Almighty God

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Sunday, 14 February 2016 : First Sunday of Advent, Memorial of St. Cyril, Monk and St. Methodius, Bishop, Patron Saints of Europe (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, as we celebrate our first Sunday in the season of Lent, we always hear about the temptation of Jesus Christ our Lord in the desert by the devil, who tried to tempt Him three times without avail, and who then retreated, trying to undermine the works of the Lord in another way. This temptation of our Lord Jesus Christ is tied closely to our own observation of this Lenten period, and also to the history of our faith.

Mankind, ever since the days of Adam and Eve, our forebears and ancestors, had been afflicted with the disease of sin, as Satan managed to tempt them to disobey the Lord and by making use of our human desires to subvert us and to turn us against God, by disobeying His commandments, and by selfishly giving in to our desires. Satan had many weapons, and his greatest one is our pride, our greed and our insatiable desire to fulfil ourselves and our wants.

In the Gospel, as we heard about Jesus being tempted three times, we are heeded to take note of our weaknesses, and our vulnerabilities, which Satan and his agents can easily take advantage of, in their attempt to destroy us and bring us into the eternal darkness with them. First of all, is the temptation of our stomach, the needs and wants of our body, our flesh, the temptation of food and greed.

We all know that all living things require food in order to continue living and to survive, and without food we will eventually die of starvation and hunger. But we should also be aware of the distinction and the growing gap between the rich and the poor in our world today. All of us are indeed aware, and we should have indeed heard about how many of the poor people in places and parts of Asia, Africa, Latin America, and even in the developed countries and regions, who had not enough food even to sustain themselves, less still for their children and for their families.

And yet, we also know that there are many excesses that people in our time today had committed, squandering much money and wealth in pursuit of good food and good lifestyle, a lifestyle of hedonism and excess, where a lot of waste and a lot of injustice are being done to those who have little or even none for themselves, even to keep themselves alive. And yet, there are those who rejoice, revel at themselves and feast on top of the suffering of others.

This Lent, we are fasting because we ought to resist the temptation of our flesh. Our human needs and wants is such that, hunger and starvation can lead men to hurt or even kill one another, in order to get what we need and want. If we do not restrain ourselves, then surely we shall fall into the deep trap of sin that Satan has prepared for us. Thus, let us heed what Jesus said, that we do not live on bread or food alone, as these give us just what we need in this earthly life, but we should put our trust in the word of God, our true sustenance, for it is through the Word that we can find our way to salvation.

But we have to be careful, lest the devil used our lack of understanding of God’s words in order to deceive us and tempt us further. We saw how the devil was trying to use the verses from the Scriptures to tempt Jesus to show Himself to the people, by jumping off from the pinnacle of the Temple. Indeed, the verse meant that God will protect His people, and He will send His Angels to protect us from harm, but if we test God and try to see if He really will protect us, that means we have no faith in Him.

And the second temptation was also the temptation of pride, for we mankind are all inherently vulnerable to this trait, the pride and haughtiness in each and everyone of us. We see in many people, the desire to be recognised and to be praised, so that someone will praise us and recognise us for what we have done. But at times, we can be so desperate or our desire for such things may be so great, in the end, we lose sight and focus on what we ought to do, and again, we bring harm to others.

We see how people fight and jostle with one another, either with cunning, or trickery, with words of mouth, or even through physical violence, just so that they can have an edge over another people, and gain what they desire, that is power, honour, glory, fame and many others. And this is what the devil tried to tempt Jesu with, in his third attempt, as he brought Him to the highest mountain, offering all the kingdoms of the earth if Jesus would only worship him as lord.

But Jesus was not swayed, and He was not tempted. He knew that power, human praise, fame and glory, all forms of other temptations in the world were superficial and illusory in nature. They do not give lasting satisfaction and happiness, which can only be truly found in God alone. Power in particular is very dangerous, as the saying goes, that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

This means that if we allow ourselves to be tempted, and to seek more things for ourselves, in power and all the goods the world is offering us, then we will only get ourselves dragged deeper and deeper into the darkness, and we will never be satisfied ourselves. We should already know that, it is our tendency that once we have something that we desire, we tend to desire even more.

And this is why we abstain, and do penitential works, during this season of Lent. It was not just a mere obligation or something we have to do as part of our observation of the laws of the Church and the faith. If we look at it as that, then our focus is wrong, and what we have done will avail little at helping us to strive for God’s salvation.

Instead, we have to do what we must do in this period of Lent with proper understanding and with good faith, so that whatever we do, we do it because of our love for the Lord, and the deep and burning desire in our hearts to be cleansed of our sins and wickedness, and the desire to reject Satan and all of his lies, and be freed from our enslavement to our pride, to our greed and all forms of the temptations of the flesh and the heart.

Let us all follow our Lord Jesus’ examples, resisting the devil and all of his temptations, and through our actions during this time of Lent, let us all grow stronger in faith, and spiritually, so that we will grow more capable of resisting the advances of evil and all of its forces in the time to come. Let us all love one another, giving alms and helping those who are less fortunate than us during this time, sharing whatever goods, food or care that we have, so that all of us will be able to live comfortably and harmoniously in this world.

May Almighty God bless us and forgive us our sins, and may this season of Lent be a fruitful one in the salvation of our souls. Amen.

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Saturday, 13 February 2016 : Saturday after Ash Wednesday (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are all presented with God Who loves us all mankind, all sinners and unworthy before Him, and yet, He decided to pick us up, and bring us from the darkness where we were lost in, and bring us back into the light with Him. He went forth into this world, looking for sinners and all those who have been afflicted by the sickness of sin.

Yes, sin is a disease, as I have often mentioned, that it strikes at the depth of our soul, afflicting everything from our mind, our hearts and our bodies, ending up corrupting our beings, that in such a state, we are not worthy of the Lord, because we have been defiled by the sins that we committed, by the slander that we have uttered, and by the disobedience and betrayal which we have done against the Lord our God.

But lest all of us should be dismayed or lose our hope in despair, let us all know that despite all of our sins, and despite the fact that God despises all forms of sins, which are abominations and wicked things before Him, but His love for us is even greater than all that. And this is why He was willing to show mercy to us, even to the greatest of sinners, seeking them out and bringing them out of darkness.

We should heed how Jesus called Levi, the tax collector, whom He called from his tax office, and Levi indeed heeded the call, leaving everything behind, his occupation, his money, career, family and all that he had, and followed God from then on. And from then on, he served God faithfully, and became whom we know as St. Matthew, the Apostle and Evangelist, the writer of one of the four Holy Gospels through which we would come to know the truth of our Lord.

And in another occasion, I am sure that we would have heard about how Jesus our Lord also healed and cast out demons from the woman who had seven demons in her, who then left everything behind in order to follow Him. It was believed that St. Mary Magdalene, the faithful woman who followed Jesus, and to whom He first showed Himself after His resurrection, was this woman.

And there are many other occasions where Jesus healed people who were sick, possessed by demons and filled with sin, exhorting and reminding them not to sin again, and urged them to henceforth walk in the path of the Lord. And many of these people were to later on suffer persecution in the Name of the Lord, and dying in the defence of their faith.

We can see through all these, how even saints themselves were once sinners, just as we have sinned against God. No one was born perfect, and all of us, in one way or another, have committed errors, be it big or small, before the Lord our God. But what differentiates those who were condemned and those who received the glory of heaven in sainthood, is that the action of those who have received God’s glory have justified them.

And this action is that, they chose righteousness and justice over sin, over wickedness, and selflessness over selfishness. They have turned their backs to sin, and they abandoned all the past mistakes that they had done, and turned completely to the Lord their God, and from then on, doing only what was pleasing to God. Then, we too should indeed follow in their footsteps and be inspired by what they have done.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore today renew our commitment to God, and in all of our ways, let us all be ever closer to Him and obey Him in all of our dealings and actions. Let us in this period of Lent, turn ourselves away from evil and wickedness, and open the doors of our heart to the works of mercy and to the love of our God. May God bless us all, now and forever. Amen.

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Friday, 12 February 2016 : Friday after Ash Wednesday (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard about the matter of fasting and abstinence, which are what we are required to do throughout this season of Lent. In the first reading and the Gospel we heard about the kind of fasting that the Lord does not want from us, and what He truly wanted from us, that is fast that comes from the heart, and fast and abstinence done with good faith and intention.

As we heard in the first reading today from the Book of the prophet Isaiah, Isaiah spoke about how many people were hypocrites in their faith, and how these people did not understand their faith appropriately, and how they fulfilled the commandments of the Law on one hand, but then at the same time, also contradicted the same commandments with their actions, filled with sins and unworthiness.

This is to remind us that we cannot believe in the Lord with mere empty faith, or believing just on the surface, or doing things for the sake of appearances, as people have done in the past, just so that they could be praised for their supposed faith and receive worldly approval and acceptance for doing so. Those who fast and abstain, or fulfil God’s commands simply because they thought that they had to do them, were not doing what God wanted from them.

In the Gospel, we heard how the disciples of John the Baptist, and also the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law on another, separate occasion often harassed Jesus and His disciples, and ridiculed them for not having obeyed the commandments of the Law as they had, because they did not fast, and they did not wash their hands properly in accordance with the laws of Moses. And for these reasons, the disciples of John and the Pharisees looked down on Jesus and His disciples.

But did they themselves know what they are fasting for? Many of them fasted because they were told to do so, or that they were told that the laws of Moses told them to do so, and if they did not obey them, then punishment would await them, or that they would not be able to remain a disciple or a follower. But they did not understand what they are doing all that for.

Are we like that, brothers and sisters in Christ? Are we doing things without proper understanding and faith? If we do so, then we are not doing ourselves a good service, and this great time and opportunity of Lent will be lost and wasted. Fasting and abstinence should not be done just for the sake of satisfying the Law of God or be seen as an obligation to be fulfilled. Rather, they should be the tools to help us on our way as we seek God’s salvation.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all in this time of Lent, as we prepare ourselves to celebrate the glorious time of Easter and rejoice, let us all be properly attuned and aligned to God, understanding that our fasting is meant to restrain ourselves, and to rein in our greed and desire, so that these will not lead us into harm and into the wrong paths, and our abstinence will further strengthen our resolve to reject all that is evil and wicked, and seek what is good in God.

May we commit ourselves anew in this season of Lent, committing ourselves to a renewed faith in God, and to rediscover the love which we ought to have for the Lord our God, and may our fast and abstinence be fruitful, in helping us to persevere against the temptations of the evil one, that we may all reject his false promises. God bless us all. Amen.

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Thursday, 11 February 2016 : Thursday after Ash Wednesday, Memorial of our Lady of Lourdes (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the feast of our Lady of Lourdes, based on the apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of our Lord and God, in the grotto of Lourdes in southern France to the young woman, now St. Bernadette Soubirous about a century and a half ago. Our Lady appeared to her, stating on the need for mankind to repent from their sins and to be reconciled to the Lord their God.

On that blessed and glorious occasion, our Blessed Virgin Mary, the mother of our Lord and Saviour appeared to St. Bernadette to deliver the reminder and the message to mankind, so that we the people who have long been immersed in the darkness of this world, and who have been tainted for long by the taint and corruption of sin, the sickness and disease of the flesh and the soul may be brought to healing in God through His blessed mother.

Our Lady of Lourdes appeared to St. Bernadette on one of her series of apparitions there to her, asking her to dig up a spot on the ground that she had pointed out to her, and from the ground sprang forth a spring of clear water that gushed out forth, and this water is now known by many as the water of the grotto and spring of Lourdes, which is held to have curative and healing properties, and year after year, month after month and day after day, many sick people and people seeking spiritual healing came flocking to Lourdes on pilgrimages.

But we have to be careful lest we think of these as amulets or idols through which we can gain healing or fulfilment, as all these are nothing more than means through which the Lord brought about healing on all of us mankind. And why do we need healing, brothers and sisters in Christ? Are we sick or something has happened to us? Are we not healthy, those among us who have no afflictions at all?

Today we commemorate the day of prayer for all the sick, where we commit the petitions for the healing of our body, our mind, heart and soul from all the afflictions, diseases and disabilities that had assailed us. And what are these sickness? We may be thinking only in the terms of the health issues that afflict many of us, such as cancers, diabetes, asthma, allergies and all of these problems, but we cannot forget that each and every one of us, even the healthy ones in the body are afflicted.

And what is this affliction? It is the most dangerous of all of them, that is the affliction of sin. Ever since mankind disobeyed God, sin had entered their heart, and because of sin, our souls had been tainted and corrupted, and the corruption of sin prevented us from being truly reunited with God, for sin is evil and wicked, and there can be no evil or wickedness before God.

And sin if not checked or purified from us, will become a great hurdle, a great obstacle on our path to reach out to the Lord, as it is difficult to resist the temptation to sin, and if we continue to live in the state of sin, the more difficult it is for us to escape its grip. But we do not have to worry, since our Lord Himself had provided the path for us to get to Him and escape from the threat of sin and death.

In the Scripture readings today we are all reminded of the choice we have, the choice between righteousness and wickedness, the choice between good or evil, the choice between hope and despair, the choice between light and darkness, the choice between humility and pride, the choice between temperance and greed, and ultimately, between God and ourselves, and between God and the devil.

God has shown us His mercy and His ways, and He has revealed His path and truths, and taught them to us through His Apostles, who passed down the words and teachings of our Lord Jesus through His Church, and now we all who belong to God’s Church are called to recall His goodness and mercy, and even more importantly, to remember what He had said in the Gospel today.

What is it, brothers and sisters in Christ? Jesus said that all those who are faithful to Him must take up their crosses and follow Him. If we do not take up our crosses and follow Him, then we are not His true disciples, and we cannot have any part in Him. To follow the Lord and to be a faithful Christian requires effort and the understanding that our path will not be an easy one. The world has always been against Christ, and it will be against us too.

Therefore, on this day, let us all renew our commitment to the Lord, and through the help of His blessed mother Mary, our Lady of Lourdes, may all of us find healing in Him, and through our hard works and efforts in faith, carrying and bearing our crosses in life, and through righteousness may we be healed from our afflictions, of sin and wickedness, that God will find us worthy and bless us forevermore. God bless us, now and forever. Amen.

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Wednesday, 10 February 2016 : Ash Wedneday, Memorial of St. Scholastica, Virgin (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we begin the season of Lent, the time of preparation before the great and glorious celebrations of Easter, a time for repentance, for forgiveness, and when the faithful and the whole Church unite together in fasting and abstinence, to remind ourselves that we are all sinners, unworthy and had been tainted by our disobedience against God.

The ashes today symbolised the nature of our sins, and how small we are before God, despite all of our greatness, our achievements, our talents and all the things we have accomplished and all the properties and goods we possess in this world. Remember the words of the priest, as he places the ashes on our foreheads or on our heads, that we are all man, mortal and sinners, and from dust we have come, and so to dust we shall return.

Ashes has been used since a long time ago, and also by the people of Israel as a sign of penitential intention, the desire of one to repent from one’s mistakes, as a symbol of humility and of unworthiness one feels because of one’s actions and misdeeds. And today the ashes we receive came from the palm branches used in the last year’s Palm Sunday celebration, which we also use for the same purpose, that is to remind us all that we are all penitents, all sinners seeking God’s ever loving mercy.

In the first reading today, we heard the prophet Joel who called the people of God to repent from their sins, casting aside their sinful ways and to repent before God, making a genuine change in their lives, and therefore receive the forgiveness from God, and a time of mercy when God would reunite all His people to Himself. Through the prophet Joel, we are reminded that God is compassionate and willing to forgive those who have sinned against Him.

And we must have heard about the prophet Jonah, who was sent to the city of Nineveh and its people, the capital of the mighty Assyrian Empire, to bring the words of the Lord that the city and all of its people would be destroyed because of their sins and their iniquities. And even though it was not mentioned what their sins were, but it was likely to be pagan gods, debauched lifestyle, and all the sins that the mighty Assyrians had done, in killing and causing harm to others.

And we heard how the people of Nineveh, all from the king to the lowest servants and people, all immediately stopped in their track, and they repented before God, regretting their wicked ways and asking for God to spare them the destruction and the punishment which He had intended for them. And God Who saw their sincere repentance, withheld His anger and showed His mercy to them, sparing them from the destruction which should have come their way.

In this, we see how God is loving and merciful to all of His people, even to the pagans and sinners. What is important however, is that this requires great effort and work in order for this to come into effect. Indeed, God offers His mercy generously and freely to all sinners and to all those who have wandered away from His path. But those to whom mercy had been shown, have they accepted God’s offer of mercy and have they done something to show their acceptance in sincerity?

Brothers and sisters in Christ, in these days, as we often talk about mercy, and indeed, in this year, during this special Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy, many of us often have a misconception about mercy and forgiveness. And there are even those who have espoused the thoughts that God’s mercy requires no effort from those to whom mercy have been shown, or that we should show mercy to others without requiring the other party to change their way or do something about their faults.

No, this kind of mercy is false mercy, and it is not what today’s Ash Wednesday celebration is about. For true mercy requires us indeed to show genuine mercy that is accompanied with the demand for sincere and genuine effort from the penitents to change their ways, sin no more and follow the Lord with all of their heart and might from now on.

Do we remember what Jesus did with the woman who was caught by the Pharisees and the elders having committed adultery with another man than her husband? In that, we heard how Jesus confronted those who desired to see her dead and those who wanted to stone her, by reminding them Himself, that as fellow sinners, for all of us have sinned be it in small or great degree, they have no right to judge others on their sins, and only God truly have the right for judgment.

But Jesus also said to the woman to sin no more and urged her to follow God’s path from then on. He did not let the woman go on with her old life and with her adulterous ways, but He showed her, and also all of us, that while we cannot be judgemental and condemning upon those who have sinned, but not doing anything to bring sinners back into the light of God is also something that is very wrong.

This is why, this season of Lent is the perfect time and opportunity for all of us, the reminder that we are all sinners who have committed sin before God, and how God wants to show us His mercy and love, but many of us remained adamant in our sinful ways, and how some can be obstinate and how they can turn a deaf ear against God’s loving mercy.

This is the time for us, to help one another to seek God’s mercy and to accept His offer of mercy with the sincerity from the heart. It is our duty and obligation, brothers and sisters in Christ, to bring one another closer to the throne of our Lord’s great mercy, and to inspire one another in seeking and having genuine repentance, turning away from all of our sins, abandoning all the sinful ways we have done, and beginning a new life blessed by God.

And the Church is helping us to do this, by providing us with this time and opportunity of Lent, to prepare ourselves, body, mind, heart and soul as we head towards Easter, the season of joy and renewal. And this is why we also fast and abstain during the time of Lent, to discipline ourselves, our bodies and minds, from the temptations of the evil one, and to genuinely seek the salvation of our God through our good works and efforts in faith.

We fast on this day, to remind our bodies, that desire and greed lead us to nowhere. And rather than seeking earthly and worldly pleasures, which is temporary and preventing us to find true joy, we should restrain ourselves and use the opportunity to find the way to reach out to God, to repent from our sins and change our ways. And this is why we also abstain from the bad things that we often do as well, to remind us that while sin and sinful things may seem to be good, but they lead us nowhere else but condemnation and hell.

And as Jesus said in the Gospel today, this day is not a day of gloom and sorrow, for we indeed do not fast or abstain to gain man’s approval. It is also not to show off our own abilities and greatness. Instead, this day should be a day of great joy, but tempered with the understanding and the desire for all of us to change our ways for the better, that indeed, God had been merciful to us, and because of that, we are saved.

Therefore, let us not be gloomy today, and let us not be shy to wear the ashes on our heads. Today is the day when our faith truly goes to the open, where everyone can see the sign of the ashes on our forehead or on our heads. Wear the ashes with joy, and with the understanding that the time of mercy has come. And let us not scandalise the Lord and our faith, that in our actions today and from now on should show our sincere efforts to be forgiven from our sins. Otherwise, we will be hypocrites, and there is no place for hypocrites save for hell.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us change our ways of old, our sinfulness and wickedness. Let us all change ourselves for the better and get rid of our past unworthiness, all the darkness that had covered the true light inside each and every one of us. Let us show the faith and love we have for God, and let us all go forth in being good disciples and followers of our Lord, preaching His Good News through our efforts and deeds wherever we are.

May God bless our observation of Lent, that it will be a great time of renewal for us all, and may He ever strengthen the desire in our heart to love Him and to be forgiven of our sinfulness. God be with us all, now and always. Amen.

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Tuesday, 9 February 2016 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are presented with the prayer of Solomon, the king of Israel, asking God to bless His people and to forgive them from their trespasses, and to welcome them back whenever they have erred and wandered away from their path. He praised God for the love which He had shown to them, so great is that love, that it is unprecedented and nothing is like the love which God showed us.

And Solomon thus praised the Lord for His love and care for His people, even though they were sinners, delinquents and frequently disobeyed His laws and precepts. This love that God has for all of us is great and boundless, and it is why He gave us opportunities, chances, and the paths through which He could help to bring us closer to Him, by providing us with the Law and with the commandments that help us to find our way to Him.

Yet unfortunately, as we saw in the Gospel, that Jesus our Lord rebuked the Pharisees, the elders of Israel, the scribes and the teachers of the Law, because instead of understanding the need for the people to love God with sincerity from the heart, and with true devotion and commitment guided by the precepts of the Law, the leaders of the people had misguided the people of God through their own laws and commandments.

Yes, brothers and sisters in Christ, they have become lost in the attempt to fulfil the laws and commandments that they have made themselves. Their concerns became whether they fulfilled the law in the right ways and manner, in the rites and rituals they prescribed from the law, and they punished those who have not obeyed in the way that they wanted the people to obey.

In that way, not only that they have misunderstood the intentions of the laws and ordinances which God had given to His people, but they also misled the people who have been entrusted under their care, guidance and leadership. Instead of bringing the people of God closer to Him through love and dedication, they caused these people to fear the Lord, thinking that He is an angry God Who will punish and destroy all those who did not obey the entirety of the Law.

And the Pharisees and the elders of Israel themselves were also mistaken in their approach, as they used the Law as an opportunity to showcase themselves to the other people, and to indulge in their pride and hubris, and to cultivate the desire of their human ego. They prayed in the public places, showed how faithful they were in obeying God’s ordinances and commandments in everything, and criticising and persecuting those that did not do so, all for the sake of being seen and praised, and not for the sake of the glory of God, save for some of the Pharisees.

Therefore, today, what Jesus said to the Pharisees, to the people and to His disciples should be a reminder to all of us, that we all should not have faith without understanding, or obey without true conscience and knowledge of the will of God, which He made clear through the Law He gave to us mankind. We have to discern the will of God, that is His love, and not to think that obeying the Law merely means just fulfilling what the Law requires of us.

In the same manner therefore, as we live our lives and in obeying the teachings of the Lord through the Church. We cannot go through it with just blind obedience or by merely trying to fulfil them as an obligation and stop at that. If we stop at that, then we are not doing anything truly beneficial for ourselves, and we are no closer to salvation as the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law.

Instead, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us devote ourselves, our time and attention, our effort and our focus on the Lord our God, and let us all realise the love which He has for us all, that He was willing to show us the way to reach Him, and to guide us step by step on this path, littered with difficulties and challenges. Let us all renew today our commitment to the Lord.

And tomorrow we shall begin the season of Lent, the season of penitential and repentance, the season of mercy and forgiveness. Thus, let us all draw ever closer to God’s mercy and love, and let us all be ever more devoted and committed to Him in all our lives. God be with us all, now and forever. Amen.

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Monday, 8 February 2016 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Jerome Emiliani, and St. Josephine Bakhita, Virgin (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Virgins)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard firstly the story of how Solomon, the king of Israel, the son and heir of David, God’s faithful servant, finally established and built the house which his father had wanted to build for the Lord. And today we heard in our first reading, how that great Temple in Jerusalem, also known as Solomon’s Temple, was inaugurated, dedicated and consecrated to God.

We heard how Solomon dedicated the Temple to God, bringing the Ark of the Covenant which was filled with the two stones on which were written the Lord’s Ten Commandments, and also the manna, the bread from heaven, and the staff of Aaron, the proofs of God’s loving works on His people, and as the sign of the Covenant which He had established with them. And therefore, with the entry of the Ark, the glory of God filled His Temple and He was therefore present there.

How is this relevant to us, brothers and sisters in Christ? Surely it was some historical event that had happened a long time ago in the past, but which has little to no significance for us. Well, if we look deeper into what had happened, we should realise that what we heard about the dedication of the Temple of God in Jerusalem is indeed linked to what we heard in the Gospel today, and therefore to ourselves.

How is this so? In the Gospel today, we heard about our Lord Jesus Christ, Who went about from places to places, ministering to the sick and dying, to all those who are afflicted in their bodies and in their souls, healing them from their afflictions and restoring to them the health either in their bodies, their souls, or both at the same time.

In it, we saw how God made Himself manifest even more so than what He had done at the time of king Solomon. If God had descended to dwell in an earthly Temple built by Solomon and dwelled there for a time, but in Jesus Himself, God Who was once invisible had made Himself tangible and visible to all of us. He had made Himself to assume the flesh of a Man, so that by that action, and by His offering of the perfect sacrifice of Himself, He might dwell among us forever, and reunite all of us with Him in love.

What does this mean? It means that as Christ had given Himself in His Body and in His Blood to all of His disciples, and from them to all of us, thus, all of us who share in the Body and the Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, have received the Lord Himself Who comes to dwell among us, and inside each and every one of us, the faithful ones of God.

And therefore, as St. Paul also iterated in one of his letters to the faithful, we are all, our bodies, our minds, our hearts and our souls are the Temple of the Lord’s Holy Presence, and in each and every one of us, God is dwelling within us, and this body we have, is His Temple and His House. And if king Solomon had gone such a great length and put so much effort to make sure that the Temple he had built for his God was properly inaugurated and started, thus we too have to make the same effort.

This means that if we commit things that are not in accordance with what He had taught us, committing things vile and wicked in the sight of God and men alike, then it is a scandal for us, for the Lord Himself dwell within us, and yet we did not make the conscious effort to make sure that this Temple that is our body, our minds, hearts and souls are worthy to receive Him in us.

Today, we commemorate the feast of two saints, whose examples hopefully can become a source of inspiration for all of us, on how to live our faith and our lives meaningfully, so as to be faithful and be true to the Lord and His will in all the things we do and act. They are St. Jerome Emiliani, a famous preacher and servant of God, and St. Josephine Bakhita, a freed former slave who became a convert to the faith and a devout religious.

St. Jerome Emiliani was an Italian man who was also known as Gerolamo Emiliani, who often showed mercy and compassion on many people who were destitute, suffering and dying, especially at times when there were famines and diseases raging amongst the people. He served the poor and cared for them, and together with other faithful laymen and religious, he founded hospitals and places where these people could be cared for.

Meanwhile, St. Josephine Bakhita was a former slave originating from a region now known as Sudan. After having learnt of the faith, and after experiencing the call of the Lord, she was converted to the faith, and vowed to follow the Lord for the rest of her life. She even managed to convert and helped her former employer to return to the Lord after leading a wayward life for a long time.

She eventually joined the religious order, and from then on, devoted herself to a life of work and prayer, committing herself also to the people of God, through prayer and charity. Eventually her examples inspired many others to also follow in her footsteps, growing ever closer to God and dedicating themselves to serve others just as she and many other saints had done.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all also follow in the footsteps of the saints and do what we can to help others who are in need, dedicating ourselves in faith to the Lord our God, and also to our brethren. So that, by our actions made through our faith, we may be found worthy, and that the Temple of our bodies, minds and souls will always be pure and worthy of the Lord our God, as the place of His dwelling.

May God sanctify us and may He purify our bodies, minds, hearts and souls, so that we may be ever worthy of Him and be reunited with Him in love. God be with us all, now and forever. Amen.

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Sunday, 7 February 2016 : Fifth (5th) Sunday of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard the urgings from the word of God in the Sacred Scripture, through which the Church had brought to our attention, of the need for us all to embrace the calling of the Lord, if He calls us to take up the cross and follow Him in the way that He had laid out for us. The words of the Scripture spoke of the examples of the faith of those whom God had called, and now they have responded in kind.

In the first reading, we heard about the vision which the prophet Isaiah saw at the beginning of his calling and ministry to be a servant and messenger of God, where He saw the glory of God Himself, enthroned on the Cherubim and guarded and served by the mighty Seraphim. And Isaiah felt unworthy to stand before the presence of God, for he was a sinner just like many others. But God purified him and made him worthy, and Isaiah answered God’s calling and accepted it.

Then in the second reading, we heard from the Apostle, St. Paul, who preached to the people of God, the testimony of his faith, just as what he had received through the Holy Spirit, and the knowledge which was passed down to him from the other Apostles and from the Lord Jesus Himself. He spoke of the Lord Jesus Who died and rose from the dead for our sake. And in doing so, he stood up for his faith and called many others to also follow in his footsteps.

If not for his dedication and commitment, and if not for his hard work for the sake of the Lord and for the spreading of His Good News, then the word of God would not have reached the ears, the minds and the hearts of countless souls, who would then remain in the darkness and lost to the Lord. But it was because of the faith and the devotion of St. Paul and of the other Apostles that the works of God were made evident.

In the Gospel, we heard how Jesus told Simon Peter to go out into the deep waters and spread his fishing net there. Despite a whole night of no fish being caught at all, he obeyed the commands of the Lord, and as a result, so many fishes were caught that even two fishing boats could not contain them. After that, Peter and many of his other fellow fishermen, future St. Andrew, St. James and St. John the Evangelist believed in Jesus and followed Him.

In this again we see the emphasis that is placed on God’s calling and how we ought to respond to that call. We remember in another passage from the Holy Gospels, when Jesus mentioned about the harvest of the field of the Lord, and how even though the harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few. The field represents the world, and the workers are all of us the faithful ones of the Lord.

This means that even though there are so many opportunities for many people and many souls to achieve salvation, but because there are so few of those who made themselves available to bring God’s salvation to them, in the end it means nothing, and nothing good came out of it, and many souls were still left to suffer in the darkness of ignorance and sin.

We have to remember that God did not call people who were great, talented or mighty in worldly deeds and power, or those who had great intellect, smart and excellent in their works. Instead, God called not because He saw the great abilities and talents that were in each of those people whom He had chosen, but because He saw the heart, and He knew those who truly love Him and were able to devote themselves to Him.

For to God, all of our worldly greatness and achievements mean nothing to Him, as all these pale in comparison to what one who love God with all of his or her strength and might could give. God desires not the hubris and the showcase of men’s pride and their achievements, but He desires the same love which we ought to give Him, just as He had loved us first.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, all of us today are called to think about our own lives, and reflect upon our actions and deeds, all the things that we have done in the past until now. Have we been faithful disciples and followers of our Lord? Or is our faith merely superficial and not real? Did we just profess our faith in mere words or did we attempt to mean what we say when we profess our faith for God by showing it through real work and real action?

Brothers and sisters in Christ, all of us have to realise that being a Christian is a calling and also a commitment. We cannot call ourselves Christians and yet our actions, words and deeds speak volumes in denying what we profess. If our actions show that even though we claimed to believe in God but our actions proved otherwise, then we are no Christians!

A true Christian, someone who profess themselves as those who belong to God and believing in His laws and obeying His commandments should have the courage in them to live out their lives in accordance to their Christian faith. This means that we ought to go and put out into the deep, just as Christ Himself had ordered Simon Peter to do.

If we remain idle and not doing whatever is within our capacity and responsibility to do, then the good works of God will remain dormant, and no good fruits will come from it. As members of the Church, all of us have to realise that each and every one of us must work together and contribute to the advancement of God’s mission and work to save mankind from sin, and to bring all back to the loving embrace of God.

And we do not have to look far or think that we need to do enormous tasks. Instead, through our own daily lives, through our own actions and dealings with one another, within our own families, neighbours to one another, within our community and society we should do our best to be faithful in how we say and do things, and we should inspire others to follow our footsteps and the footsteps of the faithful who had gone before us.

Let us all, the modern day disciples of our Lord be strengthened in our faith, and may courage grows in our hearts, that in all the things we do, we may be courageous to proclaim God’s Good News to the world, and to seek out lost souls in the darkness, our own brethren in the Lord, that all may receive God’s everlasting life and salvation in Him. God bless us all and all of our endeavours. Amen.

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Saturday, 6 February 2016 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Paul Miki and Companions, Martyrs (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard the words of the Sacred Scripture regarding firstly, in our first reading from the Book of the prophet Samuel, about the young king Solomon who had just inherited the throne and the kingdom from the king David, his father. As a young and inexperienced king, who had inherited all the great inheritance, wealth, renown and glory from his father, he was at a juncture when he was unsure of what he was to do in his reign.

And when God asked him for something to be granted to him due to the faith of his father and family, Solomon humbly submitted before God in great humility, and instead of asking for power, glory, wealth, affluence or any other worldly things and desires, he instead asked for wisdom, the wisdom to discern and the intellect to make good judgments and the wisdom of knowledge of the ways of the Lord.

His choice was a good one, since the choice of wisdom allowed him to deal good judgments and lead as a good and responsible king, as a righteous king who deal kindly and justly to his people. Instead of wealth and power that drive greed and desire, and corrupt the heart and mind, Solomon chose the humble gift of wisdom, the gift of understanding, so that his young mind and inexperience shall no longer be a hindrance.

He entrusted himself fully to the Lord, God Who in the Gospel today revealed Himself as a God of love, Who loves all of us, His beloved people. This was evident in how even though He and His disciples were tired and exhausted after long sessions of ministering and teaching to them, but as He saw many more people who sought to listen to Him and who were like sheep without a shepherd, He showed pity and mercy on them.

He loved them greatly and did not want them to be lost, and that was why He offered Himself as a great gift, the greatest gift of all, which even the gift that God had given to Solomon cannot compare. For wisdom is nothing compared to love, and the love of God is perfect love. And while Solomon and his wisdom failed as he grew old and his judgments clouded by the distractions and temptations of his many wives and his wealth, God’s love will never fail.

And today, we celebrate together the feast day of great saints and martyrs of the Church, who had given themselves totally to God, entrusting themselves, their fates and their lives to the Lord, even amidst harsh and torturous pains caused by the great persecution levelled against them. They were the Japanese martyrs and saints, St. Paul Miki and his companions.

St. Paul Miki was a convert to the Christian faith, who eventually became a renowned priest and preacher, whose efforts caused the conversion of literally thousands and more people who decided to become members of the Church. But at that time, the increasingly anti-Christian government grew ever more intolerant of the Faith, and persecutions against the faithful began and then proliferated.

St. Paul Miki and many other faithful were arrested and brought to the Imperial capital of Japan in Kyoto to be sentenced, and as they refused to recant their faith, they were sentenced to death, and were made to march the great distance from that city to Nagasaki, a distance of about a thousand kilometres, a forced march to their deaths. But they did not fear, and indeed, they became ever more resolute and committed in their faith.

The examples of St. Paul Miki and his companions who bravely welcomed their death in the midst of harsh persecution and torture should be examples enough for all of us to also act in the same manner as they had acted. All of us should put our trust in God and not to worry in anything, even if the whole world itself is against us, as God will always be with us at our side.

Let us all therefore not be disheartened, but have courage in the Lord, that our faith in Him will always remain strong amidst the persecutions of the world and amidst all the challenges and difficulties we encounter in life. Let us all recommit ourselves to God and be ever more faithful to Him. Let us leave behind our old life of sin, and begin a new life blessed by God. May God bless us all. Amen.

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Friday, 5 February 2016 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Agatha, Virgin and Martyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard about God Who blessed David with many good things, with victory and wealth, with fame and with great family, and with his inheritance and kingship secure at the end of his earthly life, and his kingdom passed successfully and peacefully to his own son, Solomon. This was because of his faith and the dedication which he had for the Lord.

David did sin indeed, and he did commit things that were against the Lord’s will and teachings, but in the end, it was his desire to be forgiven, to humble himself before the presence of God, and seeking His mercy that God has blessed him not just with the mercy He had granted him, but also with the other blessings which we have heard in the Scriptures.

In the Gospel we heard about another king, Herod, the son of Herod the Great who was the king of Galilee, and who married his wife, Herodias, who was formerly the wife of his brother Philip. In doing so, he disobeyed the commandments of the Lord, by committing adultery with her. But unlike David, who had committed the same sin, he did not humble himself before God and commit himself to a new life in atonement, but continued to live his life in wickedness and sin.

We can clearly see the examples, in how Herod, during the dinner party that he had celebrated with his officials and guests, he was carried away by his lust and human desires, and his eyes and heart had betrayed him, as he was tempted to sin by the daughter of Herodias, his wife, likely to be the daughter of his brother, Philip. That daughter of Herodias was beautiful, and in her gracious dancing and performance, she caught such an attention from Herod that he ended up being completely swayed by her.

That was when he went so far as to make many vows and oaths pledging to do anything for her, which resulted in Herodias, who hated John the Baptist, whom Herod had imprisoned, to take that opportunity to get rid of him. He regretted that action only after he had already done the deed, and he could not retract his words. And thus, the blood of the prophet and the messenger of God came onto his hands.

Today, through these readings, we are all reminded that we are all temptable and weak. As Jesus said to His disciples, that while the spirit is strong and willing, but the flesh is weak. It is by our nature that we are easily tempted through the flesh, through our bodies, as the devil is always trying to find ways to persuade us and to pull us away from fulfilling God’s commandments, but instead trying to instil in us selfishness, pride, and greed.

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Agatha, a great and renowned martyr of the faith, who was a very pious and faithful young woman, who dedicated her whole life to the Lord. St. Agatha was a virgin woman who lived in what is now Sicily in Italy. She was born into a rich and noble family, who had then chosen in her early life, to dedicate and commit herself in perpetual virginity dedicated to God.

When a pagan nobleman, a Roman prefect tried to pursue her interest and made his advance on her, her rejection made him to persecute her, and all the more because of her Christian faith and her commitment to a sacred and devoted life to God. He attempted to sway her and to persuade her with many good offers to turn her from her faith, but all with no avail.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, the example of St. Agatha, who was tortured, who suffered because of her unfailing faith and devotion to God, should be an example to all of us, that we should also follow in her path, rejecting the temptations of the world, the temptations of our flesh and our desire, so that we would not end up like king Herod, who was tempted and gave himself up to that temptation, and in the end, he had nothing but condemnation.

May God strengthen us and our desire to love Him, and to commit things for the glory of His Name, and in all things, let us put forward our love for one another, the care and concern that should be shown to them, rather than to indulge in our own desires and wants. Let us all renew our commitment and faith in God, and let us all be ever closer to the throne of His mercy. God bless us all. Amen.