Our Custody concluded our year by preparing for the new year. For five days from 29 Nov to 3 Dec 2021, the friars in Singapore and Malaysia gathered in person (appropriately socially distanced, of course) and via Zoom (for those in Malaysia) for our Custody retreat. Sr Linda Lizada, a Cenacle Sister, journeyed with us as we reflected on the theme, “Hunger Pangs of Love”, and listened to where God is leading us and challenging us individually and as a fraternity.
We took this time of retreat and resting in the Lord to ready our souls for two big events in 2022. In July, we will gather as brothers for our Custody Assembly to reflect on the journey thus far and discern what the Lord is inviting and challenging us to. In October, we have the Chapter where we will make concrete recommendations and resolutions for the Custody Council to act upon for the next three years. Thus, the tilling of hearts at the retreat makes us ready to receive, plant and grow the seeds of hope and mission at the Assembly and the Chapter.
The seeds of hope and mission were also planted in our hearts for those of us who participated in the ordination of five of our friars as deacons. Friars Cosmas Francis, Crispus Mosinoh, Gerald Terence Saimel, Robin Toha and Sixtus Pitah Amit were ordained by the Archbishop of Singapore, Most Rev William Goh on 26 Nov 2021 at the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd. The new deacons began their Franciscan formation journey in 2014, and have since matured as responsible, empathic and authentic religious. It has been such a joy for me personally to witness their growth through the years. Let us keep them in prayer as they go about their diaconate attachments.
“With God, we are not merely rotating round an axis, but we are journeying in movement, and borrowing St Bonaventure’s words, our souls “journey into God”.
Derrick Yap, ofm
During these times, I sometimes ask myself if I have moved forward, if I am back in the same place where I started, or worse, if I have regressed. But is regression all that bad? Could it be that in regressing I actually open space for more growth to take place? And I am not in the same exact spot where I was years ago. Sometimes our vision is rather 2D, and the circle of life looks like it is bringing us back to the same spot. It could be that we are triggered by the same people, words and actions, or we spiral into the same patterns of behaviour or thinking that are not life-giving. However if we are intentional in our growth and place this growth in God’s garden of grace, then this 2D vision can morph into 3D. With God, we are not merely rotating round an axis, but we are journeying in movement, and borrowing St Bonaventure’s words, our souls “journey into God”.
As we enter the new year, we may make similar resolutions and have similar desires as in the past, and we may think to ourselves that we have not moved at all. Perhaps if we put God in our life’s equation, or rather, put ourselves in God’s equation, we may find ourselves actually spiralling into the depths of God’s peaceful presence. May this peace of the Lord be always yours.
On a quiet night two thousand years ago, God sent us the gift of His Son — Jesus, His gift of selfless love to redeem mankind from sin. We invite you to receive Jesus into your hearts and homes as you watch this video of Silent Night.
Wishing you and your family a blessed Christmas filled with Hope, Peace, Joy and Love and thank you for your generous friendship, continued prayers and unwavering support.
May the Lord bless you and keep you in the new year.
The seasons of Advent and Christmas offer us the possibility of doing things in other ways. The Pope speaks of the Church as a “field hospital”. God, he says, is not found in “neat, orderly places and things, distant from reality”. As we set out our Advent candles, cribs, Christmas trees and lights, do we remember that God walks by our side especially now with the world in turmoil? The Incarnation has given us the message that God has moved into our neighbourhoods. How does this theological reality impact our daily spiritual lives?
For many of us, our neighbourhoods can sometimes be depressing places where we live with anxiety, shame, guilt, fear and so many other feelings and behaviours that prevent us from knowing that we are indeed loved. God has moved into such neighbourhoods.
During Advent, the Isaiah readings during Mass invite us to embrace a God who has come to console us and free us from the prisons of our sins. John the Baptist encourages us to make straight paths in our lives so that we can see God as God really is, and not the way we want God to be.
Our celebration of Christmas can lead us to a deeper awareness of God’s presence in the messiness of our lives.
God is with us in good times and in bad. Couples professing their vows on their wedding day promise to be there for each other in good times and in bad. God, in the Incarnation of Jesus, has made the same promise to us. In Jesus, the new covenant, this promise is sealed forever.
But how do we know this for sure, especially during those times we cannot sense the presence of God? John Henry Newman, the 19th Century English theologian, scholar and poet, said his search for God did not end with his studies or his priesthood. He is quoted as saying “I sought to hear the voice of God and climbed the topmost steeple, but God declared: Go down again – I dwell among the people.”
In the Gospels, we find Jesus largely among ordinary people, the outcasts, the disease-ridden and those society had labelled unworthy or sinful. The Gospel of Matthew (25:31-46) clearly describes Jesus as not just among people, but as the least among them. The Gospel of John says: “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (John 1:14).
We rush to register for Mass, but a genuine desire to receive the Lord in the celebration of the Eucharist must be matched with an equally real longing to experience the same Lord in the lives of others – all others and not only like-mind people.
The language the psalmist uses describes the general nature of life for many people: “waters up to my neck”, “sinking into depths where there is no foothold”, “my eyes fail”, “shame covers my face”, etc. But there is steadfast faith that God will deliver. The psalmist prays “in your great love, O God, answer me with your sure salvation” (69:13).
Salvation. This is what we are assured of. God did not promise a life without struggles and challenges. Our lives can be messy. We struggle, we suffer, but as we do, we hold on to the sure and certain hope that the ultimate life that comes with God is ours, and will never be taken away from us.
Jesus showed that the way to a full life in the resurrection is to carry the cross of humanity’s burden, with our eyes fixed on God’s kingdom, and walk the path towards Easter. We tell ourselves that “this is only Friday, Sunday will come”. That is the blessed assurance given to us in the suffering of Christ. For as it says in Hebrews, “it is not as if we have a high priest who is incapable of feeling our weaknesses with us …” We believe in a God who knows what it means to be human.
So how can we express our faith anew in this season when we celebrate the Incarnation? At the opening Mass for the Synod on 10 October, Pope Francis encouraged the Church to become “experts in the art of encounter”. He invited us to walk together on the same road by encountering our God in one another. On this road we listen to others and to one another with the heart, with no judgment. When we encounter and listen to others sincerely, we then need to discern what changes we are invited to embrace in order to make room in our hearts for God.
May this Christmas truly become the feast of the Incarnation for each of us.
I’m dreaming of a white Christmas, just like the ones I used to know …
For some, that dream may come true this Christmas as more countries open up and Vaccinated Travel Lanes are established. Life appears to be normalising and we can look forward to freer movement and interacting in person a little more. I myself am looking forward to visiting the friars in Malaysia for I prefer a tactile and real encounter to meeting via virtual platforms.
Touch is the most intimate of senses, as St Bonaventure reminds us. Perhaps it was St Francis’ encounter with the leper that caught Bonaventure’s imagination. Some early biographies suggest that the leper was Christ, since the leper disappeared as Francis turned around to look for him after the encounter.
This is the human-ness of Franciscan spirituality, the continual enfleshment of the incarnation of Christ in our reality. The word “incarnate” is derived from the Latin word “caro”, meaning flesh.
This takes us to the question: Why did God become man? The divine nature took on human flesh with all its limitations and weaknesses to assure us that God does not leave us alone. He descended so that we can ascend.
God chose to come into the world in Bethlehem; to be born there in a manger, the dingy holding area for animals to rest and eat. In Hebrew, Bethlehem means “house of bread”, and manger in Italian is ”mangiare”, which means “to eat”. I hope you see this connection between the Eucharist, our Bread of Life, and the early signs revealed with Jesus’ birth. At the Eucharist, we touch the bread and we partake of it, making us one with it and one with all who partake of it: One Bread, One Body.
A modern complaint is that we do not know where we are going or to whom we belong. We long for a security that enfolds us in peace and nudges us forward in hope.
That’s what we, the Franciscan Friars, hope we can bring to those around us. We don’t pretend to have all the answers, but as we move around spreading the Good News of God’s Kingdom, we hope that those we encounter may feel centred in the Lord as they move about the world with all its victories and vicissitudes. And, in the spirit of poverty and humility of Francis, we allow the Good News to be preached by all creatures to us. That’s how St Francis saw his friars going about the world, to be channels and receptacles of God’s grace, peace and mercy. I hope this is how you experience us Franciscan friars!
That said, arriving at this state of being channels of God’s peace is no breeze. Just as we had to endure multiple restrictions and lockdowns during thepandemic in order to arrive at today’s freer state, our freer state of soul requires a similar rite of passage. There is a Latin adage “per angusta ad augusta” (through trials to triumph). Our pain can lead to glory if we dare journey the descent of God becoming man at Christmas, which ultimately leads to our ascent back to the Father at Easter.
