Fixing Time

It’s winter time again in China!

As usual, a lot of things inside our flat will change with the season. All warm clothes are out of the cabinet. Thick quilts and comforters are pulled-out from their boxes. Fan heater is on stand-by mode. And water heater is activated.

However, our water heater has a leak so I tried to device some ways to remedy it.

Remedy No.1: I put a pail under the leak! (This is the classic easy but lazy solution that I thought of. My bad)

Result: The pail easily gets full and I must pour it empty once too often

Remedy No.2: I tried to stop the leak by tying a cloth and plastic wrap around it. (My alternative choice in the absence of an elastic rubber band)

Result: The leak breaks into smaller water spurts that my pail can not even catch. The walls and floors became wet.

Remedy No. 3: I just tried to close the water valve after every use.

Result: Several times we were ready to take our shower and realized that the water valve was still closed so we had to open it again. It's an inconvenient way of losing time.

And so, after several days of watching in silent amazement at my "creative" ideas to solve this problem, my ever-forebearing and loving wife ( Thank God for her ) requested me to call the flat owner. Immediately he came, removed the defective valve and changed it with a brand new one – problem totally solved in a half hour.

Advent season has arrived.

It is 4 weeks of pre-Christmas spiritual preparation for the coming birth of our Lord.

Or in a more layman’s term – it’s fixing time!

Our brokenness.

Our weakness.

Our failings, our faults, our flaws.

Our sinfulness.

Actually, like the broken water valve, we can also find several excuses to dodge the inevitable fixing.

We can deny (“I am fine.”)

We can procrastinate (“I will do this some other time.”)

We can give-up (“I am not forgivable.”)

But the plain truths remain – everybody commits sin, nobody knows what will happen tomorrow and everyone is “fixable”.

We need repentance.

We need confession.

We need to do it now.

We need to call upon Him into our lives and let Him fix our lives, once again, for the nth time.

Be assured that He doesn’t mind doing this, no matter what apprehensions we have, because He only has unconditional love for each one of us.

As one robot character in an animation movie for kids said, “Why be you when you can be new?”. This year’s Advent season is now calling us, inviting us to be “new” in God’s eyes.

May we all have new and refreshed hearts come Christmas time.

God bless.

Semper Fi

My father, being born around the end-time of the Second World war, is a self-confessed war history buff. In fact, our eldest sibling's name came from a re-knowned general from the first World War. A lot of my early childhood memories included browsing through the pages of his thick World War 2 book looking at those pictures of brave men in uniform, either bloodied or dead, who fought bravely to defend their inalienable right to freedom and independence.

My father's interests in war-time history inevitably rubbed on me as well since I have always been fascinated with war movies, both ancient and modern. Even biblical accounts of fighting (who can ever forget Moses vs Pharaoh showdown or the David vs Goliath one on one battle), were well-worth of my free time as an adolescent. Of the modern military people, the US Marines have always topped my list of "cool" dudes. For me, they are, despite their limited financial budget, the most disciplined, well-trained, highly flexible and strike-anywhere men who knows how to make use of whatever resources are available at their disposal.

In 1883, the United States Marine Corps (USMC) adopted their Semper Fidelis as new motto which is Latin for "always faithful". It guided Marines to remain faithful to the mission at hand, to each other, to the Corps and to their country under any circumstances. Living out their awareness of their motto day by day has made this more than just a team slogan of sorts - it has become their brotherhood and their way of life. In times of armed conflict, a Marine will never leave a wounded comrade behind.

In this times where war has evolved from just mere armed conflicts, our world is constantly battling wars brought about by the devil's destructive warfare of wrath, greed, lust, pride, envy, sloth and gluttony. The uncertainties in the world economy today are undoubtedly attributed to corporate and individual greed. The age of terrorism came from the deep hatred of extremists against the influence of the West. Lust for power and money has corrupted a lot of world leaders. And with apathy on the increase (I still can't believe a 2-year old hit-and-run victim bloodied and fatally lying on the street was just "passed-by" by the 18 people who saw her.) from ordinary people like us, there are signs that are arguably turning the tides in favor of the evil one.

This is why we Christians are more being called to sign-up for a lifetime of service to counter-attack whatever advances the enemy is seemingly gaining. What we personally lack to fight against his dark forces, God's promise of aid by the Holy Spirit by giving us wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord will suffice. For Catholics in particular, it is in living up to our Baptismal and Confirmatory vows that we can fulfill our Christian obligations to defend our faith.

CCC 1285 states that "Baptism, the Eucharist, and the sacrament of Confirmation together constitute the "sacraments of Christian initiation," whose unity must be safeguarded. It must be explained to the faithful that the reception of the sacrament of Confirmation is necessary for the completion of baptismal grace. For "by the sacrament of Confirmation, [the baptized] are more perfectly bound to the Church and are enriched with a special strength of the Holy Spirit. Hence they are, as true witnesses of Christ, more strictly obliged to spread and defend the faith by word and deed."

Sounds like a tall order considering our own struggles and weaknesses?

Not really.

Time and time again, God has shown to us that He can use the "weakest link" among us to be His staunchest and most successful ally. We have all the biblical characters to attest to God's mysterious ways of recruiting defenders of His kingdom on earth and the communion of saints (whether canonized or not) to look up to and emulate. All He actually requires from us is that we remain faithful despite the disheartening and discouraging sights around us. All He actually expects from us is that we do not let a fellow human be left behind as we journey towards our destiny with Him.

Semper fidelis Deo. Caritas hominibus.

Always faithful to God. Charity to mankind.

This should be our stronghold personal motto.

Better yet, it should be our way of life.