And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father. (Jn 1:14)

We don’t have to look up to heaven to find God; we only have to look around us. Distance has disappeared, as God is immediately present. He is as close to us as our neighbours. The Divine is not hidden in some distant place but in ourselves and in the person next to us. And because of Jesus, everything about our lives is touched by God and important. The human and the divine are meant to be as inseparable in us as they are in Jesus¹.

That God has come in person among us transforms our world and gives it hope. Things can never be the same again, as the world is now the right place to be in if we want to meet God. Since God has become human, we can encounter Him in everything that is human. In fact, all points of interaction between human beings are now privileged meeting places with God. Furthermore, God is intimately involved in all human relationships. Whatever is good and constructive in our human relationships is the work of God’s grace².

How have I experienced this?

Developing a Dependency

Pursuing a Master’s degree by research is at once both exciting and challenging. Seniors will agree with me that there is great difficulty in transition at this stage. Moving from pursuing a Bachelor’s degree to studying for a Master’s degree is analogous to moving from studying in Junior College to studying at the university. I recall that the amount of articles I had to read in one semester of studying 1st year Geography in NUS was roughly equal to the amount of notes I had to read in 1 year while studying Geography at ‘A’ levels!

Doing research allows me to be really independent as a student. Ironically, it has helped me to grow more dependent on God.

In research, there is a need to learn by trial and error. That is, I have to sift through large piles of articles and books to find what is directly relevant to my thesis topic. There’s an (over)abundance of literature around that is extremely interesting, but only indirectly related to one’s chosen area of research.

Similarly, in my spiritual life, I’ve learnt to sift through the huge amount of varied daily life experiences to find out exactly what Jesus is saying to me every day. I have learnt to be more attentive to Him when He speaks to me through the people around me, through my daily circumstances and especially through the Gospel passage of the day—thus becoming more dependent on God.