I Am Not Letting Go

5th Sunday of Lent

My dear friends,

Every friar will tell you that we live in a community made up of different nationalities and personalities. We have varied backgrounds and cultures. I am from Sabah and as a Sabahan, English is not my main language. Some of us will consider English as a third language. Malay being our first. But, it doesn’t stop me from learning and improving on my communication skills. Effective communication is essential to bridge any differences.

When I first arrived here in Singapore, I was afraid to speak up, I preferred to cook. Cooking was and still is my language of love. But, I understand the importance of learning the language! The need to speak up and to communicate confidently with the people I meet.

Communication is the key to any relationship.

Likewise, God communicates with us right from the very beginning as stated in Genesis. God wants to have a relationship with us all the time. The Prophet Jeremiah invites us to realise that God makes a continuous effort to reach out to the Jews and build a covenantal relationship. However, they broke the covenant every time they sinned. They worshipped other gods and idols, and they broke His laws. God,however, never stopped from loving and continuously re-establishes His relationship with them.

His only reason is because He loved them. He wanted to have a special relationship with them. To build a relationship, it involves two parties; the giver and the receiver. God intends to show us that He is loving and forgiving. Sometimes, we misinterpret God’s loving care. We think, He is upset with us when our prayers are unanswered.

Well, let me ask you this? For the young, how do you know that your parents love you? Is it when your parents buy you a new gadget like the latest Ipad, Xbox one, laptop or get you a new Iphone X?

And you, couples, how do know that your spouse is truthful? Or he loves you very much? Is it when he brings you out for a dinner? Or allows you to use the credit card to buy a diamond ring or a brand new car? Or anything you fancy?

Perhaps, this is how we EXPRESS our love! However, is this TRUE love? Is it?

My brothers, my community (oh my..), They are very loving, don’t you think so? They will show their love, not by buying me an Iphone X, nor a diamond ring! They will check and correct me when I need to work on my homily! Sometimes, they will give me such headaches but trust me, they are loving and very sincere! I am very CERTAIN! Just as you know how much your family loves you!

But, how do we know if this is a pure love? Love is real when truth is spoken. Love aims at truth. But can we handle the truth? Are we willing to hear it even when the truth can hurt at times? No one likes criticism or to be corrected. But by telling each other the truth, now, we become aware of our mistakes. In order for us to learn from our mistakes, we need die to ourselves. We need to be humble and take it positively. Accept it lovingly!

Similarly, God corrects us through and through. He doesn’t want to destroy our relationship. We think, God punishes us sometimes, but if we can understand His true love, God loves us unconditionally, and He is the Truth, the Way! We learn to accept knowing that He is leading us to Himself. However, sometimes we refuse His love because we don’t want to be corrected or to die to ourselves.

“Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat. But if it dies, it produces much fruit.”

Once, there was a well known trap used by hunters to catch monkeys. But I have yet to try! What they do is to take a coconut and they cut a hole inside the coconut. Empty it out, they make the hole just big enough, so that the open hand of the monkey can fit in the hole but the fist cannot.

They put some kind of bait like fruit inside the coconut to attract the monkey in. They tie the coconut to a tree, and they wait. Interestingly, what they found is that monkeys are greedy. The monkey sticks its little hand inside the coconut to try to pull the fruit out but can’t get it out. And when the hunter approaches, they try even harder to pull the fruit out. But they won’t be able to do it. And then, the monkey gets captured. All that the monkey had to do was open his hand, let go of the fruit and it would have been freed. But his GREED BLINDS him. His attachment to the prize is so strong that he sacrifices his life for it.