For the Fourth Sunday of Lent, we recall Our Lord's healing of a blind man that brought many more things to light than just one man's eyesight. It teaches us how blind we can be to what's going on. The Lord wants to cure us of the worst blindness: a spiritual one. Through faith in the Son of man, we receive a deeper interior vision beyond our physical sight thanks to Christ, the light of the world.
In the Gospel, the Lord heals a blind man and helps to see with an entirely new level of light, the light of truth. This light shines on everyone involved in the story, and that light is Christ.
The man born blind not only received the gift of sight, but he also received an opportunity to see that Jesus had been sent by the Father and had the power of God to heal. He saw a miracle happen. The disciples thought his blindness was due to either his sin or the sin of his parents. Our Lord corrected them. His healing was to show God at work.
The man born blind wanted to get on with his life, but his neighbors insisted on taking him to the Pharisees because Jesus had healed him on the Sabbath. Our Lord had performed a miracle on the Sabbath. If God had not wanted to work miracles on the Sabbath, he would not have healed the blind man. Yet he did.
The Pharisees showed how blind they were to the will of God. They wanted to condemn Jesus as a sinner breaking the Sabbath because that was the way they saw the world. Their interpretation of the Law of Moses.
The man born blind could not deny what was right in front of his face. At this point, the Pharisees had decided to cast out anyone who said Jesus was the Messiah. He didn't claim Jesus was the Messiah, but when he presented irrefutable logic to the Pharisees: "We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if one is devout and does his will, he listens to him ... If this man were not from God, he would not be able to do anything."
His healing was to show God working, but the Pharisees couldn't accept that and cast him out. Jesus went looking for him and gave him the opportunity to believe in him as the Messiah, and he accepted wholeheartedly.
Our Lord had not just restored his sight; he'd given him the light to see salvation at his doorstep and the need to give witness to it. Christ showed the Pharisees that they weren't blind, a motive for innocence for their attitude. They chose not to accept what they saw.
We all experience two kinds of thirst in life, and unless we understand the difference between them, we will always be frustrated.
The first kind of thirst is horizontal thirst. We thirst for, we desire, the good things of this earth: food, drink, companionship, fun, entertainment, a nice house, a good income, success at work or school.
It's part of our nature to desire these things; there's nothing wrong with them. But we also have another kind of thirst - vertical thirst.
This is a deeper thirst, a deeper desire. It's a desire for meaning and purpose. This desire is also built into our nature. There is nothing we can do to destroy it, just as there is nothing we can do to destroy our natural desires for food and water.
But unlike horizontal thirst, our vertical thirst cannot be satisfied by our own efforts. Only God himself can satisfy it. And he created us like that on purpose.
It's as if he put a homing device in the very core of our being, and it constantly draws us towards him, towards intimate, personal contact with his eternal, transcendent love.
This is why even when all of our horizontal thirsts are satisfied, when we have money, success, and pleasure, we are still restless.
Our deeper, vertical thirst can't be satisfied by things of this world. As the Catechism puts it: "Man is made to live in communion with God, in whom he finds happiness" (#45).
The meaning and purpose which alone will give us true happiness comes from friendship with God in Christ, not from worldly success, pleasures, and human relationships.
When we forget that, when try to satisfy our vertical thirst with horizontal stuff, we put ourselves on the road to frustration, tragedy and disappointment.
It is one way we commemorate the Passion and death of Our Savior Jesus Christ. But the question of "why meat?" It is precisely because meat is so good that we are asked to give it up at certain times. It wouldn't make a whole heck of a lot of sense if we offered something we considered bad as a sacrifice to God. More to the point, meat was singled out because it is associated with celebrations and feasts. On top of all of that, meat has often been a luxury in many cultures.
But what's included when we are asked to abstain from meat? Well, throughout the 2,000 year history of the Church, there have been varying definitions over what exactly constitutes abstinence from meat. In some regions of the world, Catholics abstained from all forms of meat and all animal products, while others made exceptions for food like fish.
So what about fish? The thing is, fish never really had the same status as the flesh of mammals and birds. In Pope Paul VI's aforementioned document, he uses a particular word, carnis, to indicate the type of food from which we are to abstain. In Latin carnis specifically refers to mammals and birds only. Fish was never considered as being on the same level.
The brilliant thing in all of this is that this is simply a discipline of the Church.
I don't even like meat, and I would rather eat fish! I like that statement, because it strikes at the heart of why we are doing this.
God doesn't need us to give up meat. God doesn't need us to have a filet-o-fish on Fridays. What does God want? For you to suffer? NO! The heart of holiness is love, and the way we express our love is through obedience. Abstaining from meat won't make a person closer to God. But having a posture of obedience to the Church that Christ established will. This happens to be what the Church asks us to do. If the Church changed the discipline and told us to eat meat on all Fridays during Lent, then obedience to that discipline would help us to grow. Why? Because we sinners like to take the rebellious pose. We like to do it our way. It is hard for us to be told what to do. But to submit is to place our lives in our Father's hands.
If you resent having to give up meat because you see it as pointless, look more deeply into what prompts you to think that way. Is it really the Spirit of Christ? Or a spirit of rebellion? One of those roads leads to God. The other leads in the opposite direction.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGDVRe65YU8
Fr. Antonius David Tristianto, O.Carm.
Lent is about a week and a half underway, and readings on second Sunday of Lent remind us that everything we're commemorating during this season hinges on faith in Christ. He reveals to us the meaning of Lent, and he wants to be our light.
The First Reading from Genesis 12:1-4a reminds us that Abraham, our father in faith, set out based on a promise that was fulfilled through Christ.
Abram was promised to be the father of a great nation and a blessing to all nations. His name was destined to become renowned, and so it became.
He didn't receive many instructions, just to leave his kinsmen and set out. In the Letter to the Hebrews Abraham is described as our father in faith (cf. Catechism 145-146): "By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place which he was to receive as an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was to go" (Hebrews 11:8).
The Second Reading, 2 Timothy 1:8b-10, St. Paul reminds us that Christ was always at the center of our Heavenly Father's plans, even before we became aware of it. In Christ, everything is revealed.
Abraham died in faith, but never saw the promise completely fulfilled. When facing hardship we are consoled by considering when it will end.
For a Christian the cynical expression "life is hard, then you die" holds no weight. Christ has revealed that "life is hard, and then you live happily ever after" if you have faith in him.
Through the Gospel of Matthew (17:1-9), the Lord's closest disciples receive a glimpse of his divinity and glory on the mountaintop to strengthen them for the trials to come. They see what the fulfillment of the Lord's promises will look like.
The Lord only took Peter, James, and John. They were his closest disciples and had the most need of encouragement. Peter would be entrusted with Christ's flock in a special way. James would be the first apostle martyred. John would write some of the most sublime words of Sacred Scripture.
Our Lord's face and clothes became as light. His face, like sunlight, represents his person and, at this moment, his divinity. Moses and Elijah converse with Jesus. Our Lord is at the center. The Law (represented by Moses) and the Prophets (represented by Elijah) point to him.
If a transfigured Christ flanked by the greatest exponents of the Law and the Prophets is not enough, a theophany occurs as well: God the Father identifies Jesus as his son, and how pleased he is with him.
If Peter, James, and John had not believed in Christ, they wouldn't even be on this mountain. Their faith necessitated a glimpse of the promise that would prepare them for the trials and tragedy to come
During Lent, the Church asks us to prepare for Christ's passion and resurrection by making small sacrifices, traditionally in the form of prayer, fasting and almsgiving. But why do we sacrifice? What is a sacrifice, anyway?
St. Thomas Aquinas observes that "sacrifice" comes from Latin word: sacrificium. Sacrificium comes from sacer (holy) and facere (do or make). A sacrifice is a making-holy. Not only that, but St. Thomas' discussion of sacrifice reveals so much about our own nature and our relationship to God. He describes a sacrifice as a bodily act of offering to God a gift that is broken or transformed, so that we might return to God.
A bodily act
Sacrifice is fundamentally a religious act of offering a gift to God. But isn't this actually a bit strange? If God is all spirit, how could he possibly need our physical offerings?
St. Thomas explains that our physical offerings are not really for God's benefit, but for us. As a unity of body and soul, the human person experiences reality through the physical senses. Even God presents himself to us through the sensible things of creation. It is fitting, then, that we present ourselves to God through sensible things as well. Think of the Sacraments: all are visible signs of invisible grace. Lenten fasting and sacrifices are tiny sacramental signs of the true gift we give God: ourselves, body and soul.
A gift broken or transformed
However, a sacrifice is not just any gift. St. Thomas explains that an offering only becomes a sacrifice when it is changed: the goat is slaughtered, the bread is broken, the grain is consumed by fire. In being transformed, the offering is set apart and made holy. Christ himself, the consummate sacrifice, was mutilated, pierced and subjected to death.
But for these to be real sacrifices, something must be broken and transformed. Lenten practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving break little cracks in the brittle illusion of our own self-sufficiency. They invite us to acknowledge our own brokenness, susceptible as we all are to the corrupting effects of sin. And they invite God's grace to transform us and make us holy. "The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise" (Psalm 51:17).
Return to God
Why, then, do we sacrifice? We do it to return to God, and this return happens in two distinct ways. First, through sacrifice we "return to God" in the sense of giving back what we owe him. Of course, we can't possibly repay God for his gifts with an equal return—he is the source of our very existence! We owe him everything. Nevertheless, we can do our part: our small personal sacrifices signal the return of self back to God. And thankfully, Christ lovingly repaid our dues in full through his perfect self-sacrifice, which we too can offer to God every time we participate in the Mass.
Second, through sacrifice we "return to God" in the sense of turning back towards him over and over again. Like the Israelites, we are constantly turning away from God and towards sin. As God called Israel to repentance through the prophets, he still calls us: "Return to me with all your heart" (Joel 2:12).
Lenten practices help us shed bad habits and self-love. St. Thomas says these religious acts purify us to orient ourselves more single-mindedly towards God. When we respond thus to the divine call—when we offer ourselves up, body and soul, to be broken and transformed by his merciful love—we are made holy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBPuuYFTJv0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyjvdDdJWIg
Fr. Antonius David Tristianto, O.Carm.
If we only memorized one verse from the Bible, I would recommend the one that we heard this Sunday: "Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God."
If we happened to live 1,000 years ago, I would probably recommend a different verse.
But we live now. And right now, the biggest obstacle to our happiness and holiness is our culture's commercialist mentality.
The commercialist mentality says that all our problems can be solved by stuff, by bread. The commercialist mentality is the attitude encouraged by the commercials, advertisements, and billboards that we run into a hundred times a day, every day. The commercialist mentality says that if we have the right bank account, the right house, the right vacation spot, the right outfits, the right software, and the right job, everything will be all right.
All of these material things, all these loaves of bread, are good. They are part of this wonderful creation that God has generously given to us.
But they are not enough. They are necessary, but insufficient. They cannot solve our most important problems.
Because the human soul is much greater than a machine. We need something much greater than fuel and axel grease to make our lives run smoothly. We need truth.
We need to know and follow the truth about who we are and what we were created for. We need to drink in the truth that we are loved by God, personally, and that we are called to love him in return, with all the power and creativity of our being.
The deepest part of our soul is hungering not for bread, but for the Word of God, Jesus Christ, who is himself incarnate Truth and Love.
What is the point of Lent? What does the church say is the point of Lent?
The first prayer of the first mass of Lent goes like this: "Grant, o Lord, that we may begin with holy fasting this campaign of Christian service," like this military campaign. So that, as we take up the battle against spiritual evils, we may be armed with weapons of self-restraint.
The Church says that Lent is a battle against my own flesh; those temptations in my life that move me away from God. The church says that Lent is a battle against the things of the world that take my attention off God. The church says that Lent is a battle against the devil and his angels, and the church in her wisdom knows that we cannot do it alone.
Refocus, recommit, repent. Every year the church gives us this season of Lent where we all, so to speak, come to the "gym" together, where we all, go out into the "desert" together. Some of us do more difficult penances than others; some of us do different penances than others. Some of us are weaker, some of us are stronger, but all of us are doing the penance together! And all of us are skipping meat on Fridays together, in the whole world! All of us are fasting on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday together, in the whole world! All of us are praying for one another, cheering each other on that we might refocus, recommit, and repent.
And you know, all that is pretty much how Lent started. From the time of the apostles, we would fast; we as Christians would fast in preparation for the feast. We fast for Lent to prepare for Easter. Almost 1,500 years ago when people were wanting to come into the church to be baptized, they would enter into 40 days, more or less, of prayer and of fasting, to get ready. A long, long time ago, almost in the beginning of the church, when people were public sinners --murderers, adulterers, apostates, people who left the church, ---they would come at the beginning of Lent, put ashes on their heads, and repent and do penance, so as to be forgiven on Easter. And very soon other Christians said: I might already be a Christian, but I need to recommit to the commitment of my baptism. Pretty soon all the rest of the Christians said: I might not be a public sinner: I might not be a murderer or an adulterer or an apostate, someone who left the church, but I am a sinner! Even though not everybody can see my sin, even though my sin might not be mortal or grave, I am a sinner and I need to repent, too. I want to be in solidarity with my brothers and sisters. My brothers and sisters who are catechumens preparing to be baptized, my brothers and sisters who are penitents, who have done horrible public sins, but whom I love! Because they are Christians, too. And I am going to cheer them all by my penance and I am going to walk with them by my penance. And all of us are going to recommit, repent, and refocus together.
So this Lent, and every Lent, refocus, recommit, repent. Don't give up. Don't let the enemy drag you down. Persevere, suffer through! Engage with Lent and know, whatever your Lent is like, whatever your struggles are, that the whole church throughout the world, and throughout the centuries, is praying for you and is with you this Lent!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bB5OcyHRvhM
Fr. Antonius David Tristianto, O.Carm.
Although public masses on Sunday Mass and Daily Masses are suspended from 15th - 28th February 2020, our Church remains open from 07:00 am to 20:00 pm. Everyone is welcome to come and pray.
There will be an exposition of the Sacrament so that parishioner can make a personal adoration:
Parking at St. Stephen's:Please note that parking at St. Stephen's is NOT available until further notice during this peak period of widespread CoV
The February Teenage Group meeting is cancelled in light of the ongoing CoV situation.
When Jesus says, "You have learnt how it was said," he is making a clear reference to the Old Covenant, the Law of Moses.
That Law gave the Jewish people their unique standing among all the nations of the world, because God himself had given it to them - God's finger had inscribed the tablets of the law.
For 1,500 years, Israel's prophets and rabbis had interpreted it, applied it to changing circumstances, and exhorted the people to live it out.
But never in those fifteen centuries had a faithful Israelite ever claimed authority over it. After all, the Law had come directly from the Lord, so who could possibly have authority over it?
So, when Jesus says, "… but I say to you…" implying an addition to the Law, his listeners are faced with something entirely new, someone who claims authority over the Law of Moses.
Jesus is requiring of them a new allegiance and making way for a New Covenant. The Sermon on the Mount was revolutionary not only in its ideas, but in the claims of the Lord who gave it.
And this claim, this implicit claim to have authority over divine law and therefore to actually be divine, has consequences. It means that his commands demand obedience.
In the ancient world, obedience to a ruler was a familiar concept. In today's world, dominated by political democracies, it has become less so. In fact, today's critical, self-sufficient, democratic mindset (so useful for politics) can even seep into the Church (where it's much less useful).
But the truth of Christ doesn't change with fashions and referendums. In our relationship with Jesus and his Church, humble obedience to legitimate authority is a virtue, not a vice.
Each and every single thing in mass has significance. Every single movement, posture, word spoken, and thing done means something. The more you understand about what is going on in a Mass, the more you are able to appreciate its beauty.
The Sitting | Sitting is a posture of listening. Catholics sit for the first reading, the Psalm, and the second reading. We also sit for the offering, and the homily. We sit, ready to hear and receive. We sit to listen.
The Standing | For Prayer: Standing has been a posture of prayer for Jewish people since before the time of Jesus. Standing during prayer is also seen throughout different parts of the Bible. So, as Catholics, we continue to utilize this posture for prayer today.
Some examples of when we stand during Mass for prayer: When we pray the opening prayer, the Prayers of the Faithful, and The Lord's Prayer.
For the Creed. We stand as we say in unison what Christians have believed from the earliest times. We stand to affirm our unity and our beliefs together as Christians.
For the Gospel: Standing is also a sign of respect. We have many readings from the Bible during Mass, but we stand for the Gospel out of particular respect, since these are the words and deeds of Jesus himself.
For the Procession: We stand at the beginning and end of Mass, also as a sign of respect as the celebrant.
The Kneeling | Kneeling is a posture of respect and adoration. Another time when we kneel is during the preparation for and before/after reception of the Eucharist. We kneel, again, because we believe Jesus is fully and truly present in Communion. If you believed you were literally in the presence of Christ himself, falling to your knees would be a natural thing to do.
The postures of Mass can, likewise, reflect your state of mind, or it can help put you in the right one.If you come into Mass and you genuflect towards the tabernacle, because you are humbly acknowledging Christ's presence there, and if you sit, intent on listening with your mind, body, and soul, and if you stand, heart focused on prayer, and if you kneel acknowledging the presence of your Savior, then, then, you've got something.
As in all of the structures within Mass, and within Catholicism as a whole, there are so many tools to help move your heart, mind, and soul closer in relationship with Jesus.
Fr. Antonius David Tristianto, O.Carm.
Each of the lessons taught in today's Gospel passage could be expanded into an entire book. The core of them all, however, is in the heart.
Certainly, our exterior behavior must follow God's will. This is what Jesus means when he says, "Do not think I have come to abolish the law…"
But Jesus is trying to tell us that exterior behavior, that appearances, are not enough. For a true, faithful citizen of Christ's Kingdom, the attitudes and desires of the heart must also be in harmony with God's plan for our lives.
This is what Jesus means when he says: "I have come… to fulfill…" - to bring the Old Testament Law to its fulfillment.
Friendship with God (which is what Jesus offers) requires a union of hearts.
Christ is explaining the Law from this perspective when he explains the true meaning of sinful anger, lust, and lying.
If God "wills all men to be saved" (1Timothy 2:4), how can our friendship with him be complete when we harbor resentment or contempt towards some people, or tarnish their good name by spreading rumors about them or speaking ill of them?
How can I live in intimacy with a God who loves every man and woman as a father loves his children, when in my heart I desire to use some of them only as an object of pleasure and self-indulgence?
How can we be a true friend of God, when we make promises that we don't intend to keep?
Other people may be satisfied with merely exterior success, with a hefty "bottom line"; Christ, however, is interested in every line: he looks all the way in to our hearts.
Based on history, the act of genuflecting on one knee emanates from court etiquette and was also done while in the presence of a medieval king or noble. It was a sign of respect and also a pledge of service. Over time, Christians adopted this custom, and it became fully adopted into the liturgy of the Roman Rite by the 16th century.
Knowingly to the Jews and Christians, God has always been a king who is rich in mercy and boundless in love. In order to give honor to that "King of Love," Christians thought it fitting to pay homage and honor to him by genuflecting every time they enter his court.
Genuflection symbolizes our heart bowing before the Lord who is substantially and really present in the Eucharist. As Catholics, we believe that Jesus is truly present, Body, Blood, soul and divinity in the Holy Eucharist and so when we genuflect, we do so because we are in the presence of God. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC 1378) affirms this teaching, "In the liturgy of the Mass we express our faith in the real presence of Christ under the species of bread and wine by, among other ways, genuflecting or bowing deeply as a sign of adoration of the Lord". St. Ambrose said, "The knee is made flexible by which the offense of the Lord is mitigated, wrath appeased, grace called forth," and Alcuin later added, "By such a posture of the body we show forth our humbleness of heart."
Following the same line of thought, kneeling also holds a special place in fostering a proper reverence. Going back to our Lord's time, the Jewish people often stood while praying; however, when the occasion was solemn, the petition urgent, or the prayer was offered with great fervor, then the person humbly knelt before his God to pray. For instance, when Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, the gospel reads, He "went down on His knees and prayed…" (Luke 22:41).
Finally, we do these bodily actions because both our religion and our prayer, demands bodily expression. Because Jesus, the Risen One, gives himself in the Body, therefore, we have to respond in soul and body all the spiritual possibilities of our body are necessarily included in celebrating the Eucharist be it singing, speaking, keeping silence, sitting, standing and kneeling.
Fr. Antonius David Tristianto, O.Carm.
Usually when we think of poverty we think of the materially needy, but there are all kinds of poverty in the world today that we can help to address. Saint Teresa of Calcutta once said, "We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty".
Being a light in the world is not just satisfying material needs, but something deeper. Saint Teresa also said, "There is more hunger in the world for love and appreciation in this world than for bread".
The true poverty against which we must struggle is a poverty of love. As she put it, "It is not the magnitude of our actions but the amount of love that is put into them that matters". If you love, your actions will start to reflect it. This kind of "hunger" is everywhere, rich and poor. Seek to satisfy not only in what you do, but in how you do it.
Our Lord also reminds us in today's Gospel that Christianity is meant to be a light on a high place or a lamp stand: it is meant to shed light on many things, even things not directly considered Christian, because ultimately the Gospel is a message of truth and goodness that contributes to every level and sector of society, directly or indirectly.
There are ethical and philosophical truths that any reasonable person can consider, even if they don't believe any or some of the tenets of Christian faith, and those ethical and philosophical truths can open the door to their conversion. Instructing the ignorant is also a work of mercy. People are starved for love, but they're also starved for truth.
Charity begins at home. Feed yourself on true love and true knowledge so that you can share that love and knowledge with others. You need it and so do they.
Traditionally, we have placed fonts of Holy Water near the entrances of our Churches. We have fonts filled with Holy Water for blessings for three reasons: as a sign of repentance of sin, for protection from evil, and as a reminder of our Baptism.
The repentance of sin symbolized in the washing with water is reflected in Psalm 50. Remember, too, how St. John the Baptist called all to conversion used a ritual washing of water to signify the repentance of sin and purification.
These actions have been incorporated into our own Mass. In the Penitential Rite, one of the options is the Asperges, which includes the Rite of Blessing and Sprinkling with Holy Water. In all, each person again makes an act of repentance of sin.
Second, the Holy Water protects us against evil. In the prayer of blessing of water in the Sacramentary, priest pray: "Lord, God Almighty, creator of all life, of body and soul, we ask you to bless this water: as we use it in faith forgive our sins and save us from all illness and the power of evil. Lord, in your mercy give us living water, always springing up as a fountain of salvation; free us, body and soul, from every danger, and admit us to your presence in purity of heart."
Finally, Holy Water reminds us of our Baptism, when by the invocation of the Holy Trinity and the pouring of Holy Water, we were set free from Original Sin and all sin, infused with sanctifying grace, incorporated into the Church, and given the title Son or Daughter of God. In making the sign of the cross with the Holy Water, we are mindful that we are called to renew those baptismal promises of rejecting Satan, all His works, and all his empty promises, and to profess our credal faith. Once again, we repent of sin, so that we can offer our prayers and worship to God with pure and contrite hearts.
Fr. Antonius David Tristianto, O.Carm.
St. Anne's Church
1 Tung Tau Wan Road
Stanley, Hong Kong
Office Hours:
Sunday 8:30-1:30
Tue-Fri 9:00-12:00, 1:00-6:30
Closed on Statutory Holidays
Tel: +852 2813 0206
Fax: +852 2813 6908
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
