Advent season

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Monday, 19 December 2016 : 4th Week of Advent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, as we approach Christmas within the week, through the Scriptures which the Church had chosen for the occasion of the days preceding it, God wants to remind us of His love, His care and His protection for all of us who are faithful to Him. When we are faithful to Him, God will not forget or abandon us, but instead, He will give us the fullness of His grace, love and mercy.

The Scripture readings today spoke of the time of the birth of the great servants of God, Samson and John the Baptist, both of whom have been called and chosen by God from their mothers’ wombs, chosen to lead the people of God, Israel, in their time of great need for succour and salvation. And those were not the only time that He had shown His salvation to the people.

Ever since the days of Moses, God had brought about His salvation to His people who were suffering, and through others like Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah and many others, God showed His people who were living in the darkness and going through many sufferings, that there was indeed a way out for them through Him, and if they were to follow Him and His ways, they would receive grace and liberation from their troubles.

Samson came at a time when the people of Israel were oppressed and crushed under the tyranny of the Philistines, who although they were outnumbered by the people of Israel, but because they had been wicked and were unfaithful to the laws and commandments of God, God had not walked at their side when the Philistines came and attacked them.

But God did not forget about them and neither had He abandoned them. He sent them Samson the Judge, who would come from birth as a servant devoted to God, to free the Israelites from the Philistines. He led the people of God in overthrowing the yoke of the Philistines and defeated their oppressors with mighty deeds, that eventually Israel was freed.

The same happened at the time of John the Baptist, that when the people had lost the purpose of their living in the Law, being misled by the wickedness and by the worldly and wayward ways of their leaders and the Pharisees, God sent them John the Baptist in order to call these people from the darkness, calling them towards repentance and to receive the forgiveness from God.

Through all of these examples, God would give a preview to His people of that one and singular glorious moment, through which God had sent unto us His ultimate Saviour and Deliverer for us, Jesus Christ, His only Son, Who came into the world in order to save us all mankind from our greatest enemy, that is sin. He has come into the world in order to free us from the chains and bondage of sin that had prevented us from reaching out to God and to His salvation.

And that is the essence of Christmas, brothers and sisters in Christ, which as I have mentioned many times during this season of Advent, many of us tend to forget about. It is important that we use this time of Advent to prepare ourselves well for the celebration of Christmas. We must understand that we rejoice at Christmas and are happy not because of ourselves but really because of the Lord, His love and mercy for us.

Let us all strive to spread the true message and the true spirit of Christmas, so that we may rejoice with proper understanding, knowing that as He had sent His deliverance to His people in their times of need, by sending servants such as Samson and St. John the Baptist, we may also know that by the coming of Jesus His Son, which we celebrate at Christmas, each and every one of us have been given the greatest gift and boon of all in Him, that through Him all of us may have hope of a new and eternal life.

May God help us in our journey of life, especially in this season of Advent, that we may prepare ourselves well in our hearts, minds, bodies and souls, that we will be ready to welcome the Lord when He comes again, just as we remember His first coming at Christmas, so that all of us will always strive to be righteous and true to His commandments, obeying Him in all of our words, actions and deeds, that we will be worthy of Him, our Lord and God. May God bless us all. Amen.

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Sunday, 18 December 2016 : Fourth Sunday of Advent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this Sunday we celebrate together the occasion of the Fourth Sunday of Advent, the last of the four Sundays of Advent, and a sign that we are approaching Christmas really soon, which is in fact going to occur just next week. As we approach closer to the time of Christmas, we should have used this time of Advent to prepare ourselves mentally and spiritually to welcome our Lord Jesus as we remember His first coming into this world two millennia ago.

The Lord has shown His promise to be true and His dedication to us and to His covenant to be trustworthy, as He has fulfilled what He had prophesied right from the beginning of time, of what He was going to do in order to save all of His people, that is by the sending of the Deliverer and Saviour into the world, the One through Whom the salvation of God would be made a reality, and all of God’s people would be redeemed from their sins and from their fated destruction.

In the very beginning, God had made His words to Adam and Eve, as well as Satan very clear. If we read through the first chapters of the Book of Genesis, we can see how God cursed Satan for his role in bringing about the downfall of mankind, for his jealousy against God and against mankind. But he was allowed to test the sons and daughters of men, and for a long time, he was a great trouble for mankind. God said that he would seize the heels of the sons of men, but at the same time, He also promised that from the Woman that was to come, salvation would come and Satan would be crushed.

That Woman was to be the Virgin, the same one whom the prophet Isaiah mentioned in the first reading today to king Ahaz of Judah. And that cane about a time when the people of God had fallen away back into their sinful ways, as they had repeatedly throughout their history, ever since the days of Abraham, to the days of Moses, when they chose to worship the golden calf and the pagan idols instead of the Lord God, and right down to the time of the kings.

It is a constant reminder that while mankind had been unfaithful and disobedient, but God never forgot about them, and neither did He want them to perish, lest it was they themselves who rejected God’s generous offer of mercy, forgiveness and grace. God did not create us to see us destroyed or perish meaninglessly. He created us all, each and every one of us out of His love for us, or otherwise He would not have created us in the first place. Despite our imperfections and the taints of our sins, He wanted us to be redeemed and to be purified from those sins and be reunited with Him.

And that is precisely the essence of Advent and Christmas, the former which is the representation of the great longing of mankind to be reunited with their Lord and God, and also the waiting and expectation for the fulfilment of God’s promise, which is fully completed by Christmas and its true meaning, that is the birth and the arrival of the long promised Saviour of the world, Jesus Christ, the One Who would free all of God’s people from their bondage to sin and to the forces of Satan.

Sin are like chains that have put us enslaved and under the domain of the prince of this world, that is Satan. And because of sin, we have been corrupted and made unworthy to be with God, because He is all good and no sin can stand in His presence and stay unjudged. Through sin, Satan had had dominion and power over us, but not anymore, since deliverance have been shown to us through Christ Who came to break us free from our bondage and chains of sin.

Through Mary, our Lord has been born into this world, taking up our very form and our very essence and flesh, the Almighty God taking up the mere and humble flesh of Man, for a singular purpose, that is for the salvation of us all, that all of us may be liberated from the sins that have gripped us since the early days of creation. And as I mentioned earlier before, God did not just do things without any reason. He did all these because of His infinite and everlasting love for each and every one of us.

And that is the aspect we are focusing on this Sunday, the aspect of Love. We have celebrated the aspects of Hope, Peace and Joy thus far, that is the hope, peace, and joy that Christ has brought into the world with His coming, but Love is the greatest of them all. Without God’s love, there would be no Christmas, and without His love, He would not have created us in the first place, and He would not have given us all a chance to be redeemed and to be forgiven from our sins.

God’s love has given us the opportunity to break away from the slavery of sin and death, and by His sacrifice on the cross, made with the ultimate and selfless love He has for each and everyone of us, He has absolved us from the burdens of the original sins of Adam and Eve, giving us a new hope and a new joy in our hearts, that while once we mankind had to face death and suffering because of our sins and iniquities, the consequences for our rebellion, now we have a new hope in our God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we have to reflect and think about how we have lived our lives. God has been so generous with His love for us, but have we been generous with our love for Him? That is one very important question that we need to ask ourselves as we approach the celebration of Christmas. We should not come into Christmas without understanding this important tenet about Christmas, and without properly knowing what Christmas is truly about.

Many of us go through Christmas as if it is just another time and moment to celebrate and rejoice without stopping to reflect and to find time to think about what it is we are rejoicing about. We revel in the festive season and rejoice with our family members, our relatives and with our friends, but we do so with the wrong reasons. Sometimes it is painful to see people competing with each other for the best Christmas decorations in their homes, or for the best dresses they wear to the Christmas parties, and focusing on all the material goods rather than the essence of Christmas itself, that is Christ.

It means that many of us have taken Christ out of Christmas, and many of us have forgotten that Christmas is truly a celebration about Christ and not about ourselves. Yes, in a way, it is a time to also celebrate about ourselves, but not for our own worldly glory and joy, but instead because of the reason that we have been saved by the love of God from certain destruction because of our sins. It is the love of God shown through Christ that we are celebrating, and we rejoice together because of that.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, as Christmas is just one more week away, let us all see into our preparations for the celebration of Christmas and ask ourselves that very important question, that is, is Christ at the centre of our celebrations? Is He the focus of our joy and of our revelry? Or is it instead a time when we ignore Him and put Him out of the picture when it was really because of Him and His generous love that we can rejoice, knowing that we have hope in Him?

Let us all reorientate our celebrations and focus it on Christ, and indeed, let us all refocus our lives on Christ, putting Him at the very centre of our lives. From now on, let all things we do, we say and we act, be filled with the fullness of God’s love, so that through our actions, words and deeds, we may show to the world and to many people, just how loving God is to all of us.

May the Lord help us all Christians, that each of us may become the bearers and witnesses of His love that came in Christmas in Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world. May we all be able to share the joy of Christmas with each other and with the world, that many more will come to believe in the Lord and in His salvation. And at the same time, let us all not forget the poor and those who are unable to rejoice in this season of joy because of various reasons. Let us share our joy with them and comfort them from their sorrows with the love and joy from the Lord. May God bless us all. Amen.

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Saturday, 17 December 2016 : 3rd Week of Advent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we listened to the message of the Sacred Scriptures telling us about the genealogy of our Lord Jesus Christ, from the time of Abraham all the way to David, and from David all the way to Jesus Himself. It is a reminder for us that He is the Son of Abraham and Son of David, as the One Whom God had promised to all of His people, that He has fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ.

Although Jesus was not the biological Son of Joseph, His foster-father, but as Joseph was legally married to Mary, His mother under the Law, therefore He is considered legally as His father, and therefore the right of inheritance is His through His foster-father Joseph, including as Heir to the throne of David and as the One through Whom God fulfilled His promises to Judah and to David, His forefathers.

In the first reading, we heard the moment when Jacob, before he passed away, blessing his sons with many words of blessings. And for Judah, he gave a special blessing, which would be fulfilled through his descendant Jesus, that the throne and sceptre will belong to his house forever, and it is through him that David would be born, and then his descendant Jesus after him, as the King and Lord over all of God’s people forever.

In all of these we can see that God is a faithful God Who always remembers His promise to all of His people, and we can also see the long expectation of the salvation which all mankind had awaited since the very day that they were separated from their loving God due to sin. Abraham himself was a descendant of Adam, as all mankind are, and all of humanity have shared in his sins, because of his disobedience against God at the beginning of creation.

And thus, by taking up upon Himself the flesh of Man, through His mother Mary, Jesus our Lord had endeavoured to make Himself as the new Adam, as mentioned by St. Paul in one of his Epistles, that while the old Adam brought sin and death upon everyone, right down to us all living in this world today, but the new Adam, that is Christ, had united all of us upon Himself, and by His sacrifice on the cross, He has destroyed our sins and liberated us from the certainty of damnation.

Unfortunately, it is sad to see just how many of us disregarded God’s promise made to us through Christ, and ignored His free offer of love and mercy. Many of us are often too busy to spend time with our Lord, and rather than believing in Him and walking in His ways, we end up following the whims of our own human desires and worldly greed.

Many of us forgot about Christ and even took out Christ from Christmas. We see it more as a yearly and regular period of rejoicing and celebrations, yet we did not put the Lord Jesus at the centre of our joys. We become engrossed on worldly goods and materials, and we have forgotten what Christmas and our joys are truly about. And this is what we need to reflect on, as we progress through this season of Advent, that we may find true Christmas joy for ourselves.

Let us all realise that in Christmas lies the fulfilment of the very long promised salvation which the Lord promised to mankind ever since the days of Adam. Countless sons and daughters of mankind were unable to know and witness the coming of their Saviour unlike all of us who have received the knowledge and revelation of Christ through our faith and the Church.

Many people longed for the coming of their salvation and they did not have hope because after all their lives, they would succumb to death and to the uncertainties afterwards. And yet, through Christ, now all of them, past, present and future of mankind have that new hope have dawned on mankind. We may not realise just how important that is, but let us then think about what would have happened, had Christ chosen not to come and save us.

Imagine an eternity of suffering and separation from the love of our God. An eternity of despair without hope, and all shrouded in darkness, anguish and pain, because we have been sundered forever from the care of our Lord. Without God we will perish for sure and be destroyed. And yet, it is because of Jesus our Lord that we have received that new light and that new hope from Him.

A new light has dawned on us all brethren, and now what matters is for us to accept the coming of this light. Let us all turn ourselves towards this light, repent and turn away from our sinful past, and be renewed in our faith in the Lord our God. May all of us spend meaningful time to work together to make sure that we put the Lord our God at the centre of our lives, and focus on Him all the days of our lives. May we be ready to celebrate the true joy of Christmas. Amen.

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Friday, 16 December 2016 : 3rd Week of Advent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the words of hope which God Himself had revealed through His prophets, which yet many of His own people had ignored and forgotten. Through the prophet Isaiah, God revealed His love for all of His beloved children, all of mankind whom He had created and to whom He had given life to be His children.

It was mentioned that the foreigners resigned to the fate that they would be rejected by God and ignored by Him because they were not counted among the Jews. However, this was the fallacy that was in fact, a rebuke by God against the actions and the outlook of the people of God, whom at that time, and at the time of Jesus, took great pride in their status as the chosen people, as the sons and daughters of Abraham, his direct descendants, and they despised the pagans and the Gentiles, or the non-Jewish people.

But God loves all of His children, all of those He had created without exception. He chose Abraham out of all of them to be the first among those to whom He would reveal about Himself and His salvation, with the ultimate goal and aim of the salvation and liberation of all of humanity, and not just exclusive to the direct descendants of Abraham alone, as some among the people had misunderstood God’s intention.

And moreover, while they claimed to be the descendants of Abraham and thus claimed the right to the salvation and the inheritance that God promised their forefathers, but many of them lived in sin and disobeyed God frequently, to the point that God had to punish them for their waywardness, and indeed, it was a great shame that the people whom God had chosen had rebelled against Him and disobeyed His will.

Imagine, brethren, that God had blessed them as His people, and yet, in their words, actions and deeds, they had not done what He had asked them and taught them to do. It would be such a great scandal in the eyes of those who saw their actions. How could the people of God, chosen by God, did such wicked and abhorrent things?

In the same manner, how can those who see us believe in God if our own actions do not proclaim God’s ways and glory? As Christians, God has chosen us all anew from all of His people, as the fulfilment of His promise, that He will gather all of His beloved ones to Himself. No longer was it that the promise of salvation be an exclusive domain of the Jewish people but for all mankind.

But no one will believe in us if we ourselves are not doing as what the Lord had taught us just as the Israelites had scandalised the Lord before many, many times. One of the last tasks that God had entrusted and indeed commanded all of us to do, through His disciples, is that we all should proclaim the Good News that He had brought into this world to all the peoples, that they all may find their way to God and to His salvation.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, as we prepare ourselves for the coming of Christmas during this season of Advent, let us all commit ourselves anew to our faith and to the Lord our God. Let us all renew our efforts to live righteously in accordance with God’s ways, and seek to be forgiven for our sins and our iniquities of the past. Let us no longer repeat our sinful ways and from now on commit ourselves to righteousness, that all who see us may come to believe in God and be saved as well.

May the Lord our God bless us and keep us, and may He strengthen our faith and our devotion, so that we may grow ever stronger and ever closer to Him. May God bless us all, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Thursday, 15 December 2016 : 3rd Week of Advent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, in today’s readings we heard of the great joy that had been given by God to His faithful servants, two women who had been barren from having a child, one who have not been given a child despite the other wife of her husband having many children, and the other one who was barren until her old age.

But God heard their prayers and gave them His blessings, and both of the children born of them became great servants of God, one is the prophet and Judge of Israel, Samuel, who went on to lead and guide the people of Israel and anointed both king Saul and David of Israel, and the other one is John the Baptist, the herald of the Messiah and the one who came ahead of Him to prepare the way for His coming into the world.

And God did not just bless the two women with children, but also His entire people. Samuel came at a time when the people of God had become complacent in their faith, where even the leaders became corrupt and wicked in their ways. The sons of the then judge, Eli were corrupt and they led the people into sin and disobedience before God by their own actions.

In the same manner, at the time of the coming of John the Baptist and Jesus, our Lord and Saviour, the people of God, while outwardly seemed to be faithful and good, but they have also gone wayward in their faith, and their leaders, the elders, the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law had become corrupt and wicked in their ways, and as a result, they too have misled the people of God into sin.

God therefore sent His deliverance to His people, as He had done many times throughout history, and all of these were a buildup towards the eventual salvation and deliverance through the sending of His own Son, the Saviour of the world, our Lord Jesus Christ, Whose coming into the world we celebrate as Christmas. Through Him, a new hope has dawned on the human race, on all the people of God who now have hope in Him.

This is the essence of today’s Scripture readings, that is about a new hope that God gives to all those who despair and are in need for His help. God blesses all of His people and will not forget them. That is what we all ought to remember as we prepare for the coming of the season of Christmas during this Advent season. We should prepare ourselves in our hearts and minds, so that we may be able to celebrate Christmas with proper and good understanding of what is it that we are celebrating about.

Let us ask ourselves, brothers and sisters in Christ, how many of us make the Lord as the most important Person in our life? How many of us actually place Him at the centre of our livelihoods? Many of us celebrate Christmas year after year without proper understanding what it is that we are celebrating. We should be spending this season of Advent trying to reflect on our own lives and prepare ourselves mentally and spiritually to welcome the Lord Who comes to save us.

We should seek the Lord and His grace at all times, and rather than seeking for worldly comfort and other sources of satisfaction, let us look to the Lord. Nothing else, and no one else other than the Lord will be able to provide us with true and complete satisfaction found in Him alone. The things and goods of this world can fail us, but the Lord will not fail us, just as He had helped those who were in need and prayed to Him.

Let us all put the Lord back at the centre of our lives, and let us all put Him at the centre of our Christmas preparations and celebrations. Jesus is the Lord and Master of our lives, and therefore, let us all open ourselves to Him and welcome Him with an open heart, that He may come into us and transform us from a people living in despair and darkness, into children of the light. May God bless us all. Amen.

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Wednesday, 14 December 2016 : 3rd Week of Advent, Memorial of St. John of the Cross, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard the proclamations of the goodness of God, through which He declared to all of His people, just how loving and good He had been to them, bringing them from the darkness into the light and saving them from destruction by their enemies. He has blessed them with many things, and it was by His will and by His unending love for us all, that He had sent us the ultimate gift of all, that is His Son Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour.

Through the Scriptures we indeed have heard just how great God is, and how mighty He has been in ordering around everything He had created in the universe. He is supreme and a Being without any equal save in His own Trinity of Godhood. Yet, different from any other false gods and deities of this world, while many of these demanded worship and sacrifices from the people who worshipped them, God really has no need for sacrifices, but instead what He needs is our love.

Before we loved Him, He has loved us all first, and He showed it by His blessings to our ancestors, right from the very first mankind down to all of us today, and He will continue to do so right to the very last man. And He has loved us all through Jesus, through Whom, He has willed to find all of us His lost sheep, so that He as our Shepherd may gather us all and keep us safe. And to that extent He was willing to do all of that for us, even to come down into this world to gather us in and to deliver us from our troubles.

And He healed from many people their bodily afflictions and diseases, as the concrete sign of God’s love for us all, as He Himself had promised earlier on, that when His deliverance came into the world, He would heal all of His beloved ones from their afflictions, their sorrows and their sufferings, and bring them into the true joy and happiness found only in Him. And the greatest of all of these healings are the healing of our souls, the destruction of sin, and the liberation of all of us from the chains of sin that had enslaved us.

This is what we commemorate and celebrate in Christmas, brothers and sisters in Christ, that a great and Almighty God beyond equal and beyond any comparison, would be willing to humble Himself and come down upon us, as merely one among us, as Man, so that by that action He might be able to gather us in, and by gathering all of our sins and disobedience upon Himself, He becomes our Easter or Paschal Lamb, Who becomes for us all the perfect sacrifice before God in order to absolve us from all the taints of our sins.

This is what Christmas is about, brethren, not about ourselves, or about our festivities and celebrations, but truly about God Who loves us so much that He was willing to do all of those things He had done so that we may all be saved. But have we ever shown Him gratitude and thanks for all that He has done for us? The reality is that many of us even ignored and rejected His love, and do not care for what He has blessed us with and we cast His love aside for the love of the world.

It is often that we are too busy with ourselves to even notice His love and His grace for us every single days of our lives. We are too preoccupied with our desires, greed and all of our daily concern to even notice of others around us, let alone God Whom we cannot see directly. And yet, it is clear and undeniable that He is the One behind all of our life’s successes and goodness. Without Him, we can do nothing, and without Him, our lives will be meaningless and empty.

In this time of Advent, as we approach ever closer to Christmas, therefore it is appropriate for us to spend time and indeed find the time to reflect on our own lives, our actions and our deeds. Have we loved our God in the same manner that He has loved us first? He wants from us only our love and devotion, that we should commit and give of ourselves in love to Him. But we are often too busy with ourselves and too distracted to be able to commit ourselves. This is where perhaps we should reflect on the life of the holy saint, St. John of the Cross.

St. John of the Cross was a holy and devout man who was one of the very important figure of the Counter-Reformation efforts during approximately five centuries ago, when the Church was assailed by the many forces of the world that threatened to destroy it from the outside and from within. Many of the faithful were spiritually lacking and corrupt in their deeds. They put ahead the concerns of the world instead of spiritual pursuits, and put ahead their selfishness ahead of the concerns of the poor and the needy, as what Christians should do.

Even among the priests and the religious corruption of the soul and corruption of worldliness had caused great perversity and danger to the whole Church. This brought about division and conflict within the Church, and many souls were lost because they were disillusioned with the Church and its leaders. When the leaders did not show good example, so neither would the members imitate what they should have done. St. John of the Cross set out to stop this decline of the Church, and by his works and many other brave and courageous servants of God, they have reversed the declining trend of the Church and its institutions.

St. John of the Cross helped to reform the Carmelite order together with St. Teresa of Avila, and also conducted many other reforms designed to purify the Church and its religious orders, casting out its corruptions and worldly taints, and promoting true devotion to God and rigorous discipline in how the people and especially the religious and the priests ought to live their lives, filled with faith. But of course, these efforts were faced with tough opposition from those whose lives had been affected by the reform.

St. John of the Cross had to suffer rejection, indignation and even imprisonment for his good works and efforts. He had to suffer many things, even torture and pain, but he never gave up his efforts. Instead, he persevered and did all the more than he could in order to bring renewal to the Church despite the threat of suffering and even death from his opponents. It is all these virtues and qualities which all of us should emulate in our own lives.

May the Lord help us to be ever more faithful as St. John of the Cross had been, and let us all do our best to resist worldly temptations, the temptations of our greed and our bodily desires, so that we may be pure and good in all of our dealings, so that we will be found worthy by the Lord when He comes again to judge all of us. St. John of the Cross, pray for us all, that God will strengthen our faith and help guide us on our path towards Him. Amen.

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Tuesday, 13 December 2016 : 3rd Week of Advent, Memorial of St. Lucy, Virgin and Martyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day what we heard from the Scripture passages spoke a very clear message to us, reminding each and every one of us that our faith cannot be kept on the basis of our words and promises alone, but must be true actions and real, genuine showcase by those same actions, showing that we are not making empty and meaningless promises without any backing by our dedication to do what we say we will do.

First of all, now let us all look into the context of the Scripture passages today from the Book of the prophet Zephaniah and from the Gospel passage. The essence of what we have just heard is truly about how the people of Israel have always looked highly upon themselves, and in pride and boasting, they have always boasted of having been the chosen people of God. Similarly, the Pharisees, elders and the teachers of the Law all have pride in themselves as those who were educated and seen as the guardians of the laws of Moses.

However, in their pride, they have become boastful and conceited, and they forgot what it truly means to become faithful disciples and followers of the Lord. They have misused their position, power and authority for the wrong and wicked purposes. And for the case of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, while outwardly they seemed to be faithful and devout, but in truth, as Jesus Himself had pointed out, they were only serving their own purposes.

As we have seen as well, the Israelites put a great pride in being the descendants of Abraham, but they were not always faithful to God, and indeed, in many occasions, they abandoned Him for the allures of the pagan gods and idols such as Baal and Asherah, succumbing to the temptations of worldliness and refusing to obey the Lord, just as they had done when they worshipped the golden calf at Mount Sinai, just after God had liberated them from Egypt with His great power.

They often looked down on the pagans and those they deemed as sinful people, those who were tax collectors, those who were afflicted with diseases and afflictions like leprosy, paralysis, and those who were possessed with evil spirits, those who were prostitutes and very poor in the society. But they themselves were sinners, just as much as those people they have despised.

And while they were all talking and preaching about repentance and following the laws of God, they did not do what they have said and preached. Instead, they did the opposite of what they were preaching. That was why in another occasion, Jesus also rebuked these people by saying that while the people of God should listen to their words, they should not imitate what they were doing.

Then this is where it comes to us all as Christians. We profess our faith in God, but do we do as what the Lord had asked us to do? Have we acted in accordance with God’s laws and commandments? Or have we instead chosen to do what we like to do and ignore or reject what we do not like to do? Have we become like those who chose what they want to do because it is convenient to them and good for their standing in the world?

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as Christians and those who believe in God, we cannot pick and choose what we want and do not want to do, but instead we have to believe completely in the entirety of God’s ways and commandments, and we have to do something about it, that is to act in accordance to those ways. If we do not do so, then we will bring about scandal to our faith, as many others had shown, those who preached and talked one thing but acted in a different way.

Who will believe us and follow our lead if we do not practice what we preach? As. Christians, it is important for us to spread the Good News of God to other people, but if we are only all talk and have no action to back these up, then no one will believe in us. Instead, what we will receive is a rebuke from the Lord much as He had rebuked the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law for their hypocrisy.

Perhaps we should also heed the examples of today’s great saint, the holy martyr St. Lucy or St. Lucia, a renowned Roman martyr and virgin, who died defending her honour and faith in the Lord, refusing to compromise on her beliefs and ways, rejecting wickedness and sin even in the face of suffering and death. St. Lucy was born in Syracuse in southern Italy and spent her life there during the years of the great persecution of the faithful under the Roman Emperor Diocletian.

She was born of a noble family, and vowed to remain in the state of holy virginity throughout her life. She persuaded her mother to donate much of her family’s wealth and possessions to the poor and the needy, as those who were generous and loving will receive the good graces from God. But this came to the attention of the local governor who persecuted her and forced her to offer sacrifices to the Emperor, which she refused.

And when the governor punished her to be defiled in a brothel, the soldiers sent to arrest her and bring her there were not able to move her, even when the whole company tried to pull her away. She was tortured and made to suffer greatly, but she maintained her faith and composure till the very end, and she foretold that all the persecutions of the faithful would cease soon, which did happen just a decade after her martyrdom.

Through the courage and the faith of St. Lucy, all of us should have seen how we ought to live out our lives in faith. Yes, we should devote ourselves to the Lord with true and real actions and not just with words. Let us all be charitable and be caring and loving to the poor and the needy, and be courageous to stand by our faith in God when the time and occasion rises to do so.

We should not be easily swayed by the temptations of the world, by the temptations of the flesh and of pleasure, but instead, let us all work together to become ever more devoted and good servants of our Lord in all of our words, actions and deeds. May St. Lucy be our intercessor before the Lord, praying for our sake that God will always bless us and guide us. Amen.

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Monday, 12 December 2016 : 3rd Week of Advent, Memorial of Our Lady of Guadalupe (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Our Lady of Guadalupe)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we honour and praise Mary, the Mother of God and our greatest intercessor before her own Son, who have appeared numerous times to mankind throughout the ages, in order to remind the people of God, who have been entrusted to her care, that they should reject their old sinful way of life and embrace anew the love and mercy of God.

And today, we commemorate that moment almost five centuries ago when she appeared to a saint, St. John Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin in the New World, now known as Mexico, the site of which now is the site of a great church and Basilica dedicated to her, as Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patron of the Americas and the New World, through whom many millions and more of souls have been converted to God.

Through Mary, God had endeavoured to make fulfilled His great promises to us mankind, and therefore, to that extent, He had set her aside and blessed her more than any other men or women, giving her the sole exception of being conceived without the taints of the original sins, which we celebrate just a few days ago at the Solemnity and Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

But even more than that, not just that Mary had been prepared by being freed from the corruption of sin, so that she would be worthy to be the vessel and Ark of the New Covenant, but throughout her life, she has dedicated her whole life to a life of purity and obedience towards the Lord and His laws. She is a paragon of faith and virtue, and an example to all of us Christians.

Through her we have seen what we should do as Christians, in obeying not our own will, but instead the will of God. We should devote ourselves and our time, our whole being to the Lord, as Mary had done. We may think that this is easy to be done, but in reality, there are many temptations and pressure for us to do otherwise. And when troubles and challenges come, it is easy for us to compromise and to lose our path.

But Mary remained faithful throughout, despite the pains and sufferings she had to endure. She watched her Son being persecuted with His disciples at the hands of the Jewish elders and the Pharisees, who opposed Him and disagreed with His ways and teachings, preferring to continue living in their wicked and corrupt ways. And she had to endure the greatest suffering of all, as a mother to see the death of her own Son on the cross. And yet, Mary continued to be faithful and dedicated to the mission entrusted to her.

That was why people like the Pharisees and the elders found it difficult to believe, because they were entangled by the temptations of power and worldly glory, by the lures of worldly goodness, by all the temptations of the flesh and the heart. They refused to believe in Jesus because of their pride and greed. They led the people as their shepherds not because they cared for them, but instead, they wanted more power, influence, fame and wealth for themselves, while others suffered under them.

Mary showed us all an example of how we should live our lives. While others embraced the demands of their greed and pride, succumbing to the temptations of power and money, she as the one to whom the Archangel Gabriel had announced to be the mother of Lord, Saviour and indeed Master of the whole Universe, remained humble and was not distracted from the task God entrusted to her, and she remained true and devoted to Him, even when the whole world was against her and Jesus her Son.

She has been entrusted by Jesus her Son on the cross to John His disciple, and John has similarly been entrusted to her care. In this symbolic trust, our Lord Jesus has entrusted all of humanity to the care of His mother Mary, who then after her Assumption into heaven, did not forget about us but continued to help us in various ways, as our greatest intercessor before God, and through her various apparitions in order to pass on her messages, calling the people of God to repentance and righteousness in Jesus.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we are called to reflect on our own lives and actions. Have we been faithful to the Lord in the same way that Mary had been faithful? Have we obeyed the Lord and His commandments in the same manner that she had bene faithful and obedient? And when troubles and challenges come, do we seek to compromise and to negotiate our way out of trouble by obeying what the world asked of us, or have we instead been like Mary who persevered through and kept her faith?

Let us all ask ourselves these questions as we gather together and reflect on our lives today. Let us all devote ourselves to seek a renewal of our faith in God, and be truly devoted as Mary, the mother of our Lord had been. If God would raise Mary His mother up high because of her virtues, and blessed her more than anyone else, surely He will also bless us all if we remain faithful to Him and keep our faith amidst the challenges of the world.

May the Lord help us all to persevere through this life, that we will remain ever faithful to Him, and that we may remain true to our path towards salvation. Let us all direct our prayers to Him and ask for the intercession of His blessed Mother Mary, Our Lady of Guadalupe, for her prayers and intercessions for our sake. Through her, and by following her example, we shall find our path to justification and righteousness in God. May God bless us all. Amen.

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Sunday, 11 December 2016 : Third Sunday of Advent, Gaudete Sunday, Memorial of Pope St. Damasus I, Pope (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or Rose (Gaudete Sunday)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we celebrate the occasion of the Third Sunday of Advent, also commonly known as the Gaudete Sunday, a special occasion in the season of Advent, when we see a change in the liturgical colour being used, from the usual purple or violet into the colour of rose, to symbolise the more joyous occasion of today’s celebration.

The word Gaudete itself comes from Gaudeamus, or ‘Joy’ in Latin, signifying what we are celebrating today, that is the joy we all experience in the anticipation of the coming of the Lord at Christmas. Therefore, as we focus on this aspect of joy, in a way, we suspend for a short moment the penitential and the solemn nature of this season of Advent, a season of preparation, and look forward to the joy of Christmas.

But again, as we surely have discussed a lot during this season of Advent thus far, and year after year, we all should realise that we need to ask ourselves the same question again and again, lest we forget and misunderstood the intent of our Christmas celebration. What are we rejoicing about at Christmas? What are we so happy about when the time of Christmas comes?

Is it about the gifts and presents that we are about to receive? Is it about the good times and the holidays we are going to enjoy for ourselves? Is it about the joyful time that we are going to enjoy and share with our family members, with our relatives and with our friends? These are usually what many of us are focusing and thinking about as we approach Christmas and its celebrations, but if our focus are on all of these, then I am afraid that we have missed what the joy of Christmas is essentially about.

On the occasion of this Gaudete Sunday therefore, all of us are reminded of the great joy that each and every one of us ought to have because of one singular act of love by our God. And that was the salvation which He brought into the world, through His Son Jesus Christ, our Lord, Who have entered into the world as a Man, that by bearing our own sins and the punishment for our sins upon Himself, we may all be redeemed through Him.

And that was the joy which the Scriptures today presented to us, the joy of the people who have been healed and made whole again, when those who were blind had their eyes opened, when those who were deaf and mute had their ears and tongues opened and loosened, when those who were paralysed and were possessed by evil spirits were healed from their afflictions.

But most importantly, above all these, besides the afflictions of the flesh, God has brought upon us His healing for the disease and sickness of our soul, and that is sin. Sin has become a great menace for us, a source of corruption that affects and destroys our soul, and from the soul, sin corrupts everything else, from mind to heart and to our bodies.

That is why we are so joyful this Christmas, because not only that God had come into the world to be with us, but through Him we have also received a new hope and an escape route from the despair that has been with us because of our sins. By our sins and disobedience we have been separated from God, and by the Lord’s doing, He has reunited us with Himself, all of us who believe wholeheartedly in His promise.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day therefore, as we reflect on the joy of Advent, and ultimately the joy of Christmas, let us all keep in mind that we ought to put Christ our Lord at the centre of our celebrations of Christmas, and ultimately, of course, not just at Christmas but also for the rest of our lives, so that anchored firmly in Christ, we may not be easily swayed by the temptations and the persuasions of this world to sin and be disobedient against God.

Let us all make good use of this Advent season and help one another to reorientate their lives and spend more time to reflect and pray, so that by discerning carefully and guided through our faith, we may all be able to find our true joy in the Lord, and receive the fullness of grace as we prepare ourselves throughly to welcome the Lord Jesus into our lives.

Remember, brethren, we do not just remember His first coming into this world, which has already happened. We also anticipate in this season of Advent, the Second Coming of our Lord and Saviour, Who will come in His glory to save all of us who have remained true and faithful to Him. Let us not be complacent and be swayed by the persuasions of the world, which wants us to continue on our current path filled with sin.

May the Lord Jesus bless us and strengthen in us our faith, as well as our commitment to live a life devoted to Him, that we may put Him at the centre of our lives, and in all the things that we say and do, we always declare and show to all the glory of our God and the goodness of His salvation to all. Come, Lord Jesus, come and bless Your people. Amen.

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Saturday, 10 December 2016 : 2nd Week of Advent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we go through midway through the season of Advent, we are presented through the Scripture readings about the messenger of God and herald of the Messiah, John the Baptist. He came before the Saviour Himself in order to prepare His path, just as the prophet Elijah was sent many centuries before him to call the people of God back to the Lord and to repent from their sins.

At that time, the people of Israel, particularly the northern kingdom had often sinned against God and did not faithfully the way shown to them by their ancestors, following their kings who led them into sin, into the worship of the pagan gods and idols, of Baal, Asherah and many other false gods. They made the people to become wayward and diverge from the path God had shown them. And thus, Elijah came at that time, called by God to be His messenger, to call the people who have fallen into the darkness and call them to return to the light.

He encountered challenges and difficulties, and kings like Ahab hunted him down because of his refusal to back down from calling the people of God to repentance and for his denouncing of the kings and the pagans. Many other people who have followed the Lord had equally been put into suffering and pain, and many even lost their lives in consequence.

The people and their leaders, the kings persisted in their wickedness and many of them refused to listen to the prophet Elijah. They remained in their sinful ways and committed even more sins. The same happened to John the Baptist who came into the world to call the people of God back towards God’s path. Indeed, at his time, while the nature of the problem is kind of different, the essence is the same, that many had erred and he was sent to call them back to the light.

At that time, the people of God were more faithful than they were at the time of the prophet Elijah. However, many of them went through living and obeying God without understanding why they ought to obey the Law. And instead, their leaders and elders have misused their power and authority to gain benefits for themselves, resulting in them oppressing the people with the Law and gaining influence and fame for themselves.

That was why John the Baptist came to the people, to straighten their path and also the path of the Lord when He comes. Certainly, there were quite a few oppositions and challenges, from those same leaders, the Pharisees, the teachers of the Law, the elders and the priestly caste, who saw John as a challenge and rival to their power, teaching authority and influence.

In the same manner therefore, they also opposed Jesus our Lord when He came, and with even greater ferocity, for both John and our Lord came to right the mistakes of their ways as the prophet Elijah had once come to oppose the false ways of the kings of Israel who led the people into sin. And that is something that each and every one of us should also take note of as we go through this season of Advent.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, John and Elijah called upon the people to repent from their sins, to reject those sinful ways and to turn back towards the Lord. In the same manner therefore, we have all been called to turn back towards God, and cast away all those sins that have separated us from Him. However, that is where we also need to look at the examples we have just discussed in order to note the resistance and the difficulties for us to repent.

This time of Advent, we need to spend time to reflect on our actions in life thus far. We need to reattune ourselves to the Lord, and reject our sinful past. But temptations and the lures of sin will always be there, and thus it will not be easy for us to go through this path of preparation. Nonetheless, we really have to begin somewhere, or else, we will never move on in our path to seek God and His love and grace.

Let us all pray to the Lord and ask Him for strength, courage and faith, so that we may draw ever closer to Him, and that we will be able to turn our ways and follow the path of the saints, and not the stubbornness of the kings and the elders of Israel of the past. Let us all make the effort this Advent to help one another, calling upon each other to seek the Lord and be forgiven our sins. May God bless us all. Amen.