2nd Week

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Monday, 20 January 2014 : 2nd Week of Ordinary Time, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, Memorial of Pope St. Fabian, Pope and Martyr, and St. Sebastian, Martyr (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green and Red (Martyrs)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, our Lord needs something from all of us, from each and every one of us. And what He needs is precisely our love, devotion, and wholehearted dedication, more than anything else. Yes, that is the offering of our hearts to Him, that we open our hearts to Him, our Lord, and show Him the sincere love we have for Him and for His precepts.

God gave His people Israel a long list of laws and regulations, as written in the Torah, in the Book of Leviticus, the Books of Exodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. These were not meant to put a heavy burden on the people, or to unnecessarily strangle them with the obligations to these laws. Instead, they were meant to provide a comprehensive guideline to them, that they can follow them and remain in God’s favour and love.

In these laws and regulations were written in detail, and the rituals and proceedings related to the offerings of burnt animals, their meat, fats, and blood were very elaborate indeed. There were details of each type of offerings, as well as details governing the daily life of the people of Israel, which were meticulously followed, and in the time of Jesus, was zealously followed by the Pharisees, who disdained anything other than perfect adherence to that extensive set of laws.

On top of the laws and rules stipulated and written in the Scriptures, over time, the religious authorities and leaders added more strict rules and regulations, adapting from the laws applicable to the society of the time. This covered everything from bathing, washing of hands before meals, the rituals related to what one should do in response to various things.

These laws, rules, and regulations were no different from the laws that exists in other various cultures and societies, particularly those of the eastern cultures, for example in China, Japan, and many others. They govern how the society should behave, and how people should do things in the correct and acceptable way. This was meant to prevent the people from doing things their own way, which may contradict the way things should be done in the society.

That is what the Lord meant for His people, when He presented them with these laws through Moses His servant. Even with these laws in place, the people of Israel, renowned for their constant whining, complaints and rebellions against the Lord during and after their journey to the Promised Land, continued to disobey the Lord and often refused to follow His laws. How would it have been therefore, had the Lord not given the laws to them to follow?

But there is one danger in strict adherence to the laws, such as those practiced and enforced by the Pharisees and the teachers of the law at the time of Jesus. That is because the way they practiced the law of Moses was that it became a kind of blind obedience to the law instead of practicing the law for its true purpose. That is why Jesus was often so much against the Pharisees and their way of observing the law.

What is therefore, the true purpose of the law of God? The law is truly about obeying the Lord and all that is about the Lord. And the Lord is actually quite simple in a way, because He is Love. Yes, love, and He is love personified, the perfect form of love. He loves us very, very much, and there can be no love greater than the love He has for all of us, for each one of us. So much so, that He was willing to come down unto this world and gave Himself for us so that we may live with Him once again.

The laws of the Lord was meant to bring His people to the greater understanding of God’s love for them, and then, bring them to love Him just as He has loved them. Yes! That is the purpose of God’s law! That is to make God’s people love Him, and that was why Jesus came to the world, to make clear that point to the people. And yet, many of the people refused to believe the truth.

God does not want to burden us unnecessarily, and neither does He want to punish us or make our lives difficult. What He wants from us is also not the sacrifices as written in the law of Moses, as what He truly asked is that the people offer Him their love, obedience, and devotion. In the quest to follow strictly the law, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law had missed entirely the meaning of the law. That was why Jesus rebuked them by saying that despite their pious external appearance, inside they were truly empty. Yes, there was no love of God in them, but only love for themselves.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the same the Lord expects from each one of us His faithful ones. The Church of which we are part of had also a set of rules and regulations to how we should live our faith. However, these rules are not used in the same way as the Pharisees had used the laws of the Lord. They were genuinely meant for helping all of us to find our way towards the Lord.

The question that is asked of us now is that, have we truly loved God? Or do we just offer lip service and empty gestures of faith to God? A simple example will make this point clear. The point on the obligation for all the faithful to go to Mass on every Sunday had been either ignored or followed. However, among those who did attend weekly Mass on Sundays, can we truly say that they, and indeed all of us here, can we say that we have done this out of true faith and devotion, or whether we did it out of obligation and coercion?

Brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore use this opportunity to reaffirm the love and devotion that we have for our Lord. Do not be hesitant to offer the Lord our love, brethren! For indeed the Lord desires our love, and the genuine offering of our hearts! He wants us to be with Him and reunited with Him, and even though we have sinned and did things wicked in His eyes, what He wants is for us to come back to Him in total repentance.

Do not fear the Lord and open our hearts to Him. Yes, open wide the doors of our hearts to Him, that we may come to Him and He may also come to us. Offer the gifts of our hearts to Him, the ultimate gifts, and the gifts that the Lord really wants from us. And we can do this by following the teachings, the guidelines and the rules established by the Church, to be our guide on the way to God.

Yet, we have to do them with understanding. Blind or coerced obedience is not the way, brethren. In that way our faith will not be true. It will be artificial and dead. Let what had happened to the Pharisees and their way of interpreting the faith be kept to them only, and let us not follow in their footsteps. Love the Lord, and love Him genuinely, as well as our fellow men. That is the true desire of the Lord.

Today, brethren, we celebrate the feast of two great saints, the first of which is Pope St. Fabian, one of the early Bishops of Rome, and St. Sebastian, both of whom were martyrs of the faith, at the time of the Roman Empire. Pope St. Fabian was elected the leader of the Universal Church in a strange event, when a dove came down upon his head, and thus marking him as the chosen one of God, and he was then elected the Bishop of Rome.

Pope St. Fabian worked hard to strengthen the Church amidst various persecutions against the faithful by the pagan Roman Emperors, who were hostile against the Christians. Pope St. Fabian helped organise the Church and did many good and charitable works. And when a new Roman Emperor, who was particularly hostile against the faithful came to power, Pope St. Fabian adamantly refused to bow to the Imperial pressure to worship pagan gods and to give offering to the Emperor.

He was therefore one of the first martyrs of the faith under that Emperor, Decius, who was well known for his Decian persecutions of the Christians in the Empire. Despite that, all of the hard works of Pope St. Fabian in strengthening the Church at Rome and throughout the Empire helped it to persevere through the harsh persecutions and even thrived.

St. Sebastian, meanwhile, was a soldier of high rank, possibly a captain or centurion in the Roman Army, who lived just after the life of Pope St. Fabian. He lived through the period of the last and the greatest persecution against Christians by the Roman Emperor Diocletian. The Emperor asked the centurion St. Sebastian to force some Christians who refused to offer worship to the pagan idols to renounce their faith.

Instead, St. Sebastian, being a secret Christian at that time, managed to convert the parents of the Christians as well as many others, including the prison master who guarded the Christian prisoners at the time. For this act of defiance and disobedience against the Emperor and his authority, St. Sebastian was punished to death, and was shot with arrows just as he was tied to a tree, but miraculously he did not die.

Only after the Emperor himself acted to put him to death, did St. Sebastian die. Just like Pope St. Fabian before him, St. Sebastian did what is right to obey the Lord, even if it was to mean their death because they had disobeyed laws and authorities of the land. Although the context was different, but they did provide us with the example to follow, that is to follow the Lord and obey only His will, not by blind obedience, but through concrete action, based on faith and love.

May the Lord our God, who loves us very much, continue to grace us with His infinite love and blessing, that we may live in happiness with Him, and that our faith in Him will continue to grow ever stronger, and become ever more genuine, that it comes not just from our mouths, but also from our hearts! God bless us all. Amen.

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Monday, 20 January 2014 : 2nd Week of Ordinary Time, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, Memorial of Pope St. Fabian, Pope and Martyr, and St. Sebastian, Martyr (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green and Red (Martyrs)

Mark 2 : 18-22

One day, when the Pharisees and the disciples of John the Baptist were fasting, some people asked Jesus, “Why is it that both the Pharisees and the disciples of John fast, but Yours do not?”

Jesus answered, “How can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. But the day will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast.”

“No one sews a piece of new cloth on an old coat, because the new patch will shrink and tear away from the old cloth, making a worse tear. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins, for the wine would burst the skins, and then both the wine and the skins would be lost. But new wine, new skins!”

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Monday, 20 January 2014 : 2nd Week of Ordinary Time, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, Memorial of Pope St. Fabian, Pope and Martyr, and St. Sebastian, Martyr (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green and Red (Martyrs)

Psalm 49 : 8-9, 16bc-17, 21 and 23

Not for your sacrifices do I reprove you, for your burnt offerings are ever before Me. I need no bull from your stalls, nor he-goat from your pens.

What right have you to mouth My laws, or to talk about My covenant? You hate My commands and cast My words behind you.

Because I was silent while you did these things, you thought I was like you. But now I rebuke you and make this charge against you. Those who give with thanks offerings honour Me, but the one who walks blamelessly, I will show him the salvation of God.

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Monday, 20 January 2014 : 2nd Week of Ordinary Time, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, Memorial of Pope St. Fabian, Pope and Martyr, and St. Sebastian, Martyr (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green and Red (Martyrs)

1 Samuel 15 : 16-23

Samuel then told Saul, “Enough! Let me tell you what YHVH said to me last night.” Saul replied, “Please tell me.” So Samuel went on and said, “Though you had no confidence in yourself, you became chief of the tribes of Israel, for YHVH wanted to anoint you king over Israel.”

“Then He sent you with this command, ‘Go. Completely crush the Amalekite offenders, engaging them in battle until they are destroyed.’ Why then did you not obey the voice of YHVH but instead swooped down on the spoil, doing what was evil in His sight?”

To this, Saul replied, “I have obeyed the voice of YHVH and have carried out the mission for which He sent me. I have captured Agag, king of Amalek and completely destroyed the Amalekites. If my men spared the best sheep and oxen from among those to be destroyed, it was in order to sacrifice them to YHVH, your God, in Gilgal.”

Samuel then said, “Does YHVH take as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obedience to His command? Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission better than the fat of rams. Rebellion is like the sin of divination, and stubbornness like holding onto idols. Since you have rejected the word of YHVH, He too has rejected you as king.”

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Saturday, 13 April 2013 : 2nd Week of Easter, Memorial of Pope St. Martin I, Pope and Martyr (Scripture Reflection)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we listened to the words of the Acts of the Apostles, in the first ever creation of the office of deacons in the Church, which became the primary servants of the apostles and the Church, in providing for the community of the faithful in Christ.

It was because the task of leading worship and ministering to God’s people in spirit, and at the same time, having to provide and minister over distribution of food amongst the disciples was too tough for the apostles to do on their own, due to the rapidly growing number of the believers. Therefore, they would require helpers who would aid them in their ministry, and in this, the office of deacons was created.

Deacons then were men chosen by the apostles, and then filled with the Holy Spirit and commissioned by the apostles through the laying of hands. This laying of hands is the method through which the authority that Christ had given to the apostles is passed down to our present day priests and bishops, who received their laying of hands from their consecrators, in an unbroken chain from the apostles themselves.

Deacons today are also ordained ministers just like priest, with a prime difference that they are not allowed to celebrate the Mass and the Eucharist, as they do not have the full faculties of priesthood. Deacons are indeed helpers of priests, who were then represented by the apostles, who needed help in their ever growing ministry and service to the growing number of the people of God.

Deacons today proclaim the Word of God in the Gospel, and also assisted the priests in the Mass. They also help the priests in ministering to the people, presenting an outreach to many people whom the priests alone cannot reach effectively. They complement the priests and make the Church ministry ever greater for the praise and glory of God.

Today, we also commemorate another holy man of God raised to the holy priesthood, that is Pope St. Martin I, elected as the Successor of St. Peter as the Bishop of Rome in the seventh century. Pope St. Martin I was a holy man, and a man of strong faith and principles, standing his ground against the Emperor of the Roman Empire at the time, who was technically his superior, but espousing heretical ideologies, which the Pope refused to give assent to.

Pope St. Martin I stood his ground and remained steadfast to the faith, even if that meant going against the Emperor, who was the most powerful secular leader of Christendom at the time. He condemned the Emperor and his beliefs, which deviated from the orthodox Christian faith of the Apostolic Fathers. He suffered abduction, incarceration, and persecution for his opposition to the Emperor, and until his death in exile, he remained faithful to God without fear.

Deacon St. Stephen, the first martyr too faced death with joy, testifying his faith in Christ in front of all the Sanhedrin and the Jewish priesthood, even though in doing that he faced certain death. He chose death rather than betraying Christ and his faith in Him. This was the quality of men chosen to be deacons by the apostles, to assist them. Holy men indeed, men of principles, which was again shown in Pope St. Martin I in his steadfast faith. Men who placed their faith and fear in God ahead of the fear and praise of man.

Therefore, dear brothers and sisters in Christ. Today, let us pray and indeed pray hard for our deacons, priests, bishops, all the ordained and chosen ministers of Christ, who worked hard for the sake of the Gospel, for God, and for our sake, that we too can be saved in Christ, and share in His love through their hard labour and their shining faith. Let us pray that their faith in God will remain firm, and that they will ever be courageous in defending their faith against attacks just like St. Stephen and Pope St. Martin I had done.

St. Stephen and the holy deacons of God, pray for us. Pope St. Martin I, pray for us. Pray that we too can follow in your footsteps and defend our faith to the best of our abilities. Amen.

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Saturday, 13 April 2013 : 2nd Week of Easter, Memorial of Pope St. Martin I, Pope and Martyr (Gospel Reading)

John 6 : 16-21

When evening came, the disciples went down to the shore. After a while, they got into a boat to make for Capernaum on the other side of the sea, for it was now dark and Jesus had not yet come to them. But the sea was getting rough because a strong wind was blowing.

They had rowed about three or four miles, when they saw Jesus walking on the sea, and He was drawing near to the boat. They were frightened, but He said to them, “It is I! Don’t be afraid!”

They wanted to take Him into the boat, but immediately the boat was at the shore to which they were going.

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Saturday, 13 April 2013 : 2nd Week of Easter, Memorial of Pope St. Martin I, Pope and Martyr (Psalm)

Psalm 32 : 1-2, 4-5, 18-19

Rejoice in the Lord, you who are just, praise is fitting for the upright. Give thanks to Him on the harp and lyre, making melody and chanting praises.

For upright is the Lord’s word and worthy of trust is His work. The Lord loves justice and righteousness; the earth is full of His kindness.

But the Lord’s eyes are upon those who fear Him, upon those who trust in His loving kindness, to deliver them from death and preserve them from famine.

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Saturday, 13 April 2013 : 2nd Week of Easter, Memorial of Pope St. Martin I, Pope and Martyr (First Reading)

Acts 6 : 1-7

In those days, as the number of disciples grew, the so-called Hellenists complained against the so-called Hebrews, because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. So the Twelve summoned the whole body of disciples together and said, “It is not right that we should neglect the word of God to serve at tables.”

“So, friends, choose from among yourselves, seven respected men full of Spirit and wisdom, that we may appoint them to this task. As for us, we shall give ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the Word.”

The whole community agreed and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and Holy Spirit; Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenus, and Nicolaus of Antioch who was a proselyte. They presented these men to the apostles who first prayed over them and then laid hands upon them.

The Word of God continued to spread, and the number of the disciples in Jerusalem increased greatly and even many priests accepted the faith.

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Friday, 12 April 2013 : 2nd Week of Easter (Scripture Reflection)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we listened to a great story from the Gospel today, a great deed done by our Lord Himself. This very deed proves to us that God is a God who provides, and who cares for all the people whom He had taken under His protection. Just like a shepherd loves and cares for all of his sheep, therefore Christ, as the Good Shepherd cares for all the children of God, especially those who believe in Him and put their complete trust in Him.

He did provide for us indeed, no, not just our daily bread and food, that sustained us to life, but also the spiritual food, that is the Word of God, through His teachings passed down to us through the apostles. He Himself had countered the devil in the desert, when he tempted Him in hunger to abandon His fasting, to please Himself with the temporary food, that is not the true food that fulfills all, both our body and our spirit, that is the Word of God.

We should not worry about what we are to have today, what we are to eat today, and what kind of clothes that we are to wear today, as these are not the true things that we need. Yes, we still need to eat and fulfill our human needs, but that is exactly why we should not worry, since as long as we believe in the Lord, He will provide for us, and protect us from harm.

Then one may ask, why then there are still hunger and famine in this world, because if God loves us so much, why then did He let so many people suffer from the lack of food and resources? Why did He let so many people die from famines and diseases? Is the Lord not a good God? The answer is yes, but it is exactly because God also wants us to not be dependent on Him at all times in our lives.

Yes, as the Lord has commanded us, that we should love one another just as we love ourselves and love God who loves us so much too, therefore, we should be the ones responsible for the wellbeing of our fellow men, our impoverished brethren, who lacked food and other basic necessities for a decent life. There are also many people out there, while they lack no food or needs, they hunger for love, for even if they have every material goods that they desired, but lacking love, they would not be truly satisfied.

God showed us the miracle of the feeding of many with bread, showing His care and love for His people. Therefore, we too, should follow in His footsteps, indeed not only in providing physical food and sustenance, but even more importantly in providing our love and care for our brethren, particularly those who lack them.

May God bless all of us, and shower us with His grace and love, that we too can share His love and grace to our less fortunate brethren. Let us strive to make our world, a better, and more loving place. Amen.

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Friday, 12 April 2013 : 2nd Week of Easter (Gospel Reading)

John 6 : 1-15

After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, near Tiberias, and large crowds followed Him, because of the miraculous signs they saw, when He healed the sick. So He went up into the hills and sat down there with His disciples. Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand.

Then lifting up His eyes, Jesus saw the crowds that were coming to Him, and said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread so that these people may eat?” He said this to test Philip, for He Himself knew what He was going to do.

Philip answered Him, “Two hundred silver coins would not buy enough bread for each of them to have a piece.” Then one of Jesus’ disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what good are these for so many?”

Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass there, so the people, about five thousand men, sat down. Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to those who were seated. He did the same with the fish, and gave them as much as they wanted. And when they had eaten enough, He told His disciples, “Gather up the pieces left over, that nothing may be lost.”

So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with bread, that is, with pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten. When the people saw the miracle which Jesus had performed, they said, “This is really the Prophet, the One who is to come into the world.”

Jesus realised that they would come and take Him by force to make Him king; so He fled to the hills by Himself.