Category Archives: Allocutio

The Three Acts of the Resurrection Story

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5th April 2018 Allocutio
 
Spiritual Reading: Handbook page 294-295 points 13-16
 

The parish priests of St Helena Parish in Tangerang, Indonesia keep a few pet dogs. One of the dog approached a seated security guard looking exhausted with his tail drooping down. He rested his head on the security guard’s lap, and the security guard petted the dog’s head, rubbed his cheek and body for a minute or so with such great tenderness and love. Afterwards, the dog ran away leaping joyfully, looking refreshed, and wagging his tail to play with the other pet dogs.

There are 3 acts in this drama: the coming with burden, the being loved, and the going out joyfully. These 3 acts are similar to the 3 liturgical seasons that we had gone through and that we are going through now. We come and surrender our burdens to the Lord during Lent, being loved by Him throughout Holy Week, and being sent out to spread the joy of Easter in the Easter season and the ordinary time that follows.

Let us follow the drama from the point of view of the dog and reflect on the 3 acts.

In the first act, what burdens are we carrying now and what are we doing about it? Do our burdens include stresses at work or in school? Exhaustion from serving the Lord as a legionary? Dissatisfaction with out fruitless good works? Being angry at God for not freeing us from our bad habits despite our great efforts? Unforgiveness in the family or with friends?

In the second act, do we try to rely on our own power to carry these burdens/crosses in life? Do we give up hope in trying to be better? The Handbook says “No one is too bad to be uplifted”. Do we go to the Lord, as the security guard of our souls, and ask for help? Do we ask the Lord to renew us at every Mass to become better every time we participate in Mass? Do we savour the touching love from the Lord in our worship, prayer, and adoration?

In the third act, do we still dwell in past mistakes which has been totally forgiven by God? Do we joyfully share with others the love that we experienced as Easter people?

After encountering the petting on the head and loving rub from the Lord, we shall also reflect on the drama from the point of view of the security guard.

In the first act, are we availing ourselves and be ready to receive others that come to us with their burdens? Do we actively seek out the burdened and offer our shoulders to help carry their crosses in life? The Handbook says “Seek out and talk to every soul” in the active form and not be sought in the passive form.
 
In the second act, do our personal contacts become merely a work to fulfil obligation or do we “do small acts with great love” as St Teresa of Calcutta famously said. The Handbook also says that “the secret of influence is love”.
 
In the third act, have we changed peoples’ lives? Do we have the confidence that God will help us change people? The Handbook says “Not a single one of these encountered in visitation should be left on the same level as when found”.
 
This is what we are called to in the resurrection story. God rolled away the stone from Jesus’ tomb not for Jesus to come out, but for us to come in and experience the resurrection. We are invited to experience the 3 acts of the drama and we could be surprised on the renewal that we will have.
 
“Most people do not suspect what God could make out of them, if they would only place themselves at his disposal” – St. Ignatius of Loyola.

Being Set Apart for God through Personal Service

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3rd November 2017
 
Spiritual reading: HB pg 67-68 Chap 11 Scheme of the Legion, Pt 1 Personal Holiness: The object and Means
 
Allocutio:
 
The word holy is defined in the dictionary as “morally and spiritually excellent”. This means that in order to be holy, we must put effort in striving for such excellence, and the initiative is with us to do so. However, if we trace back the etymology of the word to its Latin root, Sanctum; it means to be set apart and dedicated or consecrated to God. Here the initiative lies with God, who chose us to be specially set apart and dedicated to Him. He ordered it to be this way and gives us the power and graces to be set apart for Him. This applies for both things and persons. For example, we cannot drink our teh peng in the chalice which is specially set apart to contain the blood of Jesus in the Mass, a lump of clay in statues is specially set apart and given blessing to become a holy object, Marriage is holy because the husband and wife are exclusively set apart for each other, Priesthood is holy because the priest is exclusively set apart to serve God without withholding anything back.
 
Since the initiative for holiness starts with God, He is also the source and originator of all holiness. This means we need to remain close to Him to be holy. That’s why St John says “apart from me you can do nothing”. So what does holiness has anything to do with the Legion of Mary?
 
The object of the Legion of Mary is the holiness of its members, and the HB suggests that the means to achieve this holiness is personal service. In fact, this chapter is sandwiched between Chapter 10 (The Legion Apostolate) and Chapter 12 (The external aims of the Legion). Why did the HB propose personal service to holiness? I’d like to suggest that this could be one way to discover what we are set apart for and it is a way to express our dedication to God and produce fruits. But we are not to do any kinds personal service, but those that are discerned under the influence of the Holy Spirit, having Divine Grace as its moving principle and support, as without the Holy Spirit as a guide, we might miss the target of holiness, and without Divine Grace, we could not do effective personal service.
 
Why do we need to pursue holiness? The HB says that the final end and purpose is the Glory of God and the salvation of souls. We strive for holiness to glorify God because only in glorifying God we will be fully happy. And we strive for holiness to save souls, not just our own soul and the soul of others as well (notice the plural form of souls). This means that if we fail to become what we are supposed to be set apart for, some souls may not be saved.
 
Understanding now the immensity of our universal call to holiness, how do we strive for holiness through personal service? We can imitate the spirit of Mary. The HB in Chapter 3 (Immediately after explaining the object of the Legion in Chapter 2) says that the Spirit of the Legion is Mary herself, and goes on to highlight a number of virtues of Mother Mary. I will highlight the first 3 virtues which could help us strive for holiness through personal service:

  1. Profound humility

    2. Humility means having a good knowledge of oneself with its positive and negative aspects. In the Magnificat, Mary accepted God’s marvels that God has bestowed upon her when she proclaimed “The Almighty has done great things for me”; and at the same time realised that she is just a creature and not the Creator, when she proclaimed “He looks on his servant in her lowliness.” We too must not reject God’s gifts and talents in us and must discern how are we to be set apart with these God-given blessings.

  2. Perfect obedience

    3. She always says yes without any reservation or any selfish consideration (no but’s, no what if’s), and especially perfect in her yes to suffering: fleeing Herod to Bethlehem, missing Jesus in His public ministry, enduring the excruciating crucifixion. We too must learn to obey when it is difficult to obey, especially so when it brings discomfort to us or is contrary to our will. For example, Do we obey the rules of the Handbook? Do we heed the call to action from the priest’s homily every Sunday? Do we obey God’s promptings to be more fully dedicated and set apart for Him?

  3. Angelic sweetness

    4. Angels glorify God without ceasing and are God’s messengers; and we think about cookies, cakes, babies when we think about sweetness, indicating a beautiful masterpiece created out of love, and left us feeling in awe. Thus, Mary’s angelic sweetness is her ability to convey God’s masterpiece in herself and by doing so, glorify God. How have we been messengers of God’s beauty in us leaving others feel in awe of, not of ourselves, but of God’s abundant blessings in us? And by doing so conveys God’s goodness to others and glorifying God in return? How have imitated Mary’s angelic sweetness and projecting it in our daily behaviour so that other can see that there are something amazingly and positively different with us Christians? That we are set apart by God and for God?

St Paul says “For this is the will of God, your sanctification”. The word sanctification means that we are still in the process of sanctification, because there are still some parts of us that we do not yet want to surrender to be fully dedicated and set apart for God, to be “unfailingly holy”. And therefore we need unfailing help to do so. In the Eucharistic Prayer III, the priest prays: … with the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, with your blessed Apostles and glorious Martyrs, and with all the Saints, on whose constant intercession in your presence, we rely for unfailing help.
So let us pray with the saints in heaven to obtain unfailing help to imitate Mary’s profound humility, perfect obedience, and angelic sweetness in performing our personal service, so in the end we can be unfailingly set apart for God to glorify Him and for the salvation of souls. Amen.

Being a Saint in Your Daily Life

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There was a group of salesmen went to a regional sales convention in Chicago . They had assured their wives that they would be home in plenty of time for Friday night’s dinner. In their rush, with tickets and briefcases, one of these salesmen inadvertently kicked over a table which held a display of apples. Apples flew everywhere. Without stopping or looking back, they all managed to reach the plane in time for their nearly-missed boarding.
ALL BUT ONE !!!
He told his buddies to go on without him, waved good-bye, told one of them to call his wife when they arrived at their home destination and explain his taking a later flight. Then he returned to the terminal where the apples were all over the terminal floor.
He was glad he did.
The 16 year old girl was totally blind! She was softly crying, tears running down her cheeks in frustration, and at the same time helplessly groping for her spilled produce as the crowd swirled about her, no one stopping and no one to care for her plight.
The salesman knelt on the floor with her, gathered up the apples, put them back on the table and helped organize her display. As he did this, he noticed that many of them had become battered and bruised; these he set aside in another basket. 
When he had finished, he pulled out his wallet and said to the girl, “Here, please take this $40 for the damage we did. Are you okay?” She nodded through her tears. He continued on with, “I hope we didn’t spoil your day too badly.”
As the salesman started to walk away, the bewildered blind girl called out to him, “Mister….” He paused and turned to look back into those blind eyes. She continued, “Are you Jesus?”
He stopped in mid-stride, and he wondered. Then slowly he made his way to catch the later flight with that question burning and bouncing about in his soul: “Are you Jesus?” Do people mistake you for Jesus?
That’s our destiny, is it not? To be so much like Jesus that people cannot tell the difference as we live and interact with a world that is blind to His love, life, and grace.
If we claim to know Him, we should live, walk and act as He would. Isn’t that what being a  Christian truly means? Knowing Him is more than simply quoting Scripture and going to church. It’s actually living the Word in through our words and deeds day by day.
It is easier to say than to do it. Most of the time we forget that we are called to be Christ for others. Most of the time we think more about ourselves than about others. Our problem seems to cover our eyes and we are blind to see and notice the sufferings of our brothers and sisters. What should we do then to be more like him? What should we do to be a real Christian? To be another Christ?
As we read on the Spiritual Reading, being a Chirstian, we are called to participate in Jesus’ missions
  •  Priestly mission in worshipping God both privately and publicly

We need to be grateful of everything in our lives. Whether it is a good thing or a bad thing. About two weeks ago, I had this idea crossed my mind: “There is no karma in this world.” Why? Because God loves us so much that he wouldn’t give us something bad. Even if something bad happens in our lives, it is for something better to come later on. It is for us to grow to be a better person and to come closer to Him. When we realize how much God has given for us, it becomes natural for us to always give thanks to Him and worship Him.

  • Prophetic mission in spreading the truths of faith through our words and action.

At the end of every mass that we attend, the Priest always instructs us ““Go in peace, glorifying the Lord with your life.” We are not only asked to preach the Gospel through words but also through our deeds. Through our whole lives. For how can someone believes in what you are saying when you are not living what you are saying.


  • Kingly mission by serving others out of love of God

In the Legion of Mary’s Standing Instruction, it is said, “Third, the performance of a substantial active legionary work, in the spirit of faith, and in union with Mary, in such fashion that in those worked for and in one’s fellow-members, the Person of our Lord is once again seen and served by Mary, his Mother.” It is hard, but when we love Jesus so much and when we can see Him in our brothers and sisters, it is not a problem to love them as well.

There was also this story of a reporter watched Mother Teresa of Calcutta as she cleaned the maggot-infested wound of a man on the street, only to say, “I wouldn’t do what you do for a million dollars.” Mother is supposed to have replied, immediately, with a bit of a wry smile, “I wouldn’t either.” She did it because she saw Christ in the poor. For her, each one of them was Jesus in disguise.

All of us are asked to be a SAINT. But God is very kind to us. He gives us cheat sheets everywhere. We have saints all around us that we can have as our models in our journey to be one. Pope Francis said, “Our world, especially young people, need models, people who show us how to bring out the best in ourselves, to use God-given gifts and talents and, in doing so, to point the way to a better future for our communities.” Here you go. The Pope has shared with you the key answer. To use our talents to make a better future for the community. We all have different talents and God gives that for a reason. He didn’t want us to just copy what the previous saints have done to become like them. He wants us to be us, to love Him with our own special way, to be our own version of another Christ.
I watched one documentary movie about Mother Theresa. Her journey with Christ is not always a walk near the green pasture. Sometimes, she experienced drought in her faith as well. There were times when she felt that God had abandoned her. But she kept holding on, because she believed that she was wrong. God would not ever abandon her.
The Pope said that the lives of saints are reminders that God never abandon us. Because through them we see Christ. In times of trial and suffering, He would send one of his angels to comfort us and fill us with consolation. And sometimes, the angel has a face and a human heart because God’s saints are always here, hidden among us.

Reading the signs of time in our earthly “internship” into heaven

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Spiritual reading:  Ecclesiastes 3:1-15
 
Allocutio:
 
I experienced 2 deaths in a short period of 3 months when I was away in Indonesia. I was reminded again that we do not know how much time we have. Unlike money which can be quantified exactly and thus can be planned, budgeted in order to use money wisely: a time to be frugal, a time to spend a big sum; time cannot be quantified exactly and is limited; and thus the only way to use it wisely is to use it wisely every day. Ironically, the limited nature of time makes it valuable. Basis principle of economy says that scarcity equals to value, the more scarce a resource is, the more valuable it is.
Time is valuable not just because it is limited, but it is also valuable because it is a gift from God, entrusted to us, as we are created into the confines of time and space. Because it is a gift, it can be taken from us at any time that God sees fitting, and in the end, we must be accountable to God about what we do with our God-given time.
 
After reflecting on my recent internship experience, I would like to suggest the analogy that the time that God gives us in this earthly life is like an internship before a full-time offer in heaven. Whatever we do with this time on earth can give an indication on how wisely do we spend eternal time in heaven. If we perform well, it is a good chance that we will perform well too in eternal time; if we perform badly, we might not get that eternal full-time offer. However, we need not worry because we have an internship supervisor (aka God) who is very good and loving, and always wants us to succeed in our time on earth. He gave us some tools and guidance on how to do well in this limited time on earth:
 
  1. St. Ignatius of Loyola in his Spiritual Exercises invites the retreatants to reflect on death: imagine yourself at your deathbed, and think about what eulogies do you want other people to say about yourself? It is a way of beginning with the end in mind which will help to shape our daily living

  2. Since time is a gift from God, time has something to offer us. God sews in hidden messages in time as clues to guide our earthly life. If only we can read the signs of times and discern the events that has been happening in our lives. We should take a step back/retreat, review our life prayerfully, notice patterns, and the calling for next steps.

    3. After reflecting on some of experiences, I feel that the Legion of Mary in NTU is called to do hospital visitations as one of our apostolic works. It is a new venture that we could embark on and it is the “first work the Legion ever undertook and for a while it did no other. It teemed with blessings for the infant organisation, and the Legion desires that this work will ever be attended to by its praesidia.” (HB pg 236) Follow me on how do I come to this call by reading the signs of time:

    • Fr Agus (my SD, 2 years ago) was a legionary, visited 2 patients with a friend, one became a priest and one became a religious brother. Reminds me of how a simple act could have great impacts
    • Visited Alex Nyew (Mar 2017) in Ng Teng Fong: felt loved more than I gave love. It is a time where I felt lonely and I felt God’s company after the visit, had a long conversation and returning from the hospital, I remembered a verse from Luke 24:32, “Were not our hearts burning within us, while he talk to us on the road?”
    • 1stSenatus meeting: inspired by a small praesidium who did lots of hospital visitation
    • Summer holiday: 2 deaths in 3 months, I also accompanied my grandma to see a doctor because of her fall
    • Gary at welcome tea sharing about WSC’s hospital visitation and the required training/interview

    Perhaps, this calling could be verified by your own life experience and reading of the signs of times

  3. Time is meant to be enjoyed. “I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live; also that it is God’s gift to man that every one should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil” (Ecclesiastes 3:12-13). God wants us to enjoy our time on earth. Going back to the internship analogy, If we cannot enjoy our limited time here on earth, what makes us think that we can enjoy eternal life in heaven.
    4. The more joyful we are, the closer we are to heaven. Verified by a simple mathematical equation: time = 1/joy. As joy approaches infinity, time approaches zero, back to the beginning. John 1:1 – in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word is God. At t=0, we return to meet God face-to-face in heaven, where we will have infinite joy.

Won’t Give Him Up

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Allocutio 30 June 17- Gospel of Matthew 27:45-50

New American Bible, Revised Edition (NABRE) can be accessed in the following link (courtesy of: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops)

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For the past few weeks, I have felt quite lost and disconnected from God. Several continuous mishaps, misfortunes, plans-go-wrong, and all other similar stuffs have clouded my days and I just couldn’t seem to find Him in it all. The situation was worsened by the fact that I was also struggling with my prayer life. Half of me was like, “I’ll pray to Him no matter what”. The other half was like, “Hello, God, where are you? Can’t seem to hear anything from you.” He was just, too far from me now.

And so, with all these dark clouds above my head, I sat with an empty head and empty heart on Thursday night. I was trying to fulfil my task of delivering an allocutio to my fellow legionaries. I felt helpless, and so I devised a plan. I was thinking to apologize in the meeting, and just read out the daily reflection from “Laudate” apps as replacement for the allocutio. With that in mind, I went ahead to open that apps in my mobile. I clicked on the first tab, “Daily Readings & Saint of the Day”. The page opened up to reveal more tabs, one of them is the “Reflections” tab that I was looking for. But before I went straight to it, my eyes caught sight of another tab, “Saint of the day”. I didn’t intend to see, but I clicked it anyway, thinking that perhaps reading some saints’ stories could lift up my mood. (I liked reading saints’ stories when I was younger, FYI)

There, I was greeted with the title, “Saint Maria Goretti”. I remembered I have read it once when I was young, but I couldn’t remember the details, and so I decided to read on. Beautiful, pious farm girl, Maria Goretti was martyred at the young age of 12 years-old. A 19-years-old male neighbor has tried to rape her, but she fought fiercely, even reminded the attacker that he could go to hell for his sin. The attacker, Alessandro Serenelli, tried to choke her into submission, and then stabbed her 14 times. Maria Goretti survived in the hospital for two days, enough for her to forgive her attacker and even asked God’s forgiveness for him, before died holding a crucifix and medal of Our Lady. As for Alessandro, he later received a vision of Maria Goretti which will then lead to his repentance and conversion.

I felt ashamed. At such a young age, Maria Goretti displayed great spiritual maturity. Despite the horrific thing that she experienced, she remained firm in her faith. And yet, here I am, a 26-years-old woman, whining at God for some petty stuffs, in comparison with what Maria Goretti had endured.
I felt even more embarrassed, when I remembered how Legionaries are always called to persevere. How am I suppose to live that calling up, if even for small stuffs I have already whined to God?

At that moment, I decided not to proceed with my initial plan of “replacing allocutio with daily reflection”. Instead, although embarrassing, I decided to share with my fellow legionaries on my struggle, and this embarrassing realization on how childish I was, spiritually. Never again this thought of giving Him up comes to me, I hope!

Apostolic work and Lukewarmness

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I find the handbook reading from page 35-37 connects very well with my personal reading about lukewarmness. Both readings give me warning about bargaining spirit which can lead to loss of supernatural vision. Fr Francis Carvajal in the book of “lukewarmness: a devil in disguise” suggested one of the characteristics of a lukewarm person which is to bargain. The lukewarm person tends to reduce his/her relationship with God into mere bargaining. He/she may be reluctant to sacrifice time or resources and focus on personal gain. As a legionary, sometimes, we need to sacrifice our time and resources to perform our work. If we are not careful, we can fall to this trap of bargaining to God.
Next, about supernatural vision, our handbook reading reminds us that in our work, we actually work for Mary. This reminds us not only to pursue result but something greater as well. Result is indeed important, but let us not forget that we are the slaves of Mary. We are employed to Mary. Mary will take our work and convert it for the glory of God.

Last but not least, as slaves of Mary, let us be courageous and total in our work. In our daily life, we constantly face the spiritual warfare. Life is a denial, we deny either our cross or the easiness that the world offers.

Too ashamed of your sin? That might lead you to more sin

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Spiritual Reading:
Handbook Chapter 32, Section 23, Page 300
There Need Never Be Discouragement

Allocutio
By Edson
We have all been there: You committed a sin. You feel guilty. 
You know what you did, or did not do, or thought, or felt, is wrong. You feel shame.
Your conscience bothers you—and rightfully so.
So you start hating yourself. You feel extremely unworthy. You fall into despair.
That guilt, however, is not helping you, for it might be turning you away from God even more. 
Your despair might be causing you to sin.
In his homily on 16 June 2017, Pope Francis underscored the importance of shame in protecting us from hypocrisy.
But in a world full of hatred, where many are quick to judge, where the pressure of perfection can be unforgiving, sinners often face discouragement rather than mercy.
When we feel discouraged, when we feel despair because of our sinfulness, we can turn to these words from St. Maximilian Kolbe:
Our guilt, our shame, should bring us closer to the Lord by reminding us of our weakness and of God’s infinite mercy.

Our shame should bring us closer to Mother Mary, make us turn to prayer, drive us to hope for God’s graces through confession and mortification, and encourage us to also never discourage other sinners.

Salt of the world

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Mt 5:13-16.
Be the salt of the world
Salt is a critical necessity of human body. It is important for nerve and muscle function, regulation of body fluids and control of blood pressure. Without the presence of salt, one cannot survive.
Salt can enhances human’s taste of food, therefore it is used to season as well as to preserve food by pickling (we all know that kimchi is famous).
Salt can also be used to debacterize.
In Mt 5:13-16, Jesus called the disciples to be the salt of the world. Reflecting the functions of salt to human life, we understand that:

Jesus demand the disciples to bring his Words to the world, so that his words became an essential part of the world, such that they are so important that the world can’t live without them, like a human body cannot live without salt.

Besides, as Jesus called his disciples “salt”, he told the disciples to go to season the world with God’s love and compassion.

And last but not least, Jesus called his disciples to be the salt that purifies and preserves lives and souls.

There may be of course trials and tribulations that threaten to dilute our “saltiness”, but we pray to God that He always protect the salt in our heart and use it as his instrument. The mission Jesus gave is not only to the his disciples but also to every Christian. Let us always remind ourselves the mission of being the salt of the world.