Catholic homilies

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(Special) Tuesday, 1 February 2022 : Lunar New Year Mass (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today for all those of us who are celebrating the Lunar New Year, also known as the Chinese New Year to the Chinese people who celebrate it every year. This day marks the celebration of the beginning of the end of winter in the Northern Hemisphere, as it was noted as the Spring Festival due to the period of time being the time when the temperatures of the ground and the environment begin to increase again after it has declined over the past few weeks and months.

It is a time of gathering of families and great celebrations, when large extended families came back together to their ancestral places and hometowns, bearing the tidings and stories of what had happened throughout the previous year. It is a time when the family reunites and shares in each others’ love and as a reminder of the important bonds and relationships between us, among the members of our close and extended family members both. It is a time for thanksgiving, giving thanks for all the wonders and blessings that we have received.

Yet, if we realise, the tone of the Lunar New Year celebrations in the recent years have increasingly become more and more materialistic and excessive in nature, focusing a lot on prosperity and wealth, fortunes and worldly pleasures. And it did not help that many companies and organisations also took part in propagating this culture of excess and materialistic focus in the Lunar New Year celebrations. Ultimately, all these were meant to drive up profits in the weeks leading up to the festivities, and it is often corporate and marketing greed that gained from making use of our desires and wants.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of Numbers of the words of the Lord speaking to Moses regarding the blessing that Aaron and all the priests God has appointed to be the priests over all the Israelites ought to give to the people, a blessing that came from the Lord and reminded all the people that all grace and blessings came from the Lord alone. The Lord’s blessings and kindness have always been extended to all His people, as He continued to watch over us and provided for us, even when we constantly disobeyed and disregarded Him all the time.

The Lord’s blessings have always been extended to us and many of us have been fortunate to receive more blessings than others. Yet, there are those among us who worry unnecessarily because we worry about what we shall have, what we are to enjoy in life, as mentioned in the Gospel passage today. The Lord wants to remind us that it is foolish and futile for us to worry about all these things, as in the end, if we walk in the right path and trust in the Lord, then all these worries are really unnecessary and irrational for of us to do.

St. James in his Epistle which is our second reading today also echoed the same sentiment, as he spoke of the folly of putting one’s trust in their plans and preparations, how people often planned well ahead and worry about what will come in the future, and often overthinking things and being too paranoid of what we may lose out on. It is therefore timely and apt that we heard these readings from the Scriptures today, which served as a reminder for us all not to give in to the excesses of worldly temptations and desires as we celebrate the great festivities of the Lunar New Year.

We are reminded that as we rejoice today this Lunar New Year, we must not lose sight of what the celebrations of the Lunar New Year is all about. It is not about prosperity and fortune, but rather about love and family. It is not about the food and feasts, but rather about the time spent with each other and the quality interactions we have with our loved ones. The Lunar New Year should be the opportunity for us to remember the love which each and every one of us ought to have for those who are precious and close to us, a time for forgiveness and reconciliation, and a time for seeking true happiness.

How do we do so, brothers and sisters in Christ? It is by seeking the Lord and focusing our lives and attention on the Lord and remembering all that He had taught us, in loving Him and one another, in being virtuous and just in all the things we do. Let us all remember that even as we rejoice during this great occasion of the Lunar New Year, that there are those who are not as fortunate as us and who struggle even to make their ends meet each day to be able to celebrate at all. And let us not forget that we are still currently suffering the effects from the extended pandemic and many people out there are still enduring difficulties in various aspects.

Let us therefore share our blessings and instead of seeking personal prosperity and selfish desires this New Year, we instead be ever more generous in giving, both of ourselves and our extra blessings, especially to those who are not as fortunate as we are. For it is in giving and sharing that we will find true happiness, and God’s love, favour and joy will be upon us too, rather than us hoarding all the glory and happiness for ourselves. Let us give thanks to the Lord for all His kindness and blessings as well. May God be with us all, our families and loved ones and bless our year ahead. Amen.

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Tuesday, 1 February 2022 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, all of us are called to put our faith in the Lord and entrust ourselves in His providence and love. We must not allow the distractions of worldly glory and power to distract us from the path that Our Lord has shown to each and every one of us. The Lord has told us to believe that in Him alone and we should not follow the path as showed by Absalom, the son of David, King of Israel.

In our first reading today, we have heard from the Book of the prophet Samuel about the time when Absalom, one of the most prominent sons of David rebelled against his father in an attempted coup-d’etat. Absalom was a proud man who had always gained the favour of his father and the people, and was likely the favourite to be the one to succeed his father as King of Israel. He gathered the people to his side and brought his forces to seize Jerusalem and made David his father to flee with some trusted advisors.

Absalom tried to seize power, but God had not chosen him to be king over Israel. Absalom was ambitious and proud, and depended on his power and might to gain glory and kingship for himself, and that was why God had not chosen him to be the one to succeed David, and did not bless his actions and attempts to seize power. Instead, God remained with David and reassured him, and Absalom’s rebellion eventually failed, and the young rebel lost his life. David still grieved over his son despite Absalom having betrayed him and attempted to seize power from him.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard how the Lord Jesus cared for His people in need, reaching out to the sick and dying, in His efforts to reach out to us, sickened and afflicted sons and daughters of man. For we are suffering not only from the physical maladies and troubles, but even more importantly, many of us are suffering the consequences of our sinfulness, our disobedience against God and our refusal to put our trust and faith in Him.

We heard how the Lord Jesus went on a journey to the house of Jairus, a synagogue official upon hearing from him that his daughter was very sick and was on the verge of death. We heard then how a woman who had been suffering from haemorrhage or bleeding problem was healed by the Lord as He saw the great faith that she had in Him, as she believed that even if she just quietly came to touch the fringe of the Lord’s cloak, she would be healed.

That condition had affected her for many years, and she must have been trying to hide it as her symptoms would have made her to be considered unclean and even sinful. Yet, the Lord in His great love embraced her and made her whole again, affirming her and her faith before all the assembled people and everyone who were gathered around them. The Lord praised her faith and trust in the Lord, and blessed her for all that she had done, in gathering her courage to seek the Lord.

We also heard then how Jairus and his family had faith in the Lord even though his young daughter had passed away by the time the Lord reached his place. Although the other people assembled there laughed at the Lord and ridiculed Him when He said that she was only sleeping, it was implied that Jairus, who had such great faith in the Lord to go and seek the Lord in the first place, kept that faith he had in the Lord and he never stopped believing in Him.

Thus that was how the Lord came to raise the dead daughter of Jairus back into life, He Who is the Almighty God, the Master of life and death, and the Resurrection and the Life Himself. The Lord restored Jairus’ daughter to him, and showed His disciples and all of us at the same time, that death will not have the final say over us. He Himself shall overcome death for our sake, and by His suffering and death on the Cross, Christ has brought upon us the certainty and assurance of eternal life.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore seek the Lord our God with renewed faith and zeal, and with all of our hearts and might. Let us all renew our commitment to follow Him and serve Him at every opportunities given to us. May the Lord continue to guide us and strengthen us much as how He has strengthened His servants, King David and many other of our fellow brothers and sisters, who have dedicated themselves to God and had gone before us. May God be with us always, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Monday, 31 January 2022 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John Bosco, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this day as we listened to the words of the Scripture we are all reminded of the Lord’s providence for His people, to His faithful ones, how He has always watched over those who are faithful to Him, provided for them and how He will not abandon them in their time of greatest need. The Lord will reach out to us and lead us to the ultimate victory through Him.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of the prophet Samuel, we heard how Absalom, the son of David, rebelled against his own father and attempted to seize his kingdom for himself. Absalom was a cunning and proud man, as he likely saw himself as the one who was to succeed his father as King of Israel, and he began plotting his rise to power. He managed to gain significant support and eventually began his rebellion, forcing his father, David, the rightful king to flee Jerusalem with some of his trusted advisors and servants.

That time, we heard of the moment when David was at his lowest, beset by all the troubles caused by Absalom and his rebellion, and many of his advisors and servants abandoning him, and even as we heard, a man named Shimei from Saul’s clan used the opportunity to curse David and speak all sorts of ill things and misfortunes to him, thinking that the reign of David, the one who took over the throne of Israel from the family of Saul finally encountered his end. Nonetheless, as we heard, David remained faithful to God to the very end.

David trusted in the Lord and when one of his men, Abishai wanted to attack Shimei, he forbid Abishai from doing so, and he entrusted his fate completely to the Lord. David did not waver in his commitment and dedication to the Lord, and despite the challenges and hardships that he had to endure, in the end, he remained true and committed to God. King David believed that there is nothing impossible for God, and as long as he is faithful to the Lord, he has nothing to fear about. God shall be by his side just as He had done for all his life until that time.

In our Gospel passage today we heard of the account of the moment when the Lord Jesus cast our many evil spirits and demons from a possessed man in the wilderness in the region of the Gerasenes, which was the region beyond the Jordan River on the other side from Jerusalem and Judea. That man had suffered for a long time and had been ostracised from the community due to his affliction and condition, and he had wandered off in the wilderness until that time when the Lord Jesus were passing by with His disciples.

The evil spirits, aptly named Legion for their great numbers, who had tormented the man, recognised the Lord and asked Him what He wanted to do with them. Certainly the Lord would not have let those wicked spirits have their way and torment the man any longer. He ordered them all to go out from the man and freed him from their dominion and power. The man was healed and was completely restored, and while the local populace was terrified of what they had just witnessed and what happened, the man believed in God and wanted to follow Him. The Lord told the man to go back to his community and tell everyone all that he had experienced.

Today, as we listened to these words of the Scripture we are all reminded how God has always provided for us in our time and hour of need, and we have to believe in Him wholeheartedly, if we are to follow Him and remain faithful to Him. In Him alone is our true hope and happiness, and if we can trust Him this way, then we will be able to weather through any difficulties, trials and challenges that may come throughout our lives. We should not allow fear and doubt to come in between us and God, and we should believe in Him the way that King David had done, and knowing how He cared for each one of us as He had done with the possessed man.

Today, we all celebrate the feast of St. John Bosco, one of the famous saints of the Church known and remembered for his works and dedication to youths. Having experienced a difficult youth time himself, and how having inadequate education due to the poverty of his family, he was inspired to be a priest and from then on, to reach out to struggling juveniles and youths, establishing the Oratory in Turin, catering for the needs of those who need guidance and help, caring for the needs of orphans and those who were struggling with life.

He was committed to his work and made great impacts despite the challenges and opposition that he often had to face in his ministry, as there were members of both laity and the clergy opposed to his efforts due to various reasons. But St. John Bosco persevered nonetheless, gathering many others who shared his ideals and desire to serve the people of God, eventually leading to the foundation of the Order of the Salesians of Don Bosco, one of the great religious orders lasting till this very day.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all turn towards the Lord with faith and commit ourselves thoroughly to His cause from now on. Let us be inspired by the faith shown by our holy predecessors, King David, St. John Bosco and innumerable other holy men and women, all of our role models in faith. May the Lord continue to guide us and strengthen us in our journey through life, and may He empower us to live ever more faithfully in His embrace and love. Amen.

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Sunday, 30 January 2022 : Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday as we listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures we are called to reflect on our calling as Christians, to be the followers and disciples of Our Lord, to do what God has taught us to do in following His commandments and His own examples. As Christians, all of us share in the same mission that God has entrusted to us, to His Church from its very foundation and beginning. This is what we have been called to do, to show our genuine love both for God and for our fellow men, our brothers and sisters.

In our first reading today, taken from the beginning of the Book of the prophet Jeremiah, we heard of the Lord and His calling to the prophet Jeremiah, as He called him to become His servant and mouthpiece, to become the one chosen by God before he even knew it, to speak of God’s will and truth before the people of God. At that time, the prophet Jeremiah lived during the last years of the southern kingdom of Judah, at the time when the remaining people of God were beset by troubles and the threat of the destruction of their kingdom were looming large at them.

All of that were caused by their own disobedience against God, their refusal to listen to Him and in hardening their hearts and closing them from His love and mercy. They would rather remain in the state of sin and living in darkness than to follow the Lord, their God. Yet, God still patiently reached out to them and sent them His prophets, including that of Jeremiah to His people reminding them of His love and urging them to repent and turn away from their sins. He never gave up on them and still cared for them, because we are truly precious and beloved to Him.

That is the exact same sentiment shown in our Gospel passage today when we heard of the moment when the Lord Jesus was in Nazareth, in His own hometown and how He was rejected by the people whom He had known from earlier in His life, from His childhood. At that time, the Lord returned to Nazareth after beginning His ministry and gathering some of His disciples, and He proclaimed the Word of God in the local synagogue, only for the people to doubt Him and slander Him just because they knew St. Joseph, His foster father and thought that it was impossible for a Man of such stature to gain such wisdom and power.

The Lord told all of them that it was because of this that in the past God had sent His servants like the prophet Elijah to minister to the people neighbouring the Israelites, who had more faith in the Lord than the people of Israel themselves. He used the example of the widow of Zarephath who welcomed Elijah during the years of the great famine and how she took care of him even though she herself and her son were themselves in great distress. God showed His providence and cared for them, and they showed us what it truly means to be those who believe in God. The same goes with the example of Naaman the Syrian as well, who humbled himself before the Lord and was healed by his faith, even though he initially had his reservations and doubts.

Through what we have heard from these examples we can clearly see that there are many opportunities for us to respond to God’s love, to all that God had given to us, His attention and care, His compassion and kindness, all that He had done to us even though we have often disobeyed Him, disregarded and even betrayed Him. So pure is God’s love for each one of us that even though He despises our sins, He did not despise us sinners, but wants us to be freed from the bonds of those sins and then be reconciled with Him.

That is why He has sent us His Son, Jesus Christ, the One rejected by His own townspeople and neighbours, to be our Saviour, to be the source of our renewed Hope and as the Light to lead us out from the darkness of sin. In Christ, we have seen the perfect manifestation of God’s ultimate and enduring love in the flesh, Love that never ends and Love that persists to the end of time. From the very beginning when He created us all out love, His love has endured, and through Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, we have seen how God wants to share this love with us.

St. Paul reminds us in our second reading today, taken from the Epistle that he wrote to the Church and the faithful in Corinth of what love and true Christian love means. Love is patient, kind and without envy. It is not boastful or arrogant. St. Paul revealed to us that this is what true Christian love is all about, love that first and foremost God Himself has shown us unconditionally, as He patiently loved us from the beginning even though He had to constantly endure our betrayals and ignorance, and the pain of seeing so many of the sons and daughters of mankind falling into eternal damnation, eternally separated from Him.

St. Paul also mentioned that no matter whatever power, gifts, talents, abilities, blessings and all that we have received and are endowed with, but if we have no love in us, then all these are meaningless and useless. Without love, then whatever we do are only for ourselves and have no merit whatsoever. As Christians, this is not what we have been taught to do. Instead, as Christians, love must be our second nature, and not only just loving ourselves, but more importantly, to love God and our fellow brothers and sisters just as much if not more than we have loved ourselves.

That is essentially we have been called to do, to remember how fortunate we are to have been beloved by God despite our past mistakes and transgressions. God has patiently guided us through our journey of life all these while, and He has always reached out to us whenever we are in need. He has never abandoned us even though we have often abandoned and ignored Him. For all that love, often we respond to His love with disobedience and sins, with immorality and lack of faith.

That is why this Sunday, brothers and sisters in Christ, all of us are reminded of the obligation for us all to love, as something that as Christians we have to do in our lives. Just as God Himself has shown us His pure and perfect love, thus we should also love Him in the same way, giving an unconditional love and one that is genuine from our hearts. Many of us loved God conditionally, loving Him and seeking Him only when we need Him, but the moment we have no need for Him, we easily and quickly forgot about Him.

Then, in the same way, we must also love our fellow brothers and sisters, by caring for everyone we encounter in life regardless who they are. Yes, certainly we will love some people more than others, especially those who are precious and known to us, those in our families and among our close circle of friends. However, we must still also love even those who are strangers to us, those whom we encounter daily, and this includes even those who hate us and persecute us.

Remember what the Lord told His disciples in another occasion in the Gospels? He said that we must love our enemies and forgive them, and we have to pray for them, just as He Himself has prayed for them. Not least, Our Lord has forgiven and prayed for those who persecuted Him and condemned Him to death right from the Cross upon which He was hung during the time of His Passion and death. That is the proof of God’s ever present love for us, and just how unconditional and beautiful His love for us is. And if God has loved us in such a manner, should we not then love Him in the same way too?

Let us all realise that we have been given many opportunities to express our love for God and for one another, and we have to practice that love in our lives, as genuine Christians that are filled with God’s love and grace. Let us all love the Lord with all of our hearts and show the same love to our brethren especially those who are most in need of them, during these difficult and challenging times when what some people need are just more care and attention, and some consolation for their sufferings and troubles. Let us all share God’s love with one another, following in the examples that Our Lord Himself has shown us. Amen.

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Saturday, 29 January 2022 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

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

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scripture, we are called to reflect on what the Lord wanted us to remember from today’s readings that is for us to put our trust in Him, believing in Him and putting our faith in Him. We ought to entrust ourselves to Him and not to depend on our own power and might alone. If we do that certainly we will be better able to face the challenges of the world, together with God rather than facing them alone on our own.

In our first reading today, we heard of the words from the account of King David and prophet Nathan as recorded in the second Book of the prophet Samuel. King David and prophet Nathan was talking about what happened between him and Bathsheba, although initially David did not realise it. God knew what David had done in having a part in the death of Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband, when David coveted Bathsheba and inadvertently having a child with her. He attempted to cover things up and that led to the demise of Uriah, as David was worried that his affair would be exposed otherwise.

But David resorted to settle things with his own decision and considerations, and did not trust in the Lord. He should have owned up his mistakes, as after all, he was a human just like all of us, and just as all of us, he could make errors and mistakes too. As we know, even great saints were once sinners themselves, just like us. David erred and did not initially own up to his mistakes, trying to cover up and hide all that he had done. As a result, that was why he fell deeper and deeper into sin.

The prophet Nathan directly told David of the Lord’s displeasure at his actions especially at his hypocrisy when David was told the story of a poor man who had his property and items seized and taken away by a richer man. That was exactly what David did, when he took Bathsheba away from Uriah and made her to be his own. Through that rebuke from the prophet Nathan, the Lord reminded David that what he has done was truly a great sin before God, and was unbecoming of him as the one chosen and made to be King of Israel.

What David did right after that then was how he immediately humbled himself before the Lord, and wrecked with guilt and the desire to repent from those sins he committed. He humbled himself before everyone and showed great remorse over his sins. God forgave David his mistakes and the faults that he had committed. But he still had to endure the consequences for his infidelity and immoral action, as the son born from David and Bathsheba had to die. Nonetheless, God forgave David and showed the immense and wonderful nature of His mercy.

In our Gospel passage today, we then heard of how the Lord Jesus travelled with His disciples on boat in middle of a storm and calmed the storm and the waves that battered their boat. The disciples were very afraid and terrified, and they thought that they were going to die. But the Lord reassured them and told them that they had absolutely nothing to fear at all. They needed to trust Him and have faith in Him. He calmed the waves and the storm and the disciples were all astonished, witnessing all that just happened before their very own eyes.

That boat and the disciples inside them in fact represent us all Christians, all united in the Church of God. All of us are travelling through that stormy seas, representing the turbulent world that we are living in today. But God is with us, journeying with us and leads us to the right path. We have nothing to fear if only we can trust in Him wholeheartedly. Unfortunately, more often that not, we did not trust in Him enough, and we put our trust more in our own power, abilities, strength and manner of dealing with things.

That is when we allow all the temptations, fears and coercions all around us to affect us, that we will end up abandoning the Church and the Lord, like a person jumping off the ship in the middle of the storm. Those people who do so will likely perish. That is thus what happened to King David as mentioned earlier too. His action in trying to justify himself and to cover up his sins led to even more mistakes and faults further on, until he humbled and stripped himself of all of his glory and pride, and admitted his mistakes before God and all the people.

Are we also able to do the same too, brothers and sisters in Christ? Can we reject the temptations of this world, the pressure and coercions to disobey God and sin, and instead seek the Lord with a renewed conviction and dedication? Are we willing to commit ourselves thoroughly to the Lord from now on? These are some of the questions that we will have to ask ourselves as we progress on in life. Let us all discern our path carefully as we decide how we are to carry on our lives as faithful disciples and followers of the Lord. May God be with us always and may He bless our every actions and deeds. Amen.

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Friday, 28 January 2022 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Thomas Aquinas, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures all of us are called to remember the words that we have heard, so that we may remember to sow the seeds of faith in our hearts and provide them the best condition possible for our faith to grow and blossom. Then, at the same time we also ought to be guarding ourselves against the snares of sin and evil, so we will not end up falling further and deeper into the trap of sin.

In our first reading today, we heard from the second Book of the prophet Samuel of the continuation of the account of the reign and deeds of King David of Israel that we have been hearing for the past two weeks or so. We heard of the time when King David had been secure in his kingdom and had been blessed by God with much prosperity and happiness. However, David was swayed by the beauty of one named Bathsheba, the wife of one of his army captains named Uriah, known as the Hittite. David began to desire for Bathsheba and was infatuated with her when he saw her bathing in one occasion.

That led to an affair between David and Bathsheba, which resulted in her having a child that was David’s. Afraid that his affair would be found out by Uriah and others, David was desperate in trying to trick him into sleeping with his wife so as to hide the fact of the sin that he has committed before God and others. Uriah however was a righteous man and he did not do as David intended, and as such, David with the help of the cunning advisors he had, sent Uriah to the thickest midst of the battle against the Ammonites and ended up leading to Uriah’s death.

But God knew all that each one of us had done including that which David had done, no matter how hard he might have tried to hide it. Even the righteous and faithful David could fall into the traps of sin, and the snares of evil and wickedness indeed reached far and wide as those past examples have shown us thus far. Unless we are vigilant in our defence and preparedness against the forces of sin and evil, we may end up finding ourselves in the wrong side during the Day of Judgment because our sins and wickedness become stumbling block on our path towards salvation in God.

Today, in our Gospel passage, all of us heard the Lord speaking to His disciples using a parable, namely the parable of the sower and the mustard seed. Through those parables, the Lord wanted to explain clearly in the context of what the people understood, how building the kingdom of God requires effort and hard work, and our faith is not one that can just be easily lived in idleness and passive attitude. Instead, all of us as Christians are called to live our lives with vigour and great zeal, spending the time and effort to follow the Lord in all of our actions and deeds, in our words and interactions.

That means each and every one of us have to be active in nurturing our faith, doing whatever we can in every small and little things in life, in following the teachings of the Lord, obeying His will and Law, living in the way that His commandments had shown us, and doing whatever we can to be exemplary in our contributions as Christians, in being role models for one another. It is important that we do so, just as the mustard seeds require the right condition and nurturing to be able to grow to the great size it will attain when mature, and how the sower will earn a lot of returns if he took great care of the fields.

Today we all celebrate the feast of a truly great saint, whose renown throughout all Christendom remained even to this very day. St. Thomas Aquinas was one of the greatest minds of the Church, a most faithful and ardent servant of the Lord dedicated to the glory of God. St. Thomas Aquinas was a Dominican friar and priest who was remembered for his amazing treatises and works in theology and philosophy, Church law and other things, especially in his works in the Summa Theologiae, his most famous work of all.

St. Thomas Aquinas spent a lot of years in immersing himself in his works, gaining much insight over various areas of Christian philosophy and theology, while learning the great experiences from the past philosophers in improving his own understanding of the Divine. He was known later as the Angelic Doctor or Doctor Angelicum and is recognised as a great Doctor of the Church, a very important persona in the history of Christendom in the West, who still inspired many even to this day.

Through the great faith and dedication showed by St. Thomas Aquinas, we are called to remember our own need and obligation to follow the Lord wholeheartedly, and to do whatever we can in order to serve the Lord by our actions and deeds, even in the smallest things. We are all called to remain true to our faith and resist the many temptations to sin present in our world today. We have to remind ourselves how sin can even twist the most righteous of peoples like David, and therefore strive to remain committed to Him at all times.

May the Lord be with us always and may He empower each and every one of us to resist the temptations of sin and to be righteous and just in all our lives. May God bless our every endeavours and good works, and may He bless us always with His truth and love, that we may always walk faithfully in the path of His servants, especially that of St. Thomas Aquinas whose memory we remember today, now and always. Amen.

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Thursday, 27 January 2022 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Angela Merici, Virgin (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Holy Virgins)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are all reminded of the obligation each and every one of us have in living our lives with faith, in proclaiming the truth of God and becoming the beacons of His light in our world today. These are the responsibilities that we have been entrusted with, to be the examples of faith and inspiration for many others whom we encounter in our own lives.

In our first reading today, we heard from the second Book of the prophet Samuel regarding the prayer that King David of Israel made to the Lord after the Lord had made him secure in his rule and place as the leader over all the people of Israel. David thanked God for all that He had done for His people Israel and also what He had done to David himself and to his family, in honouring him and all his relatives for having chosen him as the King of Israel and through all the promises that God had made in assuring him of the kingship which will remain in his house forever.

David humbled himself and asked the Lord to bless him and his family, and hoping that his family and descendants will remain faithful to the Lord forever. He prayed to the Lord asking for His strength and guidance, and went on to become a great King over all Israel, whose reign was always remembered by the later generations as the golden age and time, and as a paragon and ideal for all the future rulers and kings. He ruled justly and devoted himself to the Lord wholeheartedly, and except for a few occasions when he faltered and made mistakes, he kept true to the faith.

In our Gospel reading today, we heard the Lord Jesus speaking to His disciples using the parable of the lamp and the lampstand in order to deliver His intentions clearly, to remind all of those who listened to His words including all of us that all of us who have been called to follow Him, have to be those beacons of God’s light that our lives brilliantly reflect the light of God. Through all of us, God’s truth and love may be revealed to all men, and all shall come to know God because they have seen us and witnessed all that we have done.

Unfortunately, many of us have not done what we ought to be doing as faithful Christians, called and chosen from the world to be the witnesses of His truth and salvation. We have preferred to remain hidden in the darkness, to hide behind the veil of sin and evil. We have preferred to lay idle and not do what we have been called to do as Christ’s disciples. We have received the light of truth, and yet the light of Christ does not shine brightly in us, hidden by our ignorance, lukewarmness in faith and refusal to commit ourselves wholeheartedly.

Today, as we listened to the words of the Lord, each and every one of us are reminded of this duty and calling for us to be the bearers of Christ’s light, His truth and love in our respective communities and at every possible opportunities given to us. Through the examples set by King David of Israel and the many other virtuous paragons of faith, our holy predecessors, we have been called to be holy ourselves, to be worthy of God and His love. We are all called to be true and genuine disciples not just in name, but also in all actions, words and deeds.

We can follow the good examples of St. Angela Merici, one of the great saints of God, whose feast we are celebrating today. St. Angela Merici was the famous founder of the religious order of the Ursulines, also known as the Company of St. Ursula that led to the later foundation of the Order of the Ursulines. St. Angela Merici was inspired since her early youth to commit herself with some others to work for the cause of the training and education of young Christian girls, which is still the inspiration for the educational institutes established by the Ursulines.

St. Angela Merici dedicated herself and inspired many others together in the ministry that she had committed herself as part of the Company of St. Ursula, establishing schools and orphanages, caring especially for the needs of young Christians, especially that of young, underprivileged Christian girls, who were often exploited and in disadvantageous positions. St. Angela Merici dedicated her life to this ministry, and many more people would come to follow her examples in working for the greater glory of God and for the salvation of His people.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all discern our path in life through what we have heard from the lives of our holy and dedicated predecessors, King David, St. Angela Merici and many others. They have lived their lives with virtue, becoming truly shining beacons of truth and love, of God’s light and compassion, and from them, many came to believe in God and be saved as well. Are we able to do the same as well in our lives? Are we able to inspire others to follow the Lord, or have we instead kept the people away from God by our lack of genuine faith?

Let us all therefore seek the Lord our God with a renewed spirit and conviction, and let us commit ourselves to follow the Lord ever more faithfully and do whatever we can with our actions, words and deeds, even the smallest and seemingly least significant of them all, that we may indeed glorify the Lord through our lives and may become His ever worthy disciples, now and always. Amen.

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Wednesday, 26 January 2022 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Timothy and St. Titus, Bishops (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we all celebrate the feast of St. Timothy and St. Titus, the two followers and friends of St. Paul the Apostle, who were among the first bishops of the Church, as the successors of the Apostles. It was fitting that we celebrate them today as yesterday we celebrated the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, as a reminder for us just how significant the contributions that St. Paul, formerly Saul, a great enemy of the Christian faithful turned a most ardent defender of the faith, had in the early history of the Church.

St. Timothy and St. Titus were close friends and collaborators of St. Paul, and St. Paul wrote his letters and Epistles to them just as he had written to the many other Christian communities out there. St. Paul encouraged and reminded them throughout his Epistles, the beginning of which is our first reading today, to ever be faithful to God and to spread the truth that they themselves have received, and the Spirit of God that they have been given through the laying of the hands by the Apostles.

Just as God has called St. Paul to be His follower and to spread the truth to all the people, therefore God has also called St. Timothy and St. Titus to be His followers as well, to dedicate themselves to His cause and to propagate His truth ever further to many more people throughout the whole world. They had been called to be the ones to continue the good works that the Apostles and the earliest disciples of the Lord had started. They were the ones to continue the building the Church after the firm foundation had been laid by the Apostles through their efforts.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard the words of the Lord speaking to the disciples regarding what He was about to do, sending them out in pairs, to be the ones to do His work and precede Him wherever He was about to carry out His ministry. They were to be His assistants and the ones to allow His works and reach to find more people out there, that they might prepare more and more people to find the Lord and that they might come to believe in the Lord as well, as the reason why the Lord entrusted to them this ministry.

However, as the Lord Himself mentioned, they would be like lambs sent to be among wolves, and this means that their ministry and works would not be an easy and smooth-sailing one. On the contrary, it was likely that they would face a lot of opposition and even persecutions. They would face opposition and rejection from the Jewish authorities who have always rejected and refused to believe in the Lord, as well as from the other skeptics in the community, all those who have not come to believe in the Lord and refused to open their hearts and minds to welcome Him.

The Lord has made it clear at the same time, that He would be with them and will guide them and strengthen them along the way. He would not abandon them despite all the challenges that they might have to face for His sake. St. Timothy and St. Titus themselves were martyred for their faith, after many years in dedication to the people of God and to the flock which they were entrusted with. They devoted themselves wholeheartedly much like St. Paul, their inspiration and patron. All of them are themselves great inspiration of faith for all of us.

Today, brothers and sisters in Christ, we are all called to reflect on our own lives and our own attitudes. Have we followed the Lord and acted as His good disciples all these while? To all of us who have received the gift of baptism and have become a part of the Church, we have all been given the same mission that God has entrusted to His Apostles and disciples, that as mentioned earlier, to continue the works of those who have preceded us in laying the establishment of the Church and its ministry, building upon all that the Apostles, the saints and martyrs like St. Timothy and St. Titus and others had done.

Let us all discern carefully our choice of actions in life and think of what we can do from now on, if we have not yet done so, to be the true disciples of the Lord, not just in name only but also in actions and true deeds. Let us all be inspirations for one another in how we live our lives and in how we devote our time, energy and efforts to glorify the Lord at our every living moments. May God bless us all, now and always, forevermore. Amen.

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Tuesday, 25 January 2022 : Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul the Apostle, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul the Apostle, marking that significant moment in the history of the Church when Saul, one of the greatest bane and enemy of the faithful, its arch-persecutor turned to become one of the Church’s greatest champion and the Lord’s greatest and most passionate defender, from a man who could not stop in his zeal to destroy the Christian faith and persecute all Christians who followed the Lord to a man who courageously stood up against the world in the defence of his true faith in God.

In our first reading we heard the account of what happened when St. Paul was converted, the moment when the young and overzealous Pharisee, Saul of Tarsus, came to be a follower of Christ. Saul of Tarsus was a member of the elite among the Jewish community as he was not only just a member of the Pharisees, one of the two most powerful influential groups at the time, but he was also a Roman citizen and not only that, he was a Roman citizen by birth, signifying that he was truly an individual of an astounding background, a great rising star among the Jewish people.

He was misguided by his intense zeal in following the ideas of the Pharisees, in their misunderstanding and stubborn refusal to believe in the Lord and His truth despite all the signs and the proofs that He had revealed to them in many occasions. The Pharisees and many among the elders and the teachers of the Law viewed the Lord Jesus as a false Messiah and even a blasphemer and traitor to their nation, as a threat to their power and influence. And the young Saul therefore followed in this mindset and took action to strike at those who believed in the Lord.

Hence, Saul was responsible for the many often violent mob actions against the early Christians, including that of St. Stephen, the first martyr of the Church, whose martyrdom was the first mention of his name and presence. It was mentioned how he approved of the stoning and killing of St. Stephen, and then later on, went on to carry out many more acts of violence against Christians, trying to eradicate the Christian faith and the Lord’s followers which then rapidly spread throughout Judea, Galilee and beyond.

That was why it was truly amazing when God chose and called Saul to be His follower and servant, as He came to Saul who was on his way to Damascus to eradicate the Christians there. The Lord came to Saul and revealed Himself and told him all the truth, and Saul, blinded by that vision, was eventually restored in his eyesight and together with it came a new resolution in life as he asked to be baptised in the Name of the Lord, by Ananias, one of the disciples of the Lord whom the Lord called to heal Saul and to open his mind to the truth of God.

St. Paul therefore came to become a most faithful and dedicated servant of the Lord. He changed his name from Saul to Paul to indicate this change in his way of life, as at that time, customarily the change in name indicate a major change or shift in life, just as when Simon was given the name Cephas or Kephas, meaning Rock, which we know as Peter. There were others who had also received or adopted a new name to signify the change in their path in life among other things.

Thus, as we have heard in our Gospel passage today, how the Lord commissioned His disciples to go forth to the world and proclaim the Good News, He has called on many to follow Him and to be His witnesses, so that many more people may come to believe in Him as well. He calls on all of us to embrace His truth and to show that same truth to others by our own life and dedication. St. Paul had committed himself and his life to follow the Lord in this way, in giving his life to serve the Lord and abandoning all the prospects and good life he once had earlier on.

Through what St. Paul had gone through, his conversion experience and his later complete dedication to the Lord, all of us are reminded that each and every one of us have been given many opportunities by the Lord to embrace Him and to find our path to Him, and at the same time, also given the chances to contribute to the works and missions that He has entrusted to each and every one of us as His disciples.

And if any of us are hesitant or think that we are unworthy of doing so, then we should consider how Saul, the great enemy and bane of Christians, a great sinner and a most unlikely candidate had been chosen by God to be His own greatest champion. Throughout the history of Christianity and the Church, there had been many other great saints who were once great sinners. What matters is that, each and every one of them atoned from their sins and turned away from their evil ways, embracing the Lord wholeheartedly and served Him, becoming great beacons and witnesses of His light and truth.

Now, today as we recall the dedication that St. Paul had given throughout his life and as we look upon the good examples set by our many predecessors in faith, let us all therefore see in what way we can commit ourselves better to serve the Lord. We are called to follow Him and to be genuine in how we love Him and embrace His truth in our every moment. Are we willing and able to give our best to live our lives as Christians, in the best way possible? Are we capable of following God not just for appearances and as formality, but truly dedicated to Him in our hearts?

Let us therefore renew our commitment to the Lord and do our best to live our lives as those who call themselves as Christians, and strive to be faithful witnesses of Our Lord in the world today, in our respective communities. Let our actions, words and deeds inspire one another that we may indeed proclaim the glory of God and reveal His truth and love to more and more people. May God be with us always and may He empower each one of us to live ever more virtuously and be ever more courageous to live our lives in faith, always. Amen.

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Monday, 24 January 2022 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Francis de Sales, Bishop and Doctor of the Church, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Lord in the Scriptures, we are called to remember the love that God has shown upon us, His beloved people that He raised for us His Saviour, born of the House of David, the great King of Israel just as He has promised and revealed through the various prophecies, in Jesus Christ, Son of God and Heir of David. We are reminded from the Scripture readings today what it means for us to follow the Lord and to be faithful to Him.

In our first reading today, we heard from the the second book of the prophet Samuel regarding the time when David was elected and affirmed as the King over all of the Israelites. For the context, David had earlier on been chosen by God as the new King over all Israel to replace Saul, the first and previous King of Israel. But Saul and David ended up in conflict and rivalry, in which Saul attempted in several occasions to kill David and remove him as a threat to his rule.

When later on King Saul was killed at Mount Gilboa during a battle with the Philistines, the people were divided between those who supported David to be King of Israel and those who supported Ishbaal, Saul’s son. The conflict lasted for a while in a brief civil war before finally the whole nation was united under the leadership of David. The elders and the whole people asked David to be their king, and he finally led the Israelites to many years of glory.

He built his kingdom and the great city of Jerusalem, to be the place where God would dwell, as he himself planned for the House of God, that would eventually be built by his son, Solomon. The Lord provided for His people and guided them, and gave them great prosperity and happiness so long as they obeyed him and listened to Him and His words, as they did during the reigns of David and Solomon, and other good kings. But the people fell again and again into sin and disobedience against God.

Yet, the Lord still patiently loved His people, all of us His beloved children and creation. He Who created us all out of love would not want to see us destroyed and crushed under the sins and evils we have committed, and therefore just as He has chosen David to be the leader, shepherd and King over His people, thus, He sent His own Son, the Divine Word, to be born and incarnate in the flesh, born into the House of David to fulfil the promises He had made to His people and to David long ago.

Through Christ, God had endeavoured to lead us all out of the misery of evil and darkness, and provided us all with a sure and certain path into the light of His presence. He revealed His truth and love to us, and yet, as we have heard in the Gospel passage today, there were still people who hardened their hearts against Him, despite everything that He had done for them all. We heard how the teachers of the Law were accusing the Lord of colluding with Beelzebul, the prince of demons in order to perform His miracles.

That was something that happened due to the pride, ego and arrogance of the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees, who thought that they knew it better, and they could not accept the fact that someone not from within their ranks could have gotten such great popularity, spoke with such great wisdom, truth and authority, that they felt threatened and they gave in to their desires and temptations which resulted in them foolishly opposing the good works of the Lord.

Many of us are often like that too, brothers and sisters in Christ. Many of us often hardened our hearts against the Lord and ignored Him and His love, and many of us had done things to spite the Lord, rejecting His compassion and kindness for worldly things and ambitions, for other things that distracted us from the truth about just how much God has loved us and how precious all of us are to Him.

Today, all of us should be inspired by the faith and the good examples set by St. Francis de Sales, a great saint, bishop and Doctor of the Church, whose life and dedication to the Lord can inspire us to be better Christians and better followers and witnesses of His truth and love. St. Francis de Sales was the Bishop of Geneva during the height of the Counter Reformation efforts in countering the divisions in the Church and among the Christian faithful due to the reformation earlier on.

He was born a noble, but encounters with the Lord and some questions about the faith eventually led him to seek the Lord more closely and he then chose to become a priest. Against initial family opposition, St. Francis de Sales finally gave up his rights and inheritance and became a priest. He dedicated himself a lot for the people he was working with, and in everything he had been entrusted to do. And later on as the Bishop of Geneva, he tirelessly involved himself in reaching out to many Christians and including those who have separated themselves from the Church.

St. Francis de Sales also wrote extensively about the faith which influenced and impacted many even long after his passing. His enormous contributions eventually led him to be declared a saint and a Doctor of the Church. Through his dedication and lifetime of service to God, all of us ought to be inspired to follow his great examples in walking the path of God faithfully ourselves.

Let us all therefore renew our commitments to be faithful to the Lord. Let us be committed and full of love for Him, and do whatever we can to glorify the Lord and His Name through our every acts, words and deeds, in every opportunities in our lives. Let us glorify our Lord and King, He Who has chosen and raised David to be King over His people, and Who has come down upon us Himself, to be our King forever. Amen.