divine grace

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Friday, 15 November 2013 : 32nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Albert the Great, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops)

Brothers and sisters in Christ, the reading today, particularly that of our first reading today, can be no further from the truth. This is the reality facing mankind today. Our world has grown to be a world where people turned skeptical, especially against anything that they cannot truly prove by their common sense. Men believe the things that they can see and are awed by the achievements that they had made.

Mankind become ensnared in their own selves, and praise their own greatness, through the achievements they had accomplished. Mankind were not satisfied with just believing in God and all of His goodness, because the devil had sown in each one of us, distrust and lack of faith, the seeds of rebellion against God and His will.

They grow merry and indulge themselves in the pleasures of the world. They give no regards to the Lord or to His laws and precepts. They grow only to care for themselves and turned themselves against one another. They grow engrossed in the pleasures that they see and observe in this world, thinking at the same time that they are smarter and wiser than their Creator. Their attachment to the world, became their greatest undoing.

The Lord will punish these people who grew proud and become disrespectful of their Lord and God. This is sadly the things that is happening now in our world. Mankind grew more and more disrespectful of the Lord their Creator, being distracted by the pleasures of this world, and by the beauty of God’s creations themselves. They worshipped these, regarded these as thing of marvel and worthy of praise, and yet do not praise the very One who created them all, in their ignorance.

Take for example, the growing apathy for the faith and for God, which many people attributed to their attachment to ‘science’ and ‘reason’. They argued that they discarded their faith because of the advancement of science, which opened their eyes to reason and therefore, they argued again, opened their eyes and minds to rational thinking. Thus, they grew hostile to any ‘superstitions’ which to them is exemplified by none better than our faith itself.

These people allow their ego and their senses to delude them, into thinking that what is actually real is unreal. God is real, and He is truly present for us, with us, and even within us. Remember that it was Him who gave us life! And yet, because we cannot truly feel Him with our feeble and limited senses, we think of. Him as non-existent, and instead chose the things of creations that He made, as new object of marvel, and even to the point of worship.

Brethren, this was no different from how people in the past, in many different civilisations, and some even until today, worship the natural elements and other things of great wonders to us. They worship the sun, the stars, the moon, the trees, animals, and other natural objects, even this world itself. This is no different from what is happening today.

We may not worship these inanimate objects, the creations of God anymore, but we have done essentially the same in a different way. First, we worship money and all things of material, giving it great honour and place it foremost before all other things. Then, we also marvel a lot at our universe and its splendour, seeking to see more, understand more, and find out more about the mysteries of our universe, but doing these, without giving due honour to the One who created them all, that is God.

We tend to forget that these wondrous things are merely things created, and they are just like us. It is perfectly alright for us to go and observe them, observe and note the phenomena that happen around us, and learn from them, as it is in our nature to be curious and want to seek more. But what is not right is if we do not pay attention or honour the One who created them all, who is God. These things may indeed be distractions in our attempt to seek God if we are not careful.

Use science, learning, and wisdom of the world for good, that is to utilise them for good purposes, and for tools to help us on our way to reach God our Lord and Creator. Do not let them instead control us or corrupt us in any way. That is what St. Albert the Great, the saint whose feast we are celebrating today has exemplified through his own life. A pious saint, and yet a wise and well endowed saint, with the knowledge of the world and with great faith to the One who created all things.

St. Albert the Great was a religious who was made a bishop in the medieval era Europe, where he spent much of his time in intellectual pursuit, studying the ancient philosophers and various other knowledge. St. Albert the Great learnt a lot of knowledge and worldly wisdom, and it was reflected in his numerous writings and works. And yet, at the same time, his piety and zeal for the Lord burned brightly, and his faith is undimmed.

St. Albert the Great went around Europe at the time, preaching the Good News, and was particularly caring about the people who are without wisdom and knowledge. He established many institutions of learning and schools, aimed at bringing more people to be aware of their surroundings, understanding their existence, and the beauty of God’s creations, while at the same time rooting out any misunderstandings about the faith in the people.

Through St. Albert the Great, many souls were saved and taken away from damnation, by enlightening them with the knowledge of the world, and even more importantly by endowing them with greater understanding of the Lord their God and Creator. It is through him that many has been made aware of the love of God, and the care that He has for all of them.

Therefore, brothers and sisters, inspired by the example of St. Albert the Great and other saints, let us adore the Lord our God, and praise Him for His wonderful works, just as we adore and be captivated by the good things we observe around us. Let us not be distracted and be misled by the evil one, and let us make the effort, to strengthen our faith, that in all things we do, we will always proclaim the Lord, profess the Lord, and be with the Lord at all times. God bless us all. Amen.

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Wednesday, 13 November 2013 : 32nd Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brethren in Christ, today we listen again to the healing miracle of the ten lepers by the power of Christ our Lord. The Lord has authority over all things, as the Lord and Creator of all things in this universe. He alone has the power to alter everything as He saw fit. He had come down to us in Jesus His Son, to bring about concrete change to all of us, reaching out to us all as we are all in one way or another, sick.

Yes, we are sick, and we are ill, brethren! Not the illness of the physique or those that are visible to the eyes, but the illness that is inside our souls. This is what Christ had come to us to cure. For physical illnesses and diseases can have many cures but for this illness of the soul, there is only one and only cure, that is in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Jesus, as He Himself had said, came especially for the sick and for those who are downtrodden. And yes, we are all sickened, brothers and sisters, and this sickness, that is of our soul, is the illness of sin. Yes, sin is our suffering and the pain that had infected us, affected us, and made us all unworthy before God our Lord.

Sin is a leprosy, yes the most terrible form of leprosy indeed, that is the leprosy of the soul. All of us have sinned at one point of our lives, and indeed, even from day to day we have sinned and inflict on ourselves more and more of this leprosy. And just like leprosy, sin spread like disease, affecting all of us, corrupting the health of our souls. Sin has no bounds and it affects everything.

Yet, unlike our diseases of the body, which inflicts physical pain and suffering to us, which none of us would certainly like, sin is often enjoyable and even attractive to many of us, that we are constantly always tempted to commit sin in our daily lives. That is why, sin is so dangerous, and we all ought to be careful, lest we all fall into corruption of sin.

The Lord Jesus came to us to heal us from this affliction, just as He showed His power by healing the lepers, the paralysed, those with physical debilitation, as those with spiritual illness, as those whose demons He had cast out. But often, we are too proud to admit our sinfulness and indeed, this illness, this leprosy of our souls. We are like those portrayed by the Book of Wisdom in our first reading as the proud and the mighty, those who do not bend their knees to acknowledge our Lord, the Master of all.

We are also often like the nine other lepers, the ones who did not return to Jesus after knowing that they have been healed. Jesus did not ask them to give Him thanks or worship Him for what He had done, but yet the one leper, the Samaritan, returned and give thanks and glory to God. For he knew that it is God who is the One with the power and authority, healing him from the leprosy that had affected him.

We are often like the nine other lepers, because we are often too immersed in our joy and happiness, when we received good things from God, that we failed to give Him thanks for all the blessings He had granted us. We often even give glory to ourselves and praise ourselves instead of God. That is what happened to the nine other lepers, that they were so engaged in their happiness, that they dashed off back to their old lives without stopping and use the chance to thank God as the Samaritan had done.

Nevertheless, brethren, we must not think that God does not want us to be happy, as what He wants from us is merely our love for Him. It is only right and just that we thank Him for the multitudes that He had given us. Not the least of which, is the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. It is the greatest gift God had given us mankind, because in Jesus, we are saved and given a new lease of life, and He did this precisely by striking against that leprosy of the soul, that is sin!

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, today let us take time to reflect, whether for the many good things God had given us, we have thanked Him properly for them. God does not need us to utter a long litany of thanks, as what He truly needs is, none other than our love, and our wholehearted dedication to Him. May the Lord who loves us dearly, continue to bless us and watch over us, as we grow in His love. God bless us all. Amen.

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Tuesday, 12 November 2013 : 32nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Josaphat, Bishop and Martyr (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we are all servants of the Lord Most High, our God. We are the ones subservient to that great Lord the Creator of all of us, and all the universe. Yet, at the same time, He calls us sons and daughters, and brothers and sisters, as the ones whom He loved so dearly, that He gave us Himself through Jesus His Son, so that we can be saved, and be lifted up from our fate that is death, into a new life with Him, eternal in heaven.

For we were created by the Lord not to suffer nor to experience death and eternal suffering that is our fate. This is in fact because of the fall of our ancestors, who disobeyed God, that we too are made susceptible to the power of death. They obeyed their own desires and wishes instead of the will of God, and fell they did, succumbing to the allures and lies of the evil one, Satan the deceiver.

Satan was once Lucifer, the greatest and the mightiest one among all the angels of God. Beautiful and radiant, he was the most brilliant of all creations, and yet, he sowed evil in his hearts. He became proud and arrogant of his own beauty, might, and power. In the perfection and beauty he had been created, he craved greater power, that is to set his place above that of God Himself. Thus he rebelled against heaven and against God, and was felled and thrown down away from the glories he had once commanded.

Satan was certainly displeased at this, and therefore he seduced our ancestors, leading them away from God with false and empty promises of greatness, that they were cast out of heaven and the eternal glory set out for us. That is how we deserve death and destruction, because we have been tainted by sin and by rebelliousness. But God did not let us to just perish and be destroyed, because in  Jesus, He gave us a new hope.

Mankind cried out aloud to the Lord for the sufferings and injustice they had suffered, for we all, and our ancestors all had suffered greatly under the yoke of evil, that is sin. For sin, even though outwardly often look good and enticing, but in reality, it distorts us and bring pain to us, that is the pain and suffering of severance from the love of God and from God’s grace.

For although the Lord loves us and cares for us very much, but He is at the same time also a just and a righteous God, who cannot stand the presence of sin and disobedience against Him and His laws. Those who had committed sin, had rebelled and been disobedient against Him. And the punishment for such disobedience and rebelliousness is none other than death. And death that leads to hell, that is the total separation from God.

It is for this fate that we cry out to God, for mercy and for forgiveness, that we do not have to suffer this grievous fate. And out of His love, God sent us Jesus, to be our Redeemer, to make righteous again the whole assembly of the people of God, that everyone may not suffer death and eternal suffering, but be raised in glory with Christ, to reclaim the glories in life that we had lost in our rebelliousness.

Today, brethren, we celebrate the feast of St. Josaphat, also known as St. Josaphat Kuntsevych, a monk and later a great bishop of the Eastern Catholics. St. Josaphat lived a few hundred years ago, in what is now northern part of Ukraine. He lived at a time of great upheavals of the faith, which cost the faithful dearly and brought about many bitter emotions and feelings even to now, the present day.

Ever since the Universal Church’s unity was undermined by the series of heresies and breakups, there rose splinter groups claiming to hold the true faith in God. Many of these divisions eventually disappeared and the unity of the Universal Church was restored. But when the Eastern churches broke away from Rome over political and other petty issues over a thousand years ago, a great wound was created in the universal Church.

This is the reality of what faced St. Josaphat Kuntsevych, who grew up in an area of clashing ideologies. In the area where he lived, the population  was divided between the believers of the true Apostolic faith, and those who follow the churches that broke away from the Apostolic authority of the Church. St. Josaphat, upon his ministry and later on as a bishop of the Eastern Catholic community, had hard work laid out in front of him.

The people had mixed opinions about the faith in the Church, as they were in a way forced to comply with the decision of the state. Many of them belong to the Eastern Orthodox churches that broke away from the Universal Church over petty political and personal squabbles. The Union of Brest declared the reunion of all Christians in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth into the Universal Church of God. Thus the task of St. Josaphat was made very difficult, with the people even openly rebelling against the religious authorities.

St. Josaphat persevered through all of those tribulations and faithfully served the people entrusted to him, even though they were openly against him and his obedience to the Apostolic See, to the Church of God, one and true. He served faithfully and dutifully even unto his death at the hands of the people of whom he was the shepherd. St. Josaphat was murdered by an angry mob just outside of a church and his body was thrown into the river.

In sweet and holy martyrdom therefore, St. Josaphat was welcomed into the glory of heaven. Following the footsteps of Jesus who died for His people, St. Josaphat too chose to die to himself and bring glory to God, that salvation may draw closer to His people. We too can do the same. Let us all draw closer to the Lord our Master and the source of our salvation. May He forgive us from our sins and welcome us back into His loving embrace. God bless us all. Amen.

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Friday, 1 November 2013 : Solemnity of All Saints (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 23 : 1-2, 3-4ab, 5-6

The earth and its fullness belong to the Lord, the world and all that dwell in it. He has founded it upon the ocean and set it firmly upon the waters.

Who will ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who will stand in His holy place? Those with clean hands and pure heart, who desire not what is vain.

They will receive blessings from the Lord, a reward from God, their Saviour. Such are the people who seek Him, who seek the face of Jacob’s God.

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Saturday, 26 October 2013 : 29th Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflection)

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

Brethren, bear fruit and be bountiful in all our actions and graces. That is what the Lord wants from all of us, when He told us through His disciples, on the parable of the fig tree. We should not be barren and unproductive, as the fig tree that was barren.

Yes, we are the fig trees, and we have been given much ‘nutrients’ that is the love and the Spirit of the Lord, and this love within us has grown much, and then, comes what is expected from us, that we bear fruits from ourselves. The Lord can be likened to a farmer or a landlord, and this world, His field. We are then the seeds that the Lord had planted in this world, and in time, as we are nurtured in faith and love, we grow tall as a majestic plant, and in time, bear flowers and hence much fruits.

However, it does not mean that we can just remain idle. If we remain idle and do nothing, then we will never bear fruit. Although the Lord can be likened to the farmer of the field, we too are in a sense farmers of the field of the Lord, for we have to toil and labour for the sake of the plants that are ours, that they will grow healthy and bear bountiful products.

Plants can indeed grow without assistance, and even so, they can also bear fruit, but the results are usually not good, and the plant will likely look sick and weak. There are many threats to the healthy growth of a plant, especially for crop plants, such as weeds, diseases, lack of nutrients due to barren soil, heat and dryness, and many other factors. Equally so, there are many factors that help these plants to grow better, such as water, fertiliser, insecticides, and many others.

Therefore, by using these farming examples, just as Christ had done, let us take time to reflect on ourselves and on the actions we have taken in the past. When we look back at what we had done, especially in the past one week or so, have we noticed what we had done for the healthy growth of our faith? You may ask what is the relationship between the farming story and our own real lives, but they are indeed very clear, brethren.

For the plants indeed reflect ourselves and our own nature, the faith that is in us, the faith we have towards the One and True God. The plants cannot grow well or even die, if it is choked by weeds, or being competed out by the roots of those weeds, lacking nutrients for growth, and if the soil itself is lacking in the aforementioned nutrients. In human terms, this can be equated to the entanglement of sin, temptations of the world, and an environment without love.

In this world, brothers and sisters, it is getting more difficult for us, in order to ensure the healthy growth of our faith, that eventually it will bear fruits. This world offers us too much temptations at times, for many of us to be able to persevere, and we often give in to our desires. We become ensnared by the threads spun by the devil, and fell into state of sin. We also often live in environments not conducive for the development of healthy faith in God.

This is where, we need our fertilisers, insecticides, and basically everything fhat makes plants grow healthy, strong, and fruitful. Our fertiliser is our prayers, made in deep love, devotion, and faith in God our Lord. A good prayer life nurture our spiritual development, and we will also then be made ever closer to the Lord our God. Without prayer, we will not be able to get closer to God, and we will be more prone to the power of the devil and his temptations.

Therefore, brethren, let us begin from now on, to develop an ever more intimate relationship with God, especially by nurturing a healthy and deeply spiritual life, that our hearts will be ever filled with the love of God, thus helping us to grow strong in our faith, and ultimately to be fruitful, producing plenty of fruits. Yes, the fruits of the Holy Spirit are what we will richly produce from ourselves, in the love, hope, wisdom, and faith that pour out from the deepest depth of our hearts.

May the Lord who planted the seeds of faith and love in us continue to guide us, that we can nurture what is good inside us, that we can truly be fruitful, producing the richness of love, that we will be found worthy by the Lord our God when He comes again. God bless us all. Amen.

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Sunday, 13 October 2013 : 28th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Thanksgiving, especially giving thanks on what is due for us to give thanks for, is what is truly lacking in many of us. We do not give thanks to those who had done good things for us. Worse still, we often seek glory for ourselves, even for things that we do not do on our own, claiming honour and glory for ourselves, even of it is not rightful for us to do so.

That is the essence of the readings that we listened to today, brethren in Christ. A thanksgiving for the Lord who had shown us His care and love, and His dedication, one which we often overlook or simply forget, in the joy of the moment, after we had received the goodness of God.

The readings highlighted one of our major shortcomings throughout life, that is to forget the role of God in our lives, and to overlook Him and His role in favour of our own achievements and glory. That is what happened to the lepers who were healed from their afflictions, which out of ten, only one returned to the Lord to give Him thanks for His mercy and love.

We contrast this to the behaviour of Naaman, the Syrian, and one of the leper who is a Samaritan, who showed their affection to those who had done good unto them, thanking them sincerely on the love shown to them. They have done what is right in the eyes of the Lord, and therefore were made righteous.

Why use the example of a Syrian and a Samaritan? Firstly, I want to highlight the importance of understanding the true desire of the Lord in promoting the right attitude and mindset to His people. He did not intend the examples to highlight the differences between the people of Israel and the ‘pagan’ peoples around them.

Why so? That is because, the people of Israel, having been chosen as the people of God through the covenant God had renewed with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their descendants, they have always thought of themselves to be special. That they are always the good ones, the upright, and the ones ensured salvation as their birthright.

They have always looked at the pagans in disgust and contempt, considering them damned and evil, while in fact, as we all know, as written throughout the Old Testament and even the New, as they had rebelled against God, tested Him, doubted Him, and even abandoned Him for other gods, the golden calf, and the false gods of the people of Canaan who lived around them. They had done what is wicked in the eyes of God and did not repent, but grew to be ever worse and deeper in their wickedness

Thus, in line with their stubbornness and God’s love for all mankind, without exception, He had sent Jesus His Son, to reveal the true nature of His love for all. He wanted to show Israel their wickedness and the need for them to repent, as well as for them to realise that being the first chosen people of God does not give them an excuse for their sinfulness, and that they in fact, should welcome all mankind as fellow brothers and sisters in God.

It is important for us to be warm and welcoming, as well as open to others around us, not to be quick to judge and condemn us, but instead seek on what is good within us, and embrace one another with love. That, is what the Lord truly desires from us, not our length prayers of the mouth, nor our empty obedience, but the love and commitment from our heart, for the sake of one another, and for God Himself.

Jesus our Lord, the Son of God had been sent into this world that through Him we may gain healing and new life, that we abandon the darkness of evil and this world, for the light of Jesus who is the light of the world, healing us from our afflictions that are sins and wickedness of the evil one. He had been sent to heal us from the sickness that engulf us, be it physically or spiritually, just as He healed the ten lepers who came to Him for healing and mercy.

That is why, I have to reiterate again of the importance of thanksgiving and gratitude, for there is no greater thing that we have ever observed in the history of creation, other than the ultimate sacrifice Christ had went through for us, for our sake, that we will not die an eternal death but live a life eternal, and live through not an eternal punishment but an eternal joy with God.

We have to beware of this leprosy, the true leprosy of the soul, that is our pride, arrogance and lack of gratitude for the Lord and His love and instead trusting our own feeble human power. We tend to think good of ourselves and do not give thanks and glory to God. We are often ignorant of the love that God has shown to all of us, not least of which, in the giving of Himself through Jesus Christ His Son, He had made us all whole and worthy once again, rescued from hell and given the promise of eternal life, as long as we remain faithful and true to His ways.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, let us commit ourselves to cast far, far away this leprosy, the sickness of our soul, away from us, that we cast away the evils and sins from ourselves, purifying our heart, body, and soul in the light of Christ, the light that cast away all the illusions of Satan, the impurities and corruptions of this world, and made ourselves whole and pure again in God.

Today, Pope Francis, the Vicar of Christ on this world, will consecrate this world, the entire world, to the care of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in our Lady of Fatima, the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the Mother of God, through whom Jesus Christ our Lord is born into this world. And therefore, just as she had cared and loved her Son Jesus with all of her heart and all of her love, she too will from now on take care and love our world and all those who live in it, that is all of us, brothers and sisters, all mankind as one.

This world, brothers and sisters, is in great darkness, under the power of evil and Satan, where brothers hurt brothers, where sisters slander sisters, and where mankind slay one another in hatred. It is where violence and injustice are the common order of the day. It is where mankind dwells in their pride, and disobeys God’s commandments and spurns His love on daily basis. It is the perfect example of leprosy of the soul that I have mentioned earlier on.

That is why, through entrusting this world to the care and intercession of Mary, the Mother of our Lord Jesus, we hope that this world can become a better world, and be healed of this sickness, the leprosy of sin and evil that had infected us all for way too long. It is time for us all, with the help and assistance of Mary, the Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, and through her, with the power and might of God Himself, to break free entirely from the chains of slavery that had bound us for all these times.

May the Lord our loving and merciful God look away from the sins we had committed, and as we approach His throne of love and mercy, may He welcome us back into His embrace, and bless us with His eternal love and grace. May Mary, His Mother also continue to pray for us and care for us in the same way that she had shown Jesus her love, while He was on earth. God bless us all. Amen.

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Sunday, 6 October 2013 : 27th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard the great importance of the faith and love we have in God, because they empower us and give us strength to do many magnificent things. It does not matter whether we have a small or a large faith, since all of these are truly perceptional by us, and what truly matters is in fact, whether we truly have a real faith and devotion to the Lord our God.

Faith is the key component of our life and our salvation. We cannot love God without faith, and vice versa, as we also need love to be able to have faith in God. That is why, faith and love are paramount virtues and values we must have, if we are to be saved in Christ, and receive His grace and love. Faith and love are the essential components of our lives and ought to be the centre of our very lives.

With faith, everything is possible, and certainly, our Lord and God is faithful to us, even when we have that very little faith in Him. This lack of faith is precisely the reason why, if we read the Old Testament, why the people of God, that is Israel, rebelled against God and His love so often, that He casted them out of His sight in anger. And even so, He still have faith in these rebellious children, sending prophets after prophets, and messengers after messengers, in order to convince them to repent their sinful ways and return to Him and His love.

That even in the New Testament, the lack of faith and love in God’s people is why they are so stubborn, and continue in their sinful ways, especially the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, who sought their own glory instead of the glory of God, and led the people into sinning against God. They even rejected Jesus, God’s own beloved Son, the Word made flesh, to bring salvation to the people and condemned Him to die on the cross.

And yet, it is the Lord’s perfect faith and undying love in us that enabled us to be saved through the loving sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, that the offer of salvation and freedom of all evil and sin be extended to all mankind. God can just choose to obliterate us all and condemn all of us to oblivion, and that was indeed the much easier course for Him to take. After all, we have rebelled against Him with Satan, and corrupted His creations with our sins and evils.

And yet, He chose the hard way, to bear all of our sins upon Himself, and to suffer the consequences of all those sins, culminating in His death on the cross at Calvary, when He gave up His life, so that we may not die, but gain new life in Him, who is risen from the dead, rising with Him into glory. All these are because the Lord never abandons us, and He is always with us, loving us tenderly and providing us day by day.

That is why, brothers and sisters in Christ, even if our faith in the Lord is just a little, but if that faith is genuine, we can truly do great things with it. The Lord always provides, brethren, and He never fails to do so. His power and authority is exercised in us when we have faith and love for Him, no matter how small it is. After all, we can never accomplish something, if we merely remain idle and believe that we re incapable of achieving anything.

Let me tell you all a story, a simple illustration on this idea of how important faith is in our life. There are two boys in a school, with similar performance in their academics and their studies overall. They are in two different classes, with two different teachers. In this case, both boys are taught very differently from one another.

One boy was taught to be positive in learning, and whenever he failed or did badly in his examinations, the teacher encourages him and convinces him that failure is not necessarily something bad, but in fact as an opportunity for one to learn from past mistakes and make improvements in the future.

The other boy, on the other hand, was taught by a very strict and authoritarian teacher, who always demands result from the students, and always punish severely those who performed badly in their examinations. The boy failed a few times during his studies and was reprimanded by his teacher.

Therefore, in your opinion, brethren in Christ, which among these two boys will likely have a better performance in the end? Certainly it is the boy whom the teacher always encouraged him whenever he failed and did not perform well in his studies. Yes, the one who will perform better is the one whose teacher gives strength and hope at times of despair, one who can therefore develop faith in themselves and their own abilities, and thus will be capable and more motivated to do better in studies or anything else.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, as we heed the words of Christ and the prophets today, let us open ourselves and our hearts to God’s divine love, that He will sow the seeds of faith in us, that our faith and love for Him may grow, and grow well, that we will be firm in our devotion to the Lord our God. Let us not be fearful of any evil, or any troubles, as the Lord will surely take care of us, if we keep strong and burning, the faith and love that is in us.

May the Lord our God strengthen our faith, that with whatever little faith that is in us, we will stay true to the path of the Lord, and remain committed to fulfill His commandments through our actions and our words. May God who is loving and faithful, keep us within His embrace and bring us one day to heaven that is our reward. God bless us all. Amen.

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Friday, 27 September 2013 : 25th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Vincent de Paul, Priest (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today Christ revealed His identity to His disciples, after asking them whether they know who He truly was. And the prophet Haggai in the first reading, comforted the people of God who laid in ruins after they returned to the land the Lord had given them after a long exile in Babylon.

In Christ, the Son of God, the world has been given the salvation that God had promised for them. In Christ, who is not mere man but a divine made man, the world achieve a fullness of glory in the Lord, the perfection that has been taken from us when we became lost after our rebellion at the beginning of Creation.

Christ is the fulfillment of God’s promise to mankind over time which He renewed through the prophets, and finally perfected in Jesus. God resolved to rebuild the destroyed mankind that they once again become His beloved ones, freed from sins and slavery to the worldly pleasures and sins.

Yet, although He is a conquering King who comes to destroy death and sin, and be triumphant over all evils, but He came as a humble King, One who is destined to suffer and die. Yes, death for our sake, that through the death, we may not die but live eternal with Him. He is the Lamb of God, the One to be slaughtered and whose Blood is to be shed, for the sake of all of us, for our salvation.

Although He is great and mighty, He faced suffering, persecution, and death, that He took in into Himself all the sins and sufferings of mankind, that we do not have to suffer them for eternity, and instead enjoy life everlasting in happiness with God. This is the renewal the Lord promised to the returned exiles of Israel through the prophet Haggai and the other leaders of the people. The renewal God had sent through His own Son, Jesus Christ.

The Lord loves us so much, that He was not willing to see us to suffer with the devil in eternal fire, to suffer for the consequences of our sins and faults. That was why He sent us Jesus, to be our Help, our Hope, and our Way, to return to Him, to reclaim the true joy, happiness, and the inheritance that we had forsaken when we disobeyed Him in the garden of Eden.

All that, and He was ready to endure lashes, torture, nails, and the cross itself.  The Lord Jesus walked that arduous path towards Calvary, enduring the weight of that cross, bleeding from His wounds, to die a criminal’s death on the cross, in Calvary, for our sake. Imagine the combined weight of the world’s sins, that is the sins of all mankind. That was the weight of the burden which caused Christ much pain and suffering, and He endured it.

At the same time, through that sacrifice of Himself, God had made His love for His people evident, by the giving of Himself for out sake. He gave us all new hope and light in life. Remember, before the glorious cross, the cross of Christ resurrected from the dead, there is always the cross of suffering, that is the cross taken up by the Christ suffering for our sins.

We cannot abandon the Christ, both in His glory and in His time of greatest humiliation on the cross, the humiliation that he turned into glory. That is why, brethren, we have a mission that has been given to all of us and that is to proclaim the crucified Christ to all people, to all the nations, especially to those who have yet to hear about the wondrous Christ and His works of salvation.

Today, we commemorate the feast of St. Vincent de Paul, one of the great saints in the Church, who was well known for his commitment to the Lord, especially to the weak, the poor, and the unloved. St. Vincent de Paul was born in France and was educated to be a faithful and good follower of Christ, when he was captured among many by the Algerian pirates running rampant in the region during his time, and was made into a slave.

St. Vincent de Paul was enslaved and sold to a renegade Catholic owner, until he managed to convince him to return to the faith, who then helped to get St. Vincent to be released from his slavery. He then committed the rest of his life as a worker of the Lord, caring for the last, the lost, and the least in the society, emphasizing on the need to give love to these people, and not abandon them to the darkness.

St. Vincent de Paul was particularly caring about those who were enslaved, being once a slave himself, and showed them the true nature of Christian love, that is dedication and the giving of oneself for the sake of others in need. He was truly the embodiment of who we all Christians ought to become, to be people for others, to be faithful disciples of the Lord who is Love.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us follow the examples of St. Vincent de Paul, making real our faith in this world, through our dedication and service to our brethren in need. We do not have to do big things, but what we can do is, to do even simple things to those around us, to those whom we meet along the way, giving them simple acts of love.

Even these small acts are significant, brethren, and we must not discount them for bigger and more ambitious acts of charity, as it is in these small acts that we can do daily that truly make the difference, and truly bring out the love that we have in us, and sharing it with one another. St. Vincent de Paul, pray for us always, that in all the things we do, we may be more inspired to be charitable and loving. God bless us all, always. Amen.

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Monday, 23 September 2013 : 25th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Pius of Pietrelcina, Priest (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters, we are children of the light! Therefore, we too should be bright with the light that is within each one of us, and show it boldly to the world. We once lived in darkness and belong to the darkness, but the Lord who is loving and who is ever merciful had ransomed us from the dark through His own sacrifice on the cross, that we are made the possessions of the Light, that is Jesus our Lord and God.

Yes, brethren, in today’s first reading from the Book of Ezra the priest, the people of Israel, who had lived long in darkness, in the great depths of sin, and who had been sent into exile in Babylon for their sins, had been remembered and forgiven. God had brought them back out of darkness into the light, that they once again become His people, under the leadership of Ezra the servant of God and through Cyrus, the first Persian Emperor.

Although they had sinned greatly, that of their ancestors and their transgressions, the Lord who loved all was willing to regain them into His embrace, gathering them from all over back to the land He had promised them. The same He had done for them when they were oppressed in the land of Egypt. And so, He could not let Himself to abandon us who lived in darkness, and resolved to send the great deliverance, the Light of the world in Jesus.

Through Jesus, the world had received a new light, the light of God, that we may no longer live in darkness, but in the light. In each and every one of us who had been accepted into the Church through baptism, a light has been given, that is the light of Christ, which we witnessed through the presentation of baptismal candle at the time we were baptised. In baptism, we are made to be the belongings of Christ, and therefore become children of the light.

We are also given talents and skills within us, that each one of us possess these unique set of skills and abilities, that we are often ignorant about or fail to utilise effectively, and often even try to hide within ourselves for various reasons, some of which are fear, lack of confidence, ignorance, and many others that made us fail to shine.

Yes, in fact Christ is challenging us, whether we can truly get rid of these human fears and be courageous instead to be the witnesses of the Gospel of truth, the Good News He had proclaimed to the nations. In this way, this is how we truly shine brightly as the children of the light, on a lampstand, clearly visible and not hidden in darkness.

Fear and plain reluctance often comes in the way, with many of us lacking the confidence to make our light truly be seen, be it because of fear of our society, the fear of rejection by others, or pure laziness and sloth. In each of us, we had been given many gifts and graces, brethren, and therefore, much is also expected from us. We cannot be idle and hide the light in ourselves, excluding others from it.

This light within us, is manifested most easily in love. Yes, the love for God and for His children, our brothers and sisters. We show forth our light if we open ourselves and our hearts for others and for God, that from it, the purity of our love, care, and compassion may shine forth, dispelling the darkness the devil had created around us.

Today, we celebrate the feast of a great and well-known saint, that is Padre Pio of Italy, also known as St. Pius of Pietrelcina, one of the greatest saint of the last century, being widely known for his piety, his dedication, in his tireless ministry and service for others, in his healings and miracles, and through his life examples. He was known as a truly holy, pious, and saintly man, and this would not have happened, had he not revealed his faith like that of a lamp on a lampstand.

Padre Pio lived humbly and piously as a religious, as a Franciscan monk, who was well known for his stigmata miracle, in which the crucifixion wounds of Christ appeared on his hands and feet. He was harassed by the devil at many times in his life and he suffered, both from the pain of the miraculous stigmata, as well as rejection by the people of God at times. Yet, Padre Pio, now St. Pio/Pius persevered and endured in his hard work, for the good of the people and resolved to bring them to salvation in Jesus.

St. Pius championed the good works of divine grace, ministering healing and miracles even when he was still alive, and the stigmata showed to many, the nature of God’s love for us, that is the crucifixion of His Son, Jesus, through which we are saved. St. Pio became a great role model for many, through his humility, through his passionate service and love for all God’s children, and through his holiness, evident from his daily actions and prayers. He also put a great emphasis on the Most Holy Eucharist, in which lies the Lord Himself in the form of His Body and His Blood.

Therefore, brothers and sisters, with the example of this great saint, known to many of us as Padre Pio, the great servant of God and the worker of miracles, let us be inspired to follow him in his examples, in his prayerful devotion to God and in his loving commitment to one another, that is to our brethren around us, especially those in most need of our love and help. May St. Pius intercede for us always, that the Lord will constantly keep us in His love and grace and protect us always from the power of Satan, and bring us back into His divine embrace. God bless us all. Amen.

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Saturday, 21 September 2013 : Feast of St. Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Ephesians 4 : 1-7, 11-13

Therefore I, the prisoner of Christ, invite you to live the vocation you have received. Be humble, kind, patient, and bear with one another in love. Make every effort to keep among you the unity of Spirit through bonds of peace. Let there be one body and one spirit, for God, in calling you, gave the same Spirit to  all.

One Lord, one faith, one baptism. One God, the Father of all, who is above all and works through all and is in all. But to each of us divine grace is given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. As for His gifts, to some He gave to be apostles, to others prophets, or even evangelists, or pastors and teachers.

So He prepared those who belong to Him for the ministry, in order to build up the Body of Christ, until we are all united in the same faith and knowledge of the Son of God. Thus we shall become the perfect Man, upon reaching maturity and sharing the fullness of Christ.