* NILAILAH sebatang pohon dari buahnya.
* Seven (7) short stories shared by Satya Nadella [CEO Microsoft].
* Judge not, and you will not be judged.
* RECEIVING FORGIVENESS AND HEALING.
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NILAILAH sebatang pohon dari buahnya, bukan dari daunnya.
*Euripides*
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Seven (7) short stories shared by Satya Nadella [CEO Microsoft]
🌾 *LOOKING BACK*
I interviewed my grandmother for part of a research paper I'm working on for my Psychology class. When I asked her to define success in her own words, she said, "Success is when you look back at your life and the memories make you smile."
🌾 *LOVE CONQUERS PAIN*
After I watched my dog get run over by a car, I sat on the side of the road holding him and crying. And just before he died, he licked the tears off my face.
🌾 *TOGETHERNESS*
As my father, three brothers, and two sisters stood around my mother's hospital bed, my mother uttered her last coherent words before she died. She simply said, "I feel so loved right now. We should have gotten together like this more often."
🌾 *AFFECTION*
I kissed my dad on the forehead as he passed away in a small hospital bed. About 5 seconds after he passed, I realized it was the first time I had given him a kiss since I was a little boy.
🌾 *JOY*
When I witnessed a 27-year-old cancer patient laughing hysterically at her 2-year-old daughter's antics, I suddenly realized that I need to stop complaining about my life and start celebrating it again.
🌾 *KINDNESS*
A boy in a wheelchair saw me desperately struggling on crutches with my broken leg and offered to carry my backpack and books for me. He helped me all the way across campus to my class and as he was leaving he said, "I hope you feel better soon."
🌾 *SHARING*
I was traveling in Kenya and I met a refugee from Zimbabwe. He said he hadn't eaten anything in over 3 days and looked extremely skinny and unhealthy. Then my friend offered him the rest of the sandwich he was eating. The first thing the man said was, "We can share it."
*Celebrate Life with Gratitude*
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Monday, 26th FEBRUARY
Judge not, and you will not be judged.
Luke 6:36-38
Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. "Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For the measure you give will be the measure you get back."
Have you heard the story of the teacher in the college for 'Older Students'? The man loved asking questions about the things he had explained before in order to keep his students attentive in his lessons.
"Let's see, you…the fellow in the corner," the teacher said. "When was Rome destroyed by fire?"
"To be honest…" the unfortunate 'student' replied, taken by surprise, "I…don't remember."
"Very well, then," the teacher insisted, "do you remember when Vesuvius wiped Pompeii off the map?"
The man, visibly embarrassed, answered, "No idea, really."
"This is quite disappointing," the annoyed teacher complained, "What about the destruction of Jerusalem?"
"My mind is a blank right now," the poor man said.
"May I know," the teacher asked in anger, "why did you come to my class?"
The man produced a bulb from his pocket and replied shyly, "To change this bulb…I'm the caretaker."
"Judge not, and you will not be judged", since we never know everything about others, we are not in situation to judge anyone. You know the saying, 'Before you judge a man, walk a mile in his shoes.' The truth is that walking a mile in someone else's shoes can give you an idea of what they feel. But still, after a mile, you don't know anyone well enough to judge them. You should walk more than a mile, in his shoes, through the paths he walks, in the same weather, same time, same company, to step on the same footprints; still that wouldn't be enough, you should walk, not just in his shoes, but in his feet. Of course, that is impossible. That is why to judge anyone is always utterly inaccurate except if you are him or if you are God. God has given us a conscience to judge ourselves. No one can know better than myself when I haven't been generous with God (except God).
Mary, my Mother, if you teach me to love everyone, I will always understand and help them to be holy, instead of wasting time and humility trying to judge them.
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26 FEBRUARY, 2018, Monday, 2nd Week of Lent
RECEIVING FORGIVENESS AND HEALING
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ Dan 9:4-10; Ps 79:8-9,11,13; Luke 6:36-38]
We are sinners and in need of forgiveness and healing. None of us can say that we have not hurt others or broken any of the commandments of God. Healing comes through forgiveness, received and given. What we all need most is forgiveness. However, not many people seek healing although they know they are wounded and hurt.
The main obstacle to people availing themselves of healing through forgiveness is because of pride. It is the lack of humility to ask for forgiveness because of the fear of shame. This is the ultimate reason why many Catholics do not go for the sacrament of reconciliation. They would give all kinds of excuses, apparently logical reasons, why they do not need the sacrament of reconciliation. They want to forgive themselves. On that count, they should have just baptized themselves as well, since baptism is for the forgiveness of sins.
St James exhorts, "Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man has great power in its effects." (Jms 5:16)
And the Lord said to His disciples, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." (Jn 20:22f)
Then there are those who go for the sacrament of reconciliation but they also do not find real and lasting healing. As a result, some claim that going for confession is a waste of time as the healing effects of the sacrament does not last. Why is this so? This is because many do not have the right disposition when celebrating the sacrament of reconciliation. Some go for confession out of devotion and habit but they have no intention of giving up their sins. Of course, if we are not serious about giving up our sins, the grace of absolution will not work in our lives because grace demands human cooperation. Many go for confession without any preparation, both in the heart and in the examination of their conscience. This explains why the Penitential Service held in our churches, although beautiful and meaningful in bringing the community together to celebrate God's mercy and forgiveness, often because of time constraint, is done in haste, often without much preparation and recollection or even the opportunity to confess one's sin sincerely and deeply.
To address this situation, the scripture readings today can help us to prepare for a beautiful sacrament of reconciliation.
In the first place, we are called to praise God for His mercy and goodness, especially in acknowledging that His commandments are good. The prophet began by saying, "Lord, our God great and to be feared, you keep the covenant and have kindness for those who love you and keep your commandments." Unless we see that His commandments are not meant to make our lives miserable but to set us free to live a life of wisdom, we will not be able to feel sorry for breaking His commandments.
Moses said, "For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is to us, whenever we call upon him? And what great nation is there, that has statutes and ordinances so righteous as all this law which I set before you this day?" (Dt 4:7f)
Even St Paul agrees on this point. "We know that the law is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold under sin. I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good." (Rom 7:14-16) By acknowledging that His commandments are just and fair, we condemn our sins. Only when we condemn our sins, will we be less likely to commit them in future. So it is important that we need to sensitize our conscience to condemn the sins we committed.
Secondly, we need to acknowledge our sins without justifying ourselves. Many of us when confessing our sins, seek to justify ourselves, and often like Adam and Eve, push the blame to others. Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the Devil! Instead, true contrition of heart is to confess our sins without excuse, just as King David did when he was confronted by the prophet Nathan. He simply said without any excuse on his part, "I have sinned against the Lord." (2 Sm 12:13) Again, this was what the prophet Daniel confessed on behalf of his people, "we have sinned, we have done wrong, we have acted wickedly, we have betrayed your commandments and your ordinances and turned away from them." That is why when we go before the priest, right at the outset, we begin by saying, "Bless me Father for I have sinned", not that others have sinned against me! Some go for confession to confess the sins of others rather than their own!
Thirdly, we must confess our sins sincerely without hiding them in generalities. Many of us try to hide our shame by just confessing sins in a general manner. When we are not explicit in naming our sins, we cannot exorcise the demon out from us. Naming our sins as they are, calling a spade a spade is what will bring us healing. That is why those penitents who try to couch their sins by oversimplifying them often do not find real healing because they did not allow themselves to articulate their guilt and their pain. Only when we can articulate our sins the way we committed them, in all its shame, can our fear be removed completely. This was how Daniel confessed to God. "We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, our ancestors, and to all the people of the land."
Fourthly, we accept the judgement of God. We accept the judgement of God against sins, not our judgement of what sin is. "Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgment." (Ps 51:4) True repentance and sorrow for our sins means the willingness to accept the consequences of our sins.
This was what Daniel prayed, "Integrity, Lord, is yours; ours the look of shame we wear today, we, the people of Judah, the citizens of Jerusalem, the whole of Israel, near and far away, in every country to which you have dispersed us because of the treason we have committed against you. To us, Lord, the look of shame belongs, to our kings, our princes, our ancestors, because we have sinned against you."
King David also accepted the punishment for his sin when his son conceived out of lust died. He said, "While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, 'Who knows? The Lord may be gracious to me, and the child may live.' But now he is dead; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me." (2 Sm 12:22f)
Finally, we turn to Him for forgiveness and pardon. We are called to trust in His mercy. Daniel pleaded, "To the Lord our God mercy and pardon belong, because we have betrayed him, and have not listened to the voice of the Lord our God nor followed the laws he has given us through his servants the prophets."
With the psalmist, we pray as well, "Do not treat us according to our sins, O Lord. Do not hold the guilt of our fathers against us. Let your compassion hasten to meet us; we are left in the depths of distress." The gospel assures us that the Father is all forgiving because He is compassionate and just.
However, whilst forgiveness is given when we go for the Sacrament of Reconciliation, healing is not complete until we render forgiveness to those who have hurt us. Jesus said to His disciples: "Be compassionate as your Father is compassionate. Do not judge, and you will not be judged yourselves; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned yourselves; grant pardon, and you will be pardoned."
Indeed, if we want to seek forgiveness and healing, we must be ready to forgive those who have hurt us. This is the most important condition for healing. This explains why many go for confession but are not healed. If they cannot forgive others as God has forgiven us, we continue to make ourselves prisoners of our enemies and our past. If we condemn others, we are condemning ourselves, for if we cannot forgive others for what they had done, how can we forgive ourselves in the same vein. This is why, the Lord said, "Give, and there will be gifts for you: a full measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be poured into your lap; because the amount you measure out is the amount you will be given back."
Forgiveness of others is what ultimately heals us in the end.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved
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