Christ

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Sunday, 3 February 2013 : 4th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Luke 4 : 21-30

Then He said to them, “Today these prophetic words come true, even as you listen.”

All agreed with Him, and were lost in wonder, while He spoke of the grace of God. Nevertheless, they asked, “Who is this but Joseph’s son?” So He said, “Doubtless you will quote Me the saying : ‘Doctor heal yourself! Do here in Your town what they say You did in Capernaum.”

Jesus added, “No prophet is honoured in his own country. Truly, I say to you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens withheld rain for three years and six months and a great famine came over the whole land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow of Zarephath, in the country of Sidon. There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha, the prophet, and no one was healed except Naaman, the Syrian.”

On hearing these words, the whole assembly became indignant. They rose up and brought Him out of the town, to the edge of the hill on which Nazareth is built. intending to throw Him down the cliff. But He passed through their midst and went His way.

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Saturday, 2 February 2013 : Feast of the Presentation of the Lord (Scripture Reflection)

We remember today the day when our Lord Jesus, the firstborn son of Mary and Joseph, was presented at the Temple of Jerusalem to the Lord, just as the Lord commanded to the people through the Law. Christ is our High Priest, who offered Himself up to God, as a worthy offering for our sins, which is done once and for all at the cross, for our complete redemption and freedom from sin and death. However, earlier in His life, just days after His birth, Jesus was offered as the firstborn son, just like all other firstborn sons of the Israelites. Why is this so?

This is because, at the time when the people of Israel was still enslaved in Egypt under the rule of the Pharaoh, God sent Moses as His messenger to the Pharaoh to free His people and let them go to the Promised Land. The Pharaoh hardened his heart and punished the people of Israel because of what Moses told him of the Lord’s will. What happened next? The Lord sent ten plagues to punish Egypt for their treatment of His beloved and chosen people. The last of all plagues saw the death of all Egyptian firstborn sons, while the firstborn sons of the people of Israel were saved. The mark of the blood of the lamb eaten at Passover, which was applied to the door, became the symbol of salvation of the people of Israel.

Jesus, the Lamb of God, the High Priest, offered Himself as the Lamb of sacrifice, similar to the time of the Passover. His blood became the mark of salvation for all of us who believe in Him. Death and evil will have no more power over us, if we are saved by the blood of the Lamb of God. As the lamb for the Passover ought to be a young lamb, unblemished and perfect in appearance, so does when Jesus was presented at the Temple, Jesus was chosen to be that Lamb, the Lamb of God. For who else is worthy other than the Son of God Himself, who willed to come down and became human just as we are, that through His offering of Himself as the Lamb, He freed us from the chain of death. Just as Pharaoh refused to release the people of Israel from slavery and hard work, neither did Satan want to release us from the slavery of sin, which had subjected all humankind since the disobedience of Adam and his wife, Eve. But the Lord, in sending His Son to us, is sending Satan a plague and disaster far greater than that of the ten plagues of Egypt.

For through the offering of Himself, Jesus presented Himself as the worthy sacrifice, that released now not just the people of Israel, but also all mankind, and now not just to go to the Promised Land on earth, but now we are indeed free to embark on our way towards the Promised Land on heaven itself, with God as our Lord, while the old sacrifice did not free us from death, and the Promised Land of Israel as the Bible shows, is full of conflicts and destruction, especially when Israel disobeyed the Lord and turned their back on Him, preferring the pagan gods for worship instead of the Lord who had delivered them from the Egyptians; but now we have the Sacrifice, which we celebrate regularly through the Mass, when the Lord gave us His Precious Body and His Precious Blood, that we are in Him, and He in us, that all of us, are worthy of eternal life, and worthy of the Kingdom of God, where there is no more violence, no more death, and no more suffering.

Today, on this feast of the Presentation of the Lord, we especially pray for our priests, for all the bishops, and the cardinals, and our Pope, Benedict XVI. For today is the day most appropriate for prayer for all those who has given themselves to God, who has been consecrated to God, just like the firstborns of Israel, and just like Jesus Himself. For they have given themselves fully to God, embracing in full the depth of the love of God, and embracing His Church as their bride. For priests and all consecrated to God have dedicated themselves truly to God, just as Christ was, and they represent Christ Himself, or in persona Christi. It is through them, and through the divine authority given to them from the Lord, through the Apostles, and all the bishops of all ages, that in the Holy Mass, we have the very Sacrifice that the Lord made on the cross in Calvary.

For through our priests, the Lord gives us His Precious Body and Blood, turned from the bread and wine, for us to receive Him, that we also take part in our Lord’s Sacrifice, that freed us from all the chains of sin. No more will evil and Satan has any power over us. Therefore, today, let us fervently pray for all those consecrated to God, that they will stay faithful, and they will keep themselves holy and pure, to be worthy to God just as Christ, the perfect sacrifice and the Lamb of God once was. May God bless all our priests, and bless His Holy Church, with all of us His children. Amen.

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Saturday, 2 February 2013 : Feast of the Presentation of the Lord (First Reading)

Malachi 3 : 1-4

Now I am sending My messenger ahead of Me to clear the way; then suddenly the Lord for whom you long will enter the sanctuary. The envoy of the covenant which you so greatly desire already comes, says YHVH of hosts. Who can bear the day of His coming and remain standing when He appears? For He will be like fire in the foundry and like the lye used for bleaching.

He will be as a refiner or a fuller. He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver. So YHVH will have priests who will present the offering as it should be. Then YHVH will accept with pleasure the offering of Judah and Jerusalem, as in former days.

(Alternative reading : Hebrews 2 : 14-18)

And because all those children share one same nature of flesh and blood, Jesus likewise had to share this nature. This is why His death destroyed the one holding the power of death, that is the devil, and freed those who remained in bondage all their lifetime because of the fear of death.

Jesus came to take by the hand not the angels but the human race. So He had to be like His brothers and sisters in every respect, in order to be the High Priest faithful to God and merciful to them, a priest able to ask pardon and atone for their sins. Having been tested through suffering, He is able to help those who are tested.

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Friday, 1 February 2013 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflection)

Jesus mentioned plenty about seeds and how they grow today, just as in the days prior, in the readings He mentioned the parable of the sower, where the sower spreads the seeds onto different kinds of soil, and in the end only those that fall on the rich soil will grow and produce yield thirty, sixty, and hundredfold. So does too our faith, which in the beginning is just like a small seed, once nurtured and grown, will grow into a large tree just like the mustard tree.

Therefore, never be afraid of showing your faith to God, since no matter how small it is, what matters is that we truly put our trust in Him, and love Him with all our hearts, our souls, and our minds. If we truly put our faith in God who is faithful to us, He will reward us with great blessings and graces, that will allow our faith to grow ever stronger, and ever more vibrant, just like those seeds. In the first reading, again we see the importance of living our faith, and transforming our faith into real practice, that is doing the will of God.

What is the will of God? Well, Jesus Himself said, what you have done to the least of these, you have done it for Me. When we do our best to help those who are weak, those who are sorrowed, those who are lonely, those who are ostracised, those who are abused, and those who are rejected, we have done the will of God, and we shall be saved. To be saved is not just to be faithful in God, but also therefore to put it into practice in our daily lives.

Just as it was said in the letter to the Hebrews in the first reading that we are not among those who withdraw and perish, but among those who believe and win personal salvation, hence, let us not withdraw from those around us who need the love of God, which we can channel through ourselves, as we ourselves, if we are truly faithful, we have felt and seen the love of God. It is through us, through our speech and our hands that the Lord made His great works and love manifest in our world today. Many people still suffer and many are still in slavery of sin and evil.

Therefore, let us all, brothers and sisters in Christ, take up this mission, to bring God’s Good News to all who yearn to hear it, to bring God’s love and comfort to the sorrowful and to those who suffer, and to bring redemption to those who have fallen into the darkness of evil and sin. Do not let fear, laziness, and inaction to stop us in our works, in our mission to nurture our faith, through our mission and our good deeds in the name of God, and by doing God’s will, our seed of faith will blossom, and from the least of all seeds, indeed we can become the greatest of all in faith.

But do not let this come to competition, but rather, support each other and help one another to nurture each other’s faith. May God bless us all this day and all the days of our life, that our faith may be strengthened ever through our actions in His Holy Name. Amen.

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Wednesday, 30 January 2013 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Psalm 109 : 1, 2, 3, 4

The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand till I make Your foes Your footstool.”

From Zion the Lord will extend Your mighty sceptre, and You will rule in the midst of Your enemies.

Yours is royal dignity from the day You were born in holy majesty. Like dew from the womb of the dawn, I have begotten You.

The Lord has sworn, and He will not take back His word : “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”

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Wednesday, 30 January 2013 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Hebrews 10 : 11-18

So, whereas every priest stands daily by the altar offering repeatedly the same sacrifices that can never take away sins, Christ has offered for all times a single sacrifice for sins and has taken His seat at the right hand of God, waiting until God puts His enemies as a footstool under His feet. By a single sacrifice He has brought those who are sanctified to what is perfect forever.

This also was testified by the Holy Spirit. For after having declared : “This is the covenant that I will make with them in the days to come – says the Lord – I will put My Laws in their hearts and write them on their minds.” He says : “Their sins and evil deeds I will remember no more.”

So, if sins are forgiven, there is no longer need of any sacrifice for sins.

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Tuesday, 29 January 2013 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflection)

Today, once again Jesus emphasized on the importance on doing the will of God, and obeying the commandments that God gave us, handily summarised by Christ into the two most important commandments of all, that is love. As Christ said, “Love your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” and “Love your neighbour as yourself.”

Therefore, to do the will of God, is to do these commandments of love, to be loving to all around us, to be ready to help whenever someone is in need, and of course, to love God Himself, by spending some time for Him, with Him, everyday, even in our busiest days. We also love God through our dedication and active participation in the Holy Mass, to approach the Lord sincerely to receive Him into our being, into our hearts. And finally to also participate in charitable activities, and share the love of God to all mankind.

The Lord don’t just want sacrifices, rituals, and prayers from us. Although indeed, prayers, rituals, and others are important, and cannot be ignored, it is paramount that we make our faith alive by putting it into practice for the benefit of our fellow brothers and sisters, that all mankind can share in the love of God, and can be truly brought out of worldly suffering, so that bereft of these sufferings, all of us can truly focus our hearts of the Lord and worship, and love Him with all of our hearts, souls, and minds.

It may seem to those who take the passage literally that Jesus was rebuking and was being rude to His own family, and especially His own mother, Mary. But no, this is simply not the case, as Jesus truly loves all around Him, and most loved of all is His mother Mary, through whose dedication and obedience to God, Christ was born into our world. Rather, Christ through His words to the people at that time wants to tell all of them that, they too can be like His mother Mary, if they truly love God, and obey God’s commandments, and to truly focus all their beings towards God, just as Mary did. Mary is truly the role model for all of us, the greatest of all saints.

Then, we too are the brothers and sisters of Christ, and in Christ, since we are all become the children of God upon our baptism, when the Lord welcomes us as His. No longer Satan and sin have any power over us, since through the Lord, we are promised of eternal life. But again, this alone is not enough. We need to practice our faith, and show that we are worthy of being the children of God, through our good deeds to our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.

Therefore, today, and indeed, all the days of our life, let us strive to do our best to spread God’s love through our own actions, and strive also to always listen to the will of God, and do what God asks of us. Let us pray that the Lord will send us His Holy Spirit to strengthen us in our ministry, and also pray for our priests that they too will be ever stronger in their faith and dedication, in serving the Lord and all of us, God’s children. Amen.

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Monday, 28 January 2013 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Thomas Aquinas, Priest and Doctor of the Church (First Reading)

Hebrews 9 : 15, 24-28

So Christ is the mediator of a new covenant or testament. His death made atonement for the sins committed under the old testament, and the promise is handed over to all who are called to the everlasting inheritance.

Christ did not enter some sanctuary made by hands, a copy of the true one, but heaven itself. He is now in the presence of God on our behalf. He had not to offer Himself many times, as the High Priest does : he who may return every year, because the blood is not his own.

Otherwise He would have suffered many times from the creation of the world. But no, He manifested Himself only now at the end of the ages, to take away sins by sacrifice, and, as humans die only once and afterwards are judged, in the same way Christ sacrificed Himself once to take away the sins of the multitude.

There will be no further question of sin when He comes again to save those waiting for Him.

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Sunday, 27 January 2013 : 3rd Sunday of Ordinary Time (Second Reading)

1 Corinthians 12 : 12-30

As the body is one, having many members, and all the members, while being many, form one body, so it is with Christ. All of us, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free, have been baptised in one Spirit to form one body and all of us have been given to drink from the one Spirit.

The body has not just one member, but many. If the foot should say, “I do not belong to the body for I am not a hand,” it would be wrong : it is part of the body! Even though the ear says, “I do not belong to the body for I am not an eye,” it is part of the body. If all the body were eye, how would we hear? And if all the body were ear, how would we smell?

God has arranged all the members, placing each part of the body as He pleased. If all were the same part where would the body be? But there are many members and one body. The eye cannot tell the hand, “I do not need you,” nor the head tell the feet, “I do not need you.”

Still more, the parts of our body that we most need are those that seem to be the weakest, the parts that we consider lower are treated with much care, and we cover them with more modesty because they are less presentable, whereas the others do not need such attention. God Himself arranged the body in this way, giving more honour to those parts that need it, so that the body may not be divided, but rather each member may care for the others. When one suffers, all of them suffer, and when one receives honour, all rejoice together.

Now, you are the body of Christ and each of you individually is a member of it. So God has appointed us in the Church. First apostles, second prophets, third teachers. Then come miracles, then the gift of healing, material help, administration in the Church and the gift of tongues.

Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Can all perform miracles, or cure the sick, or speak in tongues, or explain what was said in tongues?

 

(Alternative reading – 1 Corinthians 12 : 12-14, 27, shorter version of above)

As the body is one, having many members, and all the members, while being many, form one body, so it is with Christ. All of us, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free, have been baptised in one Spirit to form one body and all of us have been given to drink from the one Spirit.

The body has not just one member, but many. Now you are the body of Christ and each of you individually is a member of it.

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Saturday, 26 January 2013 : 2nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Saints Timothy and Titus, Bishops (Scripture Reflection)

http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2013-01-26

Today’s readings focuses on the ministry of the apostles and the early bishops of the Church, which include Saints Timothy and Titus, whose feast we celebrate today. Both saints were the same as those mentioned in the first reading, and were the correspondents in the letter from Paul to them.

Saints Timothy and Titus were the early successors of the Apostles, whose succession was done by the means of the laying of hands by the Apostles. This practice of the laying of hands created the basis of Apostolic Succession established in our Church today, where all bishops today in the world, can trace their authority back to the Apostles, in a chain of bishops unceasing until the Apostles themselves, and therefore, ultimately derive their authority from Christ Himself, as in the Gospel, Christ Himself appointed the disciples, which in addition to the twelve, were to do the work of the Lord, helping Christ in His ministry during His lifetime. After the death and resurrection of Christ, and after Pentecost, many of these disciples would be the first bishops of the Universal Church.

There are many duties expected of these disciples, in particular to bring the message of the Lord to all, especially those who welcome them. The mission would not be easy, as there will be those who reject Christ and thus reject His apostles, to the point of even persecuting them, as what happened during the great persecutions in the Roman Empire, where thousands of the bishops and priests, together with many of their flock were martyred because they stayed true to their faith in God. Nevertheless, the early fathers of the Church persevere in their faith, and as a result the Church grew, and eventually converted the Roman Empire to Christ.

The missions of these bishops and representatives appointed by Christ and His successors were manifold, namely to heal the sick, to bring peace and the Word of God to people who long for them, and to lead the people towards God their Saviour, and most importantly, as St. Paul told to St. Timothy, that the bishops and Church leaders should be beacons of faith and courage, that all others would see in them and be resolved on their own to also have the same faith and love of God. This mission never ends, so long as the world remain in darkness, and many remain out of reach of the Word of God. Let us make haste and bring the Word of God to them, through the ministry of our priests, deacons, and bishops, helped by all of us, which surely will bring many to the salvation in Christ.

Through the laying of hands, the bishops pass down the Holy Spirit that the Apostles had received at Pentecost, which become the foundation of the authority our bishops and priests today have, for their authority is not human or worldly authority, but authority that comes from God Himself. That is why priests today have the authority to forgive sins when we come to them for confession, just as the Lord Himself said to the Apostles after His Resurrection : “Receive the Holy Spirit, and those whose sins you forgive, they will be forgiven; and those whose sins you retain, they are retained.” Through this, the Lord with the Holy Spirit pass down His authority to forgive sin, and to heal the sick, to the Apostles, and from them down to even the humblest and least of priests today. Therefore, let us always pray for our priests that they will remain holy, pure, and steadfast in their faith in God, that they can carry their mission to the best of their abilities. 

We too can play our part to help our priests and bishops, with all the simple things we can do. We can help provide for our priests, and we can also help him to reach further and beyond in his ministries, maybe through transportation or other means of help, and most importantly, we can also pray for vocations! Remember, the Lord Himself said in the Gospel today, how though the harvest is indeed plentiful, and yes, there are still millions out there waiting for the ‘fishermen’ of the Lord to catch them, and to bring the Word of God to them, but sadly, the labourers, that is our priests, are getting lesser and lesser in numbers. The temptations and obstacles of the world prove too much for some to overcome, including family resistance and peer pressure, which can ruin an otherwise brilliant candidate for the priesthood, and how sad it is when we lose a potential priest, just because we do not support him, who could have saved a thousand souls for Christ, and many, many more.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us pray fervently that the Lord will bless His Holy Church with plenty of faithful and holy bishops, priests, and deacons, and devout young men, dedicated to God, that one day, they may choose to follow Christ and pledge themselves to Him in sacred priesthood. Amen.