devotion to God

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Saturday, 20 September 2014 : 24th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Laurent Imbert, Bishop and Martyr; St. Jacques Chastan, Priest and Martyr; St. Andrew Kim Taegon and Companions, Martyrs (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, in today’s readings we heard two great exhortations, by St. Paul in his letter to the faithful and the Church in Corinth on the nature of the resurrection of the faithful and then the parable of the sower and the seeds by Jesus who told them what happened to the various seeds that ended up in different conditions.

In the two readings, we can see a great link and similarity, as both of them refer to the growth and the sowing of seeds, and what are these seeds? They are none other than the seeds of faith, hope and love, the three cardinal virtues of Christian life, as these have been planted in us, within our hearts and souls. And the purpose for these seeds are so that we may truly be transformed from our sinful, mortal and earthly bodies, to be truly worthy of our Lord and God, in a new spiritual body as mentioned by St. Paul, that is a body filled with the wonderful flowers and fruits of faith, of hope and of love.

But Jesus our Lord mentioned in His parable of the sower, that this would not be an instantaneous, automatic or easy process. He clearly highlighted the problems, dangers and great challenges that line up against us, to prevent us from achieving that state of spiritual maturity and worthiness, that we end up to continue living in sin and darkness rather than be accepted into the light.

Mankind had lived in this world and as such are bound to the ways of this world, that is the way of the flesh, and the ways of the world. That had been the way of mankind ever since the days of our first ancestors, after they had sinned and been cast away from the presence of God, and had to endure the sufferings of the earth. Ever since then, mankind had lived on earth and obeyed the ways of the world rather than the ways of the Lord.

What we need in order to escape this bonds and prison of the world is by cultivating and growing the seeds of faith, hope and love which God had planted in us, through His Spirit. It is however, as mentioned, not going to be an easy path. The parable of the sower in fact showed us that the devil is always at work in order to prevent us from ever achieving salvation in God, and instead perish with him together in hell.

Jesus mentioned that the seeds fell on first the roadside and got eaten by the birds. In this case, He also explained how Satan is always at work as he desired our total annihilation, as a form of his vengeance and continuous rebellion against God. As we mankind are God’s greatest and most beloved creation, there is indeed nothing more sinister and evil for Satan to commit his defiance against God other than by subverting mankind and bringing them into sin.

And Satan has much in his possession in order to execute this extremely well. This is because many of us are like the seeds that fall on the rocky ground. We listened to the word of God and we received the words of the Good News of Christ, but these did not take root in our hearts. It is like we heard these words from our ears, but it then remains just a superficial attachment in any, and indeed, in our actions, in our own words and deeds, they represent nothing that the Lord had taught us.

This is a fertile ground for Satan to make his attack upon us, and it is easy for him to sow the seeds of dissent and unfaithfulness in our hearts. And indeed, the same also applies to the kind of those who are like the seeds that grow on the soil with thistles. Thistles are plants that can spread and grow on the surfaces of other plants, taking precious nutrients as a parasite to the host plant, which then eventually is suffocated, impoverished and therefore die.

This is one main way through which Satan made his attacks, that is through the pleasures of the flesh, and the desires of men. He made his attack on us through these, so as to ensnare us on our way to reach the Lord, and therefore fail to reach salvation in God. The thistle represents the temptations and the corruptions which Satan is trying very hard to impose on us, so that we may obey him instead of God.

For us to truly be able to achieve salvation, we have to take heed of what Jesus and St. Paul had conveyed to us on this day. This is namely that we have to abandon our earthly ways, and all the things we used to do in this world, which are not in accordance with the will of God, which He had revealed through Jesus His Son. In this manner, then we can have that rich soil in us, upon which the Word of God and the seeds of faith, hope and love in us may form deep roots and grow strong.

And perhaps, by sharing the lives of the saints which feast we are celebrating today will inspire us even more to follow God with all of our hearts. Today, we celebrate the feast day of St. Laurent Imbert, Vicar Apostolic of Korea, one of the first shepherds of the Church and the faithful in Korea, and also St. Jacques Chastan, another missionary to Korea, with his many companions in martyrdom, both missionary, laity and priests alike, the Martyr Saints of Korea.

Korea at that time, as it had been for about two hundred years, ever since the Faith first came there, was truly a very hostile place for the Church and the faithful. There were open and state-led persecution of the Christian faithful, who were seen as disloyal, traitors and enemies of the state. Many were made to choose between keeping their faith and death. Many abandoned Christ, but there were also many of those who remained faithful to the Lord and suffered holy martyrdom.

St. Laurent Imbert was the Vicar Apostolic of Korea, a missionary part of the French mission to Korea. He faithfully worked in shepherding the people entrusted under his care, and more and more come to believe in Christ and achieved salvation through his dedication. St. Laurent Imbert however, heard that the persecution of the faithful might cease, if he and the other leaders of the faithful would surrender themselves to the authorities.

The suffering of the faithful at the time was really great, and many were brought to martyrdom every day. Thus, in the spirit of the words of Jesus, St. Laurent Imbert, who was in hiding at the time, told his people, that he would surrender himself to the authorities, in exchange for the safety and protection of his flock. He mentioned the good shepherd, where Jesus mentioned that the good shepherd lay down his life for his sheep.

St. Laurent Imbert followed the example of Jesus and in his love and faith for his flock, he thought only of the best for them. Thus, he even willingly surrendered himself, even while knowing that his fate most likely would be death. He thus gave a great example to the faithful, which we too should follow and emulate in our lives. Even though the martyrdom and persecution would continue even after the martyrdom of St. Laurent Imbert, as the authorities reneged on their promises, the blood and faith of these holy martyrs continued to cause more and more faith to blossom and prosper among the persecuted people of God.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all come to a greater realisation of how great is the amount of effort and work that we should input into our lives, so that we may grow deeper and stronger in our faith, our hope and our love, that we may indeed bear fruit, that is the fruits of the Holy Spirit.

May all of us be ever more faithful and devoted to our Lord, so that our Lord may find us worthy of Himself and reunite us with Him together in the company of St. Laurent Imbert, St. Jacques Chastan, St. Andrew Kim Taegon and all the holy martyr saints of Korea, and together with the other holy men and women, as well as the angels. God bless us all. Amen.

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Saturday, 20 September 2014 : 24th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Laurent Imbert, Bishop and Martyr; St. Jacques Chastan, Priest and Martyr; St. Andrew Kim Taegon and Companions, Martyrs (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Luke 8 : 4-15

As a great crowd gathered, and people came to Jesus from every town, He began teaching them with a story : “The sower went out to sow the seed. And as he sowed, some of the seed fell along the way, was trodden on, and the birds of the sky ate it up. Some seed fell on rocky ground, and no sooner had it come up than it withered, because it had no water.

Some seed fell among thorns; the thorns grew up with the seed and choked it. But some seed fell on good soil and grew, producing fruit, a hundred times as much!” And Jesus cried out, “Listen then, if you have ears to hear!”

The disciples asked Him, “What does this story mean?” And Jesus answered, “To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God. But to others it is given in the form of stories, or parables, so that seeing they may not perceive, and hearing they may not understand.”

“Now, this is the point of the parable : The seed is the word of God. Those along the wayside are people who hear it, but immediately the devil comes and takes the word from their minds, for he does not want them to believe and be saved. Those on rocky ground are people who receive the word with joy, but they have no root; they believe for a while, and give way in time of trial.”

“Among the thorns are people who hear the word, but, as they go their way, they are choked by worries, riches, and the pleasures of life; they bring no fruit to maturity. The good soil, instead, are people who receive the word, and keep it in a gentle and generous mind, and persevering patiently, they bear fruit.”

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Friday, 19 September 2014 : 24th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Januarius, Bishop and Martyr (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

Psalm 16 : 1, 6-7, 8b and 15

Hear a just cause, o Lord, listen to my complaint. Give heed to my prayer for there is no deceit on my lips.

I call on You, You will answer me, o God; incline Your ear and hear my word. For You do wonders for Your faithful, You save those fleeing from the enemy as they seek refuge at Your right hand.

Under the shadow of Your wings hide me. As for me, righteous in Your sight, I shall see Your face and, awakening, gaze my fill on Your likeness.

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Thursday, 18 September 2014 : 24th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard from the First Reading that is the letter written by St. Paul to the faithful and the Church in Corinth, which places the emphasis on the truth and nature about Christ our Lord, who has died and then risen from the dead, in the glory of His resurrection, so that all who believed in His resurrection from the dead will also therefore partake in His divine glory.

Then in the Gospel today, we heard how Jesus encountered both a Pharisee and a sinful woman, likely a prostitute, who met together in a visit of Jesus to the house of the Pharisee. We are then shown what happened in that encounter, when the sinful woman tearfully served the Lord with a jar of perfume, anointing His feet and washing it clean with her tears, while the Pharisee looked upon the action in disgust.

In this we can see clearly the nature of God, that is love and mercy, which He extended to all of His beloved ones, especially to those who are still living in the darkness away from His saving light and grace. Jesus made it clear to the Pharisee, that the Lord never wants to condemn the sinners and those who have erred in their ways. Rather, He wants to call these back into His embrace and love.

When someone like the Pharisee began to put so much emphasis on criticism and condemnation of others rather than on love and mercy, then it will cause them to lose sight on the true focus of our faith. Our faith must be based on love and mercy, and also hope, not just for ourselves but also for those who are around us. We cannot separate them from each other, but they are intertwined closely.

Therefore, we should not follow the example of the Pharisee who was quick to judge upon others, and who condemned and made assumptions on others based merely only on what he saw and thought of others and also of himself. He thought of himself and his fellow Pharisees as the righteous ones, but yet they did not believe in Jesus, and even were brutally opposed to Him, while the woman, a sinful woman, realised the truth in Jesus and did all she can to serve Him and she did all she can to beg for mercy from the Lord.

The Pharisee acted all high and mighty as if he was already saved and guaranteed eternal life in the Lord. However, in fact, as Jesus mentioned, due to his actions and prejudice against others, he was in fact negligent in his faith, and his reward would be little while his punishment great. Meanwhile, the repentant woman would receive great reward for her humility and love for God, and she would be lifted up, for she believed that Christ is the Lord, just as the Apostles have believed it.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, the key message of this day’s Scripture readings is that we must always seek the Lord in our lives, and love Him with all our hearts. We cannot act as if we deserve salvation just because we consider ourselves righteous, and we cannot act like the Pharisee, who condemned others who he thought as not being as pious as himself.

Let us all come together to a greater realisation that we all need to grow deeper in faith in the Lord, so that we may come closer to His throne of mercy, seeking Him with all of our hearts just like the sinful woman, who in her great sincerity and humility, desired to be reunited with Jesus the Lord and be forgiven from her great sins. Let us all come to greater realisation that we are sinners, and it is through the love and mercy of God that we are made whole once again and be forgiven from our sins.

May Almighty God strengthen us and give us new hope through His own Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who died for us out of His great love, so that all who believe in Him may not die, but live eternal in the grace of God. God bless us all. Amen.

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Wednesday, 17 September 2014 : 24th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Robert Bellarmine, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops)

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard how the world ridiculed and doubted Christ, our Lord and Saviour, having their own set of prejudices and judgments that they applied to the actions of Jesus Christ and His disciples, as we obviously can see throughout the Gospels, where the world, represented by the Pharisees and the elders of Israel, who were always opposed to the actions of our Lord.

And in the first reading today, in the letter written by St. Paul to the faithful and the Church in Corinth, St. Paul reminded the people of the three greatest virtues and fruits of the Holy Spirit, that is faith, hope and love, and that the people of God should uphold all these values in their lives and stick closely to the precepts of the Lord, abandoning all pretexts of falsehoods and evil in their hearts.

We often lack sight of what is truly important in our lives. We are often distracted by many things in our lives, to the point that we end up focusing on the things that are less important and in fact which may disrupt and distract our attention from the true treasures of our lives. These treasures are indeed faith, hope and love as mentioned, which are the greatest gifts from God to mankind.

It was mentioned by St. Paul that acts without love, faith without love, acts without faith and hope are meaningless, as shown through the example of even the possessions of the gifts and talents of the Holy Spirit are meaningless without love, and without the other virtues mentioned. This means, whatever other talents and abilities we have, if we do not use them in tandem with the virtues we ought to have, then our actions do not bring justification and benefit for ourselves.

Compare this to the popular practice in many ‘evangelical’ and ‘charismatic’ movements and ‘churches’ around the world, of which not few are in fact within our own Church, that is the practice of speaking in tongues, as if the whole congregation is suddenly filled with the Holy Spirit as per the day of the Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles.

The conduct of such activity is meaningless, although many in the world today are in awe of such an occurrence. I would say that, when they do such actions, what is first in their mind is not God or His praise, but rather themselves, as they glorified themselves by doing so, and they revel in the satisfaction of such action. But without faith and love, those actions and others are truly empty and nothing before God.

And also for the heretics who believed and indeed still believe today, that salvation can be achieved through faith alone, and that the faith constitutes what had been written in the Bible and the Scriptures alone are wrong. They failed to realise that first, faith alone is insufficient to attain salvation for our souls. Faith is nothing without hope and without love, and so neither is hope anything without faith and love, and lastly, love without hope and faith is also meaningless.

We ought to have all these three virtues working together in tandem within us, that our actions may be truly blessed and be gracious, and we ourselves justified in the eyes of the Lord. We cannot separate the three virtues of faith, hope and love without making each of them meaningless and useless, and in fact may even bring harm to ourselves and others around us.

Why is this so, brothers and sisters in Christ? Why mankind even have so much trouble so that St. Paul had to remind even the faithful through his letter? That is because, mankind are bound and prone to their own self-glorification and self-praise, and this is also the reason for the various doubts that the people of God, and the various standards they employed against the prophets and the Lord Himself as we heard in the Gospel today.

Mankind are very difficult to please and satisfy, and even after their needs and wants have been satisfied, it is very common for us to demand even more and want even more. That is why, as Jesus mentioned, that mankind are never satisfied and they will always complained against whatever is around them, just as they had complained against Jesus our Lord Himself.

Thus, all of us should and indeed must anchor ourselves on the three great virtues of the Lord, that is faith, hope and love, which seeds have been placed in our hearts and our souls. But as mentioned, that these are just seeds. If we do nothing to cultivate the faith, hope and love in us, then we are nothing more than just an empty shell, even with all of our talents and virtues.

Why faith? That is because faith is what anchored us in the Lord, in His laws and precepts. We have faith because we believe in the Lord, and we adhere closely to Him and His ways, so that we can live according to His will, and from there gain righteousness and justification. But faith without hope and without love is meaningless, as it means a selfish faith, that is nonsense. Our faith must be complemented by care for our brethren, both through our genuine concern and love for them, practicing what we have been taught by the Lord, and also through our efforts at evangelisation to them.

And why hope? That is because hope is what keeps us going even amidst despair and darkness. And hope itself is intertwined with faith, as faith without hope is also nonsense. We believe in our Lord Jesus Christ, who has died for us on the cross and who has risen from the dead in glory, and through that resurrection, He brought us new hope in Himself, that is a hope of liberation from sin and the promise of eternal life. This is an integral part of our faith, and it cannot be said that we have faith if we do not believe in this hope.

And lastly, why love? That is because love is the most important of all these virtues, and ultimately is the one that makes all things good and possible. Love allows us to care for one another, and also for us to seek our God who had first shown us the example of what love truly is. Love helps us to have that focus and application for the faith and hope within us. We believe in the Lord, who is love Himself, and through whose love He had brought us to Himself. And then through hope, we have hope in Christ and His love, that He is willing to save us from death and grant us a new, eternal life.

Today, we also celebrate the feast of St. Robert Bellarmine, whose life and works clearly indicated the adherence to this teaching of Christ, in having his life and works founded on strong foundation of faith, of hope and of love. St. Robert Bellarmine was a Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church and one of the pillars of the defense of the Church through his active role and participation in the application of the decrees of the Ecumenical Council of Trent, in what is known as the Counter-Reformation, in the efforts against the Protestant heresy.

St. Robert Bellarmine was an intelligent and devout follower and servant of Christ, who dedicated his life in a faithful and loving service of our Lord Jesus Christ. St. Robert Bellarmine wrote numerous writings and other works on the matter of the faith, and he was renowned for his great works in the defense of the true faith, condemning falsehoods and heresies and reestablished many aspects of the faith in the Church through his various works.

He rose quickly through the Church hierarchy, and eventually was made a Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church. Nevertheless, he remained humble and devoted to his works, if not even more devoted and zealous in delivering the salvation of God to countless souls. Through his dedication, works and even through the power of his mind and pen, he had brought many of the faithful to be reawakened to the true faith in them, one that is not tainted by human pride and emotions as that of the heretics, and one that is lived out well through loving acts and filled with hope in the Lord.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, following the examples of St. Robert Bellarmine and many other holy saints, today let us all reflect on these words of the Scriptures and the Holy Gospels, that we may grow stronger in our faith, grow deeper in our hope, and grow more gentle and dedicated in our love. Let us all dedicate ourselves more to the works of charity in our world and society. That we may indeed live out our faith, that our faith will not be just merely imaginary and a formality, but a real and living faith for the benefit of ourselves and all those around us. God bless us all. Amen.

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Tuesday, 16 September 2014 : 24th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. Cornelius, Pope and Martyr, and St. Cyprian, Bishop and Martyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard about how Jesus healed the son of a widow from Naim, bringing him back from death into life, in which He showed to the people, the loving and merciful aspects of God, who truly loved and cared for all of us. He had pity on the mother who was sorrowful for having been left alone by her son, and brought them back into true joy and happiness in God.

And in the first reading, in the letter written by St. Paul to the Church and the faithful in Corinth, about the nature of the Church of God, and how in the Church, which is in fact comprised of all of us who believe in Christ the Lord, there exist a certain hierarchy of its members, which allow the Church to function as a body, just as in our body we have various organs and parts that have distinct functions working together in order to achieve certain goals and actions.

St. Paul mentioned how each members and each people in the Church have their own distinct gifts from the Lord, also known as the gifts of the Holy Spirit, which the Apostles and disciples themselves had received during the occasion of the Pentecost day. Everyone had been called by the Lord for a specific purpose and task, and one ought not to think proudly of himself or herself so as to assume that they can gain for themselves the entirety of the goodness and the gifts of the Lord.

Thus, the Church of God, which is centred on our Lord Jesus Christ, the Head of the Church, and we as the members of His Body, has a specific task in order to carry out and continue the good works which Jesus had initiated in this world, that is the works of love and mercy, as He showed through the rising of the son of the widow of Naim from the dead.

The Church of God comprised of many different people, and indeed, different groups of people, from the laity to the ordained ministers, that is the sacred priesthood and those who dedicated their lives in the service of God, and everyone else, including those of us who belong to the group of those who serve the Lord and yet also still live in this world.

And even among the priesthood, we have various roles, such as the bishops and then the priests themselves. Bishops are those who have been given a greater role in the Church, as overseers of a group of priests and the laity, and they are entrusted with the sheep of the Lord’s flock, as the shepherds, who are then led by the chief shepherds on earth, that is the Pope, the Bishop of Rome and the Vicar of Christ in this world, the representation of the Chief Shepherd of all, Jesus Christ.

The bishops therefore lead the Church in the works of love and mercy, and are also entrusted with the supervision duty of the body of the faithful in the Church, and they are also entrusted with the management of the Church. That said, there are also many others who are also involved in the management of the Church, both among the laity, as well as those in the priesthood and the ordained ministry.

The priests serve the people of God in various means, that is by providing them a spiritual guidance and protection against the harms of the devil, and in some cases also by providing alms and charity works for them. Then, the deacons, as we heard in the New Testament, were appointed as those who would serve the people of God directly, aid in the works of charity of the Church, to aid the priests and the bishops, so that they can channel to the people of God, particularly the poorest and the weakest, the love of God through His Church.

Yet, it is sad indeed, that many today in the Church aspire to have everything in their greed and lack of faith. Many began to question their roles in the Church and some even fought in the name of what they described as equality. Therefore we have those who proposed such outrageous ideas such as the abolition of the sacred priesthood and the ordained ministry, as well as the ordination of women to the priesthood.

Those who proposed and supported such proposals failed to understand that each of us in the Church have our own unique roles which help to supplement each other and therefore, it makes the Church stronger. To go against this natural law of order would in fact mean to destroy the unity and strength of the holy Church of God and undermine its authority in this world. Every one has been given a specific and particular gift which enables us to have our own roles in the Church to carry out what the Lord had planned for us.

Brothers and sisters, today we celebrate together as the Church the feast day of two great saints, whose life will inspire us to appreciate the beauty of the order and hierarchy in the Church, namely that of Pope St. Cornelius and St. Cyprian, both holy martyrs of the faith, at the time of the persecutions of the Roman Empire.

Pope St. Cornelius was the Pope and the Vicar of Christ in the middle of the third century after the birth of Christ, during the reign of the Emperor Decius, the great persecutor of the faithful. Then St. Cyprian was his contemporary, as the Bishop of Carthage and the supporter of Pope St. Cornelius’ view regarding the faithful.

The two saints lived in a difficult time, when Christians and all who believed in the Lord were persecuted heavily and when their very lives were threatened by the Roman authorities. And amidst those persecutions, there were those among the faithful who submitted to the will of the state and the Emperor, and gave offering to the pagan idols, essentially an act of apostasy, or leaving the Church of God, who should be thereafter be treated the same as the pagans.

However, some of them repented their sins and returned to the embrace of the Holy Mother Church, and were received back among the faithful as long as they were sincere in their repentance. But, there were those in the Church who were opposed to the return of these so called traitors and apostates and demanded much stricter regulations to even allow them to be readmitted into the Church.

St. Cyprian and Pope St. Cornelius were the champions of those in the Church who would allow the faithful who had gone astray to return to the Church as long as their repentance was sincere. They worked hard among the faithful and among those who had gone astray to bring them back towards the Lord and to heal them from the afflictions of their souls. The laity themselves also played their own parts and supported the works of their shepherds, while they also kept their faith alive and strong despite even great persecutions.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, these saints, Pope St. Cornelius and St. Cyprian, who were both eventually martyred for their faith, had showed us the model of their faith, which showed love and mercy for the least of the society, those who were rejected because of the stigma of their status as apostates and betrayer of their faith. They showed that while in the Church itself there were already many different groups of people, there would always be a space for those who realised their errors and repented for their sins.

Let us all therefore reflect on the Scripture readings of this day, and grow to find in our hearts, the role that we can play as part of the Church of God. Let us all work together to continue the good works of Christ, to bring God’s love to all the peoples, and to heal many from their afflictions, both physical, and even more importantly, to heal the spiritual aspects of many people.

May Almighty God, together with the intercession of the holy saints, Pope St. Cornelius and St. Cyprian, bless us this day and guide us, so that we may also follow in their footsteps, to serve the people of God and love one another in the Lord. God bless us all and bring us into His light. Amen.

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Monday, 15 September 2014 : 24th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, if yesterday we celebrate the great feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, in which we rejoice with God, for the cross which has become a concrete sign of triumph and victory against the devil and his machinations, then today we celebrate the feast and memorial of our Lady of Sorrows, that is of Mary, the mother of our Lord Jesus, who was greatly grieved by the suffering and death of her Son at the cross.

Indeed, Jesus is the Son of God, the Word incarnate into flesh. However, many of us often forget that He is also the Son of Mary, for it is through her obedience and acceptance, that the Word of God was able to assume human form in His great humility, to be born from the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, His mother.

Jesus was indeed God in all of His fullness, and He was there before all ages, not counted among the creations, but as the Creator, through whom the Lord created all things. He was not formed as any other children, that is through the union of a male and a female, which bears a new human being. Rather, by the Holy Spirit He was placed in the womb of the Blessed Virgin, assuming the form of a Man.

Nevertheless, we all know that a mother share a special bond with her children, as the child in the womb is nourished by the mother, and the child gets his or her food from the mother herself. Thus, there exists a special link between a mother and her child. The same kind of bond also existed between Mary and her Son Jesus, even though they are not related by blood, but because Jesus Himself once dwelled within the womb of Mary, and then she cared for Him through life as His own loving mother.

You can imagine the kind of feeling that existed within Mary’s heart and the thoughts that ran in her mind as she heard the words of Simeon, who predicted a sorrowful and painful future for her as the Mother of Jesus, a premonition and insight to what would happen in the future of her time, when the Lord Jesus would suffer at the hands of the chief priests and the Pharisees, and then He would endure such brutal treatment that culminated with His death on the cross, a most cruel death.

Yes, and Mary witnessed all of those events. In fact, she followed her Son as He walked down the path of suffering to Calvary, what we also know as the Way of Suffering or Via Dolorosa, from Jerusalem to the hill where Jesus was crucified. She witnessed how her Son was treated like the worst of criminals, even though He was blameless, and how He was framed for false charges and were subjected to lies by false witnesses.

Mary met her Son on His way of suffering, as immortalised through the Stations of the Cross, or Way of the Cross, the fourth station. She followed Him through to His crucifixion, staying close by His side, even witnessing how nails pierced the limbs of her Son, and then she stayed on until He gave up His Spirit and died. Such great indeed was the sorrow and agony that the Blessed Mother of our Lord suffered from, having to witness all these herself.

Yet, Mary remained firm and devoted to the Lord, and she did not doubt the Lord and why such suffering and humiliation occurred to her Son. Mary remained faithful and devoted as she was ever faithful, even though in her heart there was then a great sorrow. But she truly believed in God and in His plans, and just as staunchly and surely as she had said yes to the Archangel Gabriel who brought her the news of her special role in salvation, she also remained as firm as ever in faith throughout that greatest ordeal in her life.

She knew that even with her sorrow and sadness, God was still with her, and that everything was according to God’s plan. And therefore, she is truly our role model in faith, that even in times of difficulty and sorrow, she still held strongly to her faith in the Lord and did not doubt the Lord even for a moment, entrusting everything to God. After all, when the Lord Jesus Christ was risen from the dead, the Lord and His mother both have their final laugh against the devil and the forces of darkness desperately trying to stop God’s will and plan of salvation for mankind.

And this day also, we should reflect once again on the love that a mother has for her children, and in general, the parents’ love for their children. And this love, which should exist in all families united by the Lord, in the recent era and time, especially in our world today, had been gradually eroded by the lack of love and the lack of respect for the institution of the family itself.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, how many of us this day actually support actions that break this harmony and love? How many of us are even involved in activities that snuff out lives from innocent ones? What I am referring is the actions of these days’ peoples who are obsessed with terms such as female rights and equality, as well as rights in general, as justification for actions such as abortion, child abuse and even divorce.

These actions are actions that betray love and destroy life, which should indeed be held sacred in what we know as the institution of the family. Yet the culture of today’s world no longer hold the institution of the family as sacred and as something that must be uphold and protected at all times. Instead, family and the sanctity of life had increasingly become more and more meaningless and less precious as time goes by.

In this, we have to look at the sorrow of Mary, which she expressed on the suffering of her Son and His eventual death on the cross. In that we can clearly see how Mary loved her Son, just as all mothers should love their children. Therefore, it should not even be the case where we treat the lives of the innocent children like as if they are nothing.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, as we celebrate this feast of our Lady of Sorrow, let us recall the devotion and dedication which Mary had towards the Lord, and the true, genuine and undying love which she had shown to her Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, where we can see how we should also behave in our own families. Our families must be based on love, that is genuine and gentle love between the parents and their children, and must cherish life, instead of the culture of death which we have today.

Mary, our Lady of Sorrows, in your sorrow, may we all grow to rediscover the love in our families, that parents may be more loving and dedicated to their children and vice versa. May Almighty God bless our families with love, so that our families may indeed be beacons of light and faith for the world, and cherish life and harmony, instead of death and apathy. God bless us all. Amen.

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Saturday, 13 September 2014 : 23rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John Chrysostom, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Luke 6 : 43-49

Jesus said, “No healthy tree bears bad fruit, no poor tree bears good fruit. And each tree is known by the fruit it bears : you do not gather figs from thorns, or grapes from brambles.”

“Similarly the good person draws good things from the good stored in his heart, and an evil person draws evil things from the evil stored in his heart. For the mouth speaks from the fullness of the heart.”

“Why do you call Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not do what I say? I will show you what the one is like, who comes to Me, and listens to My words, and acts accordingly. That person is like the builder who dug deep, and laid the foundations of his house on rock. The river overflowed, and the stream dashed against the house, but could not carry it off because the house had been well built.”

“But the one who listens and does not act, is like a man who built his house on the ground without a foundation. The flood burst against it, and the house fell at once : and what a terrible disaster that was!”

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Friday, 12 September 2014 : 23rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Most Holy Name of Mary (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Memorial of the Most Holy Name of Mary)

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate yet another feast honouring the Mother of our Lord and God Jesus Christ, that is the Blessed Virgin Mary. And today we rejoice together in the honour of her Most Holy Name, at which even Satan and all his allies tremble, just as they tremble and cower in fear when the Name of her Son is mentioned.

We all first should understand why we all have names with us. The reason is so that we can be easily identified by others around us. Some people indeed can remember names better than they can remember the looks and faces. And remember, brethren, that in most cases, especially in the past, after we die and pass away from this world, only our names would be left behind as the memory for others to see and judge.

Yes, we mankind are most prominently and easily known and remembered through our names, be it in our deeds and actions, be these actions good or bad, or if we have done nothing in particular, in which our names will generally be quickly forgotten. But there are those names that upon which, when we utter it, even the demons and Satan would tremble in fear.

If we utter the name of the holy angels and saints, Satan and his allies fear them because these men and women, and the holy angels remained staunch despite the temptations of the world and the temptations of free will and desire, and they remained faithful servants of God, and in the end, they receive heavenly glory and be with the Lord, interceding for us all day and all night long. Satan knows that those holy saints and angels are interceding for us even now, and when we utter their names and ask for their intercession, Satan knows that God is with us, and he can do nought to crush us.

And even more fearsome therefore is the Holy Name of Mary, the Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, who by that virtue and by the virtue of her perfect and upright behaviour, as well as total obedience to the will of God, is the greatest of all of God’s creations, the greatest among all the children of God and the foremost of all saints and rule even over the angels of God.

Satan flee in fear whenever he hears the Names of Jesus and Mary, because he knows that he has no power and no authority over them, and his doom is at hand. And if we refer to the Book of Genesis, just after mankind had sinned by eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, God Himself prophesied the coming of salvation for mankind through a woman, who would be the descendant of men, and who would bear a Son, as we heard in the prophecy of Isaiah and the other prophets, and the snake, or Satan the deceiver would be crushed.

It is through Mary that the salvation of this world was made possible by her obedience to take part in God’s plan for salvation, and in her acceptance of the role as the Mother of our Lord and Saviour. This was evident later as Mary had to endure much physical and spiritual sufferings, as she followed on the life and works of her Son, who was met with such opposition and hostility, even unto death on the cross.

Truly, Mary agreed to be part of this very difficult and challenging task, but she did not even complain or resist when the news was brought to her by the Archangel Gabriel. She obeyed completely and fully, surrendering herself to the will of God and to His plans for her. From then on, Mary became the one who made the salvation of mankind possible, because through her, the Word of God was incarnate into flesh and blood, becoming our Lord Jesus, fully man through her mother Mary, and fully God, as He was conceived by the Holy spirit.

Satan, having been dealt a terrible and crushing defeat by Jesus through His triumphant sacrifice on the cross, rightly feared Mary, because she is the Mother of Jesus, who walked with Him and guided Him towards the triumph of the Lord and all that is good against evil and all its forces. In addition, Satan, whose goal is the corruption and destruction of all mankind rightly feared Mary, because in her we have a great and perfect example of a paragon of love and virtue, who obeyed the Lord in all things.

If we follow the example of Mary’s obedience, love and devotion to God, we cannot go wrong. That is why Satan feared Mary, because she is like a beacon of light that shine brightly on our path as we go towards her Son, Jesus Christ our. Lord. Thus we know the phrase, Ad Iesum per Mariam, or ‘To Jesus through Mary’. Following Mary and her examples are the best ways for us to be closer to God and to attain salvation in Jesus.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all whenever we are tempted to sin and to do what is evil in the eyes of the Lord, that we should utter the Most Holy Name of Mary, that Satan who tempts us when he hears that Name would flee in fear, and that our soul will remain pure and clean from his corruptions and evil. Satan knows that he is doomed, and the Name of the mother of the One who had defeated him will certainly remind him that, and make him flee in fear.

Let us not fear Satan and his darkness, for Mary is with us, this blessed one among all women and all creations of God is caring for us as our mother, who prays for us incessantly and constantly before the throne of her Son, our Lord in heaven. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you amongst women, and blessed is the Fruit of your womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of our death. Amen.

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Thursday, 11 September 2014 : 23rd Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 6 : 27-38

Jesus said, “But I say to you who hear Me : Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you, and pray for those who treat you badly. To the one who strikes you on the cheek, turn the other cheek; from the one who takes your coat, do not keep back your shirt. Give to the one who asks, and if anyone has taken something from you, do not demand it back.”

“Do to others as you would have others do to you. If you love only those who love you, what kind of grace is yours? Even sinners love those who love them. If you do favours to those who are good to you, what kind of grace is yours? Even sinners do the same. If you lend only when you expect to receive, what kind of grace is yours? For sinners also lend to sinners, expecting to receive something in return.”

“But love your enemies and do good to them, and lend when there is nothing to expect in return. Then will your reward be great, and you will be sons and daughters of the Most High. For He is kind towards the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”

“Do not be a judge of others and you will not be judged; do not condemn and you will not be condemned; forgive and you will be forgiven; give and it will be given to you, and you will receive in your sack good measure, pressed down, full and running over. For the measure you give will be the measure you receive back.”