Happy New Year!

Every New Year, there is the tradition of making New Year's resolutions.  I would join in with the crowd but after awhile I realized that these resolutions only lasted for a few days, if that.  It was like going to confession to confess the interminable fault, only to keep repeating it yet again. So "What was the use?" summed up my attitude.  

Confession is one thing and I do keep going.  New Year resolutions are another.  Better not to make them at all, I judge, and so I don't.  

There is a saying in English which may explain away New Year resolutions.  It goes like this, "You can't teach an old dog new tricks".  I thought of this as I was in the swimming pool just now, facing the challenge of cold water.  It was cold.  I normally would avoid swimming in cold water but this time I did it as I was with a friend, and you know what?  I found it refreshing.  

We have lived through nearly a year of a pandemic.  It has taught us many things.  One is that we need to try new ways and allow newness to arise in our lives and our world, if for no other reason than simply the old ways have not all been working that well and have brought our world to this. 

As I look back on 2020, I recall that the pandemic stopped me in my regular routine of having a swim.  That has not been good for me.  Doing something outrageous and spontaneous by jumping into cold water for a swim has also refreshed my memory.  Swimming is good for me and I enjoy it. .  

I will not say that this is a New Year's resolution as they don't work.  I will just say - Happy New Year!  2021 is the year for getting back into my old routine of having a swim, cold water or not.      .     

Happy Christmas to All

The food was delicious and plantiful.  None was wasted as our table was shared with our refugee brothers and sisters.

Our choir sings Christmas songs with gusto. 

 

A happy table.

Let us share our Christmas with those less well off.  Donations please in the Santa stocking.

Another happy table.

All tables were happy.

These pictures are of our 10am Mass Community Christmas Brunch which we shared this Sunday after mass.  They tell the story.  No need for words.  Just and most impaortantly 

A Happy, Holy and Healthy Christmas to All! 

Christmas is Not a Lie

I watched a powerful documentary this week on Liu Xiaobo.  Liu was a Chinese human rights activist, writer and philosopher, who was named the Nobel Peace Laureate in 2010.  This honour was given to him while he was languishing in prison where he spent the rest of his life, being let out in 2017 so as to die out in the community.  What was his crime?  Speaking up for freedom, for the rights of all and for democracy in Communist China where state control is paramount.  

In 2008, in his last interview with Deutsche Welle, before being imprisoned for that last time, he made poignant statements that are worth sharing.   

In China, I pay a price for free and critical thinking.  If you do not choose this way, a way thought too risky, you will not pay the price I paid.  But if you are one who thinks, you will still have to pay a price.  You will be obliged to lie.  You will have to follow the dominant ideology to obtain and maintain a good income, a good job.  Impossible then to be concerned about (injustices and abuses).  Impossible to make the slightest criticism of the governement.  Impossible to express the tiniest, authentic opinion.  And all that for what?  For a materially comfortable life.  Well, I prefer to pay the high price of danger rather than become someone who lives a lie, rather than become someone who disowns his own conscience.  

WOW!!!  Ain't this something, and as we approach Christmas!  

Liu Xiaobo

I then ask the doubters of Christmas. 

How can wishing good for all humanity be silly? 

How can our wanting to experience some joy in life be silly? 

How can our wanting to be happy with friends and loved ones be silly? 

Yes, the popular story has become silly but treat it as good fun.  What is wrong with that?  

The pop Christmas story may be silly, I agree, but it is ultimately based on a true human story, full of love, pathos and risk.  It is real and it takes us beyond ourselves to a deeper place.  

Christmas is based on God's gift made possible through Mary's Yes.  She made her Yes on facing the truth and in the face of all odds.  It led her to living all the joys and costs that Yes implied.  

So Ho! Ho! Ho!  Why not?  If Liu Xiaobo was happy with his Yes, why can't we be happy with Mary's Yes and celebrate Christmas for the sake of a good life shared by all.  Joy to the world.

Time is now. It's now or never.

Time is here

Back in February, a friend needed somewhere to leave his bags while he went home to New Zealand for six weeks, then returning back to settle down in blissful retirement.  Well, we know what happened.  New Zealand went into strict lockdown in March and he was not able to return as planned.  Only now is he able to collect his bags and start his next stage in life.  Pandemic or no pandemic, life continues.  People make choices.  People have to move on and do so as they can.  .

 

Eureka!

Pandemic or no pandemic, Christmas is coming.  Watch out!  I have a joke with a friend that for Christmas, I will get him a cactus to remind him of a prickly situation in life.  I discovered that it is not easy to find where to buy a cactus.  I look and look, determined to find one.  Then in an unepected place and at an unexpected time, I discover cacti staring me in the face and I ask - Could I have a cactus?  So I am kindly given one and here is his cactus for Christmas.  This is a sure sign for me that Christmas will come, no matter what.  .

I enter my office early in the morning and what greets me?  My co-workers know how much I love Christmas and they have surprised me by putting up five stars, telling me that Christmas is here.  The message is loud and clear. We need a little Christmas and we need it now.  

"For (maybe) I've grown a little leaner, grown a little colder

Grown a little sadder, grown a little older 

And I need a little angel sitting on my shoulder 

Need a little Christmas now.     

For we need a little music, need a little laughter,

Need a little singing ringing through the rafter 

And we need a little snappy, happy ever after 

We need a little Christmas now!"

Christmas is here

The pandemic has become a great teacher, not the great threat, to our world.  It is teaching us much about life, about how to look after ourselves, how to treat others decently and how to look after our planet.  Truly, joy to the world.  All remains possible if we but believe.    

We are fragile

"Message is we are fragile but much more because of God who makes us who we are and makes us for being together.  Our fragility serves as a strong part of the glue that unites us with God and humanity.  I so believe that."

Stay awake.

I shared this with a good friend in response to her comment to me after she watched the 10am cathedral mass, being livestreamed last Sunday. This expressed my 'from the heart' summary of my message that I wanted to share.  Where did this one-off exchange arise from?  

Well, at the beginning of a Church year, of the Advent Season, I reflected on how fragile we all are as a basis for reflecting on how strong we are.  As fragile beings, where is our strength?  Standing alone we are fragile.  Standing together in God, we are much more.  

Fortuitously, before mass, I had a simple experience of my fragility when the zip on my religious habit got stuck.  What to do?  I could not tackle the challenge on my own.  I needed help and, thankfully, there was a nearby member of the community who happily came to my aid.  We sure do need each other.  That is the other side of our fragility.  

We fail, we suffer, we make mistakes, we hurt others and we get hurt.  That is all part of life, life that is fragile.  It is part of who we are.  It is a necessary part of the human glue that binds us together with God and each other.  

Truth is, if we only know power and strength, we may never appreciate God and the others who are with us on the journey.  We may never appreciate where we fit in life, that we are in this together.  The key messages of this pandemic are clear.  They speak of the glue of life.  

We show respect for each other in how we behave and treat others.  We stand together in human solidarity, leaving no one behind.  We are responsible for each other, looking out for the other, especially the weakest and most vulnerable.  Fragility is a constant reminder of what really matters in life and that none of us is a solo act in life.  

In our coming together, we will find a way to live a better life, to make our contribution to the world and to enjoy a good and fulfilling year ahead. So we can make the year ahead the best of years, a good year for one and all.   

Happy Advent!  Happy New Year!