Church

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

1 Corinthians 12 : 31 – 1 Corinthians 13 : 13

Be that as it may, set your hearts on the most precious gifts, and I will show you a much better way.

If I could speak all the human and angelic tongues, but had no love, I would only be sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, knowing secret things with all kinds of knowledge, and had faith great enough to remove mountains, but had no love, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I had to the poor, and even give up my body to be burned, if I am without love, it would be of no value to me.

Love is patient, kind, without envy. It is not boastful or arrogant. It is not ill-mannered nor does it seek its own interest. Love overcomes anger and forgets offenses. It does not take delight in wrong, but rejoices in truth. Love excuses everything, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love will never end. Prophecies may cease, tongues be silent, and knowledge disappear. For knowledge grasps something of the truth and prophecy as well. And when what is perfect comes, everything imperfect will pass away. When I was a child, I thought and reasoned like a child, but when I grew up, I gave up childish ways. Likewise, at present we see dimly as in a mirror, but then it shall be face to face. Now we know in part, but then I will know as I am known. Now we have faith, hope, and love, these three, but the greatest of these is love.

 

(Alternative reading – shorter version, 1 Corinthians 13 : 4 – 13)

Love is patient, kind, without envy. It is not boastful or arrogant. It is not ill-mannered nor does it seek its own interest. Love overcomes anger and forgets offenses. It does not take delight in wrong, but rejoices in truth. Love excuses everything, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love will never end. Prophecies may cease, tongues be silent, and knowledge disappear. For knowledge grasps something of the truth and prophecy as well. And when what is perfect comes, everything imperfect will pass away. When I was a child, I thought and reasoned like a child, but when I grew up, I gave up childish ways. Likewise, at present we see dimly as in a mirror, but then it shall be face to face. Now we know in part, but then I will know as I am known. Now we have faith, hope, and love, these three, but the greatest of these is love.

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Thursday, 31 January 2013 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John Bosco, Priest (First Reading)

Hebrews 10 : 19-25

So, my friends, we are assured of entering the Sanctuary by the Blood of Jesus, who opened for us this new and living way passing through the curtain, that is, His Body. Because we have a High Priest in charge of the House of God, let us approach with a sincere heart, with full faith, interiorly cleansed from a bad conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

Let us hold fast to our hope without wavering, because He who promised is faithful. Let us consider how we may spur one another to love and good works. Do not abandon the assemblies as some of you do, but encourage one another, and all the more since the Day is drawing near.

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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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The Church and our Faith, with the Social Media, for New Evangelisation

http://www.ucanews.com/news/young-catholic-turns-the-internet-into-a-campaigning-tool/67249

(“We Catholics, no matter how rich or poor we are, are equal in God’s eyes,” he said. “God works through Facebook. He changes something virtual into something real. This is God’s call to me.”)

Yes, the social media can be a great tool for evangelisation, and also for the spreading of the good works of the Lord, which through our hands and our effort, we can make God’s power manifest in our world.

Let us strengthen our faith by sharing it with one another through the social media, and use it as a proper platform to gain attention to those who are especially in need of help.

Youths are the future of the Church, and we have to make sure that all Catholic and indeed all Christian youths, to be protected from the evil influences on the social media, simply by ensuring that they are also exposed to good influences of the Church through the same social media.

https://www.facebook.com/gerejakatolik

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Chaldean Patriarch election during Synod of Chaldean Bishops in Rome

http://www.news.va/en/news/vatican-the-synod-for-the-election-of-the-new-chal

As Cardinal Patriarch Emmanuel III Delly has retired on 19 December last year, the Pope has called and convened a Synod for Chaldean bishops in Rome, in order to elect their new Patriarch of the Chaldean Church, in full communion with the Pope as the Bishop of Rome. The Patriarch is of the See of Babylon, an ancient diocese dating from before the original split between the Chaldean Church from Rome.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaldean_Catholic_Church

The Chaldean Church was part of Nestorianism, who rejected the Council of Ephesus in 431, as they believed in the distinctive human and divine nature of Christ, while we believe that Christ is truly fully human and also fully divine at the same time, and both are inseparable. The Chaldeans first returned to full communion with Rome in the mid 1500s, and after a period of lull in the communion, the full communion was restored in the 1800s, and continued well until today.

Let us pray for the bishops of the Chaldeans, that they will elect a worthy Patriarch for the Chaldean Catholic community, as shepherd to guide the faithful mostly in the region of Iraq and Mesopotamia, especially through the turbulent times experienced by all Christians in that area with intense persecution and harassment of all the faithful in Christ. May God bless them, and may He bless our Universal, Catholic Church.

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Recommended site for Papal celebration videos (Pope Benedict XVI) at http://benedictxvi.tv/

http://benedictxvi.tv/

I would like to introduce this site above, which is a very good site with many full-length videos of the Papal celebrations such as Masses, Vespers, and Papal Apostolic Journeys overseas and within Italy. Very recommended for all Catholics, especially those interested in the liturgy. 

Sadly, it seems that recently, the website is updated very rarely, but there are still tons of videos dating from a few years ago available for download and viewing.

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Sunday, 27 January 2013 : 3rd Sunday of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflection)

Today, we place our main focus on the oneness and the unity of the whole community of the faithful in Christ, that is as one community through the Church, the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church to be specific, as the incarnation of the mystical Body of Christ that represents the Church and most importantly all of us, brothers and sisters in Christ. For all of us belong to God upon our baptism, and just as Paul said to the people of Corinthians, we all become part of the body, the Body of Christ, like the organs that allow the body to function when working together.

This body cannot function without its organs, and therefore, what makes the Church what it is, is all of us, brothers and sisters in Christ. Without us, there is no Church. The Church is one, that is indivisible, just as the Body of Christ is indivisible, for Christ is only One, and therefore we too should be one in Christ, as we are one in the Church. However, sadly, through the centuries, due to numerous misunderstandings and human selfishness, many had gone astray from the true faith, and in the process, brought with them many of our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, establishing their own ‘churches’, which we now know as numbering in thousands, tens of thousands, or even more. There is no real unity in the one Church of Christ just yet, as these branches and splinters remain separated from the root and the trunk that is the Church.

Many political and theological disputes had led to divisions in the united community of the believers in Christ, and the evil one is hard at work, to make sure we remain divided. For if we are one, and united in Christ, evil will be vanquished by the power of Christ’s Church, the Body of Christ. It is sad therefore to look at the divisions, and how Christians even attack other Christians and openly mock the practices and the tenets of the faith in God, particularly that of the one Church that Christ established, our very own Catholic Church, from where all the separated brethren in myriads of ‘churches’ sprang decades, centuries, and millenia ago.

The first major split came when gnostics and syncretists of the early Church created their own version of the faith, that is so different from the truth, that they can no longer be called Christians. Then came the Arians, who denied the equality between Jesus the Son and God the Father, claiming that Jesus was created by God, instead of what we believe, that Jesus was with the Father, one with Him, before all ages. Then came the Nestorians, who argued that Jesus as human being and Christ, the divine were separate entities, which actually ran so far from the faith, that it was in danger of claiming that Jesus was merely human, adopted by God as a divine Son. But we believe that Christ is truly human, and truly divine. He is fully human just as He is fully God, even though he appeared to us as we are, human as we are, and experience humanity as we are.

Then came Monophysitism, which was the total opposite to Nestorianism, claimed that Jesus is not human, and exist only in His divine nature. But again, Christ is as human as we are, born through Mary, His mother, who although bore the divine Son of God, at the same time, that Son of God is also the Son of Man, being fully human like us save in the matter of sin, as Christ was without sin. Then came many other divergent and heretical teachings across Christendom, but nothing caused greater damage to the unity of the Church other than the Great Schism of 1054, and the Protestant Reformation.

The Great Schism was seen as theological in nature, as the Eastern Church or the Orthodox Church had differences in their practices of the faith with our Church, and they also did not mention the ‘Filioque’, namely the phrase in the Creed present in our Creed, but not in theirs : “who proceeds (Holy Spirit) from the Father and the Son, and with the Father and the Son…”

The Filioque clause became the centre of the division between us and our separated Orthodox brethren in Christ, as they see that the Holy Spirit proceeds to us, only from the Father, whereas we, our Church, believes that the Holy Spirit does proceed down to us from both the Father, and the Son, Jesus Christ as well. This can be supported by the words of Christ Himself when He appeared to His Apostles after His resurrection from the dead : “Peace be with you, (and breathing upon them He said) receive the Holy Spirit, those whose sins you forgive…” This clearly show that the Holy Spirit does proceed from the Father, but also through the Son, to the Apostles.

The other matter of division was  geopolitical in nature, especially because the Church at the time was divided along linguistic lines, between the Latins in the West, which eventually become our Church of today, and the Greeks in the East, under the protection of the Roman Emperors in Constantinople, present day Istanbul (Turkey), who became the present day Eastern Orthodox Church. The conflict in authority between the Bishop of Rome, and the Imperially sanctioned Bishop of Constantinople, head of the Eastern Orthodox faithful became the root and eventual cause of the division, which happened in 1054, and which we really look forward to reverse, to reunite the two Churches once again into one, just as Christ wanted in His prayer to God, “May they all be One, just as You and Me are One.”

The last and the greatest division in the Church of Christ came because of the Protestant Reformation, initiated by Martin Luther, but later on spiralled rapidly out of control, that countless ‘churches’ began to be born in all countries and languages, following their own leaders and interpreting the Scripture as they saw fit. Although it was often believed that we Catholics included the Deuterocanonical books, such as the Book of the Maccabees and the story of Tobit into the Bible, in fact it was Luther and others following him who removed these books from the Bible, which had been assembled in the early days of the Church by the Apostles and the Church Fathers.

Protestant Reformation happened in response to the weakening of the spirituality of our own Church at that time. As divine as the Church is, as established by Christ, it is also human, and bound to be tempted by the evil one. The dark times of the Church did happen at those times, with money and politics winning mankind over God. The corruption was what caused Luther to embark on his mission of ‘reforming’ the Church. Unfortunately, he and many others like him went too far, and caused a great breaking of the Body of Christ, the Church, which has already suffered from earlier divisions that I had mentioned. After the Reformation, out of the ashes, the Church reformed itself, and reorientate itself back towards God, and until today, through the guidance of the Pope, as the Bishop of Rome, we can truly look back at the transformation of the Church, beginning at the Council of Trent, and renewed by the Second Vatican Council, and even today, changes and ‘reform of the reform’ are still ongoing and necessary to make the Church of Christ, a truly holy Church.

Jesus, as the Messiah, had been anointed by God with the Holy Spirit, to bring the Good News of the Lord to all, especially the least among the people, to give new hope to mankind. He is the Greatest Teacher of the Law of God, who perfected the Laws of the Old Covenant, and brought them into the new Law of the New Covenant, which God sealed with His Sacrifice on the cross that brought about our redemption. From Him authority has been given, and passed down through the Apostles down the generations, to our present day priests and bishops, who are teachers of God’s new laws and commandments in Christ.

This is why we have the ordained clergy as a separate organ of the one Body of Christ, to complement all of us the laity, which represents the largest portion of that Body. These are men who have willingly gave themselves for Christ, for the sake of the Lord and for His people, all of us. They left behind all they had in their lives, and followed Jesus to be like His disciples. Through them, just like Ezra and the Levites in the first reading, we can understand the Law better, since priests and all the clergy has committed themselves to God and seek deeper into the mysteries of God, and through them, our understanding of the Faith and the Word of God in the Scripture can be made clearer.

For it is dangerous for us to assume that we ourselves have all that we need to be faithful in God, and to be a Christian, as our faith is communal as much as it is personal. It is by praying together and helping each other to grow in faith that our faith can grow stronger. Everybody has their own role in the Church, within the community of the faithful, just as St. Paul explained to the Corinthians, the nature of the Church and the necessities of hierarchy to ensure all parts of the Body are functioning properly.

We, the laity has a great role in our participation in the Church, through our daily lives, and through the actions, even as small as they are, that we regularly take everyday, in bringing God both into our own lives, and into those around us. Do not forget that priests were once laymen as well, and without good and faithful laymen, there will be no vocations to priesthood. It is in us, the laypeople, that the seed of faith germinates and grow.

Priests are teachers and father figures to us. They teach us about the faith, about the Scripture, and about God. It is through them that Christ manifested Himself and His Sacrifice on the cross through the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, where bread and wine is truly transformed into the Precious Body and Blood of our Lord, through the same authority that has been passed down from the Apostles to them, and ultimately originating in Christ Himself. Deacons are helpers that aid priests in their ministries, to proclaim the Word of God during the Mass, and to assist the priest in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and most importantly to make themselves available to all the faithful in Christ, especially those having the greatest of needs.

Bishops oversee groups of priests and act as a figure of authority just like Christ, and their role is as chief shepherds, just as priests are our shepherds, to help us and nurture us in our faith, and to guide the people together as an organ of the Body of Christ, which in turn is part of the larger Body itself, the Universal Church. They also teach like the priests and also conduct laying of hands on priests and other bishops upon their ordinations, passing down the Holy Spirit that has been given to the Apostles to the new priests and bishops, that the chain of Apostolic Succession will never break as long as the Church stands.

Therefore, it is very evident that all these peoples, these parts of the One Body are essential in ensuring that the Church as a whole, the whole community of believers can function properly. We cannot afford to lose any of these parts, or otherwise the Body will crumble, just as how we have noted the divisions that the Church had endured for the past two millenia of its history since its founding by Christ.

Let us pray therefore, that the Lord will send His spirit of courage and careful discernment to our young men today, especially those with sincere love and faith in God, that they will be eager to be called into the service of the Lord, as His holy priests, as the harvest, although plentiful, but has no one to collect them. We need more priests as labourers of Christ in ensuring that as many as possible are brought into the Kingdom of God through their ceaseless and tireless labour in the name of Christ. Let us also pray for our deacons who also labour with our priests in their ministry to serve the people of God, just as the original seven deacons were appointed to help with the faithful in the early Church.

Let us also pray for our bishops, that they will continue to be strong to lead us through these turbulent times, and that they will remain true to their faith and mission, as shepherds guiding us in faith in God. Most importantly, let us pray for our Pope, Pope Benedict XVI, our leader the Vicar of Christ, that God will always be with him at all times, and give him strength to complete his ministry as our Pope, and the leader of the Church.

Let us then strive to expand our roles in the Church, Starting from simple things that we can do everyday in our own daily lives, and let us work together as one, to make the whole Body, the Universal Church, a functional and vibrant community, connecting all those who believe in Christ. Let us strive to make the prayers and wishes of Jesus into reality, particularly regarding the oneness and unity of the Church, that very soon indeed, all Christians will be reunited again with the Holy Mother Church, the One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic Church represented by our Roman Catholic Church, under the leadership of the Pope, the successor of St. Peter the Apostle, on whom Christ established His Church and on whom He entrusted all of His sheep, namely all of us the faithful in Christ. God bless our Pope, God bless our Catholic Church, and God bless us all, who remain faithful in Him, Amen.

“Tu es Petrus, et super hanc petram aedificabo Ecclesiam Meam, et portae inferi non praevalebunt adversus eam, et tibi dabo claves Regni Caelorum”

(You are Peter, and on this ‘Rock’ I will build My Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it, and I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven)

+Ut Omnes Unum Sint+

(That they all may be One)

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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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Pope Benedict XVI’s another latest Motu Proprio – Ministrorum Institutio

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/motu_proprio/documents/hf_ben-xvi_motu-proprio_20130116_ministrorum-institutio_it.html

The link above provide the full document of one of Pope Benedict XVI’s two latest Motu Proprio, titled Ministrorum Institutio, released on 16 January 2013. Chrome translator works fine in translating the document to English.

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Friday, 25 January 2013 : 2nd Week of Ordinary Time, Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul the Apostle (Scripture Reflection)

Today’s first reading is simply about the events surrounding the conversion of St. Paul, how he was completely transformed, from the Christian hunting Saul into eventually the Apostle to the Gentiles, Paul. He even was martyred in Rome together with St. Peter the Apostle during the time of the Emperor Nero. This was the ultimate fulfillment of the Lord’s message to Paul, that he would suffer a lot for the Lord’s sake.

The Gospel today is about the Lord’s mission to His disciples, who was tasked with spreading the Word of God and the Good News to all mankind, to all parts of the world. No longer is salvation and hope limited just to the Jewish people, since through the new covenant of Christ, the old covenant of God with Abraham and the people of Israel is made more perfect, now that all the descendants of Adam can take part in the new covenant made by Christ, sealed by His Precious Blood poured from the cross at Calvary.

St. Paul is the main tool through which the Lord brought forth His Word to the people of the world, that he was given the title Apostle to the Gentiles, as evident from his numerous letters, which now become what we know as the Letters of St. Paul to the Corinthians, Romans, Ephesians, and many others, always exhorting the faithful in the different parts of the world, to remain faithful and true to the commandments of God and the new covenant of Christ.

Saul was once a cold-blooded Christian killer and prosecutor, if one would say so. He participated in the death of St. Stephen, the proto or first Martyr, and also captured and tortured many early Christians. But yet, God chose him out of all people, amongst so many, to be His Apostle to the non-Jewish people in particular. One can easily notice the wonder that the Lord has made, turning someone who was once His greatest prosecutor and enemy, into the very person that defended Him with his life and zeal.

St. Paul himself became the testament and the fulfillment of the Lord’s promise to His disciples in the Gospel today, together with the other Apostles. The Apostles cast out demons, as St. Paul did, and speak different tongues, inspired by the Holy Spirit that came at Pentecost, and thousands were baptised in the name of the Lord, and the Church was born. St. Paul picked up snake during his sojourn in Malta before reaching Rome near the end of his life, and was bitten, but was not harmed by the snake’s poisons. There are many instances of the healing of the sick and the infirm throughout the Acts of the Apostles, where the Apostles, especially Paul, whose ministry is the backbone of the later Acts of the Apostles, went around the cities of the Eastern Mediterranean in particular, to bring both the Good News, and also to bring healing to those who are sick, both physically and spiritually.

Many of us today, are like Saul, and although we love God as Saul was, obedient to the Law and the old covenant of God, we are afraid to take the extra step, to dedicate ourselves further and truly to God, to be like Paul was, the bringer of God’s word and covenant to the people of the world. We too, still in our daily lives, through the little things that we do in our lives, inflict pain and suffering to our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. We are therefore no better than Saul was, but just as Saul was chosen and transformed, we too can be transformed into the new ‘Paul’, to fully commit ourselves to the cause of Christ. This is also to show that, no sinner is unworthy before God, as even the greatest sinner, when they turn their hearts to the Lord, can become great saints, just as St. Augustine was. Once a great sinner in his youth, through his mother, St. Monica, he was redeemed and became a great saint, saving thousands and millions, and many more souls through his ministry, and through his great writings, which we still read until today.

Let us therefore follow in the footsteps of St. Paul and the Apostles, to bring forth the Word of the Lord, and His New Covenant with all mankind, to all the mankind. That all mankind can be saved through the faith in Christ, which is made possible by our tireless and whole dedication of ourselves to Christ, becoming the apostles of this era, in the footsteps of the Apostles. Do not fear, for the Lord will provide, and He will guard you against the evils in this world, who are against God and His people. Speak for the Lord, and spread His love to all man.

St. Paul the Apostle, pray for us. Help us to become more like you in your zealous and humble service in God’s Name. That we can follow in your footsteps to bring God to all the people of this world, to all the Gentiles and the Jews alike. Amen.