of Jerusalem did nor kneeling down in a state of distraught. Instead Mary was seen as standing at the foot of the Cross, a picture of trust and confidence in the Divine plan of God the Father and the promises of Her Son Jesus.

Exactly one year ago this day, I was about to start on my Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) at Mount Alvernia Hospital, and there was quite a fair bit of uncertainties and even apprehensiveness, because I do not know what is going to happen or will happen at CPE. Some said that it was an irony to start my CPE on Our Lady of Sorrows, but to me, it was providential and it pointed out the attitude I am invited to have. In that quiet morning that day, as I prepared for Eucharistic Celebration in Holy Spirit’s chapel, all I did was to surrender and entrust in faith and obedience to God the Father, and I said to Our Lady, “Mother, I do not know what is going to happen, but Mother, please walk with me and stand with me.”

There are many things we do not understand, and like Mary we are invited to ponder on the things we do not comprehend in our hearts, and we are all invited to be like Mary, to be open, to be faithful, to be trusting, to stand upright despite all the impossibilities going on around us, to let go of our dreams and dream God’s dreams for us.

Unsatisfying Food

Today, on the Feast of The Triumph of the Cross, a line in the First Reading caught my attention and re-surfaced a long overdue reflection that has been lingering at the back of my mind for the past few weeks.

The First Reading says that the Israelites lost patience with God as they entered into the wilderness grumbling, “we are sick of this unsatisfying food” (Numbers 21:5). Unsatisfying Food – what is that, really?

I guess at some point or another, we would have experienced “unsatisfying food” in our lives and these experiences although often insignificant, would have taught us something worthwhile – (01) either about the food we ate, (02) the one who prepared it (i.e. the chef) or (03) possibly about ourselves (i.e. our hunger, to be more precise).

Within these three possibilities, I guess the least blame can be given to the “food” itself , although at first glance, it seems to be the one which causes the whole reaction. Sure, there is the possibility of the poor quality of the raw material that could have gone into the preparation of the dish but we all know that it can never be that bad because nobody intentionally starts preparing a dish with rotten ingredients.

The second possibility is that the one who prepared it was a poor cook and so was not able to prepare something delicious and satisfying. This is often the reason we would sight in our everyday life and so it is of no surprise that the Israelites blamed God, the “chef” of the food they were eating, for the “unsatisfying food” and I guess it is because of their rejection of the “chef” that they also end up losing His presence which is their protection and ended up being bitten by the fiery serpents. When we do not like a certain food at a particular restaurant, we often decide never to go back there again and this is sometimes the case with our own relationship with God. The problem is that in our everyday lives, there are many other “cooks” or “chefs” that we can turn to but when it comes to God, our Faith tells us that He is the only One. Rejecting Him would mean inevitably making the decision to go hungry for the rest of our lives and we all know where this would lead us – starvation and eventual death. At this point, I also recall the parable of the Prodigal Son; the younger son had decided that he no longer wanted to eat his father’s food and so he resorted to eating the food of the swine. Similarly, sure, there may be other alternatives in life; “food” that may satisfy our initial hunger but we also know at the same time, just like that younger son in the parable, that this food is not the “real food” that was made for me and neither was I made for it. It was much more “unsatisfying food” but our pride may hold us back from returning to the feast of the Father’s House.

I personally feel that it is the third possible reason for “unsatisfying food” that deserves our closer attention. “Unsatisfying food” is so not so much of the food itself but because of our appetites and our tastes. It is common knowledge that the best tasting food is the worst for our health and often, the most bland food is in reality, the most healthy for us. Nevertheless, there is a reality of our own hunger and appetites that we need to examine and understand. Maybe, if the Israelites had understood their hunger more, they would have complained less against God and this could well be the case in our own modern lives too. What are we hungering for?

Recently, I met a good friend for lunch and he mentioned something that has stayed with me since. He was reflecting about our lives as Christians in the modern world we live in and he remarked that most of us are settling for “stale bread” instead of feasting on the “daily bread” that the Father desires to give to each of us. I have been reflecting further on his remark and realise that it is very true for myself and for many people around me. Often, I am unable to go deeper into the longings of my heart, the depths of my hunger and the fast pace and superficiality of modern life has sometimes prevented me from truly settling for “real food” because I can choose to settle for “instant noodles”. We all know that “instant noodles” are good stopgap measures but they would never be the main dish of a feast. It would in fact be a great insult to our guests if we threw a big feast and served them all packets of instant noodles. Somehow, we also know that the best dishes in life are made with great effort and love. I guess that’s why mother’s cooking is always the best – not so much that she is better than the world’s best chef but we know how much “love” was a necessary ingredient in her dish.

I believe that this is also true when we come to the hunger of our lives. In the Book of Exodus – “'That' said Moses to them 'is the bread Yahweh gives you to eat” (Exodus 16:15). God knows the hunger of us His children and he has given us divine “bread” that our hunger may be satisfied. Many of us fail to receive the “bread” that God has prepared for us because we have turned to other foods that often does not satisfy.

And let us say that we do appreciate the"divine bread" that God gives us as many of us committed Christians do because we realise that only He can satisfy our hunger, we may also fall into another trap which my friend mentioned. We settle for "stale bread" instead of "daily bread".

When God fed the Israelites with manna in the desert, he also commanded them through Moses, “No one must keep any of it for tomorrow” (Exodus 16:19) and “Eat it today” (Exodus 16:25). God wishes to give us not just “bread” but “daily bread” and is this precisely not the prayer most of us say almost mechanically in the Lord’s Prayer every day. Why is it that we ask for “daily bread” but often settle for “stale bread”? Often, we cling on to experiences of God in the past which is an excellent thing because God has always invited His people to "remember" but we must also realise that our "remembering" should open us to the reality of the "daily bread" that God gives us. We need to realise that God is not only the God of the past but the God of our todays and He is offering you "new" bread even at this moment.

This hunger for “daily bread” is most perfectly satisfied in the Eucharist for Jesus is our true source of our satisfaction for our hunger. In the Eucharist, we experience the loving “food” preparation of God who has “prepared a body” (Hebrews 10:5) for His only Son and given Him as “real food” (John 6:55) to us. God Himself feeds us with Himself in Jesus. And this is not just a historical event that happened 2000 years ago that we merely recall with some sentimentality. The Eucharist is not merely a historical event which has become "stale bread", that is no longer relevant or unappetizing. It is our "daily bread" because Jesus comes to meet us everyday of our lives with all the pains and joys each day carries with it and He becomes food for us in ever "new" ways every day.

Yet, it is no surprise that some say, “we are sick of this unsatisfying food” (Numbers 21:5) even at the Eucharist. What then are we hungering for? What better food do we desire? Maybe, it is high time we start understanding our hunger more instead of complaining about the “food”.