Angelic Doctor

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Thursday, 28 January 2016 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Thomas Aquinas, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 131 : 1-2, 3-5, 11, 12, 13-14

Remember David, o Lord, and all his readiness, how he swore an oath to the Lord, to the Mighty One of Jacob.

I will not enter my house nor get into my bed. I will give no sleep to my eyes, no slumber to my eyelids, until I find a place for the Lord, a dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob.

The Lord swore to David a promise, and He will remain true to it : “I will keep your descendants on your throne.”

If your sons keep My covenant and the decrees I have taught them, their sons, too, will sit forever upon your throne.

For the Lord has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His dwelling. This is My resting place forever, this I prefer, here will I dwell.

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Thursday, 28 January 2016 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Thomas Aquinas, Priest and Doctor of the Church (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

2 Samuel 7 : 18-19, 24-29

Then King David went in, sat before YHVH and said, “Who am I, o YHVH God, and who is my family that You have brought me so far? Yet this was not enough for You, o YHVH God, for You have also spoken of Your servant’s house for a long time to come. Is this the way men act, o YHVH God?”

“You have set apart Your people Israel to become Your people forever; and You, YHVH, have become their God. Now, o YHVH God, keep forever the promise You made and have now revealed to me regarding myself and my family, that Your Name may be honoured forever and people may say, ‘YHVH of hosts is God over Israel'”

“The house of Your servant David will be secure before You because You, o YHVH of hosts, God of Israel, have made it known to Your servant and have said to him : ‘Your family will last forever.’ This is why I have dared to address this prayer to You.”

“So now, o YHVH God, since You are the faithful God, and have promised me this good thing, please bless my descendants, that they may continue forever before You. For You, o YHVH God, have spoken and, with Your blessing, my family shall be blessed forever.”

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Tuesday, 3 September 2013 : 22nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Gregory the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church (Scripture Reflection)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we celebrate today the great feast of one principal saint of Christendom, none other than St. Gregory the Great, also known as Pope St. Gregory the Great who lived and reigned as Pope in the turn of the seventh century after the birth of Christ. He lived during the time of troubles, of the Dark Ages Europe, after the fall of the Roman Empire in Western Europe, with barbarians plundering the former lands of the Empire and settling in them as permanent settlers.

Even Rome and Italy at the time the birth of Pope St. Gregory the Great was under the authority and power of the Ostrogoths, one of the Gothic barbarian peoples who had settled in Italy after the fall of the Empire in the west. The Ostrogoths adopted the Arian heretic belief, and the predecessors of Pope St. Gregory the Great, as the Pope and the Bishop of Rome, worked hard to convert them to the true faith of the Apostles and reject their heretical beliefs.

Pope St. Gregory the Great lived through a time of great difficulties before he became Pope in 590 AD. The Ostrogothic kingdom went through a series of civil wars and internal conflicts, and together with the reconquest campaign by the Eastern Roman Empire, which saw Italy and Rome back at the hand of the Empire, had wrecked much of the local population, ravaged by warfare and deadly disease.

On the backdrop of these events, Pope St. Gregory the Great lived his early life and his adult years, and yet, he grew up to be a pious, zealous, and well educated man, who joined the religious life and became a monk. He was deeply devoted to Christ and immersed himself in his religious devotions as a monk, and prayed fervently and worked hard for the sake of God. Even after his election to the See of Peter, he remained the same, and continued his good works for the sake of God and God’s holy people.

Most importantly, Pope St. Gregory the Great reinvigorated the Church and its missionary efforts, in spreading the faith and the Holy Gospels to the pagan peoples and to the heretics who had walked away from the true path of God, the path of salvation. He sent many missionaries to the far ends of Christendom, to England through St. Augustine of Canterbury, and to other parts of Europe, converting many to the faith in God, and bringing many souls to salvation.

Not only that, Pope St. Gregory the Great was truly irreplaceable for his crucial role in the reform of the Church, particularly in its liturgy and rules of worship in the Mass. Both the Mass we have today, in all its forms, and the Divine Liturgy that our brethren of the Eastern Churches celebrate can trace their origins to the reforms and changes made by Pope St. Gregory the Great, the holy and great reformer Pope.

If you find the name Gregorian Chant familiar, yes, this wonderful music of worship is named after this great Pope, who reformed Church music in such a radical way, that it totally changed the landscape of divine song and songs of worship over the centuries even until today. To Pope St. Gregory the Great, the Lord our God in Jesus Christ is so great and glorious in heaven, and so profound is His might and power, that we ought to honour Him the best way we can with our abilities and senses, and hence, his reforms of the Mass and the Church music in the Gregorian chants.

Pope St. Gregory the Great gave much of his love and care for others, for the poor through charity, and for everyone through his dedicated and loving actions in Christ. He brought the Lord close to everyone through his own deeds and words, and indeed, through his copious writings. Many of Pope St. Gregory the Great’s writing remained and became source of inspiration for our faith, just as it had been during his time as Pope. He worked hard to defend the people against heresies and against the temptations of the devil, doing as much as he could to bring more and more souls towards salvation.

Yes, brethren, this great and saintly Pope truly is worthy of heaven, and he preached with the authority of Jesus Christ the Lord and Saviour of all, who is so mighty and all-powerful, that even the evil spirits obeyed Him, as we heard in the Gospel today. Even the devil would kneel before the Lord crucified, the Almighty Creator of all, for He is the light of the world, and no darkness would be able to stand before Him.

We are the children of light, brothers and sisters in Christ, and as long as we do the will of God, and follow His ways, we will always reflect His brilliant light, and the devil will have no power over us, for he is doomed to destruction and eternal torture, while we who are saved in Christ are fated to be in the eternal light of God and enjoy the fruits of our faith, the fruits of our salvation. Fear not, brethren, for our Lord and God who loves us, desires not our death and destruction, as what He truly wishes for us, is to live, and not just any life, but an eternal life filled with love and true joy in Him.

That was why He sent us many help along the way, all His saints, including Pope St. Gregory the Great, whom we talked about just before. Through their hard work, we have known the Lord our loving God, and through their labours, we have received the teachings of the Lord and grow to understand the extent of His great love and dedication to all of us. However, the work did not just stop there, brethren, as even today, much work awaits us, and we too are called to be the saints and the apostles of our own time.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore, inspired by the examples of Pope St. Gregory the Great, and by the love and sacrifice of our Lord, through which He showed us His infinite love, let us also be proactive, in all our dealings, all of our words and all of our actions, that we will always reflect the love of God with zeal, and therefore obey His will, that is to love, to love Him with all our hearts and all our strength, and do the same to our fellow brothers and sisters.

May the Lord our God who showed us His mercy and love, and who rebuked evil spirits from the hearts of men that we may be clean and pure and worthy of Him, bless us, strengthen us, and empower us, that we will be reunited with Him when He comes again in glory and bring us to eternal life with Him, forever and ever. Amen.

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Tuesday, 3 September 2013 : 22nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Gregory the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White

Luke 4 : 31-37

Jesus went down to Capernaum, a town of Galilee, and began teaching the people at the sabbath meetings. They were astonished at the way He taught them, for His word was spoken with authority.

In the synagogue there was a man possessed by an evil spirit, who shouted in a loud voice, “What do You want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I recognise You : You are the Holy One of God.”

Then Jesus said to him sharply, “Be silent and leave this man!” The evil spirit then threw the man down in front of them, and came out of him without doing him harm.

Amazement seized all these people, and they said to one another, “What does this mean? He commands the evil spirits with authority and power. He orders, and you see how they come out!” And news about Jesus spread throughout the surrounding area.

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Tuesday, 3 September 2013 : 22nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Gregory the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White

Psalm 26 : 1, 4, 13-14

The Lord is my light and my salvation – whom shall I fear? The Lord is the rampart of my life; I will not be afraid.

One thing I ask of the Lord, one thing I seek – that I may dwell in His house all the days of my life, to gaze at His jewel and to visit His sanctuary.

I hope, I am sure, that I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Trust in the Lord, be strong and courageous. Yes, put your hope in the Lord!

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Tuesday, 3 September 2013 : 22nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Gregory the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White

1 Thessalonians 5 : 1-6, 9-11

You do not need anyone to write to you about the delay and the appointed time for these events. You know that the Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. When people feel secure and at peace, the disaster will suddenly come upon them as the birth pangs of a woman in labour, and they will not escape.

But you, beloved, are not in darkness; so that day will not surprise you like a thief. All of you are citizens of the light and the day; we do not belong to night and darkness. Let us not, therefore, sleep as others do, but remain alert and sober.

For God has not willed us to be condemned but to win salvation through Christ Jesus our Lord. He died for us so that we might enter into life with Him, whether we are still awake or already asleep. Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, as you are doing now.

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Monday, 28 January 2013 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Thomas Aquinas, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Scripture Reflection)

Today, once again we see Jesus in His role as the High Priest and the Messiah sent by God. He is the Son, one of the Trinity, whom the Father sent down to us, for our sake, out of His great love for us. He is filled with the Holy Spirit, unlike the slander of the teachers of the Law as mentioned in the Gospel, who accused and slandered Jesus’ miracle work to be the work of Satan and his evil spirits.

Then why was Jesus so angry with them such that He rebuked them mentioning that sinning against the Holy Spirit cannot be forgiven, although He said that even those who insulted God can be forgiven? The reason is because, we need to differentiate between those who does not know God, but can recognise good works and miracles, which eventually originated in God, and those who claim that they know and love God, but cannot even recognise the very work of the Holy Spirit, which is manifested in the good works and miracles, as Jesus did.

The teachers of the Law belong to that second group of people, who are supposedly very knowledgeable about the Law and thus about God, but failed to see the works of God and the Holy Spirit through Jesus, and instead slanders the Holy Spirit in Jesus by attributing the works to the power of Satan. This is a kind of ultimate hypocrisy on the teachers’ side and Jesus clearly did not tolerate this, for as much as God is indeed forgiving and loving, He also hates sin. These teachers of the Law were the guides of the people, and they set the moral standard of the people of God. If they themselves slander the Lord and His great works through Jesus, then they are not a good guides of the people, since instead of bringing the people to the Lord, they will make people fall into sin instead.

Jesus Himself said : “If anyone cause these little ones (also mean the people, the faithful) who believe in Me to sin, it is better for him to be thrown into the sea with large milestone around his neck.” This is why Jesus was very angry at the teachers of the Law due to their role in deceiving people on the works of the Holy Spirit. The same too should also apply to our priests today, as they too are human, and are subject to temptations as we are. Therefore, let us fervently pray for them, that all of them will remain faithful to their calling, and will commit themselves fully to God and His works, ministering to God’s people to the best of their abilities. Let them not to fall into temptation and thus sin, as what has happened to some of our wayward priests. Pray for these priests too, that they can return to the light, and do their best to atone for whatever evil they have committed. God truly loves all and forgives all, even the worst of sinners.

Then, Jesus also emphasized again on the unity of the Church, the Church He has established and entrusted to St. Peter the Apostle. He said that if Satan is divided against himself and has his followers divided against him in a civil war, he will not be able to stand and be vanquished. The same also applies to our own Church, as how are we going to beat Satan and his evil works, if our own Church is divided against itself?

Many people throughout the centuries, fueled by personal ambitions and selfish desires had led to the fracturing of the unity of the Body of Christ, the Church. As a result, today, although technically there is still only One Church that exist, our own Catholic Church, established by Christ Himself and entrusted to Peter, there now in our world exists thousands of churches, which are the splinters and fragments of this holy Body. Even worse that instead of working together, many of these churches attack one another’s faith, and many of them also even went astray from the true faith in Christ, preferring alternative sources and leaders than Christ and the Holy Scripture itself. Many of the attacks were even directed at the Church itself, and many believed in the falseness that arose out of misunderstanding of the faith, and through centuries of division and enmity, born out of human imperfections.

Today, we celebrate the feast day of St. Thomas Aquinas, a great Doctor of the Church, who was called Doctor Angelicus, or the “Angelic Doctor” out of his great piety, his great faith, and most importantly, out of his great works of the faith and in the field of theology, that helps to define the basis of our modern Church, and also influenced many aspects of our modern world. He is the one person that we look up to, in the matters of the faith, and many aspirants to the priesthood should indeed read his great writings and learn more about the faith, to anchor themselves properly in Christ, that they will not be led astray like those wayward priests, or even worse to be like those teachers of the Law rebuked by Christ. St. Thomas Aquinas also defined many concepts of Christian virtues and ethics, which act as guidelines on how all of us Christians should strive to be. Let us all take some time to try and find the writings of this great Saint, read them, and reflect on them. In doing so, all of us, laity and ordained members of the Church alike, can gain great holiness.

Therefore, today, let us also strive to work for unity of all Christians, of all who believes in Christ. Let us stand up to our faith, and equipped ourselves with the knowledge of our faith and the Holy Scripture, to always be ready with answers, especially when a person who does not yet believe in Christ, or even our separated brethren in Christ came to us with questions about the faith, and about our Church, we are able to give a good answer, and may indeed help to dispel many misconceptions that others have on both the faith, and the Catholic Church, the One Church that God has established, that hopefully, one day, all Christians will be reunited again, and be able to call each other, brothers and sisters in Christ, once again.

Let us work to help fulfill the prayer of Christ to the Father : “That they may be One as we are One; I in them and You in Me. Thus they shall reach perfection in unity; and the world shall know that You have sent Me, and that I have loved them, just as You loved Me.”, and let the world truly know the Lord through our Christian unity, and stand up united against Satan and all his evil angels and supporters. God bless us all, and God bless our priests, and God bless our Pope, Benedict XVI, Amen.

St. Thomas Aquinas, pray for us.

 

+Ut Omnes Unum Sint, ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam+

(That they all may be One, for the greater glory of God)