defender of the faith

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Tuesday, 2 May 2017 : 3rd Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Athanasius, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 30 : 3cd-4, 6ab and 7b and 8a, 17 and 21ab

Be a Rock of refuge for me, a Fortress for my safety. For You are my Rock and my Stronghold, lead me for Your Name’s sake.

Into Your hands I commend my spirit; but I put all my trust in the Lord. I will rejoice and be glad in Your love, for You have seen my affliction.

Make Your face shine upon Your servant; save me in Your love. In the shelter of Your presence You hide them from human wiles; You keep them in Your dwelling.

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Tuesday, 2 May 2017 : 3rd Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Athanasius, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White
Acts 7 : 51 – Acts 8 : 1a

Stephen said to the Council, “But you are a stubborn people, you hardened your hearts and closed your ears. You have always resisted the Holy Spirit just as your fathers did. Was there a prophet whom your ancestors did not persecute? They killed those who announced the coming of the Just One Whom you have now betrayed and murdered, you who received the Law through the Angels but did not fulfil it.”

When the Council heard the reproach Stephen made against them, they were enraged and they gnashed their teeth against him. But he, full of the Holy Spirit, fixed his eyes on heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus at God’s right hand, so he declared : “I see the heavens open and the Son of Man at the right hand of God.”

But they shouted and covered their ears with their hands and rushed together upon him. They brought him out of the city and stoned him, and the witnesses laid down their cloaks at the feet of a young man named Saul. As they were stoning him, Stephen prayed saying : “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”

Then he knelt down and said in a loud voice : “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he died. Saul was there, approving his murder. This was the beginning of a great persecution against the Church in Jerusalem.

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(Holy Week) Tuesday, 11 April 2017 : Tuesday of Holy Week, Memorial of St. Stanislas, Bishop and Martyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard about how Jesus said that one of His own disciples would betray Him and surrendered Him to the hands of the chief priests and the elders. He was speaking of the time of His own suffering and death, which at that time was indeed about to occur. We heard of the betrayal of Judas who left to inform the chief priests and the elders on how and when to arrest Jesus in exchange for monetary compensation of thirty silver pieces.

Then we also heard how Jesus predicted that Peter would deny Him three times before others, even as he said that he would give his life for the sake of the Lord. This is what we are certainly quite well aware of, how during the time when Jesus had been arrested, out of fear and doubt, Peter denied three times knowing Jesus and had wanted nothing to do with Him when the bystanders at the trial of Jesus asked him.

In what we have heard thus far, what the Lord wants us to know is that all of us mankind have sinned, committed acts out of disobedience to Him, and we are easily tempted by various things, from money, to pleasures of the body, to desire, to lust and greed for power, human ambition, to fame and renown, and all other things that have caused us to doubt, to falter and to fall into sin, as the disciples had done when the Lord was arrested. They all abandoned Him and hid themselves out of fear.

Yet, we must be wondering why then did God call such weak and easily tempted men to be His disciples? Then, we should also think then that the Lord called people who were sinners like the tax collectors, prostitutes and all others whom the general public considered to be the dregs and the lowest of them all, outcasts and unworthy people, who should have been condemned because of all the wickedness that they had done.

But God called them and made them turn away from their past sinfulness and He made them to abandon their old ways of wickedness. He had transformed all of them from the beings of darkness and sin, into the children of the light, and therefore, we have to realise that even all saints were once themselves sinners too, just like each and every one of us.

What is it that differentiate between saints and all those who have fallen into damnation? Since all of them were once the same in what they had done, in whatever sins they have committed, we may not realise the answer for this question. But truly, it is because while saints turned away from their sins and made the commitment to sin no more, those who have been condemned ended up with such a fate because they continued to live in the state of sin.

As we progress through the Holy Week, and approach the time when we will commemorate again the suffering, death and resurrection of our Lord, let us all ponder upon these matters and reflect on our actions in life thus far. How have we made use of this life and opportunity given to us by our Lord? Have we used it in accordance with what He wanted us and willed for us? Or have we instead ignored His will and decided to follow our own path, by turning into sin and debauchery?

We should look upon the examples set by St. Stanislas or St. Stanislaus the Bishop and Martyr, who was a renowned saint and martyr from Poland, who lived almost a millennia ago, as the Bishop of Krakow in Poland. St. Stanislas was a just and upright man, who committed himself wholeheartedly to the mission to which he had been called to. He spent much of his time to help guide the people of God through difficulties, challenges and temptations in life to seek God and His ways.

And he was very courageous in standing up to his faith and to the truth that could be found in the Lord alone, as he even stood up against the king of Poland, king Boleslav who was told to be immoral in his life and in his activities. He was chastised by the courageous saint, who ended up excommunicating the king when he refused to change his ways and continued to commit scandalous acts before God and men alike.

The king took matter to his own hands and personally killed the Bishop as he was celebrating the Holy Mass outside the city. The uproar over the killing of such a holy and pious man forced the king off from his throne, and it was told that he had to go into exile, and some accounts placed him as a penitent who went about trying to be forgiven from his grievous sin of murdering a holy man of God. Nevertheless, the faith of St. Stanislas were widely noted and many venerated him after his death.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, all of us should also walk in the footsteps of St. Stanislas. We should emulate his commitment to live a pious and worthy life, rejecting all forms of sins and wickedness. We should turn our way back from our sins, and reject all those things that had led us to sin. Let us all devote ourselves and our time from now on to serve the Lord with all of our hearts, with all of our strength, so that we may join the company of the saints, all the sinners whom God had forgiven and welcomed back into His embrace, and now enjoy the eternal glory of heaven. May the Lord bless us all. Amen.

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(Holy Week) Tuesday, 11 April 2017 : Tuesday of Holy Week, Memorial of St. Stanislas, Bishop and Martyr (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
John 13 : 21-33, 36-38

At that time, after He said a discourse to His disciples after He washed their feet, Jesus was distressed in Spirit, and said plainly, “Truly, one of you will betray Me.” The disciples then looked at one another, wondering whom He meant. One of the disciples, the one Jesus loved, was reclining near Jesus; so Simon Peter signalled him to ask Jesus whom He meant.

And the disciple, who was reclining near Jesus, asked Him, “Lord, who is it?” Jesus answered, “I shall dip a piece of bread in the dish, and he to whom I give it, is the one.” So Jesus dipped the bread and gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. And as Judas took the piece of bread, Satan entered into him. Jesus then said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.”

None of the others, reclining at the table, understood why Jesus said this to Judas. As Judas had the common purse, they may have thought that Jesus was telling him, “Buy what we need for the feast,” or “Give something to the poor.” Judas left as soon as he had eaten the bread. It was night.

When Judas had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him. God will glorify Him, and He will glorify Him very soon. My children, I am with you for only a little while; you will look for Me, but as I already told the Jews, so now I tell you : where I am going you cannot come.”

Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, where are You going?” Jesus answered, “Where I am going you cannot follow Me now, but afterwards you will.” Peter said, “Lord, why can I not follow You now? I am ready to give my life for You.”

“To give your life for Me?” Jesus asked Peter, “Truly I tell you, the cock will not crow, before you have denied Me three times.”

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(Holy Week) Tuesday, 11 April 2017 : Tuesday of Holy Week, Memorial of St. Stanislas, Bishop and Martyr (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Psalm 70 : 1-2, 3-4a, 5-6ab, 15 and 17

In You, o Lord, I seek refuge; let me not be disgraced. In Your justice help me and deliver me, turn Your ear to me and save me!

Be my Rock of refuge, a Stronghold to give me safety, for You are my Rock and my Fortress. Rescue me, o my God, from the hand of the wicked.

For You, o Lord, have been my Hope, my Trust, o God, from my youth. I have relied on You from birth : from my mother’s womb You brought me forth.

My lips will proclaim Your intervention and tell of Your salvation all day, little though it is what I can understand. You have taught me from my youth and until now I proclaim Your marvels.

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(Holy Week) Tuesday, 11 April 2017 : Tuesday of Holy Week, Memorial of St. Stanislas, Bishop and Martyr (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Isaiah 49 : 1-6

Listen to me, o islands, pay attention, peoples from distant lands. YHVH called me from my mother’s womb; He pronounced my name before I was born. He made my mouth like a sharpened sword. He hid me in the shadow of His hand. He made me into a polished arrow set apart in His quiver.

He said to me, “You are Israel, my servant, through you I will be known.” “I have laboured in vain,” I thought, “and spent my strength for nothing.” Yet what is due me was in the hand of YHVH, and my reward was with my God. I am important in the sight of YHVH, and my God is my Strength.

And now YHVH has spoken, He Who formed me in the womb to be His servant, to bring Jacob back to Him, to gather Israel to Him. He said : “It is not enough that you be My servant, to restore the tribes of Jacob, to bring back the remnant of Israel. I will make you the light of the nations, that My salvation will reach to the ends of the earth.”

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Wednesday, 21 December 2016 : 4th Week of Advent, Memorial of St. Peter Canisius, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, as we approach closer to the great celebrations of Christmas, when we rejoice together as all the people of God in memory of the birth of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, the Son of God born of the Blessed Virgin Mary. On that day two millennia ago, the Lord had sent into this world His salvation through Jesus, through Whom He revealed to the whole world and to all creation, what needs to be done for us to be redeemed and freed from our fated destruction.

The Lord is our Hope, and in Him alone lies our salvation and grace. But this is a fact that many of us tend to forget, and many of us are often too busy and preoccupied in our lives to notice and to understand the love of our God. We seek instead for the comforts of this world, trying to satisfy our desires and our wants, for either money, possessions, wealth and other things, for things that supposedly bring us joy and happiness.

However, none of these will last us and none of them are permanent. All these are distractions that prevent us from discovering the true joy and love of our lives. Our reaction upon seeing the Lord and upon receiving His love and grace should be that of joy, and indeed of extreme joy and happiness, knowing that because He has come into this world, He has made all things new and filled with hope once again. We should be happy, as the children are happy when their parents come back from work and see them again.

Yet, many of us are like prodigal children, who ignored our Father’s love and pretended as if He is not there. He has blessed us with many things, and yet we are often ensnared in these same things, and rather than giving thanks and rejoicing in the One Who had made all of these possible, we instead end up being entangled in the falsehoods and in the lies of the evil one, he who desired our destruction and damnation.

And it is the same with us who have come to celebrate Christmas without properly understanding what it is that we are celebrating about. Many of us have lost the focus of our celebration and rejoicing, to the point that instead of putting our focus in the Lord, we ended up getting distracted with all the worldly revelry and rejoicing, as what we often see every time we come to the season of Christmas.

That is the sad reality of our world today, in how many of us celebrate Christmas. Many of us, even Christians alike forgot that Christmas is truly about Christ, from Whom the name Christmas came about. Without Christ there can be no Christmas, and if we take out Christ from the equation of our celebrations and joy, then there is no meaning to Christmas. For Christmas cannot exist without Christ, Whose birth is celebrated on that day, and for Whom we should be truly grateful.

As we move on through Advent towards Christmas, it is imperative that we should understand what is our focus this Christmas. In all of our plans, do we have the Lord in mind as we rejoice and are happy with each other? Have we prepared everything with the birthday and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in mind? Have we told our children and our young ones about the Christ and what He had done, His significance to all of us that in this Christmas we merit the opportunity to rejoice?

It is important that during this time of Advent, a season and time of preparation, that we should prepare ourselves well to welcome the Lord Who comes into the world, as we should prepare ourselves such that we are well prepared for the Lord in our hearts and minds, as well as in our souls and in our bodies. This is important so that we will realise that when we celebrate Christmas, we are not just remembering He Who has come before, but also He Who has promised us all that He will come again.

And in that, we should also seek help and guidance from His saints, who are our examples in their faith and obedience to God. Today, we celebrate the feast day of a great saint and a holy man, whose faith and actions can help and guide us on the path towards the Lord. St. Peter Canisius is a Jesuit priest, who was among the first members of the Jesuit order or the Society of Jesus founded by St. Ignatius of Loyola.

At that time, the Church was rife with troubles and with corruption due to the worldliness of many of its members, both the laity and the members of the priestly and episcopal orders alike. Many people openly vie for positions in the world and in the Church, not shying away from misusing their positions and power in order to do so. As a result, the Church became divided and there were many who chose to follow false and heretical teachings and became sundered from the salvation of God in the Church.

St. Peter Canisius helped to refocus the people’s attention towards the Lord, through his hard work, his preachings through which he taught the people, many of them, about the truth found in the fullness of faith through the Church alone. He endured many rejections, ridicule and challenges and many thousands flocked back to the Lord as a result of the hard works of St. Peter Canisius and his fellow compatriots in faith.

Through the drive of the Counter-Reformation as it is now known, the Church through the Society of Jesus led by St. Ignatius of Loyola and aided greatly by St. Peter Canisius and the other prominent members of the Church such as St. John of the Cross and St. Teresa of Avila helped to reform the Church and root out the corruptions and wickedness that had plagued the Church at that time, returning it to its pure intention for the salvation of the souls of mankind.

St. Peter Canisius is renowned not just for his actions, but also through his works in the Three Catechisms he wrote, a series of teachings of the faith which he made clear and available to the people so that, they would no longer fall into heresy and into the false teachings and ways. Through these Catechisms, many people after the time of St. Peter Canisius had benefitted greatly, and many returned to the faith and were saved from damnation because of his works.

And St. Peter Canisius was also renowned for his deep and strong devotion to Mary, the mother of our Lord and God, Jesus Christ. His many works include a series of Mariology works through which he explained in great detail the role of Mary as the bearer of the Saviour of the world, and how in her own life examples she has become a great example to all of us to follow, in how we ought to live our lives in accordance with the will of God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, following the examples of St. Peter Canisius and the other brave and courageous saints of the Lord, let us all reorientate our lives and rededicate our lives to the Lord our God, and shed away all the sins and wickedness of our lives, surrendering ourselves to God and obeying Him in the same way that Mary our role model had done.

May the Lord help us all to remain ever faithful to Him, and not to give up amidst the many temptations present in this world. May He bless us all and keep us all in His grace, now and forevermore. May all of us use the remaining time in this Advent season to prepare ourselves well to celebrate Christmas meaningfully and with full faith in the Lord. God bless us all. Amen.

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Wednesday, 21 December 2016 : 4th Week of Advent, Memorial of St. Peter Canisius, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Luke 1 : 39-45

Mary then set out for a town in the hill country of Judah. She entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leapt in her womb.

Elizabeth was filled with Holy Spirit, and giving a loud cry, said, “You are most blessed among women, and blessed is the Fruit of your womb! How is it that the mother of my Lord comes to me? The moment your greeting sounded in my ears, the baby within me suddenly leapt for joy. Blessed are you who believed that the Lord’s word would come true!”

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Wednesday, 21 December 2016 : 4th Week of Advent, Memorial of St. Peter Canisius, Priest and Doctor of the Church (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Song of Songs 2 : 8-14

The voice of my lover! Behold He comes, springing across the mountains, jumping over the hills, like a gazelle or a young stag. Now He stands behind our wall, looking through the windows, peering through the lattice.

My lover speaks to me, “Arise, my love, my beautiful one! Come, the winter is gone, the rains are over. Flowers have appeared on earth; the season of singing has come; the cooing of doves is heard. The fig tree forms its early fruit, the vines in blossom are fragrant. Arise, my beautiful one, come with Me, my love, come.”

“O my dove in the rocky cleft, in the secret places of the cliff, let me see your face, let me hear your voice. Your face – how lovely! Your voice – how sweet!”

Alternative reading
Zephaniah 3 : 14-18a

Cry out with joy, o daughter of Zion; rejoice, o people of Israel! Sing joyfully with all your heart, daughter of Jerusalem! YHVH has lifted your sentence and has driven your enemies away. YHVH, the King of Israel is with you; do not fear any misfortune.

On that day they will say to Jerusalem : Do not be afraid nor let your hands tremble, for YHVH your God is within you, YHVH, saving Warrior. He will jump for joy on seeing you, for He has revived His love. For you He will cry out with joy, as you do in the days of the Feast.

I will drive away the evil I warned you about.

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Wednesday, 21 December 2016 : 4th Week of Advent, Memorial of St. Peter Canisius, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Psalm 32 : 2-3, 11-12, 20-21

Give thanks to Him on the harp and lyre, making melody and chanting praises. Amid loud shouts of joy, sing to Him a new song and play the ten-stringed harp.

But His plan stands forever, and His heart’s design through all generations. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord – the people He has chosen for His inheritance.

In hope we wait for the Lord, for He is our help and our shield. Our hearts rejoice in Him, for we trust in His holy Name.