Brian Bartholomew Tan

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So far Brian Bartholomew Tan has created 343 blog entries.

Liturgical Reading for 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Theme: Discipleship The first reading reveals the solemn calling of Isaiah by God to be a prophet. However, due to the death of king Uzziah, Isaiah was filled with sorrow. He was then unable to recognise that it was the Lord sitting upon the throne and not that it was empty. Similar to Isaiah, many of us with all our [...]

By |2022-02-05T01:42:14+08:00February 5th, 2022|Faith Formation, Featured story, Liturgical Reflection|Comments Off on Liturgical Reading for 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Liturgical Reflection for 4th Sunday in Ordinary Time

In the first reading we see that God did not call us by accident - the call was a deliberate action from God who knows us personally. We are tasked to proclaim the good news to all nations. Just like how Jeremiah the prophet had to preach to corrupt kings and religious leaders of ancient Judah who opposed him fiercely, [...]

By |2022-01-29T04:53:14+08:00January 29th, 2022|Faith Formation, Featured story, Liturgical Reflection|Comments Off on Liturgical Reflection for 4th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Healing the Shattered Christian

In the Japanese culture, there is an artform known as Kintsugi. It is the process of restoring and mending broken pottery with lacquer mixed with gold, silver, or platinum dust. In Kintsugi, there is no attempt to hide the damage, but to celebrate, accept, and even highlight the parts that which have been broken. The broken areas, and the repair [...]

By |2022-01-29T17:20:38+08:00January 29th, 2022|Faith Formation, Featured story, Liturgical Reflection|Comments Off on Healing the Shattered Christian

Liturgical Reflection for 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time.

In the first reading, Ezra, the priest, proclaimed the Law of God before the assembly, on the first day of the seventh month.  This day, also known as Rosh Hashanah, is one of the most holy days in the Jewish calendar and is also the first day of the Jewish new year. Nehemiah, leader of the people, said “Go eat [...]

By |2022-01-24T07:22:02+08:00January 21st, 2022|Featured story, Liturgical Reflection|Comments Off on Liturgical Reflection for 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Liturgical Reflection for 2nd Ordinary Sunday in Year C

The first reading of this Sunday assures us of God’s determination to continually love us and reminds us that He will not abandon us. The words of the passage tell us how God’s love transforms us, changes us from ‘Forsaken’ to ‘My Delight’ and our land from ‘Abandoned’ to ‘The Wedded’. Marriage is used here as a metaphor to describe [...]

By |2022-01-24T07:21:58+08:00January 12th, 2022|Featured story, Liturgical Reflection|Comments Off on Liturgical Reflection for 2nd Ordinary Sunday in Year C

Liturgical Reflection for the Baptism of the Lord

This week as we celebrate the Baptism of the Lord, let us reflect on our own baptism when God stood with us and lifted us from the muddy waters of sin. God then incorporated us into the body of Christ empowering us to lead the life of Christ. We have read in the scriptures about the Baptism of our Lord [...]

By |2022-01-24T07:21:53+08:00January 8th, 2022|Featured story, Liturgical Reflection|Comments Off on Liturgical Reflection for the Baptism of the Lord

Mary – Theotokos

The lyrics of a popular Christmas Carol expound upon a series of rhetorical questions, questioning Mary about whether she knew that Jesus would save us, whether she knew that her child once walked with angels… and the short answer to this sequence of “did you know” questions, is Yes! Mary did know. This is succinctly stated in Scripture when the [...]

By |2022-01-01T04:41:54+08:00January 1st, 2022|Faith Formation, Featured story|Comments Off on Mary – Theotokos

Liturgical Reflection for Epiphany

There is much that we can should contemplate about this feast. The Jews, the Chosen People of God did not realise the fulfilment of God our Father’s promise because they had it in their minds that great works of their heroes of the past. They remembered the great works of these heroes but had forgotten that these great feats of [...]

By |2022-01-24T07:21:45+08:00January 1st, 2022|Featured story, Liturgical Reflection|Comments Off on Liturgical Reflection for Epiphany

Liturgical Reflection for the Feast of the Holy Family

A missing child is a parent’s worst nightmare, often resulting in panic leading to a frantic search. It would have been the same for Mary and Joseph, as they frantically searched for Jesus, which would then be followed by the relief of discovering him in the Temple. His mother knew that there was something special about this boy, just as [...]

By |2022-01-24T07:21:38+08:00December 23rd, 2021|Featured story, Liturgical Reflection|Comments Off on Liturgical Reflection for the Feast of the Holy Family

On Love

The lyrics of a popular Eighties song go, “Oh-oh-oh, what’s love got to do, got to do with it? What’s love but a second-hand emotion?” Love as the world sees it, is confused, conditional, and conflated with other things such as lust. In the worldly eyes of love, “love” is a means to use someone else, is a way to [...]

By |2021-12-17T02:52:19+08:00December 17th, 2021|Faith Formation, Featured story|Comments Off on On Love