Almighty God

by

Sunday, 6 December 2015 : Second Sunday of Advent, Memorial of St. Nicholas, Bishop (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we are presented with the clear messages from the Sacred Scriptures, which told us the essences of Advent, what it means to have this Advent season before the coming of the Christmas season, and what we should do in this Advent time in order to make it meaningful and good, useful and relevant for our salvation.

As we have discussed on the previous Sunday, the season of Advent came from its name Adventus, which means the coming, the heralded arrival of the Messiah, and the waiting that happened before it truly came to fruition, the expectation and the hope of mankind throughout the ages, awaiting for the salvation that had been promised to them by the Lord Himself, that He would succour them from all the evils and the darkness that had enslaved them for so long.

And in this time of Advent, we remember the moment of waiting, of expectation of the Lord’s coming by those who lived before His time, when they have yet to know of the Good News and the Saviour, hoping that one day God would reveal to them the truth about their salvation, after their disobedience had sundered them all apart from the Lord’s grace, and cast them out from the worthiness of being received in the holy presence of God.

And although now we have known the Saviour, Who have been revealed to us through Jesus, the Saviour Himself, it does not mean that we can rest easy and ignore everything else. Indeed, God had saved us all through His Saviour, by His sacrifice on the cross, but just as His salvation is offered freely to us, we have to make sure that we ourselves are worthy of the salvation which He had offered us.

If we continue to dwell in the darkness and live in the state of sin, disobeying the laws and the commandments of God, then when the time comes, as Jesus had said to His disciples, He will not recognise us and He will reject us, condemning us into the eternal suffering in hell for our disobedience. This will come on the day of Judgment, when He will come again to separate His faithful flock from all those who have refused to listen to Him.

This is an important message that all of us have to take heed, the meaning and the purpose of the Advent season, the time when we ought to reflect on the way we have lived our lives, as a moment when we really should find a moment to step back from our busy life schedules and think about our actions and our devotion to the Lord, on whether our faith in Him had been really genuine, or if it is merely superficial and without real love for the Lord.

What does Advent mean for us? It is a time for reminding us of the waiting before the coming of the Messiah, and indeed, we know that He will come again a second time, just as He had promised, and therefore, all of us are not preparing just for all the festivities and the celebrations of Christmas, or all the revelry, the gift exchanges and the merrymaking, the food and the drinks that are associated with Christmas, but we are preparing for the true joy that will be ours if we ready ourselves to welcome our Lord when He comes again in His glory.

Advent therefore is a time not just for preparation to buy all the gifts that we are to exchange and to give others during Christmas, and it is certainly not a time for us to go to the shopping centres and look out for the best dresses to wear on our Christmas celebrations, to look good on others when we visit the houses on the Christmas Day. Rather, it must be a time when we truly look deep into ourselves, reflect and pray for discernment, that we will be able to celebrate this Christmas with Christ at the very heart of our celebrations.

The season of Advent is a time for us to change ourselves for the better, if we have not already done so. It is a time for us to repent and to turn away from our sins. In the Gospel reading today, St. John the Baptist, who heralded the coming of the Lord and Saviour, preached about the need for repentance, for mankind to turn their back against the wickedness and the evils that they had committed.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we should heed St. John’s warning, as many of us even now are still unaware or are unable to appreciate the importance of Christmas to us. We are often so preoccupied with ourselves, with all the glories, wonders and pleasures of this world that we ended up being distracted and tempted by all those things. We become selfish and self-indulgent, seeking to satisfy ourselves and our own needs first before that of others.

In this, let us learn from the examples of St. Nicholas of Myra, a saint and holy bishop whose feast we also celebrate on this very day. He was in fact what was behind the inspiration for the commercial Christmas figure of Santa Claus, the elderly figure in red and white who gives presents to children and to all the families on the Christmas night, which inspired countless commercial products related to the celebrations of Christmas.

This is where we must be careful too, lest we are brought to the materialistic and commercialistic culture of how the world wants to celebrate Christmas according to them. Indeed, the real St. Nicholas of Myra liked to give gifts to children and this is likely where the myth of Santa Claus began. But the world had overlooked all that St. Nicholas of Myra had done for the Church and the faithful and focused instead on the wrong things to suit their own selfish purposes.

St. Nicholas of Myra was known to be present at the very first Ecumenical Council of the Church held at the city of Nicaea in the year of our Lord 325. St. Nicholas was known to be a very devout man, who was committed to serving his flock in the region of Myra, and he was also concerned about the faith of many of the faithful throughout the entire Universal Church.

When at that Ecumenical Council, the heresiarch Arius, who proposed the teachings of Arianism, contrary to the truth of God, by denying the divinity of Christ, and when he spoke to the Council trying to explain his ideas and teachings, those nonsense heresy so enraged St. Nicholas of Myra that he literally went up from his seat and punched Arius the heresiarch in the face.

We see how Arius, who had been corrupted by his own human desires, and by his own selfishness, had misled countless souls into damnation, as many other heresiarchs had done before and after his time, both outside and even inside the Church. And unchecked, these heresies and aberrations bring great harm to mankind and to all the people of God. In this, we have to heed the example of St. Nicholas of Myra, courageous in loving one another, courageous in giving, and courageous in defending his faith against the heresies of men.

Let us all therefore make this Advent season a truly meaningful one, by committing ourselves anew to our God and to His ways. Let us all be loving and be charitable, sharing our blessings with those who have less or none, so that the joy of Christmas will not be ours alone, but be shared with the whole world, so that the world that sees the Light of Christ, will be called to repentance and redemption in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ. May God be with us all. Amen.

by

Saturday, 5 December 2015 : 1st Week of Advent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the Scripture readings today speak to us about the hope which we have in the Lord, the happiness and true joy, the salvation and goodness that we shall enjoy because of the faith and devotion which we have in the Lord. And when God comes again to gather His faithful ones, He will bless us with the eternal life and grace He had promised us.

But in the meanwhile, as we still await the day of our salvation, we have to heed what Jesus our Lord had said in the Gospel today. Many people in this world today, as it was in the past, still dwell in darkness and they were unable to find their way to the Lord. And it falls to us to do something in order to help one another, so that all of us will be found worthy in the end when the Lord comes again.

The Lord spoke about the parable of the harvest and the workers, where He spoke of the field and the harvest that is ready to be gathered, and yet there were no labourers to collect the harvest. These were meant to show us about how in this world there are so many opportunities for us to do great and good works, and yet, we have not capitalise on the opportunities given to us, and the abilities given to us, to help each other to reach out to the Lord and His salvation.

The field here refers to this world, the vast fields of the earth, all of its people, all of the communities, societies, all the nations and the groups that are in this world. The master of the field, the Lord of the harvest is the Lord our God Who owns the world and all that is in it. The labourers and the workers that God had referred to in the Gospel actually refer to all of us, who are God’s people, His servants in this world.

What our Lord Jesus Christ wanted to convey to us is that we who follow the Lord has this obligation to go forth and beyond from our comfort zone, and go to harvest the fruits of the Lord’s labour on earth. The opportunity mentioned was how so many people are waiting in this world, to hear and to witness the Good News of the Lord, and yet as long as no one is available to bring to them the Good News, they will be ignorant of the truth forever.

And all of us, to whom God had revealed His truth, and to whom the teachings of the Lord had been taught, by the Church, therefore have the responsibility of passing on what we have known to those who have yet to know. And if we think the way to do so, is just by preaching and stating the truth to others about the Lord, then we are really mistaken.

For the best way to spread the Good News and the Lord’s truth is by practicing it ourselves. No one will believe in whatever we preach about God if we ourselves do not practice what we preach. No one will believe in us if our actions show contrary to what we have said. Indeed, it will only serve to scandalise God and to make people further away from salvation.

We have been called by the Lord to be His workers and servants, to help Him to gather all the rich harvests of this world, that is the souls to be saved from the clutches of the devil, from the tyranny and enslavement by sin and death. It is our task and responsibility to not let these fall into the darkness, but let us all work together, as one people, and as the members of God’s holy Church, to bring all mankind to eternal life and salvation which can be found only in God.

May Almighty God be with us always, and may He bless us and strengthen us, that we may be able to carry out our duties as His workers and servants, that we can help gather as many souls as possible, out from the jaws of death and from the claws of sin, and into the blessing of eternal light and the glorious life found in the Lord, forevermore. Amen.

by

Friday, 4 December 2015 : 1st Week of Advent, Memorial of St. John Damascene, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Priests)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today’s Scripture readings told us about the merits of keeping up faith in the Lord, and the importance of keeping hope in Him Who cares for us and Who blesses us all daily with life and all its goodness. It is a reminder that we do not live alone or suffer in this life alone in this world, but rather we have our Lord Who is constantly with us, guiding us and protecting us.

God never failed His people and He had never, and will never ever break the promises He had made. He had promised to bring us all mankind into His salvation, and that is precisely what He will do. He always fulfil whatever He had promised, and He will always love us all, no matter how sinful and wicked we were. Yet, it was always us mankind who have disappointed Him, rejecting the love which He had shown us, and spurning His care and compassion for us.

Let us just ask ourselves, to look into our own lives and how we have acted in this life. How often is it that we put God aside and forget about Him in the pursuit of our own selfish goals and desires? It is in our nature to be focused only on ourselves and ignore all other things. And we do not remember God until the time when we actually ‘need’ Him.

Yes, do we remember God in our good times? Maybe sometimes we do, but do we give Him thanks for every blessings He had granted us? Or did we just take all of His kindness for granted? This is the tendency that all of us have, that we tend to gloat and be proud of our own achievements, and glorify ourselves in front of others, praising our deeds and greatness, but not giving due thanks to God for all the things which He had blessed us with.

First of all, are we thankful of this life which God had granted us? Have we shown gratitude for every breath we take, the allowance we have been given by the Lord to live in this world and to enjoy all the good things we have and possess? All the graces and blessings of this world have been made available to us, and yet, many of us were not thankful, and instead we demand more, and we even become angry at God for not listening to our wants and wishes.

This is why it is important for us to understand in this season of Advent, the importance of rediscovering our true focus in the Lord. It is important for us to prepare ourselves thoroughly to be able to welcome our Lord’s coming properly and with piety, as we go on to celebrate Christmas in the coming few weeks’ time. Otherwise, our Christmas celebration will become empty and meaningless, and our joy will become illusory and merely satisfying the desires of our flesh rather than truly bringing us true joy in Christ our Lord.

Let us in all this, heed the examples and the life of St. John Damascene, or St. John of Damascus, whose feast we are celebrating today. St. John Damascene was a devoted monk and priest of the Lord in what is now Syria, hailing from Damascus, which would become his appellation in the years to come. He was committed to the Lord and showed his great faith by commissioning numerous writings and works that helped to prevent the faithful from following erroneous teachings and heresies.

St. John of Damascus also stood up for his faith against heretics and all those seeking to destroy the Church, including the infidels which by that time had conquered the lands where St. John lived. More and more persecutions and harsh treatment against the faithful ensued, but St. John Damascene remained as a bright light amidst all the darkness, and his works became an inspiration to many of the faithful, both those who were around him and those further beyond, including us all living today.

Through St. John of Damascus, God showed us that to become one of His disciples and faithful ones, we cannot just live in accordance to our wishes and satisfying our own desires. There will be times when we will be challenged to stand up for our faith and to defend it before others who seek to destroy the Faith and persecute the faithful.

In that case, will we be able to put forth our strength and our commitment to the Lord as St. John Damascene had done? St. John had put his trust in the Lord, and even though he often encountered difficult times, but the strength which he drew from the Lord allowed him to persevere on and to keep on trying to help the cause of the Lord, and show God’s love and truth to more and more people.

Therefore, now the challenge comes to us, as the present day disciples of our Lord. Are we able to commit ourselves to the Lord and to recognise all the good things that God had done for us, His people? God had protected St. John of Damascus, and all of His other faithful ones, and blessed them in various ways. Even though they were in trouble and in difficulties, but God did not leave them alone.

God will bless us and strengthen us at all times, and when challenges come our way, He will help us and protect us. Now we must understand His love and seek to be able to show our gratitude to Him Who had given so much for us. Let us all draw closer to our God, and as we go on through this season of Advent, let us all prepare ourselves mentally, spiritually and physically so that all of our beings may be able to celebrate with true joy the celebration of Christmas. God bless us all. Amen.

by

Thursday, 3 December 2015 : 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 remember in our memory the great saint and missionary, St. Francis Xavier, patron saint of missions and the saint whose many works had allowed for the propagation of the faith and the spreading of the Church throughout many parts of the world, including and especially that of Asia and its many regions.

St. Francis Xavier is a role model for us all, and many still walked and followed in his footsteps even after all these years. After all, without his contributions, there would not be the Church in the many parts of Asia, such as India, Malaysia, Singapore and Indochina, Indonesian Archipelago, China and further beyond even up to Japan. This great saint is one of the many saints whose efforts spearheaded the evangelising mission of the Church to the many peoples who have not yet heard about the Lord.

And in his journeys he encountered many difficulties, challenges, and even rejections by the people to whom he was going to minister and preach. There were those who refused to listen to the word that he preached, the Good News that he had carried with him, the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. But all these did not make St. Francis Xavier and his fellow missionaries to give up, and instead he tried all the harder.

What we heard in the Scripture readings today are the exhortations and reminders for us that as a follower and disciple of our Lord, we all have certain obligations and missions that have been entrusted to us. And one of our chief tasks is for us to be witnesses of God’s truth and the Good News of His salvation, and preach these to the people, in particular those who have not yet heard of them, or to those who have fallen and failed along the way.

And we cannot think that the works of St. Francis Xavier and all those missionaries who have toiled and laboured hard for God and for His people are done and completed. The work is always there, and there is always likely something for us to do, for the sake of those who are still lost and who are still unable to find their way to reach out to the Lord.

We are the new missionaries of our own time, just as it becomes the obligation of all the faithful to testify for their faith and become witnesses for our Lord, and be the bearers of His salvation to many more people. In this we have to heed the mission which God had entrusted to His Apostles and to the other disciples just before He was about to leave and ascend into Heaven.

His command was so that all the nations will receive the baptism of the Lord and that they will listen to the Good News and believe in all that the disciples of the Lord, as the witnesses God has appointed to be those who will be able to testify the truths that Jesus Himself had revealed to the whole world. And through us, many good works will be done for the greater glory of God and for our own salvation.

As those who have been called and chosen from the world to be the followers of Christ, we cannot profess to be ignorant of the plight of those who have not yet attained salvation in the Lord because they have not yet heard or witnessed the Good News of our God. Instead, it is our duty and obligation to show them the way to the Lord. We have to do our best, so that we may each other be able to find our way to the eternal life God had promised all of His faithful.

Therefore, as we prepare for the coming of the joyous and festive season of Christmas, let us all also take note that we should not forget about the less fortunate and those who are weak, sick and dying. Rather, let us all share whatever goods and blessings we have with one another, so that we can enjoy together and celebrate together the spirit of Christmas, that is thanksgiving for all the goodness and love God had shown us all.

Let us all imitate Him in all of our words, deeds and actions, so that in all the things we do, we will inspire many others, those who look at us, hear us and witness our acts, will see God’s works being done through us. In the footsteps of the missionaries like St. Francis Xavier, we as the new missionaries of the Lord should practice what we believe in, or else no one will believe in what we preach or teach to them.

Let us all lead by example and be inspiration to others around us, inspired by St. Francis Xavier and his works. Let us all devote ourselves, our time and our commitment to bring God’s Good News to more and more people, so that more and more souls can be saved from death and damnation, and be brought together as one people into the glory of Heaven. God bless us all. Amen.

by

Wednesday, 2 December 2015 : 1st Week of Advent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard about the great love of God, the love which He had shown to us all ever since the day when He created all things and all of us from nothingness. This love He had manifested to us in many forms, caring for us and for our forefathers, as He will also love all those who are yet to come, but the greatest expression of His love came through Jesus, His Son.

For in Jesus is our salvation and redemption. We know how He came into this world, and by taking into account our own sins, and putting all of those burdens upon Himself, He took up all the sins of the entire world, and having bore all these, He made all peoples to be righteous as long as they accept Him and welcome Him as their Lord and Saviour.

For our destiny was once to perish and to be destroyed, since because of our disobedience, the sins that have tainted our bodies, minds and souls, we have been made unworthy of our Lord Who despises all forms of sins and wickedness. However, we have to note how strong God’s love is for us, as His love surpasses even His hatred and disgust for our sins and wickedness.

It was this love that was manifested in Jesus, and through Him, God showed His love, care and concern, especially for those who are lost on their way to Him, those who have little or nothing, those who are hungry and thirsty, and all those who are sick and dying, and indeed all of us, since we are all sickened by sin, the disease that is slowly eating away at our beings from the inside.

And God Who loves all of us will not leave us alone to rot and die alone in the darkness. Neither will He let the devil and his fellow fallen angels to take us away in chains to suffer with them for eternity in hell fire. Sin leads to death, and death leads to hell, but God had made it known that death and evil will not have the final say. Death has been defeated and conquered by He Who conquered death, Who rose by His own might and power to be the first to be risen from the dead.

And He also showed His love by feeding us, as we witnessed in the Gospel today, in how He showed compassion for those who were hungry, the people who followed Him, and fed them with the loaves of bread, multiplying few loaves of bread until He could feed the entire crowd of thousands of men, women and children. All who were fed were made full and satisfied.

But this was not all that God had provided, for the food that satisfied the stomach is only temporary and will not last. Instead, God provides for us the very eternal and true food, the sustenance that rejuvenates us and our souls, bringing us hope and light when we lie in darkness and when evil days and the wicked spirits lie around us, waiting for our destruction.

And that food is the Body and Blood, Most Precious and Holy, which our Lord had given to us all in the Eucharist, and by partaking in those gifts, we have welcomed the Lord Who is now dwelling within us and Who is with us, as the ultimate sign of His love. He is always with us, protecting us and guiding us, just as a Shepherd guides and leads His flock into the right paths and away from harm.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, after witnessing and understanding so much about God’s great love for us, let us all therefore commit ourselves anew to Him, and remember that as we make our preparations to celebrate Christmas, it is important that we put Christ at the centre of our celebrations, of our joys and happiness, so that we may give Him thanks, He Who had brought us a new hope by His entry into the world, and He Who showed compassion to us when we are downtrodden and destitute. May God bless us always, now and forever. Amen.

by

Tuesday, 1 December 2015 : 1st Week of Advent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, as is common during the season of Advent, the preparation season before the celebration of Christmas, we heard about the promise of God of the coming of a Deliverer, of the descendants of Jesse and David, Who would come to save the world and bring peace and true harmony upon it, the Messiah and Saviour of the world.

God has revealed all of His intentions, His love for us and His desire for us to be reconciled and reunited with Him through His own Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, Who have shown the future that awaits us if we listen to Him, know and understand His will, and follow His ways in our lives and in all the things we do in this life. God does not wish for us to be destroyed because of our own sins and wickedness, but He hopes that all of us will eventually find our own way to Him.

People from throughout the ages, ever since the days of Adam, the days of Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Moses and David, and from the days of the kings and the prophets all have waited very long for the coming of the Lord’s deliverance and the fulfilment of all His promises which He had made to all of us. To all of them God had promised that men will be brought out of their misery and their slavery to sin, and the glory of God will be with men, and He will dwell with them, as God who is with His people, Emmanuel.

And for so long the people could only hope and wish to see, know and witness the coming of the time of deliverance, and they could not see it, even though they longed for it. That was what Jesus meant when He said to His disciples that they were truly blessed to have been able to witness the events as they unfolded at that time, for they themselves were witnesses to the works of God’s salvation.

And at the same time, there were also so many other people who were also blessed to be witnesses of God’s direct works of bringing His salvation to them, including even the Pharisees, the elders, the teachers of the Law and the scribes. Judging by looking at the number of times these people actually followed Jesus and His disciples, and how many times they have tried to test the Lord and doubted Him, they would have been the ones to witness our Lord’s works the most!

And yet, as we know it, and as we have witnessed throughout the Gospels, many if these people refused to believe in Him, and even though their eyes had seen, their ears had heard, and their own hands and feet had felt and witnessed the great works of the Lord made through Jesus, His Son, our Lord and Saviour, they deemed those works as the works of the devil.

Remember what the Lord had said to Thomas, His disciple? Thomas was not around when the Lord appeared to His disciples for the first time after His resurrection, and he refused to believe that the Lord had risen from the dead. Yet, when Jesus finally appeared to him on the next occasion, he believed and proclaimed his faith before Jesus. And Jesus praised all those who have not seen and yet believed.

Jesus did not rebuke Thomas for his faith, as it is still better for someone to believe after seeing the truth, rather than those who have seen, and yet refused to believe. Indeed, for all of us, we should ask ourselves, as we have not seen directly what the Lord had done for His people, do we then truly believe in Him? Is our faith truly genuine or is it just a passing statement?

Let this be something for all of us to ponder on, as we prepare ourselves to celebrate Christmas, the joy and the celebration of the day of our Lord’s birth into this world. Let us all ask ourselves, have we truly believed in Him? And have we then taken this consideration into account as we celebrate and have all the joys in Christmas? Is Christ even somewhere in our celebrations? Or is the celebration just about ourselves and about us being happy?

Christmas is not just about the gifts, the merrymaking and all the happiness we have by all the holidays, the shopping and all the time we have to enjoy in revelry with one another. It is truly about the Lord, about giving thanks to the One Who had made it all possible for us. Without Christmas, when our Lord willingly came down into this world in order to save us, there would have been no hope for us, save for eternal damnation.

Let us all therefore refocus our attention to the Lord, and as we prepare to celebrate Christmas this Advent, let us all make our celebrations more proper and meaningful by placing our Lord Jesus Christ at the centre of all our celebrations and joys. May we all find true joy in Him, our Lord and our Saviour. God bless us all. Amen.

by

Monday, 30 November 2015 : Feast of St. Andrew, Apostle, Feast Day of the Church of Constantinople (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, we celebrate the feast of the Holy Apostle Andrew, St. Andrew the First-Called, known as such because he was among the first of the Apostles to be called by the Lord, as we heard the story in the Gospel passage of today, where Jesus called him and his brother Peter from their job as fishermen on the shores of the Lake of Galilee.

St. Andrew was the brother of St. Peter, who would later be the one to establish many churches and structure of the Universal Church in many places, and in the end became the first Bishop of Rome, and also as the first Pope as he was given the authority by the Lord to be the chief shepherd and the leader of all His faithful ones. St. Andrew himself went on to establish his own dioceses and churches, and the most famous and lasting one is the Church of the city of Constantinople, then known as Byzantium.

St. Andrew would become the patron of that city and as its first bishop, and as that city grew in importance, and especially after the Roman Emperor Constantine, the very first Christian Emperor and the one to rescind the persecution against the faithful, conquered the whole Empire and chose the site if Byzantium to be his new capital city, the city he named after himself as Constantinople, to be the site of New and Second Rome.

And thus from then on, the episcopal see of St. Andrew, the See of Constantinople rose in prominence and importance until it became second in importance only after the See of Rome. And the Patriarchate that grew from Constantinople, patronised by St. Andrew, would become eventually a great Church that helped to spread the Faith to many peoples in what is now Eastern Europe, and as the centre of the Eastern half of Christianity.

It is therefore with a sense of great regret that we now exist as a divided and shattered Church, where the Universal authority of St. Peter of Rome was not recognised and acknowledged by the successors of St. Andrew, his brother, as since about a thousand years ago, due to the worldly ambitions of the then Patriarch of Constantinople, the See of Constantinople tore itself apart from the Universal Church, a division that we now seek to heal and restore.

Therefore, today, on the feast of the faithful and devoted St. Andrew, brother of the first Vicar of Christ, who shared with him the blood of martyrdom and in the defense of his Faith in God, having both been tortured, incarcerated and crucified as the chief disciples and Apostles of our Lord, we pray that firstly the Church established by St. Andrew will be reunited to the whole Universal Church under the primacy, supremacy and leadership authority of the Pope, whose authority extends over the entire Church and over all the faithful without exception, as the Vicar of our Lord Himself.

And then, let us also pray for ourselves, as the examples of the Holy Apostles and disciples of Christ should have made us to realise that there are still so many of the works which they have initiated that are still left undone and incomplete. And if we look carefully and listen to what St. Paul had exhorted the faithful in Rome in our first reading taken from his Epistle to the Romans, then we should know what is to be expected from us.

Yes, St. Paul reminded that salvation cannot come to the people of God unless they believe in the Lord God Who saved them from sin and death, but they cannot believe before someone bring to them the truth and the wholeness of the Good News, and while the Good News is already there, but without someone to convey the message and the truth, no one would know and thus no one will be saved.

This is the fact that all of us should understand and know, and we have to realise that God has not just called the Apostles to be His bearers of the Good News of His salvation, but in fact, He has called even all of us, all of us here living in this world today, many years after the time of the Apostles, to continue their good works and missions, following in their footsteps and in the examples of their successors.

Let us all therefore on this day, ask for the intercession of the Holy Apostles, particularly that of St. Andrew, that through us and through our works, we may bring light into the world, and also unite all the faithful ones of the Lord, especially those who have separated themselves from the unity of the Church under His Vicar. Let us all pray for the unity of all Christians and for the conversion of the whole world. Amen.

by

Sunday, 29 November 2015 : First Sunday of Advent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters, on this Sunday, we begin a new liturgical year, that is a cycle in our year beginning with the season of Advent and ending with the solemnity of Christ the King which was last Sunday. This season of Advent as we all should know, is the season of preparation, the preparation for the celebrations of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, which we celebrate as Christmas.

Advent comes from the word Adventus, which is the term that describes arrival, onset, coming, and the approach of the world’s long awaited Saviour, the Messiah Whom God had promised will be the deliverance of all peoples, of all mankind from all the wickedness, the troubles they had in this world. The season of Advent is the time of preparation, for us to be ready to welcome the Lord when He comes again in time to come.

We may think that our liturgical celebrations and the calendars have no link in terms of how the seasons and the celebrations are arranged, but if we look deeper into it, in fact we should all realise that there is a certain central theme and meaning to the celebrations, and including this season of Advent, that is placed between the Solemnity of Christ the King, and the readings that are associated with it, and the solemnity of the Nativity, that is Christmas.

The Scripture readings immediately preceding the season of Advent, that is last week’s readings all came from the Book of Daniel and the Gospel passages that spoke about the time to come, the coming of the great tribulations and sufferings, the persecutions and the troubles facing the faithful, and how the Lord will come again to deliver His people from the dark times and from their enemies.

This is linked closely with the meaning of Christmas itself, that is a feast celebrating not all the glamour of commercial giving and greed, not a feast celebrating Santa Claus and all the Christmas goodies and the gifts, but instead, it is a feast that is about Christ, from which the name Christmas came from. The birth of our Lord Jesus Christ is the Hope that the world and all creations had long awaited, and in Him, the world that was once bereft of all hope and filled by despair can finally have hope once again.

This was His first coming into the world, the entry of which had been prophesied and foretold by the prophets and by the Lord Himself, Who promised that the Deliverer shall reunite all those who have been scattered and cast away from the Lord’s grace because of their disobedience, and then, by His works, mankind would be healed once again and be brought together to the Lord their Father.

And the Lord Himself has promised that He will come again one more time, for one final time, and this time He will gather all of His faithful and righteous ones to Himself, while all those who have not sided with Him will be rejected and cast out. This is what He wanted us all to know, and this is what we must be vigilant and be careful about, lest we find ourselves on the wrong side of the camp when the Lord comes again.

The celebration of Christmas therefore should not be mistaken for something that is just happening in the past, or even worse, that we even forgot its true intentions and meaning. As a result, many of us have not understood the meaning of Christmas and its importance even as we rejoice and join in the revelry and join in the celebrations. This is a danger that is commonplace now, and the devil’s tool in preventing us from realising the truth.

Yes, it is the marginalisation of God in our own lives, and how our lives have been filled with so much distractions so much so that especially during the time of Christmas, we are too focused on the giving and the revelry, the partying and all the rejoicing, the trumpets and the bells, and then we forget about the very One Whom we ought to celebrate about!

Yes, indeed, it is the birthday anniversary of our Lord Jesus Christ, our God Who had willingly come down upon this world, taking up our own flesh so that through Him the salvation of the world would come, death and sin would be conquered and defeated, and hope comes to all of us. But for all that He had done, He had been rewarded with rejection, ridicule and placed below all the festivities and joys we have in our version of Christmas.

Shall we rethink of our actions and how we approach our Christmas celebrations? There is nothing wrong with celebrations, festivities and joy, as long as we do not forget about the One Whom we ought to celebrate about. It is not a celebration about ourselves, or about pleasures of the flesh, but it is a celebration of the joy we all have because our Lord has come, and in His triumph, He has liberated all of us.

And it is not just about what had passed, but instead, also about what will come in the future. The Lord had indeed come firstly in great humility, and even though He is a King, the King of all the universe, but He came through such means so as to be lower even than the lowest human beings, born in a stable fit only for the animals. Yet, when He comes again, He will come in great glory, and to finally claim a people He had made His own.

Therefore, this season of Advent, we are not just preparing for Christmas, but we are in fact also preparing for the coming of our Lord, Who had promised that He will come again at the end of time. And we do not know when this will happen. Certainly we must not let ourselves to be so preoccupied and so distracted by the many things in this world so as to forget our real intention in this life, that is not to serve ourselves and our own needs first, but rather to give glory to God and to serve Him.

Let us find the true meaning of Christmas and reflect on how we ought to celebrate it well, with true joy, with true and genuine intention and understanding its importance and true meaning, so that our joy may become greater, and our salvation be closer to us, as we know that in all that we say and do, we will always remain true to our faith, and God will find us righteous when He comes again.

Let us not let ourselves be deceived by the devil and let us all learn to resist the temptations of the flesh. Let us not give ourselves to excessive partying, revelry, or even debauchery and orgies of pleasure, but let us give glory to God and refocus all of our celebrations upon Him. May God be with us all. Amen.

by

Saturday, 28 November 2015 : 34th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

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

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, the last day of our current liturgical year, as is the norms for the Scripture readings taken for these period of time, we always heard about the coming of the end of days, when the devil would amount one last attempt to destroy God’s people and to persecute all the faithful through the means of force, gathering all the forces of the wicked one last time against God and His majesty.

The four great beasts that arose symbolised the powers of this world, the princes and lieutenants of the evil one, and the last of which is the great enemy himself, the devil, Lucifer, once the greatest and mightiest of the angels and creations of the Lord, but who had fallen far in his pride, vanity and greed to be a great demon and destroyer of the world, known by us now as Satan.

And daily, every single day of our lives, Satan and his forces, his fellow fallen angels are battling our guardian angels, the angels sent to protect us, for the sake of our souls, that they may corrupt them and bring us down into damnation together with them in the eternal fire. As he was not able to ascend above the angels of God and seize the throne of God, thus, Satan is filled with hatred and jealousy against all of us, who are God’s most beloved and favoured ones.

And he had attempted many times to bring all of us down with him, beginning from when he seduced our first forefathers into sin, by disobeying the Lord and thus sundered from the love and grace He had given them, and by that, he subjected mankind to himself and to his dominion through sin and evil. And through sin he manipulated mankind that many souls fell into his prey.

He introduced to us many forms of wickedness and sins of this world, engaging us in leisurely and pleasurable pursuits of the flesh, in acts that are against God’s will and in things that distract us and keep us away from being able to understand the truth about how wicked we have become, and how far we have gone astray from the salvation and eternal life in God.

We have to remember the examples of those who lived during the time of Noah, when the Great Flood came to destroy all forms of life and civilisations of those who had been deemed wicked by the Lord. Those people enjoyed life and acted as if God did not exist, and they did not obey the Lord’s commandments and laws but instead following their own hearts’ desires.

And there was indeed no warning to them save for the works of Noah who built the great Ark to save the living animals and beings as instructed by the Lord, and those who ignored the signs shown by the Lord, seeking their repentance surely would have regretted it in hell, when the great flood and rain came to eradicate all of them from existence, and cleanse the earth from their wickedness.

This is a reminder to all of us, to always be ready and be vigilant of all things around us, that we will always guard our thoughts, our words and actions, so that in all things, we will not go against the Lord and we will always walk in His ways faithfully. We must not have the thoughts that we have all the time we need, and as long as we atone in the end, the Lord will forgive us our sins and absolve us into eternal life.

Remember, that Jesus had repeatedly made it clear that His coming again will not come announced and predictable. He will not make His coming known and He can just appear again at any time in accordance with His will. And if His coming, like that of a thief, catch us all unprepared, certainly we will not want ourselves to end up on the wrong side of the Lord’s judgment.

On the day of judgment, God will separate the people and everything into two sides, namely those who have been faithful to Him and walked in His ways, and those who have not been obedient to Him. Those whom He had rejected will have no hope for salvation and no hope for escape from the eternal damnation and the eternal fire that awaits them, to punish them for eternity. We certainly do not want to be caught amongst these condemned ones.

Instead, we all should from now on, from this very moment onwards, strive to do our best in following God in all of His ways. Let us no longer be selfish or greedy in our actions, but learn to do our best in loving each other, caring for the poor, the sick and the dying, and let all of our words and deeds be filled with love, so that when our Lord comes again, He will see the righteousness in us and bless us. God be with us all, now and forever. Amen.

by

Friday, 27 November 2015 : 34th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today’s reading at the ending of the current liturgical year gave us all an insight of the time that is to come, even as it had been foreseen by the prophet Daniel in his vision of the Lord. He saw the vision of the four great and terrible beasts, all of which were filled with hatred and blasphemy against the Lord our God. In this we see a message of hope amidst the darkness that is to come.

The same vision would be repeated once again to the Apostle St. John in Patmos, when he was exiled to that island. St. John also saw the vision of the end times, of the things and events that will come upon the world, and against the faithful, as he saw those great beasts of the Apocalypse, filled with the blaspheming words and curses against the Lord God of all creations.

These are the forces that the devil, the great enemy had marshalled against God and His faithful people, using all the might, power and dominion he had, and through his lieutenants, the Antichrist and all the chief princes of demons and the fallen angels. And he has tried for all time in order to bring mankind to their downfall, and although he had been thwarted by Christ Himself through His sacrifice on the cross, the devil will mount one last effort to destroy all of God’s faithful ones.

That will be a time of difficulties and challenges once again for us faithful, as our forefathers in faith have tasted during the persecutions and great persecutions against them by first the Jews and then the Romans. And throughout time, continuing persecutions remind us again and again, as the signs of the time to come, just as Jesus warned His disciples in our Gospel reading today.

But we should not be afraid or fearful, and we should not be hesitant to follow the Lord just because of the opposition that is ahead of us, as this is a common obstacle for us men, that whenever we face such an obstacle, we stop and no longer do what is asked or expected of us, because we are thinking of preserving and saving ourselves first.

As what the prophet Daniel had seen, the Lord deals with the beasts and destroys them as they deserved. The dominion of the beasts are ended, and God gives succour to His faithful ones. This is a reminder of the time to come, that the Lord Who has promised that He will come again, will come to destroy the wicked, the devil and all of his accomplices, and throw all these into the eternal fire.

As great as the power and the might that those demons possess, they are nothing compared to the might and the greatness of the Lord. Their powers and their hold on us are illusory and temporary, and God Who loves us all will not certainly let us to be continuously under the dominion of these demons and dark beings. And thus He will definitely also not allow us to continue to suffer under the persecutions by the world, and He will deliver us from our troubles.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, what we have to realise is that the ways of this world is often diametrically opposite of what the Lord had taught us to do, and even though the whole world may be against us but if we keep up the faith, the Lord Who sees our faith and commitment to Him will not fail to reward us. Jesus Himself had reminded His disciples, and therefore all of us, that to follow Him means to carry our own crosses, the crosses of suffering, and of discipline in our deeds and behaviours, that in all things we always give glory to God.

Let us all commit ourselves ever more to the Lord, and in all of our actions and deeds, let us always proclaim the glory of God, by loving one another sincerely and tenderly, and let us all in everything always bear the love of God with us, so that all who see us will know that God dwells in us, and that we belong to Him, and that nothing can separate us from the love which God has for us. God be with us always, now and forever. Amen.