love vs fear

I went to St Mary for sunset mass yesterday. and I felt very blessed to be able to hear the homily given by Fr John Wong. here is the excerpt:

the opposite of love is not hatred
hatred makes us unhappy, but most of the time the person that we hate can't even be bothered about our hatred. and so in the end, the hatred hurt ourselves

the opposite of love is fear
fear or rejection, fear of letting ourselves being too close to others, fear of being manipulated
fear prevent us from from doing act of love
fear prevent us to show that we care for others
fear is the opposite of love

the oppsotite of justice (integrity) is not law-less-ness
law-less-ness often root in person that was hurt, that was betrayed

the opposite of justice is apathy
justice no longer exist, if we can't even be bothered about what's happening around us
justice no longer exist, if we don't care of what's happening to our brothers and sisters

I might not get the exact words from the homily. but this is what i understand from the homily: fear prevents us from loving and apathy eradicates justice from people who needs it

Lord, thank you for the understanding you've given me today
teach me to love without fear
teach me to care about others around me, to never let justice be taken from those who deserve it

next time you think you are perfect .....

i was walking out from my church last week when a car (or was it a van?) passed by

behind that car, i saw a sticker that says

next time you think you are perfect, try walking on water

a very well written sentence that I'll remember for a very long time (until my brain cell start to fail me)

i guess the sentence stuck with me because I know that I have the tendency to become arrogant. by God's blessing I grow up in a very loving family and has always had relatively easy live, especially with my study and with my work (yes, there were times that I cried and feel that I'm the most pitiful person in the world, but when my brain and my heart is functioning properly I always know that I'm blessed).

when I manage to do something well I'll feel happy, proud and grateful. which is ok (God wants us to be happy). but the problem comes when (once in a while) I overdo it and I change from being proud to being arrogant. and unconsciously I start to feel grateful about my talent, not being grateful for the Giver of the talent

thank God that until now, he always send people that care enough to remind me when I'm being arrogant or too selfish. reminding me that I'm not perfect

Lord, I know I will never be perfect, for perfection is not what you've asked from your children

teach me to accept this and to be faithful to your will in my life