Adolf Hitler

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Thursday, 14 August 2014 : 19th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Maximilian Kolbe, Priest and Martyr (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are taught on the value and importance of forgiveness in our lives by none other than our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, who mentioned that we have to forgive and forgive, again and again. When Peter asked if he should forgive his brethren seven times and Jesus replied that he should do it seventy-seven times should not be literally taken as a seventy-seven times of forgiveness, but rather that our acts in all things must be filled with mercy and forgiveness, one that is genuine from our hearts.

The Lord Himself is the embodiment of the perfect mercy and love, forgiving His people who are also His children from their trespasses and rebelliousness, while chastising them for the kind of sinful and rebellious behaviour they had shown. But of course there is a limit that God has set to His mercy and kindness, especially if those to whom He had shown this mercy consistently and persistently refused to listen and to change for the better, then they are truly digging their own graves and lead themselves to destruction.

That was why our Lord sent prophets after prophets to help His people, to remind them and guide them on the right path, and this includes Ezekiel, whom God sent to His people in exile in Babylon, warning and reminding them of their continued sins and rebelliousness against God which would bring them to greater disaster and destruction in the end. God wanted to forgive them, but forgiveness must also be accepted with sincerity, or otherwise it will not work as intended.

The whole of mankind is indeed in exile, and had been since the days when Adam and Eve our ancestors first disobeyed the Lord, and therefore lost the certainty of inheritance of the divine glory and riches which had been our share as of when God created us. But God gave us nothing lesser than Himself through His Son, Jesus Christ, as the concrete and ultimate symbol of forgiveness and hope for mankind, that through Him, all our wounds and our afflictions would be healed.

It is now up to us, whether we accept graciously the generous offer of mercy and repent, following the Lord once again into salvation and eternal glory in heaven. It is also our choice to stay apart from the Lord and His love, following our own human desires and fallibilities, and likely these will end us in destruction and endless cycles of hatred, violence and evil. It is up to us, for us to break free from this cycle and usher a new era of peace, love and harmony based on the Lord.

And today we celebrate the feast of a saint, whose life and examples would truly awaken us to this idea of mercy and forgiveness, as well as love for our fellow men, and this saint had just passed before us less than a century ago. He is St. Maximilian Kolbe, the saint of World War II and the saint of the Holocaust in NAZI Germany. He was one of the many martyrs of the faith, who together with others like St. Edith Stein or St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, died for her faith.

St. Maximilian Kolbe was a Polish priest who joined the religious life since his youth, and was particularly devoted to the Immaculate Virgin Mary, trying his best throughout his ministries to spread the devotion to the Immaculate Virgin Mary, even establishing newspapers and publication dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. St. Maximilian Kolbe took part in numerous missionary works, and particularly he visited Japan many times, spreading the seeds of faith among the people there.

But eventually what made St. Maximilian Kolbe truly known to the world was his actions during the Second World War in which he was arrested and interned, and when several prisoners were found to have attempted escape from the prison at the infamous Auschwitz extermination camp, they were immediately sentenced to death. However, when one of the prisoners cried out in agony and sorrow over his family, St. Maximilian Kolbe immediately offered himself in exchange for the life of the Polish inmate.

St. Maximilian Kolbe endured two whole weeks of dehydration, complete isolation and total denial of food. But he remained cheerful and in fact encouraged the others who were also condemned to die, celebrating the Mass with joy and persevering amidst the shadow of death. And when the Germans decided to clear the room, they found St. Maximilian Kolbe to be still alive and proceeded to execute him. He met death with joy and without fear, and into the hands of the Lord he gave up his soul.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, are we all able to follow the examples of St. Maximilian Kolbe? He forgave his executors, brought life and hope to another man, whose family received him in renewed joy. St. Maximilian Kolbe and his actions truly showed the embodiment of the love and mercy of God. Remember, that if St. Maximilian Kolbe gave up his life in exchange for the life of a man chained in prison, then our Lord Jesus Christ gave up His life and suffer on the cross in exchange for the life of all men, that is all of us, chained by the chains of sin.

Let us all break free of the cycle of hatred, violence, evil and death. Let us all work together to seek peace and harmony among all peoples. And may Almighty God bless our endeavours, and may His love and mercy together with the examples and the intercession of St. Maximilian Kolbe help us to be better children of God, and always think first of the Lord and His infinite mercy. Amen.

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Thursday, 14 August 2014 : 19th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Maximilian Kolbe, Priest and Martyr (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Matthew 18 : 21 – Matthew 19 : 1

Then Peter asked Jesus, “Lord, how many times must I forgive the offenses of my brother or sister? Seven times?”

Jesus answered, “No, not seven times, but seventy-seven times. This story throws a light on the Kingdom of Heaven : A king decided to settle the accounts of his servants. Among the first was one who owed him ten thousand pieces of gold. As the man could not repay the debt, the king commanded that he be sold as a slave with his wife, his children and all his goods, as repayment.”

“The servant threw himself at the feet of the king and said, ‘Give me time, and I will pay you back everything.’ The king took pity on him, and not only set him free, but even cancelled his debt.”

“When this servant left the king’s presence, he met one of his companions, who owed him a hundred pieces of silver. He grabbed him by the neck and almost choked him, shouting, ‘Pay me what you owe!'”

“His companion threw himself at his feet and begged him, ‘Give me time, and I will pay everything.’ The other did not agree, but sent him to prison until he had paid all his debt.”

“Now his fellow servants saw what had happened. They were extremely upset, and so they went and reported everything to their lord. Then the lord summoned his servant and said, ‘Wicked servant, I forgave you all that you owed when you begged me to do so. Were you not bound to have pity on your companion, as I had pity on you?'”

“The lord was now angry, so he handed his servant over to be punished, until he had paid his whole debt.”

Jesus added, “So will My heavenly Father do with you, unless you sincerely forgive your brothers and sisters.”

When Jesus had finished this teaching, He left Galilee and arrived at the border of Judea, on the other side of the Jordan River.

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Thursday, 14 August 2014 : 19th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Maximilian Kolbe, Priest and Martyr (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Psalm 77 : 56-57, 58-59, 61-62

But they challenged and rebelled against God the Most High, and disobeyed His decrees. They were unfaithful like their ancestors, deceitful and crooked as a twisted bow.

They angered Him with their high places; they aroused His jealousy with their idols. Filled with wrath, God rejected Israel.

He lead His glory into captivity, His Ark into the hand of the enemy. He gave His people over to the sword, so furious was He at His inheritance.

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Thursday, 14 August 2014 : 19th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Maximilian Kolbe, Priest and Martyr (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Ezekiel 12 : 1-12

This word of YHVH came to me, “Son of man, you live in the midst of a house of rebels : they have eyes for seeing but do not see; they have ears for hearing but do not hear, for they are a house of rebels. Because of this, son of man, prepare for yourself an exile’s baggage in their sight as an exile does; and go as an exile to another place in their sight. Would that they may understand, because they are a house of rebels.”

“You will gather your things, an exile’s baggage, by day to be seen by them, and you will leave in the evening as for a departure of deportees. While they look on, dig a hole in the wall and leave from there. As they look on, shoulder your baggage and leave in the dark. Veil your face and do not look at the land for I have made you a sign for Israel.”

I did as I was ordered, gathering my things by day, an exile’s baggage, and in the evening I made a hole in the wall with my hand. I left in the dark, in their presence, shouldering my baggage.

In the morning the word of YHVH came to me : “Son of man, did not the Israelites, these rebels, ask you, ‘What are you doing there?’ Answer them on behalf of YHVH : This oracle concerns the prince in Jerusalem and all the Israelites remaining in the city.”

“Say, ‘I am a sign for you,’ for what I have done will happen to them : They will be deported, exiled. The prince among them shall shoulder his baggage in the dark and depart. They will dig a hole in the wall to let him leave by it. He will cover his face because he must not see the land with his eyes.”

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Saturday, 9 August 2014 : 18th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein), Virgin and Martyr (Scripture Reflections)

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

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today Jesus reminded us in the Gospel that we all ought to have faith in us, and not just any faith but genuine faith that is truly real, solid and concrete, and not just a lip service or superficial faith. And Jesus also told us that what matters is whether we have that faith, no matter how small or insignificant it is compared to others, but what matters is how we use that faith and grow that faith that we may become stronger and more devoted to God.

It is important that our faith must be cultivated and strengthened, through the active implementation of the Lord’s teachings that we had received through the Church of God. This is linked to the parable of the mustard seed and the parable of the sower, where even a small seed if grown strong and healthy will eventually become a large and towering tree with plenty of branches with solid roots that will stand against any storms and strong and healthy lives that will impress all who see it.

Thus, our faith too must be like that, strong as a solid rock, immoveable despite all the attempts of the evil one to undermine our faith, and it must also be visible for all to see, not in order to satisfy our human ego and desires, but rather to bring even more people closer to God through faith and through love. In this manner, we can become a role model for many through our words, deeds and actions.

And today we celebrate a saint whose life and actions represented just all that, a true example for others who see her. This saint is St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, a name which the saint took when she entered religious profession, and she was also well known as St. Edith Stein, a German Jew convert to the faith who endured great sufferings as part of the genocide against the Jews by Adolf Hitler during the holocaust, and who was eventually martyred for her faith.

St. Edith Stein was born to a Jewish family, keeping the old Jewish faith in a strongly religious environment. However, although St. Edith Stein admired her mother’s great piety, she herself became an unbeliever in her adolescent and early adult years, pursuing higher studies and intellectual pursuits to eventually become a philosopher and educator.

However, after learning the truth about the Lord in the faith, and after reading the autobiography of St. Teresa of Avila, St. Edith Stein went through a complete transformation and change in her self, and she chose to follow the Lord and be baptised into the Church. Thereafter, St. Edith Stein continued teaching, but focusing more on teaching the faith and producing many great writings and works on the faith.

St. Edith Stein openly and vocally condemned and opposed the increasingly violent and intolerant treatment of the Jews by the rising NAZI party under Adolf Hitler in Germany, and she spoke openly against the vile treatments they had received, having been born as the descendant of Jacob herself. She entered the convent and took up the religious habit, taking up the name of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, enduring one difficulty after another having to escape persecution by the NAZIs before eventually arrested and put to death with many other faithful ones in a gas chamber.

Thus died a great martyr of the faith who stood up courageously for her faith, and whose faith was indeed both strong and evident for all to see. Her faith was strong and despite difficulties and challenges, she continued to persevere for the sake of God and for the sake of His people. Her courage to stand up for her faith, and her devotion until the end exemplified the kind of faith that we also need to have, a robust and living faith, not hidden but shared for the benefit of all.

May St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross pray for us, that our faith too may be strong and alive, that we will be able to follow her example in being faithful to the Lord. May Almighty God also bless us and keep us always in His love and grace. Amen.

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Saturday, 9 August 2014 : 18th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein), Virgin and Martyr (Gospel Reading)

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

Matthew 17 : 14-20

When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus, knelt before Him and said, “Sir, have pity on my son, who is an epileptic and suffers terribly. He has often fallen into the fire, and at other times into the water. I brought him to Your disciples but they could not heal him.”

Jesus replied, “You faithless and disoriented people! How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring him here to Me.” And Jesus commanded the evil spirit to leave the boy, and the boy was immediately healed.

The disciples then gathered around Jesus and asked Him privately, “Why could we not drive out the spirit?” Jesus said to them, “Because you have little faith. I say to you : if only you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could tell that mountain to move from here to there, and the mountain would obey. Nothing would be impossible to you.”

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Saturday, 9 August 2014 : 18th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein), Virgin and Martyr (Psalm)

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

Psalm 9 : 8-9, 10-11, 12-13

But the Lord reigns forever, having set up His throne for judgement. He will judge the nations with justice and govern the peoples in righteousness.

The Lord is a rampart for the oppressed, a refuge in times of distress. Those who cherish Your Name, o Lord, can rely on You, for You have never forsaken those who look to You.

Sing praises to the Lord enthroned in Zion, proclaim His deeds among the nations. For He who avenges blood remembers, He does not ignore the cry of the lowly.

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Wednesday, 14 August 2013 : 19th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Maximilian Kolbe, Priest and Martyr (Scripture Reflection)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we listened to the word of God in the readings, in which we are told first of the greatness of God and His kindness and love for His people, in giving to His people, the full promise of His covenant by bringing them into the land promised onto them for possession, just as God had once promised Abraham, their forefather.

Today, we also listened to the end of Moses the great prophet and leader of God’s people, who acted as the conduit of God’s amazing power and brought Israel out of Egypt, through the miracles the Lord performed through Moses and his brother, Aaron. Moses was appointed to be tool through which God exercised His saving power on His beloved people. But Moses too had his flaws, and he disobeyed God in Massah and Meribah, when the people tested the Lord and complained against Him and Moses, His servant.

Through that disobedience, Moses was not allowed to enter the Holy Land, that Promised Land of Canaan, but he was indeed allowed to take a look of the land the people of Israel was about to enter, before the Lord took him into heaven into His presence at the end of his earthly life. Moses, as all men had, met the end of his life that is death. But as Christ had proven, that death is not the end, nor does it have any power over us, because, He had overcome death, and brought new life to all mankind, that is eternal life with God in heaven for those who remain faithful in God.

Although Moses had indeed gone, and no one was ever like him in this world, save for Christ, our Lord who had incarnated Himself as one of us, but there were many prophets that God had sent to His people to guide them from generations to generations. And then, our Lord Himself had commissioned His apostles, the disciples whom He had chosen, to be the new messengers and bearers of the will of God in this world. Yes, they were to be the leaders of the people of God, the shepherds of God’s beloved sheep, in the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church He Himself had established and entrusted to the Apostles through Peter.

From the apostles, the authority of leadership of God’s people, as the divine shepherds, came down to bishops and priests throughout the generations, and eventually to our bishops and priests today, who minister to us and lead us in our path towards God, as our leader and guide. They are our role models and to be like Moses of old, when he led the people of Israel from the land of Egypt, to the Promised Land of Canaan.

And like Moses, our priests and bishops too have to deal with all kinds of problems, with our complaints and rejections of the Lord, that they really have much things to deal with in their hands. Yes, brothers and sisters in Christ, their job is not easy, and they always need our constant prayers and assistance. And one of the task that priests need to do is to bring peace and love between one another, just as we listened in the Gospel Reading today, of the need to reconcile between ourselves, between brethren and children of the same God.

Today, we mark the feast of one of those excellent priests of the Lord, the leader of God’s people, the true shepherd, the good shepherd of God’s flock. Yes, that is Saint Maximilian Kolbe, the well-known saint of the Holocaust of Nazi Germany during the World War II era. St. Maximilian Kolbe was a Polish Franciscan friar, who in his great zeal in the service of the Lord, and after witnessing the erosion of the faith in many, established the Militia Immaculata or the Army of Mary, a group intended to foster the love and devotion to the Lord through His mother Mary, and through the work, many people rejoined the Church and had their faith strengthened.

St. Maximilian Kolbe did much good works and service during his life and as a priest of the Lord. He truly became like Moses was for the people of Israel. He ministered to the people of God and through the Militia Immaculata, spread catechism and teachings of the Church to many people, bringing them closer towards the Lord and salvation, by means of printed media and publications such as newspapers and magazines. St. Maximilian Kolbe also went to Japan and established at Nagasaki in particular a base of operations, from where the good works of St. Maximilian Kolbe and his fellow workers spread to the people still in darkness.

St. Maximilian Kolbe protected many thousands of people including the Jews, when Nazi Germany invaded Poland at the beginning of World War II. He protected them from the cruelty of the Nazi holocaust policy, but in the end he himself was captured and imprisoned by the Germans. He was incarcerated in prison with many other people, suffering under very harsh treatment and hard labour in the Nazi concentration camp. Yet, he did not give in to despair, but he in fact encouraged his fellow inmates, singing hymns and saying the Mass for them.

St. Maximilian Kolbe was not obliged to do so, but he did so because of the faith and dedication he had for the Lord and for the people of God. He truly lived his faith and made it a concrete and living faith. One day, the Germans wanted to punish a few people in the prison, because it was found that someone had managed to escape the prison, and therefore these people had to suffer in the escaped prisoner’s place. One Polish military officer who was imprisoned was chosen to be among the ones to suffer death. His pleas for mercy because he had a wife and children brought the attention of St. Maximilian Kolbe, who offered himself in exchange for the man, that is to die in his place instead.

The example of St. Maximilian Kolbe is truly praiseworthy, brothers and sisters in Christ, because through his death, much had been achieved. Yes, his death was not a waste, but it has brought much fruits, that is the fruit of love, the fruit of one’s selfless act of sacrifice, for the love of his fellow men. St. Maximilian Kolbe exemplified the very words of Christ, on who is a true and good shepherd, that is someone who love fully those who had been entrusted to him, his friends and loved ones, and one who even would die for the sake of his friends. That was what St. Maximilian Kolbe had done with his sacrifice for the poor soldier and indeed, our Lord Jesus Christ Himself had done for all of us out of His love.

Yes, brothers and sisters in Christ, we all ought to emulate the example of St. Maximilian Kolbe in our own lives, in our giving of ourselves to our brethren in need. We can do it in a variety of ways, but basically we have to be ready to give our all for our brethren’s sake. As importantly as this, let us support our priests and those who have been appointed as shepherds over us, that they will remain faithful to the mission they have been appointed to, and faithful to the people and the flock they have been entrusted with, just as St. Maximilian Kolbe and many other great saints and martyrs had done.

May the Lord bless us, our priests, and our Church, and may through the intercession of St. Maximilian Kolbe and all the saints, more souls will find their way to heaven, and may in this world that we live in today, justice and peace can be held up ever better, and may the innocent and the weak ones be protected from harm, injustice, and evil. God bless us all. Amen.

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Friday, 9 August 2013 : 18th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, Virgin and Martyr (Scripture Reflection)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyr)

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we once again hear from the readings on the greatness of the Lord our God, and His might that He had brought into the world, to bring His beloved people from slavery and suffering, into a blissful new life, blessed by God. He had also sent us His Son, Jesus Christ, to be our Saviour, the Messiah who would free us from the slavery of sin and death, and deliver us into a new life, an eternal life with God.

He showed His might and power through things manifest in this world, through miracles and glorious things, and also through secret and unseen methods. He brought His people Israel out of the slavery in Egypt with the power of His hand, punishing the Egyptians and their Pharaoh for their stubbornness, and He guided His people through the long journey towards the very land that He had promised them and their forefathers.

He gave His people His laws and commandments, that they will follow those laws and abandon any wickedness and evil they had committed in their past lives, and therefore begin a new life filled with love and good works, in tune with the way of the Lord. This is so that they will leave behind whatever evil that made them unworthy of being with God, and therefore allow them to truly taste the fruits of salvation and the fruits of eternal life, which God had promised us, and brought to all of us, through Christ His Son.

Yes, our Lord sent His Son to us, so that He will reveal to us, the true meaning of His laws and His commandments, that is love, and that love is none other than the infinite love He has for all of us, without exception, even the greatest sinners. Yes, especially the greatest of sinners! To the great sinners He had come, to heal us and to bring us all back into His presence and His embrace.

He is willing to look away from our faults and our sins, and instead forgive us from our sins, He made us whole again. He wants us to be with Him and follow His ways. However, the path of the Lord is not easy, and it is full of challenges and difficulties, that all of us must face, if we are to be the disciples and the people of the Lord our God. The same had happened with the people of Israel, who were led through the desert towards the Promised Land. Our lives are full of trials and tribulations just as those that Israel had faced when they were in that desert.

If we follow through and persevered through the tribulations and trials, our reward will be great, because we will be regarded highly by the Lord our God who loves us, and our faith and love in Him will be made evident for all to see. Yes, the Lord Jesus Christ, as told to us in the Gospel reading today, who will come again in His glory at the end of time, will reward us greatly for our faith, for our dedication and love for Him and His beloved people.

Today, brethren, we also celebrate the feast of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, also known as Edith Stein, a great martyr of the faith and a religious nun of the Discalced Carmelites who lived in the era of uncertainty, during the two World Wars, and eventually met her martyrdom in glory during the persecution of the Jews by the Nazi Germany, and because of her Jewish roots, she was martyred in 1942 along with many of the faithful people of God.

St. Teresa Benedicta was a convert from the Jewish faith into the Catholic faith, and she became a well educated and devout person who through her exposure and experience with the Catholic faith, eventually influenced her to join the Discalced Carmelites as a nun. During that time, the Nazis under the leadership of Adolf Hitler had increased their influence in Germany and took over the government, and began to persecute the Jews and many other people the Nazis had deemed as subhuman and unworthy of their ‘Germany’.

St. Teresa Benedicta strongly opposed the Nazi regime and sent letters to the Church and even the Pope, asking them to publicly condemn Hitler and his inhumane regime. She opposed the tyranny of the Nazis and their persecutions, and even though she was initially protected because of her Catholic faith, her constant opposition and standing up for the cause of the righteous eventually led to her and many of her companions, especially the Jewish converts, to be imprisoned, and eventually gassed to death by the Nazi regime.

Yes, brothers and sisters in Christ, St. Teresa Benedicta had stood up for the cause of the right, for justice, and for love. She had born the cross that she carried daily with her, even to her imprisonment and finally her martyrdom. Her commitment to justice and right of the oppressed is truly an example to all of us the people of God. She receives her glorious reward in heaven, and now, she as a saint, is in heaven in the glory of God, and yet she continues to pray for us, for our sake, that we too may be found worthy and join her and all the saints in heaven for eternity.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we have received Christ and His teachings which are passed down to us through the Apostles and their successors. Through them we have learnt of the things and the commandments that God had given to us, that we can follow and practice, in order to ensure that all of us truly have faith in God, made alive and vibrant through frequent and constant acts of charity and good works done for the sake of our fellow brethren who are in need, for material goods, and even more importantly, for our love and God’s love, channelled to them through our deeds, our words, and our actions.

May all of us follow the example of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, and stand up for our faith and all the things that we believe in, opposing all forms of evil and impropriety, be it by the weak or the powerful, be it by the people outside the Church or inside the Church, and indeed, let us bring those who had gone astray and commit much evil in this life, back to the path of goodness, back to the path towards salvation, that not only that we will receive our eternal and heavenly reward, but even the greatest of these sinners, who through our work and actions, have new hope of eternal life in Christ. God bless us all. Amen.

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Friday, 9 August 2013 : 18th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, Virgin and Martyr (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyr)

Matthew 16 : 24-28

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If you want to follow Me, deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Me. For whoever chooses to save his life will lose it, but the one who loses his life for My sake will find it. What will one gain by winning the whole world if he destroys his soul? There is nothing you can give to get back your soul.”

“Know that the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with the holy angels, and He will reward each one according to his deeds. Truly, I tell you, there are some here who will not die, before they see the Son of Man coming as king.”