Blessings

Recently I had the opportunity to watch a movie that I wanted to watch some months ago. The film was a Singaporean film titled “Where Got Ghost?” and was released during the Hungry Ghost Month sometime in August. I had wanted to watch it because I have this fascination for ghost stories, especially those from Singapore. This particular movie is not a horror or ghost movie in the strict sense of the word. It is, as the producer called it, a “hor-medy” a horror plus comedy.

The movie is made up of three different stories revolving around ghosts. But it was the last portion that really caught my attention. One thing about this movie is that it scares you but at the same hilarious as well. For those who understand mandarin and hokkien, the lines are really quite hilarious. The 3rd portion centres around a family and their deceased mother, entitled “Ghost in the House” This is the continuation from another movie entitled “Money No Enough 2”

In the opening scene, we see three brothers and their family praying ton their deceased mother and asking for her blessings to strike lottery. Throughout the segment, they receive visits from their mother. As one would expect, they are scared out of their wits and decided to move their mother’s tablet to a remote temple, something like our columbarium. The decision was made when they encountered a friend who was rich and claimed that he strike every kind of lottery through his deceased mother’s blessings. This sealed the two brother’s decision to stop praying to their mother.

And so the eldest brother brought the tablet to the temple. But, lo and behold, the tablet refused to go. And the eldest brother asked his 2 other brothers to come and all 3 of them put the tablet in the temple and left. Even then, they kept complaining about how unlucky they were.

As they were driving in the heavy rain, they suddenly encountered the spirit of their mother and swerved their car to avoid colliding with her and ended up in a ditch. As they got out and stood in the rain, suddenly an avalanche occurred right in front of them. If the spirit of their mother did not appear they would have perished under the avalanche.

This woke them up and they went back to the temple to bring back their mother’s tablet. On the way out, they encountered their rich friend who was wailing and said that he has been diagnosed with cancer. He then told the 3 brothers that in the end, no matter how money one has, health and safety is still the best blessing one can receive.

You may wonder why I’m sharing about this movie. I can hear my friends asking “What kind of crap are you watching?” or “You Catholic ah?” To me, every movie has a lesson to be learnt. This particular segment reminds me of how I should be thankful for the blessings that I have, not to constantly complain about what I do not have.

Many a times, all of us, are guilty of complaining that life is unfair, that we wish for more things in our lives, more money, better job, better life etc etc…. the list never ends. We’re like a kid who’s constantly asking Santa Claus for Christmas gifts. But our hearts will never be satisfied. No matter how much we have, we will crave for more.

Most of us constantly besiege God for this and that and complain when we don’t get it. We grumble and grumble, as if God owes it to us to grant us riches and material wealth. I was reminded of this when a friend of mine told me that I should be grateful for the things I have because there are many out there who don’t even have basic stuff like shelter and food. And here we are complaining all the time and wasting things that are precious to those who do not have them.

In the Old Testament, King Solomon, when asked by God to make 3 wishes, never asked for riches or immortality or the destruction of his enemy. He asked God for wisdom, and God, pleased with this request granted him wisdom and more. We should really emulate what King Solomon did. Riches and material wealth will pass away. With the increasing occurrences of natural disasters, all our accumulated wealth may just be swept away and what do we have left?

We should, instead, treasure those around us, our family and friends. Our health is already a constant blessing from God. There is saying that says “Many people who in the first half of their lives spend their health looking for wealth, and in the last half spend their wealth looking for health” What is the use of money if we are lying in bed surrounded by oxygen tubes and respirators? Can our money or riches help us then?

Many a times, we fail to see the blessings that we receive from God. These blessings are often very small but they can be very significant. It can be something small like a nice message from our friends or families or our good health, not falling sick despite it all. But are we able to see that as a blessing or we take it as a given? That is something that we need to really think about.

Ultimately, our challenge in life is to be able to recognise the little things that are a blessing to us instead of continually besieging God for the things that we may want but may not necessarily need.

Finding the Balance

About a month ago, a friend of mine sent me an article on the “Slow Down Culture” of Europe. This article describes how some European countries are starting to practise a slow down culture. This is not a culture where we slow down in work or productivity but more of a change of mindset and way of living.

The article also says, “Globalised processes have caused in us (all over the world) a general sense of searching for immediate results. We have come to possess a need to see immediate results.

“Nowadays, there's a movement in Europe named Slow Food. This movement establishes that people should eat and drink slowly, with enough time to taste their food, spend time with the family, friends, without rushing. Slow Food is against its counterpart: the spirit of Fast Food and what it stands for as a lifestyle. Slow Food is the basis for a bigger movement called Slow Europe, as mentioned by Business Week.”

This article reminds me of a story that I read many, many years go. In this story, this man always plans what to do next, never enjoying or savouring what he was doing. When he got up, he was already planning what to eat for breakfast. While at breakfast, he was already thinking what time the train would arrive. While on the train ride, he was already thinking of what he needs to do at the office and so on. Then came the came the day of his death. As he lay on the death bed, he realised that he spent his whole life living in the future and never in the present. His only regret was that he never took time to smell the roses or enjoy a train ride.

Why do I relate this story and article? We live in a society that is always moving and doing things. Not doing anything is seen as a sign of non - productivity and therefore a waste of time. In this modern day and age, we always tend to associate time with work or activity. We seem to have lost the art of relaxing and recreation. Even during our so called holiday or vacation, we are always doing something, shopping, reading etc. Very few of us will actually “do nothing” during our down time.

It takes a lot of faith to be non productive. But what the world sees as non productive can be productive. I’m saying this because it is during our period of non productivity that we recharge. It is during this period that we learn to relax and let our bodies and mind rest. It is during this time that we allow God to come in into our busy life.

We will not notice the presence of God when we are constantly doing things and being busy. On the other hand, we need to be productive and doing things because idle minds are also dangerous. This is the challenge that face us – to find the balance between doing and being.

We’re always in the future and forgetting the present that we never find the time to really enjoy the present. Even for me, it is constantly a challenge to be in the present because my mind constantly plans my next action.

While it is true that God is the God of the past, present and future, we are not. We cannot be in all places at one time. And the only place where God can truly be with us is during the present. But are we present to God? It goes both ways, we need to be present to God in order for God to be present to us.

Are we going to continue to live our lives living in the future, or are we going to be in the present and enjoy the many beautiful things that God has bestowed upon us? The present is the present simply because it is a gift to us. Are we going to cherish that gift or just neglect it? Only we can answer that question and only we can make that choice.

Do We Need A Saviour?

In the movie “Superman Returns”, there is one scene where Superman takes Lois Lane up in the air and flies around the city. Then he asks her “What do you hear?” She replied, “I hear the winds howling” Then Superman said, “You wrote that the world does not need a saviour (that saviour being Superman) but everyday I hear cries of people needing a saviour” Of course in the movie, Superman meant that the world is indeed in need of someone who can save them from disaster and threat, not a saviour in the spiritual sense.

But the question remains… do we need a saviour? There are many people in the world who claims to be atheist, people who claim that they do not believe in god. Modern society is moving towards a situation where many do not believe or are not interested in organised religion or the existence of life after death. This is one of the reasons why people flock to the cinema to watch movies like “The Da Vinci Code” and “Angels and Demons”

Whenever I have some free time, I log on to the Yahoo! Answers website and it really surprises me that there are so many ignorant people out there. One of the most common questions is whether God really exists and the most common answer that I can see is “No, God does not exist”. Another outrageous question is “Doesn’t the story of Jesus reads like a ghost story?” and another would venture an opinion that the Bible is nothing but a fairy tale.

This is also a question that we need to answer for ourselves. For many of us, we go for Mass every Sunday out of habit or obligation. From young we were brought to church by our parents and this in turn becomes our habit and very often, we attend Mass because we feel that we have to. And usually, “attend” is just what we do. Going for Mass every Sunday does not mean we subscribe to the idea of needing a saviour in our lives.

In the days of the Baltimore Catechism, we are taught things like “Who created us?” and “Why did God create us?” The answer would be like “he made us to love and serve him” In other words, God does not really need us. After all, he is the almighty and powerful. Why would anyone who is powerful need anyone? It is we who is in need of God in our lives.

To me, not having God in my life would be like an empty, dry desert. I really cannot imagine a life without God in my life. There are times when I do not feel the need for God. And to be honest, these moment are numerous. I believe that many of us will go through phase every now and then. It is during these dry moments that we will need God even more.

On our own, it would be very difficult for us to climb out of this pit of self pity and depression. Imagine what life would be like for us if we are plagued with depression everyday for the rest of our lives? Not a pleasant thought, I’m sure.

That is the question that we need to ask; do we need a saviour? It may seem like a simple question but the answer is not an easy one. Can we honestly say that we need a saviour? In this age where money and power rules, money and power can and may become our saviour instead of God. If we are not careful, that is where we’ll end up, having money and power as our God instead of God.