Jesus the Nelayan

A local flavoured painting of Jesus calming the storm.

Theotokos in Asia

Asian painting of Theotokos

Jesus in Chinese Paintings

These paintings speak for themselves :

Monastery @ Korea

Such signpost speaks louder than word. This particular one leads to Holy Tranfiguration Monastery at Ka-Pyung, Korea. I am hoping that it will lead me there someday.

Firstfruits Offering

Mandarin oranges are symbols of wealth and abundance in the local chinese tradition. It is popular during Chinese New Year and given out as well wishing gifts to relatives and friends.

They are normally used as offerings to the local deities and extensively during the various sacrifices to the gods.

We offered mandarin oranges to God this Chinese New Year after a year of abundant blessings. We are giving thanks for our health and being united for another night of reunion dinner. And we simply offer back to Him what He has blessed us.

Tradition

In our local chinese tradition, the teachings of our elders (normally the patriach of the family) are passed from generation to generation by means of story tellings. The electronic media was beyond the reach of the commoners and owning a family radio was about the only thing. I remembered walking to the temples during the festive seasons for a show, opera show that is.

Our forebears told us plenty of stories, some mythical, some religious, some family history and occassionally tong san (old country ie. China). My granpa has a peculiar love for his homecountry and village where his father came from, Lo Teng, now assimilated into the larger metropolis of Guandong.

The passing down of our family history and chinese traditions were done purely by oral tradition. As we were young, our minds absorbed the moral, ethical, religious lessons without much difficulty. These knowledge informed and formed who I am today, a chinese.



Just a couple of days ago, I had the opportuniy to witness perhaps a new beginning of passing on tradition(s) to my children. I had always requested that Jon and Joel to pray out loud the mealtime prayer before dinning together every night. Jacinth being the youngest, is exempted. To my surprise, she mumbled the same prayer one evening, imperfectly though. I was thrilled because she had done that voluntarily.

It was an indirect form of passing down the tradition where she had absorbed and remembered the prayers. By simply listening and observing, she is being discipled. We formally teach Jon & Joe during our evening prayer compline and they have memorized all the prayers in no time.

In the Orthodox Church tradition, the idea of paradosis is central. The process of passing down, transmitting traditions are consciously carried out from one generation to the next. I feel at home immediately with this universal practice. Chinese strongly believes that good traditional teachings are transmitted best in the grandfather-grandson relationship, as most fathers are busy working. Perhaps it is time for our modern society to seriously look into strengthening the normally weak grandfather-grandson link, for the happiness of our future generations. And we should pass down more than our religious convictions, our children have to learn our way of life.

Memory Lane

I came home from a routine yearly Chinese New Year visit to my 2nd Uncle's (or the upgraded "Yee Sook Kong") home with this find :It was taken circa 1970s in front of my parents house. What was I doing with the bear ? I don't know, probably to match my outfit.

Wonder why I didn't pursue to be a pro-bike rider ? As a teen, I knocked down a flower pot and smashed it quite badly and my father decided that I'll never ride again. But I do recall countless rides with 7th Uncle (aka Chat Sook Kong) on his "Scrambler"

Princess and her new shoes

Our princess got her new pair of shoes today at PJ Old Town.

She got excited and tried them out the first thing after her mandatory afternoon nap. Look at the just awaken aurora look, the diaper and her hairs (!?)

Children are at ease in exhibiting their excitement and joy. Our princess Jacinth couldn't contain hers. I wonder at times what make us, the adults, to lose that innocence. Our "toys" and yearnings get bigger each day but we lose more joy at each turn. Innocence turned nonsense ?

Our princess sure loves her new shoes and it comes with blinks of blue and white when she walks... cool isn't it ?

The Unexpected Bloom

The last thing we would've expect from our once favourite plant was a bloom. It was attacked by a legion of mysterious worms and I had to pruned almost the entire plant few months ago. I had to remove it to the corner of my courtyard because of it's botak look after the trimming session.

Early this week, the unexpected happened. It started to bud. We thought we had seen the best it could do until this morning...

The unexpected bloom took place. It may lasts just a few days, but it was enough to convince us that what we once pronounced "dead" has come alive, and given us much hope. Perhaps it is a pretext to something good to come... let us "die" and see.

"O Theotokos, thou art the true vine that hath blossomed forth the Fruit of Life. Thee do we supplicate: Intercede, O Lady, together with the Apostles and all the Saints that our souls find mercy" Third Hour

Going Home

LANDED blinked on the announcement board. While waiting for Fr Daniel at the arrival gate, a host of foreign tourists walked out. Japanese aunties with their golf bags, smartly dressed executives, middle eastern arabs recognisable by their attire and veiling, and of course Singaporeans by the way of speech and their tilted nose. Standing there, one could hardly stay undistracted. My heads followed these peculiar homosapien and at times forgetting my main purpose being there, to fetch Fr Daniel.

A man, simple in dress with only a hand luggage walked out the exit gate, and I heard a voice calling from behind, "Daddy". It was his little girl calling for her dad's attention and followed closely behind, her mother. He let the luggage down and bent down to hug the ladies. I lost count of the "daddys" the little girl uttered. The father held her hands and said, "Let's go home". That moment of time and spot where the scene took place was sanctified. Home sweet home.

One would easily notice the sharp contrast between this particular family and the rest of the tourists be them executives, rich & famous, pretty women, the sheikhs & their entourage, our snobby neighbours (ok ok, soli ok),.. etc.

I guess what separate them was the purpose of their journey. Many embarked from their motherland seeking pleasures here. Value for money trip (read cheap). Good for our economy anyway. But the man was travelling home, to his family.

Almost forgotten, Fr Daniel arrived at the exit gate.

My family (aka the 5 Js) will be celebrating our 1st Pascha as Orthodox Christians this year, having being received into the Church on last Merdeka Day. We will be embarking on our very 1st Great Lent, with the ascetical disciplines of fasting, prostrations, prayers and less audio-visuals of course. Fr Schmemann wrote :

"Easter is our return every year to our own Baptism, whereas Lent is our preparation for that return - the slow and sustained effort to perform, at the end, our own "passage" or "pascha" into the new life in Christ"

My preconceived journey Home, to attain my heavenly visa and meet St Peter on the pearly gate was way off tangent. All the lenten disciplines was supposed to make me holier and get me wings to soar to heaven or at least to obtain the feeling that I am on the way to heaven, safe and secure, right ?? Oops, am I on the right plane ? Where's my destination ? Am I on a pleasure trip ? Nostalgic, down the memory lane ?

During the Divine Liturgy, Fr Daniel reminded us that though we may be insignificant and small in stature as Zacchaeus, we could still be little Zacchaeuses, climbing up the sycamore (or seek-some-more) tree. The Lord noticed and went home with him.

May this Lent brings us Home to our Lord Jesus Christ who resides with/in us. At least, He is waiting for us at the exit gate. "Let's Go Home"

My Journey Ahead

Today marks another new chapter in my journey. I am officially a leung-tay-koon. The decision to leave the company was a hard one to make. After all, I saw the entire process of birthing it from the start and nurturing it... till yesterday.

The decision to move on was made collectively after consultant our finance minister (read mummy) at home. We are aware of the challenges ahead but as the Lord has been faithful to us thus far, I have no reason to stop trusting Him.

I am starting to blog again after the initial failure to keep up the last time.

Blogging is therapeutic. It also serves as a mirror, converging past memory and future aspiration. Looking at the man on the mirror, I realize that I must live in the present, not the past nor the future.

A mirror is made from silica (sand) at high temperature (1500 °C /2700 °F) or merely by lightning striking. The odds of having silica (sand or SiO2), soda (Na2CO3) and lime (CaCO3) at the same place, same time for that to happen...... err...

The sand of time, the pressures and the odds will be similar in my journey ahead. But I am not counting on the science of probability to finish the course. I am trusting in "the God who doesn't play dice" (Albert Einstein).