courage

by

Monday, 14 April 2014 : Monday of Holy Week (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 26 : 1, 2, 3, 13-14

The Lord is my light and my salvation – whom shall I fear? The Lord is the rampart of my life; I will not be afraid.

When the wicked rush at me to devour my flesh, it is my foes who stumble, my enemies fall.

Though an army encamp against me, my heart will not fail; though war break out against me, I will still be confident.

I hope, I am sure, that I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Trust in the Lord, be strong and courageous yes, put your hope in the Lord!

by

Friday, 4 April 2014 : 4th Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Isidore, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Brothers and sisters in Christ, the people of God did not accept the Lord Himself who came down from on high to be with us. They thought of themselves as being better and greater than God, doubting Him and did not believe in Him when He came and rejecting His teachings, preferring to trust in their own beliefs.

They closed their hearts and themselves from the Lord because they allowed their fear and human emotions and desires to manipulate them, change them, and sequester them from the love of God. As a result, they see the coming of the Christ, that is Jesus, as a rival, challenge, and danger that must be removed at any cost, rather than as an opportunity to herald the coming of God’s kingdom into the world.

And this concerns in fact not just the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law of Jesus’s time, but also all of us, brothers and sisters in Christ. We ourselves have often placed ourselves as obstacles in the way of the Lord and His salvation, not just for ourselves but also for those around us. We have often followed our own desires, our own ego and will rather than listening to God and obeying His will.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us use this opportunity to reflect on our own life and on our own course of action. Have we been like those who plotted against the Lord just because He came to them and spoke the truth? Or have we accepted Him and listened to Him because of that truth? The truth is often not beautiful or appealing to us, simply because and plainly because we are sinners, and we have committed things that are wicked in the eyes of God and men.

We usually do not like it when things do not go our way or follow what we desired. We complain, we grumble, and we throw tantrum when this happens because we think only about ourselves, and we are only concerned about ourselves. That is why, we in our pride and our arrogance think that we are the masters of the things that we do, and we will never give in, to achieve what we want.

Today we commemorate the feast of St. Isidore, a bishop of late Roman era Hispania, modern day Spain, in Seville. As the bishop and influential leader of the people, both secular and religious, he emphasized on the spiritual renewal of the people and the casting away of the ways of the old, that is the way of wickedness. He worked hard to preach the Gospel and the Good News of the Lord with truth.

St. Isidore helped to convert the people and the kings of his land, the Visigothic kings of Spain, to the true way of the Lord, leaving their heathen and mistaken path of the Arians, who rejected the Lord and His fullness for human ideas and human glories. St. Isidore guided them towards the way of the Lord and guided them to be true followers of God’s will.

The example of St. Isidore showed us how mankind are still often trapped in their own sense of self-righteousness and glory, that they refuse to listen to and look up towards the truth, especially the truth that is in the Lord. Mankind prefer to stay on their pride and refuse to budge even against the Lord and His urging. He sent us Jesus to remind us of the truth, and to take off the veil of pride that covers our eyes.

We have to learn to listen and trust in the Lord, for He knows better than us, and He knows the way to salvation, which we cannot reach on our own, less still by our own power alone. That is why we really should cast away our pride and sharpen the edge of our humility, that we may truly become loving children and followers of the Lord in our actions and our deeds.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we all have a choice to make. We can choose to follow the path of pride, that is to give in to our emotions and fears, to be like the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, or to cast away that pride and arrogance, and follow the Lord with all of our hearts, just as St. Isidore and many other great saints had done in the past.

The choice is ours, brethren, and let us therefore today pray, that the Lord may guide us all, and help us to walk together in His light, that we may dwell no longer in the darkness of our pride and stubbornness, but in the light of God’s presence. God be with us all. Amen.

 

by

Tuesday, 1 April 2014 : 4th Week of Lent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 45 : 2-3, 5-6, 8-9

God is our strength and protection, an ever-present help in affliction. We will not fear, therefore, though the earth be shaken and the mountains plunge into the seas.

There is a river whose streams bring joy to the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within, the city cannot quake, for God’s help is upon it at the break of day.

For with us is the Lord of hosts, the God of Jacob, our refuge. Come, see the works of the Lord – the marvellous things He has done in the world.

 

by

Wednesday, 26 March 2014 : 3rd Week of Lent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 147 : 12-13, 15-16, 19-20

Exalt the Lord, o Jerusalem; praise your God, o Zion! For He strengthens the bars of your gates and blesses your children within you.

He sends His command to the earth and swiftly runs His word. He spreads snow like wool; He scatters frost like ashes.

It is He who tells Jacob His words, His laws and decrees to Israel. This He has not done for other nations, so His laws remain unknown to them. Alleluia!

 

by

Sunday, 9 March 2014 : 1st Sunday of Lent (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Brothers and sisters in Christ, in today’s readings, we see how the ‘old’ Adam and the ‘new’ Adam are compared to each other. You may be asking, why is there two Adams? That is because, Jesus Christ, the Son of Man, is the new Adam who came to rectify the faults and mistakes committed by the first Adam, as what he had done in the Book of Genesis.

In the readings, we see the clear contrast between the two Adams. The first Adam, our first ancestor, fell to the temptation of Satan with Eve, and they disobeyed God’s will by eating the forbidden fruit of knowledge, thinking that they might become like God as the devil spoke to them about. Yet Christ, as the new Adam, did the exact opposite, refusing to listen to the sweet lies of the devil and firmly held onto the faith in God His Father.

Yes, how right it is when it is said that because of the first Adam, every single one of humanity, including all of us have been condemned to a life in difficulty on this earth, and a life that is subjected to the power of death because of the disobedience of our ancestors. Initially, because of the disobedience of the first Adam, we were also destined for doom and destruction, which were our due for our disobedience, but all that was changed with Christ, the new Adam.

In Christ, the new Adam, mankind was made anew. Christ our Lord became one of us, the sons and daughters of Adam, that through His perfect obedience to the will of God and the total rebuke and refusal to follow the ways of Satan, He had made all of us anew, and bring us into the light of God. As the new Adam, He broke free the fetters and chains holding us, that is the sin of the first Adam, our ancestor.

Adam and his wife, Eve, the first two mankind to be created by the Lord, showed us the things that we are vulnerable to, when the devil came and offers us things that are contrary to the goodness and to the will of God. And the temptation of Jesus in the desert by the devil further highlighted the many vulnerabilities that the devil may attack us, to tempt us away from the salvation in God.

Yes, brethren, even though Jesus through His death had liberated us from the chains of original sin, that is the sin of the first Adam, that tainted all mankind until the moment when Christ broke free that chain of sin as the new Adam, the progenitor of new life of man, the devil can still attack us and as he always does, he tries at every moment to bring us away from the salvation offered through the new Adam, our Lord Jesus Christ.

The temptations which Christ went through can show us the venues through which the devil may strike at us. The devil can strike at our desires, our greed and desire for things like food, as in the first temptation of Jesus. He can also strike at our ego and our desire and affinity for praise, and that was the second temptation of Jesus.

And lastly, the temptation of power and glory, which he may strike us with, is one of the most dangerous, which he made in the last of his three attempts to tempt Jesus. All of these he can utilise to break us and bend us to his ways. It is easy for us to fall if we do not prepare ourselves well. The devil has many tools in his disposal to trap us and make us fall.

Do not think that we can also use the Scriptures to ward off his attacks, if we are unprepared. The devil himself quoted from the Scripture passages when he tried to tempt Jesus! If he did so before, then certainly if we are unprepared, then we will be more vulnerable to the devil’s attacks. We have to prepare ourselves, by deepening our faith in God, and strengthening our devotion to Him.

Yes, brethren, we need to strengthen our faith, the shield of our souls, that we will not fall to the tricks of the devil. Our faith should be firm like the faith of Jesus. It is not easy, brothers and sisters, as the devil will be merciless and relentless in his attacks. We need to strengthen ourselves, and reject the alluring temptations of Satan, rejecting the false pleasures that he may offer us.

This is because the joy and pleasures he offers us are just temporary and illusionary in nature. They are pleasures that gives happiness briefly for a moment, and later on may bring about great sorrow and suffering. And ultimately, if we want to gain these false promises from Satan, we will have to serve and pay him our obedience.

Brethren, we cannot have two masters, either we serve the Lord or Satan, we have to make a decisive and concrete choice. And if we serve Satan we all should know that for a brief moment of joy and pleasure, we will suffer for eternity with the devil. Serving the Lord will not be easy, and there will be challenges awaiting us.

Therefore, let us from now on, seek the Lord with all of our strength. Do not be complacent in our faith but keep our faith living and strong, by devoting ourselves genuinely and sincerely to God, giving out our love to Him and to our fellow mankind. Be faithful brethren, and be strong always, against the evil one! Amen.

by

Tuesday, 4 March 2014 : 8th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Casimir (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saints)

Brethren in Christ, today we celebrate the feast of St. Casimir, the patron saint of arts and youth. St. Casimir was once the heir apparent to the kingdom of Poland, but he died before he succeeded to the throne as king. Nevertheless, he was revered as a saint and holy man of God because of his exceptional character and good deeds which were recognised by the people, who looked up to him and his character.

Today, the readings told us about the importance of our faith and our devotion to the Lord and His ways. And St. Casimir showed us how to be truly devoted to the Lord, not just in words but also in concrete and actual deeds. St. Casimir was known for his humility despite of his position and influence, as the crown prince of the kingdom.

St. Casimir grew in his devotion and faith to God as he grew in life. He was renowned at the end of his life, of his piety and exemplary devotion, which was evident in his works and charitable acts to the poor in the society. He took great responsibility and took it seriously, and worked hard for the good of those whom he had worked for.

He was powerful and great, and he has great influence, and yet he remained humble and unassuming. And that is the kind of faith and devotion that we should also have, brothers and sisters in Christ. We have to be obedient to the will of God, and listen to His words. And most importantly is that we have to act, and act in full devotion, offering ourselves in love to God, by our love for one another.

Reject all of the corruptions of this world, and reject all the temptations that assail us and attempted to change us for the worse. Let us all follow God and His laws, and not disobeying Him in any way. Be like St. Casimir in his devotion. Our faith must be true and genuine, and it must be an active faith, one that is based on strong foundation of love and action.

Be humble and be righteous, those are the things expected by the Lord from us. Let us not harden our hearts or close our minds against the Lord and His love. Instead, open wide the doors of our heart, that the Lord may be able to come in, enter and speak to us, so that we may know His will, and keep faithful to His commandments.

Let us all, brothers and sisters in Christ, renew our faith in God, that our faith will be made stronger, and that we may live always in God’s grace. Let us all never be separated from God or be outside of His salvation and love. Let us walk humbly with God and serve Him with all our strength, just as St. Casimir and many other saints had done throughout the generations.

May the Lord bless us, give us strength to be faithful to Him at all times, and may He be with us at all times, and let us never be separated from Him and His love. God be with us all, always and forever. Amen.

by

Thursday, 27 February 2014 : 7th Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Brethren in Christ, today we are confronted with the reality of this world, that is the corrupting nature of wealth, affluence, and possessions. This does not necessarily mean that being wealthy is wrong, or being rich means one is automatically condemned. That is the flawed argument of those who did not understand the meaning of the Lord’s words.

This corruption instead befalls those whose faith are not strong in the Lord. The riches and material possessions themselves are pure and not faulty in themselves. It is how we as those who own them and use them that turn them into evil purposes. Remember though that wealth too can be turned into good purposes, as much as it can be turned for evil.

Indeed, what is important is that we keep ourselves pure and strong in the faith. Do not let the devil to come in and corrupt our hearts and minds. If we do so, then even if we have things and riches of this world, our heart will be more resistant to such attempts by the evil one to corrupt us. Remain pure! And remain faithful! Those are the messages that Christ wanted us to know, the key message that He wanted to deliver to us in the Gospel today.

Again, we cannot take the words of Christ at mere face value, or literally. We have  to understand what He truly meant. Does He mean that we have to literally chop off our hands if they have caused us to sin? The hands themselves are not at fault, just like our worldly wealth and riches. Does cutting our hands stop us from sinning, especially in our hearts?

Yes, brethren, sin originates in our hearts, which is then committed by our limbs and bodies, but this does not in itself condemn these to destruction. Remember brethren, that our hands and legs too can do great deeds, helping others and fulfilling the will of God. If we have chopped them off just because of one sin or a few, how are we going to use them for good things?

The key here is to genuinely change our hearts. We have to resolve to change our hearts, to turn our attention towards the Lord. We have to be consistent in our devotion to the Lord, and that begins from the heart, just as sins also begin from the heart. That is why we ought to seek profound change in ourselves, committing ourselves to a total change, that we will from now on, change ourselves to be truly servants and disciples of the Lord.

Let us change the purpose of whatever possessions we have with us. Let us change how we use whatever blessings and graces that had been granted us, that we may use it for good purposes. Brothers and sisters in Christ, be good, do good, and profess what is good, so that the Lord who sees what is good in us will grant us His blessings.

May the Lord bless us with His love, and may we all also be able to return Him the same love and devotion. Let us all profess our faith and love for He who has always been faithful and loving to us from the very start. May the Lord continue to guide us in our lives and strengthen our devotion towards Him. God bless us all. Amen.

by

Saturday, 22 February 2014 : Feast of the Chair of St. Peter the Apostle (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate a very important feast in our Church and in our faith, that is the feast of the Chair of St. Peter the Apostle. Some of you may ask, why do we celebrate the feast for a chair? What is its importance? That is because the Chair mentioned here is the Cathedra of St. Peter, the Cathedra Sancta Petri, the seat of St. Peter which is today at Rome, at the heart of Christendom.

The Cathedra symbolises the seat of the bishop, and therefore represents the teaching authority of the bishop in teaching the faith. This also applies therefore to St. Peter, who was the very first Bishop of Rome, and the Vicar of Christ, leader of all the Universal Church, the one whom Jesus had entrusted to lead and guide His beloved people, the faithful ones in the Church.

Therefore today, we commemorate the faith of Peter, the teaching authority and the very authority that had been granted to Peter by the Lord Himself. Peter had been set aside by the Lord to be the universal shepherd, the one and only leader of all His faithful, because of his frank and sincere profession of faith, which he made and which we witnessed in today’s Gospel.

Peter showed his faith by proclaiming without fear that Jesus is truly the Lord, the One whom God had sent into this world to save it. Peter is the rock upon which God had established His Church, to be the strong foundation for that Church, and as a focal point for all of His faithful, a point of reference and unity. That is why, our Pope, as his successor, is the leader of the entire Universal Church.

Peter was not perfect, and he had his flaws just as all of us do. He had wavered in his faith many times, and as you all knew, that he even denied knowing his Lord, not once but three times. And yet he was still chosen, and the Lord forgave him after His resurrection, asking him three times to show his love for Him, and in doing that forgave him and gave him a new task in life.

And Peter, being appointed to such an elevated position, did not take pride in it, but instead remained humble and serve the Lord with zeal and humility. Peter gave himself completely to the service of God, until the end, when he gave up his life in martyrdom in Rome. He worked hard for the spread of the Good News and for the good of the people of God.

When he was persecuted and about to die, when the Roman Emperor Nero pressed hard on Christians, Peter accepted the death gracefully and with great humility. He remained faithful to the end, and showing his faith, love and devotion to the Lord, when he was about to be crucified, he asked not to be crucified in the same way as Jesus and thus was crucified upside down.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, in this humble little man, Simon Peter the fisherman of Galilee, God had found a great servant and a holy person. He was called by Jesus to follow Him, and without question, he went to follow Jesus. Despite all the tribulations, temptations and downfalls that he had experienced, Peter persevered, and became the beacon of light for all the faithful.

As is often mentioned in the Scriptures, it is not man who decide to be worthy of. God, but it is in fact God who made mankind worthy and chose them to be His instruments for the salvation of mankind. Such was why the Apostles, in particular Peter were chosen. In them, who were lowly and humble men, God found the love and dedication which others did not or did not yet have.

Today, we celebrate this feast of the Chair of St. Peter to commemorate that glorification of the humble man, taken from Galilee to be the chief servant of the Lord, and became the foundation upon which the Church we know of today was built on. This small man God had made to be His right hand man, and to be the chief of the shepherds of His people, to fish them from all over the world, and bring them to Him.

Such was indeed the very heavy responsibility that Christ had entrusted to Peter, to be the cornerstone and the foundation of the Church that He had established in is world. And that responsibility is passed on through his successors down to his current successor, currently our Pope Francis, the Vicar of Christ, and leader of the entire Universal Church.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us today therefore pray for the Pope and all those who support him in his works, that he may persevere in the mission which the Lord had given him, that is to continue the works of St. Peter the Apostle. Just as St. Peter had been told to be a fisher of man, our Pope as his successor too is a fisher of man, still continuing the same mission Christ entrusted to Peter as the mission of His Church.

Yes, and we also have part to play in that mission, brethren, to be the fishers of men as well. It is also our mission to be the ones to spread the Good News to all parts of the world, especially to those who have yet to see the light of God. Let us keep alive our faith in God, and let us obey the teachings of the Church, which Peter and his successors has kept throughout time.

Today we commemorate the authority of Peter as the leader of the faithful, and it also serves as a reminder to keep us faithful to the Lord as Peter had been. It is alright for us to falter at times, because just like Peter, we are all also human beings, we are imperfect and we sin, we make mistakes. What is crucial is, can we turn that imperfection to perfection in Christ? Can we devote ourselves fully to God and change our ways as Peter had done?

May our Lord Jesus Christ see our love and devotion, and bless us as He had blessed Peter His Apostle. May our faith too grow strong with a strong foundation, that we will never go astray from the path of the Lord, and remain faithful to Him all our lives, and may return to Him if we have fallen away from His path. God bless us all. Amen.

by

Tuesday, 11 February 2014 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes, World Day of the Sick (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Marian feast)

Psalm 83 : 3, 4, 5 and 10, 11

My soul yearns, pines, for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.

Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest where she may lay her young, at your altars, o Lord of hosts, my King and my God!

Happy are those who live in Your House, continually singing Your praise! Look upon our shield, o God; look upon the face of Your Anointed!

One day in Your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be left at the threshold in the House of my God than to dwell in the tents of the wicked.

 

Alternative Reading (Mass of Our Lady of Lourdes)

 

Judith 13 : 18bcde, 19

My daughter, may the Most High God bless you more than all women on earth. And blessed be the Lord God, the Creator of heaven and earth, who has led you to behead the leader of our enemies.

Never will people forget the confidence you have shown; they will always remember the power of God.

by

Wednesday, 29 January 2014 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard about the parable of the sower, where the sower spread the seeds which fell on different kind of medium and ground, and thereafter bear different kinds of results. In this well known parable, the Lord compared the different effects of the medium has on the seeds, with the reality of humanity and their faith to the Lord.

The seeds spread by the sower is the seed of faith, that has been given to us by the Lord. Each and every one of us were created by God, and His Spirit is within us, and in each of us we have been given faith. We have also been given the seeds of love inside each of us, and we have the capacity of love, as the children of God. But this faith is dormant, and the love in us is also dormant.

Yes, faith must not be kept dormant in us, or it is indeed dead. Our faith must be backed up by love, that is actions of love. And therefore, love itself cannot be dormant, but we have to share it with others via our actions, and therefore, make that love bloom through our action as well. However, we often have to deal with our environment, that is our surroundings and the world in which we live in.

This world is filled with many good things, particularly that of temptations and the allures of material goods. It is easy for us to be influenced by them, and losing our compass towards the Lord. Using the same analogy, these challenges can be likened to the weed growths that threatened the growing crops in the field. And they are also likened to thorns that choked the life out of the growing seed, as explained by Jesus.

The way of the world is indeed easier to be followed than the way of the Lord. But while the way of the world apparently is easier and filled with goodness, but it ends in darkness and suffering, whereas the way of the Lord may appear to be difficult and ridden with challenges, but in the end is happiness and joy of living in the glory of the Lord. Yet, many of us prefer the shortcut and did not want to experience suffering and hence opted to follow the path of the devil.

This is what we should not do, brethren. It does not mean that our lives should be entirely filled with difficulties and challenges, neither does that mean that we cannot enjoy this life at all. What is more important is that, whatever the things we experience in life, and all the choices that we have to make in life, make it with the full conscience that we ought to obey the Lord and follow His ways in all the things we do.

When it is time that we receive much blessing and joy, then be happy and rejoice, and most importantly, do not forget to give thanks to the Lord who had given us that blessing. Do not be too engulfed by the joy either, that we forget about others who are not as fortunate as us. Instead, whatever joy we have within us, share it with one another, especially those who have none of that joy.

And when it is time of difficulty and challenges, let us endure them with grace and patience, and asking God to be with us and to guide us through those difficult times, much as what our holy saints and martyrs had done in the past, when the world rose up against them, even crying out for their lives. Do not fear, for God is always with us. Nobody can destroy us forever, for we have been marked to belong to God.

And that is why it is important for us to also have a deep faith in God, that is faith with strong foundations. Again I would like to stress that faith cannot be just mere lip service or on documents. Our faith must genuinely come from the heart, and not just that, but overflowing with love that pours out from our heart. Without good roots, then our faith will wither just like the seeds that wither on the rocky soil.

Faith substantiated with much love is what we need, and that is the recipe for the fertile growth of the seed that God had planted in each one of us. This faith must be real and concrete, with genuine love and care that we have for each and every one of our brothers and sisters in faith. And in that way, our faith will indeed bear much fruits, together with our love in us, and we will become blessed and bountiful with God’s blessing.

Let us remember always brethren, that we all have our obligations as those who had committed ourselves to the Lord and His ways. Each of us can contribute in our own ways, and fulfill the will of God, through faith that is vibrant, dynamic, and strong, and founded on love, genuine and pure, that we may be productive and fruitful in the eyes of God, and He who sees all, will reward us. God bless us all, always and forever. Amen.