In the stillness of the late afternoon, as rain continues to drizzle relentlessly in the wettest January in recent memory, the flora in our narrow west garden sparkles even as the day dims. Nature bestows her life-giving water, beauty, and continually sustain the earth. I have come that they may have life, and have it…
“Walking through one of the buildings where I hadn’t been before, I came across a reproduction of Hazard Durfee’s beautiful flute player with the text by Henry David Thoreau: ‘Why should we be in such desperate haste to succeed and in such desperate enterprises? If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps…
The island of Pulau Ubin, off the northern coast of Singapore, has been featured here over the past few months – one of the last few refuge for a green and laid-back lung. Relatively inaccessible except by motorized boat (10 mins ride; S$3 each way), we revisited it on an ‘off-day’ in its weekly cycle,…
The Yet Con restaurant (established 1940) at 25 Purvis Street, Singapore has been serving its chicken rice, roast pork, and steamboat menu since we first visited in the mid 1980’s. Historic Purvis Street is a stone’s throw from the Raffles Hotel, Beach Road, the Bras Basah Book Complex (literary), and the new National Library,…
The Gospel readings across the New Year is full of evocative pinings for the reflective, contemplative believer, to ponder, reflect, and discern deeply. Heb1:1-2 At various times in the past and in various different ways, God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets; but in our own time, the last days, he has spoken…
The city of Lijiang in Yunnan, China was reborn out of a 6.6M earthquake that devastated the city in 1996. When we visited the city in 2009, we had witnessed the rebuilding of a city that was perhaps more than ever oriented towards its original past and its future in tourism than to the reconstruction…
The Road Not Taken The term “the road less traveled” has often meant different things for different writers. A travel writer in the Straits Times in 2006 used it to evoke the adventure of lesser known destinations. Others have used it to define a course of action or life that is not in keeping…
There are two passages in the Gospel in which the disciples of Jesus shouted at Him, “Lord / Master, do You Not Care?” Can you recall where these passages are? And what were Jesus’ responses? Mark 5:35-40 With the coming of evening that same day, he said to them, “Let us cross over to…
The Agape Village at Toa Payoh Lorong 6 is the social services center that hosts the Singapore Catholic Church’s social services. Occasionally the halls and meeting rooms are used for Christ-centered activities that underpin the motivation and spirituality that is the driving behind the social services that is offered to all those in need, regardless…
