'Prepare a way for the Lord'. Sunday Reflections, 2nd Sunday of Advent Year B

The Preaching of St John the Baptist, Alessandro Allori, painted 1601-03

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Gospel Mark 1:1-8 (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)

The beginning of the Good News about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It is written in the book of the prophet Isaiah:

Look, I am going to send my messenger before you;
he will prepare your way.
A voice cries in the wilderness:
Prepare a way for the Lord,
make his paths straight.

And so it was that John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. All Judaea and all the people of Jerusalem made their way to him, and as they were baptised by him in the river Jordan they confessed their sins. John wore a garment of camel-skin, and he lived on locusts and wild honey. In the course of his preaching he said, 'Someone is following me, someone who is more powerful than I am, and I am not fit to kneel down and undo the strap of his sandals. I have baptised you with water, but he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit.

An Soiscéal Marcas 1-8 (Gaeilge, Irish)


Tosach Shoiscéal Íosa Críost, Mac Dé. De réir mar atá scríofa in Íseáia fáidh:


“Feach, cuirim mo theachtaire romhat
a ullmhóidh do bhóthar.
Glór duine ag éamh san fhásach:
‘Réitígí bóthar an Tiarna,
déanaigí díreach a chosáin.’”


Tháinig Eoin ag baisteadh san fhásach agus ag fógairt baiste aithrí chun peacaí a mhaitheamh. Agus bhí ag teacht amach chuige na daoine ó thír Iúdáia go léir, agus muintir uile Iarúsailéim, agus iad ag fáil baiste uaidh in abhainn na Iordáine ag admháil a bpeacaí.


Bhí rón camaill mar éadach ar Eoin, crios leathair faoina choim aige, lócaistí agus mil fhiáin mar bheatha aige. Agus bhíodh sé ag seanmóir á rá: “Tá ag teacht i mo dhiaidh an té atá níos treise ná mé, agus ní fiú mé cromadh síos chun iall a chuarán a scaoileadh. Bhaist mise le huisce sibh, ach baistfidh seisean sibh leis an Spiorad Naomh.”

+++

I met Angela, as I’ll call her, in 1969 when she was 16 and I was a young priest studying in the USA. She was in many ways a mixed-up young person but I could see her integrity and her desire to do what was right. Mainly through correspondence, I saw her grow in the faith until her death thirteen years later. This growth in faith involved two suicide attempts. Thanks to God's loving mercy I was his instrument in helping Angela through the second crisis, which occurred the year before her death. She was very much at peace in the last part of her life.


One thing I learned from that experience was that some persons of strong faith can also be very vulnerable.

On one occasion Angela told me that she was hoping that one day the priest would announce that he was giving general absolution to everyone, as some priests were wont to do at the beginning of Mass, even though this was totally wrong. It was a time when there strange things done ’neath the midnight sun, to quote Robert Service in a totally different context.

One day a priest did exactly what Angela had been hoping for. To her surprise, she felt cheated. Nothing had been asked of her. All Judaea and all the people of Jerusalem made their way to him, and as they were baptised by him in the river Jordan they confessed their sins. The sinners who publicly lined up, as we used to do in most churches before, confessed their sins. They took personal responsibility before God for their wrongdoing and trusted in his mercy.

Advent is a time when we prepare to celebrate the birthday of Jesus, God who became Man. It is a time when we prepare for his Second Coming at the end of time. But we also prepare for his third coming which, in the words of St Bernard, come between the other two. The saint writes in the Office of Readings for Wednesday of the First Week of Advent: This intermediary coming is like a road leading from the first to the last coming. In the first coming Christ was our redemption, in the last he will appear as our life, in this intermediary coming he is our rest and consolation.

Prepare a way for the Lord, make his paths straight, St John the Baptist tells us today, quoting Isaiah in the First Reading. The sacrament of confession / reconciliation / penance is one of the best ways to do this.

Pope Benedict explained very simply what this sacrament is in response to a question by Livia at an audience on 15 October 2005 for children who had made their First Holy Communion that year.

Livia: Holy Father, before the day of my First Communion I went to confession. I have also been to confession on other occasions. I wanted to ask you: do I have to go to confession every time I receive Communion, even when I have committed the same sins? Because I realize that they are always the same.

I will tell you two things. The first, of course, is that you do not always have to go to confession before you receive Communion unless you have committed such serious sins that they need to be confessed. Therefore, it is not necessary to make one’s confession before every Eucharistic Communion. This is the first point. It is only necessary when you have committed a really serious sin, when you have deeply offended Jesus, so that your friendship is destroyed and you have to start again. Only in that case, when you are in a state of ‘mortal’ sin, in other words, grave [sin], is it necessary to go to confession before Communion. This is my first point.


My second point: even if, as I said, it is not necessary to go to confession before each Communion, it is very helpful to confess with a certain regularity. It is true: our sins are always the same, but we clean our homes, our rooms, at least once a week, even if the dirt is always the same; in order to live in cleanliness, in order to start again. Otherwise, the dirt might not be seen but it builds up. Something similar can be said about the soul, for me myself: if I never go to confession, my soul is neglected and in the end I am always pleased with myself and no longer understand that I must always work hard to improve, that I must make progress. And this cleansing of the soul which Jesus gives us in the Sacrament of Confession helps us to make our consciences more alert, more open, and hence, it also helps us to mature spiritually and as human persons. Therefore, two things: confession is only necessary in the case of a serious sin, but it is very helpful to confess regularly in order to foster the cleanliness and beauty of the soul and to mature day by day in life.

May each of us make it part of Advent, part of our preparation for the ‘three comings’ of Jesus, to go to confession.

Prepare a way for the Lord, make his paths straight.

+++

Handel’s Messiah includes part of today’s First Reading. The composer used the Authorized Version, also known as the King James Version, of the Bible, slightly adapting it. This translation was finished 400 years ago.
 

 

Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.

Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned.


The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.


Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain.

+++

And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

[Sung in Korean]

Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing (Isaiah 35:5-6).

He shall feed His flock like a shepherd; and He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.



Star Crusades Omnibus Edition out now

There is now an even more affordable way to get hold of my best-selling Star Crusades series. The newly released Omnibus edition includes all five of the novels in one package. As well as saving money you will also get the latest artwork for the series. At nearly 390,000 words this is a true epic that will keep even the fastest reader busy for a good number of nights. A paperback and hardback of this penology will be out in the next few weeks.

Profiles in History Admiral Kirk Star Trek IV Jacket not what it is claimed?

Profiles in History's new auction has a number of great costumes, but the Kirk Admiral jacket, supposedly from Star Trek IV is clearly not. As we have seen in the past, there is just insufficient research.



PROVENANCE

The provenance is noted as Sotheby's, NY 12/18/98, sale 7244, lot 134.  The fact that it was previously sold in an auction is NOT provenance. Being sold by an auction house does not  creates any legitimacy in the item.  We need real provenance.  Where did this come from?  Who got it and how?  Was it stolen from Paramount out the back door as so much was?  Was it sold legitimately by Paramount?  So we have no clue how this got out, who has owned it and what was done to it.  (Note:  The Christie's Star Trek auction, or IAW auctions would be provenance as those were studio-sanctioned).

LABELING

Profiles notes:  Internal label is handwritten, “Wm S. / 4” for William Shatner. 

What kind of label?  Not a Western Costume label, because Profiles always notes it when it is a Western Costume Label as they do in the OTHER Kirk costume.  So this is just a random label?  Anyone could have put that label in.  This does not inspire confidence.

THE PROBLEMS

There are a ton of problems with this Maroon.. 

1)  The inner color of the chest flap (lapel if you will) is wrong.  Kirk always had a white inside.  It is possible that for a scene he wasn't to open his jacket in he would have a different interior, but why?

2) The lapel strap is wrong.  This is CLEARLY not the lapel strap of the Star Trek IV Admiral costume.  Look at the details around the clasp.  The gold striping doesn't match.

Compare the close up of the lapel strap from the Profiles catalog...

...with this screencap.

3)  There is no gold striping around the lapel.  This is standard for Admirals and clearly shown in the screencaps.  The jacket does not have this gold ribbon.

 Admiral jackets have a gold ribbon next to the black edge of the lapel.

4)  The Admiral braid on the left sleeve is wrong.  In Star Trek II Kirk's Admiral ribbon was the black and gold checked type that was like what was used in the original Battlestar Galactica.  Starting with Star Trek IV they used a thicker, multi-colored and patterned ribbon which also showed the rank by the number of black and gold ribbons stripes crossing the ribbon. 

Star Trek II: TWOK  Note the braid on the left sleeve.  Same as the Profiles offering.

The correct braid, as seen in the screencap above from Star Trek IV

 And as seen on this picture of the Kirk sold at Heritage in 2010

The correct Rear Admiral braid for Star Trek IV-VI

It's a Wrap sold a number of Rear Admiral Rank sets such as the above one.  It is clear that Kirk has the updated Admiral braid in the screencaps from Star Trek IV and so the Profiles Kirk is wrong.

SUMMARY

First, there are three seperate scenes in Star Trek IV where Kirk wears a maroon.

1.  The Federation Council Chamber

2.  The transport pod.
3.  The Enterprise bridge.

Kirk wears the same maroon in 1 & 2.  The only difference is a different shoulder strap rank (In 1 he is an Admiral, in 2 he is a Captain). The strap indicates it is otherwise the same Maroon.  The gold striping is still intact even.  It appears this is the same Maroon in 3.  I need to do a bit more research, but it would be logical as well.

So what is this Maroon?  Could it be from Star Trek II?  This might explain the left arm BSG braid, but it would not explain the interior flap color.  That is CLEARLY wrong.  Being that Kirk needed some blood-distressed Maroons for the scene with Scotty's nephew and after, It would be logical there were 4-6 Maroons set aside for Kirk.  None would have a different interior.

The only thing pointing to this being a Kirk is an interior label that we don't even have a photo of.  And a label can be easily swapped out. 

The interior flap color makes this a non-starter for me.  I was initially interested, but won't touch this.

Alec

Bhutan - Last post

Onto my last Bhutan post (been backlogging all the restaurants I ate at before gg to Bhutan).

I've gotten quite a few emails enquiring about travelling to Bhutan so I'll briefly mention a bit more about booking a tour there at the end of this post.

When we were there the guide kept asking if we want to have tea. Tea consists of hot tea either with milk and sugar or with butter and salt (this is their local tea, but I didn't like it). The butter tea reminds me a bit like the Werther's Originals (the buttery sweet) but just a salty version.

The meals were all included in the tour price - one reason for this is that they think that tourists won't like their local Bhutanese food cos they use alot of oil, salt and chili. Also, the hygiene level is very questionable as quite a few of their local restaurants don't have running water, and the food is usually pre-made so it sits there for quite a while before consumption. So your guide will try very hard to dissuade you from waltzing into a local restaurant and ordering a meal...

Our first dinner there - it's like a typical Asian meal with rice and dishes. Sometimes, the rice is broken rice but most of the time, tourists get polished rice. The food looks like a typical Chinese meal, but the taste is very different. For example, the bottom most dish is actually chicken, and looks just like sweet and sour chicken but it's just chicken with sauce. The cooking is very simple with salt, chilli and cheese being the main marinade.

Their main staple dish for any meal is chilli with cheese (ema dashi), which is something like Kimchi to the Koreans. The cheese they use is a plain fresh cheese very much like cottage cheese and the chili can be really spicy.

Most of our meals consisted of rice, vegetable dishes and one meat dish (usually chicken or fish). One of the other staples was deep fried potatoes. Bhutan produces lots of potatoes (usually a small variety) which are very much like new potatoes. Another thing that we had with every meal will be a vegetable dish cooked with cheese (as seen above) - either gourd with cheese or some dark leafy vegetable with cheese. The other vegetable dish will usually be a stir fried vegetable and the last one will be ema dashi. And potato. Throughout the whole tour, we had minor variations to these, but it's really essentially more or less the same. Sometimes, it'll be a buffet style meal where lots of tourist will congregate and have our non-spicy, less salty meal.

Variation with sliced potatoes and eggplant. The rice here is their local red rice. Sometimes, we would also get rice mixed with maize (cos rice is more expensive so sometimes, they use maize to bulk up the rice).

My best meals in Bhutan was in Bumtang Valley, at Wangdicholing Resort. It's a family run resort on top of a small hill overlooking the valley and a nice meandering river and many mountains and blue skies. If I'm not wrong, I think my guide mentioned that she was trained in Switzerland or had been to Switzerland and learnt to cook there.

A speciality of that region in Bhutan is their buckwheat produce. The first meal we had there was not very remarkable - cauliflower with cheese, cucumber salad with yogurt, fried soba noodles. Some of the American tourists had a pizza look alike, but we didn't get it the first day there.

We had buckwheat pancakes for breakfast - it's a very dense, clay coloured pancake but the best part of it was the locally produced Bumtang honey (which we kept drinking with hot water) and the resorts home made jam (bought back 2 jars cos it's really very nice - hand picked wild type strawberries from the resort's garden). Also, the chef made the yogurt in-house - and it was very creamy and delicious and went really well with the honey and the strawberry jam.

The first meal we had there, she cooked something similar to rosti (potatoes, egg and onion pancake) which I devoured after slowly starving for the last few days. The dried mushrooms with cheese (bottom left) was pretty good too. The lentil soup tasted like the Indian curry which comes with thosai.

The next meal we had there was spectacular. We were utterly miserable cos we weren't used to the food so we told our guide and he helped us ask the cook if she could give us something more suited to our palates for dinner. The hotel happened to have very few guests for dinner and the cook outdid herself. We got french fries (!) which tasted extremely good after eating roasted potatoes day in day out. French fries always taste good. And they even have their local Druk brand tomato sauce. Yum! I think that was the best french fries I ate. In fact, the other tourist in the same dining hall spied our fries and asked how come he didn't get any :P

And we got the pizza which was remarkably good considering that they don't have an oven there!

One of their local soba dishes (actually, I should stop calling it soba - it's actually handmade buckwheat noodles) is soba with curd and it's serve cold with some preserved vegetable which looks very much like konbu (though I'm very sure it's not cos it tastes like ?onion)
Our pizza :D Devoured all 3 slices. Best ever!
And despite being stuffed full, we had a fruit salad for dessert - fruit cocktail with vegetables and papaya and a vanilla custard. We were so stuffed that night and slept very well.

The Bhutanese people are very friendly and we were invited to a distant friend of our driver's family's friend (so they're actually unrelated) house warming. In Bhutan, the houses generally have 2 storeys, but only the upper storey is for living in. There's 4 rooms in each traditional house - one kitchen, one bedroom and 2 prayer rooms (which are usually connected). The toilet in the village houses are usually outside, but in some modern houses, the toilets are built in. I suppose it's quite tough to cook cos you'll have to carry buckets and buckets of water up and down the house to wash your dishes...

We were given some snacks during the house warming - from left to right - some deep fried rice crackers, rice puffs (which were plain and quite oily) and my favourite snack of fried puffed rice with butter and sugar. And milk tea.

Another local dish was this quite tasty boiled rice with milk and sugar. Reminds me of oats but it's creamier (probably cos the rice was boiled quite long?).

We had pork momos (like dumplings) which were extremely nice, much nicer than the ones we had at the hotels. It's very much like our gyozas/guo ties in Singapore just that they don't use vinegar as a dipping sauce.

Some beef dish which my friend said was very tasty but I didn't eat it.

The house warming party lasts for days and they have monks to pray and bless the house, and they also invite the local ladies to sing some songs and dance as part of the celebrations.

More momos - this ones beef from the trek up to Tiger's nest - smelt really nice but I didn't eat it :(

Charcoal roasted corn - we stopped by this makeshift stall along the road - the corn is not very sweet and much drier than the type that we get locally. I was totally convinced that I would get gastroenteritis after eating this but in the end I didnt!
Drying chillies on the roof top - the Bhutanese like to dry their excess food for storage purposes. Alot of times you will see them drying meats and vegetables to store for winter.
Rice fields where most of the harvest is done by hand
Black pig at Punakha - Bhutan only had black pigs and no pink pigs, and these pigs love to eat the marijuana which grows like a weed in Bhutan.
Another one of their interesting local dishes is beaten rice. It's made from unripe rice and these greenish grains are first dry fried over a charcoal fire. After which, they are placed into this stone with a hollow and pounded.
After the pounding, it's winnowed and the rice is then either kept or served as a snack.

The accommodation that we had was simple but comfortable, and the hotels were clean. Other than the hotel in Thimphu which had a lousy shower, the rest were really not too bad and exceeded my expectations. Most of the rooms had a television set, except for the one at Bumtang. The weather was cool so there was no need for airconditioning, though we had to use the heater on some of the cooler nights.

The bathroom - this is the at the same hotel in Paro - not all the hotels had bath tubs - most had showers.

I really enjoyed my trip in Bhutan and so far, it's my best holiday (other than my cherry blossom grad trip to Japan, where I got to lounge around in the onsen) and it has changed my life perspective (though my happiness index is probably negative 50 at this current moment).

Fortunately, I went to Bhutan before Khaw made his stupid idiotic comment on Bhutan or I'd be too embarrassed to say I'm from Singapore! But then again, reading about his comment online lead me to this nice Bhutanese blog which I visit from time to time.

I won't recommend the tour company that I used to book my tour cos they gave us quite a fair bit of grief, but the Bhutan tour company is called Thoesam Tours . If you're planning to visit western and central Bhutan (which is what I did) you'll need about 7 days minimum. I went for a total of 9 days.

If you're young and healthy, I would strongly suggest that you take a trek which can range from 3 days (the easiest is supposed to be the Druk path trek, from Paro to Thimpu) to >24 days cos the country is really so beautiful. I'd definitely come back and do a trek. It's a refreshing change from just visiting cultural sites. The altitude is about 2000 above sea level and it's not high enough to get altitude sickness though you'll feel a bit breathless on exertion the first few days.

If you're Bhuddist, then good for you cos you'll get to see all the extremely sacred relics and sacred sites like where the Guru (born from a lotus leaf) left his body print and hand print etc etc etc and you can buy lots of blessed good luck charms.

From next year, the Bhutanese government will be raising the visa prices from USD $200 to $250 per day per visitor, and there's a surcharge of about USD $30-40 for groups of less than 3.

However, this price is supposed to cover their local hotel (simple accommodation, not the high class world renown luxe hotels), the guide and the driver.

After paying for the tour, there's actually not much you'll need to bring for expenses (unless you're planning to buy lots of souvenirs and other than tips, we spent less than USD $30 (for drinks, snacks etc).

To get there from Singapore, you'll need to catch a connecting flight from Bangkok. Only their local carrier, Druk Air, flies to Bhutan, and there's a short transit (about 30-45min) at Calcutta (or some part of India - I was sleeping both ways so I'm not very sure abt this). There's only one flight per day, and for our trip, that was the limiting factor cos we couldn't get a flight on the day we wanted. The Druk air flight leaves in the wee hours of the morning so what most people do is to transit one day in Bangkok and stay at a hotel really near the airport so you can get up at the unearthly hour to catch a flight into Bhutan.

The peak travel seasons is from Oct to Dec (after which it gets to cold and rainy) and I think it'll be miserable being in Bhutan during the rainy season cos everything will be muddy and slippery and there'll be land slides. Even when we were there, the road was sometimes blocked off by land slides and the roads are already narrow and windy and it's quite treacherous at some points.

Do bring a long sleeved T-shirt cos you're not allowed to enter government places such as the fortresses which are in use (you'll know this when you see the Bhutanese flag raised on a flagpole).

I really had trouble appreciating their food so I'd suggest to bring your own cup noodles (though their local grocery stalls do sell instant noodles) if you're fussy about your food like me.

Other than that, go in with an open mind and you'll have an experience of a lifetime in this deeply religious, hidden country:)

Marmalade Pantry's Lemon tart is back!

I'm so happy I'm having this weekend off (except for abt 2 hours this afternoon)... And I've caught back on all my sleep! Best weekend so far :D
Marmalade pantry's lemon tart is back! It's probably the only lemon tart I like (since I don't really like lemon to begin with) but it's missing the slices of strawberry at the bottom and I think it's slightly more shallow than the one they had a long time ago. I still think the sticky date pudding is the best dessert there!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Waiting for God...

First Sunday of Advent Year B

Today’s readings remind me of the highly cryptic and absurdist play written by Irish Nobel laureate and novelist, Samuel Beckett, “Waiting for Godot.” It is a tale that involves two characters, Vladimir and Estragon, who wait endlessly and in vain for someone named Godot to arrive. They divert themselves while they wait expectantly and in vain for the play’s namesake to arrive. They claim him as an acquaintance but in fact hardly know him, admitting that they would not recognise him were they to see him. To occupy themselves, they eat, sleep, converse, argue, sing, play games, exercise, swap hats, and contemplate suicide – anything "to hold the terrible silence at bay." At the end of the story, Godot does not appear, thus reinforcing the futility of the waiting. If fact, one may be led to think that Godot may actually not exist.

Godot's absence, as well as numerous other aspects of the play, have led to many different interpretations, including scriptural and theological allusions. Some may read the play as a parody of humanity who waits in vain for the coming of God, who chooses not to reveal himself at the end. It doesn’t take an Einstein to note that the name ‘Godot’ sounds too oddly familiar and similar to ‘God.’ Thus, the play can be read as a post-modernist critique of Christian hope. There is no point waiting for Christ coming, he isn’t coming, no one’s coming to deliver you, don’t waste your time, God may not even exist, there is no HOPE!

It is interesting that such a play, brilliant as it may be, with an equally bleak setting, should be voted the most significant English play of the 20th century. Is this an indication of how far we have descended into a state of hopelessness? Does it reveal a society that has grown cynical with waiting for divine deliverance from its present woes and sorrows?

Today, we begin the season of Advent not with a bleak message that we will be experiencing darker and more depressing times. Prophecies of doom abound from both economists and political analysts. The Advent message is not one which mirrors the storyline of the abovementioned play that we are waiting in vain for a person who will eventually not show up. No, the message of Advent is one of expectant joy, a message of true Christian hope that our waiting will not be vain. The person, whom mankind is waiting for as its saviour will come, in fact he has already come. Why? Because St Paul tells us, “God is faithful.”

Advent celebrates primarily two comings – the first coming of Christ in Bethlehem over two thousand years ago. The incarnation, the Word of God taking flesh, seems to be a fulfillment of what the Prophet Isaiah writes in today’s first reading – it is the prophecy of how the Lord “would tear the heavens open and come down.” The whole of humanity who had waited for aeons for the coming of its deliverer, its new Joshua who will lead them to the Promised Land, is not disappointed, as the Saviour has indeed come – He is Jesus the Christ. But Advent does not only prepare us for that first coming which we commemorate every year at the Feast of Christmas but also points us to the future, to Christ’s second coming in glory, to judge and deliver the world from sin, evil and death.

Our Christian faith is eschatological to its core. What do I mean by eschatological? The word ‘eschatology’ refers to the Last Things that we had learnt in our catechism – heaven, hell, death and judgment, the four eschata. But the real focus of eschatology is the Last Thing, which is not exactly a thing, in the sense of being an event or an object – it is God himself, the Eschaton. God is the source and summit of our lives, he is the beginning and the end, the Alpha and the Omega. Eschatology is not purely confined to these vague, deeply profound and theological concepts of the future. Eschatology has everything to do with our present lives. This eschatological vision shapes our Christian world-view. It reminds us that our objective and purpose in life does not reside in the past or even in the present, it is posited in the future. The final solution would not be found here in this life – the final solution can only be found in God. It provides us with a new benchmark of evaluating our priorities in life – are our preparations only for this earthly life or are they for eternal life? And finally, this eschatological dimension of our faith points to our basic orientation and disposition in life – how do we respond to Christ’s coming? The answer is this - It is through watchfulness.

What does it mean to be watchful? What does Jesus mean when he tells his disciples to ‘be on (their) guard,’ and ‘stay awake’? Humans are great voyeurs. We enjoy watching, especially what pleases the eye. A beautiful woman or a handsome man would often elicit a second look or even a prolonged gaze. We watch for market trends in order to ensure that we are ahead of things economically and financially. We watch for pitfalls and obstacles especially when we are negotiating a difficult path or engaging in a new project. Some of us enjoy watching for the faults of others and gleefully jump at the opportunity to catch them when they make a mistake.

But is this the kind of watchfulness which Jesus is speaking of? I guess that these are more distractions rather than authentic watchfulness. We are invited by the readings to watch for the Lord, and especially for his coming. Firstly, this requires patience because as Jesus noted, ‘you never know when the time will come.’ The problem is that our attention span is often too short. We constantly look for distractions or loose interest when results are not immediately forthcoming. In a world that seeks immediate gratification, quick final solutions are the only acceptable options. Patience teaches us to respect God's time and not dictate it.

Watchfulness calls for fidelity or faithfulness to our duty. Take note that in today’s gospel, the image of the master entrusting the servants with a duty to watch for his coming, reminds all of us that being watchful is not just merely an individual vocation. The servants’ lack of watchfulness may cost the entire household its property or even the life of its members. We are called to be watchful not only for ourselves, but also for our family members, our children, future generations, our neighbours, our BEC members, our non-Christian friends, colleagues and everyone else. If we let down our guard, others apart from us will suffer too.

The third aspect of this watchfulness is expounded by St Paul in the second reading. He exhorts the Corinthians that while waiting for the Lord’s coming, to keep ready and without blame until the last day.’ Staying awake and being watchful means that we need to guard against sin. Sin dulls our senses to the promptings of God. Sin blinds us from recognizing Christ in our lives. Sin distracts us from waiting and watching for the Lord. That is why Advent is also a penitential period for the whole Church. It is a time for us to honestly search our hearts, seek the Lord’s forgiveness, celebrate His mercy and the gift of repentance in order to make ready the way for the Lord’s coming.

Unlike Vladimir and Estragon who seem to have waited in vain for the mysterious Godot whom they do not know, Christians, on the other hand, are waiting in hope for Christ whom they do know. Our Christian waiting is never in vain. Christ will come. But will he find us ready, on guard and awake? Rather than to fill our time waiting with activities and distractions that will “hold the terrible silence at bay,” let our season of Advent be one of watchfulness, fidelity, patience and finally contrition that we may find within the silence of our hearts the voice of God, who sends his son to be our liberation and our salvation.

'Stay awake!' Sunday Reflections, 1st Sunday in Advent Year B

Women at prayer in Aušros Vartai (Gate of Dawn), Vilnius, Lithuania

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Gospel Mark 13:33-37 (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)

Jesus said to his disciples: 'Be on your guard, stay awake, because you never know when the time will come. It is like a man travelling abroad: he has gone from home, and left his servants in charge, each with his own task; and he has told the doorkeeper to stay awake. So stay awake, because you do not know when the master of the house is coming, evening, midnight, cockcrow, dawn; if he comes unexpectedly, he must not find you asleep. And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake!'

An Soiscéal Marcas 13:33-37 (Gaeilge, Irish)

San am sin dúirt Íosa lena dheisceabail :Bígí aireach, déanaigí faire, mar níl a fhios agaibh cén uair a bheidh an t-am ann. Is é dála duine é a d’fhág a theach agus a d’imigh ar an gcoigríoch; thug sé an t-údarás dá sclábhaithe, gach duine díobh i mbun a chúraim féin; agus d’ordaigh sé don doirseoir faire a dhéanamh. Déanaigí faire, dá bhrí sin, mar ní fios daoibh cén uair a thiocfaidh tiarna an tí, um thráthnóna, i lár na hoíche, ar ghlao an choiligh, nó ar maidin. Má thagann sé gan choinne, ná faigheadh sé sibh in bhur gcodladh. An rud a deirim libhse, deirim le gach duine é: Déanaigí faire.”

Icon of Our Lady at Gate of Dawn

My father, John, 'upped and died', as we say in Ireland, on 11 August 1987 at the age of 74. He had a heart attack while watching cricket on television in the late afternoon, something the Columban Superior General at the time, Fr Bernard Cleary, an Australian, found amusing.He just had time to call my brother, who was about to go out, get to his bed and lie down before he became unconscious.

In our part of Dublin there was one priest on call every day for emergencies in a group of parishes. My father had placed the emerency number, in large digits, and placed t on top of the phone. My brother phoned immediately. It happened that the priest on call was from our parish and was less than five minutes' walk away. The particular priest, though young, wasn't noted for his speed but he was over in no time at all to anoint Dad before the ambulance arrived. However, Dad was dead on arrival at the hospital. He died 17 years after my mother, Mary, who passed away in her sleep.

When I got the news of his death in the middle of the night in Cebu I was shocked. But not for a moment did I feel any regret over things not done. There was no 'unfinished business'. I was consoled when I learned that the priest had been with him but even more consoled knowing that he had been at Mass that morning, as he had been every day of his adult life.

He had no idea when the Lord would come for him. When he found my mother dead in bed he said to my brother, 'Your mother has gone now and we have to adjust to this. His strong faith enabled him to do that. That same faith prepared him for his own sudden death and prepared us, his two sons, to adjust to that new reality with grief, yes, but with no regrets, no 'unfinished business'.

'If he comes unexpectedly, he must not find you asleep. And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake!'

On my ordination day, 20 December 1967, with my parents and brother

Communion antiphon



Dóminus dabit benignitátem, et terra nostra dabit fructum suum (Ps 84:13).

The Lord will bestow his bounty, and our earth shall yield its increase.



Sisko's PADD from "Penumbra"

This is Captain Sisko's PADD from the Deep Space Nine episode "Penumbra".  It was acquired from Doug Drexler, who worked as Art Director on DS9.

This PADD was seen right at the beginning of the episode.  It depicts the land Sisko buys in the Kendra province, south of the Yolja River on Bajor (he bought twelve hecapates, to be precise) where he plans to build a house and retire after the Dominion war is over "and watch the sun set over the mountains every night."

And the Winner is...

The winner of the giveaway is Noraliza N Galvan.
And don’t worry everyone, I’ll do another giveaway soon…in fact, you might want to keep an eye out for one around Thanksgiving day, since I love holidays.

Christ the King

Christ the King Year A

Dies iræ! Dies illa Solvet sæclum in favilla:
The day of wrath, that day will dissolve the world in ashes …

Quantus tremor est futurus, Quando iudex est venturus,
Cuncta stricte discussurus!
How much tremor there will be, when the judge will come,
investigating everything strictly!

Iudex ergo cum sedebit,Quidquid latet, apparebit:
Nil inultum remanebit.
When therefore the judge will sit, whatever hides will appear:
nothing will remain unpunished.

Does this sound familiar to any of you? Well, if you had listened carefully to the English translation, you would have realized that this Latin poem evokes a frightening image of the Day of Judgment – it describes it as a Day of God’s wrath, a day when the world will be dissolved into ashes, a day when God sits as judge firmly and strictly investigating everything. Nothing will be hidden from his sight, no evil will remain unpunished. This frightening image of the Last Day, the Day of Judgment, would obviously not sit well with anyone today. In fact, this medieval Latin hymn, Dies Irae, which was a characteristic part of the Catholic Requiem Mass before the renewal of the liturgy after Vatican II, was removed from the present Catholic funeral liturgy, because some felt that the hymn was saturated with negative spirituality inherited from the Middle Ages. They felt that the song had overemphasized judgment, fear and despair whereas the funeral liturgy should actually be focusing on the hope and joy of the resurrection. So, the song got the boot!

But, the issue does not just boil down to a song. It is the idea or the image of God that lies behind the song. An image that would obviously not sit well with a crowd of Catholics today, who would be expecting Jesus to look something like the picture of the Divine Mercy and the Sacred Heart, a Jesus with a kind, compassionate and gentle face with arms outstretched to welcome all of us, even the most wretched among us. We find it hard to reconcile a Jesus who is merciful and loving with a Jesus who sits in judgment of us. In today’s language, we will protest: “This just doesn’t jive!” Perhaps, they would even draw inspiration from today’s gospel and say, “Look at today’s Gospel. In the parable of Jesus, Jesus identifies entirely with the weak, the poor and the marginalized.” This is the kind of Jesus whom we would expect to be our friend, in fact our BFF – Best Friends Forever, Our Buddie for Life, the Jesus who seems to be just ‘an ordinary Joe’, not a cosmic universal king who will act as our final judge. This last image seems too alien and distant from us.

Before, we come to a conclusion about the kind of Jesus whom we would like to worship, let’s listen to the rest of this hymn, especially to this next stanza.

Inter oves locum præsta, Et ab hædis me sequestra,
Statuens in parte dextra.
Grant me a place among the sheep, and take me out from among the goats,
setting me on the right side.

It’s quite clear now that this hymn is describing the scene in today’s gospel, the story of how Jesus separates the sheep from the goats. Read on any other occasion, it would not be too hard for someone to conclude that the whole crux of the story is this: all it takes to get to heaven is to offer a cup of water to someone who is thirsty, because you may actually be offering a drink to Jesus, himself. It is certainly a nice interpretation to the story that reminds us of the responsibility of fraternal charity. There is nothing wrong with this reading, but is it adequate?

Do remember that this is a parable of judgment. More importantly, Christ is presented as a cosmic all-powerful king sitting on his throne and as a judge summoning the accused to trial. Perhaps, this setting is entirely lost to most of us because the gravity and seriousness of the Day of Judgment is no longer emphasized in our modern liturgy. In fact, the parable of Jesus presents two images of Christ, both seemingly at opposite ends of a spectrum. One image is that of a God who is transcendent, who is distant from us, who sits as king in judgment of us. The other image is an image of a God who is immanent, who dwells among us, who is in complete solidarity with us, and who identifies with us. In other words, one presents us a God hidden behind the clouds and another, a God who looks just like us. The parable reminds us that both these images of Christ are not mutually exclusive. One does not cancel out the other.

Our preferences for the more gentle image of Jesus betrays a certain erroneous belief on our part. The idea of a remote or formal king does not resonate with us. What we want is one whom we can identify with, one who is like us; an approachable, compassionate and gentle king. Unfortunately, it is not a matter of choosing one image over the other. Jesus is that cosmic king seated on his throne of judgment – and there is a chasm which separates us lowly creatures from his august presence. Majesty which deserves worship and adulation is always marked by distance. You admire and worship someone only when you admire them from a distance, not when they are standing next to you and doing the same things as you. At the same time, this is a Jesus who has chosen to cross that chasm, knowing that no man nor woman will be able to make that journey; this is the supreme judge who understands that no mortal is able to bear the sentence for which he is accused, and who finally chooses to cross the distance from the bench to the gallery to take the place of the accused, the condemned in the dock, and to be punished and executed in his stead. It is one thing to know that someone has died for you. It is another thing entirely to know that a king or a God has chosen to do this.

It is easier to understand why the world requires a loving and compassionate king, a king who soothes us when we fall, a king who embraces us when we are lonely, a king who kisses our wounds to make the pain go away. Who wouldn’t want to have this kind of a king? But I believe Jesus came not merely to act as life’s panadol, a painkiller, for us. Jesus came to show us how God must ultimately be lord and master of our lives, there lies our salvation.

The world is in need of a king who calls and challenges them to greatness rather than mediocrity. The world is in need of king who gives them a chance to experience the perfection and the holiness of the divine rather than just being satisfied with our human weakness. The world is in need of a king who demands a radical self-giving and loving and not only when it suits us. The world needs a king to inspire us, not a king who looks and behaves just like us.

Today, in our attempt to make God and the divine more accessible, for example, by transforming the sanctuaries of our churches into empty spaces barren of beauty, in the removal of communion rails, in the singing of music that approximates the kind of music we listen to in our daily mundane existence, there is something about the character of the liturgy that is lost – we loose focus of the object of our liturgy, which is to worship God. In place of this, man is worshipped in his stead. But it is not just liturgy which suffers. Christian life suffers too when we choose to depict Christ merely as an ordinary Joe. There is no challenge to aim for loftier goals. At the end of the day, when Christ becomes ordinary, he will soon be forgotten, since he only acts as a functional implement or tool whenever we need him.

As a priest friend of mine once said, “if we erase the distance, wipe away the blood and hide the painful suffering of the crucifixion and demythologise the divinity of Christ, we sanitise the image of our King to the point of an empty symbol.” We have reduced Christ to a mere panacea or an intoxicant that serves to make us feel good in our otherwise miserable existence. But, this is Christ, King of the Universe, the one whom we must subject ourselves to. This is Christ, the Judge, who will call us to account for our actions, and who would demand evidence that we had recognised him in his people. This is Christ, our Lord and God, who chooses to come among us,God who becomes man in order that men may become gods. This is Christ who inspires us and reminds that we are made in his image and likeness, a royal priestly people called to give glory to God. Let us not make the mistake of reducing him into nothing more than an image of ourselves.

Star Trek Exhibit items for sale

Well, after cataloging all the assets on the Star Trek Exhibits in two locations and emptying one of three warehouse locations, we are starting to get an idea of all the items available for the CBS Star Trek Archive.  There are some bigger items we have already tagged for sale that just aren't right for the archive.  One of those items is the Enterprise half-missile that was used in the armory set.  You can find the IAW listing here.  There are 5 of these, as well as a number of full missiles.  

We have to see if these were production made or they were made after the production especially for the 2002 London Star Trek Adventure, where there was a full armory set.  Details to follow.  But if you are interested in one, stay tuned, or sign up on the Star Trek Prop, Costume & Auction Forum.

'I was sick . . . and you visited me.' Sunday Reflections, Christ the King, Year A

The Last Judgment, Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo, painted 1537-41

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Gospel Matthew 25:31-46 (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)

Jesus said to his disciples: 'When the Son of Man comes in his glory, escorted by all the angels, then he will take his seat on his throne of glory. All the nations will be assembled before him and he will separate men one from another as the shepherd separates sheep from goats. He will place the sheep on his right hand and the goats on his left. Then the King will say to those on his right hand, "Come, you whom my Father has blessed, take for your heritage the kingdom prepared for you since the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you made me welcome; naked and you clothed me, sick and you visited me, in prison and you came to see me." Then the virtuous will say to him in reply, "Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you; or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and make you welcome; naked and clothe you; sick or in prison and go to see you?" And the King will answer, "I tell you solemnly, in so far as you did this to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me." Next he will say to those on his left hand, "Go away from me, with your curse upon you, to the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For 1 was hungry and you never gave me food; 1 was thirsty and you never gave me anything to drink; I was a stranger and you never made me welcome, naked and you never clothed me, sick and in prison and you never visited me." Then it will be their turn to ask, "Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty, a stranger or naked, sick or in prison, and did not come to your help?" Then he will answer, "I tell you solemnly, in so far as you neglected to do this to one of the least of these, you neglected to do it to me." And they will go away to eternal punishment, and the virtuous to eternal life.'

An Soiscéal Matha 25:31-46 (Gaeilge, Irish)

San am sin duirt Íosa lena dheisceabail: “Nuair a thiocfaidh Mac an Duine ina ghlóir agus na haingil uile in éineacht leis, rachaidh sé ina shuí an uair sin i ríchathaoir a ghlóire. Beidh na náisiúin uile cruinnithe os a chomhair, agus déanfaidh sé na daoine a scaradh ó chéile, mar a scarann an t-aoire na caoirigh ó na gabhair. Cuirfidh sé na caoirigh ar a láimh dheis agus na gabhair ar a láimh chlé. Ansin déarfaidh an rí le lucht na láimhe deise: ‘Tagaigí, a lucht bheannaithe m’Athar, glacaigí mar oidhreacht an ríocht a ullmhaíodh daoibh ó thúsú an domhain. Óir bhí ocras orm agus thug sibh rud le hithe dom, bhí tart orm agus thug sibh rud le hól dom, bhí mé i mo strainséir agus thug sibh aíocht dom, bhí mé nocht agus chuir sibh éadach orm, bhí mé tinn agus tháinig sibh do m’fheiceáil, bhí mé i bpríosún agus thug sibh cuairt orm.’ Freagróidh na fíréin é ansin: ‘A Thiarna, cén uair a chonaiceamar thú agus ocras ort go dtabharfaimis bia duit, nó tart ort go dtabharfaimis deoch duit? Cén uair a chonaiceamar i do strainséir thú go dtabharfaimis aíocht duit, nó nocht go gcuirfimis éadach ort? Nó cén uair a chonaiceamar tinn thú, nó i bpríosún, go dtabharfaimis cuairt ort?’ Agus déarfaidh an rí á bhfreagairt: ‘Deirim libh go fírinneach, sa mhéid go ndearna sibh é do dhuine den chuid is lú de na bráithre seo agamsa, is domsa a rinne sibh é.’ Ansin déarfaidh sé le lucht na láimhe clé ar a seal: ‘Imígí uaim, a dhream mhallaithe, isteach sa tine shíoraí a ullmhaíodh don diabhal agus dá chuid aingeal. Óir bhí ocras orm agus níor thug sibh aon rud le hithe dom, bhí tart orm agus níor thug sibh aon rud le hól dom, bhí mé i mo strainséir agus níor thug sibh aíocht dom, bhí mé nocht agus níor chuir sibh aon éadach orm, bhí mé tinn agus i bpríosún agus níor tháinig sibh do m’fheiceáil.’ Agus freagróidh siad sin é ansin: ‘A Thiarna, cén uair a bhí tú le feiceáil againn agus ocras nó tart ort, nó i do strainséir, nó nocht nó tinn nó i bpríosún agus nach ndearnamar freastal ort?’ Ansin freagróidh sé iad: ‘Deirim libh go fírinneach, sa mhéid nach ndearna sibh é do dhuine den chuid is lú díobh seo, ní dhearna sibh domsa é ach oiread.’ Agus imeoidh siad leo, iad seo isteach i bpionós síoraí, ach na fíréin i mbeatha shíoraí.”

King Baudouin of the Belgians (1930-1993)

Leo Jozef Cardinal Suenens (1904-1996), Archbishop of Malines-Brussels from 1961to 1979,one of the leading figures at Vatican II, in a biography of King Baudouin of the Belgians, wrote of the occasion the king heard of a mother who was so ill in hospital that she could not attend the ordination to the priesthood of her son, a Jesuit. The king went to visit her that day. I was sick . . . and you visited me. When King Baudouin died suddenly in Spain on 31 July 1993 that same priest was chaplain in the prison where Belgium's most hardened criminals are kept. They nearly all attended a Mass for the late king and sent a message of sympathy to Queen Fabiola.

Not too long before his death, King Baudouin visited a brothel in Antwerp to listen to the stories of the women there. One of them, a Filipina, spoke at his funeral and said that he was the only man who had ever listened to them. (I am relying on memory here to some degree but the Los Angeles Times report on the funeral said, 'The breadth of Baudouin's popularity was reflected in the list of those who eulogized him: a Cabinet minister, an artist, a community worker, a prostitute and an investigative journalist'.)

The same report quotes Godfried Cardinal Danneels, then Archbishop of Malines-Brussels, at the funeral Mass in St Michael's Cathedral, 'There are kings who are more than kings, they are shepherds of their people. King Baudouin was such a king'. Thus says the Lord GOD: I myself will look after and tend my sheep. As a shepherd tends his flock when he finds himself among his scattered sheep,so will I tend my sheep' (Ezekiel 34:11-12, today's first reading).

In April 1990 King Bauduoin refused to sign into law a bill legalising abortion. He knew his stand could not prevent the bill from being implemented. The parliament declared him temporarily unable to carry out his duties and the members of the government signed the bill into law before declaring that the king was able to carry out his duties again. The king's stand could have led to the abolition of the monarchy. He himself became king when his father, a divisive figure, abdicated in 1951. I was a stranger and you made me welcome.

Cardinal Suenens' book showed that some wrote to the king for spiritual direction. He was a man whose Catholic faith was fully integrated with his public and private life. He and Queen Fabiola longed to have a child but the queen had five miscarriages.

In the days of Jesus kings were men with great power. Today's monarchs are basically ceremonial heads of state, with little power. But they can have great influence.

A friend of my brother was asked if he could play golf near Belfast with a visitor from the European Continent. The visitor was introduced as 'Mr So-and-so'.  After a few holes my brother's friend asked his golfing partner what he did for a living. 'Mr So-and-so' smiled and said, 'I'm the King of the Belgians'.

None of us are kings or queens but many of us have responsibilities towards others, as priests, spouses/parents, teachers, social workers, caregivers, nurses and what not. The feast of Christ the King tells us that the heart of responsibility is loving service, even to giving up our lives if necessary. I believe that King Baudoin is one of many persons from every walk of life whom God has sent to show us how to follow his Son Jesus, God who became Man, whom we honour today as Christ the King.