Monday 25 June 2012

Carrying A Pocket Bible At Work


Lucifer was enraged. Someone was caught violating the dress code in Hell. An alert demon reported that a staff had carried a pocket Bible along with her as she conducted her assigned work. For her misconduct, she was to be given the stiff penalty of serving as coal in Hell’s fire generation room.

Tuni Parata, a Sky Tower host, who worked for years in the Auckland gambling casino; was considered for citing of misconduct for carrying a pocket Bible at work. This incident figured in the front page of the national newspaper. The woman didn’t end up in the fire generation room of the casino (it doesn’t have one anyway), instead the company, due to public pressure, simply reminded her that she should not display the Bible openly while at work, and that she could read this during breaks.

In the Philippines, legislator Raymond Palatino has proposed the banning of religious images in public offices. Under the bill, the conduct of religious ceremonies such as prayers, masses and other liturgical celebrations as well as the display of religious symbols would be prohibited within the premises and perimeter of offices, departments and bureaus, including publicly-owned spaces and corridors within such places.

Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas strongly reacted to the proposed law, “There’s separation of church and state but there’s no separation of God and man. It’s crazy because if you separate the body from the soul, what do you create? A dead man. If you separate the soul of the nation from the nation, what do you have? A dead nation,” He further stated that losing our soul as a nation would be “the real downfall.”

Mgr. Anthony Figueirdo, addressing US Catholics said, "The Holy Father spoke of the challenges in marriage, in family life, in growing secularization, in education, but I think there was a common theme amidst all the challenges: that where God does not exist, where he is taken out of culture, civilisation itself begins to disintegrate." 

Christians must at all times be vanguards of the world. As much as we are at war against sin, so must we be at war against the low-intensity, yet lethal secularisation.

Monday 18 June 2012

God’s Tweets and Messages


Lady Gaga failed to perform in predominantly Muslim Indonesia due to mounting opposition for her risqué persona and provocative getups.  In Catholic Philippines, she was warned by the mayor of Manila that if she committed any indecent act in her sold out 2-nights The Born This Way Ball Tour, she’d go to jail.

While the protestors and the authorities took matters seriously, Mama Monster tweeted:  "Don't worry, if I get thrown in jail in Manila, Beyonce will just bail me out” and "Sold out night 2 in the Philippines, I love it here! The Jakarta situation is 2-fold: Indonesian authorities demand I censor the show and religious extremist separately, are threatening violence." As 500 Christian activists marched near the concert venue, the pop star, who wore a dress inspired by the Philippine national costume, performed the song, Judas, labeled as blasphemous by critics. She d
eclared in the concert, "I'm not a creature of your government, Manila." She was neither physically harmed nor jailed.

In secular New Zealand, it was business as usual, with fans whom she calls as “Little Monsters” congregating in the three sold out shows in Vector Arena, with no reported incident, except for one:  She was hit in the head by a metal pole during final show (June 10, 2012) that caused a concussion. One of the backup dancers accidentally struck the star with the set prop during the song Judas.

Things do not happen by chance. Everything happens for a reason. It said that Lady Gaga holes herself in her hotel room afraid that she’d be hurt, if mobbed. She thought she was safe on stage, but then in front of her fans, she nearly got knocked out. "To everything there is a season, and a time for each purpose under heaven." (Ecclesiastes 3:1) God does not talk to us directly, as He did to Moses. But He does give us signs and hints, if we get lost, if we are confused. If we do not read His messages, He does get angry. “God is a righteous judge, a God who expresses his wrath every day.” (Psalm 7:11)

God loves Lady Gaga, as He does all His children. God wants Lady Gaga to do good as He does all His children. “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28)

Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta can’t hide behind the mask of Lady Gaga forever. She must heed God’s tweets and messages. 

Monday 11 June 2012

Audience of One


The seats were all vacant, while the stage was filled with people. Together, they sang gleefully Chris Tomlin’s “How Great is our God”. It was the conclusion of Food & Music Feast 2012, the 5th founding anniversary of TawagAwit, a Catholic Ministry spreading God’s Word through music and other acts of love.

The celebration was held on Pentecost Sunday, and as Lead Servant of the ministry, I had asked the audience to come forward and join the Blessed John Paul II Mass Centre chapter in praising and glorifying the Lord.

“While there seems to be nobody in the audience, we are actually singing to the most important audience of all, our one audience – God,” I said.

The number was spontaneous, with all of us singing in total surrender to the Lord. Quite a number raised their hands to acknowledge the Spirit’s presence in our midst. By the end of the number, everyone was smiling, clearly manifesting the mirth only a generous God can give to His faithful children.

It has been a wondrous five year journey in the service of the Lord. There had been stumbles and falls along the way; but in the end, the Lord sends us brethren to help in the growing ministry. From a handful of people in 2007, we have grown from one group in St Mary’s Northcote to seven chapters in Auckland and Taupo, New Zealand.

I told my fellow servants about pursuing “our dream of establishing as many chapters as there are parishes in the world,” and in journeying with the Lord, “by going to the Holy Land during our life time, to visit the paths where Jesus walked.” Big dreams indeed, but for a believer “nothing is impossible with God.”
(Luke 1:37)

I know how great He is, I know how generous He can be to His servants, to His children. “Jew and Gentile are the same in this respect. They have the same Lord, who gives generously to all who call on him.” (Romans 10:12)

Tuesday 5 June 2012

Counter-Culture

“I didn’t know that he is Catholic,” the man told the priest, when the name of one person was mentioned during their conversation. The clergy said that the subject went to church every Sunday, and he found it surprising that the other individual didn’t know about the subject’s religious belief.

But then, when one lives in Western countries where secularism is the norm; openness to one’s faith is looked upon with disfavour. Thus, most people who believe in God would just go with the flow, abiding by rules twisted for liberated culture. Non-conformity becomes a threat to modern mores.  Those who stand firm on their faith are then subjected to discrimination.

For instance, boxer Manny Pacquiao reacting to a question on gay marriage, said that he was against same-sex marriage, contrary with President Barack Obama’s stance. While free thinking Americans lauded Obama, Pacquiao was inundated by criticisms to the extent that one group asked Nike to discontinue the boxer’s endorsement of the latter’s products. Pacquiao has realized that his opponents in this issue are more vicious than his archrival Floyd Mayweather, who has nothing but despicable words for him. 

Similarly in 2011, American football quarterback for the New York Jets and practicing Christian Tim Tebow had sour relations with secular media due to his agreeing to a pro-family advertisement sponsored by Focus on the Family for the Super Bowl.  There were loud objections from some sectors that such ad had no place on television, with others calling for a boycott against the network to pressure it to cancel the advertisement.

But the criticisms against Pacquiao and Tebow are nothing compared to the persecution of people of faith since the crucifixion of Jesus Christ until today.  Writer James Emery White says that “More Christians will be persecuted in 2012 than any year in recent memory.” He pointed out as the source of the phenomenon to the “clash of civilizations between the Muslim world and the predominantly Christian West, and Christianity is moving south toward the heart of the Muslim world.”

One writer in Australia even declared that “for some time now the Church has found herself under persecution in Australia, as she has in other parts of the world as well. The relentless and continued reporting in news media of criminal behaviour by a few clergy has become more than an attack. It has become persecution. The Catholic Church in Australia is being excoriated by enemies of the Church, by enemies of religion, by enemies of God.”

When Jesus warned the disciples on the sufferings that they would undergo, He was actually addressing us as well: "If the world hates you, remember that it hated me before you" (John 15:18). Saint Peter and Paul were both killed for their faith as did many saints and martyrs after them.

We Christians are tasked to counter culture. For the devil can easily tempt leaders and impose his rule upon societies in the material world. God has clearly set His commands, and that has not changed, and will not change.

We Christians must fight against the Dark Shadows that tend to cover the earth. We cannot lose against Satan, for we have God at our side. "I am with you always, yes, to the end of time." (Mt 28:20).