Malacca Johore Diocese News Update #205

Jan 10, 2025

Dear Friends, Welcome New Year 2025 with Hope and face the Future with Patience.

New levels of sensitivity! The media terms it as “new levels of hypersensitivity”. In a nation that prides itself as a melting pot of diversity and unity, a Chinese flag on a rocket replica at a carnival caused an uproar. But there was no outcry when Palestinians, Syrians, Indonesians or others were paraded in KL. Foreign flags are treated as threats to national dignity. Is it an overreaction? Orchestrated distraction?

Christmas awakes reactions. Prohibitions on Muslims wearing red clothing, singing carols and wishing each other, even a “Merry Christmas”.

Lately, dog lovers, caring for and treating them as God’s creation, have been victims of cyberbullying.

A PM whose popularity rose to 54 per cent, says Merdeka Centre. But reacts to public comments and feedback, on his apparent compromises. Strangely the powerful are hypersensitive, forgetting that the masses are sensitive to betrayal by the elected, poor governance, double standards and the spiralling cost of living.

Be sensitive to the plight of the poor, the suffering, the jobless and homeless, children and their future. Be sensitive to what we teach and practise. Or we will see a culture of ‘monkey see, monkey do’ generation.

Miraculous Times: The Italian PM, Giorgia Meloni, said that it had taken a “little civil miracle” to get projects, sites and artworks finished, restore monuments like the Pieta, Bernini’s works, clean up the Trevi Fountain and redesign roads for improved traffic. For the discouraged and broken world, to continue breathing and hold fast, we do not need ‘little civil miracles’.

The world needs a big life-changing miracle, HOPE. Hope is not wishful thinking. Hope does not disappoint because it is fired up by the God-given Word - His promises and faithfulness; through encounters with encouraging and compassionate Samaritans; and being renewed by the Holy Spirit, who fans into a flame the grace we once received.

It is a miraculous time as it unites the four corners of the world in celebration, in theme, in purpose and mission. It is beyond external preparations: it is a special year for bringing our five loaves and two fish to God to work miracles. Miracles do happen when humans let God in and participate in works of charity, mercy or penance; make sacrifices for the other's good. A pilgrim of hope is the miracle others see.

A Thought for The Week:
Sacred Apples

There was once a happy monkey wandering the jungle, eating delicious fruits when hungry, and resting when tired. One day he came upon a house, where he saw a bowl of the most beautiful apples. He took one in each hand and ran back into the forest. He sniffed the apples and smelled nothing, tried to eat them, but hurt his teeth. The apples were made of wood, but they were beautiful, and when the other monkeys saw them, he held onto them even tighter. He admired them. He got very attached to them. He failed to even notice his hunger. He wouldn’t set it down nor relax, even when he came across the familiar fruit trees. He grew tired, hungry and weak, and the wooden apples became heavier. An unhappy monkey walked the forest trails.

Lesson from the unhappy monkey: If he had only let go of the apples for the real fruits! Like the monkey, we hold fast to what appears to be valuable, a particular self-image or work as our “sacred apples” that drain us and make us unhappy. If you are hungry for a better life, why cling to your unproductive pursuit?

QnQ. The Q asks? God is here, yet why is it people look for God in the distance?
Authentic Christianity overcame the “God-is-elsewhere” idea in at least two major and foundational ways.

Through the incarnation, God in Jesus became flesh; God visibly moved in with the material world to help us overcome the illusion of separation (John 1:14).

Secondly, God as Holy Spirit is precisely known as an indwelling and vitalizing presence. By itself, intellectual assent to these two truths does little.

The incarnation and Indwelling Spirit are known only through participation and practice, as we actively draw upon such Infinite Sources. Think of it as a “use it or lose it” situation!

See The Holy Spirit @ Work: The work of the Spirit is to impart life, to implant hope. to give liberty, to testify of Christ, to guide us into all truth, to teach us all things. to comfort the believer, and to convict the world of sin. Dwight L Moody