Day: February 10, 2025

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(Singapore) Friday, 14 February 2025 : Feast of the Anniversary of the Dedication of the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today, the fourteenth day of February marks the anniversary of the Dedication or Consecration of the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd, the Mother Church of the Archdiocese of Singapore, which was dedicated in the Year of Our Lord 1897, about five decades after it was originally built and established as the first church in the land of Singapore. This year, it has been a hundred and twenty-eight years since its original Consecration as mentioned, and also eight years since it has been rededicated in the Year of Our Lord 2017 after the latest round of major restoration and renovation, bringing back the glory and the glamour in this great House of God, restored and renovated for the glory of God and for the good of the flock of the Lord in Singapore.

Now, as we all rejoice in the anniversary of the dedication of our Mother Church in Singapore, let us all spend some time to reflect upon the messages of the Sacred Scriptures that we have received today, which reminds us all of the significance of this Dedication of the Cathedral, as with the dedication of any other churches, the places which had been set aside for the purpose of sacred use and the worship of the Divine. All of us have to be aware that the celebration of the Holy Mass has to be done in a place that has been blessed and also dedicated to God, upon the Altar that had been dedicated and reserved for the sole use of Sacred and Divine Worship, which happened during the Dedication of this great House of God.

In our first reading today, we heard the customary reading from the Book of the prophet Ezekiel used for the dedication of churches, detailing the heavenly vision of the prophet Ezekiel who saw the great Temple in Heaven, the Temple of the Lord’s Holy Presence, from which came forth the spring of life-giving water, and the figure of a Son of Man Who guided him throughout the Temple, which was a prefigurement of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus, the Son of Man. This Holy and great Temple of God in Heaven is the model upon which all of our churches, God’s House in this world have been modelled upon, all consecrated and dedicated to the Lord, to be the same representation of the perfect Temple of God’s Holy Presence in Heaven, which has come into our midst, as God came to dwell among us.

As we all come to the churches, to come to worship and glorify the Lord, it reminds us all to come forth to God’s Holy Presence, seeking His love, kindness and mercy, while distancing ourselves from all sorts of wickedness and evils, keeping ourselves holy and worthy in all things. That is why each and every one of us are reminded to keep the sanctity of God’s House, to be at our best whenever we come to the Holy Mass and any other celebrations and liturgical events taking place in our churches, including in this Cathedral which dedication anniversary we are celebrating today. If we profane the sanctity of the Lord’s Holy Temple, then we will be made accountable for this act, and we will be judged and found wanting for this action that is unbecoming of us all as Christians.

Then, in our second reading passage today, we listened to the words of St. Paul the Apostle in his Epistle to the Church and the faithful in the city and region of Corinth where he spoke of the nature of all of us, the faithful people of God, as God’s Holy Temples, how our bodies and our whole beings are truly the Temples of His Holy Presence, the Temples of His Holy Spirit, and therefore all of us must always strive to keep ourselves holy and free from sin, or else, again, the sin of us having defiled the sanctity of this Temple of God, that is our own body, heart, mind and soul, our whole beings, will eventually fall upon us and we will have to account for our failure to keep this sanctity and purity of our bodies, our minds, hearts and souls, which God had graced upon and dwelled within.

Each and every one of us have received God Himself in the flesh, first of all through the life that God has given to each and every one of us, the Holy Spirit that He has given to us, dwelling within us, and the gift of the Holy Spirit through the Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation, where the gifts of the Holy Spirit were affirmed in us, and through which we have been strengthened by God’s Spirit and Presence. And then, not only that, but through the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, and as we all believe firmly that the Lord is truly and really present in the Eucharist, in our faith in the Real Presence and the Dogma of Transubstantiation, we believe that the Lord Himself, Who has made Himself available in His Most Precious Body and Blood, has come into us, through the Holy Eucharist that we have received and partaken at the Holy Mass.

Therefore, it is important that each and every one of us as Christians must realise that we have to keep ourselves truly holy and worthy in everything that we say and do, or else, we have to account for our failures to do so. In our Gospel passage today, the Lord Jesus showed this by example, as He angrily cast out all those merchants, money changers and others peddling their businesses at the courtyard of the Temple of God in Jerusalem. First of all, the context of this event and the presence of those businesses were made necessary due to the many Jewish people which at that time had been living far away from the land of Israel, and since they would come to visit Jerusalem during festivals like the Passover, they would have to exchange the money and coins they brought from the lands they dwelled in for the coins issued by the local Temple authority, as foreign coins were considered unclean. And they would have to use those good and worthy Temple coins to buy the sacrifices to be offered to God.

However, what the Lord Jesus found issue with was the rampant practice of corruption and overcharging, where the pilgrims and many others coming to the Temple were overcharged for the services that those money changers and merchants did, and those people earned a lot from this practice. It was those immoral actions and behaviours, which were not allowed even according to the Law of God revealed through Moses, that led to the Lord Jesus to drive away all those merchants and money changers. The Temple officials and the chief priests had been turning a blind eye to those wicked actions because they themselves likely profitted from such activities as well, and therefore, the Lord also told them all as we heard, that the magnificent Temple which they had at that time, none of that would remain standing in just another few decades, as it would be destroyed by the Romans approximately four decades later.

What the Lord also wanted us all to remember is that this Temple of God is truly not just limited to any particular building. Yes, we designate and honour certain places and also this Cathedral of the Good Shepherd as God’s Holy House in this world, but even more importantly, the whole Church itself, the Body of Christ, the unity of all Christian believers are also where God is present and where He dwells in amongst us. Hence, as Christians, it is important that all of us strive to continue living our lives worthily and to continue to do our best in being the ‘living stones’ of God’s Holy Temple, to be good and faithful stewards and caretakers of this world that God has entrusted to us. Let us all also be active in our participation in the Holy Mass and in other events of the Church, and maintain always the sanctity of our churches and also our bodies, hearts, minds and souls as God’s Holy Temple in this world.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore as God’s faithful people in the Archdiocese of Singapore continue to do our best in all the things that we do in our everyday living, so that we may truly be evangelistic, missionary and faithful disciples of the Lord at every moments, doing our best to proclaim the Lord and His truth in everything that we say and do in our lives. Let us all be good examples and inspirations for the brothers and sisters in our midst so that together we may build the Living Church of God with Jesus Christ our Lord as its Head and founded upon the faith of the Apostles, and also our faith, which are the stones making up this Living Church of God. May God be with us always, and may He bless us all and all the churches in the world, particularly the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd, the great Mother Church of the Archdiocese of Singapore. Amen.

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(Singapore) Friday, 14 February 2025 : Feast of the Anniversary of the Dedication of the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 2 : 13-22

At that time, as the Passover of the Jews was at hand, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the Temple court He found merchants selling oxen, sheep and doves, and money-changers seated at their tables.

Making a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the Temple court, together with the oxen and sheep. He knocked over the tables of the money-changers, scattering the coins, and ordered the people selling doves, “Take all this away, and stop making a marketplace of My Father’s house!” His disciples recalled the words of Scripture : Zeal for Your house devours me like fire.

The Jews then questioned Jesus, “Where are the miraculous signs which give You the right to do this?” And Jesus said, “Destroy this Temple and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then replied, “The building of this Temple has already taken forty-six years, and will You raise it up in three days?”

Actually, Jesus was referring to the Temple of His Body. Only when He had risen from the dead did His disciples remember these words; then they believed both the Scripture and the words Jesus had spoken.

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(Singapore) Friday, 14 February 2025 : Feast of the Anniversary of the Dedication of the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

1 Corinthians 3 : 9-13, 16-17

But you are God’s field and building. I, as good architect, according to the capacity given to me, I laid the foundation, and another is to build upon it. Each one must be careful how to build upon it. No one can lay a foundation other than the One which is already laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Do you not know that you are God’s Temple, and that God’s Spirit abides within you? If anyone destroys the Temple of God, God will destroy him. God’s Temple is holy, and you are this Temple.

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(Singapore) Friday, 14 February 2025 : Feast of the Anniversary of the Dedication of the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 45 : 2-3, 4-6, 8-9

God is our strength and protection, an ever-present help in affliction. We will not fear, therefore; though the earth be shaken and the mountains plunge into the seas.

There is a river whose streams bring joy to the City of God, the holy place, where the Most High dwells. God is within, the city cannot quake, for God’s help is upon it at the break of day.

For with us is YHVH of hosts, the God of Jacob, our refuge. Come, see the works of YHVH – the marvellous things He has done in the world.

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(Singapore) Friday, 14 February 2025 : Feast of the Anniversary of the Dedication of the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Ezekiel 47 : 1-2, 8-9, 12

The Man brought me back to the entrance of the Temple and I saw water coming out from the threshold of the Temple and flowing eastward. The Temple faced the east and the water flowed from the south side of the Temple, from the south side of the Altar. He then brought me out through the north gate and led me around the outside, to the outer gate facing the east; and there I saw the stream coming from the south side.

He said to me, “This water goes to the east, down to the Arabah, and when it flows into the sea of foul-smelling water, the water will become wholesome. Wherever the river flows, swarms of creatures will live in it; fish will be plentiful; and the seawater will become fresh. Wherever it flows, life will abound.”

“Near the river on both banks, there will be all kinds of fruit trees, with foliage that will not wither; and fruit that will never fail; each month they will bear a fresh crop, because the water comes from the Temple. The fruit will be good to eat and the leaves will be used for healing.”

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Friday, 14 February 2025 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Cyril, Monk and St. Methodius, Bishop, Patron Saints of Europe (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are all reminded of the downfall of mankind into sin, reminding us all how sin has led us into this wretched existence in this corrupted world, filled with sin and evil. But at the same time, we are being reminded also of our true nature which God had made and intended us all to be, a pure and holy existence in His Presence as He has meant us all to enjoy. At the same time, we should put our trust in the Lord, and allowing Him to heal us all from our afflictions, our corruptions of sin and evil, allowing us to be whole once again, to be enlightened once again by God’s grace and love, by His light and truth. God is the only One Who can do this for us, and we have to keep this always in mind.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of Genesis, we heard of the moment when Satan, in the form of a snake, came upon our ancestors in the Gardens of Eden. At that time, everything had been created all good and perfect by God, and our ancestors, Adam and Eve, the first man and woman, had also been created perfect, all wonderful and good, in the image and likeness of God Himself, all meant to enjoy forever the fullness of God’s love and grace. However, our inability to resist the temptations of sin, of worldly desires, ambitions and pride, had all led to us succumbing to the sweet lies and falsehoods of Satan, who used all those to lead us all down the path of ruin, and therefore brought us into the corruption of sin.

Satan played upon our curiosity and desire for knowledge, and also our indulgence in pleasure to seek for what we have been told not to seek the pursuit of power, glory and knowledge that Satan has offered us by tempting our ancestors to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and which he has continued to tempt us with as he offered us all sorts of worldly goods and ambitions, and all other things meant to shake our faith and trust in the Lord, in trying to make us to embrace the path of disobedience and sin instead. That is why we are reminded of this today so that we will always be vigilant and we will not allow Satan and all of the other forces of evil to tempt us into the path towards our downfall and destruction.

In our Gospel passage today, we then heard of the works of the Lord Jesus as He came into the region of Decapolis beyond the Jordan River, where He encountered a man who was deaf and mute, and He healed this man miraculously by putting His hands into the man’s ears and tongue, declaring ‘Ephphata’ or ‘be opened’! as mentioned in the Gospel. Through this action, God showed all the people, His disciples and followers that He is truly the Lord and Master of all things, even over diseases, sickness and all other conditions, and He is also the Messiah or Saviour which God has promised His people through the prophets, as those prophets spoke of how the Messiah would make the blind to see once again, the deaf to be able to hear again, the mute to be able to speak again and more great and wonderful things.

It is a reminder to all of us how God is the only One Who can liberate us all from our bondage to sin. Ever since our ancestors listened to Satan and disobeyed God, as we heard from our first reading passage today, they had allowed sin to enter into our hearts and corrupt us all, corrupting our human nature and through that making us all to be unworthy of God and the glorious inheritance that God has always meant for us to share and enjoy in. The corruption of sin has corrupted our human existence and led us all to concupiscence, that is our inherent human nature to be tempted and to fall into sin. But God did not give up on us, and He has always loved us all throughout, desiring for us to be reconciled and reunited to Himself, and hence, He provided for us the means to do so.

It is by sending unto us His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ Himself, Our Lord and Saviour, that God has opened for us all the sure and straight path towards eternal life and salvation. He has given us all His beloved Son, Who willingly took up upon Himself the human flesh, nature and existence so that He can break us all free from the tyranny and dominion of sin and death. And it was by His perfect and humble obedience to the will of His heavenly Father that Christ, as the New Adam, together with His mother Mary, the New Eve, opposed the past disobedience of Adam and Eve, rejected Satan and all of his falsehoods, and by offering Himself as the perfect sacrifice and offering, breaking His own Most Precious Body and pouring out His Most Precious Blood that brings about our healing and redemption. There is no other means by which we all can be saved.

That is why all of us are reminded that we should always put our faith and trust in the Lord, and we should not allow the temptations of evil to lead us astray anymore in our lives. Through the Lord Jesus, our Saviour, all of us have been liberated from the chains and dominion of sin, and hence, we should embrace this freedom which we have earned from the Lord, the grace that He has given us all, and strive therefore to live a truly holy and worthy lives, following Him ever more wholeheartedly in each and every moments of our lives. And one way of doing this is by doing whatever the Lord has commanded us to do, to live a life truly devoted to Him and to be exemplary in our everyday living, becoming good and worthy examples for our fellow brothers and sisters, to be missionary and evangelising in all things as many of our holy predecessors had done.

Today, the Church also celebrates the Feast of St. Cyril and St. Methodius, who are the Patron Saints of Europe, and also great missionaries in their efforts to evangelise to the people of Central and Eastern Europe. St. Cyril and St. Methodius were brothers who were born in the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium in the early ninth century, and they were appointed as missionaries by the Byzantine Emperor and the Church in Constantinople to evangelise among the Slavs and the Khazars, the pagans who were inhabiting the regions to the north of the Empire. They were the ones to come up with the Glagolitic alphabet, which eventually became the Cyrillic alphabet still in use in many Slavic countries to this day.

They achieved much success in proclaiming the Good News of God to the pagan nations, and were also involved in other missionary works, including inter-Church mission to Rome and many other good works. Through their efforts, many of those people they visited and ministered became Christians, bringing God’s salvation to countless more souls. They did encounter difficulties and challenges during their ministry, including conflicts with the Latin and the Western Church during their evangelising work among the pagans, enduring the political conflicts between the Western and Eastern Christendom that happened at that time, but all these did not dissuade them from continuing to do their works and to carry on the missions entrusted to them faithfully to the very end of their lives.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore strive to follow in the footsteps of St. Cyril and St. Methodius and do our best in all things, so that by our dedication and commitment to God, we may always be shining beacons of His light and truth, becoming the manifestation of His love and mercy, His kindness and compassion to all those whom we encounter daily in life. Hopefully many more people may come to believe in the Lord and be saved through us, and through everything that we do in our everyday living. May God be with us always, and may He bless us in all of our good works and endeavours, now and always. Amen.

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Friday, 14 February 2025 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Cyril, Monk and St. Methodius, Bishop, Patron Saints of Europe (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Mark 7 : 31-37

At that time, again Jesus set out : from the country of Tyre He passed through Sidon and, skirting the sea of Galilee, He came to the territory of Decapolis. There, a deaf man, who also had difficulty in speaking, was brought to Him. They asked Jesus to lay His hand upon him.

Jesus took him apart from the crowd, and put His fingers into the man’s ears, and touched his tongue with spittle. Then, looking up to heaven, He said with a deep sigh, “Ephphata!” that is, “Be opened!”

And immediately, his ears were opened, his tongue was loosened, and he began to speak clearly. Jesus ordered them not to tell anyone about it; but the more He insisted, the more they proclaimed it. The people were completely astonished and said, “He has done all things well; He makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak.”

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Friday, 14 February 2025 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Cyril, Monk and St. Methodius, Bishop, Patron Saints of Europe (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 31 : 1-2, 5, 6, 7

Blessed is the one whose sin is forgiven, whose iniquity is wiped away. Blessed are those in whom YHVH sees no guilt and in whose spirit is found no deceit.

Then I made known to You my sin and uncovered before You my fault, saying to myself, “To YHVH I will now confess my wrong.” And You, You forgave my sin; You removed my guilt.

So let the faithful ones pray to You in time of distress; the overflowing waters will not reach them.

You are my Refuge; You protect me from distress and surround me with songs of deliverance.

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Friday, 14 February 2025 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Cyril, Monk and St. Methodius, Bishop, Patron Saints of Europe (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Genesis 3 : 1-8

Now the serpent was the most crafty of all the wild creatures that YHVH God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say : You must not eat from any tree in the garden?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees in the garden, but of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden God said : You must not eat, and you must not touch it or you will die.”

The serpent said to the woman, “You will not die, but God knows that the day you eat it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods, knowing good and evil.” The woman saw that the fruit was good to eat, and pleasant to the eyes, and ideal for gaining knowledge. She took its fruit and ate it and gave some to her husband who was with her. He ate it.

Then their eyes were opened and both of them knew they were naked. So they sewed leaves of a fig tree together and made themselves loincloths. They heard the voice of YHVH God walking in the garden, in the cool of the day, and they, the man and his wife, hid from YHVH God among the trees of the garden.