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Wednesday, 25 September 2013 : 25th Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we listened to the Lord who told His disciples on their mission and how they should perform it. We also listened to how the Lord was merciful to His people, even after they have transgressed against Him and disobeyed His commandments, causing great disappointments to Him who has loved us so much.

He wanted His disciples to be the true messengers of the Gospel, to be the bearers of the Lord’s message to the world, by their ministry among them, to the people who have yet to receive the Good News of the Lord. Therefore, as Christ had asked of His disciples as their mission before He departed from this world, the same too is expected of us today, we, who are the present day disciples and followers of Christ.

Into His disciples, Christ had given the same authority He possessed, the power that He has over evils and diseases, the teaching authority and the revelation of the Word of God and the Law. That is the same power and authority that had been passed down to our Church leaders, the bishops and the priests, to heal those who are hurt, and to help all of us on our way towards the Lord in salvation.

Armed with these gifts and endowment, the Lord sent them forth into the world, to the people of God, especially those who still lived in the depths of their sins. They were sent in pairs and went from place to place, visiting each of them and telling them on the Good News of salvation. They were to live humbly and act humbly, as the servants of God, that they would remain pure in their intentions, and would not veer away from their mission.

Yes, indeed, that is because mankind is inherently weak, especially against the temptations of the world. In our vulnerability lies a great risk, that we will misuse what we have been given, and use them for wickedness instead of using them for things that we are supposed to do, as the servants and children of God. That was what many of us today had done, and even among our priests and bishops, the shepherds appointed over us.

We either neglect the mission God had entrusted us with, and instead following the ways of the world, we live in wickedness and darkness, and we often drag even others with us into darkness. And the leaders of the faithful had also sometimes went wayward and caused much harm and divisions within the Church in various ways. This neglect and abandonment of the works that we ought to do, cause disruption and come against the plan that God has for each of us.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are urged to get rid of the worldly distractions in our lives and in our mission as the bringer of the Good News to mankind. We are urged to forgo things that may steer us away from our true purpose in life, that is to love one another and to love the Lord our God. It is very easy for us to lose our purpose, if we put out focus in the wrong things, such as money, possessions, and in worldly desires.

As I have often mentioned, that money, wealth, and material goods are not in themselves bad or evil. It is a fuel for evil or for good depending on how we utilise them, the way that we use them. We can use them for love and charity, as well as for selfishness and evil. It is in our hands that they can become tool for good or for bad. However, indeed, mankind often use them disproportionately for negative purposes, because the temptation of the devil is indeed very great.

Therefore, brethren, it is important for us to avoid falling into the same trap of the devil, that we do not become ensnared with the false promises of pleasure and money, that we end up cursed and damned because we failed to look away from the temporary pleasures the devil has offered. What we need is prayer, a good and vibrant prayer life that we have a strong faith, that whatever the devil offers us, we will be able to resist.

It is also important for us to love, and to serve our community, especially to our brethren in need, that we reinforce in ourselves the love God has given us. And not only that, in doing so, we also obey the commands of Jesus our Lord, who had sent His disciples to serve all the children of God, giving to them their love, care, and attention.

Let us all be faithful, loving, and committed to the Lord, that we can truly carry out His will and the mission He had entrusted us all with, to love sincerely, and to resist all the approaches of Satan, using whatever graces we have given with, especially in material possessions, wisely and carefully, for the good and benefits of one another. God bless us all. Amen.

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Tuesday, 24 September 2013 : 25th Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we hear a very profound message from our Lord Jesus, that He had made all those who are righteous and do the will of God, being obedient to the Law as His own, as the ones counted among those to whom He gives His everlasting care and attention.

Yes, Jesus had come down from heaven, God incarnate as Man, so that He can be with us, and claim us from the darkness that enslaved us all. He revealed to all the children of God, even today, on the nature of God’s love for us, so much so that He sent His only Son, that we may be saved and have life in Him.

Being the children of God, as the most beloved and precious of His creations, mankind has long been destined for great things. For even the stewardship of this world was entrusted to us through our ancestors, through God’s commands to Adam and Eve, his wife. Yet, we have fallen from grace by our corruption with sin and no longer worthy to call God, our Father.

That is where Christ came in, and His coming into this world had reestablished that link between us and the Father. He had become one of us, that our links with God become ever more tangible, and He who is God, lives within us and is present within us, we who receive the gifts of His Most Precious Body and Blood through the Holy Eucharist in the Mass.

Yes, now that the Lord is in us, and we in Him, we have been made and marked as truly belonged to the Lord, and freed from the bonds and slavery under sin. All this, if we would accept Christ as our Lord and Saviour, and most importantly, showing it in a concrete manner, by following the will of God, that is loving one another, and through that, loving God with all our strengths.

Through Christ, we have been remade, and made pure and wonderful again in the presence of the Lord. Through Him, we cast aside our old and sinful selves and embrace new and loving life, life anchored in faith and love towards God who also loves us dearly. It is precisely like what we read today in the first reading, on the efforts of the rebuilding of the House of God, the Temple, in Jerusalem, after the return of Israel from the exile in Babylon.

The people of Israel had done things abhorred by God and rebelled against His love, and therefore, was punished by being given over to their enemies. They suffered in exile, separated from the land God had promised them, because they had broken the covenant their ancestors had established with God, ever since the days of Abraham.

Yet, God showed them His mercy, and through His power exercised via Cyrus and Darius, the rulers of the Persian Empire, the people of God was allowed once again to walk on the land God had given them and dwell in it. The first Temple and House of the Lord, the one King Solomon had made was destroyed with Jerusalem when the Babylonians took over the city, and yet, in the first reading today, we hear about the rebuilding of the Temple, which would become the Second Temple, still standing by the time of Christ, and was the place where He often taught the people during His earthly ministry.

In the same way, the Lord had established a new Temple, that is the Temple of His Body, that even when the physical Temple of Jerusalem was destroyed soon later by the Romans, the real Temple of God, that is His house, remains. Each one of us who have faith in Christ and obey the will of God, are these new Houses of the Lord, the Holy Temple in which God resides.

And now because we are the Temples of the Lord, then within each one of us had been entrusted with a great light of God. That is why it is important that we do not hide that light, but reveal it for all to see. If we do things that are wicked and against the Lord’s wishes, essentially what we have done is that we have been corrupting that Temple that is our body and our being.

Therefore, the light that is within us will not be able to shine brightly, as it is hidden behind screen of darkness and evils, which marred the light God had given to all of us. Hence, dear brethren, let us from now on respond to this matter, and most importantly, have the resolve to break free from this prison of darkness and returns to the light.

Let us, from this moment onward, no longer fear to show the light that is in us to the world, to all those who are around us. Let us be the light placed on the lampstand, to be shown to all peoples, the bright light within us that can never be dimmed. Remember, that Christ, the Light of the world, is also lifted up high above the earth, that He was seen by all. That all who sees that Light, may have a new hope, that is an eternal life of happiness and true joy with God.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, because we who have accepted and received Christ into ourselves had already had Christ within each and every one of us, therefore, we as the possessions of Christ, should also reflect His light in us, and show it to the world, as the light that nurtures and show the way to others still lost in the darkness.

Let us not be fearful and be courageous to take up the challenge God had given us, to shine brightly and show our faith to the world without hesitation. Be like Christ who showed His love for all, and yes, indeed, for all to see, that all who saw Him receive new life through salvation. May the Lord strengthen us and empower us to love, to love both Him and one another. Amen.

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Sunday, 22 September 2013 : 25th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 16 : 1-13

At another time Jesus told His disciples, “There was a rich man, whose steward was reported to him for fraudulent service. He summoned the steward  and asked him, ‘What is this I hear about you? I want you to render an account of your service, for it is about to be terminated.'”

“The steward thought to himself, ‘What am I to do now? My master will surely dismiss me. I am not strong enough to do hard work, and I am ashamed to beg. I know what I will do : I must make sure that when I am dismissed, there will be people who will welcome me into their homes.'”

“So he called his master’s debtors, one by one. He asked the first debtor, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ The reply was, ‘A hundred jars of oil.’ The steward said, ‘Here is your bill. Sit down quickly and write fifty.’ To the second debtor he put the same question, ‘How much do you owe?’ The answer was, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ Then the steward said, ‘Take your bill and write eighty.'”

“The master commended the dishonest steward for his astuteness : for the people of this world are more astute, in dealing with their own kind, than are the people of light. And so I tell you : use filthy money to make friends for yourselves, so that, when it fails, these people may welcome you into the eternal homes.”

“Whoever can be trusted in little things can also be trusted in great ones; whoever is dishonest in slight matters will also be dishonest in greater ones. So if you have been dishonest in handling filthy money, who would entrust you with true wealth? And if you have been dishonest with things that are not really yours, who will give you that wealth which is truly your own?”

“No servant can serve two masters. Either he does not like the one and is fond of the other, or he regards one highly and the other with contempt. You cannot give yourself both to God and to money.”

 

Alternative Reading (shorter version)

Luke 16 : 10-13

“Whoever can be trusted in little things can also be trusted in great ones; whoever is dishonest in slight matters will also be dishonest in greater ones. So if you have been dishonest in handling filthy money, who would entrust you with true wealth? And if you have been dishonest with things that are not really yours, who will give you that wealth which is truly your own?”

“No servant can serve two masters. Either he does not like the one and is fond of the other, or he regards one highly and the other with contempt. You cannot give yourself both to God and to money.”

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Saturday, 21 September 2013 : Feast of St. Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist (Scripture Reflection)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the feast of one of the Twelve Apostles, that is of St. Matthew the Evangelist, one of the four writers of the Holy Gospels. St. Matthew was once the tax collector, known also as Levi, whom the Lord called out of his previous life as money collector for the Roman overlords, to be the collector of souls, to take part in the salvation of mankind.

Brethren, today the Lord wants us to know that firstly, He loves us all without condition, with all of His heart. Then, He also cares for all of us His children, whom He loves best over all of His other creations, particularly the lost sheep, the ones who had been lost to darkness. That was why He mentioned the need for these lost ones for His love, and He made Himself available for them, calling them up from the depth of darkness into the light.

The Lord Himself called His Apostles and disciples from the rank of sinners, those who were sinful in various ways, from various backgrounds, and all of them, in one way or another, repented from their sinful past, and open themselves to God’s love, and eventually become great tools of salvation through which Christ our Lord made manifest His saving power. And St. Matthew, once sinner and tax collector, became the writer of the Holy Gospels, the bearer of the Good News of salvation.

However, being the followers of Christ were not an easy thing, just as it is not easy in our world today. There will always be opposition and even persecution against us, just as the world had hated Christ, they too will hate us, His followers and disciples. Many sneered at us, as they had done so for the Apostles and disciples of Christ through the generations. They mocked us for the sins we have, although they themselves were sinners and did not repent.

Jesus was mocked by the Pharisees and the scribes very often, for eating and gathering together with sinners, tax collectors, and prostitutes, whom they considered to be the lowest tier in the society, and whom they considered damned and cursed to hell. That was why, they distanced themselves from these sinners, trying to keep their own purity, disassociating themselves from all these ‘impurities’.

Yet, in doing so, they had instead incurred the wrath of the Lord. Not only that they praised themselves for their own achievements and deeds, but also that they had put down in contempt, the people of God whom they were supposed to lead. They had not reached out to them, and instead distanced themselves from the most needy of God’s people and condemned them for their sinfulness while they themselves were equally sinful as well, if not even more sinful.

The Lord brought His disciples from the depth of their sinfulness, lifting them up, and bringing them, including St. Matthew, from their fate in hell, to the new heavenly glory, with Him in heaven. Yet, the process is not a simple one, brethren, as the path was truly difficult, filled with the traps and devices of the evil one, attempting to bring them from God. All but Judas Iscariot survived those tests victorious, rebuking the devil and his temptations.

They were sorely tempted, and fear crept into their hearts when the Lord was arrested at the Garden of Gethsemane, after His Last Supper with them. They were scattered and broken, as if sheep without a shepherd. Even St. Peter, the leader of all the apostles and disciples of Christ, fell, and denied Christ three times, out of fear for his own life and safety.

But, brethren, this is where they were different from Judas the traitor, as they persevered while Judas gave in fully to Satan’s advances, and in the end, chose to take the quick way out by suicide, instead of seeking for the Lord’s mercy and reaffirmed his faith and love for Him, as the other Apostles had done.

The Lord had prepared His apostles through trials and difficulties, as St. Paul had mentioned, and they passed, not because they were righteous, but because they had risen up from their sinful ways towards righteousness, towards their love and dedication, for the Lord their Master and our God, and towards all of God’s children, whom they spilled their blood and shed their life for, following the very example Christ had set Himself.

They feared no human authority nor persecutions, for the Lord was always with them throughout their mission journey, to bring all God’s people and gather them to Himself, that they may be saved. St. Matthew was a part of this, and through the Gospel he wrote, inspired by the Holy Spirit, he saved many souls from damnation.

He was himself once a sinner, a tax collector shunned by many of his own people, branded as traitors, since they were seen as the collaborators of the Romans, and yet, he became a great fisher of men, bringing many towards the Lord their God. What then, about the Pharisees? What is their fate? It is possible to deduce that indeed, their lack of true faith and love for God, had doomed them to hell for eternity, for they care nothing about their brethren or God, and all they ever cared about was themselves.

Therefore, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today, as we commemorate this great feast of St. Matthew the Apostle and the Evangelist, let us follow in his footsteps, in his readiness to leave all that he had once had, and abandon his old, sinful life, to start anew in Christ, that the Lord who loves all, will put His Spirit within us, empowering us to be like the Apostles of old. May the Lord continue to bless us and embrace us with His love, for ever and ever. Amen.

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Thursday, 19 September 2013 : 24th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Januarius, Bishop and Martyr (Scripture Reflection)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we hear a very powerful story, one which certainly resonates with all of us. Firstly, it is that we ought not to let our  apparent inferiority and weakness be an obstacle to us, and allow others to belittle us because of our apparent shortcomings. That is because, brethren, even the least one among mankind, and the worst of all sinners have hope in them, that is hope in Jesus the Lord.

It is often that people are ostracised, bullied, and treated badly, simply because they appeared weak to their surrounding people, simply because they are perceived to be inferior, and therefore, to the people around them, they are not worthy of anything good. We are indeed ourselves also guilty of the same thing, as we often let our prejudices and pre-formed generalisations and mindsets to interfere in our approach to these less fortunate ones.

And that is how we belittle others around us and ostracise them, often even without we ourselves knowing that we had done such evil acts on our fellow brethren, simply because we are often not aware of the impacts of the actions we had done. Indeed, in fact, we have to make the habit of continuously reflecting on our own actions, especially our own shortcomings, that we become aware that as mankind, each of us have our own shortcomings, our unworthiness before God, and therefore we should not judge others, less so belittling them or treating them badly.

That was exactly what the Pharisee in the story of Jesus in the Gospel today had not done. The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law are the supposed experts and examples for the entire people of God, because of their piety and strict observation of the entire Jewish laws. Yet, as Christ had repeatedly pointed out in many different occasions, they did not truly have God in their hearts, as what they truly yearned was the glory and praise of men instead of the love of God.

They give in to their pride and arrogance, especially being placed in high esteem by the people, that they often judge others whom they deemed to be not as ‘holy’ as they were. They condemned prostitutes, tax collectors, and those they had considered as sinners in general. They failed to notice that they too were sinners, and in condemning these people, they have in fact judge others, while they themselves ought to be judged for their own wickedness.

They acted mighty and proud, proud with their great ‘piety’ and ‘obedience’ to the Law, but in fact, all these were empty, because they did not have God in their hearts. It is such that they have always been in the way during the Lord’s ministry in this world, planting obstacles wherever they could, and sowed dissent and trouble for Jesus and His disciples.

They failed to see the great repentance in the woman, the great humility in her as she approached the Lord and Saviour. She showed her regret for her sins through her tears, and through her complete humility. She did not show her faith, love, and dedication for the Lord through loud and long prayers as the Pharisees had done, but through her concrete actions. And to the Lord our God, her faith and love for Him was truly far greater than all of them combined.

Prayers are important, brethren, as it is our way to communicate with the Lord our God, in a two-way communication between Him and us. That is why, it is even more important to make sure that the prayers that we make truly are prayers worthy of our God, that is not like the prayers of the Pharisees.

We must humble ourselves before the Lord as the prostitute had done, seeking for God’s most merciful heart, throwing far away our pride and arrogance. The Pharisees liked to praise themselves and their ‘piety’ in prayers, and did not humble themselves for their sins. This is what we must not do.

Today, brethren, we celebrate the feast day of St. Januarius, who was once the Bishop of Naples in the early Church in Italy. St. Januarius lived and ministered through the times of difficulty for the Church and the faithful. He worked hard for the faithful, and ministered piously, even despite the harsh persecutions of the faithful, by the Emperor Diocletian, who led the last great persecution of the Church.

St. Januarius died protecting his faith and in his loving service to the people of God. As a result, he provided much ground for the Church to continue to grow and he also defended the faith against threats both external and internal. Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us follow in the footsteps of St. Januarius, to serve the Lord with passion and commitment. Let us also be humble before the Lord our God. May the Lord who is merciful and loving, continue to watch over us and protect us sinners, that we may return to Him and praise Him forevermore.

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Thursday, 19 September 2013 : 24th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Januarius, Bishop and Martyr (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red

1 Timothy 4 : 12-16

Let no one reproach you on account of your youth. Be a model to the believers in the way you speak and act, in your love, your faith and purity of life. Devote yourself to reading, preaching, and teaching, until I come.

Do not neglect the spiritual gift conferred on you with prophetic words when the elders laid their hands upon you. Think about it and practice it so that your progress may be seen by all. Take heed of yourself and attend to your teaching. Be steadfast in doing this and you will save both yourself and your hearers.

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Sunday, 15 September 2013 : 24th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflection)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we truly know of the greatness of the divine love and mercy of our Lord. He is truly our Father and God, because He truly loves us all unconditionally, like that of a father to a son. The parable of the prodigal son, the well-known story of the wayward son and the forgiving, loving father illustrates this nature of our God’s love for us very vividly.

Yes, the Lord our God is a loving God, whose heart is full of tenderness of love and compassion, especially for all of us, the most beloved of all His creations. He is merciful and readily forgives His children, that is all of us, if we come to Him with contrite and sorry heart, seeking for His forgiveness and love. That love and mercy He had given freely to all of us without exception.

He cares for us the way the father of the two sons cared for them. He showered them with abundance and love, and they lacked nothing. Similarly, we have been provided by the Lord with many things, some of us less, some of us more, that shows the depth of His love and care for us. When we go astray, in the same way as the wayward younger son, He seeks for us with love and commitment.

Yet, brethren, we cannot constantly live with sin, be tempted by sin, and showing sin and wickedness, as the Lord God, as loving and merciful He is, He is also a jealous and avenging God. He would not have sin tolerated in His presence. The temptation of doing these things abhorring to God, and Satan always ramp-up their success in corrupting the hearts of men, that we fall and fail, just like the second son of the father, whom left his father to wander to a foreign nation.

God wants us to be His, and that we will return to His embrace, and He longs for that day when we all can be reunited in perfection with Him, and no longer be separated from Him by sin and our stubbornness. In the same way as the father awaited for the return of the prodigal son from his sojourn in the foreign country, day after day, month after month, until the prodigal son returned to his presence, and he rejoiced because of that.

Yet, we are reluctant to return to our loving God, because of various reasons that become serious obstacles in our path towards God, towards returning to His loving embrace. We can easily observe this in the story of the prodigal son, where the younger son feared going home to his father, although if he returned, he would have lived once again in plenty.

One such obstacle is the pull and temptation of worldly pleasures, which prevents us from going back to the Lord, and instead we immerse ourselves in such pleasures excessively, shutting the Lord out of our hearts and our minds. The other obstacle is fear, that is the fear of the wrath of God, the fear of His anger and retribution for our mistakes and our betrayal.

Such fear prevents us from drawing near to the throne of mercy, and also opening our hearts to the love of God. Yes, the Lord who hates sin and evil will certainly be angry on the sins we have committed, but He is not someone who will get angry without any good reason. The anger of the Lord does not always mean a bad thing to us, as He is indeed like a father to us, a loving Father who cares for His children.

And therefore, just like a father, He chastises us whenever we do something wrong, that we will not repeat doing that again in the future. He is angry with us and punishes us as the way that He showed His care, that we will not fall again as our ancestors had fallen into damnation. He punished us not because He wanted us to suffer, but indeed to avoid eternal suffering that awaits us if He did not ‘discipline’ us.

Hence, brethren, let us look into ourselves and reflect on the things that we had done, which had not been what the Lord taught us to do, that brought us into sin, following the example of the prodigal son, who realised the mistakes he had committed, and to the point of being embarrassed of having to go back to his father when he had no other option.

But it is important to note and follow his examples, that despite his initial fear and hesitation, he gathered his courage and returned to his father, who welcomed him and embraced him with love and joy. Then, brethren, we too should follow his example, to be meek and humble before the Lord who is merciful and loving.

Then, finally, let us reflect on the behaviour of the elder son, who became angry at his father for what he perceived to be unequal and unfair treatment by his father. This is a common  behaviour in mankind, which I am sure that we had witnessed quite often in our lives, how people feel that they deserve something more than what they had received and become jealous when they perceive tht others had been treated better when to them, these people deserved it less than them.

The elder son represents those people whom the Lord had chosen and saved since early on in their lives, and therefore remain in God’s love always, unlike the younger son who went astray along the way, and then returns to the fold. It is natural for us humans, relying on our emotions and instinct to resent those whom we deemed to have been treated better than they should have been.

We ought not to be judgmental on others, and indeed, with God, we should rejoice whenever one of the lost ones returned to the Lord and to us. Remember, that even great saints were once great sinners too. In fact, as Archbishop Fulton Sheen had said, the greater the sins one had committed, the closer one should have been towards realising the depth of their faults and iniquities, and thus, be more ready to embrace the mercy and love offered by God.

Therefore, we should help one another, assisting and supporting one another in our lives, that we will ensure that all of us will be saved and freed from sin. Give help and our love to those who are trapped in the seduction of in and the devil, praying to the Lord to open their hearts to His love. We too, brethren, though we have been saved, must be ever vigilant, that we too do not falter and fall to the traps of Satan that he had cleverly and carefully laid down for us.

May the Lord who has shown His love and mercy for us, continue to shower us with His blessings and graces, and continue to care for us like a father loves his children. May we too realise the depth of our sins, and the depth of His tenderness and love, that we will not be hesitant or fearful to approach Him, full of remorse and sorrow, that the Lord who loves us will embrace us, forgive us, and give us a place beside Him in eternal glory. Love one another and love the Lord God our Father. Amen.

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Thursday, 12 September 2013 : 23rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Most Holy Name of Mary (Scripture Reflection)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate another important Marian feast, that is the Feast of the Holy Name of Mary, the mother of our Lord and God, Jesus Christ, God incarnate into man. Today we celebrate the name of the very woman through whom the salvation of this world and the salvation of all of us, came into this world, and through whom our salvation in Christ her Son was ensured in all its fullness.

Why the name of Mary? That is because the devil trembles every time he hears that name, just as he hides in fear every time he hears the Name of Jesus Christ our Lord, her Son. That is because in her and in Jesus, the devil suffered his ultimate defeat, and the sealing of his fate, that is to suffer most grievously for all eternity in the lake of fire prepared for him and the angels who followed him into rebellion against God.

Satan, the devil and the deceiver had scored an early victory in his struggle, by snatching the most beloved and the greatest of all the things created by God, that is mankind. He successfully deceived Eve, and then Adam, by playing into their innocence, making them disobey God and therefore in their sin and rebellion, they were to suffer the same fate as Satan and his angels, to suffer for eternity most grievously.

And yet, God did not leave mankind to their fate, as even to Adam and Eve, and to Satan, He had revealed His great plan of salvation, that a woman will come and crush the head of the snake, just as the snake had bitten the feet of mankind and their children. Yes, even though through the ‘bite’ of evil and his poisons, that is temptations and sins, many of our forefathers had fallen along the way, succumbing to the temptations of the devil, but in the end, the deliverance of all will come.

That was what was keeping the devil in constant fear, fear that the salvation would come and ruined all of his attempts to destroy mankind by his false promises and temptations. It is in Mary and her works that brought about this end for him, yes, Mary is that promised woman, who will crush the serpent under her feet, and end the tyranny of Satan and sin. She brought forth the very Messiah who saved all from their fate, that they would not suffer the fate of Satan and his angels.

Mary clothed herself with righteousness and faith, and in her perfect obedience to God and His plans, she had made herself into the vessel through which God finally made the final strike against Satan and his perversion, by sending His own Son Jesus to be incarnate into man through Mary. Through Mary’s obedience and role in God’s plan for salvation, she had therefore stomped hard on the head of that snake, Satan the deceiver and the enemy.

At the name of Mary therefore, Satan will tremble and hide, because first of her role as the mother of Jesus the Messiah, as well as her own virtue and goodness that terrified Satan, because just as her Son, and unlike all other mankind, Mary was conceived without sin, and lived upright throughout her life, and thus, Satan has no power at all over her.

Yes, brethren, that is why we honour Mary, because she had made a new hope available to all of us, in Jesus her Son. It is also because of her upright and life dedicated to the Lord, that we honour and emulate her often in our own lives. Yes, brethren, she is our role model, the best of all role models after Christ our Lord Himself, and she is the greatest among the saints in heaven, the first of all, and the one closest to the throne of God, constantly advising her Son and interceding for our sake that her Son will be merciful and always loving to us.

Therefore, let us take this opportunity to deepen our love for the Lord, and our love for things good, things in complete tandem and harmony with the Lord. Let us not be led to fall into temptation by the evil one. Let us remain focused on the Lord, and ask His mother Mary to be our help in our journey back towards the Lord.

If the devil comes and threatens us with his temptations, we have to be brave and stand up to him, and utter the holy name of Mary and Jesus, and he will tremble and leave. He has no power over us, brethren, not since the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross had liberated all of us for eternity and broken the chains of sin. Never fear and trust in the power and providence of the Lord. Mary is also there to support us, as our mother and protector and our guide.

May the Lord and His mother Mary continue to watch for us and protect us, as we walk down this long and arduous path towards salvation in God. May we remain in the favour of the Lord, and seek His love at all times, reminding ourselves of the love He had shown us throughout all ages. God bless us all. Amen.

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Sunday, 8 September 2013 : 23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflection)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we learnt an important lesson of our lives, and on the nature of God Himself. We are mortals brethren, and one day we will all die, and that is an important thing that we all will have to realise at one point of time in our life.

The Lord our God has His plans for all of us, ever since He created us and this universe. The way that God thinks is not in short moments or days or weeks in our human perception. He thought of things far before things happen, and He formed in His thoughts the plan He had for all of us His creation.

Our transgressions and disobedience against Him, starting from Adam and Eve our ancestors did not disturb His plans for us at all, for everything truly moved as how He desired it, and in His great love for us, He planned a rescue mission for all of us, long before it was executed. That all because He cares for us, and just as He had planned since the very beginning, that He wanted us to be in His presence in true joy and happiness forever.

That was why He prepared for us the salvation in the form of Christ, Himself incarnate into man like us in Jesus. Long before Christ was even born unto this world, He had made His preparations, to prepare this world and its people to be ready for the coming of the Saviour.  That was why He sent the prophets into this world, that they delivered to the people of God for the eventual coming of the Messiah.

He sent Moses to liberate His people, Israel, from bondage and slavery by the Pharaohs and the Egyptians. Through Moses too the people of God had received the very Laws of the Lord and His commandments. These laws were meant not to limit the people of God nor oppress them with even more burdens. In fact, these laws were meant to help us in our path towards God, towards freedom, freedom from evil, freedom from the burdens of sin.

God did not leave us behind without any help. If the prophets were rejected and murdered, then He would send even more, for our sake, that eventually was born through the Lord Jesus. With the arrival of Jesus, the new hope for this world had arisen. In Christ lay the perfection of all the prophecies of the prophets, the teachings of the elders of Israel, and ultimately the love of God.

But Jesus did not come into this world to enjoy a happy life and to just zap out our sins automatically. He had much work to do, and He had to endure rejection, pain, suffering, and mockery by others throughout His life. Even His hometown relations mocked Him in the synagogue when He revealed the truth about Himself, seeing Him as a mere carpenter’s son.

Yet all of these are within God’s divine and long-prepared plans for us and for our salvation. He endured all of that with the greatness of His love for us, and the love and obedience Jesus always has for His Father in heaven. So much so that even when His disciples abandoned Him, betrayed Him to the authorities and to His enemies, and despite facing such a great challenge of the monumental task of having to endure the sins of the entire mankind, He endured it with love, for us.

Through Christ’s suffering, pain, and Passion on the way to Calvary, and through His crucifixion unto His death, He had broken the hold of sin over mankind, by rising from the dead in glorious resurrection, He snatched us all away from the hands of Satan forever, if we embrace the salvation He had offered us through His death and resurrection.

All indeed are part of God’s plan, formed long ago since He created us from dust. Remember that after our ancestors fell into sin, He did not shun us or abandon us, even though He did punish them for their transgressions. He promised our ancestors, that One will be born of the woman, who will in a sense , enact revenge on Satan, the snake, the deceiver. That One to be born was truly Christ, born of the woman, the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Through the death and resurrection of Christ, He had dealt a crushing blow on Satan, as promised by God Himself at the beginning of time, showing how far the Lord’s foresight and plans had been. In Christ too, the promise God had first made to Abraham was fulfilled in its completion, that the descendants of Abraham would be great. He also fulfilled the promise made to David, that one of his descendants would rule forever, that is in Christ, the descendant. of David, also Son of God Most High, who is King of all Kings for all eternity.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, having seen truly the greatness of the love, the might, and the wisdom of our Lord, let us therefore realise the great love and care He has for all of us, planning from very early on, for our welfare and for our wellbeing. He did not even fear death for our sake, that He died for us, that we may live.

Let us thus not harden our hearts as our ancestors had done, and instead humble ourselves before Him, opening our hearts to His divine love. Let us also realise our mortality, of the nothingness we are compared to the all wonderful God. It is not to degrade ourselves or to make ourselves feel inferior. It is important for us to understand and take note of our shortcomings, that we will be able to seek to be better, that is to seek God, in whom we can find true wisdom and true enlightenment.

May the Lord who is ever loving, kind, and caring, continue to provide for us, protect us, and guide us to Himself that we will not fall into damnation with Satan and his angels. God be with us and bless us with abundance of graces forever. Amen.

by

Sunday, 8 September 2013 : 23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 14 : 25-33

One day, when large crowds were walking along with Jesus, He turned and said to them, “If you come to Me, unwilling to sacrifice your love for your father and mother, your spouse and children, your brothers and sisters, and indeed yourself, you cannot be My disciple. Whoever does not follow Me, carrying his own cross, cannot be My disciple.”

“Do you build a house without first sitting down to count the cost, to see whether you have enough to complete it? Otherwise, if you, have laid the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone will make fun of you : ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.'”

“And when a king wages war against another king, does he go to fight without first sitting down to consider whether his ten thousand can stand against the twenty thousand of his opponent? And if not, while the other is still a long way off, he sends messengers for peace talks. In the same way, none of you may become My disciple, if he does not give up everything he has.”