Christian sermons

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Monday, 16 November 2020 : 33rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Margaret of Scotland, and St. Gertrude, Virgin (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saints and Holy Virgins)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day all of us are reminded of just fortunate we all are for having been beloved by God, as He showed us His love again and again throughout time. God has revealed His love to us constantly through His servants, but it is often us who pushed God away and refused to listen to Him or acknowledge His love for us.

The Lord has revealed to St. John, his Apostle, as recorded in the Book of Revelations, of the message and truth He has passed onto His seven Churches in Asia, representing the seven main Christian communities and centres at that time through His Angels. He revealed that despite the struggles and challenges that they were facing, they would not face those alone.

The revelation showed how the Church and the faithful would endure long periods of persecution throughout its history, but God would be with His people guiding them and protecting them regardless. The Lord helped them from their misery and guided them through those challenging years. In the end, many saints and martyrs came about from those communities, that while they might have suffered but they gained glory through God.

This is what we have also heard in our Gospel passage today, of God’s wonderful mercy and love. We heard how the Lord Jesus moved with pity and love, and responded to the one who had been seeking fervently His mercy and healing. When the blind man was helpless and was without hope, in the darkness of despair and suffering, God reached out to him and showed him that even in his darkness there is still hope and light, as long as one keeps faith in God.

The key there is the willingness of that blind man to humble himself and to reach out to the Lord, seeking His mercy wholeheartedly when he called out to Him, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” a few times, even when the people tried to silence and hush him. He revealed his vulnerability and his weakness to all, but in doing so, bared his faith in God fully, and it was by this faith that God was moved to save him and heal him from all of his troubles.

In the same manner therefore, God will always be with us and will help us through life, through our troubles and challenges if only we can have faith in Him like that of the blind man. The problem is that, unfortunately, more often than not, we allow our pride and ego to stand in the way of this salvation, as we often do not want to reveal our weakness and the fact that we actually are in need of help and assistance from God. We preferred rather to remain in our state of sin and in being despicable due to our pride, rather than seeking God for healing.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, in order for us to move forward in this life with faith, we have to get rid from ourselves this wicked mentality and the attachments and the allures of our pride and ego. Indeed, we have to die to our pride and remove all these from our hearts and minds as best as we are able to. Otherwise, we may end up rejecting God’s love and mercy again and again, until it is too late for us to seek His healing, mercy and forgiveness.

Today, let us all reflect on all these, and discern carefully on what each and every one of us as Christians can do to serve the Lord and to follow Him ever more faithfully. And perhaps we should look up to the examples set by the saints, especially the two saints whose feast we are celebrating today, namely St. Margaret of Scotland, as well as St. Gertrude the Great, both being holy women who had dedicated their lives to the Lord.

St. Margaret of Scotland was an English princess who later became the Queen of Scotland. And although she was born a high noble and royalty, and a queen no less, but she has always been very pious and humble throughout her whole life, putting God above all else, and was ever dedicated in her work as queen in taking care of the needs of her people, especially to the less fortunate and the poor. She has also dedicated much effort to expand the Church and various other institutions for the benefit of her people.

St. Margaret and St. Gertrude were both very pious and dedicated themselves much to follow the Lord faithfully and led a very pious and virtuous way of life. While St. Margaret was a pious queen, St. Gertrude was a renowned Benedictine religious nun remembered for her many intellectual writings about the faith that are still influential to this very day. Many people had been inspired through their piety and their efforts.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today all of us are called to reflect on the lives of these saints, and be inspired to seek the Lord with renewed faith and zeal, to be humble in reaching out for Him to ask for His forgiveness and grace. Let us all seek the Lord’s mercy, love and forgiveness, and let us all be thoroughly reconciled and regain God’s grace and favour. May the Lord be with us always, and may He bless us all now and forevermore. Amen.

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Sunday, 15 November 2020 : Thirty-Third Sunday of Ordinary Time, Fourth World Day of the Poor (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday being the last of the Sundays before the Solemnity of Jesus Christ the King, the second last Sunday in our current liturgical year, we celebrate the occasion of the World Day of the Poor for the fourth time after it was instituted by our current Pope and Vicar of Christ, Pope Francis in the year of our Lord 2017.

On this Sunday therefore we are all reminded of the poor, those among us in our community who are often lacking basic needs and provisions, those who do not have enough to live comfortably without assistance from others. Poverty had been a great issue facing our community and the world since time immemorial, and as long as there are inequalities and injustices in our society, poverty will always be around, unless the whole community work together selflessly for the benefit of everyone.

We may be wondering then why there is so much poverty in the world today, just as it had been in the past, and just as how it will be in the future. That is because of our own selfishness and the abuse of the freedom that God had given to each and every one of us. We are all free to choose how we are to act in life, and how we interact with one another. Yet, we are often tempted by the many temptations of this world, the temptations of money and material possessions, the temptations of fame and glory among others.

And it does not help that we live in a world where we are accustomed and encouraged to satisfy our needs and wants first, to be selfish and individualistic and not be bothered by the plight and sufferings of others. In addition, in many occasions, we ended up being the sources of others’ sufferings and poverty, when people manipulated and exploited others who were less fortunate, weaker and poorer than they were.

As a result, many people who were poor remained poor. Many of them were unable to escape the vicious cycle of poverty and remain poor due to various circumstances. It is often the case that the rich gets richer while the poor gets poorer. This is unfortunately how things are in the world today, and on this Sunday, the World Day of the Poor, as Christians our attention is brought closely to this matter at hand.

In our first reading passage today taken from the Book of Proverbs we heard the author writing about an archetypal woman who was exemplary and good in all of her actions, worthy of praise and good in the sight of God and mankind alike. And we have to pay attention to the fact that this woman reached out to the helpless and cared for the poor. Through this particular passage to begin the series of this Sunday’s readings we are called to reflect on what it really means for us to be Christians.

It means that as Christians we should not be ignorant of the sufferings and plight of the poor in our community. We should not turn a deaf ear to their cries for help, and we should not be blind to their needs, especially when we are in the position to help and are able to alleviate their sufferings even in small, little ways. And this is summarised even better by the Lord Jesus Himself in our Gospel passage today in the parable of the silver talents.

In that parable, we heard of a master who entrusted his servants with different numbers of silver talents for them to make good use of during the time when he was away. A silver talent refers to a fixed mass of silver measured in ‘talent’ at the time, which was also a rather significant amount. Nonetheless we heard how two of the servants invested and made good use of the silver talents that by the time the master returned, the silver talents had earned double its original value.

And one of the servants instead chose to hide his talent of silver, and did not do anything to it at all, that when he returned the silver talent he had not earned anything at all. Why did this servant behave in this way, brothers and sisters? From his response and remark to his master upon returning the silver talent we can paint a good picture of his thoughts and ideas relating to this matter.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, that last servant refused to do anything with the silver talent and feared his master and even spoke of his exacting nature because he feared that he might be blamed for not gaining good returns or even if he made a loss instead. He did not want to be responsible over what he has been entrusted with by his master and thus he chose to hide the silver talent without doing anything at all.

How does this then relate to us and to our commemoration today of the World Day of the Poor? The master represents the Lord Himself while the servants represent all of us, each and every one of us as the followers of the Lord. And just as the master entrusted the silver talents to his servants, God has also entrusted to us the ‘talents’ that is the blessings, gifts, abilities and other things that had been with us.

Just as each servants received different amounts of the silver talents from the master thus the Lord has also blessed some of us with more while others have less. But we often forgot the fact that all these we have received is not for ours to keep and hide, but to be put into good use for the benefit of all. We should not be selfish and thinking of our own benefits, satisfaction and pleasure, because as Christians we must first think of the good of the whole community.

And just like the ones who received five talents and two talents of silver each invested their silver well, whether we have more or less, we should not compare or worse still complain, but we should dedicate ourselves to do what we can to help one another especially those who are the poorest and had nothing to keep them struggling on the many challenges of life. The Lord has taught us all these and showed us what it means for us to be genuine Christians especially in how we show our love towards one another particularly the poor and the underprivileged, those who are persecuted and suffering in any forms.

As Christians we have to reach out to one another, to be generous in giving and caring, not only in terms of material goods and money, but even more importantly in terms of how we genuinely love everyone without exception. It is indeed possible for someone to help the poor such as with generous donations but with ulterior motives such as for publicity and to gain benefits for oneself such as through fame and glory among other things. While this may not sound as bad as not giving anything at all, as Christians this is not our true calling.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday let us carefully reflect on our calling and responsibilities as the children of the Light as St. Paul had spoken of in his Epistle to the Thessalonians in our second reading passage today. We have all been entrusted by God with different abilities and gifts, blessings and good things that we should make good use of for everyone’s benefit. And one common obstacle to this is that we often compare with one another.

We often ask why those who are richer or having more have not given to the poor or be generous in their giving. For our information, just because we have not seen the generous act in display does not mean that the person is not generous or selfish. Many people who gives, does not give because they want to be seen or acknowledged just as there are those who give for ulterior motives. Therefore, rather than comparing and complaining, we really should begin from ourselves, by being generous ourselves, to help whenever there is a need, to touch the lives of others positively whenever there is a chance to do so.

And we do not have to be afraid that our actions are small, insignificant or too little to make a difference. This is yet another obstacle preventing us from giving from our heart and helping others who are in need. We do not have to think about this, brethren, for no action done in good intention and for the benefit of others is ever too small. We must not forget that we are not doing this alone but together with everyone else. If everyone just do whatever they can, in their respective capabilities, certainly all the combined efforts will make a great difference.

Especially this year, with the still raging Covid-19 pandemic and all the many issues and uncertainties we have been facing, we heard more and more people facing financial difficulties and inabilities to make ends meet, even those who once had been able to do so comfortably and easily. Many had lost their jobs and sources of income, and many more were suffering from sickness, the pandemic or otherwise, and from other maladies and issues.

Therefore as Christians, we are all called today to reach out and touch the lives of others positively. In whatever way we can, in whatever we have been called to do, with our various and unique talents, abilities, gifts and blessings, much like those servants in the Gospel parable today, let us all dedicate ourselves to the Lord and to His people, doing our very best to make good use of what God has given to us and blessed us all with.

May the Lord awaken in us all a spirit of true charity and generosity, to be the examples of true love and goodness, compassion and care for one another especially for the poor and the underprivileged, for those who have been ostracised and lacking in love. Let us all bring happiness and joy to them, and share in their burden and help even in small ways, to alleviate their burdens and hardships as fellow brothers and sisters in the Lord. May God bless us all in our every generous efforts and works, now and always, and may He have mercy on those who are poor and suffering. Amen.

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Saturday, 14 November 2020 : 32nd Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

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

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, all of us today are reminded of our calling as Christians to bear God’s love with us and within our actions and deeds. We have to be loving and charitable just as our Lord Himself has shown us through His own examples and actions. For to be Christians is truly to love as the Lord Himself has loved us so generously that we also show the same love to Him first and foremost above all else, and then love our neighbours and fellow brothers and sisters in the same manner.

In our first reading today from the Epistle of St. John, we heard of the Apostle speaking of those who have courageously ministered to the people, the missionaries of the faith that travelled from town to town, much like how St. Paul the Apostle visited many places and proclaimed the Good News of God in all those places. And all those missionaries as in accordance to the Lord’s instructions, depended on the goodwill and generosity of the people of God.

The missionaries of the Lord went from place to place, preaching the Gospels and the Good News trusting themselves in the hands of the Lord. The Lord sent all of them to various places calling on them to gather more and more souls to salvation through faith. These were their labours of love, their efforts to show forth God’s love to all people and to touch their lives with God’s love and wonders.

And when those Christians and even pagans whom were in touch with these missionaries cared for the needs of these courageous servants of God, and in several occasion they even risked their lives and safety to protect these missionaries, they also showed the love of God and for those pagans and non-believers, it showed their faith and sincere desire to love God and follow Him, their openness and willingness to welcome the Lord into their house and presence when they welcomed those servants with peace.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard the parable from the Lord on the evil judge and an old woman. In that parable we heard how the evil judge was usually very proud and stubborn, refusing to budge or listen to reason in all circumstances. However, when an old woman kept coming up to this particular judge and pestered him again and again to ask him to settle her case, after her repeated insistence, the evil judge relented and helped her.

The intention of this parable as told by the Lord Jesus is indeed to highlight how even the wicked is capable of love, and thus all the more that the Lord, Who loved each and every one of us, love each and every one of us even more dearly. And if all of us call ourselves as Christians, as God’s beloved people then naturally we should also follow in His examples of love.

The question is, are we willing to love sincerely and generously as the Lord has loved us? More often than not, most of us tend to love ourselves first and seek our own satisfaction rather than to show our love to others as we should have done. In fact, many of us often chose to gain our own self-satisfaction and joy even at the cost of others’ suffering and pain, manipulating and deceiving others for our own gains.

And this is the sad reality of our faith, brothers and sisters in Christ. Many of us have not yet shown genuine faith in God and are still lacking in the way of His love. Let us all discern carefully therefore what we are going to do moving forward in life, that we may truly find our way to grow ever stronger in faith, in each and every moments of our lives from now on. May God bless us all and guide us always in our journey of faith in life. Amen.

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Friday, 13 November 2020 : 32nd Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today all of us are called to keep in mind of our faith in God especially as we will not know the time and circumstance of the Lord’s coming as He has promised, the time of His second coming into this world. We must always be vigilant and be prepared, and not to allow the temptations of evil and wickedness to lead us astray, or the words of those who have made false promises and lies of the devil to tempt us. And we are going to hear more and more of this theme as we approach the end of the current liturgical cycle.

In our first reading today, St. John in his Epistle spoke of this as he told the people to remember what their faith is all about, the commandments of God’s love, the Law that He has passed unto us and revealed to us. Through this Law of love, God wants each and every one of us to follow Him and His examples, and obey the tenets and commandments He has given us through His Church, that each and every one of us may remain true to our Christian faith and remain faithful to the very end.

St. John spoke of how those who taught otherwise and differently from the true Christian teachings were antichrists and false prophets, as at that time there were quite a few of those who misinterpreted the teachings of Christ or muddled them with their own beliefs and other pagan practices in syncretism, which ended up misleading the faithful people of God and creating divisions in the Church of God. St. John as one of the Apostles of the Lord certainly did not wish to see the Church divided by all these falsehoods.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard the Lord speaking of the moments and times of reckoning as how it has happened earlier in the history of man, from the time of Noah, when the Great Flood came upon the world and drowned most of the creatures save for Noah and his family and all the animals he has saved. He has also spoken of the time of Lot, when the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by their sins and wickedness, save for Lot and his family, although his wife did perish in the event.

In those two occasions, we clearly see how God’s reckoning and judgment came upon all those who have committed heinous sins and wicked deeds before their faithful ones. Those sinful descendants of mankind had filled the world with their sins by the time of Noah that Noah and his family alone were counted among the righteous. Therefore, despite God’s repeated warnings and also premonition to them, as Noah took a long time to complete his great Ark, no one repented and they even laughed at Noah for his efforts.

It was the same with the case of Sodom and Gomorrah, that despite Lot’s efforts to open the eyes of the people of those cities, but they and their lust and desire to sin led them to their doom. And despite Abraham’s pleas to the Lord to spare the cities for the sake of his cousin Lot, his repeated efforts to ask the Lord to be merciful, the sins of those people of Sodom and Gomorrah, that no one save Lot and his immediate family could be found to be righteous, doomed and judged them.

It will therefore be the same for us, brothers and sisters, at the time of our reckoning and judgment. Do we want to end up like the the people of Noah’s time or the ones in Sodom and Gomorrah who perished together with their cities? As we listened to these readings we are in fact reminded by the Lord through His Church that we should not be complacent in the living of our faith, that we will not end up falling into the path of sin and evil.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all discern carefully what we have heard today and reflect deeply on the words of the Lord Himself, calling on all of us to follow Him and be faithful. It is a reminder that everything will happen as the Lord has ordained it, and we certainly do not want to end up in the wrong path or find ourselves on the wrong side. And what should we do then, brothers and sisters? We should renew our faith and commitment to the Lord and dedicate our time and effort to serve Him.

Let us all resist the temptations to sin, and reject the path of evil as we move forward in life. Let us turn towards God with a new commitment and love God with ever greater generosity and dedication from now on. May the Lord be with us and be our guide, helping us to endure the challenges and trials we are bound to encounter along this journey we walk through. May God bless us all and all of our good endeavours and efforts, each and every moments of our lives. Amen.

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Thursday, 12 November 2020 : 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, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are brought to attention of the sufferings of the followers of Christ just as the Lord Himself had suffered at the hands of those who opposed Him and refused to believe in Him. And because of this, we have to keep our faith in God strong and keep up our hope in Him even as we face trials and challenges in this life.

The Lord wants us all to be strong and to keep the faith, and because of that He has constantly reassured us through His servants, the Apostles and the saints, whose lives become our inspiration and strength, that we may continue to follow Him with zeal. And today, in particular, we recall the glorious life and inspirational faith of St. Josaphat Kuntsevych, holy bishop of the Lord and martyr of the Church.

St. Josaphat Kuntsevych was a monk of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth a few hundred years ago, at the time when the Christian faithful were divided between those who obeyed the Pope and are in communion with him, both the Roman Rite and the ones following the Eastern Orthodox communion with the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.

By that time the Pope and the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople had been separated due to the Great Schism for over five hundred years, and the sum of mutual distrust, political circumstances and greed by others involved in the matter led to increasingly distant and hostile relationship between the two sides, and consequently, the faithful also ended up becoming ever more divided and hostile against each other.

St. Joseph Kuntsevych was a monk who eventually rose to the position of leadership within the Church as an Archbishop. At that time, a significant majority of the local Ruthenian population in the region now known as Belarus and Ukraine sought to be reconciled with the Pope led by the Metropolitan of Kiev and other bishops, who worked towards reconciliation that culminated in the Union of Brest.

Through that Union many communities of the faithful were led by their bishops and the clergy into full communion and reconciliation with the Pope and therefore becoming once again a member of God’s One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. However, this did not mean that the reunification of the Church occurred smoothly, as there were significant opposition from some segments of the faithful, both the clergy and laity alike.

It was in that situation that St. Josaphat Kuntsevych became a leader and shepherd for his flock, despite the rising tensions and clashes between those who were supportive of the Union and those who opposed the Union. He had the difficult job of trying to resolve the tensions and differences between the feuding factions of the faithful. Nonetheless, he dedicated himself as best as possible and did what he could to steer the faithful through to the right path despite the challenges.

And this was also accompanied by his personal holiness, exemplary conduct and life, constantly mortifying the flesh and resisting the temptations to sin. Nonetheless, amidst the rising sectarian tensions and violence eventually it led to the martyrdom of this faithful and holy man of God, as the townspeople who were opposed to the Union with the Pope rose against St. Josaphat and attacked him, tortured him and threw his dead body into the river.

As we can see from this case, St. Josaphat Kuntsevych showed us that being faithful to God is often not an easy task and is likely to be a challenging journey. But we must not lose hope or faith in God as the Lord will be with us, guiding us in our journey together towards Him. We must remain faithful, no matter what challenges we may encounter, that when the Lord comes again, we can confidently say that we have kept the faith, and will be worthy of His eternal glory.

May God bless us all and guide us, strengthen us in our journey that we may draw ever closer to Him, with each and every moments of our lives. Amen.

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Wednesday, 11 November 2020 : 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 all of us are reminded to give thanks to God for all of His love, mercy and kindness towards us through the words of the Scripture we have just heard earlier on. We heard these in our first reading today, in the Epistle written by St. Paul the Apostle to his protege and brother bishop St. Titus, as well as in the Gospel passage today in the story of the healing of the ten lepers by the Lord Jesus.

In our first reading today, St. Paul wrote to St. Titus on some reminders for the Christian communities and the faithful, as part of his many Epistles or letters addressed to the different communities, urging all of them to keep their faith in Christ firmly and hold onto whatever the Lord had taught them through His Apostles and not fall into the wrong paths. The Lord through St. Paul is reminding all of us here to be good and righteous, to follow His laws and commandments faithfully.

This was what St. Paul spoke of in today’s segment of his Epistle, saying that while once we had been selfish and corrupt in the ways of the world, foolish and disobedient against God, but through Christ, God’s beloved Son sent into this world to be our Saviour, we have been called into a new life and existence that is holy and good, through the path that He has shown us and which He now calls us all to follow.

Through that passage, we can see how God has showed us all His love and grace, in His desire to save all of us from eternal damnation and lead us into a new, eternal life. He does not want us all to perish and end up in eternal darkness, and therefore, He showed us His most genuine love and compassion, one example of which we have heard in our Gospel passage today in the healing of the ten lepers by the Lord Himself.

In that occasion, we have ten lepers who because of their condition had to stay outside the community as in accordance to the laws of God revealed through Moses. This Law came from the time of the Exodus from Egypt, when the Israelites were living together in tents in close proximity to one another. At that time, as the people came into frequent contact with each other, both in their persons and possessions, a disease like leprosy were deeply feared, and therefore, to prevent an outbreak, those who contracted the disease were forced to live outside the community until they were healed.

Those ten lepers who came by the Lord Jesus were those who suffered the same fate, being excluded and forced to live away from their community, from their families and loved ones, to wander in the wilderness until they were proven to be healed and made whole. They sought the Lord to heal them from their sickness, and the Lord told them to go and see the priests as prescribed by the Law. By right, they could only go to see the priests once they had been completely healed, which at that time they were obviously not healed yet.

Nonetheless, all of them did as the Lord asked them to, and went on their way to see the priests. By their faith they were saved and healed, and along the way, they were healed from their leprosy and became whole again. They noticed what had happened to them, and they went off very happy and joyful for what had happened to them. However, out of all ten lepers, only one of them remembered the Lord and came back to see Him and thank Him for all that He had done for him.

And that man was a Samaritan, an important fact to notice at that time because the Jews often considered the Samaritans as pagan and godless people who worshipped idols and were wicked in their lives. Yet, as we have seen here among other instances throughout the Gospels, it is clear that Samaritans were no different from the Jews, and God made it clear through this occasion that His love and mercy is for everyone who seeks Him.

The question now is, have we loved God as we should? Have we thanked Him for all of His kindness to us? Or have we been like the other nine lepers who were so happy for the healing that happened to them and forgot to give thanks to God? We really need to spend some time reflecting about this and our lives, and how we should proceed onward in life as good and dedicated Christians through our actions and deeds, and not just by mere words or formality.

Today, we all should look up to the good examples set by our holy predecessors, especially that of St. Martin of Tours, a holy saint and man of God, who dedicated much of his life serving the Lord and the needs of his flock, as the Bishop of Tours in what is today southern part of France. St. Martin of Tours was once a career soldier, a high ranking army soldier or a captain of the guard, who became a Christian early in his life against the wishes of his own parents.

He became a military man following the family tradition as his own father was a veteran army officer. But his career in the military did not last long as his Christian faith and calling eventually led him to pursue his vocation and becoming a full-time follower of Christ through his discipleship of St. Hilary of Poitiers, another great saint of the time. St. Martin had difficulties earlier on in his calling and ministry due to the opposition and challenges from the Arians who had divided many of the Christian communities of the time.

Nonetheless, St. Martin continued to dedicate himself, his effort and time to care for the people in the community, until he was acclaimed by the people and the clergy in Tours who had been impressed by his faith and life, as the Bishop of the Diocese. He was nonetheless reluctant to be a bishop that according to some tradition, he was hiding from his own consecration as bishop. Despite this, as a bishop, St. Martin committed his life fully to serve the people and worked hard to proclaim the Christian faith and oppose the heresies and false teachings that misled the people unto the wrong paths in life.

St. Martin dedicated his whole life to God, and his holiness is seen even early in life when he was still a soldier as told by many traditions that he met a beggar on a cold night, and he immediately cut his own military cloak in half to give the other half to the beggar that he might cover himself and not be cold. That very night, the Lord HImself appeared to St. Martin wearing the half-cloak and telling him how he had such a great faith, that at time, despite merely being just a catechumen, not even baptised as Christian yet, but he had already lived so virtuously.


Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all follow the good examples of St. Martin of Tours in our own respective lives. Let us all dedicate our lives for the greater glory of God and for the genuine love of our fellow brothers and sisters. Let us all be good and virtuous Christians, and be thankful of all the love that God has extended to us, appreciating His mercy and kindness, and love Him back with greater zeal and commitment from now on. May God bless us all, now and always. Amen.

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Tuesday, 10 November 2020 : 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 as we listened to the words of the Lord in the Scriptures, we are reminded of our duties as Christians, to listen to the Lord and to obey His will at each and every moments of our lives, through our actions and our dealings, our interactions and efforts within our respective communities. All of us have been called to serve God to the best of our abilities.

In our first reading today from the Epistle of St. Paul to St. Titus, the Apostle wrote to his brother bishop and also protege, St. Titus with regards to the faithful people of God, and how each and every one of them ought to act and behave in their respective positions and parts of the community at large. Each and every one of them had important roles to play as members of the Church of God, to be righteous and just according to the teachings and ways He had shown us.

As the members of the clergy, the bishops, priests and the deacons, each of them had important roles to play, in serving the greater community of God’s people, to minister to them and lead everyone towards the Lord, guiding the faithful down the right path and caring for them spiritually. And the laity also had their own respective roles to play as Christians, as family members, as fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters, as children, as grandparents and grandchildren, to form faithful Christian families.

Not only that, but in whatever each and every one of them are doing, in their respective commitments and works, all of them are called to be exemplary in carrying out their Christian virtues and actions. This is what each and every one of us have been called to do, to be virtuous examples of our Christian faith in our every day workplaces, in our schools and in everywhere we are, reaching out to our fellow brothers and sisters through our good examples.

But we must then also must heed the Lord’s words in our Gospel passage today to guide us down the right path. In that Gospel passage, we heard the Lord using a parable to teach His disciples and the people, the parable of the dutiful servant in which the Lord compared our relationship with God in a way with the relationship between a master and his servant. The servant had a duty to serve his master well and to do what he had been told to do. But the master is under no obligation to congratulate or please the servant as mentioned.

What does this mean, brothers and sisters in Christ? It means that each and every one of us must not treat our faith as merely an achievement or as a means to satisfy our own desires and wants. Surely there are those of us who want to be praised for our actions and dedications to God, but our faith truly is not about ourselves. It is not about how much we have done, or that if we have done more then we deserve more praise and rewards. Whatever we have done and are going to do, we have to do it for the greater glory of God.

Today therefore all of us are called to follow the Lord more faithfully as Christians, to be committed to loving Him and our fellow brethren with sincerity and generosity, in each and every actions we take and at every moments of our lives. And we should be inspired further by the examples of the saints such as Pope St. Leo the Great whose feast day we celebrate today. There is a lot that we can learn from his examples and inspirations.

Pope St. Leo the Great led the Church as the Pope and Successor of St. Peter the Apostle at a very important time and juncture for the Church and the world, as the Roman Empire began to fall apart in its western regions, falling apart to the invasions from the barbarians that came and conquered many of its territories, wrecking a lot of havoc and confusion. Despite all these, Pope St. Leo the Great led the Church and the faithful through this most difficult moment, and was instrumental in strengthening the Church in standing up against the various heresies that also came up at that time.

Pope St. Leo the Great was firmly against the Arian heresy and its followers, as well as to other heresies like monophysitism and others, sending delegates to Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon to affirm the teachings of the faith as preserved through the Church, also writing extensively in defence of the true faith. Pope St. Leo the Great also dedicated himself wholeheartedly to the well-being of his flock, and in one well-remembered occasion, stood before the much dreaded king of the Huns, Attila at the gates of Rome, and managed to persuade him to turn away and not destroy the city.

Pope St. Leo the Great had showed us what it means to be a true and dedicated disciple of the Lord, as did many other great saints, holy men and women of God. Are we willing and able to follow their good examples, brothers and sisters in Christ? Each and every one of us are called and have been challenged to follow the Lord in each and every one of our own ways, to serve Him and glorify Him with all of our efforts and strength. May God be with us always, and may He guide us in our journey of faith, now and always. Amen.

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Monday, 9 November 2020 : Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, together with the entire Universal Church all of us rejoice together celebrating the great Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica, which is the preeminent, principal and most important of all the churches in the whole world. It is the most important church and the heart of all Christendom.

The full name of the Lateran Basilica is appropriately, the Archbasilica of the Most Holy Saviour and Saints John the Baptist and John the Evangelist at the Lateran. It is the only Archbasilica to signify that it is truly above all every other churches as the place where the seat of the authority of the Pope as the Vicar of Christ is at.

Although most of us would often associate the Papal Basilica of St. Peter as the seat of the Pope given that it is part of the Vatican City and the Pope himself resides within its complex in the Apostolic Palace, and although most of the Papal celebrations and liturgies take place in St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, but the Cathedra of the Pope is not there.

Each of the diocesan bishops of the world has his seat of authority in a church, which is then named as the cathedral of the diocese named after the cathedra, the bishop’s seat of authority as the symbol of his jurisdiction and authority over his entire diocese. The Pope as the Bishop of Rome therefore also has his cathedra which is at the Basilica of St. John Lateran.

The Basilica of St. John Lateran was the first of the public churches of Rome to be built after centuries of often intense persecutions of Christians by the Roman government and state and the faithful in Rome had to clandestinely meet and celebrate the Mass in catacombs. There were also other churches built in Rome by the Emperor Constantine after he extended official toleration of Christians in the Edict of Milan, including the old St. Peter’s Basilica, the current one being rebuilt five hundred years ago.

It was therefore there at the very heart and centre of Imperial Rome that the Basilica of St. John Lateran was built and completed, and the Pope took it as his Cathedral, the Cathedral of the Diocese of Rome and it has remained as such to this very day. The Pope himself lived and reigned at the adjacent Lateran Palace for many centuries before political circumstances and agreements made it such that now the Pope resides in the Vatican.

But the Cathedral of Rome remains and is always at the Basilica of St. John Lateran and the events of the inauguration of a new Pope is only complete when he assumed his cathedra at the Basilica of St. John Lateran. The possession of this cathedra makes this great Basilica as the Mother Church of the Diocese of Rome, just like in any other dioceses.

And since the Pope is not just the Bishop of Rome, but also the Successor of St. Peter the Apostle as the Vicar of Christ and Supreme Pontiff, the leader of the entire One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, thus, the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran is the Mother Church of the entire world, the Mother of all the churches. Hence, this is why all of us rejoice together today marking the anniversary of its Dedication.

But we must also not forget that even as we rejoice at the Dedication of this great House of God, the Mother and Head of all the churches of Rome and the world, we are also ourselves God’s Holy Temple, as St. Paul mentioned in his Epistle to the Corinthians. We are all the Temples of His Holy Presence and of His Holy Spirit, dwelling in us all and sanctifying us.

Just as at the Dedication of a church, the church’s Altar is blessed with holy water, anointed with holy oils, and had its candles lighted and the Altar covered with pure white Altar cloths, thus, each and every one of us at the moment of our baptism, we have been baptised with holy water in the Name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, anointed with the holy oil of chrism, dressed in new, white garment and received the lighted candle.

We can clearly see the parallel between the Dedication of a church, like the Dedication of the Basilica of St. John Lateran, with our own ‘dedication’ to God that is our baptism and initiation into the Faith and the Church. Just as the Dedication of the Church and its Altar sanctifies them and makes them a holy place worthy of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, then through baptism we have also been sanctified and purified to be worthy to be God’s Holy Temple.

We receive the Lord Himself into us in the Eucharist, the Real Presence of the Precious Body and Blood of the Lord, and also the Holy Spirit indwelling in us. Thus, if we keep the sanctity and purity of our churches and their Altars, then we must also keep the sanctity and purity of the Temple of our body and being, the House of God that is each and every one of us. Doing otherwise and to defile this sanctity is a sin against God.

What do we do then if we have defiled the sanctity of our Temple of God, our body, heart, mind and soul? Then we ought to try to rectify it as best as we can. The Lord has granted us through the Church, the gift of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, by which through the authority He has given to His Apostles and their successors, our bishops and priests, the authority to forgive us our sins and absolve us from our faults and wrongdoings given that we are willing to fully repent from them.

That is why, brothers and sisters in Christ, if we have not gone for confession for a while, let us have the courage to admit our faults and sins, and have the desire to repent and turn away from those sinful ways. The Lord through His priest and the Sacrament of Reconciliation will heal us and make us whole again. And then, more importantly, we must strive henceforth to resist further temptations to sin.

It will definitely be challenging as we live in a world surrounded and filled by those many temptations. But if we do our best and keep strong our faith in God, and help one another in persevering through the challenges then we should be able to pull through the difficulties and trials together, and together we shall be found worthy of God and be glorified together with Him in the end, forever and ever.

May the Lord, our ever loving God help us to keep each and every one of us holy and filled with faith, each as glorious Temples of His Holy Presence, much like the glorious Mother of all the churches of Rome and the world, the Basilica of St. John Lateran. Amen.

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Sunday, 8 November 2020 : Thirty-Second Sunday of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this Sunday all of us are brought to focus our attention on the wisdom which God has given to us, from His Divine Wisdom. God has given us His wisdom and the ability to discern in our hearts and minds, through the gift of baptism and the Holy Spirit that He has sent down unto us. And through the Holy Spirit, He has revealed His truth and the love that He has for each and every one of us.

And because we have been given wisdom and understanding, the revelation of the truth and the love of God, then naturally, we should seek the Lord and embrace Him. This is as we know that in the end, if we follow the Lord, in the end, there is the assurance of eternal life and glory, the assurance of everlasting happiness with God. Yet, the reality is sadly that many among us despite having all these given to us, we took it for granted and did not appreciate how fortunate we have been because of that.

This is what the Lord wants to remind us through our Gospel passage today as we listened to the parable of the five foolish bridesmaids and the five wise bridesmaids. Those five foolish bridesmaids were deemed foolish because they did not give everything proper thought and lacked preparation for what they were about to do. They were supposed to wait for the coming of the bridegroom as the servants of the bride, inviting and welcoming the bridegroom into the place.

At that time, wedding banquets were often held at night time because in that region during the day the weather might be too hot during certain months when weddings were usually conducted, especially in June, during the height of the summer just before the harvest and after the sowing season has been completed. But as mentioned, because the bridegroom delayed in coming to the wedding banquet, the bridesmaids who were supposed to wait for him, had to wait longer as a result.

Those five foolish bridesmaids were running out of oil for their lamps, as they were using the lamps to welcome the bridegroom, and it was inappropriate for them to have their lamps extinguished before the bridegroom. That would have been a great embarrassment for everyone, and especially so for the bridesmaids. That was why the five foolish bridesmaids tried asking the other five bridesmaids, who were wise, for oil to help them maintain their lamps.

Certainly, those other five bridesmaids, who were not just wise but also kind, wanted to help. However, it was impractical for them to share their oil with the five foolish bridesmaids, as there were limited space for the oil in the lamps, and although the wise bridesmaids must have brought extra oil as part of their preparations, but the fact that the bridegroom was coming very late to the banquet made it unlikely for them to have enough oil to share, despite the extra oil they must have prepared earlier.

That was why the five foolish bridesmaids had to go to buy the oil to top up their insufficient oil so that they could appropriately welcome the bridegroom. However, we know that it is a very late hour at night, and just as it is today, at that time, all shops and markets would have been closed at such an hour. Where could they have gone to find any oil? It would have been next to impossible to procure the oil easily. In the end, they did get the oils, but that must have been quite difficult for them to get.

And in that delay, the bridegroom came while those five foolish bridesmaids were away getting their oil. Those wise bridesmaids were ready and they rejoiced, welcoming the bridegroom as planned, and joined in the festivities together with the bride and the bridegroom. It was after that then the foolish bridesmaids came back to join the celebration. Yet, as was obvious they came too late to do what they were intended to do, and as the celebrations have already started, the door has been closed.

The bridegroom himself came out to open the door when they called for him, asking to be allowed inside. And in the end, the bridegroom said that he did not know them, and those unfortunate foolish bridesmaids had to endure the darkness, bereft of the celebrations and humiliated. And all of these are in fact a summary of how the Lord and His story of salvation for us. Through all of these, we heard how each and every one of us must make use of the wisdom that God has given us to discern carefully how we are to live our lives.

Those bridesmaids represent all of us, God’s people, all mankind living in this world. The bride is the Church of God, of which we are part of, just as the bridesmaids are part of the Church’s party. Meanwhile, as alluded in the Gospels and in the Book of Revelations of St. John, the bridegroom himself represents the Lord, Who is about to come again a second time into this world at the end of time, just as the bridegroom is coming to the wedding banquet with the bride and all those who are to celebrate together.

This is what we look forward to, brothers and sisters in Christ, the heavenly wedding banquet alluded to in the Book of Revelations, towards its end chapters, when the tribulations and trials on Earth has been concluded, the final Judgment has been made, and finally the Lamb, the Bridegroom, comes to be with His Bride, the Church of God. This marks the reunification and perfect reconciliation between mankind and God, their beloved Creator, their loving Father and their Bridegroom.

And since this has been revealed to us, the truth of what is to come, then we surely know what we are to expect. And the Lord Himself has repeatedly said in many occasions throughout the Gospels, a sentiment that is also repeated again and again by the Apostles, that the Lord is coming again as He has promised us. However, just as His coming is a certainty, the timing of His coming is most uncertain to us. None knows the exact timing of the Lord’s coming, and no one knows when the time is at hand.

So, what does this mean for us, brothers and sisters in Christ? It means that we should not be complacent and think that we should not do anything. On the contrary, like the five wise bridesmaids, we must always be prepared knowing of what is to come our way. We will not want to end up like the five foolish bridesmaids who were caught unprepared and not having enough oil in their lamps. As a result, they were left out of the celebrations and were humiliated and shamed. And this means an eternity of suffering in total regret in hell, for our refusal and rejection of God’s generous love and compassionate mercy.

To us, it means that we have to keep in mind of our actions in life, the choices we make and how we move forward day after day. As Christians, we have been called to action and to make a difference in this world and in our respective communities. We cannot stand idle and do nothing, or assume that just because of our Christian faith that we have been saved and there is nothing else to be done, and we just have to wait for the glory and blessings to come.

Instead, we have to stand vigil, awaiting the Lord’s coming, and in the meanwhile doing everything that He has asked us to do, and which He has showed and taught us to do. We have to be inspiration for one another with our lives, through our every words and actions. God gave us His wisdom through the infusion of the Holy Spirit and His gifts. And because of this, we have to carefully consider how we live our lives, and whether even our small, little actions bring forth God’s love to the fore.

Have we loved our brethren in need, all around us? We live in a difficult time when everyone is suffering from all sorts of troubles, and especially more so this year. God has blessed us with His graces and blessings, and we are all called to share this love and blessings with one another. Let us all not be selfish or consider just our own self-preservation and desires for pleasure. Instead, let us all follow the Lord’s own examples in love, in how He has reached out in love to those most wretched and wicked, and those who were in most need of healing and forgiveness.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, this is how we should move forward in life. Let us all be filled with the zeal and enthusiasm to be genuine Christians and sincere evangelisers of truth to our fellow brethren, not through just words but also through action, so that in doing what we can, in even the smallest ways, we may touch the lives of others positively and make things better for this world, so that when the Lord comes again as promised, we will be found worthy and not be judged against our wicked actions or lack of action.

May the Lord, our loving God and Father continue to be with us, guide us in our journey of faith in life. May He bless us all and help us in our every good endeavours, as His faithful servants and followers, each and every moments of our lives. May God, the Bridegroom of the Church, be glorified forever and ever! Amen.

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Saturday, 7 November 2020 : 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 as we listened to the words of the Scripture, we are all reminded today that we are all as Christians have been called to follow the Lord and devote ourselves to Him wholeheartedly. We should keep this in mind and not to fall into the temptations of money and other worldly pleasures and temptations, all of which are trying to lead us away from God and from His path.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard the continuation of yesterday’s parable of the dishonest steward, in which today the Lord explained its meaning and how it can be related to the lives of the people, to whom the Lord told them the parable. The parable showed how the dishonest steward had misused his authority and became corrupt, in his less than honourable dealings, which were discovered by his master and then leading to him being dismissed from service.

What the steward did after that was to try to provide for himself by committing even more dishonesty, unilaterally rewriting the debts of the others who owed his master money. In doing so, he tried to secure for himself favours as he told himself that he was too embarrassed to beg or unable to do other jobs or works. As we can see from this, the dishonest steward doubled down even more on his dishonesty, and committed even more sins in doing so.

What the Lord wanted all of us to know through these parables and teachings is that, first of all, we must be careful and be vigilant not to fall into those temptations. When He mentioned to them about filthy money in today’s Gospel, He was mentioning the money of the world and how it is usually used, but in fact, He was not saying that money itself by nature was intrinsically evil. As ultimately, money is just a means for exchanging goods and possessions, which unfortunately more often than not end up being entangled with greed and human desires.

Yes, it is the attachment and desire for money that ended up making it ‘filthy’, causing us to do things that are contrary to the way of the Lord, wicked and sinful. And what the Lord said by saying that ‘use filthy money to gain friends so that people may welcome you into the eternal homes’, it may seem confusing for us at first, why the Lord was advocating the use of so-called ‘filthy money’. But this is because we have to understand the context in which the Lord said this statement.

Right immediately after that, He said that, ‘if you had been dishonest in handling filthy money, who would entrust you with true wealth?’ And this is a reference to the worldly possessions, money and material goods that we possess, which is God’s blessings to us. If we have not been honest and good in how we handle all these things, then surely, no one will trust us with anything, including God, with the true wealth mentioned, which is eternal life and glory which He has promised to all those who are faithful to Him.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we have to realise that our true wealth and treasure is in Heaven, and not in this world. There is no use in accumulating and gaining more and more of these possessions, and worse still, as what some had done, in persecuting and manipulating others, or even extorting and exploiting those who are weaker, poorer and less fortunate for our own gains. These are what the Lord had referred to as being ‘dishonest in handling filthy money’. If we do all these, then God’s share of His promised inheritance will not be ours, and we will be judged by our selfish and sinful deeds.

On the contrary, as Christians, each and every one of us are called to be dutiful and responsible custodians of whatever blessings and resources we have received from God. Some of us have received more, while others received less. Therefore, what God wants us to do, as He has also taught us through His Church is to be charitable and loving, to be generous in sharing and giving our excess to help those who are in need.

Especially during these difficult and challenging times, when many are struggling and suffering with the effects of the still rampant pandemic, the associated economic downturn and other societal problems, all of us are called to step up to live up our faith more readily and with more dedication. What do I mean is that, we must not close our eyes, ears and hearts to those who cry for help, and do what we can, even in small, little ways, to help.

We do not have to do great things for this, brothers and sisters in Christ. Remember what the Lord said, that ‘Whatever you have done to the least of your brothers and sisters, you have done it unto Me?’. This reminds us that as Christians, we have to reach out to those who are in need and those who have none to care for them, for ultimately, they too are our fellow brothers and sisters. We must do what we can, in our respective capacities to reach out to them and help them, love them and show them true care and compassion.

Let us all discern therefore what we are to do with our lives going from now on forward. Are we going to continue being selfish and be tempted by the various worldly temptations? Or are we going to make a difference in the lives of others by showing God’s sincere love to all those who need more of this love and care? Let us be true disciples of Christ, faithful followers of our God in all things, in all of our actions and dealings with one another. May God bless us always, now and forevermore. Amen.