From the Parish House

When I was at St Bernard’s in Belmont, serving as parish priest, I had the opportunity to serve not only the parish community but also a school attached to it called Clairvaux.  The school accommodated around 620 students when I was last stationed there.

I would occasionally go to the teachers’ dining room to have coffee or tea with them during recess.  After spending time with them, I would return to the office to continue my normal priestly duties.  I noticed one practice at the school, that I greatly appreciated – after each recess, when the siren sounded, the students would gather and line up in straight lines in front of their teachers, who would account for each and every student.  Then they would move into the main buildings of the school.

While each class moved toward their classroom, a piece of gentle music was played.  As soon as everyone heard the music – regardless of where they were or what they were doing – they would immediately sit down quietly, some even with closed eyes.  This quiet posture remained in place calmly until the music finished.  It would take about three or four minutes.  Then, they would continue on to their classes as normal.

I was particularly impressed when I first observed this practice in such a large school.  Everyone was quite respectful of one another during this time.  After the high energy and movement of recess, those moments allowed the students to calm down and recover their focus for the next lessons.

There was one occasion, after finishing morning tea with the teachers, when I was walking along the long hallway back to the parish office.  It was during the ‘music curfew’ time, while all the little ones were sitting quietly.  Unaware, I kept walking.  A little prep student saw me and immediately used his hand to signal me to stop.  In a whispering voice, he said, “Fr Sang, sit down.”  As soon as I saw and heard that, I immediately and respectfully complied next to them.  When everyone was allowed to get up again, I turned to him and said, “Thank you.”  What a humbling experience that was.

This taught me a couple of things.  First, you can be taught by anyone – no matter how old or young – and you can learn from anyone.  Second, the observance of quiet and calm intervals in our fast-paced lives is so precious and valuable.  These moments allow our hearts to retrieve calmness and peace and help us listen attentively to what is happening around us.

Pope Leo, in his address to a group of young pilgrims from several European countries on the 5th of July, invited them to seize opportunities “for listening and for prayer, so that you may hear more clearly God’s voice calling you deep within your hearts.”  He highlighted that we seem to have lost the ability to truly listen: “So often, we lose the ability to listen – to really listen.  We listen to music; our ears are flooded constantly with all kinds of digital input.  But sometimes we forget to listen to our own hearts.  And it’s in our hearts that God speaks to us, that God calls us and invites us to know Him better and to live in His love.”

Indeed, the ability to listen is so important.  Many things around us can hinder not only our ability to listen to God, but also to the needs of others.  The condemnation of the rich man by Jesus in the Gospel was probably not because he was wealthy.  Wealth itself is not a sin.  Being rich is definitely not a sin.  Rather, it is the attitude of indifference – likely caused by the inability to listen and respond to the needs of Lazarus, who was right at his doorstep.

Sometimes, the abundance of goods and extravagant living and feasting may block our ears from truly listening.  There are, of course, many “Lazaruses” right at our front doorsteps.  Some are in human form; others may be in different forms.

Certainly, in the language of Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’, Mother Earth is one such Lazarus, crying out for help and care:

“This sister now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her… the symptoms of sickness evident in the soil, in the water, in the air, and in all forms of life.  This is why the Earth herself, burdened and laid waste, is among the most abandoned and maltreated of our poor; she ‘groans in travail’ (Rom 8:22).” (Laudato Si’, no. 2)

How do we encounter this Lazarus?  The period from the beginning of September until the 4th of October is a time of prayer for our Common Home – Mother Earth.  Perhaps this is a good time for us to take an ‘interval’ – to sit and listen with heartfelt attention to the needs of this Lazarus and find some way to help and care for this very person.

By Fr Sang Ho