Revolve

The recent financial crisis seems to rock the world of it's conventional and proven methodology. What used to be "secure" or "safe" deposit suddenly doesn't hold fast anymore. What used to be leading companies turned bankrupt overnight, billionaires became paupers and top management find themselves without jobs. "What has happened to our investments?" - became the talk-of-the-town.

I read with interest at one of the articles in "My Paper" this morning. The writer shared on his investments in life - family & friends. It was an unexpected reminder from the usual financial forecast on the outlook of the economy, industry and fund performance. I started to sit back & ask myself "what were my "investments" for the year 2008? What were my ROI (return on investment)? It has always been said that no dying man will ever list down his regret in life as "not spending enough time at work". But ironically, we revolve our world around career advancement & money-making. I still remember an activity that I used to do - shading on a pie chart (that represent the 24hrs of a day), the time "invested" on the various activities on a typical day in my life. As you have guessed it correctly, I spent the most hours on activities that are deemed the least important.

This year however, I was quite satisified on my "investments". I managed to come home a little earlier from work to play with my nephew & niece. Spending time watching them grow up is my "star" investment - something which will never come by again. Without a ministry this year, I also ended up spending time reaching out to friends & ex-ministry members. I'm rather surprised at this unexpected ROI - knowing them on a deeper level than I previously did when I was in ministry. It is likely that I will stick to this "investment strategy" for the next year. My world will continue to revolve around people.

This was the same strategy that Christ took when He chose the hopeless 12 apostles to be his missionaries. Did He have a Plan B? Nope. And I think that's when the world's first "trust" fund started. It was based on the trust of a solid foundation - the goodness within humankind, created in the blueprint of God's image & likeness. Are we bold enough to revolve our lives on this trust?

"The root of Christian love is not the will to love, but the faith that one is loved"

~ Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation

Evolve

I think one of the criteria we can use to gauge the level of development in a country is the emphasis given to the local arts scene. Looking back at the progress of Singapore, I am a living witness to our country's development, from emphasis on public infrastructure to economic stability and the recent establishment of a local Sports & Arts School.

Looking on a more macro level, how has our world developed? With 15 billion years of evolution, the world today continues to evolve, whether we like it or not. And so, it pays for us to spend some time asking ourselves : how have we evolved and towards what or where are we evolving?What is the benchmark that we should use as a gauge of our evolution?

The current book that I'm reading "The Humility of God ~ A Franciscan Perspective" by Sr. Ilia Delio, seems to suggest some insight. "There is only one Word of God and that Word spoken in history is Christ. God creates with a view toward Christ because Christ is the goal of creation, the object of God's love from all eternity. When we understand that Christ gives meaning and purpose to creation, we see that Incarnation is more than about ridding us of sins. As Zachary Hayes writes, Christ is not an afterthought on the part of God. Rather, God's primary purpose for becoming Incarnate is grounded in the divine desire to love, to be our beginning and our end, to be "God with us," in order that we might dwell in the presence of the divine. In this way, Christ is not an intrusion into an otherwise evolutionary universe. Rather, the whole process of evolution points to Christ. Margaret Pirkl indicates that the universe is an external emodiment of the inner Word of God; thus there is something incarnational throughout the whole creation. In the Incarnation itself there is a perfect fit between Christ and creation because everything has been made to resemble Christ."

I take consolation in what I read above. Knowing where I originated - created in the image & likeness of God. Christ was God's first thought. And because all things came into being through the Word, I bear the blueprint of Christ. Along life's journey, I'm now reassured that I'm not alone. I was not created & forgotten but that through the history of time, God Himself became Incarnated, to enter into my world, to remind - that He is with us. And finally, I'm given a glimpse of where I'm heading - the goal of becoming Christ to all. Yes, this is essentially where my evolution will take me. Each of us has the potential to be Christ whenever we reach out to hear the goodness within our hearts and to live them out in our actions.

Isn't this a nice thought for a change? We often thought of the world in 2080 as one with digitial, robotic, hi-tec accomplishment. We seem to be so caught up with efficiency & science that we neglect the moral & spiritual aspects of our well-being. How about a world evolving to become more loving, caring and forgiving? What's the point of a pro-longed life span (aided by the advancement of science) with a deformed soul? Could we still consider this as evolution?

"God utters each one of us as a little word, as a partial thought of Himself. That is why when the Word became flesh, there was a real "fit" between the divine nature and created human nature to receive the divine Word. From the "beginning," creation has had the capacity to receive God into it because it is a finite expression of the infinite Word of God."

~ Sr Ilia Delio, The Humility of God

Firm Foundation

The world was thrown into disarray recently with news of repeated tainted milk cases coming from China. It is sad how profits could drive one to adulterate milk with melamine. According to Reuters (Beijing), this has resulted in an estimated 94,000 victims in China thus far. Similar cases were beginning to surface in other parts of the world. As if a conspiracy has been set, we were then struck by yet another setback on the global financial sector - the collapse of the century old Lehman Brothers. This has impacted employees, investors, creditors, and government worldwide. The sub-prime mortgage crisis is like a bubble waiting to be burst that has plagued the US financial sector.

What is significant about both tragedies are the impact that they have wrought and the efforts involved to cover up the harm done. These cases teach us a thing or two in life. It is a timely reminder about accountability and the need for a firm foundation. There is simply no short-cuts in life. There comes a day of eventual reckoning. We reap what we sow. The same can be said about those of us in ministry as well. We never know the impact we have on other people's lives. Thus it is frustrating when we encounter people who gloss over what they impart in faith knowledge, or having insufficent preparation for the liturgy (e.g. choir etc). When we stinge on our preparation, how then can we expect the church to grow with passion, wisdom & mission?

But the output is as important as the input. This is the same principle why some banks & milk companies collapse & others do not. In order to do our mission effectively, we need to address the fundamentals - for whom & why are we doing it? We need to get our foundation right. This is probably the reason why many people today get so frustrated & despondent about ministry work. Many people claim that they are doing it for God but left unchecked, the real motive could for self acceptance, recognition, power etc could creep in. Jesus needs to be the foundation upon which we build our mission.

Sometimes, our involvement with ministry started out with good intentions, but along the way, our self interest took control. The questions raised by most frustrated victims of the 2 recent cases were : "how on earth did the actions escape detection?". Somehow, a checklist/control measure was missing or that the corporate culture was so strong that employees (or those in the top management) were led to believe that they did the right thing, and no harm was done. Today, I wonder if I too, have fallen prey to this fallacy. Have I stop to check on my values & actions? Following the crowd may not always necessarily be the right thing to do.

For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit;
For each tree is known by its own fruit.
For figs are not gathered from thorns,
Nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush.
The good man out of the good treasure of his heart produces good,
and the evil man out of his evil treasure produces evil;
for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.
"Why do you call me `Lord, Lord,' and not do what I tell you?
Every one who comes to me and hears my words and does them,
I will show you what he is like:
He is like a man building a house, who dug deep,
And laid the foundation upon rock;
And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house,
And could not shake it,
Because it had been well built.
But he who hears and does not do them is like a man
Who built a house on the ground
Without a foundation; against which the stream broke,
And immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great."
~ Luke 6 : 43 - 49