Catholic homilies

by

Monday, 14 November 2016 : 33rd Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today’s Scripture readings, taken from the Book of Revelations and the Gospel according to St. Luke have very simple and yet clear message to all of us Christians, that we all ought to be faithful, to be true to the ways of our Lord, to be righteous and good, and amidst difficulties and challenges, remain firm and devoted to the Lord, seek Him and find Him, and then we shall not be disappointed.

In the first reading today, taken from the Book of Revelations of St. John the Apostle, St. John saw a vision of the Lord Who sent His Angels to the Churches in the region, reminding each and every one of them with the same message, that while they have persevered in their faith, and remained true to the Lord and His ways, but they had fallen away from the true path and is in need of repentance and change.

The Lord reminded His people that in order to find their way to Him, they need to have that profound change in their heart, mind and soul, that they should open these to Him, allowing Him to enter into them and transforming them entirely, that they will be transformed from the people of darkness and of worldliness, into people of the light and as those who truly belong to the Lord as His children and His followers.

And many times, we do not realise that in order to do these, we have to have that strong desire in each of us to change ourselves, to challenge ourselves from the status quo of our lives, especially if we are often spending little time to reflect about what we have done, and about what we have not done. And this is perfectly represented in the Gospel passage we heard today, when we heard about how Jesus our Lord healed and opened the eyes of the blind man.

The blind man heard that Jesus was coming to the place, and he shouted to Him, asking and begging Him to heal him and make him able to see once again. But the people ridiculed him and asked him to stop screaming. Yet, the blind man continued to shout even louder to get Jesus’ attention, and the Lord came to him, seeing his faith, He healed him and thus once again, he could see and he followed the Lord henceforth.

The story of the blind man is a parallel to our own lives, in each of their unique situations and circumstances. When we sin, and when we commit things that are mistaken and wrong in the sight of God and men alike, we are like the blind man, as sin acts like a veil that prevent us from seeing the truth. Sin corrupts us, not just the body, but also the mind, heart and soul. The more we sin, the more we are desensitised to it, and after a while, it becomes even our second nature. We no longer feel when we sin.

And yes, we are sinners, and we sin from day to day, from time to time. And no one is perfect. We always make mistakes in our respective lives. But what matters is, whether we are willing to make a difference and a concrete change with our lives, that while we once were sinners, we are willing to let all of these go and take a bold new step forward, committing ourselves to a renewed life filled with repentance and the desire to love the Lord with faith.

This was what the blind man had done. He used whatever courage and strength he had to scream out loud to get the attention of the Lord, and he was determined in doing so. Are we that determined to change our lives? Are we willing to go the distance in order to find our way to the salvation in God? These are the questions that we really need to ask ourselves today as we reflect on the Scripture readings we have just heard.

Then are we also making it difficult for our fellow brothers and sisters, especially those who are in need of God’s help and mercy? Are we acting like those who are trying to discourage the blind man from seeking the Lord’s help? This is what we need to reflect on as well, as we need to move away from these actions, and instead, learn to help one another on our journey towards the Lord.

Let us be merciful, be forgiving and be loving in all of our actions and interactions with each other. Let us not harden our hearts, but welcome the Lord in them, and allow Him to transform us and make us people of the light, worthy of His salvation. May God bless us all. Amen.

by

Sunday, 13 November 2016 : 33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today is the second last or the penultimate Sunday of this current liturgical year and next Sunday is the Solemnity of our Lord Jesus Christ King of the Universe. And as we come to the close of this liturgical year, all the Scripture readings speak about the coming of the Lord at the end of time, His second coming, which He Himself had prophesied and proclaimed, as the long-awaited time when God would right everything and bring all of His people to Himself.

But this time that is to come will not be known to us, not in its details, for the Lord Himself said that His coming will be like that of a thief hidden and coming to rob a house, which is entirely unexpected to the owners of the house. Otherwise, had the owners knew beforehand that the house would be robbed, then he would be prepared and the house would not be robbed, as the owners would ensure the best security available to keep it secure.

Instead, what the Lord Jesus reminded us His people is that, His coming will be sudden, and catch us by surprise. No man on earth will know the time of this happening, and if one says that he or she knows the time of this occurrence, then likely he or she is a false prophet, spreading lies and pretences to confuse us the faithful people of God. This is what we must be careful of, that we are not to believe such lies or sweet words designed to trick us into false ways.

But on the other hand, we cannot be ignorant either on the fact that the Lord is coming again, and when He comes, those whom He will find to be righteous shall receive great rewards and joy, an eternity of happiness and glory with our God. And meanwhile, those who were caught in their wickedness and in the state of grievous sins will regret, because the Lord will reject them and cast them out of His grace and into eternal darkness, despair and damnation.

This has been clearly illustrated in another occasion in the Gospel, when Jesus our Lord spoke about the Last Judgment, when He Himself, Who is the one and true Great Judge over all, over all spirits and souls, over all of creation, will judge each and every one of us without exception, and those who He deems to be good, faithful and true to His ways will be separated from those who have not obeyed Him and who have been wayward in their ways.

And if we read that passage, which is related to what we heard today, then we will truly understand how we ought to prepare ourselves in order to make ourselves worthy of the Lord. For today, our Lord Jesus in the Gospel spoke about the Temple of God in Jerusalem, which was adored and praised by many for its grandeur and beauty, taking more than forty-six years since it was built by king Herod the Great, and yet by then had not been completed yet.

He spoke about how that Temple would be destroyed, the earthly and worldly residence and house of God, which was built from stone, wood, gold and silver, but all these would not last forever. Instead, Jesus also spoke about how He would destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days. And this Temple refers to the Temple of His Body, which through the crucifixion and the resurrection would become the source of life for many others, all those who have shared in His death and resurrection.

In the same manner therefore, all of us who share in the Lord through our baptism also share in the Temple of our Lord, which is our own bodies, our own beings, hearts, minds and souls. It is just like the comparison which our Lord Jesus made between the earthly Temple of Jerusalem with the heavenly, true and everlasting Temple of His Body, which will outlast all forms of worldliness.

The Temple of Jerusalem eventually was destroyed by the Romans just a mere few years after it was completed, approximately thirty years or so after Jesus our Lord predicted its destruction. All of its worldly beauty and appearance were all for nothing as it was relegated to history and was lost, as fire and destruction came over it, and it was no more. And yet, the Lord, the true Temple of all, remain established, and is still established today, through us all, the Body of Christ, His Church.

There are a few symbolisms and a few lessons all of us should take note of here, particularly because, first, as I have mentioned at the start of today’s discourse, the Lord will come at the time of His choosing, and we will have zero knowledge of when this will exactly happen. Therefore, it is important that we should not fall into the trap of the devil, he who tries every single day in trying to make us fall into our weaknesses and fail.

And what does this mean, brothers and sisters in Christ? It is about this world and all of its temptations, all of the persuasions, worldly pleasures and all the things that can distract us from finding our true way to the Lord. And we tend to be distracted by these, spending our time trying to gather for ourselves money, possessions, worldly goods and things such as fame, human praise, pleasures and delights of the flesh and many others, and yet, we forget about what we really need to find for ourselves.

We build for ourselves a truly beautiful Temple, which from the exterior looks very nice to those who see it. But in the end, they are truly empty and meaningless. Let us spend some time to reflect on ourselves and our own actions. How many of us try to show off our wealth, possessions, our achievements and our greatness to others, by trying to make us seem as well-to-do as possible? How many of us built or bought or made the best looking and the most amazing houses, getting the best and most expensive looking cars, or wearing the best looking and most expensive clothes and apparels so that all who see us will praise us?

It is called our human ego, brothers and sisters in Christ, the desire in our hearts to be praised, to be acknowledged, to be adored, to receive the adulation and recognition from others, all about I, about myself, and not about others. We are swallowed by our own ego, our own pride and desire, and that is why we forget about the Lord our God, about what we truly need to do for ourselves in order to attain salvation through Him, and about those who are around us, because we are too busy thinking about ourselves, looking for ourselves and into ourselves, thinking about ‘me’, about ‘I’ and not about ‘him’ or ‘her’.

And this was exactly why Jesus lamented about that Temple, which was a grand edifice built by king Herod the Great, designed to show off his majesty and greatness, built from the best materials and most lavish styles possible, with the best workmanship and with the best available spaces given to it, and yet, in how the chief priests, the priests, the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law used it, it had been squandered for worldly purposes.

Jesus had to clear out the corruptions that defiled the Temple of the Lord, the House of God, where all the merchants, money-changers, all those who tricked the people, the poor and common people from their money in order to sell them Temple offerings at elevated and marked-up prices, all the wickedness in the plain sight of the Lord at His own House. All these are how ugly things had become in reality, despite all the beautiful wonders of the Temple building, besmirched and corrupted by how it had been misused.

Thus, first, just now, I have spoken about how we should not be like this, that we should not become obsessed with worldly possessions, trying to gather for ourselves worldly things and praise, and glory and all that this world has made us accustomed to, that we end up being distracted, being too self-centred, thinking about ourselves, and about how we can maximise profit to ourselves, that we lose our sight on the bigger picture.

And thus, secondly, we should heed the lesson from our Lord Jesus Who spoke of the Last Judgment. At that time, He rebuked all those who have been found to be unworthy, and these asked Him when and why they have failed Him. They have failed Him because they have not moved their hands to help, and their hearts to show love and empathy, whenever their brethren, their own brothers and sisters are in need of help. Instead, they look to themselves first and ignored their plight.

In Jesus’ own words, that ‘I am hungry, and you did not feed Me, thirsty, and you did not give Me water to drink, in prison and you did not visit Me, naked, and you did not clothe Me,’ and so on and so forth. Those who are worthy, are found to be so by our Lord, precisely because they have done all these to those who are in need, sharing with their own less fortunate brethren, who have less food, less drink, less materials than their own.

We Christians should not be people who are closed to ourselves, spending so much time thinking about ourselves, about what we are to wear, about what we are to show off to our friends and relatives, that we forget about the poor, the suffering, and those who are sick, those who are unloved, ostracised and neglected around us. There are many things that we can do in order to help them.

We have to understand that besides sins of action, when we commit things that are wrong and wicked in the eyes of God and men, there are also sins of omission, when we are perfectly capable of doing what is good and what is expected from us, and yet, we choose to ignore them, and instead carry on living our own lives as if nothing has happened. This cannot be our way, brethren.

And to summarise what we have discussed today, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all look at the gist of the matter, that the Lord is coming again soon, and He will not let us know when this will happen. And if we are so distracted and tempted with ourselves, closing ourselves off from others, and failing to do, ignoring what we can do to help others around us, and instead focusing on ourselves, we will fail, and will be rejected by the Lord at the end.

Rather, what we must do, is as the Lord had said in one occasion, that we should not build up for ourselves earthly treasures, but seek instead true treasures that will last. As we prepare for the coming of the Lord, we should prioritise what we need to do, so that we will not be caught red-handed failing to build up a good account for ourselves. For God, wealth, possession and all these means nothing, as He values rather our heart’s love, care and compassion for each other.

As we come again to the end of this current liturgical year, let us spend plenty of time, taking stock of what the past year had been for us. Let us think about what we have failed to do, the moments when we are able to give of ourselves to our brethren, and yet we did not do so, perhaps because of reluctance, perhaps because we did not see clearly enough that there is a need for our help there. And this is the time for us to make a new resolution, that we will give more of ourselves, that as Christians, we give ourselves, heart, mind, soul and body for the sake of those who need our help.

Let us all build together for ourselves the true, everlasting treasures of heaven that will last forever and will never perish, by showing the world what it truly means to be a Christian. A Christian person loves others, their own brethren, and even strangers, showing the care and concern for those who are weak, ostracised, to the elderly and all who are in need of love.

May all of us be beacons of light guiding each other to God, and may through our examples, more and more souls may be called to repentance and may thus find their way to God through us, so that together, all of us may rejoice at the end with our God forevermore. Amen.

by

Saturday, 12 November 2016 : 32nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Josaphat, Bishop and Martyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard in the Scripture readings the about the need for us to seek the Lord without cease, asking Him for help on this journey of life we have in this world, as He made it clear through the parable of the evil judge and the old widow.

In that parable, the old widow continued to ask the evil judge to help with her case, and even though that evil judge continually refused to do so, but eventually, faced with an adamant woman who refused to back down, he relented and did so, even if that was to end the torment she was causing him.

From here we can see that God our Lord and Master will never abandon us on purpose and He will always take care of us because of His love, but it is often that we never ask for His help in the first place. In that parable, the evil judge relented to the old widow because of her persistent demands for him to oversee her case, and as Jesus said, that if the evil judge who did not care for her, eventually wanted to help her in the end, even though for different reason, then should not the Lord be moved to help us if we have asked Him?

Brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, let us all remember what Jesus said in another occasion, ‘Seek and you shall find, knock and the door will be opened for you, and ask, and it shall be given to you?’ God our Father knows all of our needs and wants, He knows all the moments of our life, our every actions and deeds, all that we are doing in this world, but we ourselves need to be proactive in looking for Him, asking Him for His grace.

Too many of us are lukewarm with our faith, having our faith as just a passive observance, and for some of us, we are counted among the faithful even only on paper, meaning that while we call ourselves or label ourselves as Christians, but we do not truly believe in the Christian teachings and the ways of our Lord, and our actions and deeds are often contrary to what is expected of us Christians.

We live in a time when many of us think that faith is not important to us, and we can live in whatever ways we like, even if against the Lord’s ways. But do we realise that if we do so, we are actually bringing about scandal for our faith, for the Church, for our fellow faithful brethren and ultimately against the Lord? And the consequences for us will not be a light one.

Rather, let us today reflect on our actions and how we have lived our lives, and be inspired by what St. Josaphat Kuntsevych had done about four hundred years ago, the holy saint and martyr whose feast and memory we celebrate today. St. Josaphat Kuntsevych was once a holy man and a bishop serving the faithful of the Eastern Orthodox communion, specifically among the Ukrainians and the Russians.

At that time, the churches in Eastern and Southeastern Europe has been separated from the Mother Church in Rome for approximately five hundred years, due to the schism and separation that happened because of the unfortunate disagreement and misunderstanding between the Church of the Eastern Christendom which was centred in Constantinople, and the rest of the Universal Church under the jurisdiction of the Pope in Rome.

As a result, the communion between the two sides broke down, and the Eastern churches did not recognise the Church of Rome as the valid Church, seeing themselves as the righteous successor of the Apostles. And much grief and bitterness arose between the two Churches because of the misunderstanding and the false division among them.

And this conflict is the most difficult in places where the two Churches meet and mingle, at the region now known as Lithuania, Belorussia and Ukraine. And this was where St. Josaphat Kuntsevych led his flock, and in the occasion where an olive branch was extended between the two Churches in the Union of Brest, St. Josaphat was among those bishops who agreed to come under the true leadership of the successor of St. Peter in Rome while preserving their unique Eastern Christendom traditions.

St. Josaphat worked hard two reunite the two factions among the sheep entrusted to him as their shepherd. There were much grief and numerous difficulties in this, and many resisted the decision to reunite with the Church of Rome, resulting in violence and destruction, in killing and murder, and in much pain for the Lord and for His Church.

But St. Josaphat did not give up and continued to persevere, calling all those who have walked the wrong path to repent and to return to the truth in the Church, and for which he was martyred, when those who refused to follow his example, attacked him and murdered him in cold blood, and threw his body into the river while ransacking his church, property and all of the faithful gathered in that place.

From the examples of St. Josaphat Kuntsevych, we can see how we Christians should live our lives, filled with faith, courage and strength to live that faith genuinely and with devotion. And how do we do so, brothers and sisters in Christ? It is by asking the Lord our God for His daily grace and help, that we feeble men may be able to live with zeal and strength, and with courage even when we are faced with great challenges against us.

Let us today therefore ask the Lord our God, through the intercession of the holy saint and martyr, St. Josaphat Kuntsevych, that we may grow ever stronger and more devoted in faith, and let us also pray for the eventual union of the churches and all the faithful under the rightful jurisdiction of the Vicar of Christ, the successor of St. Peter, Prince of Apostles, which is our Pope in Rome. May the Lord help us all, His beloved Church. Amen.

by

Friday, 11 November 2016 : 32nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Martin of Tours, Bishop (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we listened to the words of the Lord in the Sacred Scriptures speaking to us all about obedience to His commandments and laws, as St. John in his Epistle made it clear that as Christians all of us ought to obey His laws and commandments, that is the commandments of love. Ever since God revealed His laws through Moses to His people, the first Ten Commandments, we have known ever since what is the Lord’s ways.

And this is what we are expected to do as Christians, as those who belong to the Lord. If God is love, then should our actions as His children not be love as well? If we truly say that we belong to Him, then should we not then do as He had wanted us to do? Should we not show care and concern for the weak, the poor, those who are suffering and dying, those who are unloved and rejected by others?

In the Gospel today, our Lord warned His disciples about the coming of the day of judgment, when the Lord was about to come to deliver His people from the hands of this wicked world, and which in the Gospel today He mentioned how the righteous ones would be snatched away, and those who are unworthy of the Lord would be left behind.

And as Jesus our Lord had mentioned several times in the Gospel today, the coming of the Lord, His second coming into this world will come suddenly and totally unexpected by us, like a thief entering and breaking into the house without anyone noticing him. When we realise what had happened, by then, everything will be already too late for us if we have not even started yet.

What is it that we need to start to do, brothers and sisters in Christ? It is that we Christians should begin acting as Christians should, and we as the followers and servants of our Lord should walk the talk, doing what the Lord asked us to do, and acting in the ways that our faith had prescribed rather than just showing empty gestures and obedience without substance.

Many Christians today are lukewarm in their faith, and many even are Christians on paper only. They call themselves as Christians, and yet by looking at their actions, the kind of wickedness they had done in life, and how they treated one another badly, we can truly be ashamed to have them numbered among us Christians. However, this is where we really need to help one another and work together in order that we may all find our way to the Lord and to His salvation.

And perhaps by following the examples of today’s saint, St. Martin of Tours, we can know better how to live as a Christian. St. Martin of Tours was the Bishop of Tours renowned for his holiness, great works and devotion to God and His people, but earlier in his life he was actually a member of the Roman military forces, and was a convert to the faith against the wishes of his own family.

He served as a member of the cavalry forces and eventually became one of its commanders. It was told that he resigned from the military in order to pursue his calling to serve the Lord, as due to his works in the military, dealing with killing and violence, he was not able to fully commit himself to the way of the Lord. It was told that on one occasion, he encountered the Lord Jesus Himself Who was disguised as an old man suffering naked in a cold and wintry night.

And in that occasion, it was told that St. Martin of Tours cut off half of his army centurion’s cloak and use that cloth to cover the old man. Later on, the Lord would appear to St. Martin of Tours in a vision, showing him that the old man was truly the Lord in disguise, and He praised him for what he had done. And this would encourage and strengthen his own conviction to serve the Lord and His people with zeal and devotion.

And that was exactly what he had done as the shepherd of God’s people, caring for them and for their spiritual growth, guiding them towards the Lord and helping them to resist against heresies and false teachings. And the faithful had greatly benefitted from all of them. Therefore, all of us are also called to serve the Lord in the same manner, devoting ourselves to real actions and commitment, caring for those less fortunate among us and help our struggling brethren in their faith.

May the Lord help us all, and by the inspiration of St. Martin of Tours, his life and his works, may we all who belong to the Church will be able to work together for the sake of the salvation of souls, and through us, may the love of our Lord be made evident and manifest in this world. God bless us all. Amen.

by

Thursday, 10 November 2016 : 32nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. Leo the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the word of God in the Scriptures, warning us against believing in the false prophets of doom and all those who claimed to know of the coming of the kingdom of God, when the Lord Jesus Christ comes again in glory at the end of time, in order to claim all those who have been faithful to Him and bring them into the glorious eternal life.

These are false prophets, brothers and sisters in Christ, and some even perhaps acted in the conjunction with the devil, for he wants to confuse us and sow divisions among us, by sowing the seeds of uncertainty and fear in us. They divided us and brought us to false paths, so that for the sake of their own desires and wishes, they have misled many souls even into eternal damnation.

This is a reminder for each and every one of us as Christians, that we should not let these false shepherds to misguide us and to lead us to the wrong paths. And God had provided help for us in that case, by establishing His solid foundation in this world, His own Body, consisting of all of us the faithful people of God, that is the Church, which had endured all sorts of tribulations in the past many centuries, weathering through falsehoods and lies, heresies and waywardness.

And that is why we should adhere strongly to the ways of our faith, to the truth espoused in the teachings of the Church, which is the teachings passed down to us from the Apostles themselves, who disseminated them through their successors to our bishops and priests, and they themselves received those truth and teachings from none other than their Master, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Today we celebrate the memory of one of the great saints, who was once the one at the helm of the great Church, leading all of the faithful people of God through the world and its temptations and troubles. Pope St. Leo I or Pope St. Leo the Great was a leader of the early Church during the middle years of the fifth century after the birth of Christ as the successor of St. Peter the Apostle, Vicar of Christ and Bishop of Rome.

Pope St. Leo the Great was perhaps more well-known for his role in mediating peace between the Roman Empire at that time with the marauding Hun invaders, where it was told that he came out by himself out from the city of Rome to speak to the King of the Huns, Attila, who was infamous for his great cruelty and aggressiveness. It was told that at that time, a great vision of the Lord created great fear among the Huns and their king, and they withdrew from Rome and from the territories they have conquered and pillaged.

That story was relatively well-known, and the role of Pope St. Leo the Great in saving Rome and its people were recognised, but what is often not known and remembered is his great achievement and contribution in combatting and opposing heretical and false teachings in the Church, through his many writings and works supporting the true teachings of the Church, upholding the divine and human nature of Christ again those heresies who claimed that Jesus was a mere Man or just mere God with separate natures.

He courageously spread the true teachings of our faith even when there were those who were opposed to him. By persuasion and his hard work, he helped to steer the Church through those difficult and turbulent times, riddled with challenges, false prophets and false teachings, and in the end, the Church and the faithful persevered through until this very day.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, the challenges we face today are the same as what Pope St. Leo the Great faced during his time. Heresies, false teachings and other aberrations are still abound today, trying to tempt us away from reaching out towards God’s salvation and grace. Following in the footsteps of Pope St. Leo the Great, we all should be role models for each other, adhering closely to the Church and its teachings, and help one another to resist the temptations and the reject the falsehoods spread by the devil designed to mislead us into our downfall.

May the Lord help us and keep us always in His grace, blessing us with His love and tender mercy, so that each and every one of us will always be in His favour and grace, and in the end of the day, we may together raise to the glorious life He had intended for us, for those who have remained true and faithful to Him. God bless us all. Amen.

by

Wednesday, 9 November 2016 : Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica, Major Papal and Roman Archbasilica of the Most Holy Saviour and Saints John the Baptist and the Evangelist in Lateran, Mother and Head of All Churches in Rome and in the World (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate with the entire Universal Church the great feast and solemnity in remembrance of the moment when the great Cathedral of Rome, the seat of the Bishop of Rome, of the Vicar of Christ, from St. Peter to his successors and to our current Pope, the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran, was consecrated and dedicated firstly to our Lord, the Most Holy Saviour of us all, and then to St. John the Baptist and St. John the Apostle and Evangelist.

Many of us would have thought that the Cathedra or the seat of the Pope is at the Vatican City, or at the St. Peter’s Basilica, which is truly the largest and most magnificent of all the churches and basilicas throughout the world, but in fact, due to the residence of the Pope in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican City, the Basilica of St. Peter is where most of the Papal liturgical celebrations take place due to its position and convenience, but the Papal Cathedra is not at that basilica.

Even though the Papal Basilica of St. Peter is indeed special as that was where St. Peter, the first Vicar of Christ and the Bishop of Rome was martyred, and where subsequently he was entombed, but the Cathedral of Rome is indeed located in the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran in the middle of the city of Rome due to its historical reasons, as that basilica is the first of the churches to be built in Rome after the official persecutions of Christians were ended by the first Christian Roman Emperor, Constantine the Great.

Before that time, Christians were not be able to openly celebrate the Holy Mass and other celebrations of our faith in public, or else, the Roman authorities would seize them, arrest the faithful and destroy whatever they had, as the officials and the administration for most of the early Church were hostile and unfriendly towards the Church and the faithful. Unlike today, going to a Holy Mass at that time would actually mean choosing between life or death, and was a matter of chance whether one would be found out and arrested.

In fact, if we read through the history of the Church, the story of the holy martyrs and servants of God at that time, we would realise just how difficult it was to become a Christian, as they had to hide from place to place, and though sometimes under more tolerant Emperors and administrations they were able to have more leeway, but generally, most of the early Christians had to hide underground, and in fact, they celebrate the Holy Mass in the catacombs, on the tombs of the saints and martyrs.

Some of them had to struggle just to get to the Holy Mass, and while some servants of the Lord were risking their own safety and lives in order to minister to the people, including that of St. Tarcisius, who was a young man tasked to deliver the Eucharist, the Body of our Lord, to prisoners who were not able to gain access to the Mass, and when angry enemies of the Lord demanded that he had to hand to them the Eucharist, he chose to defend it to his death rather than to surrender the Lord.

Imagine how joyful the faithful people of God would have been when the persecutions against them by the authorities were rescinded by the order of the Roman Emperor, Constantine the Great, who extended a universal toleration of the Christian faith throughout the whole Empire in the Edict of Milan, after almost three whole centuries of sufferings of the early Church.

And the Emperor who was attracted to the teachings and the truth of Christianity would then donate funds for the building of churches and places of worship for Christians, the principal one of which was the one built atop the Lateran hill, which would become the Basilica and later, Archbasilica of St. John Lateran. It was there then that the Cathedral of the Bishop of Rome, the Pope was affixed and established.

And this very day, the ninth day of November, was supposed to be the day when the Archbasilica and Cathedral of Rome was consecrated to God and dedicated both to the Most Holy Saviour, as well as to the St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist and Apostle. This is a very important event, as before a church is consecrated and dedicated, it cannot be used as a place to offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. And as the Holy Mass is at the centre of our faith, therefore, the dedication of this great place of worship, this House of God is truly very significant for all the faithful.

And ever since, throughout its very long history, the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran has been at the heart of Christianity, the Christian faith and Christendom, the focal point of the faith, where the Popes resided for much of their subsequent dominion in Rome and over the whole world in the adjacent Lateran Palace for much of the next millennia and many centuries henceforth.

What is the significance of this great feast day for all of us, brethren? It is firstly that as this Archbasilica is the Cathedral of Rome, the Seat of the Papal authority, therefore, it is the Mother Church of all the other churches, parishes and cathedrals, basilicas and all other centres of the Christian faith throughout the world, as the Head of all the churches, all united under the authority of the Roman Pontiff, our Pope, the Vicar of Christ.

In each of our own Cathedrals in our respective dioceses, or Archdioceses, or other circumscriptions and territories of the Church, they are the respective Mother Churches and the focal points for all the believers in those local regions and divisions, but all are united to the whole entire Church in the authority of the Pope, as the leader of the entire Universal Church.

In the Scripture readings we heard today, we saw the vision of Ezekiel of the Temple and the Sanctuary of heaven, where he saw the Temple of the Lord, where the Lord Himself resides, and from it flowed out life-giving stream of water, which gave life to many things on wherever it flowed to. And this is the second point that we should take note in our celebrations today. That the Church of God, its edifices and buildings should be holy places worthy of the Lord, and out of which should come out life and goodness.

And yet, how many of us defile the sacredness and the holiness of the House of God? How many of us came to the Holy Mass with inappropriate attire, inappropriate gestures, and more important of all, with inappropriate state of heart and mind. We come to the Mass not because of the Lord, or because we want to visit Him and be with Him, but rather due to other reasons.

And what are these reasons, brethren? It is either that we feel the obligation to come to the church and the Mass because it is what the Church told us to do, or because we come to the Church to find our friends and to chit chat and talk with them, or because we do not know what we did so? All these are the common reasons why we have not been genuine with our devotion to God in the Holy Mass, coming to the churches for our own selfish desires and not for the sake of the Lord. We forget that when we come to the Mass, it is the Lord Who ought to be the centre of all of our attentions.

And the fact is that, as Jesus pointed out in the Gospel today, our bodies are the Temples of the Lord’s Most Holy Presence, much as the Temple of Jerusalem was the place where God dwelled among His people. Why is this so? That is because the Lord Himself has come to dwell among us, within us, inside us, deep inside our hearts, when we, His people, receive Him through the Sacrament of the Most Holy Eucharist.

Yes, we received the Lord through the Eucharist, His own Body and Blood, from the bread and wine offered to the Lord and by the power and the authority granted to our priests acting in persona Christi, or in the person of Christ, to transform them completely in matter and reality to that of our Lord’s very own Presence and Essence. And by coming down into us, we have made ourselves to become the Holy Tabernacle of our Lord, the Temple of the Lord’s Divine Presence.

And God Himself had sent us His own Holy Spirit, and by the life He had granted us, the life given to us by God the Creator, God is fully inside us, blessing us and providing us with sustenance and strength to carry on with our daily lives and more. And this is something which many of us might not have realised, as we tend to be too busy or too distracted by many things in this world, and indeed, if our behaviours and attitudes towards the Holy Mass, towards God’s Holy Temple had been indicative, how would then one be surprised at what we have done to our own bodies, which are also the Temples of the Lord?

St. Paul said in his Epistle to the Church and the faithful in Corinth, the first letter, verse three, where he spoke to them about us as in his own words, ‘Do you not know that you are God’s holy Temple and God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?’ And this precisely what I was just talking about, on all of us being the Vessels and the Temples of God, and therefore, just as much as our holy places, churches and all dedicated to God for holy purposes, then each and every one of us must also make sure that we are clean, pure and holy in all of our bodies, hearts and minds.

Those who have defiled the sanctity of that holy Temple of God will therefore receive the same treatment that Jesus did to all the merchants, money-changers and other crooks who corrupted and defiled the holy grounds of the Temple of God in Jerusalem. He fashioned a cord out of reeds and whipped all of them out, throwing away their money boxes and chasing out all of their merchandises, animals and all sorts, purifying the Temple and House of God from all of these.

In the same manner, therefore, if we have not been faithful to God, wicked in our ways and do not preserve the sanctity of our bodies, minds and hearts, then at the end of our earthly lives and on the day of judgment, God will reject us, cast us out and leave us to our fate of eternal suffering, separated for eternity from His love and grace, for indeed we have committed a great sin.

Instead, brothers and sisters in Christ, what should we do then in order to be faithful to the Lord? Returning back to what I have mentioned at the beginning of this homily, I mentioned how the faithful were oppressed and had great difficulties in the days of the early Church, where they were literally unable to practice their faith openly, lest they be arrested, put into prison and tortured because of their faith in God.

They had to celebrate the Mass in catacombs and graves of the saints, in hidden places underground, or in places without people, and the ministers of the Lord had to suffer a lot, as they had to move on from places to places, ministering to the people of God, and often times, they were discovered by the authorities. And in the end, they were liberated and free to practice their faith, as the Emperor accepted the truth of Christ and was converted to His cause, and the Lateran Archbasilica was built and consecrated.

Therefore, first of all, each and every one of us should be grateful and be thankful of all the graces that God had given to each and every one of us. We should be grateful if we had had a good life, and had no problem to practice our faith openly. We have to remember that in this world, there are many of our brethren in various areas who still have to practice their faith in secret, lest they might encounter persecution and even death, and thus, let us all pray and help these brethren of ours in whatever way we can.

And then, if we give our best to decorate the holy Tabernacles, as well as the holy churches, Cathedrals and Basilicas, consecrating them to the Lord, then we should do the same with our own selves, body, heart, mind and soul, for we are indeed also the Temple of God’s Holy Presence and where the Holy Spirit of God dwells. Thus, it is only logical that we should also honour Him by giving the best we can, devoting ourselves to make this Temple that is our being, worthy of the Lord.

Let us do this by exhibiting true Christian actions in our lives, that where we see hatred and divisions, we should bring love and unity; and where we see sorrow, sadness, lamentation and anguish, we should bring hope, kindness, tenderness and sympathy. And we can also begin by truly understanding the importance of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in our lives, spending precious and good time with the Lord, and truly give Him the adoration, worship and respect He deserves, by giving our best whenever we come to His House, to be truly there for Him and being with Him.

May the Lord help us and His Church, bringing all of His faithful ones closer to Him, that just as today we celebrate the memory of the dedication and consecration of the great Archbasilica of St. John Lateran, the Mother Church and Head of all the churches and parishes throughout the whole world, then we too will devote our own bodies, minds, hearts and souls, and devote them fully to the Lord our God. Amen.

by

Tuesday, 8 November 2016 : 32nd Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard from the Sacred Scriptures about the importance of obedience and self-control for all of us as Christians, the people and followers of our God. Each and every one of us should be alert and be strong amidst the numerous persuasions and temptations made by the world against us Christians.

There are many temptations, from the temptations of the pleasures of the flesh, of sexual and inappropriate relationships, the temptation of money and wealth, corrupt dealings and dishonesty, all that lead to wickedness and to our downfall, as these tend to cause us to sin. And it has caused many people to fall and be trapped in sin, leading them to their downfall.

It is very easy for us to be tempted if we do not prepare ourselves well. And it is very easy for us to fall into sin, just as our ancestors have fallen into it, succumbing to the pull of their desires and their wants. It is part of our human nature that we desire for worldly things, and in many things, when we have them we will tend to want more and demand more.

Thus, as Christians, it is important that we exercise self-control, and discipline our human desires and greed, or else we may be ensnared by those sins and those desires, and grew further apart and be separated further from the Lord our God and from His love. And the devil and his allies are always going about, trying to find the best opportunity in order to lure us away to our downfall, tempting us with many goodness of the world.

How do we then resist the devil, brothers and sisters in Christ? This is then where we should really seek to live our faith with genuine devotion and commitment. We should not be lukewarm in our faith and be ignorant of the tenets and ways of the Lord. As what the Lord Jesus told the disciples, using the example of a master and his servants, the servant should obey the master and know that their purpose is to serve their master well and not more than that.

Brethren, the Lord God is our Master, the One Who had created us all, gave us life and allowed us to enjoy the life we now have in this world. If in the Gospel passage today Jesus spoke of the servants who ought to obey the master for having took care of them, and them having had to do the duties assigned to them, then all the more we should obey the Lord and His ways, practice them in our own daily lives.

We should deepen our relationships with God, understanding His will and ways, by committing ourselves to a life filled with service and obedience to Him, filled with prayers and devotions, that we may become closer to God, able to communicate with Him and understand truly what He wants from us. And most likely, what He wants us to do, is to live with love and compassion, caring for our brethren in need, forgiving one another our trespasses and mistakes, and devoting ourselves to works of mercy and kindness.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are all called to be new and committed disciples and followers of our Lord. This is the challenge given to each and every one of us as Christians today. We should not be ignorant of what God wants us to do, or be fearful or be uncertain of what is expected of us. Rather, let us learn to surrender everything we have, everything that we are, to the Lord, so that by doing so, we may learn to obey the Lord and be closer to Him, and resist the temptations of evil, that in the end, we will be found worthy and faithful.

May the Lord bless us and all of our works, and may He inspire in our hearts, the strong desire to follow Him, to obey Him and all of His laws and precepts, that all the things we say and do, we will do it for the greater glory of God and not for our own selfish desires and benefits. God be with us all. Amen.

by

Monday, 7 November 2016 : 32nd Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard Jesus our Lord speaking to His disciples about the faith which they must have in the Lord, a true and genuine faith that brooks no wickedness or scandals that will not scandalise the Lord, the Church and the faithful. And this is repeated again in the letter and Epistle which St. Paul wrote to St. Titus, with regards to the selection, appointment and candidature for overseers or bishops in the local churches at that time, our first reading today.

And what we have heard in the first reading and the Gospel today, while especially St. Paul referred to the matter of bishops’ selection, but these also apply to each and every one of us as Christians. It is just that the bishops, as the leaders of the local churches in the numerous dioceses and jurisdictions that made up the whole entire Church, are the role models for each of those local churches and the faithful there. When the bishop err and make mistake, the faithful and the Church as a whole may also be affected.

That was why St. Paul espoused and pushed for very strict criteria in the selection of bishops and the leaders of the Church, as it was indeed easy for corruption and evil to influence the Church just as bishops and priests are themselves men as well. But similarly, each of us Christians, priest and laity alike can also make errors in our ways and in our judgment. It does not mean that just because we belong to the laity then we can do whatever things we like, if these contradict the way and the instructions of the Lord.

Anyone who sees us will judge as based on our deeds. Imagine what would others think when they see us and witness how wicked and vile our words, deeds and actions are? The laity, not just the bishops and the priests, are the forefront of the Church, more so especially in this modern age world, where everything that someone has done, are always quick to be scrutinised and examined.

We can see clearly that the priests and the bishops have been held to different standards, both from within and from outside the Church. When they made even the smallest of mistakes, many would be ready to point them out and ridicule them for having failed to meet the ‘perfection’ expected from them. There were indeed unworthy and corrupt bishops and priests in the past, as these fell into the temptations of worldliness, and these brought scandals to the Church. Yet, there were also faithful priests and bishops, who were good and faithful, but suffered because of the pressure, discrimination and expectation against them.

Not less, those who criticise the most are often themselves committing the very same mistakes. And thus, while the priest and the bishops are criticised and ridiculed, those who judge often failed to see their own faults and shortcomings. As a result, we have grown lax in our own observation and fulfilment of what was required from us in the matters of obeying the Lord our God in His ways and laws.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, each and every one of us should seek to do what St. Paul and our Lord Jesus had reminded us all to do. We should be filled with love, be filled with true and genuine faith, committing ourselves to our brethren who need our care and attention, be forgiving and merciful to those who have wronged us and brought us suffering and pain. We should devote ourselves to show true righteousness and justice before God and man alike.

Our faith in God is very powerful, brethren, just as what we can see in the Gospel which we have heard today. The Lord said that even if our faith is small, but true and genuine, it can have tremendous power indeed. Why is this so? If only one of us is bothered to do whatever the Lord wants us to do, then the impact may not be so great. But do not forget that even if just one person endeavoured to do what is right according to the Lord, those who have witnessed what this person had done may also be inspired to do the same as well.

It is what we call the ripple effect, then just as when we throw a small stone onto a water surface, creating ripples, each of the ripple will resonate and cause even more ripples to be formed. In the same manner, when others follow us in what we have done out of obedience to God, there are many others who see what these people had done, and they may also follow in their footsteps. And therefore, at the end of the day, from one person’s actions, many others will follow suit, and thus bring about good works for the Lord’s cause.

Let us all therefore today support one another, particularly our priests and bishops, our leaders and our shepherds, that each and every one of us will always be faithful to God, and be devoted in our ways, and not bring about any scandal or contradiction to our faith. May the Lord help us in these endeavours, and keep us in our faith, filling us with genuine love for Him. Amen.

by

Sunday, 6 November 2016 : 32nd Sunday of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, as this Sunday marks the occasion of being two Sundays away from the Solemnity of Christ the King, which marks the end of our current liturgical year, if we noticed, many of the Scripture readings have been taken from the passages of the Scripture referring to the end of times, such as from the Book of the Revelations of St. John the Apostle, as well as references to the life in the world that is to come, including what we have heard today, as the resurrection from the dead is a central theme of our faith.

By His death and resurrection, Jesus our Lord have made us all who share in His death and resurrection, to have the hope of eternal life, as when He descended into this world to save us, He shared in our humanity and became Man just like us. Through His death on the cross, not only that He had shouldered the burden of our sins, but He also shared with us His suffering and death, that we are also dead to our past lives of sin.

Then, by His glorious resurrection, He lifted us all up together with Him into a new life. Had the resurrection of the dead been false or absent, then our faith the Lord would have been wasted and useless, meaningless and we would have no hope. But we believe in this, and by our faith, we know that at the end of our earthly lives, in fact it is not the end of everything, but the beginning of a new, blessed life with God and with our righteous brethren, which we shall enjoy for eternity.  This is our faith and what we believe in.

In the Gospel today, Jesus our Lord spoke to a group of Sadducees who questioned Him about the matter of the resurrection from the dead. The Sadducees were one of the two major power and influential groups at the time. They were those who were influential, rich and powerful, close to the rulers and the kings at that time, the educated and intellectual class, opposed to the Pharisees, the other major group, who were also influential, but of different sort, since the Pharisees dealt more with matters of the Jewish faith and customs.

And thus, as opposed to the Pharisees’ extra-zealous observation and imposition of the tenets of the Jewish laws and customs, which the Lord Jesus had frequently condemned throughout the Gospels, the Sadducees on the other hand were very secular, and did not believe in supernatural matters such as Angels, spirits, and of course, the resurrection of the dead. They rejected all these, thinking that there is nothing after death.

They were indeed those who lived for the moment, enjoying the worldly pleasures and goodness, as they did not believe that there is resurrection after death, and they presumably would fear death, as death was therefore seen as a horrible end to the worldly life, from which there is nothing. They thought of the world, and therefore followed the ways of this world.

And because they treasured life more than anything else, they would do whatever it is that can please the demands of the world, even if that means opposing the works of God as they have done against Jesus. For Jesus came and rebuked them as well for their stubbornness and refusal to believe in the truth about the resurrection of the dead. They argued using the example of the seven brothers and their wife to push their argument about the impossibility of the resurrection.

In the two readings we heard, one from the Book of the Maccabees and then the Gospel, we can see the relation and the contrast between the two readings about this matter of the resurrection. The Sadducees were thinking in worldly terms, worrying about what would happen after the death of man, whether they would be able to carry on with their earthly life in the same manner as how they have lived it. This is evident as they asked Jesus what then would happen to the wife shared by the seven brothers.

Meanwhile, the seven brothers in the Book of Maccabeus faithfully upheld their faith in the Lord without fail, even when they were faced with great suffering, torture and certain death if they rejected the advances and offers from the king. As a little background explanation of what happened then, the Greek King of the Seleucids, King Antiochus IV Epiphanes ruled over the region of Judea, where the Jews then lived under his rule. At that time, that king was trying to enforce the Greek customs and ways to the Jews, including pagan worship and also the obliteration of the Jewish laws.

The king made many people to choose between obeying his commands and thus betraying the Lord, or to stand fast to their faith and suffer grievous consequences, even death. If they valued their lives more than their faith, then surely they would choose the side of the king, for after all, if they rejected the king’s orders, there was to be no hope for them, but death.

Yet, because they knew that there is indeed life beyond death, due to the promise of the resurrection of the dead, they did not fear the king and his threats, and even in the face of great tribulations, torture and persecution, they stood fast to their faith, to the very last brother, and the mother who witnessed it all, proud that all of her sons had acted in the way they did.

The king offered them high positions in his court, guarantees of success and wealth if they only would abandon their faith in the Lord, and their lives would have been prosperous and good. But at what cost? Jesus our Lord Himself said in one occasion, about how foolish it is for someone to gain the whole world but at the cost of losing one’s soul. It would have been better for someone to preserve his soul even though he suffers in this world.

Why is this so, brethren? That is because whatever we have in this world is transient and temporary in nature. All the things we obtain now in this world will not last forever. They are means for us to have a sustainable life, for us to survive in this world, and yet we should not let them to take over us with desires, untoward greed and unbridled wants, which then lead us into the temptations of this world, that eventually will lead us into sin.

The choice facing the seven brothers was clear, either to sin and live comfortably in this world, or to remain pure and holy although they might suffer in their earthly bodies and perish. Yet, God Who is the Lord and Master of life will bless them and grant them a new life, one that will never end, filled with true joy and happiness of having been reunited with God. Those who sided with the king and threw away their dedication to the Lord will indeed also have a new life, but instead of what the faithful received, they will receive the eternity of damnation and punishment.

The same faced the martyrs and all those who have been persecuted in the early days of the Church, when the Roman authorities, and in some cases, the Persian Sassanid authorities oppressed the Christian faith, and forced many of the faithful to choose between life or death. For those who did not understand and appreciate how important is the resurrection is for us, they would have thought that it was foolish for the faithful to choose death over life, if that would mean that they could keep their faith in God.

But that was exactly what happened then. There were indeed those who were unable to resist the temptation and abandoned their faith, but there were still many more who stood fast to their belief in the Risen Lord, and faced great sufferings and persecutions, and yet, at the end of the day, when the Lord comes to reward His faithful ones, they indeed deserve to receive great rewards from Him.

And persecution of the Church and the faithful ran throughout time and ages, even until this very day. I am sure that we are all quite aware of the challenges facing the Church and the faithful in several if not many areas in the world today. There were many opponents and enemies of the Lord and His Church, who ridiculed us for our faith, who despised us and attacked us, who made our lives very difficult and riddled with obstacles. But then, brothers and sisters in Christ, do we then give in to the demands of the world?

It does not mean that we should seek violence or revenge, for after all, Jesus Himself taught us to pray for our enemies and forgive those who have hurt or injured us. But it means that we should not be lukewarm in our faith, but instead be truly devoted in our words, actions and deeds, so that all those who see us may know that we truly believe in God, the Living God.

And in doing so, we are building for ourselves the true wealth and treasure found only in our God. We should not be obsessed with what is present in this world, but instead make use of what we have, especially if we have more of them, to help the needy, to alleviate the suffering of those who are lacking in certain areas, such as food, clothing, and even love.

If we remain faithful to the Lord, keep our faith strongly firm in Him, and doing whatever is right and just in His eyes, even though those whom we know and even those who are close to us may disapprove, then just like the seven brothers martyred in what we heard from the Book of the Maccabees, rich will be our reward in the world that is to come.

It is easy for us to fall into the temptation, and indeed, it is easy for us to become like the Sadducees as described in the Gospel today. Many of us have doubts in our lives, and indeed our faith are often far from perfect. Many have abandoned the faith because they do not have the love of God in their hearts, and because their faith were weak. It is a lot easier for us to just succumb to the temptations of this world and do things as it expects us to do, but remember, that if we live for the moment and do what the Lord abhors, we are inviting for ourselves an eternity of damnation.

Therefore, let us all in the Church, all members of the same Body of Christ, help one another to be closer to God, and put our hope in Him, Who have given us this life, and Who have sent His own Son into this world to die for our sins, and by sharing in our humanity, He has therefore shared with us His death, that we all die to our past sins and wickedness, and then as He rose from the dead in glory, we too may rise in glory with Him, and keeping our faith in Him strong and alive, we may receive the true joy and the crown of everlasting glory in the end of it all.

Let us pray, brothers and sisters in Christ, for the sake of our persecuted brethren throughout the world, in areas where it is very dangerous to live as Christians, and yet there are still those who proudly and openly carried themselves and proclaimed themselves as Christians. And let us all be thankful if we have had a good life, and pray that we may be ever more moved to do more for the sake of our suffering brethren, giving them support be it in material or in love and attention.

May the Lord, the Master and the Giver of life bless us all, and may He Who have conquered death dispel the doubts in our hearts, that we have no more of the doubt of the Sadducees, but instead, put our full and complete trust in our Risen Lord, Who is our hope and our aim in life. God be with us all. Amen.

by

Saturday, 5 November 2016 : 31st 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 we are reminded yet again by the word of God written in the Sacred Scriptures that we should not allow ourselves to be controlled by money, possession, greed and all the materialistic culture which this world is espousing and spreading to all the people, lest we lose our path and focus, as God reminded us that we cannot be servant both to Him and to money.

First of all, it does not mean that we should sell off all our belongings and shun all forms of earthly possessions. Wealth, money and possessions are in themselves neutral in nature, as they are just tools that can be used either for good purposes or for wicked and selfish purposes. Wealth can be used to bring happiness and relief to others, when we are charitable enough to share what we have more with those who have less, but it can also lead to sorrow, pain and suffering when in our obsession for it, we caused harm upon others.

It is when we become enslaved and serve money and all forms of worldly possessions that we end up falling into the deep trap set up for us by the devil and all those seeking our destruction. These have enticed us to continue to desire for more of what we have, and even to jealously guard our possessions from others, thinking that we alone deserve to have what we have. That was the attitude shown by the Pharisees at that time, for which our Lord rebuked them.

As Christians, we are called to be less selfish and show more care and concern for our brethren in need. We cannot be closed off within ourselves or be selfish, not thinking about those brethren of ours around us, whose life can be helped even with just a small charity and compassion from us. And that is the challenge that we as Christians should take on, in how we can devote ourselves ever more to love and care for our suffering ones and for those who are poor and needy.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, the ways of this world are selfishness, pride, arrogance, greed and filled with ego, but the ways of the world are selflessness, humility, prudence and generosity, filled with love, care and compassion for our needy brethren. And this is the reality of what we should realise, that we have been given the means and the opportunities to do many good things, and we should therefore make use of these opportunities given to us.

After all, our true treasure, one that we ought to seek, is not in this world. We gain nothing by accumulating treasures of money, wealth, properties, buildings or any other worldly goods and standards of success. Many if not most of these are transient and temporary, and they can be destroyed by the forces of this world in the blink of an eye. Instead, our true treasure can be found in God alone.

And how do we build up this true treasure of ours? It is by showing charity, mercy and compassion to the sick, to the poor and the ostracised, to one another, giving ourselves out of love to those who need our love. It does not have to be always contributions of wealth, money or material goods that can bring about one’s happiness, but also our presence, filled with love and concern for those who need these.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, are we all ready to take up this challenge? Are we ready to show care and love for our brethren? Are we willing to be selfless and to share our joy and blessings with those who have less or none? We are the ones whom God had empowered and blessed to be His children and His people, and thus it is just right for us to share these blessings and goodness with those who need them.

May the Lord bless us and keep us in His grace always. And may His love flourish within us, that filled up with His love and joy, we may always become source of joy and grace for all the peoples. God be with us all. Amen.