Reflections

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Sunday, 14 July 2024 : Fifteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday all of us are presented with the readings from the Sacred Scriptures in which we are all reminded first of all of the great and ever enduring love which the Lord our God has for each and every one of us, of His patience in seeking us out and in helping us to find our way back to Him. He has always been sending out His servants and disciples to reach out to us, to help and guide us in our journey back to Him. Through all that He has done for us, God has opened for us the path to eternal life and true happiness through Him, and all of us should then remember of every efforts that He had done in loving us despite all of our rebellious behaviours and disobedience against Him.

In our first reading this Sunday, we heard from the Book of the prophet Amos in which the interactions between King Amaziah of the northern kingdom of Israel and the prophet Amos, who hailed from the land of Judah, is presented to us. At that time, both the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, the two kingdoms where the people of Israel, the chosen people of God lived in, had been separated for a long time, for about a few centuries. The northern kingdom of Israel came to be because many of the Israelites rebelled against the House of David after the reign of King Solomon because they were taxed and exploited, which made them to declare independence under a new king, who then also led the people into sin because he established an independent centre of worship in Bethel.

Why was that so? Understanding this will be important to understand the conflict and friction between the King of Israel and the prophet Amos, God’s prophet who had been sent to the Israelites from the land of Judah. The king of the northern kingdom of Israel ever since the first one, Jeroboam, up to that of Amaziah had been carrying out the worship of idols in the temple built in Bethel, in opposition to God’s Law, which stated that the people of God, the Israelites, must go to Jerusalem, to the Temple of God there where the Lord’s Holy Presence resided, to worship Him. Jeroboam established instead a golden calf idol, which was reminiscence of what the Israelites did during their Exodus from Egypt, in rebellion against God.

In addition to that, King Jeroboam also established a new order of priesthood not in accordance with God’s Law which decreed that the priests were to be selected only from among the Levites. As such, ever since, the people of Israel had disobeyed the Lord, committed great sins against Him. Yet, despite all of that, the Lord still loved His people and cared for them all nonetheless, as He continued to sent prophets after prophets to help and guide them all in their paths. The Lord continued to try to reach out to them even when they continued to close their hearts and minds against Him, like how King Amaziah of Israel attempted to harass the prophet Amos to go back to the land of Judah. But Amos stood his ground and told the king that God had sent him to the land of Israel to do His will, to bring His people back to Him.

In our second reading today, we then heard from the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Church and the faithful in the city of Ephesus where the Apostle spoke of the great love of God which He has always shown and poured down upon us as he wrote about all the grace, love, kindness, wisdom and all the things He has revealed to us, especially through His beloved Son, Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. St. Paul told the faithful people of God and hence reminded us all of the intentions which the Lord, our loving God and Master has always had for us from the very beginning. God has created all of us as the most perfect and beloved ones among all that He had created. He has intended for us to share in the fullness of His overflowing and ever generous love.

Unfortunately, through our disobedience and refusal to listen to Him, we have spurned God’s love and squandered everything which He has prepared and intended to give to us. That is why we have been cast out of the Gardens of Eden, from God’s Holy Presence. It was not because God despised us or hated us, and it was not because God intended or wanted us all to suffer in this world from all the various sufferings and hardships, and less still from the unavoidable fate of death. Rather, it was our own disobedience and sins which had led us into this fate, our conscious rejection of God’s love and grace, choosing to allow Satan to tempt us and to persuade us to turn away from God and His path of righteousness and virtue. We chose to listen to his lies and sweet false promises, rather than to trust in God.

In our Gospel passage today, the Lord Jesus sent out His disciples in mission to the places that He Himself would be going to, in order to reach out to more people and to call more and more people to God’s path and loving embrace once again. Through all that He had told the disciples to do, in bringing only what they needed and to trust in the Lord, and most importantly in the missions and works that they had carried out, in healing the people and performing great signs and miracles, casting out demons and proclaiming the Good News of God, once again we have been shown the great love of God which had indeed been manifested through His Son, Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, Whom St. Paul had been writing about in our second reading this Sunday.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all stop our stubborn attitudes and behaviours, and strive from now on to recognise just how beloved and fortunate we are to have received God’s love and grace. We must be thankful that God has always remembered us and put us first and foremost in His thoughts, and He has always been kind and generous to us in all things. All of us must also continue to do our part to love Him and put Him as the most important one in our lives, the One Who we all should be committed to in each and every moments of our lives. And as Christians, as God’s disciples and followers, we should also follow in the footsteps of the Apostles and disciples of the Lord, in proclaiming His Good News and truth, showing His love and compassion for all of us through our own worthy lives and actions.

May the Lord, our most loving, compassionate and merciful God and Father continue to watch over us and be gracious to us. May He continue to be patient in loving and caring for us all, His often wayward children, who have often disobeyed and angered Him by our many sins and wickedness. Let us all commit ourselves to turn away from those sins and reject this path of evil, and commit ourselves anew to the path of righteousness and virtue from now on. May God be with us all, and may He empower us all so that we can continue to be courageous to live our lives worthily as His disciples and followers, and as His beloved ones, now and always. Amen.

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Saturday, 13 July 2024 : 14th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Henry (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saints or Saturday Mass of Our Lady)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are all reminded first of all that God is the source of all of our lives, the One Who is the Ruler and Author of all things, the Master of all the whole Universe. He loves each and every one of us, His beloved people, Whom He has called and gathered from among all the nations, from all the ends of the earth, to come and share once again in His joy, to be reconciled to Him through forgiveness of our many sins and wickedness. God had created us all out of His pure and ever enduring love for each one of us, and He has intended to share this love with us if not for our disobedience and refusal to obey His will; which resulted in our separation from Him and the loss of grace, leading to sin and death. But God never gave up on us, and He kept on reaching out to us to help us out of our predicament and to return us all to His loving Presence.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the prophet Isaiah in which the account of how Isaiah was called by God in a heavenly vision was told to us. Isaiah saw the vision of the Lord seated at His Temple in all His glory, attended by the Angels and surrounded by the mighty Seraphim, who forever adore Him singing the praises of His glory and power. We heard how the Lord is the King and Master over all of these mighty spiritual beings, and hence, from this account we can see how the Lord is truly the Almighty Lord and Master over all of the whole Universe, over all Creation, the One and only True God, the Lord of all. Amidst all these, we then heard how one of the Seraphim came to Isaiah, who was bowed down in fear of the great glory of God, taking the hot coal from the altar of the heavenly Temple and purified Isaiah with it.

Through this action, God was calling upon Isaiah to follow Him and to be His mouthpiece among His people, sending him to be the bearer of words and will to those whom he had been sent to, that is the people of the kingdom of Judah. He was to be God’s prophet, as the one to deliver God’s will and to make His thoughts and desires known to the people who have long erred and disobeyed the Lord. God sent Isaiah to help all those people to find their path once again back towards His love, mercy and kindness. God called on all of the people to embrace His love and mercy, to change their ways for the better, reminding them of their responsibilities and obligations as God’s beloved people to be always committed and dedicated in all things to Him, to be the bearers of God’s light and examples for all the people of all the nations.

Then, in our Gospel passage today, we heard of the Lord speaking to His disciples regarding how a student is not greater than his or her master, and He also mentioned Beelzebul, the prince of demons at the same occasion. This was the same Beelzebul which the Pharisees had accused the Lord of colluding with in His performance of miracles and wonders among the people. What He was mentioning is that, if Beelzebul was indeed a prince of demons, far lesser in majesty, power and glory compared to God, and who as a fallen angel was created by God and is still subject under His dominion and power despite his rebellion, thus all the lesser his subordinates and lesser demons would be. He essentially told His disciples and also all of us that we should not be afraid of their power and might, which are truly insignificant against the power of God.

At the same time, the Lord was also likely criticising those Pharisees who were probably present there on their false accusation that He had performed His signs, miracles and wonders by the power of Beelzebul. It was truly a sin against God and the Holy Spirit just as the Lord mentioned in another occasion because they doubted God’s power to forgive sins through His Son, Who has clearly shown Himself to be the One Whom the prophets and messengers of God had been prophesying about. God had made known His salvation to the nations, revealing His Son to everyone, through the many miracles and wonders He had performed before them. But those Pharisees refused to listen to the Lord or believe in Him because they considered themselves better and superior than others, refusing to accept that someone else could have better knowledge of the truth and the ways of the Lord than they did.

Their pride and ego became their undoing as they hardened their hearts and minds through their pride, while their ambitions and desires led them down the slippery slope of disobedience against God, to do things that bring glory, fame and satisfaction for them, but which do not please the Lord and are actually against His commandments and laws. This is why, again we are all reminded today through these readings that the Lord our God is the one and only true God, the one and only true focus and emphasis of our lives, and we should never allow ourselves to be swayed by our pride, ego or any of the desires we have for worldly things and matters, all the temptations surrounding us which can lead us to our downfall, if we are ever to allow these things to mislead us down the path of ruin.

Today, the Church celebrates the Feast of St. Henry, also known as Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor. He was born into the noble family of the Duke of Bavaria, and as a member of the royal Ottonian dynasty that has provided the Holy Roman Emperors at the time. Eventually he succeeded his father as Duke of Bavaria and then after his cousin, the then Emperor Otto III died at a relatively young age without an heir, St. Henry was elected as the King of Germany after defeating several other contenders to the throne. He was also crowned as King of Italy and eventually crowned by the Pope as the Holy Roman Emperor. He developed close and good ties with the Church and the Pope, carrying his duties and responsibilities as Emperor most devotedly, helping out in the process of Church reforms and evangelisation, as contrasted to the later Holy Roman Emperors and other secular leaders who sought to aggrandise and advance their own power and ambitions, even against the Church. St. Henry was also renowned for his great personal piety and commitment to God, and for all these examples and great works he did, he inspired many people even long after he had passed away.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, from the readings of the Sacred Scriptures, what we have discussed earlier on and from the examples of the great servant of God, St. Henry, Holy Roman Emperor, who although powerful and mighty, remained humble and committed to glorifying God through his contributions and efforts to serve Him, let us all therefore also strive to do the same in our own lives. Let us all continue to do God’s will and obey Him in all the things He had told us to do, so that we always keep in mind His precepts and laws, and enthrone Him truly as the one and only Lord and Master over all of our lives. May God be with us all and may He continue to bless us in all of our efforts and deeds, in all of our good works and help us to get ever closer to Him. Amen.

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Friday, 12 July 2024 : 14th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, each and every one of us are reminded yet again that we have been truly blessed and beloved by the Lord, our God and Master. He has always given us His wonderful love at all times, helping and guiding us all back to His path whenever we erred and fell away from His path of righteousness and virtues in life. He has showed us His compassion and mercy as a loving Father to His children, that while He chastised and punished us for our many sins, He did all of them with the intention to discipline and help us to find the path back to Him, so that we may not be lost to Him. God has never desired our destruction and He wished for us to find our path towards salvation and eternal life through His guidance and help.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of the prophet Hosea, we heard of the words of the Lord speaking to His people, the people of Israel in the northern kingdom, also known as Israel, in which He told them all of the call which He presented to them to return to Him, His love and His compassionate care, abandoning their sinfulness and wickedness which had caused them to turn away from God’s path and righteousness in life. The prophet Hosea at that time was sent to the Israelites at the time which was just not long before the destruction of the kingdom by the conquering Assyrians who would subjugate the kingdom of Israel and destroy its cities and towns, bringing many of its people into exile in distant and foreign lands, uprooted from their ancestral lands, the land which they had been given by the Lord from the time of their ancestors.

The Lord had loved His people greatly and showed them all His providence, His guidance and protection, and yet, as highlighted in today’s first reading, we are also reminded of how those people had disobeyed Him, offering sacrifices to the false idols and pagan gods of their neighbours, of how they had profaned the sanctity of His sanctuaries and temples, turning away from the Lord Who has always loved them and cared for them. They instead sold themselves off to the wickedness of their neighbours, to the wicked practices that were abhorrent to God, disobeying and disregarded His Law and commandments. When He sent to them His prophets and messengers to remind them, they persecuted those servants of God and hardened their hearts.

But God showed them all that His love was truly great and He was indeed patient in caring and guiding them, as He had told and revealed to them through the prophet Hosea. He told them that He would eventually liberate them and bring them free from the yoke and the tyranny of those who would persecute and oppress them, just as He had done before against the Egyptians and all the others who had made His beloved people suffer and oppressed throughout their history. He would bring them to dwell once again in His loving Presence, and He would love them all again, blessing and returning them to their glorious days. Through these words, we are in fact also reminded that He also sought the same for all of us as well, all of us who are His children.

How is that so, brothers and sisters in Christ? That is because each and every one of us have also rebelled against God by our conscious choice to follow the temptations and the falsehoods of Satan and the other evil ones, in disobeying God and His Law, His commandments and words. We chose to listen to the evil ones, who tempted and persuaded us to give in to our desired and to worldly ambitions and glory, seeking to satisfy us with all these false pleasures and joys. But God is still ever patient in loving us and leading us all to Himself, and He never gave up on us, giving us all the means and help to allow us to find Him, to be forgiven from our sins and to be fully reconciled to Him. He sent us all His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, as the proof of all this love manifested.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard how the Lord Jesus sending out His disciples to carry out His works ahead of Him, sending them in pairs to go forth to the many places that He Himself would be visiting, to prepare His path and to extend the outreach of His love and kindness, to fulfil everything that God had said that He would do to His people. The Lord told His disciples how they would be sent like the sheep among wolves, and there would be challenges and difficulties that they would face along their journey and missions, but they must remain firm in their faith in the Lord and they were reassured of God’s guidance, which He would give them all through the Holy Spirit, strengthening and guiding them in what they ought to do.

Therefore, through what we have heard in our Gospel passage today, we are all reminded that as the followers and disciples of Our Lord, as Christians, each and every one of us are the ones whom God had called, chosen and entrusted with the mission to reach out to all those people whom had been separated from God through sin. Each and every one of us ourselves have sinned, and we have experienced that separation from God, and God had saved and redeemed us all through His love, which He had made manifest in our presence through His beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, each and every one of us are reminded of this ever wonderful love of God and how as His disciples, we should bear this same love and truth of God to all those whom we encounter in our lives so that we may bring them ever closer to God and His path.

Let us all therefore be the worthy, courageous and shining beacons of God’s Light, hope and truth in our world today, so that God’s Light may dispel the darkness around us, and His truth may dispel all the falsehoods and all the distractions present around us, and through His love, may all of us, by our genuine and vibrant lives accentuated by our Christian love and virtues, be the good role models and inspirations for all our fellow brothers and sisters around us. May God bless us always and be with us in all things, so that we will always be strengthened in our every good works, efforts and endeavours, now and always. Amen.

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Thursday, 11 July 2024 : 14th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Benedict, Abbot (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are all reminded that each and every one of us are truly beloved by God, He Who has always been patient in loving and caring for us, and Who has always reached out to us to help bring us back from the darkness into the light of His grace. God has always been kind to us, in sending to us His guidance and providence, through all those servants, messengers and helpers that had assisted us in our journey back towards Him all these while. And while He did chastise and punish us whenever we erred and made mistakes, He did all these not because He despised or hated us, but instead, His love for us truly endured, so much so that He wanted us all to be redeemed and forgiven from the many sins we have committed, which is what He despises.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the prophet Hosea in which God after having told His people of the coming destruction and sufferings that they had to face, the punishments and hardships that they would have to endure for their sins and wickedness, their disobedience and refusal to follow the path which He has shown them, He then told them of the mercy and love which He, as their loving God and Father, has for each and every one of us. The Lord told His people, the Israelites, that they would be brought back eventually from their misery and sufferings, just like how they had once been rescued from their enslavement and sufferings in the land of Egypt, under the rule and yoke of the Pharaoh and the Egyptians.

God highlighted to them all His frustrations and all the problems that His people had caused Him, that despite all the things which He had done for them, in patiently instructing and guiding them, they kept on getting further and further away from Him, abandoning His Law and precepts, worshipping and following pagan idols and false gods rather than obeying Him and worshipping Him alone. Nonetheless, despite this, God kept on caring for His beloved ones, and still watched over them, sending His servants again and again to help them on their paths. He never gave up on them, and later on, afterwards, He gathered them back from their exile and helped them to return once again to their homeland, fulfilling all the promises and predictions He had spoken to them through the prophets like what we heard in today’s reading from the prophet Hosea.

Then, in our Gospel passage today, we heard of the words of the Lord Jesus to His disciples and followers, as He instructed them all on what they should be doing in the missions and works that He has entrusted to each and every one of them. He sent them out two by two to the many towns and villages that He Himself would be going to, and He encouraged them all that whatever sufferings and challenges that they might have to face, He would be with them and He would guide and strengthen them, and they should not depend on their own means or power in achieving what they had been sent out to do, or else, they might end up forgetting the purpose and reason why they were all sent out in the first place, that is to minister and to proclaim the Good News of God.

That was why He told them all not to bring too many things with them, and in fact just what they barely needed to survive upon themselves, and that they should instead depend on the good will and kindness of the people that they had visited and ministered amongst. He sent them all to proclaim His words and Good News, to show His truth and love, by granting them the power over evil spirits and the power of miracles so that through their works, they might heal many people who have been afflicted and troubled by various maladies and difficulties, especially from that of sin. Through these things we have heard from the Lord Himself, all of us are reminded that first of all God’s love for us is truly great and universal, and then, each and every one of us as Christians, we have the same mission to reach out to our fellow brethren, to proclaim and show the Lord to all of them.

Today, the Church also celebrates the Feast of the great and renowned St. Benedict, also known as St. Benedict of Nursia, the founder and initiator of Western monasticism. He was born in Nursia, in what is part of Italy today, into a family of Roman nobility just right after the downfall of the Roman Empire in the West and in Italy itself. He and his twin sister, St. Scholastica was brought up during this turbulent time, and for St. Benedict, he was initially sent to Rome to study and be an academic, however he found the academic life in the city of Rome to be disappointing, and this eventually led to him discovering a community of hermits in Subiaco nearby the town of Enfide outside of Rome. He became a hermit for about three years and as he grew and mature in his faith and wisdom, he eventually grew to appreciate monastic life.

St. Benedict therefore slowly went on the path of religious life, and despite facing challenges and difficulties along the way, it did not dissuade him from his path and commitment, and it was told from his hagiographic story, how miracles happened to St. Benedict and in one of them a jealous priest named Florentius tried to harm and poison him with a poisoned bread, only for a raven to snatch the bread from St. Benedict after he prayed and said blessing over the bread. This and many other miracles that happened inspired many people who came to visit him in Subiaco and later on in Monte Cassino where he established a great Benedictine monastery, the first of the many Benedictine monasteries, where the rule of St. Benedict eventually became popular among all other monastic traditions. Many people flocked to the monasteries and the Christian faith thanks to the efforts and the holy life led by St. Benedict.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore now spend some time to reflect upon our lives and our path in walking down this life, on whether we have truly been faithful to the Lord or whether we have allowed ourselves to be tempted and swayed by the temptations of this world, of pleasures and human greed, the desires for power and worldly fame, glory and ambitions, all of which could mislead us away from the path towards God’s salvation and grace. Instead, let us all be committed to the Lord wholeheartedly like how St. Benedict had done in his life, and let us also be good examples ourselves in our own lives, so that we may truly embody the light of God’s grace and salvation, now and always. Amen.

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Wednesday, 10 July 2024 : 14th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today all of us have heard from the passages of the Sacred Scriptures in which we are reminded that each and every one of us must focus our lives and our whole attention on the Lord, and we must abandon all of our past sins, wickedness and all the things which had kept us away from the path of the Lord. If we allow all those things and the temptations of the world to distract and pull us away from the path of God’s righteousness and virtues, from His loving care and Presence, then in the end we shall regret our choice of siding not with the Lord but with the evil one and all the wickedness of this world. As Christians, each and every one of us are reminded to truly embody our faith and to be truly faithful to God in all things, and not just in formality only.

In our first reading today, we heard the continuation of the account from the Book of the prophet Hosea in which the Lord continued to detail the revelation of the downfall and destruction that would await the kingdom of Israel, referring to the northern half of the once united kingdom of Israel ruled by David and Solomon. The prophet Hosea had been sent to that place in order to reveal all the words of the Lord and the fate of the people, who had disobeyed the Lord and refused to obey Him so many times, that their sins were truly enormous and unimaginable in scale. They had indeed committed many mistakes, in building up idols and worshipping them, making altars to worship those false gods instead of the Lord, their one and only true God.

They had scandalised His Holy Name, spurning the ever generous love, kindness and mercy which He has always shown them from the very beginning. God has sent to His people numerous prophets, messengers and guides with the intention to help them all to realise the errors of their ways and to remind them to return to the path of righteousness and virtue before it was too late for them. They revealed God’s words and told them of the many sins which they had committed time and again before God and mankind alike, and all these were exactly what the prophet Hosea has repeated once again among all of them. Yet, they still refused to listen to God and they continued to walk down the path of rebellion and sin, hardening their hearts against God.

That was why the Lord told them all everything that they would have to suffer for their continued obstinate and wicked attitudes, in their refusal to turn away from their dark path. They persecuted the prophets and messengers of God sent to them, and therefore, in their pride, they would be humiliated and made to face the consequences of their actions just as the Lord had predicted and revealed to them. The Lord wanted them and also all of us to know that while He truly loves each and every one of us greatly and while He wants to forgive us from our many sins and wickedness, as is His nature to be full of love and compassion, mercy and kindness upon us, the most beloved among all of His creations. However, at the same time, sin is truly a grievous error and is something that can harm us all, by separating us from God and His love, and as long as we continue to live in the state of sin, then we may find ourselves locked out of God’s inheritance and grace.

In our Gospel passage today, we then heard of the moment when the Lord called His chief disciples, choosing the twelve among them to be the members of His own inner circle, all of whom except Judas Iscariot the traitor, would become the Twelve Apostles. They were entrusted with the power and authority to do many great signs and wonders, casting out demons and performing many other miracles. They were sent out with the missions and the tasks to prepare the way for the Lord, to proclaim His Good News and truth among the people and to call upon everyone to repent from their sins and wickedness. The Lord entrusted to them the mission and the outreach to His people, revealing His love and salvation to them through these disciples.

From what we have heard in this Gospel passage today, we are all reminded that each and every one of us as Christians are first of all called to live our lives worthily in God’s path, in that we should no longer disobey God’s commandments, His Law and will as what we and our predecessors have often done, like how the Israelites had once disobeyed the Lord and refused to follow His ways, persecuting the prophets and messengers sent to them. Thus, as Christians, we must always centre our lives upon the Lord and put Him as the centre and the attention of our whole existence, so that by our every actions, words and deeds, we may continue to inspire others around us, to lead others towards the Lord, Our God and Saviour. We are the ones who can and should continue the good works that the Lord had begun through His Apostles and entrusted to His Church, that is to all of us.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we have listened from the words of the Sacred Scriptures and pondered upon them, let us all continue to do our part so that in each and every actions of our lives so that we may be truly evangelising, missionary and active disciples of the Lord. All of us must continue to do our best to proclaim the Lord, His truth and Good News in the midst of our respective communities, that all of us may continue to touch the lives of more and more people around us. It is through all of us and our efforts and contributions to the Church’s missions and works in this world that will help so many lost souls, our fellow brothers and sisters, to find their path towards God, to His love and grace, to be saved by Him and assured the gift of eternal life.

May the Lord our loving God and Father, our most generous and merciful Creator and Master continue to help, protect and guide us in all things. May He bless us in our every actions, our every efforts and works, and our interactions with one another, so that we may truly bear rich fruits of faith, and be good and worthy disciples in proclaiming His truth and salvation to the whole world. Amen.

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Tuesday, 9 July 2024 : 14th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Augustine Zhao Rong, Priest and Martyr, and Companions, Martyrs (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are all reminded that we have all sinned against God through our disobedience against Him, and we have disappointed God many times in our respective areas in life. Yet, the same Lord our God still continues to love us, and He still shows His patience and kindness, His ever generous love and commitment to the Covenant which He had made with each and every one of us. We must not take all the love which He has shown us all for granted, and we have to be thankful and appreciative of the many opportunities which He has constantly given to us because He wants us all to be reconciled to Him.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the prophet Hosea in which the Lord spoke to His people, the Israelites living in the northern kingdom known also as Israel, and listed down all the complaints and the grievances against all the wickedness and all the sins which they had committed against Him, in their refusal to obey the Law and the commandments which He had given and taught them to follow. The Lord told them all that His anger was blazing against them, against all those who had defiled His Name and the sanctity of His sanctuaries and dwelling places, all the wicked deeds they had committed in worshipping pagan idols and false gods instead of embracing and loving their one and only true God, the One Who had always provided for them in times both good and bad.

The prophet Hosea was sent to the people of Israel towards the end of their existence as an independent kingdom and entity, approximately two and a half centuries after the once united Kingdom of Israel had been divided between the descendants of David in Judah and the rebel regime in the northern regions. At that time, the rising power of Assyria was ascendant, and it would come to pass that everything which the Lord had predicted and warned against His people in Israel, would indeed happen, as soon after, the Assyrians with their mighty armies and forces came to defeat the Israelites and conquered their cities and kingdom, destroying Samaria and bringing the people into exile in distant lands. Their disobedience and their wickedness, their refusal to follow and obey God’s Law led them to ‘return back to Egypt’, which was in fact an allusion of their renewed enslavement by the forces of the Assyrians just as once they had been under the yoke of the Egyptians.

In our Gospel passage today, we then heard of the time from the Gospel of St. Matthew in which the works of the Lord were highlighted to us, in how He miraculously healed the man possessed by a demon, which made him dumb and mute. The Lord showed His power and compassion towards the man, and drove out the demon from within him, which led to an almost immediate ridicule and criticism from the Pharisees who were there, accusing Him of colluding with the prince of demons in doing so. They hardened their hearts and minds because they refused to accept the fact that their ways and actions, their understanding and knowledge of the Law of God could have been wrong or mistaken, and they accused the Lord of wrongdoing because they did not want to admit their weakness and imperfections.

Yet, despite all of that, we heard how the Lord still continued on with His ministry, caring for the people, performing His miracles, signs and wonders regardless, reaching out to those who are poor and needy, those who have no one else to turn to, those who have been neglected and were facing challenges and difficulties in life. He showed pity on them, as we heard how they were described as sheep of the flock without a shepherd. And this highlights what the Lord has done for His people, that He embraced each and every one of us as a loving Shepherd and Guide, as the One Who will lead us all into the path of righteousness and virtue, out from the darkness and wickedness in this world. He wants us all to be reconciled to Him and to find our path out of the destruction and damnation awaiting us if we continue to remain in sin.

Today, the Church also celebrates the Feast of St. Augustine Zhao Rong and his companions, who were persecuted, made to suffer and eventually were martyred in China. At that time, missionaries went to China to bring the Christian faith to many people who have not yet known the Lord, proclaiming the Good News of God to more and more people. However, the Christian faith and the missionaries were seen with great suspicion and even treated with hostility by the government and officials who saw them as threats to their power and control over the people. The government persecuted the Christian missionaries and local converts sporadically and systematically at times, forcing them to abandon their faith in the Lord at the threat of great sufferings and torture.

St. Augustine Zhao Rong himself was a Chinese soldier who accompanied Bishop John Gabriel Taurin Dufresse, a French missionary from the Paris Foreign Mission Society who was persecuted, arrested and then eventually martyred in the capital in Beijing. This experience among others led him to be a Christian convert himself, and eventually he became a diocesan priest serving the local Christian community, facing many challenges and hardships during his missions and works. Eventually, like many other Christians at that time, he was martyred about two centuries ago amidst an intense episode of persecutions against Christians. We remember this day the great courage and faith which St. Augustine Zhao Rong and the many other holy martyrs, the Holy Martyrs of China, have shown in their faith, dedication and commitment to God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore strive to do our best to follow in the great footsteps of the holy martyrs, St. Augustine Zhao Rong and his companions in martyrdom, the Holy Martyrs of China. All of us should realise how much we have been blessed and loved by God, and by calling on us, and by us following Him and embracing His love, His compassion and kindness, we should always do our best to glorify Him and His Name in all things, and we should continue to live in the path of righteousness and justice, no longer distracted and misguided by sin and evil. Let us all be the great examples and inspirations for one another just as the holy martyrs had inspired us all in our own lives. May God be with us always and may He bless us in all of our good endeavours and works, all for His greater glory. Amen.

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Monday, 8 July 2024 : 14th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today all of us are reminded through the readings of the Sacred Scriptures that we should always put our faith and trust in the Lord, our God and Saviour. All of us are reminded that God truly loves each and every one of us, and we are all precious to Him. He has also done a lot to reach out to us, to embrace us all with His love and kindness, showing us all His mercy. Through everything that He had done and shown us, we are all reminded that as Christians, that is as those whom He had called and chosen, and we who have answered His call, and taken Him as our Lord and Saviour, our Master and King, we must always put God as the centre and as the very focus of our lives and existence. We must always have faith in Him and commit ourselves and every moments of our lives to serve and glorify Him.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the prophet Hosea in which the Lord spoke to His people, the people of God in the northern kingdom also known as Israel, of what He had intended for all of them, reminding them all of His ever enduring love and kindness, His desire to see them reconciled and reunited with Him. The prophet Hosea was sent to the Israelites of the northern kingdom, who had long disobeyed God and disregarded His Law and commandments, refusing to listen to the many prophets and messengers that God had sent to them to help and guide them to the right path. They persecuted those prophets and messengers, silencing and killing them because they refused to turn away from the path of sin and evil, from their wickedness and disobedience.

But the prophet Hosea, while delivering God’s displeasure and warnings to His people, the premonition of the destruction and sufferings that they would have to endure because of their sins and wickedness, which was imminent, at the same time, as we all heard in our first reading passage, we also heard of God reassuring and encouraging His people of His continued providence and love. He reminded them of all of His wonderful deeds in protecting and providing for their ancestors since the time He had brought them out of the land of Egypt out of their slavery, and how He had guided them safely and well throughout the way, loving them patiently all throughout their journey. He was patient with them even they repeatedly disobeyed Him, chastising and punishing them to help them see the error of their ways and that they might return to Him with repentance and sincerity of heart.

In our Gospel passage today, we then heard of the miraculous healing and miracle that happened to two people, first being a woman who had been suffering from haemorrhage or bleeding issue, and the second being the dead daughter of Jairus, an official of the synagogue. In both occasions, we heard how the woman and the synagogue official had faith in the Lord, and they sought the Lord for help with their respective troubles. The woman braved through the large crowd surrounding the Lord, and also courageously overcame her fears and uncertainties, and the shame that was associated with her condition, as according to the Jewish laws and customs, the Law of Moses, a woman with bleeding condition and discharge was considered as unclean.

We heard how the Lord embraced this woman who had been healed from her haemorrhage issue and praised her for her great faith, for it was her faith that had saved her. Similarly, it was the constant faith that the synagogue official had in the Lord that allowed his daughter to be saved and raised from the dead. The Lord was laughed upon by the people who were there at the house when He said that the girl was only sleeping, because those people had little faith in the Lord and they did not believe that He could do anything to help the girl. The Lord proved His power and authority by restoring the daughter of Jairus back to life, highlighting that it is in Him alone that we have hope of salvation and liberation from our troubles, including that sin and death, which can be forgiven and overcome respectively by the Lord alone.

Through what we have heard in our Scripture readings today, we are therefore reminded that we should no longer be stubborn and hardened in our hearts, in refusing to listen to the Lord and in not embracing the ever generous love and mercy which He has constantly shown to each and every one of us. We have to imitate the good examples of the courage and the faith of both the woman who suffered from the haemorrhage as well as Jairus, the synagogue official, whose faith in God brought salvation and healing to themselves and their loved ones. Thus, in the same way, each and every one of us should also trust in the Lord and put our faith in Him. We should always be focused on the Lord and remind ourselves that God is our only Hope and Redemption, through Whom we shall gain the assurance of eternal life, true joy and happiness in life.

This is why after we have heard our Scripture readings today and ponder on their messages for us, let us all realise just how sinful and wicked we have been in our lives. Let us all realise just how we could have easily been crushed and destroyed by the Lord for all those wicked things if He had willed it so. Yet, in His infinite and most generous love and mercy, He has always constantly reached out to us with His love, caring for us and showing us the constant desire He has to be reconciled with each and every one of us. We truly ought to be ashamed at all of our sins and wickedness, and we should always be grateful for the love and kindness which God has given to us all these while, and we should never take Him for granted.

May the Lord therefore continue to bless us and love us at all times, and may He continue to empower and strengthen us in our journey of faith and life so that we may continue to persevere in faith despite the many challenges and difficulties, trials and obstacles that we may encounter in our lives. Let us all renew our commitment and conviction to serve the Lord ever more faithfully and to do His will in all that we do in our lives, to do His Law and commandments and to entrust ourselves to His love and kindness, now and always. Amen.

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Sunday, 7 July 2024 : Fourteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday all of us are reminded through the readings of the Sacred Scriptures that we must always be obedient to God, be humble in all things and keep in mind that no matter how great we are, ultimately everything that we have, and all of our greatness and achievements, all of these are only possible because of God, His guidance and blessings towards us. Through God’s help and guidance all of us have received the strength and the means to persevere through the challenges of life, and by His providence, we have been guided to reach the path towards salvation and eternal life with God. However, we must always be ever vigilant and careful, lest the many temptations present around us may lead us astray into the path of ruin and damnation.

In our first reading this Sunday, we heard from the Book of the prophet Ezekiel in which God called Ezekiel and sent him to the people of Israel in exile in Babylon, to speak to them all at the place of their exile to remind them all of their loving God and Master, the One Who had chastised and punished their ancestors and predecessors for their sins and wickedness, but One Who also would embrace them all once again with His ever generous and enduring love because after all, despite all the anger and punishments that He had given against those same people. This is because ultimately, God has always loved His people, whom He had called and chosen to share in His love and inheritance, and as a loving Father to His beloved ones, that He had treated as His children, He wanted them all to grow up well and to follow the path that He has shown them.

Therefore, God’s chastisements and punishments to the Israelites were ultimately meant to lead those wayward people back towards Him. He wanted them all to repent from their sinful ways and to remember His love for them, and how as God’s chosen people, they were supposed to live righteously and virtuously in God’s path, and not to give in to the wickedness of the world, all the temptations of sin that could bring them all into destruction and damnation. Their exile in Babylon was meant to remind them all that without God, there would be no good future for them, and there would only be desolation and suffering if they continued to disobey the Lord. On the other hand, if they embraced God’s mercy and love, His compassion and kindness, then there will be path out of the darkness and despair for them.

In our second reading today, taken from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Church and the faithful in Corinth, we heard of the words of the Apostle St. Paul reminding the faithful there about the dangers of temptations and the corruptions of human desires and pride, all of which can lead the people into the path of sin and evil. He used himself as an example and told the faithful in Corinth about how he has constantly been reminded by the ‘thorn of Satan’ to keep him reminded of his own imperfections and frailty, lest he became to proud because of all of his works and achievements in proclaiming the Good News of God to more and more people among the Gentiles in his missionary journeys. Through this example, St. Paul wanted to remind and warn the other faithful people of God not to give in to the very dangerous allures and temptations of worldly fame, glory and ambitions which could lead them astray from the path of God’s righteousness.

Then in our Gospel passage today, we heard of the moment when Lord Jesus returned to His hometown of Nazareth after He has raised the daughter of Jairus the synagogue official from the dead. We heard how the townspeople of the Lord’s own hometown doubted and questioned whatever the Lord had done and performed in other places, which certainly had been spread widely among the people, and the people of Nazareth as we heard, many of them refused to believe that the Lord Jesus could have done all the miracles and the wonders which they heard that He had done in other parts and towns of Galilee. They also raised up the point and fact of how He grew up in their midst, and His own Mother Mary and other family members were there in that town, and how He was the mere Son of the town carpenter, namely St. Joseph, His foster father.

From all these things which we have heard today, all of us are shown again the dangers of our pride and ego, our thinking that we know it better than God on how we should progress in our lives and how we should act. Those people of Nazareth, the Lord’s own neighbours and relatives, all of them refused to believe in Him simply because they likely presumed that they knew Him well and they knew about His humble background, being the Son of a small town carpenter, an occupation that was considered as honourable and was necessary, and yet often maligned against and disregarded by the community as a poor man’s job, as a hard labour job that was done only by those who were uneducated and illiterate. And hence, those people hardened their hearts and minds with their prejudices, refusing to believe that the Lord could have performed all those miracles and wonders, and spoke all those wise words and teachings.

It was this same pride and ego, this inability to restrain the desires for worldly glory and temptations which had brought the Israelites, the people of God to their downfall all those years ago. Those temptations misled them down the path towards ruin and condemnation, and God chastised them all for those sins and wickedness that they had committed. Yet, the Lord still loved them all and sent them His prophets and messengers to help them, even though in their stubbornness, they refused to listen and believe in Him, persecuting those prophets and messengers of God, as they had also done to the prophet Ezekiel. And in the same manner, the Lord Himself had also been rejected and persecuted by those whom He had been sent to, the ones that whose midst He had come into so that He might help and lead them out the path of darkness into the Light of God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we listened and remembered the words of the Lord contained within the Scripture readings which we have received this Sunday, let us all therefore reflect on our own way of life, our own actions and all the things which we had done. Let us all ask ourselves whether we have allowed our pride, ego, desires, ambitions and all the things that often distracted and misled us in this life to bring us away from the path of God’s salvation. Let us all continue to dedicate ourselves and our every moments in life to serve the Lord ever more faithfully, and let us continue to be humble, to be willing to listen to God speaking to us all through His Church and through everyone we encounter in life, so that by listening to Him and obeying His will, we may find our path in life, and be guided ever more to walk in the path towards God’s salvation and grace.

May the Lord, our ever loving God and Creator, continue to love and help us in our journey, and may He continue to bless us all in our every actions, words, deeds, and our every efforts to carry out His Law and commandments in every moments of our lives. May God be with us all, His beloved people and His Church, so that by His Presence and ever loving guidance in our lives, we may continue to walk faithfully in His path, and be the good and worthy role models and inspirations for one another, that our lives may always be illuminated with God’s light, His love and truth, at all times. Let us always remember God’s ever enduring love, and be thankful for all that He had done for us, now and always. Amen.

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Saturday, 6 July 2024 : 13th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Maria Goretti, Virgin and Martyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are all reminded of the need for each and every one of us as Christians, as God’s holy people to be truly obedient to God and to follow Him wholeheartedly in all of our lives. It is part of our Christian obligation and calling for us to do what God has commanded and told us all to do, and to leave behind our past, sinful way of life which are not in accordance with God’s will. If we profess to be a Christian, as someone who believes in Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, and yet, in our attitudes and behaviours, in our words, actions and deeds, we do things that are contrary to our beliefs, then we are truly hypocrites and no better than unbelievers.

In our first reading today, we heard the continuation of the passage from the Book of the prophet Amos in which after almost a week hearing about the anger of God and the punishments which God would bring upon His people, the Israelites living in the northern kingdom of Israel, we now heard of the promises of God’s salvation and redemption for His people, the same ones that He had chastised and punished. In what we have heard in our first reading passage, the Lord promised that He would restore all the destroyed places and towns of His people, restoring them into His favour and blessing, giving them once again the promises and inheritance that He has given to their ancestors, but which those ancestors and people had spurned and rejected out of disobedience and sin, through their stubbornness and wickedness.

God showed His love, compassion and mercy to His beloved ones, just like that of a father caring for his children, and we are all truly God’s beloved children, the ones whom He had created out of love, taken upon Himself to be His own people, to be loved and cared dearly by Him, and to receive the fullness of His grace and love. But at the same time, because we as His children had become wayward and disobedient in our way of life, in our actions, words and deeds, then just like a father disciplines his children to ensure that the children grew up well and did not turn out to be a delinquent and failure, thus, God, our loving Father, Creator and Master had also disciplined us, chastising us and making us to understand that as His beloved children, His disciples and His followers, all of us must adhere to His ways and act according to His Law and commandments.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard of the parable which the Lord Jesus presented to His disciples and followers, and to all the people listening to Him, telling them about the wine and the wineskin, and the cloth used to patch a hole in a piece of cloth. In both parables, the Lord spoke about how new wine must be stored in new wineskin, while old wine must be stored in old wineskin, while new cloth should be used to patch a new piece of cloth, and correspondingly, an old cloth ought to be used to patch a hole in an old cloth. All these were meant to deliver the message that the old ways were meant to be lived in the manner how they were in the past, but with the advent and the coming of the new truth and revelation of the Lord, the people had to adopt the new path and ways shown to them by the Lord Himself.

Just prior to the Lord speaking in these parables, the disciples of St. John the Baptist had been asking the Lord the question about why they and the Pharisees followed strictly the laws of fasting that were dictated by the Jewish laws and customs, but the Lord’s own disciples did not follow the same ways, and instead embarked on their own path as shown by the Lord. This was when the Lord used the parables to explain that, in truth, while the laws and customs practiced by the people of God had been done and practiced for a long time, but in the end, what God desired from His people is something that is better than all those obedience to the laws and customs of the past, which were imperfect and even misunderstood by the people of God, which led to them not doing as the Lord had wanted them to do, and also failing to realise the true intention and purpose of such laws.

For example, the law on fasting is meant to teach the people of God to restrain themselves in their lives so that they might learn temperance and resist the temptations of worldly desires and pleasures, and that they may come to focus better and more on the Lord, their God and Master. However, many among the people of God, especially those of the Pharisees instead carried out their fasting with the intention to be seen and praised by others around them, by making their fasting well-known and such a pompous activity that it had become deviant and misled from the true path which God had wanted His people to walk through. Instead, they fell into the path of temptation of their own ego, ambition and desire, and the Lord wanted to tell them that this was not the way that they and all of us ought to take in our lives.

Today, the Church celebrates the feast of St. Maria Goretti, great and holy servant of God, a champion of virtue and chastity, compassion and mercy, whose life while short, was truly filled with virtue, and her martyrdom, in defending her virtues and righteousness, her purity and sanctity, is something that has inspired many people of her generation and afterwards. St. Maria Goretti was born in a rather large family with seven children, with St. Maria Goretti herself being the third of the seven children. Her family was poor, and after her father passed away when she was still young, her mother had to bring them to live with another family, the Serenellis, in order to provide for her many children. It was at this household that the young and pious St. Maria Goretti encountered Alessandro Serenelli, the son of the owner family.

At one time, when the young St. Maria Goretti, who was only eleven years old was outside the house, and there was no one else in the house, Alessandro Serenelli came to her and threatened to stab her with his awl if she did not do as what he wanted, and Alessandro was intending to rape her. St. Maria Goretti refused to obey Alessandro’s commands and demands, struggling and screaming, pleading with Alessandro in vain that it was a great sin against God to do as he had planned to commit. In a fit of anger, Alessandro choked and then stabbed St. Maria Goretti a total of fourteen times, and then a few more times afterwards before running away after witnessing what he had done. St. Maria Goretti passed away shortly afterwards in the presence of her mother and family in the hospital, but before she died, she told her mother that she has forgiven Alessandro and wanted to have him in Heaven with her.

Through the years afterwards, when Alessandro was arrested shortly after the event, it was told that St. Maria Goretti appeared to Alessandro himself in prison in a dream, and eventually this made him to repent from his sins, begging forgiveness from the mother of St. Maria Goretti, who forgave her and later on, the same Alessandro after he was released from his incarceration, eventually became a lay brother of the Capuchin Franciscan friars in the community, living in the monastery, ever repentant and regretful of the vicious deeds he had done, and committed the rest of his life in prayerful and dedicated life to God. He also attended the canonisation ceremony of St. Maria Goretti together with her mother. In this story of St. Maria Goretti, her courage and martyrdom, we are all reminded of what we are all expected to do as Christians, to live courageously in faith, and to commit ourselves wholeheartedly to God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore renew our commitment henceforth to the Lord our God, doing whatever we can so that in our every words, actions and deeds, in our every moments in life, we will always be truly worthy of the Lord. Let us all continue to walk ever more faithfully in God’s path, remembering the love and mercy that He has shown us, and like St. Maria Goretti, let us all show the same love and mercy to one another, and love the Lord our God with all of our strength and might, now and always, that one day, we may truly be worthy to receive the fullness of inheritance that God had promised to all of us. Amen.

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Friday, 5 July 2024 : 13th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Anthony Zaccaria, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are all called to abandon our past sinful way of life and embrace from now on, God’s righteousness and virtues in our lives, in each and every one of our actions, words and deeds. We are all reminded that if we continue to walk in the path of sin and disobedience against God, and if we continue to allow the darkness of this world to mislead and bring us down the path to ruin, then in the end, we will regret our choice and path. The Lord reminded us all that we have been called by Him and given the opportunity to embrace His love and generous mercy, but we must also be willing to make the commitment and to embrace wholeheartedly this love and mercy, or else, we will continue to be separated from Him.

In our first reading today, we heard of the continuation of the passage from the Book of the prophet Amos which we have heard in the past one week or so, in which the prophet spoke of the Lord’s words to His people, the Israelites living in the northern kingdom, also known as Israel, who have disobeyed and disregarded His Law and commandments. The prophet Amos was sent to the people of Israel during the last years of the existence of the northern kingdom of Israel to bring about God’s warning and the revelation of the fate that would soon befall all those people who had hardened their hearts and acted wickedly for so many years in refusing to believe in God and persecuting the many prophets and messengers which God had sent them constantly to help and guide them in their path.

God thus spoke through the prophet Amos, chastising those same people of their many sins and wickedness, as we heard in our first reading today, stating how they had behaved inappropriately as God’s holy and beloved people by manipulating and exploiting the weak and the less privileged for their own personal benefits and ambitions, through their self-serving attitudes and actions, all of which had brought about a lot of misery and hardships for others, leading to more and more wicked actions and things that were truly unbecoming of a people whom God had called and chosen to be His own people. And the Lord also told His people that they were to be chastised and punished so that they might see the errors of their ways, and thus, hopefully that they could then turn away from those sins and wickedness before it was too late for them.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard of the story of the calling of Levi, the tax collector by the Lord Jesus. Levi decided to follow the Lord, leaving behind his post at the tax collector’s office and committing himself to be a disciple of the Lord. He would henceforth be known as Matthew, and as with other people who changed their names in the other parts of the Scriptures, like Abraham, Jacob, Peter and Paul, this name change indicated the new life and path which Levi had committed himself to take, by which he embraced the Lord fully, and becoming Matthew, a committed disciple and servant of God, a member of the Twelve Apostles and later on as one of the Four Evangelists.

The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law were quick to criticise the Lord when He went to have dinner with Levi and the other tax collectors, as at the time, the tax collectors were widely seen as traitors to the nation and the people of God for their role in collecting taxes on behalf of the rulers and the Romans. They were also seen as sinners and people who were unworthy of God’s grace and salvation, and as common at the time, no one especially the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law would associate themselves with those considered as sinners, like the tax collectors, the prostitutes and those afflicted with certain illnesses and diseases, because they could make them to be considered unclean as well.

But the Lord immediately pointed out that His mission and what He wanted to do is to reach out to the marginalised and those who have been lost to Him, those who have been afflicted the most by the affliction of sin. It was sinners and those who are struggling that need the most help, and it is for them that the Lord had made Himself available through His Son, Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Whom God had sent into our midst to be Our Saviour and Hope. He is the Light and Hope for all the people of all the nations, and He shows us all that God truly loves everyone, all of His beloved children and people, without exception. Even the greatest of sinners and those whom others deem to be unworthy, God still loves and desires to be reunited with Him.

That is why all of us are called to embrace God’s love and mercy, to seek Him and His forgiveness for all of our faults and sins. The Lord wants us all to turn away from all of our rebellious ways and to be like His servant, Levi, who have committed himself thoroughly to God’s cause, and gave Himself to the glorification of God. Each and every one of us have also been called to our own respective missions and vocations in life, to do what is right and just, virtuous and worthy in each and every moments in our lives. All of us should make good use of these many opportunities that the Lord had given to us so that we may come ever closer to Him and be forgiven from our many sins and wickedness. Let us all no longer harden our hearts and minds, but humble ourselves, welcoming the Lord Himself into our midst.

Today, the Church celebrates the Feast of St. Anthony Zaccaria, a renowned servant of God whose life and commitment to God can serve as a good inspiration for all of us to follow in our own lives. St. Anthony Zaccaria was born into a noble family in what is part of Italy today, and he was brought up by his mother mostly after his father died when he was just two years old. From a young age, the young St. Anthony Zaccaria had been exposed to the sufferings of the poor and the needy through his pious and devout mother, who made him as an almoner, to be the one to reach out and care for the poor in the community. He became a physician for a short while before eventually, he joined the seminary and was trained to become a priest.

St. Anthony Zaccaria continued to minister to the poor and the needy as a priest, working in hospitals and other institutions caring for the needy at the time. He and some other like-minded clerics began living a life of love and ministry to the people who were needy and poor, eventually establishing the congregation of the Clerics Regular of St. Paul, also known as the Barnabites, which members are devoted to the service of God’s people, delivering and encouraging the pious practices of the Forty Hours Devotion and the emphasis on the Passion of the Lord to the greater community. Through their many efforts, they helped and sustained the physical and spiritual needs of many people, bringing them ever closer to the Lord. The dedication and faith shown by St. Anthony Zaccaria and his compatriots should inspire all of us to commit ourselves to the Lord in the same way as well.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore continue to do our part in following the Lord ever more faithfully, in doing His will and obeying His Law and commandments at all times. May the Lord continue to help and guide us in our journey throughout life, to do what He has entrusted to us to do. May He continue to bless us all in out every good efforts, works and endeavours, and help us to be His faithful and committed disciples in all things. Amen.