为真理而活还是活在迷惑中？

有些人在某些事情上明明是犯了错误而不敢面对事实而认错。更不应该的胡乱指控被人，贬低别人，以各种负面的言辞为自己辩护，完全没有擦清楚事实的真相而固执己见。

当他们的错误被揭穿时，不但不认错而且选择沉默或是把事情掩盖起来。有些更是随机应变，转移焦点或是找个替死鬼作为代罪羔羊。

我们之中可能有类似的人选？难道大家都忘了什么是谦虚，真理和诚实吗？是否因面子的关系而选择自我辩护，野蛮和自私自利？只顾自己的利益却不理别人福利，低估和藐视别人的尊严？总有一天，事实会被揭穿，到时颜面何在？因此活在事实中比活在迷惑中更有意义！希望大家不要活在虚幻中而勇敢且谦谦虚虚地跟随主的步伐吧。

一旦道别的时机来临了

我曾经遇到死者家属来到神父楼， 要求神父为死者举行殡葬弥撒因为死者是教友。当然我们了解家属的当时心情，除了给他们慰问以外，我认为死者家属更应该把死者的临洗证书提供给神父，证明死者的确是虔诚的教友； 除非死者在教会里是活跃分子。

有关此事，有些人认为教会太过武断或是无情，我认为不是。我们都知道，只有热心教友才有资格领圣事或是教会其他礼仪。有些人为了节省殡葬费用，就浑水摸鱼的在教会里举行仪式。其实，外教殡葬礼仪太过繁多：诸如请和尚和尼姑诵经，道士做法超度，再加上棺木的价格等等，到时死者家属荷包大出血。如果死者生前已经皈依其他宗教信仰，而他们强调要以他们宗教仪式入葬时，那不是给教会带来不必要的麻烦？不久前，大家都应该在报章上看到类似的新闻。

因此，临洗证书是重要的文件，虽然证明死者已和其他宗教没有任何关系的文件可随意得到。很多人都会小心翼翼地照顾他们的身份证，驾照，银行各类提款卡 或护照，因为知道遗失这些文件，后果不堪设想。但是就没有好好地保存临洗证书，以便在需要时提供作证。时常我们会说明天才去整理这些文件。

假如，你的明天永远不再来的话，那么你就会给家属添更多的麻烦和忧虑。因此我呼吁教友们要好好保存临洗或其他圣事证书，以方便应用，千万不要再拖延。

Be Careful, and Stay Pure

Once upon a time, in an environment of different leadership, in a parish not too far away, I came across a situation which to some may appear to be from the realm of make believe, or from some Hollywood or Bollywood thriller or drama, but what had come to pass was an actual incident which ought to remind us to be careful of one's conduct, and not end up in dire straits or in deep trouble (in Chinese, some would call it "chaaam laa" or "完蛋了 wan dan la" or "sei for loh").

I was in my office getting some things done, when a young man came to see me. He looked very distraught, distressed and haggard, occasionally glancing back, possibly in fear, to see if he was being followed. I asked him what was the matter, and he sat down and sobbed profusely. If you wanted to see a grown man cry, this guy was one example to behold. I did not know or recognise the man, nor did I have any idea who he was or where he was from, but he needed to see someone and there I was, in front of him, waiting for him to tell his story.

Then, after several soaked tissues later, he poured out his story...

It seems that this young man had met a young girl in an entertainment establishment, and after a few shots (not "tembak senapang" - other kind of shot, if you know what I mean), he became friendlier towards her, and she brought him to a different place, apparently to get to know each other better. One thing led to another, and according to the young man, they ended up "frying sotong" (ahem... ahem... - if you get my drift). When the young man woke up, he found himself in a strange and unfamiliar place, and went back to his home, not realising at that time, the consequences of what had transpired and what was to take place.

Then, many months later, the young man was shocked to receive several summonses for "roti dalam ketuhar" or "bun in the oven" support. Upon inquiring further, the young man found out that, to his utter shock, and dismay, that young girl had had the audacity to collect "wild oats" that had been sown, and distribute it among several of her associates, leading to several of them having "buns in ovens." How such things could happen, I do not know, but apparently it had come to pass, and this young man was now being hounded and sought. Why did that girl do such despicable things? I suspect that it could be for the money, and some could stoop so low just to gain some form of financial security.

The young man was desperate, and beseeched and begged me, asking me whether there was some way I could help. So how? I could not do much for him financially, and felt that one likely option was that he may need to make a police report and seek legal help, to see whether some way could be found to salvage the situation, or rescue him from impending disaster. After that, he hastily left my office, and I never saw or heard from him again. I prayed that he would be alright, knowing that he had landed himself in hot soup, and getting out of it would certainly be no walk in the park.

So what does this incident tell us? To put it simply, “don’t cari pasal,” “don’t mess around,” “look before you leap,” “watch what you do.” Words of caution become meaningless once a person has landed oneself in such a situation or such a mess. Why have a moment of pleasure, and a possible lifetime of suffering? I pray that we maintain our purity, and not endanger ourselves into falling in such a manner.

When the Time is Near to Say Goodbye

Every once in a while, I come across people who come and claim that a loved one has passed away and a funeral is requested in a Catholic church, because the next-of-kin claims that the recently deceased was baptised as a Catholic. While we empathise with such persons and offer our condolences, it may also be necessarily to furnish some proof or evidence that the recently deceased was indeed baptised and a practising Catholic, especially if we are not too familiar with the persons affected, or have not seen or heard of such persons affected.

Some of you may be wondering: "Are we being judgemental here?" Actually, no. As many of us know or ought to know, a person must be baptised and a practising Catholic before other sacraments or church rites could be administered. Also, some persons have, in the past, tried to find an easy way out or save cost by having a Christian burial, as a non-Christian funeral could rack up a substantial amount (for example, a funeral and burial according to certain Chinese customs could really burn a massive hole in your wallet, especially after taking into consideration the cost of the coffin, getting the services of a Taoist priest, Buddhist monk or some Chinese-belief religious leader; as well as other funeral expenses). Moreover, if a person has been found to have converted to a certain faith, the authorities of that faith would want to claim the body of the recently deceased for funeral rites of that faith, seeing how such issues had occurred in the not-too-distant past, and caused much consternation and anguish among the next-of-kin.  If such a scenario happens, a baptism certificate may not make much of a difference, though it may come in handy should it be somehow proven that the person's conversion to the other faith is null and void.

That is why, a baptism certificate is such an important document for all baptised Catholics. It seems strange that many of us would be careful not to lose our IC (Identity card, especially in Malaysia and in some other countries), or some other important document such as a driver's license or passport. Also, it seems strange that many of us would be extra cautious not to lose our ATM bank card, credit cards or debit cards, since we know the consequences of losing such important items. Yet when it comes to the baptism certificate, I wonder how many of us make the effort to keep it in a safe place where it could be retrieved and referred to when the need arises. Also, I wonder how many of us make effort to ensure that we have our baptism and other sacrament records kept up-to-date, and have a latest baptism certificate at hand, should the need to furnish one arises.

The question we need to ask ourselves is this: if tomorrow never comes, would our family members have the necessary documentation to proceed with the necessary preparations? Would we want to add to the anxiety and pain already being experienced by our loved ones? Let us not slack or procrastinate further, and do ourselves and everyone else some charity and mercy, by ensuring our baptism certificate and other sacrament certificates are up-to-date and accessible.

Painting Masterpieces Through Song

I sometimes cringe when I hear some musicians play at church. Some of these musicians are known as "music taugeh only" musicians. This means that such musicians are unable to play beyond the music notes and chords. Give them a hymn with no proper music notes or chords, and they will go into "Defcon 4" (in other words, they would seriously panic as they may have little idea how to play the song properly, even though it may be a common or easy to pick up after hearing a few times one). Such musicians are unable to play by ear, or have difficulty in doing so.

Another group of musicians I sometimes come across are those who we could classify as "pakai hantam" or "simply play" types. Their chording and melody line is sometimes "messed up" or just plain "out" (a slang for "not sounding right" or played incorrectly). Some of these musicians really butcher the hymn, even to the extend of rendering it unrecognisable. While we do get some of such musicians who are somehow able to "pakai hantam" and sound decent, we should make every effort to get the music and chording right, so that future musicians would be able to pick up the music and play properly accordingly.

When it comes to playing music in church, there is such a thing as art, some science involved, and finesse. One needs to learn the hymn well, and be ready to improvise and give the hymn extra oomph with a combination of proper melody, supporting expressive tones, and where possible, stylo-milo chording. We could get by with basic chords, but it may not bring out the full expression and beauty of the hymn.

That is why playing church hymns should be treated like one is painting a masterpiece. If we want to encourage our faithful to sing with even more gusto, and if we want to do justice to the hymns, we need to go beyond just playing for the sake of playing, or only depending on the written music or a certain fixated style of playing. The songs and hymns can be enhanced and improvised, if one makes the effort to learn the hymn well, and then make effort to enhance the sound with some flowing notes or "flowerly" playing, together with better chording. May our musicians see themselves more and more as artists, with the intention to glorify God through music.

To get an idea of how one could enhance or do justice to the songs or hymns, here is an example of how "Amazing Grace" could be played. This audio file seems to be fine when played on most browsers. If you are unable to hear the audio file, you could try viewing this blog on a different browser (I believe Google Chrome works great).



Also, here is a music notation of Amazing Grace for you to try out:

我们是否慷慨大方或是吝啬？

耶穌抬头观看、见財主把捐献投在银库里。 又見一个穷寡妇、投了两个小钱。 就说、我实在告訴你们。这穷寡妇、所投的比众人还要多。 因为众人都是自己有余、拿出来投在银库里。而这寡妇是自己的不足、把她一切的生活费都投上了。 

( 路 21:1 – 4 )

在今天的福音里，我们知道那位穷寡妇投了两个小铜钱进圣殿银库里。当时的两小铜钱在今天的社会里，简直小的可怜，也许相等于RM1.50。试问这笔钱能够买到多少东西？因此，那位穷寡妇所投入的是很微小的数目。不过，我曾经见过很多非常富有的教友，比那位穷寡妇富裕百倍，在献捐时，只投入RM1.00 而沾沾自喜。可是那穷寡妇所献的是她一天的生活费啊！

穷寡妇生活在困境中，可能都依靠邻居或别人的施舍来过活。不过，她不顾自己是否晚餐能的饱暖， 一心一意而其乐融融地奉献给天主。众人只看到富豪的慷慨大方，却不见那穷寡妇从她那破烂的衣袋里掏出两个小铜钱献捐给天主时所流露出的喜乐！虽然没人见到这情景，但是天主明察秋毫，耶稣看的很清楚。然后祂对门徒说，“你们大家都看到吗？”门徒们便往耶稣所指的方向看去，只见到那穷寡妇慢慢地离开银库。耶稣对门徒说，“ 那位穷寡妇比所有富翁所献捐的还要多！” 门徒对耶稣的话感到很惊讶。以为耶稣所说的是不可理喻；因为两小铜钱怎么能比得上富豪们所献捐的千千万万？大家都以为耶稣有些不对劲，不可理喻，懵懵懂懂，更是颠倒是非。

耶稣接着说,  “ 那些人所献捐的是他们财富的一部分，而那穷寡妇切付出了她的一却所有。”耶稣是否告诉我们要把全部的财富都献捐出来？当然没有！耶稣只不过要我们诚心奉献，并且量力而为。

所谓“量力而为”即是说衡量本身的财富然后根据自己的比例而捐献。“因 为 多 给 谁 ， 就 向 谁 多 取 ； 多 托 谁 ， 就 向 谁 多 要 。”（ 路 12:48 ）只要我们是诚心诚意而且乐意捐献的，又把它当着一种牺牲的奉献， 那就是主的祝福。当然我们的奉献不会在主面前赢得特别功劳，因为这毕竟不是一场比赛.不过，当我们每个人做任何奉献时，天主无时无刻地注意我们的举动。别人知道与否是不重要的；最好他们不晓得；只要天主看到就好了。 “ 你在 暗 中 施 捨 的 事 情， 你 父 在 暗 中 察 看 ， 必 然 报 答 你 。”（ 玛 6:4 ）“量力而为”的另外一个意思叫我们不要小看自己微小的奉献，在天主的眼里，那是你最诚恳奉献了。因此，不要把“大就好”世俗观点和奉献给天主多与少来比较，只要问心无愧就好了。

很多时候我观察到一些穷的教友比那些富有的捐出更可观的数目。原因在哪里？很可能是因为穷者是爱的献捐而富有者是为了履行责任吧！穷人奉献时会感到吃力但是富有者通常都不会， 因为他们从来就不缺少钱。我们曾经遇到一些富豪献捐庞大数目是为了要控制教会和神父们；还要顺从他们的意愿去做， 要不然他们就会取消献捐。他们以为金钱可以使教会和神父们俯首称臣。万一类似的事情发生，那么教会就会失去了方针，不能再谛造天主的国，而是随那班人马为所欲为了。

最终，我们因该萌心自问，到底所捐献的是否合理？是否尽力而为了？所献捐的数目是否感到吃力？或是觉得太少或不够？（其实在现实生活里是足够的，而且还有余剩的。）我们不献捐因为天主“需要”我们的帮助。我们献捐物质来尊重祂。总之，无论数目多或少都是为了朝拜天主。圣保禄宗徒提醒我们说，“ 切莫忘记：少 种 的 少 收 ， 多 种 的 多 收  。各 人 要 隨 自己 所 决 定 的 ， 不 要 作 难， 不 要 勉 強 ， 因为 捐 得 乐 意 的 人 是 主 所 喜 愛 的 。天主能 将 各 样 的 恩 惠 多 多 的 加 给 你 们 ， 使 你 们 凡 事 常 常 充 足 ， 能 多 行 各 样 善 事 。（格后9:6–10）

Are We Generous or Calculative?

As he looked up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. "I tell you the truth," he said, "this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on."

- Luke 21:1-4

In this Gospel passage, the poor widow put in two very small copper coins into the temple treasury. In today's currency, two very small copper coins would have been considered as a pittance, approximately $1.50 in total. These days, you can hardly buy anything with $1.50, so what the poor widow gave seems to be a very small offering, but I've known many, many people - much better off than the widow - who put in $1 when the collection bag or plate is passed and feel good about themselves. But for the widow, this $1.50 is all she has.

The poor widow is destitute, probably living off the charity of her neighbours. She has just a tiny bit in her possession, but she wants to give it. It does not matter that she won't have food for the evening meal. She wants to give it. People are watching the rich depositing their large offerings. But no one sees the poverty-stricken widow, who reached into her rags to withdraw these two small copper coins and deposit them into the collection box. No one sees the look of joy on her face as she gives to God the little she has. No one sees. No one notices. But God notices, Jesus notices. And He says to His disciples - "Did you see that!?" They look over where He is pointing. All they see is a tired old widow shuffling away from the collection box. "She gave more than all of those rich people put together," Jesus tells them, and they look at Him in astonishment. What!? Such a pittance compared to the thousands the rich are giving, and Jesus says that the widow has given more? His disciples may have wondered: Has Jesus gone nuts? Lost His marbles? Lost track of reality? Gone cuckoo?

But Jesus continues. "All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on." Is Jesus telling us to surrender all our wealth here? Actually, no. What Jesus is actually trying to demonstrate to us is about proportional giving.

So what is proportional giving? In proportional giving, Jesus is teaching us that how much we give is in proportion and relation to how much we have: "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked" (Luke 12:48). Proportional giving means one is willing to make sacrifices joyfully and willingly, treating it as a blessing to give to God. Of course, we don't win extra points with God when we give sacrificially. This is not a contest. But know that when you make sacrifices for God, He is watching. It doesn't matter if no one else sees or knows, and perhaps it is better that they do not, but God sees and knows your giving. Jesus reminds us, "Your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you" (Matthew 6:4). Proportional giving also means that we should not despise our small gifts to God. Sometimes we fall under the worldly spell that "bigger must be better." That's not true of our giving to God. We are to give what we are able and as much as we are able, whether small or great.

But I notice that, many a times, the poor seem to give a substantially larger proportion of their income to God than the wealthy. Why is this? Perhaps the reason could be because the poor tend to give out of love, while the wealthy tend to give out of duty. The poor give till it hurts. The wealthy do not often give enough so that it ever hurts. Moreover, we may have come across some wealthy people who give generously, with the motivation to control the parish and the parish priest. What such persons want and expect is for the church and the parish priest to do things their way, or they may withhold their giving. Such persons think that they have the clout and power by using their money and wealth to manipulate the parish and the parish priest. But if we happen to be having such mentality, attitude or expectations, then are we trying to build God's Kingdom according to His Ways, or are we trying to build our own kingdom, where we can lord it over others and expect others to kow-tow to our whims and fancies?

Ultimately, perhaps the question we need to sincerely and honestly ask ourselves is this: are we giving our fair share? Is what we are giving proportionate to what we have? Are we willing to give till it hurts, or are we withholding our giving, thinking that what we have is too little or not enough (even though, in reality, we actually do have enough, sometimes more than we really need)? We don't give because God "needs" our contribution. We give in order to honour Him with our substance. Whether large or small, we give to worship God. As St. Paul reminds us: "Do not forget: thin sowing means thin reaping; the more you sow, the more you reap. Each one should give what he has decided in his own mind, not grudgingly or because he is made to, for God loves a cheerful giver. And there is no limit to the blessings which God can send you – he will make sure that you will always have all you need for yourselves in every possible circumstance, and still have something to spare for all sorts of good works." (2 Corinthians 9:6-10).