Wednesday, July 31, 2024

Discovering the Riches of Heaven

July 31, 2024
Wednesday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time
Readings for Today

Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Priest—Memorial


Video


Jesus said to his disciples: “The Kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again, and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” Matthew 13:44

Today’s Gospel presents us with two very short and similar parables. In the first, quoted above, the Kingdom of Heaven is likened to a “treasure.” In the second parable, the Kingdom of Heaven is likened to a “pearl of great price.” Though these parables are very similar to each other, there are also subtle differences worth pondering. It appears that the treasure mentioned in the first parable is discovered almost by accident. The person simply “finds” it. This is in contrast to the second parable, in that the merchant who finds the pearl of great price did so after “searching” for it. 

We often encounter the Treasure of the Gospel without even looking for it. We do so any time God intervenes in our lives without us seeking His intervention. For example, if someone were to offer an act of charity to you without you seeking it out, this is God giving you a treasure of His Kingdom. Or if someone shares with you their faith, or an inspiration they received, this is indeed a treasure given to you by God. The problem is that many times when we are given these treasures of the Gospel, we do not always see them as treasures. Imagine, for example, if the person in this parable were to stumble upon the treasure in the field and fail to open it out of indifference. They see it from a distance, have a bit of curiosity about what is in the box, but they are not energetic enough to actually open the box and look inside. In that case, the person would have no reason to go and sell all that they have so as to buy the field in which the treasure is found.

One clear message that this first parable reveals is that we must be attentive to the countless treasures of God’s graces given to us each and every day. God is so prolific in offering us grace, that we truly do stumble upon His grace all the time. Thus, having eyes to perceive His actions and ears to Hear His Voice is essential.

A second message clearly given in both of these parables is that once we discover the graces God gives us every day, we must foster within ourselves a desire for those graces that is so strong that we are willing to do anything necessary to obtain them. The discovery is made through the gift of faith, but the discovery by faith must then be followed with a zeal that drives our will to conform to that discovery.

Reflect, today, upon two things. First, have you discovered the treasures God has given to you? If you hesitate in answering this, then it’s most likely the case that there is much you have yet to discover. Secondly, as you do discover the riches that come with the gift of faith, then have you allowed that which God has spoken to you to consume you to such a point that you are willing to sell all you have, meaning, do whatever it takes to further accept all God wants to bestow? Resolutely determine to go forth on this holy search and you will find that the riches of grace that you obtain are of infinite value.

My Lord of all riches, You bestow upon me and upon all Your children countless graces every day. The treasures of Your mercy are of infinite value. Please open my eyes so that I can see and my ears so that I can hear so as to discover all that You wish to bestow. May You and the riches of Your Kingdom become the one and only, all-consuming focus of my life. Jesus, I trust in You.

Tuesday, July 30, 2024

Why is the Philippines successful with gender equality?

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Here’s the thing about the Philippines. We don’t actually have Gender Equality. Men and women are definitely treated differently in society. This is hardly even debatable. It’s clear as day to see.

But what we do have is a society that doesn’t make a big deal out of it like many Western countries (in particular the United States) do. You see, in the Philippines people realize that men and women are different, women are to be valued and treated with respect, and men are there to protect and provide for women and their families. This is the traditional view of Philippine culture, and everyone realizes that this is a smart, intelligent, logical, and fair point of view to take.

While some of this is starting to change and there are some radical feminists creeping onto my Facebook feed thanks to being “infected” by the feminist nonsense that the younger generation is picking up from Western culture, by and large most Filipinos still have this reasonable, traditional outlook on balance between genders.

Most Filipinos generally don’t make a big stink out of feminism, and thank God we don’t, but still have a core gender view in our culture that is for the most part compatible with liberal gender equality ideas — meaning that most Filipinos are perfectly fine with women working, doing well in the work place, but recognizing that they are different from men and should be protected, afforded protection, and things like that.

You could say that the reason for this is because the Philippines is generally a conservative society — meaning that we honor the traditional view of things. It’s important to note that even in Western societies where there is now a terrible slant of gender inequality thanks to crazy radical feminists and liberals, these societies used to have similar ideas of chivalry and protecting women. But Western societies tend to be more liberal than Asian societies, and the results are pretty clear: you have mass hysteria and crazy feminists who think all white men are guilty. It’s this crazy ultra-liberal outlook that throws away the mores and culture that brought us to this point in civilization through the past several centuries that is causing this crazy gender wars issue.

The Philippines for the most part has managed to retain that traditional outlook that preserves the order of society, but managed to also realize many of the liberal values that allowed women to have suffrage, voting rights, and be career women without stifling women for the most part. And why is that?

In my view, the real reason Filipino women are afforded such “equality” in Philippine society can probably be traced to pre-colonial times. i.e. - the time before Spaniards conquered the Philippines.

Back in pre-colonial times, in other words the original culture of Filipinos, women were given such a big, important role in society. We never lost this trait. Before the Spaniards came, Filipinos lived in a mostly agricultural society with very little concern for building structures, gaining prestige, and other excessively prideful things. It was a simple life organized into social units known as barangays, and women in this age were given a lot of importance, and were capable of holding leadership positions.

Women could be healers (known as babaylan), priestesses, even warriors and leaders. A daughter of the Datu (the equivalent of a King or village chief) would be the heiress of the tribe, unlike in European society where a woman was just something to be wedded off to make alliances and not seen as the rightful heir to the throne. Women in pre-colonial times could inherit property, and were usually skilled as well, able to do weaving, pottery, jewelry and other things, and these were valued skills in society. In addition, it’s said in the Philippines that while a man may be the ruler, the woman is the governor. This was certainly the case in pre-colonial times, and is still the case today: a man cannot spend money on a big transaction without the wife’s approval. Women control the finances in a household, even to this day. I have many friends who hand over their entire paychecks to their wives each kinsenyas.

You could go so far as to say that Western society and culture tried to poison this beautiful culture of the original Filipinos, but thankfully it didn’t completely take root to stamp it out.

Even after Spanish culture (and American culture) took root, Filipinos still dote way too much on our women. We grow up loving our moms. We love women. There’s even a term in the Philippines called under de saya” which literally means “under the skirt,” and the closest translation would be “hen-pecked.” Men who are “under de saya” are often ridiculed but they’re pretty common, it’s because Filipino women are strong and many can easily assert their dominance over men. It has always been this way, it seems, as I noted in the pre-colonial bit earlier.

This is further reinforced by how women in the Philippines really just tend to do better than men in many things, from grades and studies back in school, to finding jobs and getting promotions. It’s pretty easy for Filipino men to just sit back and admire the Filipina, because she really is worth fighting for and fawning after.

Some say that women still have a glass ceiling in the Philippines, but this isn’t true in my experience. When I used to work for General Electric here in the Philippines most of our middle managers and leadership band executives were women. Out of 4 executive posts one was a man and three were women. Among the middle managers only two were men (and they were both gay) and the other five were women. Glass ceiling shattered.

So while I’d say that gender equality isn’t really a thing (I don’t believe in Gender Equality), Filipinos have a culture that respects and gives importance to women, recognizes that they are different but worthy of respect and reverence. This is better than an artificial notion of gender equality where men and women are the same and to be treated exactly the same.

I don’t want to see my mother or my wife have only one week of maternity leave, I don’t want her lifting the heavy weights at home (I’ll do it for her gratefully), and other things. That’s our role as men. Women have their own role, and that’s how it should be. 

Our Final Destiny

July 30, 2024
Tuesday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time
Readings for Today

Saint Peter Chrysologus, Bishop and Doctor—Optional Memorial


Video

“Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears ought to hear.”  Matthew 13:43

This passage concludes Jesus’ explanation of the Parable of the Weeds in the Field. Recall that in this parable there were good seeds sown in a field. The Sower is the Son of Man, Jesus, and the seed He sows are the children of the Kingdom, which includes all those who are in a state of grace. The field is the whole world. Thus, Jesus is saying that He has sent His followers, each one of us, into the world to build His Kingdom. But the evil one also sows his “children,” which refers to all of those who live evil lives that are contrary to the will of God. The passage above refers to the reward that the children of the Kingdom receive, whereas the passage just prior to this points out that at the end of the age, the children of the evil one will be condemned and sent “into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.”

The end result of being the children of the Kingdom is quite hopeful. “Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father.” This promise from our Lord should be pondered, believed and become the driving force of our hope in life.

Hope is an essential virtue that we often do not speak of enough. The gift of hope is not simply wishful thinking, such as when one hopes they win the lotto. The theological virtue of hope is a gift from God that is based on truth. The truth that it is based on is the promise of eternal life in Heaven if we accept all that God speaks to us and if we fulfill His glorious will in our lives.

By analogy, say that you have a large mortgage on your home. And say that the bank was doing a promotion in which they were going to pay off the mortgage for one lucky family. And that family was yours. They contacted you and let you know that all you need to do is fill out an application for this grant and that it would then be given to you. What would you do? Of course you would go and fill out the application. The bank is trustworthy, and you are confident that if you do what they ask, a small task of filling out the application, then they will follow through with the promise they made of paying off your mortgage. In a sense, there is hope established within you once you learn of this offer; and that hope, which is based on a true promise, is what drives you to do the small task of filling out the application.

So it is with God. The “mortgage” that He promises to pay is the debt of all our sin. And the requirement to receive this promise is fidelity to all He commands of us for our good. The problem is that we often do not fully understand the reward we are promised. That is: to “shine like the sun” in the Kingdom of our Father in Heaven. Having your mortgage paid off by the bank is something concrete and clear and very desirable. But the reward of shining like the sun in the Kingdom is of infinitely greater value. Do you believe that?

The best way to strengthen the virtue of theological hope in our lives is to become more and more certain of the truthful promise of our Lord. We need to understand Heaven and the infinite value we receive by obtaining it. If we truly understood what Jesus was promising us, we would become so intensely driven to do all that He commands us to do that this would become the single focus of our life. The hope would become a strength so strong that we would become consumed with doing anything and everything necessary to obtain such a reward.

Reflect, today, upon the depth of hope you have in your life. How driven are you by the promises made by our Lord? How clearly do you understand those promises? If you struggle with hope, then spend more time on the end reward that is promised to you by Jesus. Believe what He says and make that end goal the central focus of your life.

My glorious King, You invite all people to share in the glories of Heaven. You promise us that if we are faithful, we will shine like the sun for all eternity. Help me to understand this glorious gift so that it becomes the single object of my hope and the drive of all that I do in life. Jesus, I trust in You.

Monday, July 29, 2024

The Lion

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The lion isn’t attacking the girl in this photo. It’s being playful.

In the early 1970s, Hollywood actress Tippi Hedren and her then 14-year-old daughter, Melanie Griffith, hired a fully-grown lion named Neil into their home to make a family movie (titled “Roar”) using twenty-five lions.

She and her family invited a number of young cubs to live at their Californian home and moved to a mountain ranch to begin filming.

It was a painful experience; Tippi had her arm badly scratched by a leopard, Melanie was scratched on her face, and the director of photography survived a particularly dangerous incident.

The original plan was to shoot “Roar” in nine months, but filming the animals eventually took five years. The film was not released until 1981.

The family’s experience with the lions convinced them that such creatures should not be in close contact with humans. They invited lions into their home at a time when the dangers of keeping such animals was not fully understood.

Although the lions in the pictures above appear to be perfectly tame, Tippi warns that there is no such thing, and that their instinct (which they never lose) means they can attack at any moment.

A lion’s paws are powerful enough to break a zebra’s back, something that none of these people were bearing in mind at the time.

A Holy and Imperfect Family

Monday, July 29, 2024
Memorial of Saints Martha, Mary and Lazarus
Readings for Today


Video

Many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother [Lazarus, who had died]. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him; but Mary sat at home. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.” John 11:19–22

Today’s memorial is relatively new within our Church. In the year 2021, Pope Francis replaced the Memorial of Saint Martha with this memorial in honor of all three siblings: Martha, Mary and Lazarus. In commenting on the reason for this new memorial, the Congregation for Divine Worship stated: “Martha generously offered him hospitality, Mary listened attentively to his words, and Lazarus promptly emerged from the tomb at the command of the One who humiliated death.” Furthermore, these three siblings gave an evangelical witness to us all. They model for us how to be Christians within our imperfections. They did this by welcoming Jesus into their home, by listening to Him attentively, and by believing that He is the Resurrection and the Life.

These three siblings each had their own unique personality and loved Jesus in their own way. Though not much is said about Lazarus' personal interactions with Jesus, we do have some helpful insights into both Martha and Mary. In one Gospel story, Martha complained to Jesus that her sister left her to do all the cooking. Jesus gently corrected her. Mary, on the other hand, gave a witness of deep prayer and love of Jesus by sitting at His feet listening to Him. However, in the story of the raising of Lazarus from the dead, there is a reversal of roles. Martha is the one who runs out to meet Jesus and expresses her deep faith in Him. Mary, on the other hand, heard that Jesus was coming and appeared to stay at home because she was upset.

Perhaps the most helpful way to ponder these siblings is to acknowledge two things. First, they are now saints in Heaven enjoying eternal beatitude and glory. Second, on earth they were people of faith and love, but they were also very clearly imperfect. Therefore, the witness they give to us should be twofold. We hope to share in the glory in which they now share, and we trust this will happen if we also befriend our Lord and welcome Him into our homes, imperfect though we may be.

Reflect, today, upon this holy but imperfect family. The imperfections and manifest weaknesses of these three siblings should encourage us to press on in our practice of the faith when things are not perfect in our lives either. There are many reasons why we might get discouraged or feel like doubting or giving up at times. Perhaps things are not perfect within the Church—or at the particular church you attend. Perhaps you are struggling with loving someone in your family. Perhaps you are struggling with an emotional issue. Perhaps there is some sin you seem to be incapable of overcoming. Perhaps you struggle with a physical ailment and wonder why God permitted it to happen. If you are able to relate to any of these, or any other forms of imperfection, then take inspiration from this family of Martha, Mary and Lazarus. Invite Jesus into the home of your heart, your family home and everywhere you go. He will come, gently correct you when needed, and give you the gift of new life, raising you up from your sins and weaknesses.

Lord, You befriended this ordinary family of Martha, Mary and Lazarus. You visited their home, received their hospitality, gently corrected them when needed and eventually raised them to the new life of eternal glory. May I also welcome You into the home of my soul, within my family and into every aspect of my life. Please come to me and raise me to the newness of the life of grace. Jesus, I trust in You.

Sunday, July 28, 2024

Journeying in Faith and Prayer

July 28, 2024
Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)
Readings for Today


Video

Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to those who were reclining, and also as much of the fish as they wanted. When they had had their fill, he said to his disciples, “Gather the fragments left over, so that nothing will be wasted.” John 6:11–12

The people who were present for this miracle of the multiplication of loaves and fish had to journey to be there. First, they followed Jesus to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, and then they followed Him up a mountain in a remote area. This is significant because it tells us that a miracle of such magnitude could only take place for those who had faith and acted on that faith. Jesus could have easily performed this miracle in the Temple in Jerusalem or in a synagogue where people doubted Him. If He did that, then many of His skeptics and critics would have seen His almighty power with their own eyes. Jesus could have also done this miracle in Nazareth, His hometown, in the presence of His extended family and friends. Perhaps if He had done this, then they would have come to believe in Him. But Jesus didn’t do this incredible miracle in places where faith was lacking. Instead, He went to a remote area where only those who truly wanted to be with Him were present.

Note that the actions by which Jesus performed this miracle are similar to the way He instituted the Holy Eucharist during the Last Supper. We read above that Jesus “took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them…” Though this miracle is recorded in all four Gospels, in John’s Gospel it is a prelude to Jesus’ Bread of Life Discourse in which Jesus teaches, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.” Therefore, this miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fish should be seen as a teaching about the Eucharist. It is in the Eucharist that Jesus feeds us to superabundance. The Eucharist is the gift of His very life and the food that will bring us to eternal life.

Unfortunately, it seems that very few people ever discover the gift of the Eucharist. Many people look at their participation in Mass as a duty that they must fulfill rather than as an invitation to share in the superabundant life. The only way we will discover the superabundant life given to us through the Eucharist is by working to imitate the faith of the people whom Jesus fed on that mountain. Again, the people who received this miracle had to journey either around or across the sea and climb a mountain. So also with us, the only way to come to a fruitful participation in the Eucharist is to make a concerted effort. The journey we make is one of faith, and the mountain we climb is one of prayer. Unless we believe deeply in our Lord, believe in the superabundant and transforming power of the Eucharist, seek it out faithfully every week and do so prayerfully, we will never be fed in this superabundant way.

Reflect, today, upon the symbolism of Jesus traveling to this remote area so as to perform this most incredible miracle. See this journey that you are invited to take as a journey toward the discovery of the superabundant grace bestowed upon you through the Most Holy Eucharist. The only way that you will receive this grace is by committing yourself to the journey of faith and prayer. Don’t miss out. Don’t ignore the incredible value of this Gift. Seek out our Lord and discover His Gift of superabundant grace within your fruitful participation in the Holy Mass.

My Eucharistic Lord, You call me to journey up the mountain of faith in the most Holy Eucharist through prayer and determination. May I more deeply discover the great value of the Holy Mass and seek to be fed by You in this superabundant way. Jesus, I trust in You.

 

Saturday, July 27, 2024

What are the reasons for people using public transportation instead of private vehicles in a city?

Profile photo for Arkaneh Urairat
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How long does it take to drive for 3 Km from **Singapore’s Tanglin Mall to Rendezvous Hotel?-10 minutes.

It’s an equal distance from ‘Times Square’ to the ‘Guggenheim Museum’ which is 2.8 Km long and requires only 10–12 min to drive.

In Bangkok, according to Google Maps, It requires 9–15 minutes on a normal day. to drive from “The Emporium mall to ‘Central Embassy Mall’ about 2.9 Km as well.

Would you fall off the chair if you know it takes 2 hours 15 minutes during rush hour to brave the streets of Bangkok, —The world’s worst traffic city since the world began.

With a BTS Sky Train, (Mass rapid transit) it takes 11 minutes.

**Do you have a better reason for people in Bangkok NOT to use public transport instead of private vehicles in a city?**

Be my guest, welcome to Bangkok and drive your Jag F-Type or BMW X-7 and speed to your heart’s content-

I bet you could go faster than 25 km/hr (15 m/hr) on a clear day!