Advent homily

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Friday, 7 December 2018 : 1st Week of Advent, Memorial of St. Ambrose, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we come together listening to the word of God in which we heard about the coming of God’s healing, mercy and forgiveness, which we heard from the prophet Isaiah, the Psalm and the Gospel passage of today. We ought to look up to the coming of God’s kingdom of peace, love and harmony and put our hope in Him, especially during the time of preparation in this season of Advent.

First of all, in the reading taken from the Book of the prophet Isaiah we heard about the promise of liberation and salvation which would come to the people of God, Israel. It was a promise and hope that the people were looking forward to, especially if we understand the history and the context behind what the prophet Isaiah has proclaimed before the people of Israel.

At that time, during the latter years of the kingdom of Judah, the southern half and division of the ancient kingdom of Israel, while the kingdom was prosperous and led by the good and faithful king Hezekiah, but the northern kingdom of Israel has been destroyed and its people brought into exile and scattered by the Assyrians. And the Assyrians themselves came up all the way to Judah and besieged Jerusalem.

If not for God’s intervention that caused the Assyrians to leave the city of God aside after the Angel of God slaughtered almost the entire Assyrian army, the kingdom of Judah itself would have suffered the same fate as its northern brethren. And the kingdom and people of Judah also had many other often hostile and powerful neighbours who always sought for the opportunity to destroy them.

With the understanding of this historical context, now we should be able to appreciate better just how important and good the hope which the prophet Isaiah has given the people with what he proclaimed to them as recorded in the Book. That hope is anchored in the mind of the people of God with the expectation of the coming Messiah or Saviour that God has promised His people, the One Who was said that He would be the Son of David.

And in the Gospel passage today we heard just exactly what had been fulfilled in our Lord, Jesus Christ, the Son of David and Son of God, Who came into the world to fulfil the Lord’s promises to His people. He healed all those who came to Him with sicknesses and problems, those who have been possessed by evil spirits and in other forms of trouble. He healed them all and provided them the fullness of God’s love and compassionate mercy.

Thus in the readings we heard today, we heard all that we should reflect on throughout this blessed time of Advent, in the lead-up to Christmas. Advent is a time for us to reorientate ourselves and our lives, and to refocus our attention and focus on God, the One Whom all of us are expecting in this season. We remember both of His historical coming into this world as mentioned in the Gospel passage today, all that He has done, but also the upcoming eternal kingdom of God at the end of time.

All of us are people who are afflicted and in suffering, just as the people of Judah in Isaiah’s time suffered from the various conditions mentioned earlier in today’s discourse, and just as the blind men in the Gospel and the other people with various problems who came to Jesus for healing and mercy. We are afflicted like them, because of our sins. Sin is the worst affliction of all, as sin strikes at the deepest part of ourselves, and there is no healing for sin, except for the mercy and forgiveness from God.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, are we willing to go and seek God’s mercy, and reorientate our lives during the opportunity that God has given us during this season of Advent? Are we going to let this upcoming Christmas season be just like the other Christmas seasons that have passed, if we have not been celebrating it right, and with the wrong focus and intention? God is calling us to repent from our sins and to return to Him.

Today, we celebrate the feast of St. Ambrose, whose life and inspiration, whose dealings with sinners can be a good example for us to follow. St. Ambrose was the famous bishop of Milan, who was considered among the four original Doctors of the Church, for his great intellect and wisdom, his great leadership of the Church, both in Milan and beyond, and for his many other contributions to the Church.

St. Ambrose was born of a Roman noble family, and rose to the rank of governor of the province of what is now northern Italy, because of his many talents and good works. He was beloved by many of the people because of his great contributions and commitment to serve the people. And when the Arian heretic bishop of Milan died, St. Ambrose was chosen by acclamation to be the new bishop of Milan from all the people even when he was not even a priest yet.

St. Ambrose dedicated himself to the ministry of the episcopate and the shepherding of the people of God. He spoke out strongly against heresies and against all those who sought to oppose the good works of the Church. And in one notable event, St. Ambrose himself went up against the powerful Roman Emperor, Theodosius the Great, when the Emperor ordered a massacre in the city of Thessalonica in Greece.

St. Ambrose excommunicated the Emperor for the blatant act of sin in the massacre, in the killing of many innocents amidst the massacre. And the Emperor acceded to the demands of St. Ambrose for a public show of repentance and penance. The Emperor publicly admitted his errors in sackcloth, and was welcomed back into the Church by St. Ambrose, who thereafter continued to serve the people of God until his death.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are called to prepare ourselves physically, mentally and spiritually to be closer again to God, as we prepare for the upcoming season of Christmas during this Advent. Let us all spend more time in prayer and devotion to God, looking up with hope towards God, in Whom alone lies the hope of eternal glory and salvation. May the Lord, through the intercession of His servant St. Ambrose, bring us ever closer to Him, that we may be worthy of the eternal life He has promised all those who are faithful to Him. Amen.

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Thursday, 6 December 2018 : 1st Week of Advent, Memorial of St. Nicholas, Bishop (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Bishops)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the words of the Scripture, speaking to us about the strong faith and trust that we all must have to the Lord our God. God alone is our trustworthy hope and the one and only foundation of our lives that we can depend on, and not the many other forms of so-called foundations and assurances that are of this world.

What are these things that we mankind often trust above that of the Lord? It is our attachment and obsession over money, material goods, power, fame, worldly glory and human assurances, praise and adulations, that led us to put our trust in all these things, that are unfortunately, temporary and impermanent in nature. But many of us do not realise this, and we continue to depend on them and put on excessive trust in them.

We think that all of our worldly powers, might and whatever we accumulate in life, our prestige, honour, glory, wealth and influence can do us something good in the end. But, do we realise the shortness of our lives and the mortality of our bodies? It is a known fact that we cannot live forever, and all of us will die at one point in our lives. Some of us have a long life, while for others they may be short.

Few of us can understand the fragility of our lives. And many of us live our lives as if we will not see the end of our days anytime soon. Instead, we grow even more in our excesses and deeper in our desires for worldly pleasures and accompaniments. And this is when Satan sees a great opportunity in turning us to fall into the traps he has prepared for us, to bring about our downfall.

First of all, when we have all these worldly things, money, power, prestige, glory, fame and all else, we are often not satisfied, and we grow deeper in our longing for more of what we already have. This is because Satan and his forces are tempting us and presenting us with all these obstacles in order to prevent us from being able to realise how distant we have become from God and His path.

And during this season of Advent, it is even more fitting that we reflect on this reality, especially when we see all around us just how many temptations and distractions are present in our midst. Take for example, all the increasingly aggressive and secularistic way that Christmas is being celebrated in our world today, within our communities. In fact, in many of the Christmas celebrations and revelries, if we do take some time to notice, we will realise that Christ has often been overlooked and omitted from the celebrations.

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Nicholas of Myra, a well-known saint and bishop, a Church father and a faithful defender of the faith. But do you know that St. Nicholas is also the prototype of the even far more well-known fictional figure of Santa Claus? In all of our Christmas celebrations, marketing and advertisements, I am sure we can never fail to find Santa Claus in all of them.

We know of Santa Claus as an elderly figure dressed in red and white, with a long, white beard, riding on a chariot driven by flying reindeers, carrying with him a large sack filled with all sorts of presents and gifts for all the children. All of us I am sure are familiar with this story, how we ought to hang socks over the fireplaces, where Santa will magically come at Christmas Eve to fill those with gifts.

But brothers and sisters in Christ, as we can see, this is first of all a gross misinterpretation and materialistic interpretation of Christmas, and secondly, if we know who St. Nicholas truly is, he is nothing like Santa Claus, and I want all of us to reflect on his life and his devotion to God, a true defender of the Faith. St. Nicholas of Myra is truly a role model for us all.

For St. Nicholas of Myra was devoted to his people, as bishop and shepherd of the faithful. He was bishop of Myra during the time when numerous heresies and difficulties were facing the Church. Although at that time, the Christian faith has been tolerated and even promoted throughout the Roman Empire and persecution ended, but the heresies threatened to divide the faithful and drag the souls of the just into damnation.

At that time, the famous preacher Arius spoke widely of his false ideas stating that the Lord Jesus Christ was not divine and Son of God, but merely just a Creation of God. In essence, this went against the tradition of the Apostles and the Church fathers who have, for centuries, maintained the truth of Christ that He is fully God and fully Man, united in the persona of Jesus Christ, one person, two natures, divine and human.

The Ecumenical Council of Nicaea was convened in the year 325 AD in order to address many issues of the faith and the Church, including the heresy of Arianism. At that time, many among the people and even priests and bishops who believed and sided with Arius and his teachings. It was told that during the Ecumenical Council, when Arius continued to speak his falsehoods and heresies, St. Nicholas of Myra could not hold his righteous anger anymore and punched the heretic in the face.

That, brothers and sisters in Christ, is who St. Nicholas of Myra is, a defender of the faith and a courageous and devoted servant of God, who did not fear to go into troubles and challenges just so that he could protect and make sure that his flock would not fall into the sin of heresy and error, and at the same time, caring for their needs. This is told to us that, St. Nicholas often liked to give gifts to young children in his diocese, and this is likely the source of the fictional story of Santa Claus, twisted over the centuries and misused by those who had little faith in God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, has the inspiring life of St. Nicholas of Myra inspired all of us? In this season of Advent, we should imitate the faith and commitment, the love that St. Nicholas has for God and for his fellow men. He placed his trust in God and not in worldly power and influences. And God is calling on us all, through His servant St. Nicholas, to abandon our sinful ways and our attachments and excesses on worldly things, rather turning ourselves to Him and loving Him more.

Let us remember this coming Christmas season and celebration that Christ is indeed the One Whom we should be celebrating and rejoicing about. Let all of our merrymaking, joy and happiness with our families and friends be always centred on Christ. And last of all, let us also remember the generosity of St. Nicholas in giving, and be generous with our charitable love for our fellow brethren, especially those who are in need. May God be with us all throughout this blessed Advent. Amen.

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Wednesday, 5 December 2018 : 1st Week of Advent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the Scripture passages which remind us of the love of God and all the graces which He is willing and wanting to bless us with, each and every moments of our life and existence. He loves each and every one of us, and what we heard from the two readings and the Psalm today, are just as much proof as we need to see how God loves all of us, His beloved people.

In the first reading today, taken from the Book of the prophet Isaiah, God spoke through Isaiah about the coming of the time of happiness and grace, a foreshadowing of the world that is to come. In that world of joy, in the presence of God, all sorrows and pain will no longer be present, and everyone will live with fullness of joy and happiness in God’s presence. That is in fact what the Lord has always intended for us to be, to live with Him forever.

But it was because of our disobedience, that we have been sundered from this intended life which God has planned for us all. God loves us and He created us because of that love, and thus, in no circumstances that He had wanted us to suffer, but it was by our own free will and the abuse of that free will through disobedience, that we have sinned and thus fell into the suffering and pains of this world.

Yet, it was exactly for that love, that God has given us many ways and opportunities for us to be reunited with Him, by opening pathways for us and calling us to return to Him, so that we may be completely reconciled with Him and be worthy to stand and live once again in His presence. But such a state can only be achieved with a genuine conversion of heart and with a strong desire to love God above anything else.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, this is what the essence of Advent is all about, of a penitential, repentant and expecting nature, when we mankind are looking forward to a reunion with our God, our loving Father, Shepherd and Master, Who loves us so much that despite our constant transgressions and sins, He is still willing to forgive us, should we come to Him asking Him for forgiveness with fullness of sincerity of heart.

But all these require us to have that desire for repentance and to be forgiven from our sins, and also commitment from us to live our lives from now on, in accordance to God’s ways and in obedience to His will. God is our loving Shepherd and Father, Who knows us well and wishes for us to follow Him, Who is always thinking for our good and for our well-being. That is why He is calling on us to follow Him and to walk with Him once more.

In what we heard from the Gospel passage today, we witnessed all the wonderful things the Lord had done in the midst of His people, how He healed them from their sicknesses and how He fed multitudes of people, caring for their physical needs, and even more importantly, their numerous spiritual needs. He blessed them and forgave them their sins, and many sought to be forgiven and healed by Him.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, are we able to do what we need to do in order to be forgiven our sins? Are we able to make that step forward in our life and dedicate ourselves anew to the Lord with faith? We are called in this season of Advent, and indeed, the Church has given us this great opportunity of Advent, to reevaluate our lives and to change our way of life. Are we then open to the Lord coming into our lives and transform it into what He wants us to be? To be good and faithful children of His?

Today, we are called to look up to the hope which we have in God, and in the providence and love that He has shown us. Let us therefore turn towards Him this Advent, with a new spirit and desire to serve God with a new heart and with great courage, to glorify Him with our every actions and deeds in life. May God bless us all, now and always. Amen.

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Tuesday, 4 December 2018 : 1st Week of Advent, Memorial of St. John Damascene, Bishop (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard from the Scripture passages the revelation of God’s wonderful plan for each and every one of us. We heard from our first reading today, from the Book of the prophet Isaiah, in which the prophet spoke of the upcoming time of grace, in the presence of God, where peace and harmony, love and compassion will be the order of the day.

And this was spoken at the time when the world and the people of God were so full of hatred, divisions, injustice, warfare and conflict among themselves. People were divided among themselves and they refused to live peacefully. Instead, they sought to enrich themselves materially and to satisfy the many needs and desires of their body, the ego and the pride of their hearts. As a result, that was why there was plenty of suffering and sorrow.

Even to this day, surely we can see how mankind have not yet overcome that issue. In fact, they may have been even worse, as we can see how mankind are becoming ever more self-centred, materialistic and hedonistic, often thinking only about themselves first and not worrying about the sufferings of others, even those who are needy in their midst. Wars and conflicts have arisen because of this innate selfishness present in us.

We cannot overcome this tendency amongst us to bicker and fight with one another, exactly because we are burdened by our many worldly attachments in life. We are also swayed by that pride, ego and greed within us. As a result, we grow ever more and more conceited, proud and wicked in our actions, and we grow more distant from the Lord. This is exactly what Satan, our great enemy wanted with us.

Satan uses all of the means in his ability to trick us, to pull us away and to tempt us into following our desires and attachments to the many worldly goods and things we often find around us. Satan does this as he does not want us to be saved and to reach the eternal and true happiness and glory in God. God wants each and every one of us to turn away from all these wicked and unbecoming attitudes, for He loves us and wants us to find our way to reconcile with Him.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we must reflect on what the Lord Jesus spoke to His disciples in our Gospel passage today. He prayed to the Father, thanking Him in joy because of the revelation which He had made through the Holy Spirit to the disciples and the people, all those who followed Him, those who were often considered to be less intellectual, less wise, and less in the knowing of the matters of the world.

And all these happened while the wise and the learned refused to believe in Him or to follow His way. Many of the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the priests and the teachers of the Law showed us this attitude. They stood by their pride, their ego and their intellect and understanding, refusing to listen to God trying to speak to them and make them see the truth. This is the same attitude I mentioned earlier, in how we mankind often give in to the many temptations of life.

Today, we celebrate the feast of St. John of Damascus, or St. John Damascene, a faithful bishop and servant of God who lived during the early Middle Ages in what is now Syria, where Christians lived under the rule of the enemies of the faith. St. John of Damascus lived at a challenging time when there were heresies and divisions in the Christian community just as they were also oppressed by their rulers.

But St. John of Damascus defended the faith as best as he could, be it from external threats and pressures, and also addressing the issue of internal divisions and heresies present among the people, especially that of iconoclasm, which at that time was supported even by the Roman Emperor and the highest secular and religious authorities. St. John wrote extensively in defence of the true faith and kept the people in good faith despite these challenges.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, what we have seen from St. John of Damascus is the example for us to follow, in how we should live our lives. Instead of being so self-centred and focused so much on the many temptations of life, we should instead follow in the footsteps of the saints, like St. John of Damascus, in how we ought to live our lives, with faith in God and centred upon Him, and not in our own self-centred nature and egoism.

May the Lord continue to guide us through life, and may His blessings be with us, that in each and every things we do, in our every actions and deeds we will always bring greater glory to God, and may He continue to watch over us, that we may continue to grow in faith, day after day. Amen.

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Monday, 3 December 2018 : Feast of St. Francis Xavier, Priest and Patron of Missions (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we celebrate the feast of St. Francis Xavier, Patron saint of missions, as he was remembered by his extensive and tireless labours in evangelisation and missionary activities in Asia and the Far East for many years. St. Francis Xavier was remembered for his important role in establishing and consolidating the scattered Christian communities in places ranging from India, to Southeast Asia, and to China and Japan.

St. Francis Xavier was one of the founding members of the Jesuit religious order, also known as the Society of Jesus. At that time, during the tumultuous and difficult years of the internal and external threats to the Church and Christendom, St. Ignatius of Loyola gathered like-minded men and the faithful who wanted to serve God and advance His cause, and therefore, the foundation of the Society of Jesus was made. St. Francis Xavier was one of those whom St. Ignatius of Loyola called.

St. Francis Xavier met St. Ignatius of Loyola and the other founding members of the Jesuits as he was pursuing his studies, and initially, St. Francis Xavier resisted the call to be a priest and to serve the Lord, as St. Ignatius suggested. But through the patience and hard work of St. Ignatius, eventually St. Francis Xavier was convinced to accept God’s call and he eventually founded the Jesuits with St. Ignatius of Loyola and became a priest.

And when the Jesuits were busy dealing with the troubles of the period of the ‘Reformation’ in Europe, there was also a great need for missionaries to go to the many areas which Christian explorers and traders had gone to, in India, in Southeast Asia, China, Japan and many other parts of the world, where the Lord was still unknown, the Gospels unproclaimed and the prospects for the salvation of souls were great.

And thus, by chance, St. Francis Xavier was tasked with some of his fellow Jesuits, to be the missionaries in charge of those regions, and this task was carried out with great obedience and humility by St. Francis Xavier, who dedicated the rest of his life to great missionary works in various places across Asia. He visited India a few times, and went to various parts of Southeast Asia including Malacca and the Moluccas islands, to Macau and also to Japan.

Through all of his hard work, there were indeed many challenges, as sea travel at that time was hazardous, and took many months to reach a particular destination. There were also oppositions to the works of the missionaries, and the lives of the missionaries, including that of St. Francis Xavier, were always in constant danger and uncertainty. But regardless, St. Francis Xavier continued to push on with his mission.

Through his effort and hard work, many Christian communities across Asia today can be traced to the foundational works that he and his fellow missionaries had done. They all persevered through years of hardships and troubles, enduring harsh livelihood and oppositions, for the sake of the people of God and for the salvation of souls. Not few of them were martyred for their faith. St. Francis Xavier himself died on an island while waiting for the opportunity to enter China and evangelise there.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today all of us are called to reflect on the lives and the courage with the missionaries of the Lord, particularly that of St. Francis Xavier, in how they have modelled for us the way for us to live as a Christian, to be true and devout witnesses of our faith by our constant living of a Christian way of life, that in our every words, actions and deeds, we always proclaim the greater glory of God, and others who see us, may come to believe in God as well.

Let us all today be inspired by the efforts shown by those missionaries who have given their all in serving the Lord, and also ask ourselves, what each and every one of us can also do in our own lives in order to serve the Lord to the best of our abilities. May we find in us the strength and the courage to live ever more faithfully and ever more committed to God, each and every days of our life. May God bless us always, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Sunday, 2 December 2018 : First Sunday of Advent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we begin the new liturgical year and the season of Advent, the season and the time that the Church has put in place, in order for us to prepare ourselves for the coming of the time of Christmas. In this season of Advent, we are commemorating a two-fold time of expectation, remembering first of all the historical arrival of the Lord and Saviour of the world, and then, even more importantly, now we are also expecting and preparing for the coming of Our Lord at the end of time.

Thus, if at the end of the liturgical year we commemorate the Solemnity of Jesus Christ the King, celebrating the glorious kingship of Our Lord, then at the beginning of the liturgical year, in the season of Advent, we anticipate that coming of the glorious King to come, Our Lord and Saviour, He Who has once come into this world, and Who will come again as He promised us all. That is the essence of Advent, which came from the word Adventus, which means, ‘coming’, reminding us of the focus of this important season before Christmas.

It is important that each and every one of us are aware of the importance of the season of Advent before we progress into the celebrations of Christmas time or season, or else we can easily lose our focus and be distracted by the many improper and inaccurate ways of how Christmas has often been celebrated all around the world. Otherwise, our celebration of Christmas will become increasingly meaningless and its true nature be forgotten and overlooked.

In our world today, Christmas has become ever increasingly commercialised and becoming more and more materialistic in nature. And that is the secular Christmas as we are often familiar with, with all of its glamours and celebrations, revelries, parties and with all sorts of joyful and pleasurable activities, a time in the year that we often always look forward to, as a time of rejoicing and happiness together with our family and loved ones.

However, there are more and more evidences of increasing secularisation and commercialisation of Christmas, in the expansion of merchandises and gifts, objects and goods being linked and related to Christmas. We look towards Christmas as a time for shopping, for parties and gatherings, and even for time when we are able to show off our preparations and ways of celebrating Christmas to others. But in the midst of all that, we forget the One Whom we truly should rejoice and celebrate with, that is the Lord Himself, Our God.

Now, let us imagine, if in a birthday party and celebration, there are plenty of revelries, rejoicing and merrymaking, but the one whose birthday is celebrated is left out, forgotten and ignored by all those who take part in the celebration, is that something that is right? Of course it is not. How can we ignore the most important person whose celebration is all about? But that is exactly what we have done, in how Christmas is often celebrated.

We do all of our Christmas preparations and celebrations, and yet, we overlook Christ in all of those preparations. Instead of remembering that Christmas is primarily and mainly about the celebration and joy for the birth of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world, we focus on other matters such as how to enjoy our Christmas vacation, and what we are to buy during the festive seasons. We put our focus on materialistic and worldly things instead of focusing ourselves on the Lord as we should have.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we ought to reexamine our own preparation for Christmas, and how we are planning to celebrate it. First and foremost, we must put Christ once again at the very centre of our lives and at the heart of our every celebrations. That is how we make Christmas meaningful to us, and how we become more appreciative of what we are celebrating every year.

Indeed, Christmas is a time for rejoicing and to be happy, but we must take care that our rejoicing and happiness do not become excessive and lacking the focus on the Lord. Many of our celebrations are too materialistic in nature, where everyone are trying to please one another, to look good in front of each other, and where demands for gifts and revelries become ever increasingly excessive and inappropriate.

And we often celebrate Christmas long before the actual day of Christmas. There is a reason why Christmas season itself only begins with the Christmas day, and not before, and that is because, the time of Advent that we are entering into now, is the time for us to prepare ourselves in our hearts, minds, and in our whole beings, that we will be able to celebrate Christmas with the right intention, purpose and with the right mindset and understanding of what it is that we are celebrating.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, as we now enter into the season of Advent, let us spend more time with the Lord, and try our best to reconnect ourselves to Him, through more time and effort to be spent in prayer, and in living our lives closer and closer in accordance to His will. Let us make the upcoming season and celebration of Christmas to be a more meaningful and fruitful one.

May the Lord be with us always, and may He continue to guide us through this journey of life, that in this season of Advent, we may become ever closer to Him, and that we may be able to distance ourselves from the many temptations of the world. Let us all turn towards Him with a renewed faith and commitment to live our lives, each and every day, more and more attuned to His will. Amen.

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Sunday, 24 December 2017 : Fourth Sunday of Advent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this Sunday, we celebrate the fourth and the last Sunday of the season of Advent, the last one before Christmas, which happens to be just tomorrow. I hope that all of us have been using this precious season of Advent, which the Church had established as a time of preparation and recollection, in order to get ourselves ready for the worthy and meaningful Christmas joy.

On this Sunday we are focusing on the last of the four aspects of Advent, as part of our reflection on what Christmas is truly about. We have gone through the aspect of hope, peace and joy, and now finally we embrace the love that is coming with Christmas. Love is the most important of all aspects of Christmas, simply because Christmas is a celebration of true love, God’s love which He gave us through Jesus Christ.

We received this ultimate gift of God’s love, as we remember always the famous phrase from the Gospel of St. John, ‘God so loved the world, that He gave us His only Son, that all those who believe Him, will not perish but have eternal life’. This reminds us that our Christmas joy is caused by the love of God which was so great and was so generously given to us, that while we might have once been lost in the darkness, and without hope, now because of this, we have a new hope.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as mentioned in the first reading today about the story between king David of Israel and the prophet Nathan, God Himself has dwelled among His people, first in the House which the son and heir of king David, namely king Solomon, built in Jerusalem. But through Christmas, God made Himself present in the flesh, in the tangible body of Man, for Jesus Christ Our Lord, born into the world two millennia ago, was Son of God and Son of Man.

And this truth was revealed as the Good News which the Lord brought to His people, announcing the coming of His salvation and His everlasting love, which He has poured down on us in its fullness in Christ. He is the Love of God made Man, the Divine Word Incarnate, by Whom all of us have been created, out of love, and through Him also, God willed to save all of us mankind. And God did this in the most amazing of ways, not through might and miracles, but through the giving of Himself in love.

For it is this wonderful and amazing mystery of God’s love which He showed us by the incarnation of His Son, and dwelling in this world, that we celebrate this Christmas. The proof of His love is truly real and concrete, for as we should know, Christmas itself cannot be separated from what happens in Easter, and by that extension, what happens during the week of the Passion, suffering and death of Our Lord Jesus Christ. That is why, for us to be able to appreciate the meaning of Christmas and God’s love, we must spend time to reflect on what the Lord had done for us.

Let us look at the manger, which is always at the centre of the Christmas displays. The manger is the earthly throne of Our Lord Jesus Christ, as the Baby born of His mother Mary, not in a palace, not in a rich man’s house, but inside a dirty and cramped stable for animals, for sheep and horses, for goats and cows, but not fit for a man, less so for a King. And Jesus is not merely just any king, but the One True King, King of all kings and Master of the Universe. He is the Lord over all of us, over all the mightiest among mankind.

Yet, He willingly lowered Himself and emptied Himself, allowing Himself to assume the appearance and the nature of a man, one of His created beings, that through that act, He might fulfil the singular mission entrusted to Him by His Father. He was born with a single purpose, and that purpose was made clear in its due time, as the cross of Christ. He bore that cross willingly, putting upon Himself all of our faults, our disobedience, and all of our sins and wickedness.

He endured all of that to be our lamb of sacrifice, the perfect Lamb offered to God, the perfect Gift for us mankind. His Precious Body and Blood alone is worthy to redeem all of us from our sins and from all of our defilements, that kept us separated from God and His love. But in order to do that, He had to suffer greatly, tortured and scourged, and had to be pierced by nails and spears, and lifted up on the cross to die a most agonising death.

All of these are proofs of God’s ultimate love for each one of us. He Himself said that there is no greater love than for someone to die or to give his life for a friend. And that was exactly what He has done for each and every one of us. He has given us His life, and He gave it all for our sake. He is indeed Our God and Our King, and yet, amongst all the other kings and rulers of this world, none of them treat their servants in this manner.

Yes, God loves us so much, that as He Himself said, I no longer call you servants, but I call you friends. He has loved us so much, that through the very significant act of Him assuming our form of Man, He has united us all to Himself, and make us all, more than just servants, but friends, and even more so, as we all know, through baptism, each and every one of us as Christians have been made to be God’s own sons and daughters.

He has given us this great and exceptional grace, again because of His love for us. And if He has given us such a great love, then should we not do the same? All of us are called to love, just as God has loved us first. First of all, of course we have to love the Lord Our God with all of our hearts, with all of our strength and capabilities. That is why we must focus ourselves on the Lord this Christmas, because Christmas is indeed about Him, all of the love which He has shown us, and through which He has made everything possible for us, to hope once again for eternal life.

But we are also called to love one another, in the same manner as God has loved us. After all, if He is Our Father, then all of us are brothers and sisters to one another, having the same Father in heaven. Then, how about if we practice that in our Christmas celebrations? When we discern about love in today’s Advent reflection, let us all look upon our own actions. Have we loved our brethren and showed concern and care for those who are in need?

Love is something that is easily said but difficult to be done. That is because love requires commitment and the giving of oneself. And true love should be selfless and life-giving, generous and compassionate. The best way for us to love, is to seek those around us, even within our own families and amongst our friends, and also among others we encounter in our respective lives, who have not been loved, those who have been ostracised, and those who are not as fortunate or blessed as we are.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, in order to make our Christmas celebration a more meaningful one, let us all therefore strive that this Christmas, and from now onwards, we may go forth and show our love to our neighbours and brethren in need. Let us all show care and concern for those who are in need, no longer ignoring the pleas of the poor, the weak, the downtrodden, the unloved and those who are lonely. Let us show them the love of God, through our actions, that by doing so, we ourselves will draw closer to God’s love, and eventually will find our way to His eternal glory.

May the Lord bless each and every one of us, and may He also help us to rediscover the true meaning of Christmas, that is love, God’s love for us mankind. May He help us to share that love we have received with each other, that we may love our fellow men and women ever more generously that we may draw ever closer to Him, and eventually be worthy to receive His glorious inheritance. May we be ready to rejoice for Christ’s wondrous coming in Christmas day tomorrow. Amen.

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Saturday, 23 December 2017 : 3rd Week of Advent, Memorial of St. John of Kanty, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the words of the Scriptures telling us about the prophecy regarding the coming of a messenger who would prepare the way for the coming of the Lord’s glorious salvation as well as the fulfilment of that prophecy. In the first reading, we heard the prophecy made by the prophet Malachi, the last of the prophets recorded in the Old Testament regarding the servant of God.

In that prophecy, he spoke of someone who would come to straighten the path for the Lord, preparing the people for the coming of the day of restoration and reconciliation between them and the Lord. His prophecy was among the many prophecies and messages which the Lord has given to His people throughout time, and it spoke about St. John the Baptist, the messenger of God and Herald of the Messiah.

As we prepare ourselves to welcome the joy of the Christmas season, it is indeed a good time for us to reflect on the life and works of St. John the Baptist. His birth is the theme of today’s Gospel passage, as God’s long promised salvation was finally at hand. He was the one to prepare the way for the Lord, to make His paths straight, by his works among the people, through his baptisms at the Jordan, where he called the people to repent from their sins.

Now, let us ask ourselves, are we doing what St. John the Baptist has called on the people of his time to do? Yet, if we look at how we normally celebrate Christmas, we will see that many of us worry about many other things during Christmas, and not about what we really need to do with our lives. Many of us worry about how we will celebrate Christmas, what kind of food and gifts we are going to have, instead of remembering the true purpose of this celebration in Christmas.

When we celebrate Christmas, we are joyful not because it is just another holiday or day off from work, and also not because it is a time for us to go for holidays and have merrymaking and parties. Christmas is not just another festive season when we exchange gifts and enjoy ourselves with our families and friends. In truth, it is much, much more than all of those.

In Christmas, we remember the historical birth of the Lord and Saviour of the world, through Whom God has revealed His grace and love, and by Whose sacrifice on the cross, He has redeemed all those who believed in Him and brought them to reconciliation with Him. But it is not just an annual remembrance of the time that has passed and has no significance to us.

That is because as the Lord Himself promised to us, just before He ascended in glory to heaven, that He will come again at the time of His choosing, when He will judge all the peoples, and those who are caught unprepared and living in a state of sin, and not being repentant, will be thrown into hell with Satan and his fellow fallen angels, where we will have eternal regret.

Each and every one of us as Christians need to internalise that call which St. John the Baptist made, and which the prophet Malachi prophesied about. ‘Repent, for the kingdom of God is about to come!’ is the message we need to listen to, and which we need to reflect upon. And we need to ask ourselves, what is it that we are doing or we have been doing to prepare ourselves for the coming of the Lord, if that is going to happen suddenly, for example, tomorrow. Are we ready for Him? More importantly, are we worthy of Him?

Let us all heed the examples and the piety of St. John of Kanty, a holy and devout servant of God whose feast day we celebrate today. St. John of Kanty or St. John Cantius was a Polish priest, philosopher and theologian who was renowned for his many works and writings, but even more so for his deep devotion to the Lord, his charitable life and almsgiving to the poor.

He lived humbly and showed generosity towards his neighbours. He cared for those who are in need, and as a teacher and scholar, he also cared for the students who were in need of assistance, in the university where he was also working at as a professor and academic. His dedication to the Lord and to his fellow men and women inspired many others down the centuries even until this very day.

All of us should follow in his footsteps, and especially in our Christmas celebrations this year and henceforth. Let us not give in to the culture of excess, materialism and hedonistic attitudes, by celebrating Christmas with much glamour and fanciness, and yet without compassion, love and generosity. Instead, we should share our joys and blessings with others, especially those who are poor and in need.

Let us strive towards a more meaningful Christmas celebration, one that is centred on Christ, and not on ourselves. And rather than worrying on the wrong things, on superficial matters of Christmas celebrations, we should spend our time giving our love, care and attention for those who are in need, being more charitable and generous upon one another.

May the Lord continue to guide us on our path, that we may grow ever deeper in faith, and will be able to devote ourselves more wholeheartedly following the footsteps of our holy predecessors, St. John the Baptist, St. John of Kanty and many others, that we will be ready and be worthy when the Lord comes again, even if He does so suddenly, and we will be worthy of receiving His eternal glory and inheritance. May God bless us always, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Friday, 22 December 2017 : 3rd Week of Advent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day from the first reading we listened to the reading from the Book of the prophet Samuel, in which the young prophet Samuel was brought to the House of God, in fulfilment of the promise and vow which his parents had made when he was conceived in a miraculous way by God’s grace.

Samuel’s mother, Hannah, was one of the two wives of his father, Eliakim. She has not been able to bear any children, and by the standard and custom of that time, being barren of any children was a very big embarrassment for a wife and a woman. The more children a woman has, the more prestige and honour she was accorded to. And thus, Hannah was very distraught that she has not been able to bear any child at all.

She promised the Lord that she would dedicate and consecrate her firstborn child should He endeavour to allow her to bear a child, and her prayer was indeed heard. Samuel was her firstborn son, and she entrusted him after he was weaned to the Judge of Israel, Eli, and from then on, he became Eli’s student and eventually would succeed him as Judge and leader of the entire nation of Israel.

Hannah was so joyful and so filled with the Holy Spirit that she sang wonderfully from her heart, which we have as our Psalm today, the Song of Hannah. She was filled with righteous joy, because God has listened to her predicament and granted her heart’s desire. She was thankful that God has listened to her plea, as she was ridiculed and oppressed by the other wife of Eliakim, Penninah, who often looked down on her just because she had several children with him.

Then, in the Gospel today, we heard another joyful song, that is the song of Mary, the Magnificat, which she sang full of joy and filled with the Holy Spirit much like that of Hannah in the Old Testament. She was joyful because while she was merely a young and humble servant, a woman without much wealth or significance in the eyes of the world, but she was glorified by God and given the ultimate honour of being the mother of God and Saviour of the world.

In all of these, we can see just how great the joy that happened to the two women, Hannah and Mary. And it is this same joy that each and every one of us should also have in this season of Christmas, as we are just three days away from celebrating this momentous event in our history of mankind. But are we rejoicing for the right reasons? Are we rejoicing because we are happy to have a wonderful break and holiday from our usual busy life and work? Are we rejoicing because we are looking forward to all the festivities and the good food we are going to have?

These should not be the main reason for our joyous celebrations, as the main focus of our celebration and joy should be Christ, and we rejoice because of His coming into this world. Before He came, man long waited for the salvation that God had promised to His people, and they were waiting for the deliverance from the depredation of sin and death. Since He came into this world, a new hope had dawned on all of us, and through Christ, we are able to find our way to the Lord.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore spend time to prepare ourselves wholeheartedly, that we may be able to celebrate Christmas meaningfully and with true joy, knowing that because of Christ, we have new hope and new life, and all of us who are faithful to Him, will not be disappointed, for He will lead us to a new life and a new existence, and we hope that we will be forever with Him in the glory of everlasting life. May God bless us all. Amen.

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Thursday, 21 December 2017 : 3rd Week of Advent, Memorial of St. Peter Canisius, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the Scripture passages which remind us that we are God’s beloved ones, as those whom He has created out of love, and He is willing to free us from our sufferings and tribulations, caused by our own lack of faith and disobedience against Him. God still loves us despite our stubborn rebellion against Him, and He wants us to be reconciled with Him.

And that was why the celebration of Christmas is truly about a new hope for all of us mankind, that despite our fallen state through sin, which ought to have merited condemnation and eternal suffering in hell, but God is willing to forgive us and embrace us back should we allow ourselves to be forgiven. And we do so through sincere and genuine repentance from our sinful ways, leaving behind our wicked past and walking from now on, on the path of righteousness.

Then, we should also reflect on the importance of Christmas to ourselves. The timing of Christmas itself is truly symbolic, as in most of the places where Christmas is celebrated, it happens in the midst of the winter season. In fact, tomorrow is the date of the winter solstice, the time of the year when the sun is at the lowest in the sky and when daytime is at its shortest. After that, the time of day is starting to lengthen again and the time of the dark night shortens.

In the past, during the time of the later Roman Empire, the date for the celebration of Christmas used to be a pagan festival worshipping the Unconquered Sun or Sol Invictus, a cult that gained popularity during the later years of the Roman Empire. It celebrated the triumph of the sun as in the past winter is always associated with darkness and cold weather. And the day when the sun starts to appear for longer again in the sky was thus celebrated.

But with the coming of Christianity and its triumph against the false pagan gods and idols, including that of the Sol Invictus cult, the celebration that was once celebrating the sun, gained a far greater and more important significance as the celebration of the birthday of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord and Saviour of all mankind. There is even a Biblical and traditional explanation as to why we celebrate His birth around this time of the year.

And what is this explanation? It is that the birth of Christ is also related to the birth of the Paschal lambs or the Passover lambs according to the Jewish tradition, which must be a young lamb less than a year old, and at that region, lambs usually give birth in the midst of winter, around the time of Christmas. And we all believe as Christians that Christ is our Paschal Lamb, the Lamb of God, Who willingly sacrificed Himself that through His death all of us who believe in Him may have life in us.

This is the how our historical Christmas celebrations came about, and why we celebrate it at this time. But even more important than all of that is the fact that Christmas is the celebration, not of the sun worship I mentioned earlier, and not of some secular event or mere merrymaking, but instead it is the birthday of the One through Whom God made His love for us evident.

Jesus Christ is the proof of God’s love, for as in the Gospel of St. John, He mentioned Himself that, God so loved the world, that He gave us His only Son, that all who believe in Him will not perish, but have eternal life. And yet, many of us are not aware of this great love which God has shown us, and which we should be grateful for. There is no one and nothing else that loves us as much as Our God does.

But mankind prefers to follow the ways of this world, by their merrymaking and festivities which exclude Christ from the celebrations. Our Christmas celebrations become a celebration of human and worldly vanity, greed, ambition and desire for pleasure and glory. We spend our Christmas trying to outdo one another in glamour and prestige of our gifts and revelries, trying to show off ourselves and achievements.

And all of these are fuelled further by worldly temptations and all the materialistic attitudes surrounding the secular celebrations of Christmas around us. We see all the branded goods and items, all the good shopping deals and discounts being paraded and shown all around in shopping malls and many markets, and many of us throng those places in order to get good bargain on good items.

Some of us are worrying on what kind of new clothes or accessories we should be getting this Christmas, while some others worry about how to decorate their houses and places in the best way possible to impress others who come to see our homes. And we also worry about we are to give and to receive in our Christmas gifts, and we are worried that we will be getting less than that of the previous years.

And where is Christ in all of these? He is nowhere to be found. He has often been overlooked and forgotten in our celebrations and revelries. He has been sidelined and replaced by other familiar figures like Santa Claus, the reindeers, the snowman and all of the other usual secular Christmas paraphernalia. This is what all of us as Christians should reflect on, as we progress towards Christmas. Have we done all these in how we celebrate this important event of our faith?

It is time that we rediscover our reason of celebrating Christmas, and there is no better way than putting Christ back at the centre of our Christmas joy and celebrations. It is because of Him that we have Christmas, and it is because of Him that we can rejoice in Christmas. He is the very reason of our joy, because we have once been deemed as lost and fallen from grace, without hope in the darkness. But through Christ, all of that have been changed through His light, with a new hope and way out from our predicament has been provided.

Perhaps we should follow in the footsteps of one of our great and holy predecessors, whose faith and devotion to the Lord can become an inspiration to each and every one of us that we may aspire to live our lives ever more faithfully. He is St. Peter Canisius, a member of the Society of Jesus or the Jesuits, a priest and later eventually made a Doctor of the Church for his great contributions to the Church and the faith.

St. Peter Canisius lived during a tumultuous and difficult time for the Church, being assailed from within and from outside by those who sought its destruction. At the time, the Ottoman Turks were threatening the entire Christendom and were invading into the domains of Christian rulers and conquering many parts of the Christian world, and then, religious unrest due to the rise of the Protestant heresies in many parts of northern and central Europe threatened to cause the destruction of Christendom.

That was why several people, gathered and inspired by St. Ignatius of Loyola, founded the new society of priests, named the Society of Jesus, to be at the forefront of the Counter Reformation effort, and many of them were also sent to the foreign lands as part of evangelisation to the new lands then recently discovered due to the rapid expansion in European discovery. St. Francis Xavier and Matteo Ricci were some of the famous ones among these missionaries.

Meanwhile, St. Peter Canisius worked hard among the areas affected by the false teachings and heresies, encouraging the people through words and actions, through his pious devotion and careful explanation of the true teachings of the faith as espoused by the Church. As a result, thousands and tens of thousands returned to the embrace of the Holy Mother Church and were reconciled with the Lord.

St. Peter Canisius was well known for his writing of the Catechisms of the Christian faith, which became a gold standard in catechism and teachings of the faith to many catechumens and other candidates who were willing to embrace the Christian faith. He was also remembered for his great devotion to Mary, the holy Mother of God, and his Mariology was among the best that has been compiled. For all these great contributions he had done, he was bestowed with the title of Doctor of the Church several centuries after his passing.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, witnessing the examples shown by St. Peter Canisius and his courageous and zealous compatriots in faith, the early pioneers of the Jesuit order, we should follow in their footsteps and commit ourselves to the Lord in the same manner. We should renew our focus and attention to the Lord, and one good way that we can do it at the moment, is as I have mentioned, by restoring Christ to the centre of our Christmas joy and celebrations.

Let us ask St. Peter Canisius to intercede for each and every one of us, that we may grow ever more faithful and devoted, day after day, drawing strength from our commitment to the Lord, and becoming ever closer to Him and walk always in His ways. May our Christmas celebrations be meaningful for us, and may we be thoroughly prepared to celebrate it with all of our hearts attuned to God, the reason for our joy this Christmas. May God bless us always. Amen.