Faith and wisdom

Thanks to S. I got to watch December Rains, a Mandarin musical staged by Toy Factory this afternoon and thoroughly enjoyed myself, especially since there were supertitles (else I'd be lost).

It is a love story set in the fifties, a time in Singapore's history where there were anti-colonial riots by the bus workers' union and Chinese middle school students; a tale of youthful idealism, first loves, life choices and the sacrifices that ensue.

My afternoon somehow rounded up this morning's homily in a lyrical way in that the theme of love and sacrifice is something that each of us is familiar with, being human.

We love. We choose. All the time.

In choosing one love, we invariably sacrifice another. Therefore it's crucial to make wise choices.   

In accepting God's love and call in my life, do I in turn love Him and thereby subscribe to a way of life that demonstrates my love for Him?

If I call myself Christian, do I live a life of faith and faithfulness by being a good steward, one who is faithful and wise?

Fr.Vaz reminded me that wisdom is not a string of degrees or well-grounded literacy, but rather wisdom is to know God intimately and to let him reign and rule in my life.

In the Book of Wisdom, wisdom is personified as a woman, someone I can be good girlfriends with, or not. The choice is mine.

Wisdom is indeed a gift of the Spirit that I have always asked for, having made colossal mistakes in the past.

When it comes to love, the heart has a way of making decisions that may not be so politic or salubrious, especially if one hasn't had the benefit of time and experience to temper a youthful idealism or a still maturing value system as evinced by Li Qing's willingness to leave her beloved  parents for the love of one man and Ying Xiong's going back on his word to Li Qing for the love of his ideals.

Although wisdom is also the uncertain child of suffering, as believers of Christ, the simplest way to acquire wisdom is to live out the will of God as espoused by Fr. Vaz.

Just take the example of the slip of a girl Mary, who said yes to being a mother although she was as yet unwed, braving the very likely prospect of death and future heartbreak.

She displayed a wisdom beyond her years for she was living in close relationship with God, and thus was given a grace-filled faith to say yes to seemingly crazy, impossible and scary situations.

While there will always be rainy seasons in our lives, periods of great loss and sacrifice, wisdom will always guide us through the heaviest storms.

All it takes is a little faith.