6 December, Friday — “Ignorance is NOT bliss”

Friday of the 1^st Week of Advent

Isa 29:17-24
Mt 9:27-31

“Take care that no one learns about this.”

“OHHHH… you are Catholic too?” Have you ever been in this situation where you suddenly find out that your co-worker for many years is also Catholic? When these occasions happen, I ask myself, “Why didn’t I know about this earlier?” Was it because I have also hidden my faith? Or that my ‘lack of love for neighbour’ crosses me out of the list of Catholics in the workplace? I admit, I may not be the easiest person to work with and perhaps this is why sometimes people are surprised to learn that I am Catholic too.

I sometimes feel that we Catholics are in a ‘Fight Club’, where the no 1 rule of ‘Fight Club’ is that no one talks about Fight Club. The only sign, once a year, that we can spot that a fellow Catholic is usually on Ash Wednesdays, where we nod knowingly to the other person with ashes on their forehead. “Fight Club, anyone”?

Why is this so? Why do we keep our faith so secret? How many of us Catholics will make the sign of the cross before meals in a public place/fine dining establishment? I am referring to the deliberate signing of the cross and not waving our hand around like swatting flies. Are some of us really that ashamed of being Catholic in our secular world? Understandably, the world is trying its best to tell all that being a Christian is no fun, that our beliefs are outdated; and being a Catholic means that you will be bullied because Jesus told us to “offer the other cheek”. Just a couple of months back, when I attended a dinner engagement, one of my fellow diners found out that I was Catholic and immediately started ‘attacking me’, saying nasty things like, “why do you follow a religion of child abusers, and that the Pope cannot be infallible, etc etc…” It seems that there are a lot of misguided people around us.

So…what can we do to prepare when these kinds of verbal onslaught happens? Well, in my experience, the very first thing we must do, is to really know our faith. About why we believe what we believe and have a clear understanding of what we believe. We cannot rely on the Sunday homilies to instruct us in the faith. It is really not enough.

I remember during the ‘circuit breaker’ period just after COVID-19; I learnt a lot more about faith. Whenever I go for my long runs, I listen to the ‘Catholic Answers’ podcast. This provided me with some of the answers to common questions and led me to reflect on certain issues, like “Why do bad things happen to good people?” Of course, being on the trails during those long runs also enabled me to converse with God and He reinforced the fact that He is always with us.

With this basic knowledge and discernment, we can then build on the faith that we have. Just like the two blind men in today’s Gospel, where even though they were blind, their faith was strong enough to allow them to see that Jesus is the “Son of David”, that Jesus is the Messiah, and that Jesus can heal them. And that’s what Jesus did, according to their faith.

So, do we really believe that Jesus is our Lord and Saviour? That He is present in the Holy Eucharist? That He is always with us, yes to the end of time?

I do! And I will continue to NOT be quiet about my faith, as I owe it to the Lord God to proclaim from the housetops, that He is great and worthy of all my love.

(Today’s OXYGEN by Calvin Wee)

Prayer: Thank you Lord, for the gift of our faith. May You grant me a constant curiosity to want to seek out knowledge about You, and to seek for You always that I may build my relationship with You. I humbly ask you Lord, to be with me always, and to have the courage to show to all that I am your child. Amen.

Thanksgiving: Thank you, Heavenly Father, for the gift of my Faith. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for letting us know You more. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for always seeking us out even when we don’t want to be found. Amen.