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Thursday, 14 February 2013 : Thursday after Ash Wednesday (Scripture Reflection)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, to follow Jesus, our Lord is not easy, for in following the Lord, we are going to have to suffer and go through trials and tribulations, just as Christ Himself faced His great trial, and ultimately was crucified on Calvary for our sake. Christ asks us today to carry our own crosses together with Him, and to face together the persecutions and the oppositions against the Lord and His divine mission, that is to save all mankind from the slavery of evil and sin.

Let us stay straight on this path, led by Christ, towards God. Let us orientate our heart properly and appropriately that we will always keep the Lord as the focus of our life. For our short and temporary life in this world is indeed short and fleeting. It is just a fleeting moment in the history of creation, but for us, what we do in our lives are indeed important, and if we do not do anything to make sure that we are on the right path towards the Lord, we will not be able to reach Him in the end.

Christ made our journey back to the Lord possible, for it is through His death and resurrection that a great bridge, Christ Himself, appeared between us and the Father who loves us. This is why Christ had to suffer, had to suffer from pain and rejection, and ultimately had to die on the cross, because without the sacrifice of Christ, who is our High Priest and intermediate between us and the Father, there can be no reunion between us and God, for we are separated from Him by a huge and unbridgeable chasm of sin and death. Only Christ, the Lamb of God, is worthy of being the only bridge that crossed that chasm, and through Him, we have a path back to our loving Father in heaven.

No greater love than the one who lay down his life for his friends, and this is exactly what Christ did for us, for we are not just like friends to Him, as we are His brothers, and His sisters. He loves us so much that He was willing to endure, and out of full obedience of His Father, willing to carry the cross, and the burden of all our sins, to Calvary to die and liberate us from the evil one and his hold on us. Nevertheless, for exactly the same reason, the devil hates Him so, and therefore, also hates all who believes in Christ who has liberated us from him through His Precious Blood.

Evil has many things up his sleeve in order to detract us from our direct path to the Lord. Temptations of this world are especially effective weapon the evil one uses against us. False gods are abundant in our world of today, from money, pleasures of the body, commercial temptations, and many others. As Moses said in the first reading, we do have a choice, whether we embrace these temptations and therefore serve the false gods instead of the one, true God, and turn our back on Him, or we can reject these temptations, and continue faithfully to seek the Lord our God.

This path will not be easy, since the world, filled with evil, hates the Lord, and therefore, will do all it can to make us suffer through our journey to the Lord. This suffering can be manifest in many form, and do not have to be physical suffering, but also mentally. This does not mean that we must hate or shun the world in return. Rather, let us embrace those sufferings and pains, and turn them into joy, knowing that the Lord is always with us through our long journey towards Him, and we know that if we stay faithful to Him and face our heart ever towards Him, He will reward us with His love and the place in His Kingdom, that we deserved.

But do not come to Him empty handed, since, there are many others out there who do not yet start their own paths towards the Lord, either lost, or even manipulated by the evil one to fight against God and us, His beloved children. Let us stretch out our hands and reach out to these lost brothers and sisters of ours. Remember, that Christ came to save all mankind, even those who rejected and cursed Him. He forgave them, and as long as they are willing to turn back towards Him, they too, will be given eternal life, together with us.

Let us humble ourselves and follow in the footsteps of the Lord, who has braved through death to save us from our own deaths. This Lent, let it be a fruitful and great season for our being, for our own faith, and for that of those around us. Let us make a solid choice towards the Lord, to attune ourselves fully with His great love, and sanctify ourselves, that when this season of Lent is complete, we are reborn anew, ever greater in faith, in hope, and in love, particularly in this holy Year of Faith. Amen.

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Thursday, 14 February 2013 : Thursday after Ash Wednesday (Gospel Reading)

Luke 9 : 22-25

And He added, “The Son of Man must suffer many things. He will be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and teachers of the Law, and be put to death. Then after three days, He will be raised to life.”

Jesus also said to all the people, “If you wish to be a follower of Mine, deny yourself and take up your cross each day, and follow me! For if you choose to save your life, you will lose it; but if you lose your life for my sake, you will save it. What does it profit you to gain the whole world, if you destroy or damage yourself?”

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Tuesday, 5 February 2013 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Agatha, Virgin and Martyr (First Reading)

Hebrews 12 : 1-4

What a cloud if innumerable witnesses surround us! So let us be rid of every encumbrance, and especially of sin, to persevere in running the race marked out before us.

Let us look to Jesus the founder of our faith, who will bring it to completion. For the sake of the joy reserved for Him, He endured the cross, scorning its shame, and then sat at the right hand of the throne of God.

Think of Jesus who suffered so many contradictions from evil people, and you will not be discouraged or grow weary. Have you already shed your blood in the struggle against sin?

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Saturday, 19 January 2013 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflection)

Today, the first reading shows us that Christ is our great High Priest, and the Gospel tells about the story of the calling of Levi, the tax collector.

Christ, is our great High Priest, and similar to the ancient Jewish custom, the priest is the one offering sacrifice to God. Most important is the sacrifice for sins, for which, the people who sin must present animals like bulls, sheep, and goat, which the priest will kill before the altar and let the blood be poured on it, that symbolised the reunion of the person with God, through the forgiveness of sin.

Why then Christ is the great High Priest? Since He is not just any High Priest, or any priest, since it is through Him that all mankind, Jews and Gentiles alike, were saved from the chains and tyranny of sin, the Original Sin, forever. It is through His Precious Blood, the very Blood of the Son of God, poured on the ‘altar’ of Calvary while hanging on the cross, that just like the blood of the animals, our sins are forgiven. But while blood of animals require constant sacrifices to God, the Blood of Christ require just one singular moment of the Ultimate Sacrifice, as the Lamb of God was slain, for the redemption of all mankind for all times.Then one might ask, why then do Catholics celebrate the Mass? The Mass is known as the Sacrifice, and thus people may ask, why do Catholics crucify the Lord again, and sacrifice Him again, when Christ died only once for our sake? Yes, the Mass is a Sacrifice, where the bread and wine truly turns into the Precious Body and Blood of our Saviour upon the Consecration by the priests, but this Sacrifice is not a separate Sacrifice from the very Ultimate Sacrifice that God has made on Calvary. 

Rather, this is one and united with the Ultimate Sacrifice, just as God has given His Body and Blood for His disciples on the Last Supper, through the priest’s authority and power, given by God, we too receive our share in this Body and Blood, which saves and renews us. We should aim to frequently attend the Mass, and frequently receive our Lord’s Body and Blood, that we are always constantly reminded of His presence in us, with our bodies as His Holy Temple. Let us therefore strive to keep ourselves holy and unblemished, as best as we can. We are sinners and our flesh in weak, even though our spirit is strong. As God is within us, just as He is omniscient, He will know everything that we did, good or bad. There is no need to hide before God, since everything is truly known to Him. Rather than be afraid and hide our sins before Him, let us rather allow Him to speak to us, He, as the Word of God, has power to heal us through His words, just as in yesterday’s Gospel He healed the paralytic through the faith of the people around him. We too therefore can be healed.

Healing is not only for the body, but also, very importantly, for the soul. Jesus did not come to save those already healthy in body and spirit, those who already merited Heaven, but He truly came to save all those who are in danger of separation from God. In the Gospel, we see that nobody is beyond redemption, just as Jesus called the tax collector, Levi. In the time of Jesus, the Jews saw the tax collectors in a very bad light, calling them traitors as they collected taxes for their Roman masters from the people, and sinners as they deal with money and material goods that was held to have tainted them.

Yet, if one is to compare the reactions from the tax collectors, particularly Levi, and the supposedly clean and incorruptible Pharisees and the priests, we can truly see who has the heart filled with humility to approach the Lord and ask for His forgiveness, and who truly has the Lord in their minds and their hearts.

The Pharisees were too busy with their laws and customs to have time for God, and indeed, they were in the forefront of those who rejected Christ, and called Him a blasphemer for claiming to be the Messiah and the Son of God. On the contrary, Levi, despite his good and stable job as a tax collector, while vilified by the people, readily leave everything that he had and followed Jesus when He called him. No sinner is beyond redemption, as long as the sinner is ready to leave all that he had, his sins and his sinful ways, and be humble to ask God for His mercy. For the Lord is merciful as much as He hated sin. It only takes humility for us to admit that we have sinned before Him, and He will gladly forgive us and take us back into His embrace. Do not let pride get the better of us.

In this Year of Faith therefore, let us strive to be closer to God, to listen to God through our prayers, and to help one another in our journey towards the Lord. Let us like Levi, be humble and be ready to respond to God’s call whenever He calls. Help one another, that all of us sinners, can all be forgiven by God, and not a single soul will be lost. Isn’t it better for all of us to be in Heaven one day, than to have one of us separated from us for eternity just because we did not stretch our hands to help? Through our baptism we have also been called to be priests, to help bring the Word of God to those who are still living in darkness. Let us therefore joyfully take up this mission and spread the love of God to all mankind, that all people will be saved. Amen.

(Addition : Please pray for the victims of the terrible flooding which is still ongoing in Jakarta, Indonesia. Countless thousands or tens of thousands or more are still suffering from the immense flooding that had caused many deaths and losses. Let us help our fellow brothers and sisters in whatever way we can, either financially, or even just a single prayer. For the Lord hears our prayer, especially those that are made with pure and sincere heart).