Justice and Charity

Fr Alan explained to us the meaning of Christian justice.

Fr Alan said, "If you have two coats, then one of the coats belongs to the poor." 

According to Fr Alan, this is justice, not charity. This must be music to Pope Francis' ears.

I think Fr Alan was teaching us not to over consume.  

Pope Francis teaches us that over consumption leads to environmental damage.

Fr Alan said, "When we give money away to the poor, it could be justice and not charity."

Heavenly Father, teach us not to have too many coats, too many shoes, and teach us not to over consume. Teach us to give away our excess to others who have less than us. Amen. 

The Word of God is like a laser beam

Krzysztof remembers Fr Alan's teachings part II

Krzysztof, while in Kraków for a family visit, remembers Fr Alan's teachings. 

Krzysztof wrote, "... The Word is a light. Not a wide beam - It is very focused, perhaps like a laser. Pointing at something very concrete in your life. Will you let it show you what needs to come into the light? Out of darkness ..."

This is a more poignant way of saying the Word is a mirror which shows us our sins, which Fr Alan used to say in the early 1990s. 

Heavenly Father, let your Word shine on me like a laser beam, to dispel the darkness in my life, so I can walk towards you and your Son Jesus Christ and arrive safely in heaven at the end of time. Amen. 

Addendum: My friend, Carrie, who checks over my posts wrote after reading this posting: "Yes, as piercing as laser light . . .  and sharper than a double-edged sword!" - I leave you to draw your own conclusions! 

Prodigal son

This coming Sunday's Gospel reading will be about the prodigal son. Fr Alan said, "It should be the Prodigal Sons!"

He said the older son's heart was full of wanting to do all those bad things but he did not have the guts to do them. He said if such a man were to be appointed as parish priest to St Charles, Ogle Street, we should pray for him to go to Spanish Place instead and that made us all laugh during his sermon.

I now understand the meaning of Fr Alan's sermon about the older brother. The older brother is a highly moralistic person and, as Christians, we are not called to be moralistic but always to make excuses for others and to forgive others.

Fr Alan told us to look at Rembrandt's picture of the Prodigal Son and he said the father represented God the Father. If you were to look at the painting carefully, you would notice one of the hands is feminine and the other masculine -  showing us the two natures of God.

In the Gospel reading from Luke, the father looking out for the lost son represents God the Father looking out for us when we have sinned and turned away from Him.

The younger son represents us, who have sinned against God the Father.

When the son came home, the father asked his servants to put a ring on the son's hand - and this showed that the father had allowed the son to have authority again.

Putting sandals on the son's feet is a symbol that his son is not a servant or a slave.

This Sunday's [24th Week of OT] readings are all about mercy - Fr Alan's favourite topic. 

In the first reading, God relented after the people had apostasised. The second reading is about God's inexhaustible patience and how God has forgiven St Paul, who was a blasphemer who attacked the early Christians. The Gospel is about God looking for the lost sheep, the woman looking for the lost coin, and the father looking for his lost son.

Almighty God, thank you so much for your inexhaustible mercy which you have for us. Teach us to walk to you with the people whom you have put in front of us and always being forgiving towards the people around us, like the way you are always merciful towards us. And Heavenly Father, when we fall, give us the grace to stand up again and walk towards you, like the prodigal son. Amen. 

Grateful Heart

Janet wrote to me to inform me what Fr Alan had said.

She wrote Fr Alan said:

"Close your book of complaints!"

AND

"Have a grateful heart!"

A grateful heart is a thankful heart. 

Do you actually say thank you to God for the wonderful things God has done for you during the day?
Do you say thank you to the people around you who have done favours or jobs for you?
Do you do things for others as a way of showing your gratitude towards them?

OR do you think everybody should be doing things for you and being grateful towards you?

Almighty God, please give us grateful hearts so we can express our sincere thanks to you for the wonders you have done for us everyday of our lives. Amen.

Not seeing clearly

When we first start turning to God, we would not see the errors of our ways very clearly, according to Fr Alan. Fr Alan compared this with a dirty window, hindering sunlight from beaming into a room, and people in the room would not see how dusty the room is.

However, over time, the window becomes cleaner, and lets more light into the room, thus allowing people to see the dustiness of the room.

Similarly, as we get closer to Jesus, we can see our sins more clearly and this does not mean we have got worse.

I was reminded of this, when I read the second long reading by Pope St Leo the Great this morning, in which the saint was writing about one’s eye filled with dirt and unable to see the brightness of the true light.

This means when we grow in faith and able to see our sins, this does not mean we are getting worse and we should not be too scandalised, according to Fr Alan.

Heavenly Father! Thank you for being so kind and patient with us and showing us our sins slowly. Give us the grace to sin no more. Amen.

Heaven

This is the Year of Mercy and I must let you know what Fr Alan said about heaven.

When we reach the pearly gates of heaven, do you know what question will be asked of us?

Fr Alan said, there would be only ONE question: "How did you love?"

In the Gospel on the 22nd Sunday of OT [last Sunday's Gospel] Jesus asked us to invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind to our party as they cannot repay back our hospitality.  So we are invited to be generous with what we have. This is a form of love.

This Sunday's Gospel [23rd Sunday], Jesus asks us to give up ALL our possessions.  "To give up" is similar to being free with our possessions and we are therefore able to share with others what have been given to us. This is also a form of love.

So, from these Gospel readings, we could see one way to love is to be generous to others by sharing with others what we have and to give without expecting anything back in return. 

If in front of these, you are bankrupt, because you are unable to give or share what God has given you, then do not worry because only God can make a miracle and help us to go beyond ourselves and be generous to others.

We have to be generous to God, to others and ourselves.  

Pope Francis is now wanting to make care of the environment as one of the acts of mercy, and therefore we have to love our environment too and of course we have to be like St Francis and love ALL of God's creatures.

Almighty Father, we know you love us very much. Please give us your Holy Spirit so we can love You, love others, love our mother earth, love the Church, love ourselves and most importantly love the least of all your creatures. Amen. 

Alleluia

What did Fr Alan say about alleluia?

What does alleluia mean?

Fr Alan said, 

"Alleluia means praise the Lord! - Praise Yahweh!

He also said, "Alleluia is an imperative word."

Examples of imperative statements include:

Stand up straight.
Sit still.

Sure enough we are not saying alleluia to God.  Fr Alan said we would say alleluia to the person sitting or standing besides us, instructing them to praise God.

Fr Alan also said the alleluia before the Gospel, in the celebration of a Mass, should always be sung and not said. If nobody could sing the alleluia, then this should be omitted. 

Let us ask God to help us to become alleluia people, praising God always, with our lips, with our hearts, in our actions, in front of other people. 

Alleluia! Praise the Lord! Amen!

Mass

Some of us think, we make all the effort when we go to Holy Mass. Not so, according to Fr Alan.

Fr Alan said:

"God always takes the initiative."
"God invites us to Mass."

So for those of you who have difficulties going to Holy Mass, turn to God and ask him to invite you to Mass.

Fr Alan also asked us to come to Mass with a huge heart, bringing lots of people with us to Mass in our hearts. He said, "I hope the church is very crowded with lots of people in your hearts!"

Like as if St Charles was not crowded enough with real people standing to the back of the church, including the foyer, and sometimes overflowing to the streets.

Almighty Father, I pray when I go to Holy Mass, I am very generous, and bring lots and lots of people in my heart, so we all can look at you, your Son, Jesus Christ, and be filled with the Holy Spirit. 

Heavenly Father, another request, if I could be so impertinent, please please invite me to Holy Mass everyday, so I could learn to adore you, my Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit. 

AMEN.

Novena Prayers

I have learnt how to say the Novena to the Holy Spirit from Fr Alan. We used to say this prayer after Mass together from after Ascension Thursday to Pentecost.

This Novena is a nine day prayer to the Holy Spirit, mimicking Our Lady, the other ladies who were followers of Jesus, the apostles and others, praying in the Upper Room, after Jesus had ascended into Heaven, until Pentecost.

Fr Alan said, "The Novena to the Holy Spirit is THE Novena of the Church and this is the official Church's novena."  Fr Alan said, "People would say all sorts of novena, including perpetual novenas, whatever that means, but never say THE Novena to the Holy Spirit."

One could say a Novena to the Holy Spirit not only after Ascension Thursday to Pentecost, but before a job, a new beginning or when one feels one does not want to be a dysfunctional Christian anymore. 

Why do I say the Novena to the Holy Spirit? 

This is because Fr Alan has explained that Christians who do not have the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are dysfunctional Christians. I pray the Novena to the Holy Spirit asking God to fill me with the Spirit of God and give me the gifts of the Holy Spirit in great abundance. 

Novena to the Holy Spirit

After Mass Fr Alan would say with us Veni Sancte Spiritus [which is also known as the Golden Sequence] or Veni Creator Spiritus [Come Creator Spirit]. EWTN has a very complicated novena, which you can peruse at your leisure. 

Veni Sancte Spiritus

Come, Holy Spirit send us a ray of your light.
Come, you father of the poor.
Come, you light of the heart.
Come, you giver of all gifts.
Come, you who are the greatest of all helpers.
You are the most beloved guest of the soul.
The most precious comforter.
In the midst of our weariness, you bring relief.
In the midst of our sufferings, you bring consolation.
O immortal light, come into our hearts.
For without your grace there is nothing good in us.
Purify all that is unclean in us.
Water everything which is dry.
Heal all our wounds.
Bend what is rigid.
Warm what is cold.
Bring order to all that is devious in us.
Give us your faithful ones your holy gifts.
Give strength and love.
Grant us a holy death
and grant us joy which will never end.
AMEN.

If you wish to peruse another translation, please do so. 


Veni Creator Spiritus

Come, O Creator Spirit, visit our minds,
fill with your love the hearts you have created.
O wonderful counselor,
gift of the Most High Father,
Living Water! Fire! Love!
Holy Chrism of the soul!
Finger of the Hand of God,
promised of the Saviour,
pour out your seven gifts,
make the Word be born in us.
Light of the intellect,
Living flame in our hearts,
Heal our wounds with the ointment of your love.
Defend us from the enemy,
bring peace as your gift.
All-powerful Guide, may you save us from all evil.
Light of eternal wisdom,
reveal to us the great mystery
of God the Father and the Son,
united in one single love.
AMEN.

There is another translation which you may wish to peruse at your leisure. 

Bless God

Fr Alan told us we had to bless God.

Have you blessed God today?

How do we go about blessing God?

Fr Alan told us to bless God was to speak well of God.

Have you spoken well of God today?

To bless God or to speak well of God is also to praise God. We, Christians, are called to praise God, always, by telling others the wonders, the miracles which God has done in our lives. 

God has done a marvelous thing for me by putting Fr Alan in front of me, so I could have a teacher who could teach me to understand my Catholic faith. This has done wonders for me.

Thank you Heavenly Father for this gift. It is much appreciated. 

Fr Alan's Grave

Iwona P sent me this picture today. 

Thanks Iwona!

St Anthony of Padua

Saying the Office this morning reminded me of what Fr Alan had said about St Anthony of Padua when I read the second long reading. 

Fr Alan told us a story of St Anthony of Padua when he was preaching to the Pope. On that day when St Anthony was preaching to the Pope, he was referring to the passage from the Acts of the Apostles [3: 6]. St Anthony said when Ss Peter and John were going to the Temple for prayers in the afternoon, they met a crippled man by the entrance who was begging. Peter said to the man, "Silver and gold I have none; but what I have, I give you.  In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, walk!"  Peter took the hand of the man and helped him to stand up and instantly his feet and ankles became firm, he jumped up, stood and began to walk, went to the Temple praising God.

St Anthony turned to the Pope and said, "Gold and silver you have plenty, but can you get a cripple to walk?"

I love St Anthony and I like his directness.

Fr Alan came to me and asked me to clean St Anthony of Padua's statue at St Charles' church, one Holy Saturday. Fr Alan said as I have a devotion to St Anthony, I should clean his statue.

Unfortunately St Anthony's statue is left outside to weather the elements today at St Charles. I heard about it and saw the statue recently when I was out looking for Borromeo, the cat. 

St Charles church's full name is the parish church of St Charles Borromeo!

I have a friend who has a cat and the cat is registered as Borromeo but is normally called by a nick name, Bobo. He went missing for over eight days. 

My friend and I prayed to St Anthony and she found the cat within 24 hours. 

Thank you St Anthony for finding Borromeo and please pray for us! 

[I now call Borromeo, Ah'Hog 阿福 meaning fortunate one, because he was lost for eight days, and was found!]

St Francis of Assisi

St Charles Borromeo parish church was consecrated on the feast of St Francis of Assisi, 4th October, and when I went to St Charles, Ogle Street for Mass on the feast day of St Francis, hoping to celebrate St Francis' feast day, Fr Alan would celebrate a different Mass. 

However, Fr Alan had much to say about our dear saint Francis. 

As you know, our nation has slowly been dechristianized and in our last census, only about fifty percent of the population acknowledged they were Christians.

Fr Alan said, "We need another St Francis in Europe!"

Why did Fr Alan say this? I suppose such a person would show us the face of Jesus. Perhaps we are seeing this in Pope Francis.

Fr Alan told us a story about St Francis and money. One day, St Francis and his brothers were out walking about and one of his brothers found some money. They were so excited and took the money to St Francis and informed him of their finding the money. 

St Francis was so upset because he knew money was dirty. At that very moment, there was a donkey on the street and the donkey had just made a poo. St Francis asked his brother to eat the poo and told his brother that money was as dirty as the poo of a donkey.

Fr Alan then asked us what we would have done if we were to walk out of St Charles and find a twenty pound note on the ground. Would we be fighting with our conscience if we should keep the money or take it to the nearest police station? What would you do if you were to find a twenty pound note?

Fr Alan said if we were to have a five pound note, the note could have been used to pay a prostitute the week before OR it could have been used to feed the poor. 

My friend Carrie thinks St Francis is the closest saint to Jesus and she often shares with me how St Francis has inspired her in living a simple life.  

Carrie and I first went to St Charles together in the early 1990s. We even went to Fr Alan for confession together, but not at the same time. Fr Alan asked me which parish I came from and when I told him my parish, he told me to go back to my parish. I am glad I stayed on at St Charles and heard Fr Alan's sermons. 

Almighty God, please give us your Spirit so we can love mother earth and all your creatures. Help us to protect our environment and appreciate what you have given us.  Help us to be like St Francis, living a simple life and have a disdain for money. Amen. 

Bishop Grzegorz Ryś - Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Kraków

Iwona B shared the information for this post with me.

An Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Kraków, Bishop Grzegorz Ryś. has said:

"... I would like to say I have fallen in love with the Bible."    

Since when? 

"I think, since I met a man who could explain the Bible. I met him for the first time, two or three years after my ordination. This meeting turned everything upside down for me.  After my ordination I was convinced I knew what it meant to preach, that I knew how to do it and so on. I met this priest in England, in London in a parish. This Parish Priest, who preached the Word in such a way, that ever since, I have never met anyone who could break the Word in this way.   After I have met such a person, I cannot stop myself from reading Scripture."

Iwona wrote to me and assured me that she knew the Parish Priest in London was Fr Alan. 

Fr Alan had such an impact on so many people, including priests.

I bless God for giving all of us Fr Alan Fudge. 

Krzysztof remembers Fr Alan's teachings

Krzysztof has written to me today and shared what he has remembered about Fr Alan's teachings. 

"The Church is a hospital and Jesus is the physician, taking care of our wounds."

I remember this vividly. I remember Fr Alan saying, "There are lots of sick people in this church and the Church is a hospital."  Fr Alan taught us how the Word of God and the sacraments could heal our wounds and illnesses.

May God heal each of us from our illnesses, our psychological problems, our wounds and make us whole again. Amen.

"We all look for love and those who are not here [as in a church] look for it in the wrong places such as in drugs, sex, money or power. These people are not evil! No, they have been misled!"

I also remember Fr Alan telling us about some people suffering from affectivity problems, referring in particular to bulimia nervosa, anorexia nervosa and over eating.

Fr Alan said, people who have not experienced love could show some of these affectivity problems. 

However, God loves us most dearly, and I feel so sad that some people have not experienced this love and are looking for love in the wrong places.

Almighty and living God, thank you for your love you have for each of us. I pray you will show people who have been misled, your huge amount of love for them and find somewhere in which they can come home to the mother Church and be healed of their illnesses and problems. Amen.

"We are no better than others. No! We all fall - [as in sinning]. We just have to experience meeting Jesus in our lives."

"How do we love the unloveable, forget the unforgettable, forgive the unforgivable?"  Fr Alan taught us, "Grace preseeds duty. It is grace from God which can change our hearts!"

What can I say, Krzysztof?  It is pure Fr Alan.  Krzysztof - Thank you so much for your contributions. It is much appreciated and the above will help many people. 

Infantile Faith

I remember long time ago, there were lots of people in St Charles, Ogle Street sitting in pews - [yes, pews - not chairs!] and Fr Alan was giving a sermon. Fr Alan said, "You people sitting there are all dressed in your First Holy Communion outfits!"

What did Fr Alan mean by this? Fr Alan was explaining to us that we had infantile faith and we had made no or little progress since our First Holy Communion where our faith was concerned. 

Is this possible? 

Do you put ALL your trust in God? 
OR Do you pray to God so that God does your will?
Do you sit there in silence adoring God or do you prefer to chat to God and do not allow God to talk to you?
Is your Catholic religion all about doing things or do you sit there and let God do it all for you?
Do you find you need God more and more as you grow older or do you feel you need God less and less as you grow?

Many of us have infantile faith and there is nothing to be ashamed of and God loves us all the same. 

Almighty Father - help us to grow in faith, relying totally on you, believing everything which comes from you is good. Teach us to just sit there in silence, admiring you, adoring you and your son Jesus and be filled with your Holy Spirit. Amen. 

World Day of Prayer for Creation

It has been decided by the Holy Spirit and by ourselves not to saddle you with any burden beyond these essentials:  you are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from fornication. Avoid these, and you will do what is right. Farewell.

Acts of the Apostles 15: 28 - 29 

On the sixth Sunday of Easter [Year C], we would hear this reading proclaimed from the ambo. 

[The ambo used to be called the lectern and this word was changed together with the introduction of the new Missal.]

AND you may say these, especially the first three essentials, do not apply to me.  Fr Alan said, "The Church does not put any Word in front of us which has nothing to do with us."

Fr Alan said in the early Church, they had all sorts of disagreement and argument, including whether Christians should be circumcised. They had a dialogue and agreed on the above four essentials.

However, Fr Alan said, "We should understand the situation in the primitive Church." Most of the early converts were surrounded by a sea of pagans and people who practise other religions. These people would take animals to their temples and make sacrifices and the meat of the animal was supposed to be burnt as pagan sacrifices. However, there were unscrupulous people who would take the meat to the market to sell.

Thus abstaining from food sacrificed to idols means to keep our hands clean with money, according to Fr Alan. So we have to earn and spend our money honestly and Fr Alan has said, "Christians pay their taxes."

I have posted something already in which I reported Fr Alan not wanting dirty money at St Charles, Ogle Street.  Fr Alan said, "They are more people in hell because of money than because of sex. Money is more dangerous than sex." Fr Alan said, "We are so mesmerised by money."

Do not touch blood and this means we must not fiddle with life. For the Jewish people, blood means life. 

Fr Alan said, "Do not touch life." This would include our not having anything to do euthanasia, manipulation of genes, cloning, IVF, abortion and many other modern biotechnological advances which manipulates God's creation, including genetically modified food. Fr Alan said if we were to touch life, we would not know where we would end up. 

Regarding strangled animals: During the time of the early Church, the Jews killed animals using kosher means and the people outside the Jewish faith killed their animals inhumanely, such as strangling animals. 

Fr Alan said, "Not eating strangled animals means we have to respect all of God's creation (including little animals) and today we have "raped" the earth." This is very pertinent to us today, Pope Francis has called for today to be the World Day of Prayer for Creation. We have abused mother earth with our excessive consumption, waste, disregard for the environment and it is time for us to pray about it and perhaps God can change our hearts and make us more environmentally friendly and care for God's little creatures. 

Regarding fornication, Fr Alan said the non Christians at that time of the early Church would marry with people of their own sex, or engage in sexual relationships with animals, and they were incestuous.  

Some people think same sex marriage is a creation of the 21st century. However, not so! In another Catholic Bible, fornication is translated as illicit marriages. And as our nation becomes de-Christianized..., we will have to protect Christian marriages, according to Fr Alan.

Fr Alan also said, "Pagan is not a pejorative word." Fr Alan said, "It is better to be a good honest pagan, than be a faked Christian." Faked Christians are those who are half-baked, having a pick and mix attitude towards their Christian faith, taking what they like from Christianity and ignoring the rest.

Almighty God, help us not to destroy life and our environment. Help us to look at the risen Christ, so we can have Jesus' spirit and are able to live a Christian life - respecting all life and our environment, loving mother earth, having clean hands when dealing with money, having moral relationships with others including loving ALL of God's creatures. Amen. 

The Old Lady

Fr Alan told us a story once of an old lady having visions. She told her parish priest and her parish priest told her if she were to see God, could she ask God what sins the parish priest had, which only God and the priest knew.

The next time the priest saw the old lady, he asked her if she had seen God and what sins the priest had. The old lady told the priest she had seen God and she had asked God of the priest's sins. However, God told the old lady that God has forgotten all the priest's sins.

I think this story is befitting for this post, after I have written several posts about sin.

I am also relief to know God has forgotten all my sins. It is a new beginning for me each day, knowing of the mercy and love of God for me and that God has a memory problem.

Hearing all the lovely sermons of Fr Alan for many years did not bring me to conversion. I had a pick and mix attitude to my faith. I chose what I like about my Catholic religion and ignored the rest.

However, God loves me so much and he gave me a community of Christian brothers and sisters and I could see many of these people leading a Christian life.  It is actually seeing people able to live a Christian life which made me aware that I too could abandon my pick and mix attitude towards my Catholic faith. Some people call pick and mix Christianity as cafeteria Christianity.

And so I called God to drop a bomb into my life so I could repent. With God's love, mercy and grace, I could walk away from a dichotomy of a Christian lifestyle and be a Christian.

Almighty and living God, I thank you for your love for me and for you to teach me to love only you. I thank you for the many blessings each day, and I pray you will give me the protection I need each day to arrive safely in heaven one day. Amen. 

Christ is Kyrios

During the Roman period, Roman citizens would come to the statue of caesar to burn incense and would say Caesar Kyrios. Christians would not do this and were put to death. Why? 

This is because for Christians, Christ is Kyrios. 

Who is your Kyrios? Kyrios is a Greek word which means lord or master.  Who is your lord and master? Your money, your career, your processions, your employer or something else? 

In the primitive Church, the Romans hated Christians because they thought Christians divided families. Fr Alan said Christians did not divide families. Sin divided families.

In Romans 6:16, St Paul has written certain sins lead to death. 

Fr Alan said, "Mortal sin kills."  Fr Alan said Christians did not invent mortal sin. This concept came from the Jewish faith. 

Fr Alan also said there was not much point for people who have mortal sins to receive communion. 

WHY? This is because it is like giving food to a corpse. Fr Alan said, "There are people who do not want to talk about sin and say there is no such thing as mortal sin." Fr Alan said, "Racism is a very serious mortal sin."

Fr Alan said, "When one has mortal sin, one is dead and unable to love." 

So when one is racist, one is unable to love people who are different from us. 

Almighty Father, clean our hearts and drive from it all kinds of fear, including aversion to people who are different from us. Give us your Holy Spirit which helps us to love others, especially those who are different from us. Amen. 

Onesimus

I remember Fr Alan telling us about Onesimus. Fr Alan said, "Onesimus means useful."

Onesimus was a slave of Philemon, and he was accused of stealing from Philemon, and Onesimus ran away, went to Rome, met St Paul, heard the preaching of Christ, repented, became a Christian, and St Paul sent Onesimus back to Philemon with a letter, asking Philemon to forgive Onesimus and accept him as a brother in Christ.

WOW!

Only Christians can do this! And all three - Paul, Onesimus and Philemon all became saints.

This is really a story about repentance and during Lent, we are all called to repent.

Some people are averse to hearing, "Repent and believe in the Gospel." Why? I suppose this type of people think they are living a Christian life and do not have any sins and what is there to repent and believe in the Gospel, when this type of people already believe in the Gospel.

Well, all I can say is that it is not easy to repent and believe in the Gospel. Let us take this Sunday's Gospel from Luke 14: 25 - 33.

Jesus asks us to hate our mother, father, husband, wife, son, daughter, brothers, sisters and ourselves and be his disciple. Can you really do this? Many people are scandalised by this!

Then on verse 33, Jesus says, none of you can be my disciple unless he gives up all his possessions. Can you really give up ALL of your possessions and be a follower of Christ. 

Fr Alan said, "Christians are not called to be poor."  So what does this mean? Fr Alan taught us that we must not be attached to our possessions and money, and be free with these.

Fr Alan told us a story about himself. He wanted to go to the seminary and he was the only son. His grandmother called him to her room and showed him all her money in a trunk and told Fr Alan that if he were to give up the idea of going to the seminary, he could have all of his grandmother's money. At that point, Fr Alan said he had to hate his grandmother. WHY? He had to hate the idea of his grandmother tempting him not to go to the seminary. Of course he went to the seminary and left all his possessions and followed Jesus.

When his parents visited him after a year or two later when he was in the seminary, Fr ALan's mother was so upset when she saw his room. Fr Alan's room, which is called a cell, was bare, like Pope Benedict's room in the Vatican when he was the reigning Pope.

Why? This is because both Fr Alan and Pope Benedict have given up their possessions and turned to God. 

Fr Alan said one Lent, "To repent means to have a metanoia." Metanoia means to change one's way of life resulting from penitence or spiritual conversion.  And for those people who find the concept of sin difficult to contemplate and to "repent and believe in the Gospel" does not apply to them, then perhaps they could think about repentance means to have a metanoia - to change one's way of life, turn to Jesus and have a deeper relationship with Him. 

Almighty Father, remove our pride and the lie of the Devil, making us think we are perfect Christians, who do not sin or do not have any need of repentance. Teach us the real meaning of metanoia, turn to you and look only at you, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Amen. 

Sin

I used to do a church crawl in London finding for a place where I could worship. I noticed that many priests were afraid to talk about sin, the devil, hell, punishment and Fr Alan never had any problems talking about these topics.

I found Ogle Street in the early 1990's with a number of my friends and we used to drive in a convoy from West London to Central London each Sunday to listen to Fr Alan preaching the most wonderful sermons, calling us to turn to Jesus and to lead a Christian life.

We all loved his sermons and how he used to make the readings from the Bible alive for all of us.

So what did Fr Alan say about sin?

Fr Alan talked about private, public, habitual sins. 

So if I were to sit there thinking of someone leaving half his food on his plate and how he has robbed the starving by wasting food, then I have committed a private sin, judging this person with my heart, and other people who not have known about this. 

If I were to cause a sandal by stealing someone's husband, than that sin would be public and everybody would know about it.

As for private sin, nobody would know about it and I could have sinned, and rot away like Lazarus who had died, buried and was rotten when Jesus called him out of his grave. In another word, I could have sinned privately, rotten to the core and nobody would know about it, until Jesus calls me to repent. 

However, both private and public sins have consequences and these sins damage us, the sinner, and other people around us.

Fr Alan also talked habitual sins, which were sins which we could not get rid of - such as gambling, taking drugs, watching ponography, masterbating and some of these sins could be private sins, where nobody would know that one has committed such sins, but nevertheless these sins would cause self damage and also to those around us. 

Allan Wing reminded me that Fr Alan said, "Some people finds it difficult to cut with their sins because the sins are pleasurable [as in enjoyable]."  I believe only God can call us out of this type of pleasurable sin by doing something big in our lives and giving us a huge shock. This could be in a form of "punishment".

Fr Alan used to say, "You will be punished!"  What does punishment mean? God punishes us by calling us to order because he loves us. God is trying to redeem us from our bad ways of hurting other people or ourselves, and God puts something shocking in our lives so we can change and make a cut with our sins. God does this completely out of love. God our Father is a good parent, and like good parents, God disciplines us, so we can grow closer towards him and love him more and stop sinning.

Fr Alan also said, "Some people think sexual sins are the worst sins." Fr Alan said, "The worst sins are those pertaining to money."  

Fr Alan used to tell us about how families would split up because of a Will. Family members would fight over money and how money could drive some people to do very strange things. This is why avarice is one of the seven deadly sins. 

However, do remember of God's mercy and God is always merciful and all of these sins could be forgiven. 

So, go to confession and ask for forgivenss and even before you walk into the box, God has already forgiven your sin. 

What I like about going to Fr Alan for confession was that he could tell me my sins, and he would also explain to me why I have committed these sins and how I could avoid committing these sins. I suppose Fr Alan knew me very well.

I remembered on one Holy Saturday morning when a group of us had just finished cleaning the church to get ready for the great feast of Easter. Fr Alan came to me and told me to stop eating junk food. How did know I had been eating convenience food and eating out frequently?  I felt Fr Alan could see through me. I never told Fr Alan about my eating habits. With that remark from Fr Alan, I could walk away from destroying my body and began eating healthy. 

Only grace from God can help all of us not to sin again. Do not be afraid of our sinful nature. God loves us with all our sins. Just ask from God the grace not to sin again.

I am going to give you the advice which Fr Alan gave to me when I used to go to confession with him.  Fr Alan would say to me, "Be kind to yourself. Throw yourself onto the Throne of Mercy." 

So throw yourself onto the Throne of Mercy and be kind and gentle to yourself. Remember God is love and mercy. 

And finally, there is nothing to be ashamed of that we are all sinners. I think it is very cool to pray for the Word of God to act as a mirror to show us our sins. 

Almighty and ever living God, thank you for your love and mercy, always forgiving me. Please give me the grace not to sin again. Amen. 

St Monica

St Monica - the mother of St Augustine

Today is the feast day of St Monica. 

It has also reminded me of Fr Alan's mantra - "Close your book of complaints!"

Fr Alan told us of this story of St Monica sitting next to St Augustine and his mistress for years eating their meals. She said nothing and kept her mouth shut. St Monica had closed her book of complaints.

Fr ALan said, God answered St Monica's prayers, and at the age of 33, St Augustine walked down the baptismal font with his son and became a Christian.

St Monica - pray for us. 

Food and Drink

What did Fr Alan said about food and drink?

I have already mentioned Fr Alan said we have not been called to be puritans and on feast days the vino must flow. 

During the first year of me worshiping at St Charles, Ogle Street, W1, I heard Fr Alan saying on one Easter Sunday morning that there were lamb, fish on the table during the Easter morning breakfast and vino was flowing. 

At that time I was rather surprised that people could eat fish, lamb and drink wine early on Easter morning.

Fr Alan also said it was impossible for people to pass drinks and food on to one's enemies if they were sitting together having a meal. This was because passing on food and drink to another person was a sign of wanting the other person to live. 

One Lent, a sister told me that I should give up cooking and baking for Lent. Fr Alan got to hear of this and he immediately said to everybody, "Definitely not!"  Fr Alan said, "When Juyee cooks, she is giving life to others and this must not be stopped, especially during Lent."

This Sunday's Gospel reading from Luke 14, Jesus said, ". . . when you have a party, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; that they cannot pay back . . ."

And again in 2 Corinthians 9:7, St Paul wrote, "For God loves a person who gives cheerfully."

So be generous, cook without counting the cost and give with a cheerful heart and do not expect any repayment.

Why? This is because God will not be outdone by one's generosity.  So trust in God and just give without counting and God will reward you a hundredfold. 

Fr Alan told me a story, one lunch time, that there was a handicap centre in India where people were constantly ill. The leader of the charity realised the cook was very angry and he changed the cook and people stopped getting ill.

So the moral of this story is to have a happy disposition if one is cooking for others.

The last note about what Fr Alan said about food: Fr Alan said dessert was the main course of the meal. Fr Alan had a sweet tooth and when I cooked for him, I paid a particular interest on the dessert and would spend the majority of my time preparing a good dessert. Since then, I have always love dessert, in memory of Fr Alan.

May Fr Alan eats lots and lots of desserts in heaven with lots of evaporated milk [not cream] and no Chinese food! LOL

How I have enjoyed my time cooking and eating with Fr Alan! How I have missed Fr Alan!

Heavenly Father! Thank you for putting Fr Alan in front of me. Thank you for his wonderful teachings on how to lead a Christian life. I pray he is having his reward in full in heaven, eating lots of delicious desserts everyday. Amen.

The Word of God

Fr Alan said, "The Word, [as in the readings from Scripture], is always in the singular, [even if were three readings from the Bible in a Celebration of the Word]." 

Other examples of such uncount nouns include furniture, food, information, luggage, advice, equipment.

So we say, "The Word of the Lord." and not the words of the Lord. 

Fr Alan said, "Christians should not go through three days without listening to the Word of God." So people who are in communities should meet at least twice a week to hear the Word of God together - once for Sunday Mass and the other during mid-week - and respond to the Word, which is to put flesh on the Word of God. 

To put flesh on the Word means to relate the Word of God to our lives and experiences. 

Fr Alan also said the Word of God should be drip-fed. Fr Alan said, "When water is constantly dripping on a rock, over time there would be an indentation." Similarly, the Word of God can have this effect. 

If we were to listen to the Word of God given to us within a week, as in a retreat, then it would be like throwing a bucket of water over a rock and soon the rock would be dry and no indentation has been made. 

Since hearing what Fr Alan had said, I stopped going to 8 day retreat with the Jesuits. However, Fr Alan also said he would go for a 30 day retreat when he retired. Fr Alan died before he retired. 

So when the Word of God is drip-fed to us, over time, as in years, we will slowly respond to the Word of God.

Fr Alan also said we should belong to a Scripture school to study the Bible and we should not expect a priest to explain all the readings in any Liturgy of the Word. It is in this Scripture school that we begin to familiarise ourselves with the Word of God and understand its deeper meaning and how the Word of God relate to our lives.

When I first attended St Charles, Ogle Street in the early 1990's, Fr Alan said, "Pray to God that the Word of God can be a mirror for your lives and show you your sins."

How terrifying it was for me when this became true and my prayers were answered! 

I will write more about what Fr Alan said about sin in another post in the future. 

Fr Alan also said, "The Word of God is the Holy Spirit, and when the Word is announced, it is looking for a home in our hearts." So Fr Alan encouraged us to welcome the Word into our hearts with great expectation. 

Let us pray: Almighty Father, give us the grace to enter into your Word each day, and may your Word show us our sins and show us who we really are. Unless we know ourselves, we can never get to know you. In Jesus' name. Amen. 

Close your book of complaints

I was listening to a friend today in which she was discussing about her niece having bad things to say about her sister - my friend's niece's mother.

It reminded me of what Fr Alan had said. 

Fr Alan said, "Close your book of complaints!"

We have so many things to complain about - we do not have the right parents, our parents drink too much, our sister is too fat, our husband is too ugly, our wife is too lazy, our parish priest is too old, and the lists goes on.  Under all of these complaints, is our grievance against God, that God has got it wrong and sold us short.

This is why Fr Alan taught us to close our books of complaints.

I said to my friend that perhaps she should have told her niece that if she had nothing good to say about her mother, then she should keep silent.

Having a complaining culture is not conducive for us to be Christians. 

So, accept what God has given us and accept that what God has given us is good. Remember, God does not give poison to his children.

Let us consider  "Blessed are the poor . . ." from Matthew 5. In the JB, the current UK liturgical Bible, it is written as "Happy are the poor . . ."  

Fr Alan asked us if we knew what happiness meant? He was referring to the Beatitudes.  

Fr Alan said, "Happiness means we are in the right place."

Are you in the right place? Are you happy with your vocation? Are you happy in your religious life? Are you happy in your marriage? OR Do you have complaints to make against God? 

Happy are the poor, theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. You see when you are poor, i.e. knowing that nothing belongs to you, you are very happy and blessed. I remember an English lady saying, "Procession is a curse." If you have nothing, then there is nothing to worry about.  

Even when one is financially rich, one can be blessed when one knows everything belongs to God. This means we become free with our money, our possessions - our homes etc. This gives us a huge freedom. WHY? This is because we know we are in the right place. 

So let us pray: Almighty God and Heavenly Father, help us to appreciate everything we have received from you is good. I thank you for my parents, for what you have given me, my siblings, my community, the Holy Mother Church, my friends etc. I thank you most for Fr Alan, whom has taught me so much about my faith. I ask you to bless Fr Alan and let him come before you in your heavenly throne and rejoice with you, with Jesus Christ your son, and the Holy Spirit, forever. Amen. 

Love the Lord your God

In today's long reading in the Office, St Louis wrote to his son, instructing him to love the Lord, his God, with all his heart and all his strength . . .

Do you know what it means to love God with all your strength?

Fr Alan said to love God with all your strength is to love God with all your money. 

So how do we love God with all our money? 

So, let us pray, we are able love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our strength, and with all our mind. 

Amen.

From dear Elizabeth Ajagbe on Fr Alan said . . .

Dear Elizabeth Ajagbe has just written to me to remind me of Fr Alan's teachings.  

Fr Alan said, "There are no depths that we can fall as Christ has gone lower".  Imagine God the Father allowing Jesus to go into hell after he was murdered. What was Jesus doing in hell for three days? He was recusing our forefathers. Heaven was closed after the fall of Adam and Eve and these poor good people, like Adam, Eve, Abraham and others had to wait in hell for Jesus to rescue them.  

Fr Alan had a similar icon to the one below in the sacristy of St Charles' Ogle Street, London W1.  The icon is called "Christ’s Descent into Hades" and in this icon, you see Christ rescuing Adam and Eve. 

So, Jesus has conquered death and we have nothing to fear anymore and even if we have gone to "hell" in our crisis, do not worry. Jesus has gone lower!

By the way, Fr Alan said, "Our sins have put Jesus on the cross!" Imagine this! This is not to give us psychological problems worrying about our sins, but to help us realise that it was not the Romans who put Jesus on the cross. Jesus climbed onto the cross and he consummated his marriage there on the cross. When I first heard Fr Alan saying this, I was struck very hard and realised the buck stopped with me. Fr Alan has taught me to stop thinking other people should change and it is me who must change.

Some people think they cannot change. Fr Alan said, "Do not believe in the lie of the Devil and think you cannot change." Everybody can change with the help of God. 

Another explanation of "There are no depths that we can fall as Christ has gone lower" could be the kenosis of Jesus. Jesus, God and King, became man, accused as a criminal, put on the cross, and died. This has conquered death and we therefore have little to fear. 

All of us as Christians, are called to walk the path of Jesus and this means we too will experience kenosis in our journey towards God the Father.  Therefore at some point, all of us will experience this self-emptying.

Fr Alan also said, "Christ is mercy within mercy within mercy! Fr Alan talked about mercy even before Pope Francis called for the Year of Mercy.  Yes, Jesus is pure mercy. 

When I went to confession with Fr Alan, he would say to me, "Throw yourself onto the Throne of Mercy!"  

You know God is sitting on the Throne in heaven with Jesus on his right. Fr Alan said, "Jesus is our advocate." And so each time the devil comes in front of God the Father accusing you or me, Jesus would stand up in front of God the Father and show to God the Father his wounds, to remind God the Father that our sins have been forgiven. This is why Father Alan kept on saying to us, "Christ is mercy with mercy within mercy!"

Don't you think this is just beautiful?

Finally, Elizabeth reminded me that Fr Alan said, "Do not put brackets on God's power!"  Fr Alan said "God loves us so much that he respects us." So if we were to put brackets on any part of our lives, God would not enter into it. So if we have a slavery to something and we put brackets around this sin, God will not interfere with that aspect of our lives. So to encourage us to walk towards holiness, Fr Alan encouraged us to have courage not to put brackets around our lives in front of God.

Dear Sweet Jesus, thank you for always having mercy on us and asking for mercy for us in front of God the Father. Thank you Jesus for dying on the cross for my sins. Dear Sweet Jesus, please enter into my life and clear the mess and bring me towards God the Father. Amen.