Almighty God

by

Saturday, 1 March 2014 : 7th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

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

James 5 : 13-20

Are any among you discouraged? They should pray. Are any of you happy? They should sing songs to God. If anyone is sick, let him call on the elders of the Church. They shall pray for him, anointing him with oil in the Name of the Lord.

The prayer said in faith will save the sick person; the Lord will raise him up and if he has committed any sins, he will be forgiven. There will be healing if you confess your sins to one another and pray for each other. The prayer of the upright man has great power, provided he perseveres.

Elijah was a human being like ourselves and when he prayed earnestly for it not to rain, no rain fell for three and a half years. Then he prayed again : the sky yielded rain and the earth produced its fruit.

Brothers, if any one of you strays far away from the truth and another person brings him back to it, be sure of this : he who brings back a sinner from the wrong way will save his soul from death and win forgiveness for many sins.

by

Tuesday, 25 February 2014 : 7th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Mark 9 : 30-37

After leaving that place, they made their way through Galilee; but Jesus did not want people to know where He was because He was teaching His disciples. And He told them, “The Son of Man will be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill Him, but three days after He has been killed, He will rise.”

The disciples, however, did not understand these words and they were afraid to ask Him what He meant. They came to Capernaum and, once inside the house, Jesus asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?” But they did not answer, because they had been arguing about who was the greatest.

Then He sat down, called the Twelve and said to them, “If someone wants to be first, let him be last of all and servant of all.” Then He took a little child, placed him in their midst, and putting His arms around him He said to them, “Whoever welcomes a child such as this in My Name, welcomes Me; and whoever welcomes Me, welcomes not Me but the One who sent Me.”

by

Sunday, 23 February 2014 : 7th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Brothers and sisters in Christ, Jesus taught us the truth about God’s laws, as revealed first through Moses, which the people had often misinterpreted and took it at the face value and keep it just at that. Many failed to see the true intention of God’s laws and ordinances, and their true purpose. God did not intend for His laws to punish or pressure His people with burden, because He intended His laws for love.

That was why Jesus showed God’s people, that His laws should not be interpreted in a way that exclude love out of the equation. The ancient laws and customs of the Jewish people included the concept of vengeance and revenge, named accurately, ‘do ut des’, which means that one receives what one has given, or the concept of reciprocity.

That when translated into how the people carried out the laws of God means that a particularly harsh way of dealing with crimes and how to punish these lawbreakers. They had those who had committed a crime to pay back exactly what they had committed, and that is why the term, an eye for an eye and so on and so forth.

The result was clear, the community of the people of God, that is Israel, became a society governed with fear, prejudice and hatred, that is very far from what God intended for them, that is to build upon a community of love and inclusiveness. The people became boxed in into their obedience to the law, and the fear of God and His wrath should they disobey the law.

Yet, in doing so, under the guidance of the Pharisees in particular, the laws had been lost in its true meaning, often covered by false obedience and empty observations of the law. Jesus showed them that there is a need for the understanding of the purpose of the Law. The Law is about love, and in obeying the law, the people of God have to observe love in all their actions and deeds.

And this love is in fact not the same kind of love that we are often accustomed to in this world. The love that we know about in this world is often a very selfish love. Just as Jesus had said, we often love only those who love us back, and we do not love our enemies and those who hate us. We hate them back and even curse at them as best as we can.

And in our understanding of love, we even have it at an even more flawed level, one that is mingled with lust, greed and human desire. Our form of love is corrupted by desire and wickedness. We lust and desire for worldly pleasures, and that results in us failing further to understand what God truly intends for us.

We are often prejudiced and choosy in our love, and we give no love to those whom we do not love, and those who hate us. But the Lord shows us that when we love we cannot be prejudiced, and we have to be selfless in giving our love. Love should be given to all around us, and even to those who hate and persecute us. If we love only those who already love us, then what we do to them are not quite as meaningful as if we love those who hate us.

The Lord shows us that He knows about what it means to value-add our faith, and the love that is in this world. Loving our enemies and those who hate us will in itself help them to understand love, and hopefully that they will be awakened from their slumber in darkness and in the seas of hate. It falls upon us then, for us to show love to them. If we show them hate instead of love, then we are likely to end up dooming them to hate, and we will be held responsible for that too.

Yes, brothers and sisters in Christ, in line with what Jesus had taught and shown us, we have to change our perspectives of those around us, our brothers and sisters. We must not be judgmental or be filled with prejudice. We have to show love to all, even when the other side does not want our love. Show them that to be children of God means to love. And when we love, we have to do so unconditionally.

Let us all deepen our faith in God and deepen our understanding of His will. Let us understand further the love He has for us, and let us hope that we mankind may learn to love more, and to devote ourselves truly to God, seeking God in all the things we do, and follow in His ways in all of our actions. May God walk with us and guide us, teach us how to understand His will and show us how to love each other and to love Him. Amen.

by

Saturday, 22 February 2014 : Feast of the Chair of St. Peter the Apostle (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate a very important feast in our Church and in our faith, that is the feast of the Chair of St. Peter the Apostle. Some of you may ask, why do we celebrate the feast for a chair? What is its importance? That is because the Chair mentioned here is the Cathedra of St. Peter, the Cathedra Sancta Petri, the seat of St. Peter which is today at Rome, at the heart of Christendom.

The Cathedra symbolises the seat of the bishop, and therefore represents the teaching authority of the bishop in teaching the faith. This also applies therefore to St. Peter, who was the very first Bishop of Rome, and the Vicar of Christ, leader of all the Universal Church, the one whom Jesus had entrusted to lead and guide His beloved people, the faithful ones in the Church.

Therefore today, we commemorate the faith of Peter, the teaching authority and the very authority that had been granted to Peter by the Lord Himself. Peter had been set aside by the Lord to be the universal shepherd, the one and only leader of all His faithful, because of his frank and sincere profession of faith, which he made and which we witnessed in today’s Gospel.

Peter showed his faith by proclaiming without fear that Jesus is truly the Lord, the One whom God had sent into this world to save it. Peter is the rock upon which God had established His Church, to be the strong foundation for that Church, and as a focal point for all of His faithful, a point of reference and unity. That is why, our Pope, as his successor, is the leader of the entire Universal Church.

Peter was not perfect, and he had his flaws just as all of us do. He had wavered in his faith many times, and as you all knew, that he even denied knowing his Lord, not once but three times. And yet he was still chosen, and the Lord forgave him after His resurrection, asking him three times to show his love for Him, and in doing that forgave him and gave him a new task in life.

And Peter, being appointed to such an elevated position, did not take pride in it, but instead remained humble and serve the Lord with zeal and humility. Peter gave himself completely to the service of God, until the end, when he gave up his life in martyrdom in Rome. He worked hard for the spread of the Good News and for the good of the people of God.

When he was persecuted and about to die, when the Roman Emperor Nero pressed hard on Christians, Peter accepted the death gracefully and with great humility. He remained faithful to the end, and showing his faith, love and devotion to the Lord, when he was about to be crucified, he asked not to be crucified in the same way as Jesus and thus was crucified upside down.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, in this humble little man, Simon Peter the fisherman of Galilee, God had found a great servant and a holy person. He was called by Jesus to follow Him, and without question, he went to follow Jesus. Despite all the tribulations, temptations and downfalls that he had experienced, Peter persevered, and became the beacon of light for all the faithful.

As is often mentioned in the Scriptures, it is not man who decide to be worthy of. God, but it is in fact God who made mankind worthy and chose them to be His instruments for the salvation of mankind. Such was why the Apostles, in particular Peter were chosen. In them, who were lowly and humble men, God found the love and dedication which others did not or did not yet have.

Today, we celebrate this feast of the Chair of St. Peter to commemorate that glorification of the humble man, taken from Galilee to be the chief servant of the Lord, and became the foundation upon which the Church we know of today was built on. This small man God had made to be His right hand man, and to be the chief of the shepherds of His people, to fish them from all over the world, and bring them to Him.

Such was indeed the very heavy responsibility that Christ had entrusted to Peter, to be the cornerstone and the foundation of the Church that He had established in is world. And that responsibility is passed on through his successors down to his current successor, currently our Pope Francis, the Vicar of Christ, and leader of the entire Universal Church.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us today therefore pray for the Pope and all those who support him in his works, that he may persevere in the mission which the Lord had given him, that is to continue the works of St. Peter the Apostle. Just as St. Peter had been told to be a fisher of man, our Pope as his successor too is a fisher of man, still continuing the same mission Christ entrusted to Peter as the mission of His Church.

Yes, and we also have part to play in that mission, brethren, to be the fishers of men as well. It is also our mission to be the ones to spread the Good News to all parts of the world, especially to those who have yet to see the light of God. Let us keep alive our faith in God, and let us obey the teachings of the Church, which Peter and his successors has kept throughout time.

Today we commemorate the authority of Peter as the leader of the faithful, and it also serves as a reminder to keep us faithful to the Lord as Peter had been. It is alright for us to falter at times, because just like Peter, we are all also human beings, we are imperfect and we sin, we make mistakes. What is crucial is, can we turn that imperfection to perfection in Christ? Can we devote ourselves fully to God and change our ways as Peter had done?

May our Lord Jesus Christ see our love and devotion, and bless us as He had blessed Peter His Apostle. May our faith too grow strong with a strong foundation, that we will never go astray from the path of the Lord, and remain faithful to Him all our lives, and may return to Him if we have fallen away from His path. God bless us all. Amen.

by

Saturday, 22 February 2014 : Feast of the Chair of St. Peter the Apostle (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

1 Peter 5 : 1-4

I now address myself to those elders among you; I, too, am an elder and a witness to the sufferings of Christ, hoping to share the Glory that is to be revealed. Shepherd the flock which God has entrusted to you, guarding it not out of obligation but willingly for God’s sake; not as one looking for a reward but with a generous heart.

Do not lord it over those in your care, rather be an example to your flock. Then when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will be given a crown of unfading glory.

by

Thursday, 20 February 2014 : 6th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Mark 8 : 27-33

Jesus set out with His disciples for the villages around Caesarea Philippi; and on the way He asked them, “Who do people say I am?” And they told Him, “Some say You are John the Baptist; others say You are Elijah or one of the prophets.”

Then Jesus asked them, “But you, who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.” And He ordered them not to tell anyone about Him.

Jesus then began to teach them that the Son of Man had to suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the Law. He would be killed, and after three days rise again.

Jesus said all this quite openly, so that Peter took Him aside and began to protest strongly. But Jesus turning around, and looking at His disciples, rebuked Peter, saying, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are thinking not as God does, but as people do.”

by

Wednesday, 19 February 2014 : 6th Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are called to reflect on our lives and on our attitudes towards our faith. Have we seen our faith as something that needs just to be there as a belief? Or have we seen it as something that constantly need to be kept alive by active contributions and works? That was what St. James in his letter in today’s first reading tried to tell us about the faith.

Our faith cannot be dormant or be based on mere words or letters of the word. Our faith must be supported with a strong foundation, that is the foundation of love and devotion to God. And in order to do that, we have to act, and be active in love. Remember what Christ had told us? That we ought to love one another, especially those who are least and weakest in our societies?

St. James was particularly condemned and shunned by the Protestant heretics, who held firm to their false and twisted idea of sola fide and sola scriptura, that is the firm belief that only the Holy Scriptures is correct and the only thing to be followed, and more importantly, sola fide, that means faith is sufficient, certainly by literal understanding of the words of Christ, when He said to some, that their faith had saved them.

Yet, they had truly missed the point by their extremely literal understanding of the true meaning of God’s message. Faith is important, and indeed we have to put our complete faith and belief in the Lord, but faith cannot be merely that, meaning just faith. We do not have true and living faith if we just merely say, Lord, Lord, I believe in You, and keep ourselves to reading the Holy Bible all day long without action.

Action, that is action based in love, is an integral part of our faith, and therefore, an integral part of our salvation in Jesus. We cannot separate action of love from faith in love itself, for God Himself is Love, and Jesus is the embodiment of that Love. God so loved the world that He gave us His only Son, Jesus Christ, that all who believe in Him will not die, but receive eternal life.

Faith is important, but can we believe in Love, that is the love of God, if we ourselves do not practice love in our words, deeds and actions? If our actions are instead based on hatred, prejudice, jealousy, and many other negative influences, then are we not contradicting our own faith in the Lord? And does that not mean that we have actually no faith in God?

That is precisely why the path of those who believed in salvation by faith alone is wrong, because many of them in their blind zeal to prove and fight for their version of the faith, they sowed much hatred, prejudice, and jealousy among themselves against the truth that is in God and in His Church. But again, they are not the only ones that are in the wrong, because we ourselves too often do not truly follow what the Lord wants from us.

We are often ignorant of our own faith, and we treat our faith as nothing more than a profession of the Creed and attendance at the Mass every Sundays. We do not truly practice our faith, and in our own daily habits and activities, we often do not reflect the love of God. This ignorance of our faith is something that we have to avoid at all cost, for again, I would like to remind you that this kind of faith is dead, and will do us no good before God.

Practice our faith, brothers and sisters in Christ, and put love in all of our words, actions and deeds. Put what the Lord had revealed and taught to us into real action. As Jesus had said, let all of us love one another, all of our brothers and sisters, children of the same God just as much as we care and love for ourselves. And of course, love God with all of our hearts and our strength.

But loving God does not mean for us to keep ourselves enclosed in our own world of desire for salvation, for doing that will mean selfishness. Loving God can be much more concretely professed, by following what He told us! Yes, that is to love our brethren, especially those who are the last, the lost, and the least. And Jesus Himself said that whatever we had done for them, we did them for God.

Hence, brothers and sisters in Christ, shall we heed what St. James had called us to do, and indeed challenged us to do? Shall we change our perspective on our own faith in God? Shall we from now on make our faith in God truly vibrant and alive? We have to make our faith in God concrete through actions, and that is actions based on love.

May our Lord Jesus Christ guide us and bless us with wisdom and understanding, that we may realise how important it is to love, and how crucial it is towards our salvation. May God continue to be with us and walk with us, that we may continue to love Him and devote ourselves to Him with full, living faith. God bless us all. Amen.

by

Tuesday, 18 February 2014 : 6th Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Brothers and sisters in Christ, doubt should never be inside our hearts, particularly not doubt in God. We should never lose faith in God because of the various reasons that mankind often employed against Him. God did not destine us for destruction, because what He wants from us and what He ask of us is our love and undivided attention and devotion.

Doubt opens the way to temptation of the evil one, and it distances us from God and His love. Yet doubt is always present in this world, and many of us mankind refused to acknowledge God as our Lord and Saviour, trusting in the power of men instead of putting our trust in Him. Even the holy disciples and apostles of Christ were not immune.

Yes, they and many of the people God even today, failed to understand and appreciate God’s love. We taken God’s love lightly and were not faithful to Him. They doubted in their hearts and did not put their complete trust in the Lord, just as how the disciples of Christ failed to realise in Jesus, the greatness of God and His love.

Very often, we blame God for the misfortunes that befall us, and the difficulties that we face, without knowing that God was truly not the One who gave us all of those challenges. More often than not, those difficulties and challenges came about because of our own lack of faith in God, and therefore due to our wickedness and disobedience against the will of God.

We who follow the ways of this world, are bound to be affected by the evils that affect this world. It does not mean that we ought to isolate ourselves or hate the world, but the crucial issue is whether we are able to open the doors of our hearts and welcome the Lord into our house, inside our hearts, or whether we keep our hearts closed against Him.

We mankind have lived so long in sin that we tend to not realise when we commit things that cause us to sin and become wicked before God. We have been desensitised against evil and wickedness, and often we even become indulgent and seeking for sin. We enjoy the pleasures of this world and that is why, when the Lord comes into our presence, we are often like the disciples, who were unsure and let their doubts took over.

Through Jesus, as mentioned in the first reading, we have been given the truth, about all things, and about the Lord. He told us the revelation of God’s love. The Lord showed that by giving Jesus, He had given mankind salvation and a way to escape the punishment and slavery of sin. And He did this because He cares for them and wants them to be by His side. Yes, all of us are wanted by the Lord, and He wants to give us His love.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all cast aside the veil of lies which the devil had put on us. The devil certainly does not want us to be in the grace and favour of God. That is why it is important for us to seek for the truth in Christ, which He had passed down to us through the Church, through which the knowledge of the truth and its revelation is made available to us.

Let us keep by God’s truth and devote ourselves solely towards Him. Do not be misguided by the forces of evil, and from now on, let us deepen our faith and commitment in God. Love God and our fellow brethren more and more, that the Lord will see us and our faith, and reward us with eternal glory. God be with us all. Amen.

by

Tuesday, 18 February 2014 : 6th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 93 : 12-13a, 14-15, 18-19

Fortunate the one You correct, o Lord, the one You teach Your law; You give them relief from distress.

The Lord will not reject His people nor will He forsake His heritage. Justice will return to the just, and the upright will follow in its wake.

No sooner did I say, “My foot is slipping,” Your kindness, o Lord, held me up. The more worries and trouble assailed me, the more You consoled me.

 

by

Monday, 17 February 2014 : 6th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saints)

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the feast of the Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order. These saints were the founders of a religious order which was founded so that its members may live according to the holy and religious life as espoused by many other orders at the time, including in particular the Franciscans and the Dominicans.

The saints left everything and went to secluded place in the hills to lead a new life dedicated solely to the Lord and to the service of His people, embracing poverty, humility, and service in love. They worked hard, prayed hard, and devoted themselves to the Lord and to Mary, His mother, whom they often asked for intercession.

Despite the opposition and rejection that often faced them, and the many time of troubles that they had to endure, the Servites remained strong in their devotion and in their faith, and flourished despite all of the difficulties and challenges. They worked hard to serve the people of God, and preach to them the message of love that is from the Lord.

Their example showed to us what it means to be a disciple of the Lord and what it means to follow the Lord. We have to focus all of our attentions and we cannot be divided in our hearts. We cannot be half-hearted in our love and devotion. The Lord provides us with all, and He gives us things that we need.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we should not doubt in the Lord and in His providence. He gave the people His love, and what He desires from us, is nothing more than our love. The Servites and their holy founders have shown us the true meaning of this devotion to the Lord. They showed love to God directly through their devotion, and through the love of their brethren in this world.

The Servites showed us that to love and serve the Lord we must first show love and compassion towards our brothers and sisters. We cannot be ignorant against those who lacked the love of God. Instead we have to embrace them with love and be always loving to them, even to our enemies and those who hate us. We have to show and practice love in all of our actions, our words and our deeds.

If we love one another, and follow the way of the Lord, we will certainly know about what God wants from us. We shall no longer doubt Him but trust always in His love. There is nothing greater and more wonderful than the love of God, and this fact is what we have to always keep in mind as we live in this world.

May the Lord through His servant the founder of the Servites remind us always of His love, and of the need to serve Him by loving Him and our own fellow brothers and sisters, our fellow mankind in this world. Let us dispel all the lies and fear spread by the devil and instead focus on the love of the Lord and His care for us. God bless us all. Amen.