Catholic homilies

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Thursday, 2 February 2017 : Feast of the Presentation of the Lord (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we celebrate the great feast in honour of the Presentation of our Lord Jesus Christ, our Saviour, in the Temple of God in Jerusalem. Traditionally, this is also the end of the Christmas season, occurring forty days after the celebration of the Nativity, from which date the timing of this feast is calculated.

On this day, we also pray for the sake of all those who have given themselves to the Lord as religious brothers and sisters, and as all those who have committed themselves to the holy priesthood, everyone who have given themselves to the service of God and His people, because they have been united to the Lord Jesus, our one and only true High Priest.

In the first reading today, taken from Book of the prophet Malachi, we heard of the proclamation of the coming of God’s salvation, the promise of the Saviour Who would come to bless the people of God, Who will refine all of them to be pure and glorified in His presence, that all of them will be like the sons of Levi, who have been appointed in accordance to the laws of Moses, to be priests of God’s people.

In this we see the works of God, the Eternal High Priest for all mankind, the One Who had come into this world, to bring unto all the ultimate and best offering of all, by offering Himself on the cross, so that on our behalf, Jesus had purified us and made us whole once again, delivering us from our troubles and from all the darkness that had once subjugated us. We have been brought from the darkness and into the light.

Today, all of us celebrate the moment when Jesus was offered to God as the firstborn Son, as a remembrance of the time of the Exodus. According to the tradition and the Law, all firstborn child of Israel must be offered to God, as a symbolic remembrance of the time when the Lord took away their punishment and changed it into liberation and freedom. What does this mean, brethren? In order to understand this, we will have to look into the events that took place around the first Passover.

At that time, the Pharaoh and the Egyptians refused to let the people of Israel go, and they refused to let them free from their slavery of the Israelites. The Pharaoh hardened his heart and made the Israelites to work even harder under the whip, and thus, God showed His might by sending to Egypt ten great plagues, the greatest of which was the last one.

The Pharaoh decreed that all the firstborn sons of Israel would be killed and continued to harden his heart against God. But God did not let such a punishment and intended destruction to fall against His beloved people. And thus He instructed Moses to tell the people to prepare an unblemished lamb for each families of Israel, and slaughter it on the day of salvation, the Passover day.

God passed over the houses which had been marked with the blood of the unblemished lamb of sacrifice, when He sent His Angels to destroy the firstborn of the Egyptians. The day of punishment and the day of destruction, when Pharaoh intended great harm for the Israelites, had become a day of rejoicing, of liberation and freedom. And this was what the Israelites celebrated from then on, year after year, rejoicing in God Who had liberated His people.

But mankind, God’s people had not been freed from their true afflictions, and they are still enslaved, not by any human forces or slavery, but by sin. Sin has become chains that kept us separated from God, and which has enslaved us to the forces of our human desires, our greed, and all of the temptations present in this world. The priests of Israel were incapable of redeeming the people because they themselves were also sinners, equally sinful before God and their brethren. And they offered the imperfect gifts and offerings of animal blood, which is insufficient to liberate us all from our afflictions of sin.

It is God alone Who is capable of forgiving our sins, and He Himself had taken charge of our liberation and redemption, much like how He had liberated Israel from the hands of Egypt. This time round, He liberates all of us from the chains of our sins, and brings us all to Him and to the eternal life He promises each and ever one of us who believe in Him.

But it is not something that is easily done, for the consequences of sin is death, suffering and pain. And there are just too many of us mankind, so grievous and great are our sins that we have once had no hope, for our fate would have been destruction and damnation. It was the great anguish and suffering which our Lord had endured for our sake, the pain and suffering of His cross, which had brought us all to freedom.

It was by His Precious Blood that we have been purchased, liberated and washed free from our sins. It was not an easy task, one that had burdened even the very Divine Son of God to anguish and sorrow, as He suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane before His Passion, so great was the task laid before Him. And yet, He remained obedient to the very end, carrying the cross with utmost patience, and enduring every blows, spittle and insults.

Such was the great love which our God had shown us, that He was willing to endure such great troubles for our sake. And He has not stopped at that, but He gave those whom He had chosen the power and authority to extend His forgiveness and redemption to all of His people. He has called His Apostles and disciples, and gave them the power to do so. And they chose their successors and disciples in turn, our priests and bishops.

Today, let us all remember our courageous and faithful priests and bishops, all those who have given themselves and committed their lives for the Lord and for His people. They have tremendous responsibility and duty, to continue the good works which our Lord had begun. They, together with all others in the religious life and vocations had willingly devoted themselves for our sake. Let us assure them of our support and our prayers.

And last of all, let us all also renew our commitment to the Lord this day. After all, God had loved us so much that He gave us His only Son, and not just that, He even suffered for our sake, bearing all of our sins with Him, and suffering great injustice for our sake, so that by His wounds we may be healed. This is the truth which our holy priests, bishops and religious had devoted their lives to, and therefore, it is just right that we should also do our best to support them, and live a genuine, Christian life.

May the Lord bless us all today, and from now to the ends of our days, so that in every actions that we do, and in every thing we say, we must always glorify the Lord, and proclaim His love to all. Let us all be committed servants of our Lord, and bring His light to all the peoples, particularly to those who are still lost in the darkness. May God be with us all, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Wednesday, 1 February 2017 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard about Jesus Who was rejected by His own people, by His own countrymen, the people of Nazareth where He grew up, who refused to believe in Him, despite having heard His teachings and witness the authority with which He had taught them, and all the miracles He had performed in their sight and in their neighbouring areas.

They rejected Jesus because they had seen Him growing up since He was merely a small Child, apparently the Son of the village carpenter, St. Joseph. They thought that since He was a mere Son of a simple carpenter, a profession often overlooked and under-appreciated at that time, then He could not have done all that on His own. And thus they doubted Him, mocked Him, and even kicked Him out of His own hometown.

Such lack of faith astounded our Lord, and indeed, is something that certainly astounds us all as well. But in reality, if we look at it more carefully, let us ask ourselves, that in our own lives, have we been treating the Lord in the same manner? Have we ourselves not doubted Him and rejected Him, preferring to choose a different path because we find His teachings too difficult to follow?

After all, the world offers each one of us an easier path to follow. The path of the Lord is difficult, and yet, it is one that will yield a true reward in the end, and not the path of this world. In the first reading today, from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Hebrews, St. Paul mentioned and explained the Lord as a Father to us all. And like a father who loves all of his children, God loves each and every one of us.

But a good father is not one who loves all the time, and does not act in a manner that is necessary to ensure that the child is brought up well. A good father is not someone who pampers the children and spoil them, for fathers who do pamper their children and allow them to walk into the wrong paths are bad and irresponsible fathers. Good fathers care for the overall well-being of their children.

Thus, God Who loves us all His children will discipline us as He sees fit. And sometime it is hard truth and hard approach that is necessary. But ultimately, God loves us all, each and every one of us, all the same. It is important that we should realise this fact, even as we persevere through the challenging times and moments of trials. We have to seek the Lord our Father, and find our way to Him, and doing our best, we must strive to be holy and devout, as St. Paul had said.

And often that would mean that we should abandon our past ways of sinfulness. We must keep ourselves free from wicked paths and ways, and we must not fall back into sinful paths, but must make the effort to remain strongly attached to the Lord, and be righteous and just in all of our ways. We cannot call ourselves as Christians otherwise, because as Christians we have been made to be children of our loving Father, God our Creator. If our actions show otherwise, then it will be a great scandal and sin, for our actions do not represent who we are and who we should be.

That is why all of us are called to be true Christians, in all of our deeds and actions, in all of our words and dealings. Let us all show true Christian love and virtues in all that we say and do, and let us help one another to grow ever closer to God, our loving Father. Let us imitate Him in all of His ways, and love one another just as He has loved us all first. Let us all give our very best and put our complete trust, doubting Him no longer. We must not follow the example of the people of Nazareth. Do not let anything come between us and God.

May the Lord bless us all and our endeavours. May He strengthen us in faith, and awaken in each one of us the strong desire to love Him, and to remain forever in His grace. May God be with us all, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Tuesday, 31 January 2017 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John Bosco, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, we heard from the Scripture passages about how the people doubted Jesus our Lord, when they made Him and His works very difficult, as they ridiculed Him, rejected Him, and refused to listen to Him. They had not believed in Him, but doubted Him and even laughed at Him, as what we witnessed when He healed the daughter of the synagogue official and brought her back to life.

It is not easy to have faith in God, and certainly our first reactions will be like that of the woman’s. The woman was fearful and unsure, even though she believed that Jesus would be able to heal her from her afflictions. That was why she did not openly approach Jesus, and chose to try to approach Jesus quietly, hoping that no one would notice what she had tried to do.

In this we also see our own fears and our own insecurities, as the woman was probably trying to hide her own conditions. At that time, such a bleeding condition in a woman would have been considered as a curse, and the people would have judged the woman, thinking that she had her condition because of her sins. But nonetheless, despite of her fears and uncertainties, she went forward regardless, and touched the cloak of Jesus.

It was her great faith that allowed her to be healed and saved from her miseries. It was the same with the synagogue official, whose faith in Jesus also saved his daughter. Had he not been faithful and called Him, and had the woman with bleeding not had such a great faith, nothing in her condition would have changed. Her faith allowed God to do His wonderful works in her, and she was saved. The same applies to the synagogue official and his daughter.

Now let us ask ourselves, how many of us have been courageous enough to be like the woman whose faith had healed her? How many of us are aware of our own sinfulness, and how wicked we are, to have that desire in us to be healed? For if the woman wanted to be healed from her bleeding affliction, each and every one of us man have even greater affliction in us, that is sin, for sin is the disease of the soul and of the whole being.

But many of us are unaware just how sick we are from all of the sins inside us, and therefore we do not take the necessary steps to seek healing and forgiveness from God. And therefore instead of being like the synagogue official or like the woman with bleeding, we instead became like the people who were bystanders in the official’s house, who did not understand what Jesus was about to do, and what Jesus was indeed capable of doing, laughing at Him when He told them that He would raise the dead girl back to life again.

Are we like them, brothers and sisters? Are we doubting the Lord and His love? Are we too busy to notice our own foolishness and weaknesses? It is important that we understand this or else we will end up losing our way amidst the darkness of this world. Today, as we celebrate the feast day of St. John Bosco, a holy priest and saint of God, perhaps it will be good for us to look into the life of this holy saint, and look for things which can help us in our journey towards the Lord.

St. John Bosco was a renowned priest and holy man, who devoted his life to the service to the people of God. He served among the people of the city of Turin, who was filled with many poor people, as a result of rapid industrialisation. He was particularly worried and disturbed seeing many of the youths prior to adulthood who fell into crime and got themselves arrested, without proper jobs and had to struggle for their lives.

Therefore, St. John Bosco helped to establish institutions meant to help these young people to renew themselves and to equip themselves with the education and the skills to help themselves persevere and survive in life later on. He established shelters for young boys who were orphans and jobless, taking them out of the streets to have a decent and disciplined life under his care and watch.

Eventually several of those who have been helped by St. John Bosco would go on to follow in his examples, and established the congregation now known as the Salesians, which now have inspired many countless others, both men and women to follow in the footsteps of the holy and devout saint. St. John Bosco is also our inspiration, and therefore, let us all also follow in his footsteps.

There are many people out there who are in need of our help, not only for material help but even more so, for spiritual guidance and help, those who have been sickened by sin, corrupted by the darkness. Instead of ridiculing and condemning others because of their sins, let us instead help each other, for after all, each and every one of us are sinners before God, Who have received the full offer of mercy from God Himself, Who through Jesus had revealed to us His salvation.

May the Lord help us all that we may persevere through our lives in faith, and that we may be able to commit ourselves anew to the Lord, and devote ourselves more completely to Him. Let us all strengthen our zeal and our faith, and in our actions, may we all proclaim the glory of God, and show love to our brethren in need, that everyone will be touched by the Lord, and be healed of their afflictions. Amen.

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Monday, 30 January 2017 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard the great deeds of our Lord Jesus, Who cast out demons from a man of the region of Gerasenes, and therefore healed the man. That man had been wondering in the wilderness, among the tombs, away from the society, as his condition made him an outcast, rejected by all the other people and cast out from the community.

No one would want to interact or even have anything to do with the man who had been possessed by the evil spirits, because they feared that they too would contract the same affliction. That is why those who had been possessed would be chained, and would be kept away from human interaction, left to fend off on his or her own. But when Jesus came to that place and saw the man possessed by the evil spirits, He did something different.

Instead of shunning the man, He approached him, and listened to him when he called out to Him. The evil spirits inside him knew just Who Jesus was, and they were afraid, for they knew that although they could do what they liked with the man, but there was nothing that they could do against the power of God in Jesus. Even they had to obey God, for they were created by God in the beginning, only to rebel against Him and cast out from heaven.

They know that they were doomed the moment that they were defeated, and they knew that Jesus is the One alone Who had the power over them, to destroy them and to cast them into the eternal fire prepared for them. Jesus therefore represents God’s saving love, through which God desires to bring all of His lost people back to Himself.

For each and every one of us who are sinners have been separated from God, and because of our sins, darkness had entered into our hearts, just like the evil spirits who entered into the man and made him to be a renegade and an outcast from his own community. In the same manner therefore, we have also been made outcasts and renegades from the kingdom of our God, cast out from His holy presence, and unworthy to be with Him.

And yet, it is God Himself Who had extended His loving and merciful hands to us, willingly offering us the means to our salvation, and this is even when such measures would require the sacrifice of His own Most Precious Body and Blood, which He willingly offered on the Altar of the cross at Calvary. He Who has the power to heal us, the only One indeed, has done so much for us. Now, we need to look upon ourselves and ask, what then have we done in order to thank Him for having done so for our sake?

Many of us do not appreciate what God had done for us, and we also even ignore Him, and rejected the kind offer of His mercy. We prefer to carry on living this life in the state of sin, living on with abandon, and putting ourselves into the ways of this world, following the temptations of worldly pleasures and as a result, we remain in the darkness, and we remain lost to the Lord. This is what we cannot do, brothers and sisters in Christ.

As Christians, now each and every one of us are called to help each other to live our lives filled with faith, commitment and devotion to God. We are called to help one another to reach out to the Lord, and not to close any path towards salvation from all those who need that salvation. But rather we must help our brethren who have not yet received God’s grace, and are still living in sin, that they may realise their sinfulness, and work towards redemption and forgiveness by God.

May the Lord help each and every one of us, so that we may draw ever closer to Him, and in all things may we always try our best to adhere to Him and to His ways, so that we may be found worthy, when He comes again to claim us all His beloved people. Let us all let the Lord our God touch us with His loving care, and open our hearts to welcome Him into our beings, that He may transform us from beings of darkness into beings of the true Light. May the Lord be with us all. Amen.

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Sunday, 29 January 2017 : Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today in the Scripture readings, all of us heard about the descriptions of who are considered as true Christians, as those who are not Christians just in name or in the official records only, but also Christians in their hearts and souls, and all who see these people, will truly know and recognise their Christian faith, not because they show off any records or cards stating that they belong to the Christian faith, but because of their own actions and deeds.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we are called to reflect on the words of our Lord Jesus in the Beatitudes which He taught to the disciples and to the people who heard His teachings on the mountain, as we also heard it in our Gospel passage today. The Eight Beatitudes are the eight good virtues which all of us should have in our own lives, as Jesus had gone through each of them, which are then expected from us Christians. Let me now go through each of them from the beginning to the end.

We have to be poor in spirit, which does not refer to material poverty, or being poor because we have no money or worldly possessions in order to sustain ourselves. This is a misconception that many people often have with regards to the term ‘poor in spirit’. Jesus was not supporting those who were materially poor against the rich, and neither did He condemn the rich just because they were rich or had more material possessions than others.

Rather, it means that we must recognise our spiritual poverty, understanding that we are all sinners before God, delinquent and rebel, having been cast away from His presence because of our disobedience and sinfulness. It is the recognition and awareness of one’s own sins and weaknesses which is something that we do not commonly see among ourselves. We are often too proud and feeling too self-righteous to be able to see our own faults and therefore we are incapable of taking the steps to rectify this situation.

The kingdom of God truly therefore belong to those who are humble and willing to be forgiven, those who are able to open themselves to receive the loving grace of God. Which then comes to the next Beatitude, about those who mourn. This mourning is often associated with those who are sad and sorrowful because they lose something or someone precious, such as when someone they love passed away. But even more importantly, someone who is poor in spirit will also be sorrowful.

Why is this so? That is because if we are aware of our sins, and just how terrible those sins are, we will be sorrowful indeed, knowing that God surely would punish us for all the heinous and wicked deeds we have done. It is the regret that accompanies one’s actions, knowing regret for one’s sins which many people of our time are unable to do. Many of us are ignorant of our own sins, and how bad they are for our own souls.

This world is filled with sin and darkness, and many of us are trapped in the darkness. We fill ourselves with acts of hatred, jealousy, greed and all other things unbecoming of ourselves as those who call themselves as Christians. We cause harm, pain and sufferings upon others just so that we can gain things for ourselves, that we will benefit on top of others’ inconvenience and sufferings. This will happen when each person only cares about themselves and not about others.

This is where we need to be gentle, to be loving and caring, not to be quick to anger but be calm and be compassionate. We must have that desire to love one another, and to shown concern and care for our brethren, especially when we see someone being treated unjustly, being bullied and having their rights taken away from them. It is un-Christian for us to ignore the plight of our brethren, of those who have need for help, but having no one listen to them.

We are all called to be those who are ready to help these brethren of ours, helping them and comforting them, showing them mercy and love. That is why God blesses all those who have pity and mercy in their hearts, all those who are incapable of sitting still while they see someone being mistreated, bullied and persecuted against. It does not just mean that we should do our best to overcome our sins, but we must also help one another through our actions.

It is only when we have the right intention, the right attitude and the right understanding of things that we will be able to proceed on in a Christian manner. And indeed, a Christian person is a man of peace, who seeks the betterment of his or her brethren. A peaceful person inspires one another to rule out conflict in dealing with matters. They would try their best to bring harmony and peace in all situations. It is when love should trump over hate, where justice should trump over injustice.

Ultimately, let us all ask ourselves, are we able to do what the Lord had instructed us all to do? We do not have to worry or fear, because in the second reading today, in the Epistle which St. Paul wrote to the Church and the faithful in the city of Corinth in Greece, he said that God chose the ordinary and the common people, not those who are considered strong and mighty in the sight of the world, but all of us with our weaknesses and with our faults, have been chosen by God.

What does this mean, brothers and sisters in Christ? It means that by calling us all, God wants each and every one of us to be changed, transformed by our actions, which should be filled with love, with mercy, with kindness, compassion and grace. We should be following in the examples of our good predecessors, the holy saints who have led a life of virtue, a true Christian life which we all ought to follow as well.

That also means that as Christians we must not participate in acts that are un-Christian in nature. We should not sow division when we are able to unite instead. We should not bring about harm and injury to our brethren when we are able to bring peace and harmony, and also love and mercy. We must not act unjustly on our brethren, but instead we should uphold justice and honesty in all of our dealings.

Indeed, all of these will not be easily done, as often things are easily said but difficult to be made a reality. But that is precisely what Jesus Himself had told His disciples and all of His followers. That there will be opposition, persecution and challenges from many sources, but those who persevere through, will receive great rewards in the end.

Yes, temptations and persuasions to do otherwise will be great, but this is where we can help one another to pull through those difficult moments, and show one another with good examples of our own actions. Let the eight Beatitudes be our guide, in our conduct and in our actions, so that all those who see us will immediately recognise God being present in us and our works, and therefore many more people will come to understand God and His ways, and be saved together with us all.

May the Lord bless us all and our works, and may He awaken in each and every one of us the desire to live a true and blessed Christian life. May all of us be ever righteous, just and honest in our every dealings, and be caring and loving, merciful and kind towards one another, fellow brothers and sisters in our Lord. May God be with us all. Amen.

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Saturday, 28 January 2017 : 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 we heard about faith in God, and what our predecessors have shown to us regarding that faith which they had. Beginning from the days of our early forefathers, from the days of Abraham, to his son Isaac and then to the latter’s own son Jacob, and down to the days of the Apostles, when Jesus was with them.

In the Gospel today, we heard the well known story of how Jesus calmed the waters and rebuked the storm. The disciples were in the same boat as the Lord, and while He was sleeping calmly in the boat, the disciples, seeing the strong winds, terrible thunderstorms and the strong waves feared for their lives and became panicked. They were afraid that the boat would be overturned and then they would sink into the lake and die.

Their faith in the Lord was then not strong, and they were wavering. They were having so many concerns about themselves that they were not able to think rationally and they were not able to appreciate what they have amongst them, the Lord Himself, Whom they could really trust. But they instead worried and panicked, and they doubted. This was where Jesus rebuked them for their lack of faith.

If only that they would look and remembered at how God had cared for His people in the ages past, with mighty deeds, then they would not have panicked, or doubted, or be worried about themselves, because God Himself will not abandon His people. Throughout time, again and again, even when we mankind had been unfaithful to Him, He is always ever faithful, as He was, and as He will ever be.

During the days of Abraham, when many had not yet known the Lord, for many who saw and witnessed what Abraham did must have been a folly and crazy deed indeed. After all, what would a man gain by leaving his entire family, possessions, inheritance behind? What would Abraham, then known as Abram, gain by leaving his ancestral lands of Ur behind and travel to Canaan as the Lord had instructed him?

Certainly, his own family, his own friends and all those he knew must have laughed at him, mocked and ridiculed him for what he had done. And all others who heard his tale must have also thought that he was out of his mind. After all, in the reckonings of this world, who in his or her right mind would just abandon all of the earthly goods he or she had, or what he or she was bound to receive?

And on top of that, he and his wife Sara had been barren without a child. This would have been considered a curse for a people at that time, as a sign of divine displeasure and wickedness. But I am sure that all of these must not have deterred Abram from obeying God and listening to His will. He ventured on to the land which God had showed him, and listened to God as he went along with his life.

We know the rest of the story. God did not just give him a child as He had promised, even through Sara who was already at an advanced age. In the Psalm today, taken from the Gospel of St. Luke we have the Magnificat, the song of Mary, who thanked the Lord for His great graces, having blessed Elizabeth her cousin with a child at her own very advanced age, and the greatest of all, God Himself had been willing to enter into this world through her.

Those who are faithful will never be disappointed by God, for He is ever faithful. Abram, whom He renamed Abraham, did not just get a new name, but also a new life, as the father of many nations, and also as our father in faith. He was blessed among all the nations, and from a man, certainly ridiculed by his friends and relatives, who was barren without a child, had come a great and many nations, blessed and chosen by God to be His people.

Without Abraham’s faith, there would not have been Israel, and without Mary’s faith, the work of God’s salvation through Jesus Christ would have been thwarted. And no salvation would have come into this world, and we would all have no hope. It was because of God’s faithfulness, and our human responses and readiness to accept that faith which allowed God to work His great wonders among us.

Today, we also commemorate the feast of the great and renowned saint, St. Thomas Aquinas, the great confessor, theologian par excellence and Doctor of the Church. St. Thomas Aquinas was truly known for his brilliant and intellectual mind, through which he did many works and writings trying to explain to us the nature and the love of God.

St. Thomas Aquinas was a devout and truly committed person, teaching many others about the Lord and about having faith in Him. This is the perfect opportunity for us to read up more about this holy and devout saint, a role model for all of us, just as our holy forefathers had shown us how to be faithful to God. Having faith in God is not such an easy task, as even the disciples themselves wavered in their faith in the midst of great difficulties, but it is possible if we have the will and the strength to have that faith in God.

Now, what we all need to do is ask ourselves, have we been faithful to God? Have we all been faithful to God even though the world may be against us, and even when they may be mocking us, reviling us and humiliating us for believing in God, and keeping our faith in Him? Let us never forget what God had done for Abraham, our father in faith, for Israel, when they were enslaved in Egypt, and for ourselves, when He chose to send His own Son to us to be our Saviour.

Let us be ever faithful in all of our ways, and grow ever stronger in the way of faith. Let us inspire one another and help guide each other so that we will always remain true to our faith in God, and be completely devoted to Him in all of our ways. Let us also ask for the intercession of St. Thomas Aquinas, that his devotion and dedication to the Lord will inspire us all to do the same as well in our own lives. May God bless us all. Amen.

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Friday, 27 January 2017 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Angela Merici, Virgin (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Virgins)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, we listened to the Lord Jesus teaching the people with parables, telling them that the kingdom of God is like a growing seed, which is sown by man, and then when it lands on a rich and fertile soil, it grows to be a mighty and great plant, even though it might be small as a seed. It is the same therefore with the kingdom of God, according to Christ, which is inside each and every one of us who belong to Him.

We are all given the gifts from the Lord, Who sowed in each of us the seeds of faith, the seeds of hope and the seeds of love. But all of these gifts were dormant in us, and they are not going to grow unless we place them in the right conditions, just as plants will not germinate from their seeds and grow unless they are placed under the right conditions.

And just as plants take a long time to grow from a seed, into a sapling and then into a growing young plant, into maturity and finally laying out flowers and then fruits, therefore it also takes a lot in order to make those seeds in us grow inside us, and transform us to be true beings of the kingdom of God. Our faith requires great patience for us to develop and to persevere through this life. To live faithfully according to the way of the Lord is never an easy one.

As mentioned in the first reading today, according to the Epistle to the Hebrews, the writer of this Epistle, likely to be St. Paul, wrote about the hardships which the first and earliest Christians had to endure, many of them being Jews, who were then often torn between their obedience to the laws that governed the Jewish society, and their newfound love and loyalty to the Lord which they had discovered through Jesus their Lord.

But even though they were once a small group of people, often shunned and rejected by others, reviled and ridiculed by their own countrymen for following Jesus the crucified Lord and Messiah, they eventually triumphed through the end, as the Church gradually grew stronger, larger and ever more vibrant even though there were many moments of difficulties and challenges along its path.

Yes indeed persecutions came their way, and many had to suffer for many years because of their faith, but as many did not give up their faith and helped one another to persevere in their faith, that is why the Church was able to persevere through and why the faithful were able to stay strong amidst the challenges and the difficulties. In the same manner therefore, all of us Christians must also stay together and help each other, that we may remain ever faithful.

We should also follow the examples of St. Angela Merici, the holy saint and woman whose feast we are celebrating today. Since her youth, she had devoted herself to God, particularly when her sister died, and we were told that she died without having the chance to receive the Last Rites from a priest. A distraught St. Angela Merici prayed fervently before the Lord, asking Him to forgive her sister and allow her to enter heaven. Later on, it was told that she received a vision, in which she saw her sister in the company of the saints of heaven.

She grew stronger in the faith through prayer, and she resisted the temptation of worldly pleasures and desires, and when suitors came to her attracted by her great beauty, she chose to dress herself in soot and dust, so as to detract her suitors and to remain committed to God. She taught others how to be close and spiritually devoted to God, and became a source of inspiration of many others.

Through the examples of the faith of St. Angela Merici, all of us are called to also grow in our faith, by giving it the most suitable conditions in order to grow, so that what God had planted inside each and every one of us may grow well. It is through deep and fervent prayer, made sincerely and with devotion that we provide this optimum condition. And then we also show our love, care and concern to others around us, giving ourselves to our brethren who are in need of our love.

It is when we have done all of these that we have truly become like the kingdom of God, when all of us Christians work together in love, showing hope to those who are in darkness, and having genuine faith in God, that the seeds of faith, hope and love God had sown in us no longer remains just as seeds, but grow together, interlocking with one another, until everything become a great tree, that is the Church of God, living and vibrant, filled with hope, with love and with faith. That is what the kingdom of God in this world is truly like.

Let us all work together in order to realise this, and be committed to do what we have been called to do, to serve God with all of our strengths and abilities. May God help us in this journey, and may He strengthen the faith in our hearts, awaken in us the desire to help our brethren in need, and make us to become light for those who are still in the darkness and ignorance in the world. God bless us all and our endeavours. Amen.

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Thursday, 26 January 2017 : 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, on this day we celebrate the feast day of two of St. Paul’s followers and fellow leaders of the early Church, St. Timothy and St. Titus, who accompanied him during certain parts of his apostolic journeys, and with whom he kept correspondences, which are then compiled and become part of the New Testament of our Sacred Scriptures today.

These two were among those whom the Apostles had appointed as the episcopi, overseers or bishops among the people of God. They have been chosen to help in the works of the Apostles, and to be their successors to continue the works that the Apostles had started. From them too, came forth many more successors and bishops, who followed on through time, as those who have given themselves to the service of the Gospel for the sake of mankind’s salvation.

And in the Gospel, Jesus our Lord also appointed seventy-two disciples in addition to the twelve Apostles He had chosen. The seventy-two disciples are those whom God had chosen to assist in the good works which the Lord had appointed them to do. They had been instructed by the Lord to go to every places He was to go, to prepare His way for him, and to bring the Good News to the people in those places.

All of us Christians have also been called to do the same, as Jesus Himself had aptly said, that while the harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few. The harvest refers to the richness of opportunities in this world for evangelisation and conversion, of many people who have yet to receive the Good News of God, and the many people who are still living in sin and darkness, in the ignorance of the light of Christ.

The labourers of the harvest are all those whom God have called to help gather His harvest, namely those who have answered His call and accepted their new role as the devoted servants of God. They are our priests and bishops, those in the holy orders and religious life, who have given themselves and their whole lives for service to God, in the same manner as St. Timothy and St. Titus, and many other holy saints had been.

There are many things that these servants of God had to do, preaching the Good News, healing the sick and caring for them, as well as for all those who are without hope, downtrodden and rejected by the society. And they will also be accepted in places, but rejected in even more places. There will be many of those who refuse to listen to them, and instead of obeying their precepts, continued to live their old and sinful way of life.

In all of this, we should look upon the examples of St. Timothy, St. Titus and all the holy saints who have devoted their life to God. They went from places to places, ministering for the people who need them, both in physical and also spiritual, but more importantly, they provided for them the sustenance of their faith, showing them examples of how they ought to live their lives in good faith.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we are all called to serve the Lord in our different capacities and opportunities, that as Christians and thus members of the Church, we may be true bearers of the message of God’s Holy Gospels, and awaken in many others, the faith that have laid dormant in their hearts. Let us all inspire one another, and help guide each other on our journey of faith towards the Lord.

May the Lord bless us all, and awaken in us the desire to serve Him, so that some amongst us may be stirred when He calls us, to be His servants, to take up the cross and follow Him, and support and continue the good works of the Apostles and disciples, and their successors. May the Lord help us all and be with us always. Amen.

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Wednesday, 25 January 2017 : 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 mark the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul the Apostle, the remembrance of the moment when St. Paul was called by God to become His follower and Apostle. St. Paul the Apostle was once known as Saul, the Pharisee and a highly educated member of the Jewish elite who was a great enemy of Jesus and His teachings, a great persecutor of the faithful and the Church, and a terror in the hearts of many of the earliest Christians.

And therefore, he was indeed one of the least likely of those who would one day become one among the greatest champions of the faith, and as one of the greatest defenders of the faithful. Certainly no one would have expected someone who have committed so many great sins, caused so much sufferings against the faithful and the Church would become one of its own, and less so as one of its greatest servants and members.

But it is in this that we can see the great loving and merciful heart of our God, as He showed His tender mercy to all those who have been willing to repent and change their ways, by opening the way for them to approach the throne of His mercy and to accept His grace and love. God is willing to welcome back all those who have gone wayward and then later on desiring to return to Him.

In fact all those who have become saints and considered great in the sight of the Church and the faithful, all of them were also sinners at one point in their respective lives. This was just indeed as all of mankind were born as sinners, susceptible to sin, and also predisposed to sinful activities. It is in our nature to be tempted and persuaded to disobey the Lord and to do things that are against the will of God, and therefore to sin.

No one escaped from this reality, except for Christ Himself, Who was born into this world without any taint of sin, for He is God Who is all good, and also for His mother Mary, who alone amongst the sons and daughters of mankind were without any sin. All the rest of us have been sinful, have been wicked and unworthy, corrupted beings and souls before God, unworthy of His love and presence.

And yet, it is from us sinners whom God had chosen His saints and servants, to be those whom He set apart as examples for others, so that they too may be able to follow in the same path that these people had walked on. It was from among the feeble, the sinners, the wicked and the abandoned ones whom God had chosen to be His followers and disciples. We may think that God is really being unpredictable in this matter, but truly, His way is different from our human ways, and is often far beyond our understanding.

God did not choose those who would expect themselves to be chosen, namely those who thought that their abilities, prestige, position, honour and all other worldly parameters would matter, as God sees not in worldly terms and appearances, but instead in terms of what He truly sees in our hearts, in our potential for good and for obedience to His will. He sees through us all, to the deepest depths of our hearts, knowing everything in us, our minds and hearts, for He had created us Himself.

That is why He chose people like Saul, who had faith in God, but was misled by the wrong teachings and subverted by the overzealousness and hot-headedness of his youth into committing grievous errors and crimes against the faithful and God’s Church. But God saw the faith in him, and through him therefore, He wanted to bring His Good News and salvation to many more of His people, using his talents and skills, and thus, calling upon Saul, He called him to turn away from his mistaken path and repent, and then follow Him.

He chose people of various backgrounds, from humble fishermen who were often looked down by many others in the society for their frequently poor background and upbringing, their illiteracy and lack of intelligence. He chose the upright and just people, educated and intellectuals. He chose tax collectors who were reviled by many others for their supposed betrayal of their own people being the tax collectors for the Romans, and also even prostitutes, zealots and even thieves like Judas Iscariot.

He chose all of them with the single intent of calling all of them to change their way of life and to be redeemed from the multitudes of their sins. And hopefully through their repentance, they may set good examples and become inspirations for many others to follow, so that many more people will also change their lives and choose to follow the way of the Lord, and therefore be saved.

Not all whom God had called will be saved. It depends on ourselves, and all those others whom He had called. If people like Judas Iscariot refused to change themselves, and continued down their path of dishonesty, betrayal, wickedness, sinfulness and all the vices they had done before they follow the Lord, then in the end, they will not be made just by all the wrongs they have committed. Instead, they will be judged by those sins they made, unless they genuinely and thoroughly repented from them all.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as Christians, all of us ought to be like St. Paul, who turned away from his past, sinful life. He made a genuine and complete turnaround, and dedicating his whole life thereafter to God, he courageously stood up for his faith, even to go the extra mile to serve Him and to help spread the Good News by preaching it from town to town, across the seas, and even endured persecutions and terrible sufferings, rejection and humiliation along the way.

We should follow in his footsteps, in his strong conviction and commitment to the Lord, and to the obedience he had shown in following what the Lord had led him to do. This is what each and every one of us as Christians must do, and we have to reflect on this, as we celebrate today’s Feast of Conversion of St. Paul. If Saul had become Paul, from a great sinner to a great saint, then nothing is impossible for us, for we too can be like him.

May the Lord bless us and help us all, so that in our lives, we too may be like St. Paul, to be thoroughly changed and converted in our ways, so that we may also be righteous and just, becoming an inspiration for others to follow, so that they themselves may become inspirations of their own to others who see them, and therefore, through all these, the good works of the Church and the people of God become an unstoppable rippling force, spreading out, touching more hearts and souls, and calling more people to the salvation in God.

May the Lord be with us all, and may He bless all of our good endeavours, and help us to remain faithful to Him, as St. Paul himself once had been. Amen.

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Tuesday, 24 January 2017 : 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, on this day all of us are reminded by the Lord and His Church through the Scripture passages we heard today, of the need of obedience and action in order for us to be truly justified and worthy in the sight of the Lord. It is not enough that we should just practice external observances of our faith, but instead, we must embody everything we believe in our own actions and deeds.

This is particularly relevant in the context in how these passages were written. At a time when disobedience against the rules and regulations imposed by the elders and the teachers of the Law were heavily discouraged and punishable, the people of God by then had lost the true meaning of the Law of God, which they had received through Moses, and obeyed them without understanding. And those who imposed them, forced the people to live strictly according to the Law also without knowing the intention of God’s Law.

The Pharisees, elders and teachers of the Law insisted that all the observances of the Mosaic laws must be adhered to, from rules on how a person should observe fasting, how one ought to wash his or her hands before a meal and when entering into another person’s house, as well as the laws regarding Sabbath and the strict instruction to avoid any works on that day, or else those who disobeyed would be expelled from the synagogues and shunned by the rest of their society.

In one count, there are approximately six hundred and thirteen set of laws, rules and regulations which the people had to obey, from the rituals of cleansing and purification, as well as ways to pray and fasting, right to the way for offering sacrifices, and the different purposes of each sacrifices of animal fats, blood, and others. These were imposed on the people, and became a great burden for them, because many of these were not what God intended for His people, but how the people themselves twisted the observances of the true Law, and utilised it to their own purposes.

That was why Jesus revealed to His people, what God actually intended for them, and what God wanted them to do for Him. It was not all the external observations of the laws that is important, but rather whether each person is able to commit themselves to God through the Law, and learn to give Him their love and commitment. It is no use for someone to observe the fullness of the rules and regulations, with the example of the Pharisees who openly displayed their observances before others, and yet God was not in their hearts.

It is pointless if we pretend to be pious, devout and holy, and yet in our hearts we store a greater malice of pride, arrogance and human greed. To want to be seen by others and be praised because of their deeds was the exact reason why Jesus rebuked the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law for their hypocrisy. They had no God in their hearts, but rather their own ego and selfishness.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, what God wants from each one of us is simply our love, just as He had loved us first. His laws as summarised by Jesus our Lord is indeed simple, about love, the love of God shown upon mankind, and the expectation that we also love Him back equally, and to put Him at the centre of our lives, so that His love lives inside each one of us, and we therefore may live in Him.

Let us all follow the examples of St. Francis de Sales, whose feast we celebrate today. St. Francis de Sales was a devout bishop and holy man, whose deeds and works were renowned far and wide among the communities of the faithful during and after his time. But when he was young, he was born into a noble family and followed worldly pursuits as what was expected of someone of his class at that time.

However, as he continue through his education in a seminary, and going through various spiritual experiences, he discovered a moment of conversion and change, when he realised that God loves him and each and every men and women. And based on that fundamental truth, St. Francis de Sales dedicated his life to God from then on, and left behind the worldly pursuits and ambitions.

He left behind everything and became a priest, and was renowned from then on by his zeal and faith in God, by the clarity of his sermons and preachings about the faith to the people. And by explaining the love of God which He had shown through the Church, he managed to convince many to repent from their old ways of sin and enter into conversion and change just as he himself had done many years prior.

St. Francis de Sales was renowned for his patience and humility, his loving and caring nature, his gentle attitude, which are all the characteristics of God’s love. Therefore, based on his examples, all of us Christians must also follow in his footsteps, practicing our faith in our own lives, so that we too may have the Lord at the centre of our lives, and be transformed wholly from creatures of sin and wickedness into creatures of love.

Let us all devote ourselves, our time and our efforts to love God in all the things we do, and we can start this by thanking Him for all the blessings and graces we have received, and then sharing them with one another, loving and caring our brethren, and even strangers who are in our midst. Let us live our lives with purpose from now on, that is to obey the will of God, and therefore we will be found worthy when the Lord comes again as He had promised us. May God bless us all. Amen.