Since I have many things to reflect on and think about, but studying is sucking my time away so I shall oblige - the Holy Week mega “update” in abstract form (subject to additions as more come to mind):

1. Stay with me, remain here with me, watch and pray.

2. A frustrating and selfish morning (on my part) on Good Friday.

3. The 40 days of Lent - how has it changed me?

4. And joy poured forth from the font of baptism into the hearts of those gathered around, especially mine. A real joyous joy, a reverent glee. 

5. Fasting before feasting - and feasting with gladness with the people I love being around me.

6.. O happy fault, O necessary sin of Adam, which gained for us so great a Redeemer!

5. The 50 days leading up to Pentecost - that of conversion, renewal, annointing and power.

6. Being harsh vs. Being soft. The balance?

7. A life-giving gathering of brothers and sisters in Christ. Our lives, past and present, were being exchanged.

The main scandal of the Eucharist is not the transubstantiation of bread and wine, but rather it is the reality of the death of God which allows it.

Not sure if this is theologically sound, but it is some of the thoughts that crossed my mind today at mass. It’s easy to say that the mystery of the Eucharist is the changing of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ - but we forget that it is God who does it, and for Him who is omnipotent, anything is possible.

What the real mystery is, in my opinion, is the truth that it was God, a God, that chose to shed His blood, offer up His flesh, and ultimately His life, for us.

A gentleman is supposed to be a gentle man. But is a gentle man a weak man? It might seem so, since gentlemen are a scarcity these days, while men are finding more ways to cover up their weakness.

“Why do you embrace your cross, you fool?”

The criminal mocked Jesus (from the movie, The Passion of Christ) as He embraced His cross. It was folly, and it was a source of scandal for others. It seemed weak, an act of surrender to the authorities, a sign of defeat. There was no fight in Jesus, just a quiet acceptance of what was to come.

But yet, it is a sign of tenderness. He embraced His cross as it were us. No, He did not see the rough jagged edges of the beam hewn out of a mighty tree, He only saw us, deep in sin and desperate for salvation. The splinters which pierced His limbs and body did not matter, He held the cross ever closer to His being with a gentleness and softness with which a mother holds her newborn.

Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you.

Is His gentleness a sign of weakness?

Were you there when He embraced up His cross

Were you there when He embraced His cross

Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble

Were you there when He embraced His cross

We should be trembling, not in fear and horror of the gruesome torture Jesus will endure, but because His tenderness has pierced our hearts. Gentleness then, is not a sign of weakness. Just as a single word spoken out of silence is infinitely more powerful than a shout amidst a raging noise, gentleness overpowers any other sign of strength.

When Jesus said, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground.

The strongest man could be the most gentle because it takes the greatest strength to be gentle, even in the face of death. Many of us forget that this greatest strength has a name - love.

Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

Jesus has paved the way for a new generation of gentle men to love as He loved. Will you respond?

(reflections based on Fr. Alex’s homily during Tuesday lunchtime mass @ BTC. I take no credit for these revelations)

Comprehension of God’s love is the inability to comprehend it.

(:

Cavetime: Time alone, in solitude.

Notice it’s solitude and not in loneliness. Many people equate being alone as a sign that you’re lonely. But I enjoy being alone - it allows you to muse, to think, to savour, to enjoy, to be fully present without distractions. For me this is done by going out alone, maybe to go for mass, to shop, to run errands. But there’s a paradox, you’re fully present but not really present at the same time. You are fully present to yourself and your own thoughts, but not so much to the others around you; they flitter and walk past without you needing to be concerned about them. That’s the beauty of cavetime, it allows us to achieve that interior silence and awareness that so many of us lack.

I attribute the word “cavetime” to Posef. So there, I’m not infringing any copyright/trademark you lawyer. Haha.

And it’s in my first cavetime since exams ended that I write this post. It was rather poignant that I decided to start off my holidays by going for confession at Novena Church. It feels like a mini-pilgrimage every time I go there you know? Having to travel a substantial distance (compared to SFX) , to battle the hot sun while walking there (mass is at 12.15pm) and to endure the stuffiness when I’m actually in the church (no aircon!).  Oh and it’s really funny how the priest always says something during the homily which seems like it’s related to what I said in the confessional. I like to think that the homily was inspired (somewhat) by my sins, haha. He also talked about the joy of receiving Christ, especially since it’s Advent. I guess this is something that we all have to cultivate in our walk as Christians eh? It’s been a tiring past month, and I praise God for seeing me through.

So here’s a few questions for you: when was your last “cavetime”? when did you last feel like you were on a pilgrimage? Essentially 2 events which require us to have an interior peace and silence… important things in the hustle and bustle of life. It may be a good time to consider going for one soon (: