devotion to God

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Monday, 11 August 2014 : 19th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Clare, Virgin (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 148 : 1-2, 11-12ab, 12c-14a, 14bcd

Alleluia! Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise Him in the heavenly heights. Praise Him, all His angels; praise Him, all His heavenly hosts.

Kings of the earth and nations, princes and all rulers of the world, young men and maidens.

Old and young together, let them praise the Name of the Lord. For His Name alone is exalted; His majesty is above earth and heaven. He has given His people glory.

He has given a praise to His faithful, to Israel, the people close to Him. Alleluia.

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Monday, 11 August 2014 : 19th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Clare, Virgin (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Ezekiel 1 : 2-5, 24-28c

On the fifth of the month (It was the fifth year of the exile of king Jehoiachin) the word of YHVH came to Ezekiel, son of Buzi, the priest, in the land of the Chaldeans by the banks of the Kebar. There the hand of YHVH was upon me.

I looked : a windstorm came from the north bringing a great cloud. A fiery light inside it lit up all around it, while at the centre there was something like a glowing metal. In the centre were what appeared to be four creatures with the same form.

I heard the noise of their wings when they moved, similar to the roar of many waters, similar to the voice of the Most High, the noise of a multitude or of a camp. When they were not moving they lowered their wings.

I heard a noise above the platform over their heads. Above it was a throne resembling a sapphire and high on this throne was a figure similar to that of a Man. Then I saw a light as of glowing bronze as if fire enveloped Him from His waist upwards. And from His waist downwards it was as if fire gave radiance around Him.

The surrounding light was like a rainbow in the clouds after a day of rain. This vision was the likeness of YHVH’s Glory.

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Sunday, 10 August 2014 : 19th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Brothers and sisters in Christ, is our faith in God truly genuine and strong? And is our faith in the Lord solid and growing? Or is it that we doubt God and His love just because in our lives He may seem to not be around whenever we say that we need Him? Do we doubt God because we are not able to feel His presence around us when we are in dire trouble?

These questions are meant for us to ask ourselves and for us to do a self-introspection, on our faith, and what our faith truly meant for us. The story of Jesus walking on the water in the midst of a heavy storm that threatened to sink the ship where the disciples were on is a classic story of how mankind are often faced with persecution and difficulties in life, and yet God will definitely not abandon us. He has given us none other than Jesus to rescue us and to strengthen our faith.

Indeed, in the first reading today we also heard how God appeared to Elijah the prophet, when he was fleeing from the persecution of the king of Israel, Ahab in the middle of the desert. He found God, or YHVH, not in the midst of great and mighty phenomena of earthquakes, fires or windstorm, but in the gentleness and sweetness of a breeze of gentle wind.

God did not abandon mankind when we are in great troubles or difficulties, and instead, He showed His loving and caring persona, as He had shown to Elijah. As much as He is mighty and great, He is also thoroughly concerned with us, as what He had shown to Elijah and in that, showed the love He had for mankind who still lived in the darkness. That is the message that God wanted to make clear with the people, that He cared for them.

And in the Gospel, we heard how the ship where the disciples were in was rocked by heavy winds and strong winds, to the point that it almost sank and be destroyed. This is in fact a perfect representation of our own lives that are filled with challenges and difficulties from all corners and sources. Life is never easy, and especially if we choose to walk the path of the Lord, things will be stormy and difficult for us.

That is why, first we must have a strong anchor of faith, and this anchor must be established on none other than the strong foundation of faith we have in our Lord and God. Otherwise, we and our lives, which are represented by the ship, will be blown here and there, and torn asunder by the waves, showing how our lives will be ruined and our purpose in life corrupted by the lack of a strong and living faith.

In all this, God is around, and He is there for us. But often that we do not believe that He is there for us. That is perfectly represented as well, when Jesus appeared on the waters and the disciples were gripped with fear, thinking that He was a ghost, utterly filled with disbelief and doubt that Jesus could be there, and right there for them and to help them.

It is much too often that we are filled to the brim with despair, fear and concerns for ourselves, that first we failed to notice the love that God has for us, thinking that we had been abandoned, and we also often fail to notice the difficulties and challenges that our brothers and sisters around us are facing, for we are too preoccupied with our own selves. Then that is also why we often cry out to God why our lives are unfair, while we actually failed to realise the truth.

We need to be able to discern and learn to get rid of the distractions and lies that prevented us from seeing the Lord at work in our lives, and that was what was shown in the first reading today. Elijah was able to see that God is not in things in mighty and great beyond our reach, just as He was not in the windstorm, fire or earthquakes, but instead in the gentle breeze showing His care and love for us.

If we are able to pierce through the layers of bias, prejudice, fear, desire, and other things that prevented us from truly understanding God’s love, we will then be able to feel the real and holy Presence of our Lord with us. We will then realise that our Lord and God is there for us, and He is always with us especially when we are in difficulties and challenging times. He never left our side. It is we who had voluntarily left Him behind for other things, and for Satan.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we have to admit that our faith is often weak and shaky, and the foundation of our faith is not strong, and when challenges and difficulties come our way, we often act like Peter, who doubted the Lord and His providence and ended up sinking when he walked on the water. Our faith can often be challenged and be negatively affected by the fears and concerns that we have in our hearts.

That is why we have to learn to trust in our Lord, and know that He is there for us when we need Him. He gives us many chances and opportunities, as well as help along the way in various means. What is important that, if we are in trouble, He is there for us, giving us help, and often we do not realise this fact. When Peter wavered in his faith and was sinking, what did Jesus do? Precisely, He stretched out His hands immediately to help Peter out and pull him out to safety.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us use the opportunities given to us in order to reflect and come to a greater realisation that we have been blessed with a loving and caring God who is utterly concerned about our fate and about every single thing that we do in this life of ours. Let us all be no longer ignorant of God’s love, and instead let us make the conscious effort to strengthen our faith.

This boat that is our life will always be rocked by strong waves and winds, that represent the temptations of sin and evil, and all the forces that the devil has assembled in order to bring us and drag us into hell and suffering with him. Shall we follow him into destruction? No, we should not. We should not let this good-for-nothing fallen angel and wrecker of lives and souls from messing with our destiny. We have to reject him, rebuke him and cast him out of our lives in perfect totality.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all be courageous in our lives that our faith may be ever more solid and strong, and be able to resist the temptations of the evil one at any turns in our lives. May Almighty God continue to love us, bless us, and grant us with His grace and abundant blessings. Amen.

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Sunday, 10 August 2014 : 19th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 84 : 9ab-10, 11-12, 13-14

Would that I hear God’s proclamation that He promise peace to His people, His saints. Yet His salvation is near to those who fear Him, and His Glory will dwell in our land.

Love and faithfulness have met; righteousness and peace have embraced. Faithfulness will reach up from the earth while justice bends down from heaven.

The Lord will give what is good, and our land will yield its fruit. Justice will go before Him, and peace will follow along His path.

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Saturday, 9 August 2014 : 18th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein), Virgin and Martyr (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Saturday Mass of our Lady)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today Jesus reminded us in the Gospel that we all ought to have faith in us, and not just any faith but genuine faith that is truly real, solid and concrete, and not just a lip service or superficial faith. And Jesus also told us that what matters is whether we have that faith, no matter how small or insignificant it is compared to others, but what matters is how we use that faith and grow that faith that we may become stronger and more devoted to God.

It is important that our faith must be cultivated and strengthened, through the active implementation of the Lord’s teachings that we had received through the Church of God. This is linked to the parable of the mustard seed and the parable of the sower, where even a small seed if grown strong and healthy will eventually become a large and towering tree with plenty of branches with solid roots that will stand against any storms and strong and healthy lives that will impress all who see it.

Thus, our faith too must be like that, strong as a solid rock, immoveable despite all the attempts of the evil one to undermine our faith, and it must also be visible for all to see, not in order to satisfy our human ego and desires, but rather to bring even more people closer to God through faith and through love. In this manner, we can become a role model for many through our words, deeds and actions.

And today we celebrate a saint whose life and actions represented just all that, a true example for others who see her. This saint is St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, a name which the saint took when she entered religious profession, and she was also well known as St. Edith Stein, a German Jew convert to the faith who endured great sufferings as part of the genocide against the Jews by Adolf Hitler during the holocaust, and who was eventually martyred for her faith.

St. Edith Stein was born to a Jewish family, keeping the old Jewish faith in a strongly religious environment. However, although St. Edith Stein admired her mother’s great piety, she herself became an unbeliever in her adolescent and early adult years, pursuing higher studies and intellectual pursuits to eventually become a philosopher and educator.

However, after learning the truth about the Lord in the faith, and after reading the autobiography of St. Teresa of Avila, St. Edith Stein went through a complete transformation and change in her self, and she chose to follow the Lord and be baptised into the Church. Thereafter, St. Edith Stein continued teaching, but focusing more on teaching the faith and producing many great writings and works on the faith.

St. Edith Stein openly and vocally condemned and opposed the increasingly violent and intolerant treatment of the Jews by the rising NAZI party under Adolf Hitler in Germany, and she spoke openly against the vile treatments they had received, having been born as the descendant of Jacob herself. She entered the convent and took up the religious habit, taking up the name of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, enduring one difficulty after another having to escape persecution by the NAZIs before eventually arrested and put to death with many other faithful ones in a gas chamber.

Thus died a great martyr of the faith who stood up courageously for her faith, and whose faith was indeed both strong and evident for all to see. Her faith was strong and despite difficulties and challenges, she continued to persevere for the sake of God and for the sake of His people. Her courage to stand up for her faith, and her devotion until the end exemplified the kind of faith that we also need to have, a robust and living faith, not hidden but shared for the benefit of all.

May St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross pray for us, that our faith too may be strong and alive, that we will be able to follow her example in being faithful to the Lord. May Almighty God also bless us and keep us always in His love and grace. Amen.

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Saturday, 9 August 2014 : 18th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein), Virgin and Martyr (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Saturday Mass of our Lady)

Matthew 17 : 14-20

When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus, knelt before Him and said, “Sir, have pity on my son, who is an epileptic and suffers terribly. He has often fallen into the fire, and at other times into the water. I brought him to Your disciples but they could not heal him.”

Jesus replied, “You faithless and disoriented people! How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring him here to Me.” And Jesus commanded the evil spirit to leave the boy, and the boy was immediately healed.

The disciples then gathered around Jesus and asked Him privately, “Why could we not drive out the spirit?” Jesus said to them, “Because you have little faith. I say to you : if only you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could tell that mountain to move from here to there, and the mountain would obey. Nothing would be impossible to you.”

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Friday, 8 August 2014 : 18th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Dominic, Priest (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the feast day of St. Dominic, or also known by his full name of St. Dominic de Guzman, the famous founder of the Dominican order, named after him, known officially as the Order of Preachers or O.P.. The Dominican order had been renowned as a religious order that was often at the forefront of evangelisation and the spreading of the Good News, in perfect accordance to their names as the Order of Preachers.

St. Dominic himself was born in Medieval Spain, a time of much changes and difficulties, and he was a truly devoted and faithful son of the Lord, who eventually joined a holy order and devoted himself fully to God and His people. St. Dominic became a beacon of light to many of those who remain in the darkness, as had been foretold even since before his birth.

His mother, Joan of Aza, received a vision which showed a dog that carried a lit torch that spread light brightly throughout a darkened place, and little that she knew, that this vision would become a reality in her son, St. Dominic de Guzman, who through his actions, and the actions of his compatriots and successors, became a great source of light for those who still dwelled in the darkness of the world.

St. Dominic is an example to all of us, and we all should be inspired by his actions and deeds. We too should follow his footsteps in bringing many more people, our brethren closer to the Lord, just as St. Dominic himself had done before. And that was exactly what the Lord wants from us, to be wholly and completely transformed in our lives that we may glorify and proclaim Him in our actions and deeds.

In the Gospel today, Jesus told His disciples that if they want to follow Him, they need to carry their crosses and follow Him. And that is the reality of life, in which we have to face difficulties in life, if we are to follow the Lord and adhere to His will. It will be different if we choose to conform to the ways of the world, where we will be welcomed by the forces of this world and face less persecution and opposition, but at what cost? Nothing less than the fate and salvation of our very souls.

God had mentioned it clearly at the passage we heard today taken from the Book of the prophet Nahum, who wrote how God would restore those who had been faithful to Him and bless them with greatness, but for those who did not obey Him and walked the path of evil, He would cast out from His path and into the greatest darkness, into an eternal suffering that is without end.

God is merciful and loving, but only to those who repent their ways of evil and abandon their sinfulness will receive grace and eternal rest from the Lord and be saved in eternal grace. He does not desire our destruction or for us to perish as a consequence of our sins, but He gave us a freedom of choice, of whether we want to reject Satan and together then reject sin or whether we embrace sin in our actions, submitting to the temptations of Satan.

What St. Dominic did was that by preaching courageously and strongly against any forms of debauchery and corruptions of sin, he brought many people away from their sinful ways and into the kingdom of God. Many people remained in the darkness because they did not have the opportunity to hear, to see and to feel the light, which St. Dominic and his order of preachers, the Dominicans rectified by bringing the word of God and His truth closer to mankind, especially those who are in darkness.

We too have our parts to play, brothers and sisters, and that is to also bring the word of God to those around us who had fallen along the way on their way towards God and His salvation. And also to those who had yet to listen and know the truth about God, let us all bring His light unto them. This is done not just by words alone, but also through actions and deeds, that in all the things we do, we should do it according to God and His ways, and show that we truly belong to the Lord, and not to Satan and his evil forces instead.

May Almighty God therefore guide us on our ways, that we may be the bearers of the light and the truth, so that in all the things we do and we say, we may truly proclaim the Lord as our Lord and God, and rebuke Satan and his lies, designed to deter us and prevent us from ever reaching our loving God. Let us also ask for the intercession of St. Dominic, that we may be faithful and courageous in showing our faith to others just as he had once been faithful. God be with us all. Amen.

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Friday, 8 August 2014 : 18th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Dominic, Priest (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Matthew 16 : 24-28

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If you want to follow Me, deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Me. For whoever chooses to save his life will lose it, but the one who loses his life for My sake will find it. What will one gain by winning the whole world if he destroys his soul? There is nothing you can give to get back your soul.”

“Know that the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with the holy angels, and He will reward each one according to his deeds. Truly, I tell you, there are some here who will not die, before they see the Son of Man coming as King.”

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Thursday, 7 August 2014 : 18th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. Xystus II/Pope St. Sixtus II, Pope and Companions, Martyrs and St. Cajetan, Priest (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Priests)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we hear how the Lord renewed His covenant with His people, a covenant that was once broken through the disobedience of the people of God, now made anew and renewed through the offering and sacrifice of none other than the very Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom the Lord had sent into the world, so that the world may have hope again.

Yes, a hope that was once dashed, first when men first fell into sin, through the disobedience of our great ancestors, Adam and Eve, the first among mankind. Their disobedience brought men into sin, and as a result, they were cast out from the glory and joys of heaven into a world of suffering, trials and tribulations. And then, while God extended His hands to welcome them back, they refused many, many times, and in their wickedness, they suffered further.

And when He chose for Himself a people from His faithful servant Abraham, the people He had chosen and then delivered from the hands of their enemies broke their promises and devotions, even as early as when the Lord had just given them the set of Laws to be followed and to be obeyed. The people showed wickedness and acted as they liked, following their own desires rather than the way the Lord wanted them to follow.

They worshipped pagan gods, rejected God’s love, trampled on His laws, complained against His kindness, and acted all sorts of wickedness that were abhorred by God. They killed, murdered, blasphemed, fornicated themselves and sold themselves and their souls to the devil. And hence, they were scattered and crushed under the weight of their sins, suffering the consequences of their rebelliousness.

But our Lord is not such a heartless God, and in fact, so great was His mercy and love that He was willing to give mankind yet another hope and another chance. And Jesus is the One through whom God made this mercy and love evident for all to see, and in fact not just to be seen, but also to be followed. In the first reading today from the Book of the prophet Jeremiah, God mentioned that He was going to make a new covenant with His people, and He did indeed.

And this covenant, unlike the previous covenants, is everlasting and will not end. Yes, it is a new and eternal covenant, which God had sealed with nothing else and nothing more precious than the offering of His own Body, and by the shedding and outpouring of His own Blood. Yes, this is the ultimate sacrifice which our Lord Jesus Christ went through during His Passion, and as He died on the cross at Calvary.

Satan definitely did not remain silent or inactive throughout all of these, as he did his best to undermine the Lord’s efforts to bring salvation to mankind by various means and yet without success. Satan tried to play and build up on men’s fears and uncertainties to carry out his devious plots and plans, and that was how he used Peter’s doubts and fears to strike at the Lord Jesus and attempted to stop His work of salvation.

But Jesus was not deterred by Satan’s works, and He rebuked this devil and cast him out of His presence. And this gave us all an example to follow, that in our lives we ought to be courageous and steadfast as well in our faith, that we would not be easily persuaded by the temptations of the evil one, and that we may faithfully walk in the way of the Lord, following the new covenant He had established with us.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the feast of two saints of the Church, the first of which is the Pope of the early Church, Pope St. Xystus II or Pope St. Sixtus II and St. Cajetan, a priest of the late Renaissance age Italy. Both of them were truly great and faithful servants of the Lord, who worked hard to advance the cause of the Lord in this world.

Pope St. Sixtus II lived during the reign of the Roman Emperor Valerian, who launched a particularly vicious opposition and persecution campaign against Christians in the Empire, and as part of that persecution, countless thousands of the faithful ones were captured and tortured, before they were martyred in the defense of their faith.

Pope St. Sixtus and other priests, deacons and many servants of the Lord were also captured and tortured for their faith, but they did not fret or be fearful. Instead, they faced suffering and death with gladness and joy, knowing that the Lord is waiting for them at the end of their suffering in order to give them the crown of everlasting glory and the reward of eternal life and salvation.

Meanwhile, St. Cajetan was an Italian priest who had a more normal life of sorts, but he had also experienced difficulties and challenges when he lost his father at a very young age of two. Nevertheless, he studied hard and eventually became a respectable priest and servant of God, well endowed with great intellect and hardworking attitude, which served him truly well during his service to the Church and God’s people.

St. Cajetan did numerous good works for the people of God, especially for those who were poor, sick and weak. He worked hard for them, and he also helped found several religious communities to bring the work of God even closer to mankind. In this, St. Cajetan showed us that, we should not fear or be worried to become a servant of the Lord, but rather we have to be courageous and defend our faith with our entire might.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all renew our commitment to the Lord, and ask the Lord to continue to guide us and bless us in this life. May Almighty God keep us forever in His love. Amen.

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Wednesday, 6 August 2014 : Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate a significant and very important feast day in our Church, that is the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord. Today we celebrate the occasion when Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour was glorified on Mount Tabor, when He revealed His glory and the true nature of divinity to His disciples, the one and only time He did so before His death and resurrection.

To the disciples who witnessed it, Peter, James and John, this was truly a moment of brief showcase and foretaste of the glory of God that is to come through Jesus Christ. Yet at that time, they have yet to be able to understand what it means by the Transfiguration, and the significance of the events and the actions which Jesus took with the two great prophets of God.

The two prophets and leaders of God’s people, Moses and Elijah are the preeminent ones among many others, in that they were the chief amongst all others whom God had sent into the world in their respective missions. To Moses, whom God had appointed as the leader and guide for His people Israel, He had imparted the very Laws that He had established with mankind, the Ten Commandments and the accompanying laws and statutes as encoded in the Law of Moses.

Thus, Moses represented the Law, which God had given to mankind to guide them and govern them in their attitudes and behaviour, that they may conform more closely to the way of the Lord. Meanwhile, the prophet Elijah, whom God appointed to prophesy to the people of the northern kingdom of Israel was the greatest among the prophets, and representing the prophesies of God, which promised the people the coming of the salvation in the Messiah.

And why did both of them appear to Jesus at the Mount Tabor on the Transfiguration? That is because Jesus is the perfect fulfillment and completion of the Law and the prophecies of the prophets. He was the fulfillment of all that God had revealed to men as well as all the things unrevealed and hidden from men, perfecting and unveiling the true full meaning of the Law, and the fulfillment of the long awaited prophecies by the prophets of old.

Therefore, the two great servants of God made their appearance in what is likely to be a very significant and symbolic meaning in the history of God’s plan for the salvation of mankind, but it is most likely that they also came to give strength and support for Jesus as He embarked on the final part of His mission on this world, that is towards His suffering and death on the cross in Jerusalem, the Holy city of God.

They were there to affirm Jesus in His mission, to encourage Him and give Him support, as surely all of heaven, all the angels and the holy men and women who had departed the world at the time were all in full awareness of the supreme importance of this singular mission that Jesus Christ was about to undertake for the sake of salvation of all mankind.

Yet, indeed, the Feast of the Transfiguration also reminds all of us of an important fact, that life is not all happy and good, and neither will it be all smooth and easy. And we are bound to have to face up to the challenges in life and the difficulties that are to be part of our lives. We are like the disciples on that mountain. When Peter said to Jesus, for them to build three tents for Himself and the two great servants of God, it showed reluctance to leave all things that are good.

But God made it plain to the disciples, and showing in His majesty, He made them listen to the will of His Son, who told them to come down with Him from the mountain where He showed His glory and majesty. From then on, He walked down that mountain towards the valley of His death, the suffering and rejection in Jerusalem. But the Lord did not fear, and therefore neither should we.

This Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord therefore does not just show us the true nature of our Lord, Saviour and God, Jesus Christ, whom the prophet Daniel in the first reading had described in his vision of the things that was to come and be fulfilled in Jesus. But, as mentioned, this Feast of the Transfiguration also reminds all of us that we too should also walk the same path as Christ, and not to be afraid of facing the difficulties and challenges awaiting us if we walk the path towards God.

May our Lord continue to shine on our path, that we may continue to follow Him, taking up our own crosses, and to suffer the persecution and rejection of this world as He had once done, so that eventually in the end we will receive the crown of everlasting honour and glory, the deserved reward we should receive as part of our heavenly inheritance.

May Almighty God, Transfigured and Revealed in His glory and majesty be aith us, protect us and remain with us forever. Amen.