Annunciation in Nazareth

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Wednesday, 6 April 2016 : Second Week of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard that very famous phrase from the Holy Scriptures, from the Holy Gospel according to St. John, verse 3, which spoke about the love of God, that it is so great, that He was willing to send us His Son, Who is Jesus our Lord, that through Him we may not face death, but find eternal redemption and eternal life through Him.

What we have learnt from the Scripture readings today is that God loves us all, and He wants to save us all from the threat of hellfire and eternal damnation, as well as everlasting death. He shall not abandon us to the sufferings of eternal hell. God will protect all those who are faithful to Him, and He shall send His Angels to protect His people, guarding them from those who sought to bring them to damnation.

This was seen in the examples of the Holy Apostles which we heard as told by the Acts of the Apostles. The Apostles were preaching the faith and the truth told by Jesus our Lord to the people, and the Pharisees, the teachers of the Law, the elders and the chief priests were not happy that these Apostles were drawing the people away from them and gaining in influence and human regards.

As a result, they persecuted the Apostles, restricting them and arresting them whenever they could, including what we have witnessed today from the Acts of the Apostles. They imprisoned them and wanted to judge them falsely with false accusations and false judgments in order to silence them and stop their evangelising works. But God had other plans for them, one that no human authority and power could have undone.

For God freed the Apostles through His Angels, and by His guidance, they continued their ministry to the people of God, and despite the continued opposition by the Pharisees and the other enemies of the Lord and His truth, the Apostles continued to establish the Church and strengthened it through turbulent and difficult times. And more and more souls were saved by being welcomed into the Church and by their belief in the Lord Jesus.

God shows His grace and blessings to all those who have kept their faith in Him, and He shall not disappoint all those who have placed their trust in Him. For indeed, while the trust of men is feeble and weak, and can cause disappointments easily, but to trust in God is like to trust in a strong and firm rock, immovable and solid, amidst all the uncertainties and challenges of this life.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we proceed through this joyous season of Easter, let us all reflect on our own lives, our deeds and actions. Let us all think about how we have lived our lives and in how we have interacted with one another. Have we truly been faithful to God? Or have we instead been swayed by the temptations of this world to deviate from the necessity for us to keep our faith strongly anchored in Him?

Let us ask ourselves, if we have placed our trust far more in ourselves rather than trusting in God and in His promises. This is the reason why so many of us were so reluctant in following God and in committing ourselves to His cause. Remember, brethren, that the Lord Himself had spoken, how the harvest is plentiful in this world, and yet the labourers are few. We have to step up and be courageous in committing ourselves to bring the Lord closer to ourselves and to our brethren around us.

Let us help one another on our path, and help each other to strive to walk in His path in our actions and our dealings with one another. Let our actions be examples for others, through whose actions, we may bring them closer to God, and therefore make ourselves each to be worthy of the Lord and of the salvation and the eternal life He has promised us. May God bless us all and keep us always in His love. God bless us all. Amen.

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Wednesday, 6 April 2016 : Second Week of Easter (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 3 : 16-21

At that time, Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Yes, God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him may not be lost, but may have eternal life. God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world; instead, through Him the world is to be saved.”

“Whoever believes in Him will not be condemned. He who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the Name of the only Son of God. This is how the Judgment is made : Light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”

“For whoever does wrong hates the light, and does not come to the light, for fear that his deeds will be seen as evil. But whoever lives according to the truth comes into the light, so that it can be clearly seen that his works have been done in God.”

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Wednesday, 6 April 2016 : Second Week of Easter (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 33 : 2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9

I will bless the Lord all my days; His praise will be ever on my lips. My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the lowly hear and rejoice.

Oh, let us magnify the Lord, together let us glorify His Name! I sought the Lord, and He answered me; from all my fears He delivered me.

They who look to Him are radiant with joy, their faces never clouded with shame. When the poor cry out, the Lord hears and saves them from distress.

The Lord’s Angel encamps and patrols to keep safe those who fear Him. Oh, see and taste the goodness of the Lord! Blessed is the one who finds shelter in Him!

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Wednesday, 6 April 2016 : Second Week of Easter (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Acts 5 : 17-26

The High Priest and all his supporters, that is the party of the Sadducees, became very jealous of the Apostles; so they arrested them and had them thrown into the public jail. But an Angel of the Lord opened the door of the prison during the night, brought them out, and said to them, “Go and stand in the Temple court and tell the people the whole of this living message.”

Accordingly they entered the Temple at dawn and resumed their teaching. When the High Priest and his supporters arrived, they called together the Sanhedrin, that is the full Council of the elders of Israel. They sent word to the jail to have the prisoners brought in. But when the Temple guards arrived at the jail, they did not find them inside, so they returned with the news, “We found the prison securely locked and the prison guards at their post outside the gate, but when we opened the gate, we found no one inside.”

Upon hearing these words, the captain of the Temple guard and the high priests were baffled, wondering where all of this would end. Just then someone arrived with the report, “Look, those men whom you put in prison are standing in the Temple, teaching the people.”

Then the captain went off with the guards and brought them back, but without any show of force, for fear of being stoned by the people.

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Tuesday, 5 April 2016 : Second Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Vincent Ferrer, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we continue the celebration of the joyful season of Easter by listening to the words of the Scripture which tells us first about the community of the first Christians in the early Church, as told by the Acts of the Apostles, how they lived in great harmony and love, filled with care and compassion for one another, and having left behind worldly concerns, they were living righteously and justly.

And in the Gospel we heard the conversation between Jesus our Lord and the faithful Pharisee, Nicodemus, one of the few righteous to be counted among them, as he was willing to open his ears, his mind and his heart to the word of God spoken through Jesus. That was why he met Him, albeit secretly during the time of night, and discussed with our Lord about the things which He had spoken to the people of God in His teachings.

And Jesus spoke of the need of the faithful to receive a new birth in Him, to be born again in the Spirit. And He also mentioned how the teachers spoke of the things they have witnessed and which they have learnt and known, and thus He, as the great Teacher of all, spoke of the things which He knew about, that is things on earth and in heaven.

But many among the people, especially the Pharisees, the teachers of the Law and the elders refused to listen to Him, save for Nicodemus, when He spoke to them. They closed their ears, minds and hearts to the words of truth that our Lord is delivering to them. And as a result, that was why they had no part in the salvation which God is bringing upon His people through Jesus and His loving sacrifice. For all those who refused to believe in God and in the One Whom He sent, has no share in the eternal life.

The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, the elders of Israel and the members of the priestly class were all concerned mostly about their own needs, wants and desires. They were concerned and worried about their own social standings and status in the society, as they were very highly respected and regarded among the people of Israel at that time. And they viewed Jesus as a rival to their teaching authority and their position.

Each was concerned about his or her own needs and wants, and that is the hallmark and the common thing about our own society today. Our selfishness is the obstacle which prevented us from truly being able to reach out to the Lord and to attain salvation in our God. It is just the same as the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, and if we ask ourselves, and reflect on our own actions, we should see how we too are acting in a similar manner to those who have refused our Lord and rejected Him.

We should look at the examples of the first Christians and how they have lived together in great harmony. We should model our own actions and life after their exemplary actions, and seek not to just think about ourselves and satisfy our own selfish needs and wants alone, but to also be able to empathise and to think of the needs of others around us, especially if they need those even just in order to be able to survive on and continue living.

Today we also celebrate the feast of a holy priest of God, a saint, St. Vincent Ferrer, who was a Dominican friar living during the time of the ending of the Medieval Era in Europe about more than six centuries ago. From his youth he has spent his life in the service of God, joining the religious order at a young age, and resisting the temptations to do otherwise, he continued to become a great priest and a great missionary.

He preached in many places, and taught countless peoples about the faith. Through what he has done, and many people found the true faith through him and through his work, because he abandoned behind ways of this world, selfishness and all the desires of the flesh, and instead gave himself, in the same manner of life as the early Christians, to the service of God and to His people.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we can do the same as well in our own lives. We are all called to be good brothers and sisters to one another, and to live in the same manner as those first Christians had lived. It does not mean that we have to literally sell everything we have and share all our goods with one another, but certainly we can begin by rejecting our own selfishness, our selfish attitudes and open ourselves to love one another and to bring God’s love to His people.

Let us all help one another and live in love, and may God’s blessing shine ever more on His beloved ones. Let us commit ourselves anew to the life blessed and graced by God’s love. Amen.

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Tuesday, 5 April 2016 : Second Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Vincent Ferrer, Priest (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 3 : 7b-15

At that time, Jesus said to Nicodemus, “You must be born again from above. The wind blows where it pleases and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. It is like that with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

Nicodemus asked again, “How can this be?” And Jesus answered, “You are a teacher in Israel, and you do not know these things! Truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and we witness to the things we have seen, but you do not accept our testimony. If you do not believe them when I speak of earthly things, what then, when I speak to you of heavenly things?”

“No one has ever gone up to heaven except the One Who came from heaven, the Son of Man. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life.”

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Tuesday, 5 April 2016 : Second Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Vincent Ferrer, Priest (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 92 : 1ab, 1c-2, 5

The Lord reigns, robed in majesty; the Lord is girded with strength.

The world now is firm, it cannot be moved. Your throne stands from long ago, o Lord, from all eternity You are.

Your decrees can be trusted, holiness dwells in Your house day after day without end, o Lord.

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Tuesday, 5 April 2016 : Second Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Vincent Ferrer, Priest (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Acts 4 : 32-37

The whole community of believers was one in heart and mind. No one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but rather they shared all things in common. With great power the Apostles bore witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, for all of them were living in an exceptional time of grace.

There was no needy person among them, for those who owned land or houses, sold them and brought the proceeds of the sale. And they laid it at the feet of the Apostles who distributed it according to each one’s need.

This is what a certain Joseph did. He was a Levite from Cyprus, whom the Apostles called Barnabas, meaning : “The encouraging one.” He sold a field which he owned and handed the money to the Apostles.

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Monday, 4 April 2016 : Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord, Memorial of St. Isidore, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we celebrate the great occasion of the Solemnity of the Annunciation of our Lord Jesus Christ, which should have occurred as it does every year on the twenty-fifth day of March, but as that day coincided with the Good Friday celebrations, therefore, it was postponed to this day, the first day after the Easter Octave had ended.

On this occasion, we commemorate that very important moment, when the Good News of God was first announced to us mankind, the sign of salvation for all humanity, the sign of hope beyond all despair and darkness that had covered our world and our lives, like a piercing light through a veil of great darkness. For with the announcement of the Good News of the coming of our Saviour by the Archangel Gabriel, a world once in darkness now has seen the Light of God again.

Today while we continue to celebrate together the joyful season of Easter, we are called to recall once again, how it all began, and of the Lord’s promise, where He had promised His salvation upon us, and His liberation of us all from our enthrallment to sins and to all the wickedness of our sinfulness. He has promised us the coming of a Saviour, and in Jesus Who was announced to the world that fateful day in Nazareth, God made full and perfectly completed, His eternal promise.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we see the example of Mary, the Mother of our Lord, the greatest of all saints and the closest to the throne of her beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. For Mary was an essential instrument in the salvation of all mankind, whom God had prepared from the beginning, special and adorned to be the vessel to bear the Saviour and Lord of all creation Himself in her.

And that was why she was conceived herself without sin, without the taint of sin and wickedness which would make her unworthy to bear the Lord in her. But even more important than this, is that she remained true and faithful to God and all of His plans, even though such a plan was truly so grand and beyond our human understanding. And the burden of such a revelation was truly great indeed. Just imagine, if we are in Mary’s position, and an Archangel of God appearing before us, telling that she would become the mother of the Lord Most High Himself?

Mary, human as she was just like us, she was filled with uncertainty and doubts too. That was why she sought clarification from the Archangel Gabriel, that she was still a virgin, betrothed but had not yet consummated the marriage she was to have with Joseph her betrothed, and yet she was to bear the Son of God in her? And the Archangel Gabriel through his words revealed the truth about our Saviour to the whole world.

That He is the Son of God, the Word of God made flesh, that from the beginning and before the beginning of time, had been with the Father, inseparable and perfect in unity as God, and yet, by the will of the Lord, had been incarnate into the flesh of man, and became as men are, and as the Son of Man, He was to bear all of mankind’s sins and faults, and bearing with Him all these, He was to offer Himself as the perfect sacrifice and offering to God for our trespasses.

And thus now, as we glory and rejoice in the outcome of the Lord’s plan for our salvation, and as He had shown us the path to our redemption through our faith in His Son Jesus, our Lord, now we also remember the moment when it all began, when God revealed to the world, that His Saviour is coming, and is entering the world. And as we rejoice together celebrating our Lord’s love and care for us, let us heed the examples of Mary.

For Mary is our example in faith, in her devotion and undying commitment to our God, that she surrendered herself completely to God and entrusting herself to His plans and to His will. She followed on the path God had set up for her, even to following her Son in His ministry, and even all the way through the path of the cross, until she was there at the moment of His crucifixion, through which we have gained the redemption from our sins.

Let us all follow her examples, and practice our faith in our own actions. And as we rejoice in this Easter season, let us all remember those who have little or no joy, and especially our brethren who have yet to hear the word of our God’s salvation. Let us bring to them the light of our God, and may all of us receive salvation together as one people, and one day be able to glorify Him together, with His blessed mother Mary, whose faith is an inspiration to us all. God bless us all. Amen.

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Monday, 4 April 2016 : Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord, Memorial of St. Isidore, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Luke 1 : 26-38

In the sixth month, the Angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth. He was sent to a young virgin, who was betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the family of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.

The Angel came to her and said, “Rejoice, full of grace, the Lord is with you.” Mary was troubled at these words, wondering what this greeting could mean. But the Angel said, “Do not fear, Mary, for God has looked kindly on you. You shall conceive and bear a Son, and you shall call Him Jesus.”

“He will be great, and shall rightly be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the kingdom of David, His ancestor; He will rule over the people of Jacob forever, and His reign shall have no end.”

Then Mary said to the Angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” And the Angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore, the Holy Child to be born of you shall be called Son of God. Even your relative Elizabeth is expecting a son in her old age, although she was unable to have a child; and she is now in her sixth month. With God nothing is impossible.”

Then Mary said, “I am the handmaid of the Lord, let it be done to me as you have said.” And the Angel left her.