priests

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Monday, 4 December 2023 : 1st Week of Advent, Memorial of St. John Damascene, Priest and Doctors of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Bishops)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are all reminded of the salvation and deliverance which the Lord our God has shown us all, and which He wants to remind us today that as we enter into this season of Advent, preparing for the coming celebration and joy of Christmas, we may always keep in mind what it is that we are really celebrating and rejoicing about. The Lord and His providence to us, His love and kindness, are all that we are rejoicing about as we celebrate and commemorate the moment when He came to us all in this world, in the form of a Child, the Child Jesus, the Saviour of the world and Son of God Most High.

In our first reading today, we heard the passage from the Book of the prophet Isaiah in which the prophet spoke about his vision that he has received from the Lord, concerning the end of times, when the Lord will gather all the whole world, all people from various places and origins, and make them to be His own people. Contextually, back then, during the time of the prophet Isaiah and the period when the people of Israel still lived in the Promised Land prior to the destruction of Jerusalem, it was believed that the Israelites were God’s only chosen people, as they were chosen by God to be His people, as He led them out of their slavery in the land of Egypt and made a Covenant with them and their descendants at Mount Sinai.

Hence, under the days of Moses and his successors, Joshua and the Judges, and then the kings of Israel and Judah, it was held that the Lord is the God of Israel, while all the other pagan peoples living all around them had their gods and idols, their deities and various divinities. Thus, it was seen also by others living around the Israelites that the Lord YHVH is merely just God over Israel, as was commonly perceived at the time, that each nation and states have their own gods and divinities. However, this is not what the Lord intended, as when He called the Israelites and made them to be His own people, He did not intend to keep His grace and love to be exclusive only to those who are directly descended from Jacob, or Israel.

This is because, ultimately, each and every one of us, the children and descendants of Adam and Eve, whom God had created at the beginning of time, are beloved by God regardless of our race, background, character and whatever divisions and categories we tend to use to differentiate ourselves. All of us are beloved by the Lord and He wants us all to be reconciled with Him, forgiven from our many sins and wickedness, which had caused us to be separated and sundered from His love and grace. The descendants of Abraham and Israel were the first ones that God had called to follow Him, much like how the Lord called some Apostles and disciples earlier than others. Some like St. Paul did not even become a disciple of the Lord until after His death and Resurrection, and yet, this does not mean that those who come after are less important than those who have been called earlier.

The prophet Isaiah clearly mentioned that the Lord will become the Lord and Master over all the nations, over the whole entire world. He will call all men and women to Himself, and this prophecy of what was to come, all have been fulfilled and accomplished through Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. All these have been made evident to us throughout the Gospels in which we heard everything that the Lord Himself had done in our midst. And in our Gospel passage today, we heard of how the Lord healed the sick servant of an army centurion or captain who asked Him to heal the servant from the ailment. That army captain had such a great faith and trust in the Lord that he told the Lord, that he did not need to see the proof of the healing, as even just by the commands and words of the Lord, it would be done as He said it.

The Lord used this example to highlight to His followers and disciples how even those who did not belong or were not counted among the Jewish people, the descendants of the Israelites, could also have great faith in God, and thus will be blessed and filled with God’s grace. At that time, it was likely that this army captain was a Roman, as was common at the time when the Romans were establishing and consolidating their hold over the region, and an army personnel of such rank was typically held by a Roman citizen. Therefore, as was the norm then, for a Jew to visit the house of a Gentile or a non-Jew was considered to be a taboo as it was deemed to make a person unclean in doing so. Hence, the army captain, likely aware of this and having such a great faith in God, believed that everything would be well if the Lord just commanded it to be.

This is a revelation and reminder from the Lord to all of His people, to all of us mankind, that He is not distinguishing or being prejudiced against anyone because of their race and beliefs. Instead, what matters is for the person to have true and genuine faith in the Lord, and for him or her to be virtuous and righteous in the way that the Lord has shown and taught us all, and through this faith, all of us shall be made worthy and righteous, and all called to be disciples and followers of His. God wants all of us to be reunited and reconciled with Him, loving us as He has always done from the very beginning, and to this extent He has sent us the Saviour, Whose coming into this world is the centre of our Advent commemorations and our upcoming Christmas celebrations.

Today, the Church celebrates the feast of St. John Damascene, also known as St. John of Damascus, a renowned monk, priest and theologian, who is honoured as one of the esteemed Doctors of the Church for his may works and contributions. St. John of Damascus was born in a prominent Christian Arab family in part of what is Syria today, which then was under the rule of the Umayyad Caliphate. As he came from a family of officials who were involved in the earlier Byzantine bureaucracy, and then later on the Arabic Umayyad government, St. John was raised up and educated well, and became a well-educated man, serving in the court of the Umayyad Caliph before he became a priest and monk.

St. John of Damascus dedicated his life thereafter to the study of the Christian faith, its theology and mysteries, which he discussed and touched upon in his many writings and works. St. John was also notedly involved in the controversies surrounding the matter of iconoclasm that was then widespread through the Byzantine or the Eastern Roman Empire and the other parts of Christendom. At that time, there were parties and members of the Church and the clergy, with support even from some of the Emperors, who wished to ban the veneration of icons and images, considering them to be un-Christian in nature. This iconoclastic practices were opposed by the Pope and many other members of the clergy and the Church, including that of St. John of Damascus.

St. John of Damascus worked hard against all those who took part and sided in the iconoclastic heresy, and he had to face a lot of hardships in doing so, even to the point of being persecuted, falsely implicated in crimes and suffering from plots against him, that he even had his hand cut off. Miraculously, before the icon of the Theotokos, the Blessed Virgin Mary as the Mother of God through his fervent prayers, his hand was restored. St. John remained firm and courageous in his defence of the true faith, despite the trials and challenges against him, and he persevered throughout his life, finally being vindicated and exonerated from all the false accusations against him when the iconoclast heresy was finally overthrown and defeated.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore be inspired by the examples of St. John of Damascus, that of the army captain mentioned in our Gospel today, and also be reminded by the love which God has extended to every single one of us, that we all as Christians may always strive to seek the Lord with all our heart and might, and be reminded of all the love that He has shown us so that we may love Him and commit ourselves ever more to His path. Let us all hence make sure that our Advent observances and actions be truly centred on the Lord, and also all of our preparations and celebrations for the upcoming Christmas season. Let us all be the bearers of God’s truth, hope and love to all those whom we encounter in our daily living, now and always. Amen.

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Monday, 4 December 2023 : 1st Week of Advent, Memorial of St. John Damascene, Priest and Doctors of the Church (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Bishops)

Matthew 8 : 5-11

At that time, when Jesus entered Capernaum, an army captain approached Him, to ask His help, “Sir, my servant lies sick at home. He is paralysed and suffers terribly.” Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.”

The captain answered, “I am not worthy to have You under my roof. Just give an order and my boy will be healed. For I myself, a junior officer, give orders to my soldiers. And if I say to one, ‘Go!’ he goes; and if I say to another, ‘Come!’ he comes; and if I say to my servant, ‘Do this!’ he does it.”

When Jesus heard this, He was astonished; and said to those who were following Him, “I tell you, I have not found such faith in Israel. I say to you, many will come from east and west and sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob at the feast in the kingdom of heaven.”

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Monday, 4 December 2023 : 1st Week of Advent, Memorial of St. John Damascene, Priest and Doctors of the Church (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Bishops)

Psalm 121 : 1-2, 3-4a, 4b-5, 6-7, 8-9

I rejoiced with those who said to me, “Let us go to the house of YHVH!” And now we have set foot within your gates, o Jerusalem!

Jerusalem, just like a city, where everything falls into place! There the tribes go up.

The tribes of YHVH, the assembly of Israel, to give thanks to YHVH’s Name. There stand the courts of justice, the offices of the house of David.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem : “May those who love you prosper! May peace be within your walls and security within your citadels!”

For the sake of my relatives and friends I will say, “Peace be with you!” For the sake of the house of our YHVH, I will pray for your good.

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Monday, 4 December 2023 : 1st Week of Advent, Memorial of St. John Damascene, Priest and Doctors of the Church (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Bishops)

Isaiah 2 : 1-5

The vision of Isaiah, son of Amoz, concerning Judah and Jerusalem. In the last days, the mountain of YHVH’s house shall be set over the highest mountains and shall tower over the hills. All the nations shall stream to it, saying, “Come, let us go to the mountain of YHVH, to the house of the God of Jacob, that He may teach us His ways and we may walk in His paths. For the teaching comes from Zion, and from Jerusalem the word of YHVH.”

“He will rule over the nations and settle disputes for many people. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not raise sword against nation; they will train for war no more. O nation of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of YHVH!”

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Friday, 24 November 2023 : 33rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Andrew Dung-Lac, Priest and Martyr, and Companions, Martyrs (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 need for each and every one of us to live our lives in manners that are truly worthy of God, in doing His will and obeying His Law and commandments. We must always keep in mind to keep ourselves pure and blameless, good, virtuous and just in all things before the Lord, as best as we are able to do, so that God may truly be glorified through us and everything that we say and do. Each and every one of us have been called to follow the Lord in all that we do, in the Law and commandments that He has entrusted to us, because if we are His people, and He has come down into our midst, it is imperative that we keep ourselves holy and worthy of Him, or otherwise, our sins and wickedness will lead us into damnation and destruction.

In today’s first reading and Gospel passage, there are both references to the Temple of God in Jerusalem, that in the first reading today was marked as the moment when the forces of the faithful Jewish people, led by Judas Maccabeus, during the Maccabean Revolt, managed to win victories against the forced of the Seleucid Greeks who tried to impose Greek customs and ways on the people. The Seleucids under King Antiochus IV Epiphanes had defiled the Temple of God in Jerusalem, also known as the Second Temple, and established pagan idols and false gods on its Altar, and in that passage we heard today, we heard of the moment when the old Altar and all the defilements and corruptions were torn down and destroyed, and new Altar dedicated to God was established anew.

We heard how everyone rejoiced as the Temple and its Altar was consecrated to God. That was a day of great triumph and rejoicing for a people that had been oppressed and put through a lot of hardships because they had remained faithful to the Lord despite the efforts put in place by those who tried to oppress and eliminate their worship of God and their faith in Him. This joyful moment of the consecration of the new Altar and the purified Temple of God is linked to what we have heard in our Gospel passage today, that is about the Lord Jesus and His actions in clearing the Temple of God in Jerusalem, the same Temple that the Maccabeans had purified. The Lord Jesus cast out all those wicked merchants and money changers who have corrupted the Temple with their wicked attitudes and behaviours.

At that time, contextually, many of the Jewish people were living in various places away far from Jerusalem and Judea. During certain festivals and periods in the year, many of them would come back and travel to Jerusalem, and they might need to buy the animals and offerings for the Temple sacrifices, and they would likely also need to exchange the currencies they used in their places of residence with the Temple silver shekels, as according to Jewish customs and practices at the time, pagan coins and goods should not be used in relation to the Temple and the worship of God. However, those merchants and money changers peddling their wares and services likely overcharged the pilgrims and other visitors greatly, for more profit for themselves. It is this wicked attitude and actions that the Lord detested very much. Thus, He angrily cast them all out of the Temple courtyard, to purify God’s House and restored it to its proper use.

All of those readings presented to us a reminder for all of us that we are all also reminded to keep clean and pure our own Temples of the Lord’s Presence. What am I referring to, brothers and sisters in Christ? I am referring to our very own bodies, hearts, minds and souls. Each and every one of us have been blessed to have received the Lord Himself, Who has come down to us firstly in the flesh, and every one of us who have partaken in the Most Holy Eucharist, that is the Most Precious Body and Blood of Our Lord Himself, God Himself is present in us, physically and spiritually. On top of that, the Holy Spirit has also come down upon us through the Church, which we first receive at Baptism and then strengthened at Confirmation. Essentially, God Himself is present in us, and hence, we are ourselves the Temples of the Lord. This means that we have to keep ourselves pure and worthy of the Lord as well.

Today, the Church celebrates the feast of great saints, holy martyrs of the Faith, whose examples and determination should serve as great inspirations for all of us, in how we ourselves should live our lives with faith. St. Andrew Dung-Lac and his companions in martyrdom, the Holy Martyrs of Vietnam, are the ones who have devotedly committed themselves to God despite the many oppositions against them, from the state which was then very violently against the Christian faith, and from the community. At that time, Vietnam, which was ruled by an Emperor and his bureaucratic court, saw the burgeoning Christian mission in their country as a threat to themselves, and to their officially Confucian state religion. As such, the state persecuted Christians very severely, both the foreign missionaries and the local converts.

St. Andrew Dung-Lac was a convert to the faith, and became one of the first local priests to be ordained. According to the traditions and missionary accounts, he and many other Christian converts were persecuted and arrested, and having kept close to their faith and refusing to abandon the Lord, or betray their commitment to Him, they were put to death, and hence became great martyrs of the Church. Their examples, courage and devotion to God, despite the many trials, sufferings and challenges that they had to face amidst their ministry should be great sources of strength and encouragement for us, in how we ought to be ever strong and courageous in committing ourselves to the service of God, and in living our lives as genuine Christians in all things.

May the Lord be with us all, and may He encourage and strengthen each and every one of us in how we live our lives, with courage and commitment, and with the passion and the desire to give our best to glorify God by our examples and lives, so that we, as the Temples of the Lord’s Holy Presence, may be worthy, in our bodies, hearts, minds and souls, in our whole entire beings. May God bless our every good efforts, works and endeavours, now and always. Amen.

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Friday, 24 November 2023 : 33rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Andrew Dung-Lac, Priest and Martyr, and Companions, Martyrs (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Luke 19 : 45-48

At that time, Jesus entered the Temple area and began to drive out the merchants. And He said to them, “God says in the Scriptures, My house shall be a house of prayer, but you have turned it into a den of robbers!”

Jesus was teaching every day in the Temple. The chief priests and teachers of the Law wanted to kill Him, and the elders of the Jews as well, but they were unable to do anything, for all the people were listening to Him and hanging on His words.

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Friday, 24 November 2023 : 33rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Andrew Dung-Lac, Priest and Martyr, and Companions, Martyrs (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Red

1 Chronicles 29 : 10, 11abc, 11d-12a, 12bcd

May You be praised, YHVH God of Israel our ancestor, forever and ever!

Yours, YHVH, is the greatness, the power, splendour, length of days, glory; for all that is in the heavens and on the earth is Yours. Yours is the sovereignty forever, o YHVH.

You are supreme Ruler over all. Riches and honour go before You.

You are Ruler of all; in Your hand lie strength and power. You are the One Who gives greatness and strength to all.

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Friday, 24 November 2023 : 33rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Andrew Dung-Lac, Priest and Martyr, and Companions, Martyrs (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

1 Maccabees 4 : 36-37, 52-59

Then Judas and his brothers said : “Our enemies are defeated, so let us go up and purify the Holy Place and consecrate it again.” And all the army assembled and went up to Mount Zion.

On the twenty-fifth day of the month of Chislev, in the year one hundred and forty-eight (in the year 164 B.C.) they arose at dawn and offered the sacrifice prescribed by the Law on the new altar of holocausts which they had built. It was precisely at that same time and date that the pagans had profaned it before; but now they consecrated it with songs, accompanied by zithers, harps and cymbals. All the people fell prostrate and blessed Heaven that had given them happiness and success.

They celebrated the consecration of the altar for eight days, joyfully offering holocausts and celebrating sacrifices of thanksgiving and praise. The front of the Temple was adorned with crowns of gold and shields; and the gates and the rooms had been restored and fitted with doors. There was no end to the celebration among the people; and so profanation of the Temple by the pagans was forgotten.

Finally, Judas, his brothers and the whole assembly of Israel agreed to celebrate the anniversary of the consecration of the altar annually for eight days, from the twenty-fifth of the month of Chislev, in high festivity.

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Monday, 23 October 2023 : 29th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John of Capestrano, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are all reminded to put our faith and trust in the Lord, that we should always put our focus in life and centre our attention and efforts on the Lord and in glorifying Him instead of trusting in the various worldly means and methods for us to seek happiness and achievements in our lives. We must not allow ourselves to be easily swayed by those temptations and coercions of the world, all the things that may end up leading us down the wrong path in life, because they may end up preventing us from recognising God’s presence in our lives and turning us into people who are more concerned about attaining wealth and all sorts of worldly pleasures and ambitions rather than to live our lives in a righteous and worthy manner.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans in which St. Paul the Apostle spoke about the faith that Abraham had in the Lord. Abraham, who is the father of many nations and the faithful servant of God, with whom the Lord has established His Covenant, was found righteous, worthy and just because he trusted the Lord wholeheartedly and obeyed Him, His will and commands, despite perhaps having doubts or uncertainties at times in his heart and mind. Abraham allowed the Lord to lead him in all of his path and actions throughout life, and dedicated himself and his every moments to do what God has told him to do. He left behind his past life, his homeland and ancestral family in Ur of the Chaldeans, in what is now parts of Iraq, following the Lord Who called him to embark on a journey to the land He promised to him and his descendants.

Then, Abraham also obeyed the Lord when he was told to bring his beloved son, Isaac, whom the Lord had promised to him, and whom he finally received, to be offered as a sacrifice at Mount Moriah. But despite the prospect of losing this precious son to be slaughtered and offered to God, Abraham trusted in God wholly, and according to St. Paul in another occasion in one of his Epistles, Abraham had faith in God that even if he were to lose Isaac, in some way or some form God would restore Isaac to him, or fulfil His promise to him in another different way. This complete and total obedience to God is something that is truly rare amongst us mankind, and it is what made Abraham to stand out and why he is revered as the paragon of virtue and faith.

In what we have heard from our Gospel passage today, there is something similar in what the Lord Jesus had told to His disciples and followers, as He answered one of them who asked Him to be a judge and to convince his brother to share the family inheritance with him, and as He used a parable to highlight to them the futility and folly of one’s pursuit of worldly matter and inheritance, possessions and material wealth, as all those things will not avail us and will not remain with us in the end. None of our worldly goods, wealth and all the riches we have will be ours to possess or bring as we move on to the world that is to come. All those things are ultimately temporary and fleeting in nature, and no matter how rich or how many things we possess in this world, those things will be taken away from us at the end of our brief earthly sojourn, and as we enter the afterlife.

In that Gospel passage today, as we heard in the Lord’s parable, of how futile the rich man’s efforts and plans were, when he planned everything he could, to store for himself more and more of the worldly riches, when he already had so much, in his many granaries and storehouses, but only to lose all of them, because the Lord, the Master of all life and death, could call him back to Him, that very night, and all of his worldly plans, desires, ambitions and all of his attachments and designs, all of them would come to nothing in the end. This is an important reminder that if we allow ourselves to be swayed by worldly temptations and desires, we will likely end up being disappointed, and we may even end up falling into the path towards eternal damnation, because those things will likely tempt and keep us away from truly being able to follow the Lord and trust in Him. Abraham, on the other hand, was willing to even part with his precious treasure, his own beloved son, Isaac.

This is why all of us as Christians must always keep ourselves free from the temptations of worldly desires, ambitions, glory and the pleasures of life. All of us must always stay away from the things that can distract and mislead us down the wrong paths in life, and we must always remind ourselves to stay focused in the Lord at all times. We should always be inspired by the examples of our holy predecessors, like Abraham and the many other saints, holy men and women of God who have dedicated themselves thoroughly to the Lord, in obeying His Law, His will and commandments. Each and every one of us must also follow their examples and inspirations, their lives and works, so that we ourselves may also ever be faithful to God in all things.

Today, the Church celebrates the Feast of St. John of Capestrano, whose life and examples should inspire us all in how we can be better disciples and followers of the Lord in all things. St. John of Capestrano was a famous Franciscan friar and priest, and a courageous and dedicated preacher and servant of God who committed himself wholeheartedly to the Lord, in obeying the commandments and the Law of God. He was a renowned theologian whose works and efforts, in spreading the Good News and the truth of the Gospel of Christ have borne a lot of good fruits, in proclaiming the salvation of God to more and more of those who have not known them. He preached to huge crowds that came to listen to him, which numbered even more than a hundred thousand people in one occasion, and he also attained great successes in other places as well.

St. John of Capestrano also dedicated himself to the Lord, putting Him above all else, even volunteering to raise and lead a large army together to fight against the forces of the Ottoman Turks that were threatening Christendom at that time, fighting in a Crusade launched by the Pope to resist the mighty forces of the enemy and unbelievers. He kept on inspiring all the soldiers who fought during that Crusade and conflicts, and while he eventually survived the battle, he fell ill from the bubonic plague and passed away shortly after. Nonetheless, the memories of his courage, commitment to God and efforts in proclaiming the Lord, in giving himself completely to the Lord and His cause are remembered by many long after his death, even to this very day.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all henceforth renew our commitment to the Lord, and strive to lead a life that is also truly holy and worthy of the Lord. Let us all commit ourselves to follow God in all things, and do whatever we can so that our lives may always be exemplary and inspirational to all others around us, and to all who interact and spend time with us. We should always be the source of inspiration and the bearers of God’s light and truth to others all around us, that we may help more and more people to come ever closer to the Lord and to His loving Presence. May God be with us always, and may He empower and strengthen each and every one of us, in our every day moments, and may He bless our every efforts and good works in glorifying His Name, now and always. Amen.

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Monday, 23 October 2023 : 29th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John of Capestrano, Priest (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)

Luke 12 : 13-21

At that time, someone in the crowd spoke to Jesus, “Master, tell my brother to share with me the family inheritance.” He replied, “My friend, who has appointed Me as your Judge or your Attorney?” Then Jesus said to the people, “Be on your guard and avoid every kind of greed, for even though you have many possessions, it is not that which gives you life.”

And Jesus continued, “There was a rich man, and his land had produced a good harvest. He thought, ‘What shall I do, for I am short of room to store my harvest? Alright, I know what I shall do : I will pull down my barns and I will build bigger ones, to store all this grain, which is my wealth. Then I will say to myself : My friend, you have a lot of good things put by for many years. Rest, eat, drink and enjoy yourself.'”

“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be taken from you. Tell Me, who shall get all you have put aside?’ This is the lot of the one who stores up riches for himself and is not wealthy in the eyes of God.”