Month: November 2022

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Tuesday, 22 November 2022 : 34th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Cecilia, Virgin and Martyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are all reminded of the coming of the end of times which is certain to happen to us and to this world. The Lord Himself, His prophets, messengers and more have spoken about it, of the time when the final triumph over evil shall come, and all the faithful people of God will be gathered together to live forever in God, free from the bondage of sin, evil and death forevermore, and to assume once again the state which they had once lost because of their disobedience and sins against God that also sundered them from the fullness of His grace and love. That is what God has always intended from the very beginning, that is for us all to be with Him in perfect love and harmony, to exist with Him forever in grace and joy.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of Revelations of St. John the Apostle, we heard of the vision of the great and triumphant Son of Man, Who is also the Son of God, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Who at the vision of St. John, wore His victorious crown and holding a great sickle by which He would rend the whole world, separating those who are worthy from those unworthy of God and His salvation and grace. That is a premonition of what will happen at the end of time, when the Lord Himself will gather all those who are faithful to Him and bring them to the eternal life and inheritance that He has already promised to them from the very beginning of time. From the time when we first fell into sin, God has promised His salvation to us, and will send us His deliverance through none other than His Son, Jesus Christ, the Triumphant One.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard the Lord Jesus speaking of the premonition of what would happen to Jerusalem and its Temple, the destruction and all that would be inflicted upon the city and its people in due time. In about four decades after the Lord spoke of it, the rebellion of the Jewish people led to a punitive expedition and siege of Jerusalem by the Romans. The city of Jerusalem was destroyed and conquered by the Romans, and the magnificent Temple built by King Herod the Great was thoroughly looted, destroyed and crushed to its foundations, that nothing of it was left right up to this day. It was a proof that whatever the Lord Himself had predicted would happen, will indeed happen as He has said.

From the perspective of those who lived during those times, they might indeed think that the end of times would be coming soon, well within their lifetimes, and even some of the Lord’s disciples and Apostles also believed so. But the truth is none of them are aware of the fullness of knowledge of what will truly happen, and when everything will come to happen. No one could have predicted when the city and Temple of Jerusalem were destroyed, and when it happened, it came like a whirlwind, suddenly and must have been a real surprise for almost everyone. No one could have expected that the magnificent city and Temple of Jerusalem could have been destroyed in such a way, and at such a time. Yet, all happened as it is preordained by God, and He alone knows the time and the occasion that will happen.

The same therefore will happen to the end of times, which will come at a time we least expect, and no one, not even anyone in the Church, or any of the Apostles know of the exact timing of the Lord’s Second Coming and the end of all as portrayed and revealed to St. John in the Book of Revelations. What was known to us is just a glimpse of what will happen, and the Lord Himself said on multiple occasions as recorded throughout the Gospels, that this will come most unexpected for everyone, and one may be having their daily lives as usual at one moment, and then immediately it happens the very next moment. Thus, what is important for us all to remember is that, we must never take our faith in God for granted, and we have to be ever vigilant, preparing ourselves for this eventuality.

As Christians, each one of us are called to be exemplary in life and to do our very best in answering God’s call and to live our lives in the manner that He has taught us and shown us, by His own examples. Just as He has loved us so wonderfully, in reaching out to us and to those among us who have been forsaken and rejected by others, He has shown us the example of perfect and selfless love that each one of us as Christians ought to have. Unless we make good use of the time and opportunities presented to us, the talents and abilities, gifts and blessings granted to us, we cannot truly be worthy of God, and if we are not careful or vigilant enough, we may end up being caught on the wrong side at the coming of the Lord’s judgment. Do we want to wait until it is all too late for us, brothers and sisters in Christ?

Today, the Church celebrates the feast of St. Cecilia, whose life, faith and dedication to God should inspire in each one of us as Christians to be better and more committed disciples of the Lord. St. Cecilia was born to a noble Roman family who forced her to marry a young pagan nobleman named Valerius. St. Cecilia had made a solemn vow of virginity, dedicating herself solely to God, and maintaining her sanctity throughout her most pious and chaste life. She is known as the Patron Saint for musicians because according to tradition, she sang from her heart to the Lord at her own wedding, showing her genuine faith and commitment to God. And when her marriage was about to be consummated, she told her husband that an Angel of the Lord stood guard protecting her, and would strike him down should he attempt to violate her sacred virginity dedicated to God.

Her faith and piety was such that her husband and his brother were converted to the Christian faith, as especially her husband having witnessed the aforementioned Angel of God appearing before St. Cecilia and crowning her with a crown of roses and lilies, marking her purity and virginity. They were all eventually persecuted together with many other Christians during one of the intense persecutions against the Church and Christians by the Roman state. They were all martyred for their faith, and they gave their lives for the glory of God, dedicating themselves to the mission entrusted to them, to inspire many more people through their lives and examples. Through St. Cecilia and her faith, and her courage to maintain her purity and obedience to God, all of us can see how we too are called to be faithful to the Lord in the same way as well.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore reevaluate our focus and emphasis in life, and see what we can do to make sure that our lives are worthy of God and maybe even be good models and inspirations for one another. Are we willing and able to make the commitment to God and to live our lives ever more worthily from now on? Are we willing to do our best to live in the way that God has shown us and led us to do? May the Lord continue to guide us all through life and strengthen us in our resolve to follow Him, and to distance ourselves from wickedness and sin. May God bless us always, and may He remain with us, by our side, leading us through the path to eternal life. Amen.

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Tuesday, 22 November 2022 : 34th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Cecilia, Virgin and Martyr (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Luke 21 : 5-11

At that time, while some people were talking about the Temple, remarking that it was adorned with fine stonework and rich gifts, Jesus said to them, “The days will come when there shall not be left one stone upon another of all that you now admire; all will be torn down.” And they asked Him, “Master, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?”

Jesus then said, “Take care not to be deceived, for many will come claiming My title and saying, ‘I am He, the Messiah; the time is at hand!’ Do not follow them. When you hear of wars and troubled times, do not be frightened; for all these things must happen first, even though the end is not so soon.”

And Jesus said, “Nations will fight each other and kingdom will oppose kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, famines and plagues; in many places strange and terrifying signs from heaven will be seen.”

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Tuesday, 22 November 2022 : 34th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Cecilia, Virgin and Martyr (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Psalm 95 : 10, 11-12a, 12b-13

Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns!” He will judge the peoples with justice.

Let the heavens be glad, the earth rejoice; let the sea and all that fills it resound; let the fields exult and everything in them.

Let the forest, all the trees, sing for joy. Let them sing before the Lord Who comes to judge the earth. He will rule the world with justice and the peoples with fairness.

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Tuesday, 22 November 2022 : 34th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Cecilia, Virgin and Martyr (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Revelations 14 : 14-19

Then I had this vision, I saw a white cloud and the One sitting on it like a Son of Man, wearing a golden crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand. An Angel came out of the sanctuary, calling loudly to the One sitting on the cloud, “Put in Your sickle and reap, for harvest time has come and the harvest of the earth is ripe.”

He Who was sitting on the cloud swung His sickle at the earth and reaped the harvest. Then another Angel, who also had a sharp sickle, came out of the heavenly sanctuary. Still another Angel, the one who has charge of the altar fire, emerged and shouted to the first who held the sharp sickle, “Swing your sharp sickle and reap the bunches of the vine of the earth for they are fully ripe.”

So the Angel swung his sickle and gathered in the vintage, throwing all the grapes into the great winepress of the anger of God.

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Monday, 21 November 2022 : 34th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are reminded of the faith and the obedience of Mary, as the Mother of Our Lord, Saviour and God, Jesus Christ. Today the Church marks the occasion of the Feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and it is apt therefore for us to reflect upon the life and the works of Mary, whose examples and faith in God should be our source of inspiration and strength in following the Lord, in being faithful and committed to Him all the days of our lives. Each and every one of us as Christians should look up upon our beloved Mother Mary, as the role model and shining beacon of God’s light who have shown us the way towards the salvation in her Son, Our Lord, God and Master.

Mary was presented at the Temple of Jerusalem, the House of God as was common at that time. According to the Law of God, as revealed through Moses, the firstborn child of any family ought to be offered and consecrated to God, and in that manner therefore, the parents of Mary, St. Joachim and St. Anne both dedicated Mary to the Lord at His House as prescribed by the Law. According to some tradition, Mary was also descended from the priestly tribe of Levi, and it was therefore even more significant as members of the tribe of Levi had been dedicated to God to be the priests and servants of the Lord. While it was not definitive whether Mary was descended from either the tribe of Judah or Levi through her parents, but what is clear and certain is that she has truly been dedicated and committed to God for the missions entrusted to her.

Mary has been prepared specially by the Lord, through the singular grace He has granted her, that she was conceived free from the taints of the original sin that have tainted all the rest of us mankind. God hallowed her such, so that through her sanctity and purity, through her Immaculate Conception and perfect state of grace, she may truly become a most worthy Ark of the Covenant, the New Ark for the New Covenant that God wanted to make and establish with all of us, His beloved people, children and flock. The Lord has prepared her to bear the Saviour of the world, the very Word of God incarnate in the flesh, descending into this world and into our midst, and to bear Him within her, Mary indeed has to be worthy, and compared to the old Ark, truly, we can see how God had prepared everything for this.

In the Old Testament, as the Lord told Moses to make the Ark of the Covenant, the original Ark bearing the two tablets of the Law of God, the Ten Commandments, as well as the manna and the staff of Aaron, God ordered His people to make the Ark from the most precious of materials, from gold and the finest goods of the world, and it was hallowed, blessed and sanctified as such that, no one was allowed to touch the Ark of the Covenant. When a priest accidentally touched the Ark during the time of king David and his effort to bring the Ark to Jerusalem, the priest was struck dead immediately after he touched the Ark. The Ark of the Covenant was indeed so holy because God’s Holy Presence rested and dwelled in it, seated upon the Cherubim carved atop the Ark.

That Ark was placed at the Holy of Holies of the Tent of Meeting and later on the Temple of Jerusalem, into which only the High Priest was allowed to enter, and even that, only in one occasion throughout the entire year. That was just how sacrosanct the old Ark was, and that was made by mere human hands. How it relates to Mary is that, in Mary, whom God herself made and crafted by His hands, she was entrusted with the Lord Himself, present in the flesh, in Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, that her Son, in her womb and born from her, was truly the Holy Presence of God in the flesh, tangible and manifested perfectly in this world. And as such, she is the worthy Ark of the New Covenant, the Covenant that God would establish through Christ His Son, as she is truly full of grace, free from the taints of sin and evil.

What does it mean by Mary being full of grace, brothers and sisters in Christ? It means that Mary obeyed the Lord and loved Him so much and so perfectly, that she could not even contemplate the thought of disobeying Him. It was through such disobedience that sin entered into our midst, and that sin began to corrupt our hearts, minds, bodies and souls. Whereas Mary devoted herself so thoroughly to God and obeyed Him, just as she responded to the Archangel Gabriel at the moment of the Annunciation, ‘I am the handmaid of the Lord. Be it done unto me according to Your will.’ She showed us all therefore what it means to be a true disciple and follower of our Lord, as each one of us are called to embrace His path, His Law and commandments, and be faithful in Him, in a most genuine and sincere way as Mary herself has done.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we gather together today to celebrate this Feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, let us all therefore look upon Mary, the Mother of God and our mother as our role model and examples in life, as our guide and help in our journey of faith towards God. And we also should know just how much Mary loves us all as well, because even after she has been assumed into Heaven by her Son’s grace, she still looked upon us and cared for us, as proven by her many apparitions and efforts through those and more to reach out to us and to help us find our way out of the darkness and back into the light of Christ. All of us as Christians should strive to renew our faith and dedicate ourselves all the more to the Lord, spending more time and effort to love Him, and to follow Him wholeheartedly in the way that Mary herself had done.

May our beloved mother Mary continue to watch over us and inspire us by her life, her dedication and commitment to God. May she continue to intercede and pray for our sake, we sinners who have often betrayed and hurt her Son. May all of us be shown mercy and forgiveness, and may we all draw ever closer to God, to His love and grace, now and always, and may He continue to bless us all and remain with us, forevermore. Amen.

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Monday, 21 November 2022 : 34th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Matthew 12 : 46-50

At that time, while Jesus was talking to the people, His mother and His brothers wanted to speak to Him, and they waited outside. So someone said to Him, “Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside; they want to speak with You.”

Jesus answered, “Who is My mother? Who are My brothers?” Then He pointed to His disciples and said, “Look! Here are My mother and My brothers. Whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.”

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Monday, 21 November 2022 : 34th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Luke 1 : 46-47, 48-49, 50-51, 52-53, 54-55

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit exults in God, my Saviour!

He has looked upon His servant, in her lowliness, and people, forever, will call me blessed. The Mighty One has done great things for me, Holy is His Name!

From age to age, His mercy extends to those who live in His presence. He has acted with power and done wonders, and scattered the proud with their plans.

He has put down the mighty from their thrones, and lifted up those who are downtrodden. He has filled the hungry with good things, but has sent the rich away empty.

He held out His hand to Israel, His servant, for He remembered His mercy, even as He promised to our fathers, to Abraham and his descendants forever.

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Monday, 21 November 2022 : 34th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Zechariah 2 : 14-17

Sing and rejoice, o daughter of Zion, for I am about to come, I shall dwell among you,” says YHVH. “On that day, many nations will join YHVH and be My people, but My dwelling is among you.”

The people of Judah will be for YHVH as His portion in His holy land. He will choose Jerusalem again. Keep still in YHVH’s presence, for He comes, having risen from His holy dwelling.

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Sunday, 20 November 2022 : Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday which is the last Sunday in our current liturgical year, we celebrate the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the King of the Universe, also known as the Solemnity of the Kingship of Jesus Christ. On this Sunday we commemorate our Lord Jesus not just as our Saviour but also as our King. This does not mean that we owe no obedience or loyalty to any earthly powers, nations or rulers. Instead, we must realise that the ultimate source of all power and authority in this world is the Lord, our one and true King and Master, and all the nations, all the rulers of this world are truly under our Lord’s dominion. That is why we are still supposed to obey the laws of the land and our respective countries, as good Christians are supposed to be, as far as they do not directly contradict the Law and commandments of God.

Our Lord is King, not just in spiritual manner but also in real and tangible manner. He is truly the King of all Kings, the Lord of lords and Master of all, and yet, unfortunately, many among us still behave as if the Lord is nobody, and that He has no place in our hearts and in our lives. We act as if the Lord is One Who is far and distant, and we remember Him only when we have need of Him. How many of us remember the Lord only when we have something that we hope He can solve for us, or when we want Him to answer our prayers. And it is not uncommon that we become angry at God when He does not seem to answer our prayers, and even if He does answer our prayers, we are often then quick to forget about Him once again and return to our daily preoccupations, with the Lord sidelined again until the next we have need of Him. Is that how we treat our King, brothers and sisters? Let us hence ponder through our Scripture passages this Sunday to understand our King better.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of the prophet Samuel, we heard of the story of the time when King David of Israel was accepted as King by the whole nation of the Israelites, having reunited the whole tribes of Israel under his rule and dominion. David was God’s chosen King over His people, and he had to struggle for a number of years against the supporters of his predecessor King Saul, and his son Ishbosheth or Eshbaal, in a civil war that eventually ended up with David being victorious and triumphant, and was finally welcomed to be King over all of Israel. That moment marked the beginning of the glorious time of the United Kingdom of Israel, of the great kingdom of David and his son, Solomon, which many later generations would look up to as a time of great glory and nostalgia, as the days when God’s rule over His people through His righteous servants David and Solomon were at its best.

Those were the days when the people of God still obeyed God faithfully and when their kings still followed the Lord wholeheartedly. When the prophet Samuel agreed to choose and anoint a king over the Israelites because of their demands, he did tell them that they had no need for a king, because the Lord Himself was already their Lord and King, and yet the people insisted. The prophet warned the people that the kings eventually would make their lives difficult, and like the other rulers and kings of the world, they might end up being tyrannical and wicked, and might lead the people of God down the path to ruin if they did not remain faithful to God or did not exercise faithfully what the Lord had entrusted them to do as the rulers, shepherds and guides for His people, and instead following their own selfish desires for glory and power in this world.

Indeed, that happened even with David himself, the model and most righteous among the Kings of Israel at times when he sinned against God as he desired power and glory at times, and when he forgot his place as the Lord’s vicar and guide in this world. When he desired a woman, Bathsheba who was already married to another man, Uriah, David sinned against God by plotting Uriah’s death and taking up Bathsheba to be his own wife. The same happened when he desired to conduct a census of the Israelites, which was done in a moment of pride in desiring to know the vastness of his power and worldly dominion. Then Solomon, David’s son, while mostly faithful and just throughout his reign, was led into sin as well at the end of his reign when he allowed his many pagan wives and concubines to mislead him and the kingdom into the path of sin and rebellion against God, which eventually led to the division of the united kingdom into two halves of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah.

Nonetheless, their authority and power did come from God, and God was indeed the true King of the Israelites, that when the kingdoms of Israel and Judah were eventually crushed and destroyed by their enemies, the Lord still ruled and reigned over all of His people. He told them all that just as He has promised David that his house and kingdom will last forever, then He would send a Messiah or Saviour to His people, to be born of the House of David, to be the Son and Heir of David. That was the Messiah long awaited by the people of God and the One proclaimed by the many prophets and messengers of God. The people believed that this Messiah would then lead them to victory and freedom from their oppressors and foreign rulers, and would reestablish the kingdom of His ancestors, David and Solomon, of the glorious past days of the united kingdom.

Little did they know that, the Lord Himself would actually come into their midst to be wit them, to dwell among them in the flesh, and to be born as the Son and Heir of David, born of the Virgin, Mary, His mother just as the prophets had prophesied about. This King was born into the world, the Son of God and Son of Man, born as the Divine Word Incarnate, having two natures of Divine and Man, united in perfect love in the person of Jesus Christ, Whose Kingship we are commemorating today, acknowledging Him truly as the King of Kings, the Lord and Master of all, just as He has revealed Himself to be the Saviour of the whole world, and the one true King Who has come to claim all of His people and to gather them all to be His own one flock, with Him as the Shepherd, the Shepherd Who loves all of His flock and cares for them.

That was where then, as we heard in our Gospel passage today, that this same Saviour and King chose to willingly suffer and die for the sake of His beloved flock and people, as He willingly took upon Himself the most heavy burdens of our sins and the punishments and consequences due for those sins and wickedness we have committed. He took upon Himself the heavy burden of the Cross so that by His suffering and then death, He might offer on our behalf, as our Eternal High Priest and King, the most worthy sacrifice that will be the source of our salvation and redemption. He offers on our behalf, this perfect offering of love, that gathering us all as our King, He may lead us all towards righteousness and eternal life through Him, and His most loving sacrifice on the Cross.

For that, as we heard in our Gospel passage today and as we all know, the Lord Jesus our King suffered most terribly at the hands of those who persecuted and hated Him. He was mocked and ridiculed by the Romans as the King of the Jews, and it was for this reason that the chief priests and the Sanhedrin persecuted and condemned him through the Romans to death, for back then, it was a capital offence for someone under the Roman dominion and rule to claim kingship and to be a king. Yet, at the same time, ironically, it was by this action that even those same chief priests and all those who persecuted the Lord said that the Lord Jesus was indeed a King. And at that occasion, the Lord also said to Pontius Pilate, that He is indeed a King, and His kingdom is not of this world.

It means that the Lord’s kingship and rule is not bound like any other kingdoms and rulers of this world. His kingship is a Universal Kingship, one that is outside any limits of time, space and place. He rules over all the whole Creation, of all Universe, of all time and beyond time. And this is our King, our Lord and true Master, Whom we celebrate today, and we ought to be blessed and thankful for the Lord has loved us so dearly and wonderfully. He is the One Whom St. Paul in his Epistle to the Colossians in our second reading today spoke of as the Image of the Unseen God. Through Him, we have seen the manifestation of God, Who has become tangible and approachable by us, and we have therefore seen, witnessed and experienced the presence of our King, our Lord and Master.

He has also gathered us all to be one people and one flock, with Him as our King and the Head of this Church which He has established over in this world, to be a visible presence of the kingdom He has brought unto us, the kingdom of God manifested in this world as the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. And as members of this same Church of God, each and every one of us are indeed invited to examine ourselves and our actions, our dealing and our way of life, whether we have truly appreciated and obeyed the Lord as our King, or whether we have ignored Him, abandoned Him and rejected Him for other things in life which we find more important and desirable than to listen and be obedient to our King’s commands, His Law and will. This Sunday as we celebrate this Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ the King, this is what each one of us as Christians are called and expected to do.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore commit ourselves today to our King anew, renewing our pledge to serve Him, to follow and obey Him wholeheartedly from now on and honour and worship Him as our Lord and King, and enthrone Him in our hearts, in our homes and in our workplaces, in everywhere we are, as our true King and Master, even as we obediently continue to be good and law abiding citizens of this world, and of whichever states we belong to. Let us all be true followers and servants of our King, He Who truly cares for and loves us His people, and Who has given Himself so completely to us, that we may have life through Him, and that we may be reconciled and reunited with Him, in the glory of Heaven and His everlasting kingdom.

May the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of the whole Universe, Our Lord and Master, be with us always, and may He remain with us by our side, strengthening and encouraging us that we may always persevere and be strong in faith no matter whatever challenges and trials may come our way. May the Lord bless us all in all of our good efforts, hard work and endeavours, now and always. Amen.

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Sunday, 20 November 2022 : Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Luke 23 : 35-43

At that time, the people stood by, watching. As for the rulers, they jeered at Jesus, saying to one another, “Let the Man Who saved others now save Himself, for He is the Messiah, the Chosen One of God!”

The soldiers also mocked Him and, when they drew near to offer Him bitter wine, they said, “So You are the King of the Jews? Free Yourself!” Above Jesus there was an inscription in Greek, Latin and Hebrew, which read, “This is the King of the Jews.”

One of the criminals hanging with Jesus insulted Him, “So You are the Messiah? Save Yourself, and us as well!” But the other rebuked him, saying, Have you no fear of God, you who received the same sentence as He did? For us it is just : this is payment for what we have done. But this Man has done nothing wrong.”

And he said, “Jesus, remember me, when You come into Your kingdom.” Jesus replied, “Truly, you will be with Me today in paradise.”