2nd Week

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Tuesday, 9 April 2013 : 2nd Week of Easter (Scripture Reflection)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, as Christ had mentioned to Nicodemus, that all of us have to first believe in the teachings and testimonies of Christ, which we can read and see in the Bible and the Gospels, before we can indeed believe in the mysteries surrounding Christ and the tale of salvation. How can we believe that Christ is divine, and is our Lord, the Son of God, if we do not first believe in the teachings He had given to us through the Apostles, and through them, the Scriptures we are reading today?

Yes, indeed, we have to be born again in Christ, as He also mentioned to Nicodemus even earlier. But be careful, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, that we do not fall into the falsehoods of some who assumed that they are better than the Apostles and the holy fathers of our faith, that is the early fathers of the Church, who established the sacred Doctrine and Traditions of the Church, through which the teachings of our Lord and His words are made easier for us to understand through explanations made by these fathers of our faith, and of course with the help of the Apostles and the evangelists who wrote the Gospels and those who witnessed the Lord and His actions firsthand.

For there are those who call themselves ‘Born-again’ ‘Christians’ who allege that all Christians must be ‘born again’ in order to be saved. They allege that there is a need for a kind of baptism, to be ‘immersed’ that people can then be ‘born again’ and therefore be saved. This kind of teaching ran contrary to the teachings of the Church and the holy Apostles, being aberration born out of ignorance and literal self-interpretation of the Holy Gospels and the Bible. For indeed, while it is important to read the Scripture and discern its meaning, we must never do so without any guidance from competent authorities, otherwise we are risking making the wrong interpretations and having the wrong ideas and approach to our faith.

In the first reading, we read how every early Christians share their possessions and their belongings for the good of one another, and in this way, indeed we can see that our faith is not merely personal faith, another facet of faith that the aberrant ‘Christians’ like to stress, that is to be ‘reborn again in Christ and have PERSONAL relationship with Christ that they can be saved’. Yes, indeed, it is important to have such a personal relationship with Christ, that is the closeness we have between ourselves and Christ our Lord, but we have to always remember that our faith that is personal is not enough, for our faith is as much communal as it is personal, and it is the communal faith that we have as a community of believers in the Church that makes our faith in the Lord perfect and complete.

In this sharing too, the early Christians also showed to us the true value of love and communality, that they share with one another their goods and their possessions, and that rid of the endless desires of man to haul in more possessions for themselves, and rid of greed, they truly practice the teachings of Christ to love one another. This is in fact the meaning of true communism, removed from the taints of Karl Marx and his twisted form of communism, and the ideologies espoused by those who followed after him. We must not be confused between this twisted communism and the true communism as practised by the early Christians.

Love one another, take care of your fellow neighbours, and follow our Lord, through His commandments and His teachings. May our lives truly reflect the love that is of God, and let us all share this love that is given to us by the Lord, that all people, especially the unloved ones, can truly experience the love of God, and share with one another the faith we have in Christ, as a community, caring and loving for one another, just as all of us love God even more.

May God grant us a heart of gold, to share what we have to those who do not have, and to those who hunger, both for food, and also more importantly for love, for those starved of love, that all of us, as we work in the love of God, can make this world a better place for everyone. Amen.

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Tuesday, 9 April 2013 : 2nd Week of Easter (Gospel Reading)

John 3 : 7b-15

Jesus said, “You must be born again from above. The wind blows where it pleases and you hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it is going. It is like that with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

Nicodemus asked again, “How can this be?” And Jesus answered, “You are a teacher in Israel, and you don’t know these things! Truly I say to you, We speak of what We know and We witness to the things We have seen, but you don’t accept Our testimony. If you don’t believe when I speak of earthly things, what then, when I speak to you of heavenly things? No one has ever gone up to heaven except the One who came from heaven, the Son of Man.”

“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life.”

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Tuesday, 9 April 2013 : 2nd Week of Easter (Psalm)

Psalm 92 : 1ab, 1c-2, 5

The Lord reigns, robed in majesty; the Lord is girded with strength.

The world now is firm, it cannot be moved. Your throne stands from long ago, o Lord, from all eternity You are.

Your decrees can be trusted; holiness dwells in Your House, day after day without end, o Lord.

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Tuesday, 9 April 2013 : 2nd Week of Easter (First Reading)

Acts 4 : 32-37

The whole community of believers was one in heart and mind. No one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but rather they shared all things in common. With great power the apostles bore witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, for all of them were living in an exceptional time of grace.

There was no needy person among them, for those who owned land or houses, sold them and brought the proceeds of the sale. And they laid it at the feet of the apostles who distributed it according to each one’s need. This is what a certain Joseph did. He was a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas, meaning : “The encouraging one.” He sold a field which he owned and handed the money to the apostles.

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Saturday, 2 March 2013 : 2nd Week of Lent (Scripture Reflection)

The parable of the prodigal son is indeed a well-known parable and story, that many have heard, which symbolises God’s eternal love for us and His great mercy. Do not be mistaken however, that God will simply just overlook any kind of error and sin because of His love for us. For God first and foremost is Holy and therefore He hates sin in all its forms. He hates evil and things that marred the holiness of His creations. He does have mercy, and His great and the incomprehensible degree of His love allows Him to forgive us, just like the father of the prodigal son.

But how does this forgiveness come about? It is not by being idle and wait for God’s forgiveness. If we stay idle, or worse if we continue to dwell in the world of sin, God will not forgive us, but rather condemn us for our continued rebellion against His love. Remember, that, in the parable of the prodigal son, it is the son, who in great humility and repentance, decided to turn back home and seek his father.

Instead of being haughty and proud, he lowered himself and even declared his unworthiness before the father. The father forgives him first because the younger son is back after being lost into the world, and then because he so humbly had submitted himself to the father’s judgement and in full humility even declared his unworthiness, which made the loving father to love him even more.

Forgiveness is not easy, but the Lord is willing to forgive as long as His children who have sinned, and thus rebelled against Him just like the prodigal son, are to humbly seek His mercy and love. God is kind as He is just, and He will show us great blessings and graces if we are obedient and try our best to remain in His favour, by first listening to the Word of God, and the commandments of love as brought by Christ, and to make our faith manifest through our good works and service for the good of all mankind, starting from those around us.

But do not forget, that God in His great mercy, do not just forgive us like that, for if we are forgiven but we ourselves continue to accuse others who had made mistakes to us, is it not contradictory? Just as Christ had said, love one another as I have loved you, and do upon others as what you wish to be done to you.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us first forgive one another first, forgive those who had made you hurt, those who had ostracised you, and then let us ourselves not hurt others, not ostracise others, and not made others’ lives to suffer. Only then, let us offer ourselves, our sinful beings in humility at God’s feet. He, who is our Father, will lift us up again, and makes us whole again, and once again worthy of Him.

If only love, kindness, and forgiveness can be ever present in everyone in our world today, that world would have been much nicer, is it not? All of us Christians, are just like the elder son of the father in the parable, as we had been brought closer to God through our baptism, and had been taught the faith and the love of God through our priests and our fellow brethren in faith. However, let us not be like the elder son who in jealousy became angry with the father because he seemed to overlook him due to the return of the prodigal younger son.

Because, we, who are like the elder son, have been saved in Christ, provided that we remain faithful to Him and practice our faith through our works and service for others as the Lord commanded us. However, there are many out there, who have yet to listen and receive the Good News of the Lord, and many still are also former believers in Christ, who had lapsed in their faith along the way, and had fallen into the traps of evil, through worldly pleasures, consumerism, secularism, and many others. They are the younger son, the lost prodigal son.

Rather than be annoyed and be jealous of them, when the Lord welcomes them into His kingdom like what the elder son did, let us instead help the Father, in seeking these lost sheep, these lost children of God, for through us, God can work wonders in our world. Let us help one another, particularly these lost ones, in finding together our way to the Lord, who will welcome all of us with His love and outstretched hands, the hands which had been pierced with nails on the cross to redeem us from death and eternal damnation, and into eternal life and union with Him.

Let us pray, brothers and sisters in Christ, that first we will always remain faithful to God, obey His commandments, and do what we can, and whatever is within our abilities to help one another, to love one another, and to reach out especially to those who hunger for God.

Then, let us also pray for our Holy Church, which is now without a shepherd, that God will appoint soon a new shepherd to guide His holy people, that through the Church, God’s work will be made manifest and real in this world, guiding all peoples back towards the Lord from their sinful past. May God, who is our loving Father, bless us all, and remain with us, and always be ready to welcome us back if we had gone astray and then humbly seek His mercy. May God place into our hearts the heart of mercy, the heart of love, and the heart of compassion for others. Blessed be God, forever and ever! Amen.

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Saturday, 2 March 2013 : 2nd Week of Lent (Gospel Reading)

Luke 15 : 1-3, 11-32

Meanwhile tax collectors and sinners were seeking the company of Jesus, all of the eager to hear what He had to say. But the Pharisees and the scribes frowned at this, muttering, “This Man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” So Jesus told them this parable.

Jesus continued, “There was a man with two sons. The younger said to his father, ‘Give me my share of the estate.’ So the father divided his property between them. Some days later, the younger son gathered all his belongings, and started off for a distant land, where he squandered his wealth in loose living.”

“Having spent everything, he was hard pressed when a severe famine broke out in that land. So he hired himself out to a well-to-do citizen of that place, and was sent to work on a pig farm. So famished was he, that he longed to fill his stomach even with the food given to the pigs, but no one offered him anything.”

“Finally coming to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will get up and go back to my father, and say to him, Father, I have sinned against God, and before you. I no longer deserve to be called your son. Treat me then as one of your hired servants.’ With that thought in mind, he set off for his father’s house.”

“He was still a long way off, when his father caught sight of him. His father was so deeply moved with compassion that he ran out to meet him, threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. The son said, ‘Father, I have sinned against Heaven and before you. I no longer deserve to be called your son.'”

“But the father turned to his servants : ‘Quick!’ he said, ‘Bring out the finest robe and put it on him! Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet! Take the fattened calf and kill it! We shall celebrate and have a feast, for this son of min was dead, and has come back to life; he was lost and is found!’ And the celebration began.”

“Meanwhile, the elder son had been working in the fields. As he returned and approached the house, he heard the sound of music and dancing. He called one of the servants and asked what it was all about. The servant answered, ‘Your brother has come home safe and sound, and your father is so happy about it that he has ordered this celebration, and killed the fattened calf.'”

The elder son became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and pleaded with him. The son, very indignant, said, ‘Look, I have slaved for you all these years. Never have I disobeyed your orders. Yet you have never given me even a young goat to celebrate with my friends. Then when this son of yours returns, after squandering your property with loose women, you kill the fattened calf for him.'”

“The father said, ‘My son, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But this brother of yours was dead, and has come back to life; he was lost, and is found. And for that we had to rejoice and be glad.'”

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Saturday, 2 March 2013 : 2nd Week of Lent (Psalm)

Psalm 102 : 1-2, 3-4, 9-10, 11-12

Bless the Lord, my soul; all my being, bless His holy Name! Bless the Lord, my soul, and do not forget all His kindness.

He forgives all your sins and heals all your sickness; He redeems your life with destruction and crowns you with love and compassion.

He will not always scold nor will He be angry forever. He does not treat us according to our sins, nor does He punish us as we deserve.

As the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His love for those fearing Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does He remove from us our sins.

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Saturday, 2 March 2013 : 2nd Week of Lent (First Reading)

Micah 7 : 14-15, 18-20

Shepherd Your people with your staff, shepherd the flock of Your inheritance that dwells alone in the scrub, in the midst of a fertile land. Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead as in the days of old, in the days when You went out of Egypt. Show us Your wonders.

Who is a God like You, who takes away guilt and pardons crime for the remnant of His inheritance? Who is like You whose anger does not last? For You delight in merciful forgiveness. Once again You will show us Your loving kindness and trample on our wrongs, casting all our sins into the depth of the sea.

Show faithfulness to Jacob, mercy to Abraham, as You have sworn to our ancestors from the days of old.

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Friday, 1 March 2013 : 2nd Week of Lent (Scripture Reflection)

We are urged today, not to have evil thoughts on our brothers and sisters today, as illustrated earlier in the story of Joseph in the first reading and the psalm, and how he was sold off in slavery to Egypt due to his brothers’ jealousy, which caused them to initially harbour evil thought of killing him. The same evil intent and plot also happened in the Gospel when the tenants disposed of the servants and the son of the landowner, in the intention of gaining the lands they have been lent with, and disobeying the owner’s wish.

We should not harbour such evil intent, but instead look upon our brothers and sisters with love. Especially, just as Christ has taught us, we should even also look upon our enemies and our persecutors with love! and pray for them too!

And then indeed, the story of the Gospel today, as many of you would know, is a parable on the life of Christ Himself, with the Pharisees and the chief priests being labeled as the evil tenants, as obviously stated in the Scripture. Jesus is the Son of the owner, who is God the Father, who sent Jesus to us, down to earth, just like the owner sent his son in the hope that he will be able to bring the tenants into line and pay up what they are supposed to pay.

But yet, the rejected ones, as we had seen, in both Jesus and Joseph, had become a great instrument of the Lord through their rejection by the people, represented by the brothers of Joseph and the tenants in the Gospel. For Joseph became the regent of Egypt through the gift of prophecy through dreams granted to him by God, which saved thousands if not many more souls from death, by the wise and ample preparation before famine ravaged Egypt for seven years. All these would not have happened without Joseph and his dreams.

Even greater is therefore the role of Christ, for in being rejected by the people, the ‘tenants’ particularly the chief priests, teachers of the Law, and the Pharisees, He has become the very instrument of salvation of all mankind. This rejection was represented by the arrest of Jesus, His trial by the Sanhedrin, leaders of the priests of Israel, and finally His condemnation to death, and His death on the cross. In this He, as the rejected stone by the builder, had become the cornerstone, the very vital part of God’s plan of salvation.

What is a cornerstone? While we do not often use the terms in daily life, architects and those dealing with infrastructure and buildings will know it very well. For cornerstone is named so, since, at the time of the Roman Empire, there is a passion for building commemorative and triumphal arches. Some of these arches can still be seen even today, and some remained in the city of Rome itself. Why are these arches so strong and so solid to be able to stand for centuries and even millenia? It is because of its structure, which is so wonderfully constructed even without modern technology to keep them intact, all just because of one single stone at the peak of the arch, which is called the cornerstone.

This cornerstone is the focal point and the most important point of the arch. For if the cornerstone is removed, the arch will immediately crumble. As long as the cornerstone remained in place, removing other stones from the arch would have minimum impact on the arch’s integrity. Similarly, cornerstone can also be found in other buildings, also known more as the foundation stone. This stone holds up the integrity of the whole building by just being there, and as long as the stone stands, the building will too.

Christ therefore, has become our cornerstone through His death and sacrifice on the cross, and later His glorious resurrection and triumph over death and evil. Why is He our cornerstone? That is because if we keep our anchor on Him, keeping faith in Him, and ensuring that our faith is anchored deeply and securely in Christ, no amount of worldly temptations, and no amount of attacks and persuasions by evil can sway us and make us to fall away from the grace of God.

Through Christ who is our cornerstone, we then can act out His love and compassion on all mankind, for only if we anchor ourselves in Christ, that we can act with love and kindness, out of our faith in God who also loves us dearly that He did not even hold back His Son to be given to us for sacrifice to liberate us from eternal damnation.

Then Christ too established His Church, our Church, as the living and concrete presence that represents Him and His mission in this world, and there was none other than Peter the Apostle, upon whom, as the Rock, Christ chose to build up His Church, making Peter the cornerstone of His Church, the Body of Christ, which is made up of all of us the faithful in Christ.

Now, that our Pope, Benedict XVI, who was the 264th successor of St. Peter, had stepped down from his position as our Pope effective today, our Church, God’s Church, has been left without that cornerstone of faith, which has been passed down since the day of Peter, the first cornerstone of the Universal Church. We still have Christ of course as our Cornerstone, on whom all hearts and minds must be directed to, but it is through the Apostle Peter and his successors, the Popes, that this is made manifest, by them being the cornerstone of God’s living presence in this world, that is the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.

Therefore, today, and through the sede vacante period, and beyond that, let us pray, brothers and sisters in Christ, that first, we all will remain ever faithful, and that our anchor of faith will ever be solidly planted in the cornerstone that is Christ our Lord, always remembering His rejection and sacrifice on the cross that made Him the cornerstone of our life, the cornerstone of salvation, that enabled mankind to return and be reunited with God.

And then, we also pray in particular for our Church, that God will guide the Cardinal-electors who will elect a new Pope to succeed our beloved Pope Benedict XVI, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit sent by God upon all of them. That the world will again have a tangible cornerstone that is the successor of St. Peter, who made the Cornerstone of Christ manifest and real in this world, as the cornerstone of God’s most Holy Church, and as the cornerstone and head of the Body of Christ, the Church, leading all the faithful in Christ in unity with Christ their Saviour.

In the end, the cornerstone, although important, still requires the presence of all of us, the stones surrounding the cornerstone, for the cornerstone by itself will not make a building. Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us support the new Pope, whoever he will be, as all the people who believe in Christ, that the new Pope, the future cornerstone of the Church, will together build up a solid and strong Church, that is able to project God’s love and work into this world, that more and more people will be saved.

May God bless all of us, bless His Church, bless our retired Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, and his soon-to-be elected successor. Amen!

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Friday, 1 March 2013 : 2nd Week of Lent (Gospel Reading)

Matthew 21 : 33-43, 45-46

“Listen to another example : There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a fence around it, dug a hole for the winepress, built a watchtower, leased the vineyard to tenants, and then went to a distant country. When harvest time came, the landowner sent his servants to the tenants to collect his share of the harvest. But the tenants seized his servants, beat one, killed another, and stoned a third.”

“Again the owner sent more servants, but they were treated in the same way. Finally, he sent his son, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they thought, “This is the one who is to inherit the vineyard. Let us kill him, and his inheritance will be ours.” So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.”

“Now, what will the owner of the vineyard do with the tenants when he comes?” They said to Him, “He will bring those evil men to an evil end, and lease the vineyard to others, who will pay him in due time.”

And Jesus replied, “Have you never read what the Scriptures say? The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This was the Lord’s doing, and we marvel at it. Therefore I say to you : the kingdom of heaven will be taken from you, and given to a people who will yield a harvest.”

When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard these parables, they realised that Jesus was referring to them. They would have arrested Him, but they were afraid of the crowd, who regarded Him as a prophet.