Divine Love

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Saturday, 21 December 2013 : 3rd Week of Advent, Memorial of St. Peter Canisius, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Priests)

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the feast day of one of the great saints of the past centuries, that is of St. Peter Canisius, also known as Peter Canis or Petrus Canisius. He was a German who joined the then growing and newly established Society of Jesus, founded by St. Ignatius of Loyola. St. Peter Canisius also happen to be the saint whose name, together with that of St. Peter the Apostle, I adopted as my own name at baptism, because both of them are truly inspiring role models to me.

St. Peter Canisius lived during a time of great difficulty for the Church, because at that time, numerous people were swayed under the heresy of Protestantism, which spread like wildfire, based on ignorant and fallacious teachings and ideas of men. These ideas were manipulated by some to gain followers and broke apart the unity of the Church. This was particularly bad in Germany, where numerous occurrences of the mentioned heresies happened.

Yet St. Peter Canisius was not to be daunted by challenges, and he put his full trust in the Lord and spearheaded the efforts countering the damaging effects of the Protestant heresy. He and several other leaders such as St. Ignatius of Loyola were crucial in the process of Counter-Reformation, where these courageous leaders fought to stem the tide of corruption on the faithful and return them to the one true faith in God.

The problem was that we have grown lax in our faith, and we no longer stay truly faithful to the Lord. And neither did we put our trust in the Lord, trusting rather more the forces of this world, and our own feeble abilities and desires. Faith is weakened when we no longer put ourselves completely in God’s hands, and evil may enter our hearts. The same, then, happened as it had, during the heresy, which sadly continues all the way until even today.

At that time, indeed, the Church had grown powerful, and it had gained many worldly properties and accumulated much influence and wealth. That was when human desires and the corrupting power of Satan entered into the Church. The Church became a nest of impurities, debauchery, and sinfulness, far from being the holy congregation of the Lord’s faithful ones. Popes, cardinals, bishops and priests were influenced by the forces of the world and quite a few of them were corrupted.

Indeed, many of those who had submitted themselves to Protestant heresies, would argue that the very reason why they broke away from the one and only Church of God was because of its impurities, such that as if the Church no longer had any legitimacy or spiritual authority over the faithful. They elected their own leaders and established their own so-called ‘churches’ in the delusion of righteousness that they experienced.

Yes, that delusion in fact served the purposes of the devil. Some of the proponents and leaders of the heresies had truly noble intents in their actions, but many if not all were eventually succumbed to the designs of the evil one. Instead of helping to reform the Church and purge the impurities out of the holy Church, they succumbed to their own human vanity, pride, and stubbornness, and broke apart the unity of the One Body of Christ, that is the Church.

Remember what the Lord had said, that He is the vine and we are the branches. In the unity of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, the one and only Church, that is our Church, we live in grace and love because of the love and life-giving strength that God bestowed upon us through that unity. Broken and torn apart from that unity, those splinters withered and died, just as history itself had proven to us.

“There were as many churches as there were heads.” Such was the sayings that time, when numerous churches were founded and established, and each with their own ideas and own way of interpreting the messages of the Lord, and therefore, confirming further the devil’s hold on many souls and on the hearts of mankind. Many of these ‘heads’ could not agree upon each other on what they were to believe in God and about God.

They quarrelled, fought, debated, and wasted much energy doing nothing but attacking each other and badmouthing each other, blaspheming that in doing so, they obeyed and followed God’s will. The devil sowed the seeds of distrust, division, and strife among the people of God. Instead of the intended good, only evil and division came out of the events.

That was what St. Peter Canisius was so eager to combat, the divisions within the Church and among the faithful ones. He championed both the reform within the Church as well as the deliverance of those who had lapsed and went outside of the saving grace of Christ in the Church. He led the Jesuit order to restore the faith in his native Germany. And he made great successes there, converting many thousands upon thousands back to the true faith.

St. Peter Canisius stemmed the tide of heresy, from what is an unstoppable wave into a controllable tide. He championed reaching out to those who had fallen away from the faith and explaining to them in great clarity and truth, the truth about the One and True faith, our Catholic faith. That was why St. Peter Canisius was also well known for his contribution to Catholic education. He educated the faithful of the future, as well as future zealous and dedicated teachers of the faith who would bring back the faithful back into the Church.

The Catechisms written by St. Peter Canisius helped many to return to their true faith in God, explaining the faith in clear terms to the people. His Mariology and devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary was also exemplary, and in fact laid the foundations of much of the devotion to the Blessed Mother of God as we know today. It was he who included the phrase, ‘Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners” to the Hail Mary prayer.

Indeed, seeing the examples of the life of this saint, St. Peter Canisius, we see how much we need to come closer to God, and dedicate ourselves even more intimately to Him. We cannot separate ourselves from the Lord, or we risk the corruption of evil, through the ways of this world. To keep ourselves close to the Lord, with the help of His Blessed mother, is to keep our faith pure and acceptable to the Lord.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, as we come even closer to the celebration of Christmas, and as we rejoice in this feast day commemorating the great Doctor of the Church and the Defender of the Faith, St. Peter Canisius, let us heed the lesson on the importance of our faith, and how important it is to make sure that we adhere to the teachings and to the will of God, putting aside our human ego, our human weaknesses, and all the temptations of the world.

Instead, let us open ourselves fully and completely to the Lord, and the Lord who loves us completely and dedicatedly will grant us His endless blessings and graces. Let us also follow in the footsteps of St. Peter Canisius, preaching the truth about the Lord, especially to our separated brethren. Proclaim the truth to them and reveal to them the fullness of the Lord’s saving power, and what is true faith in the Lord, that is in the teachings of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, the one and only Church of God.

St. Peter Canisius, pray for us, and help us that we may be strong in our faith and remain vigilant against the powers and temptations of the evil one. May the Lord too watch over us, and love us dearly and tenderly as He had always done. May the prayer of our Lord Jesus Christ, Ut Omnes Unum Sint, that they all may be one, come true, that all the faithful ones in God can be reunited once again, purging themselves of all the errors of human judgments, emotions, and thinkings. Amen.

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Wednesday, 18 December 2013 : 3rd Week of Advent (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the day is coming indeed, when the Lord will come again to be with His people, at which time, He will gather all those who remained faithful to Him and to His ways and His laws, rewarding them with the promises He had shown to them.

This coming Christmas, which celebration we are preparing for in this Advent season, celebrates indeed the already past coming of Christ, promised to the people of God through the prophets, which had happened in the birth of Jesus Christ the Messiah, as the Son of the virgin, given with power and authority as the Word of God made flesh. This was the first coming of the Lord, and one which we are most familiar with, but there is yet another dimension for Christmas.

This other dimension, is the awaiting of the promised Second Coming, when Christ will come again to be with His people. Remember that Christ is also called Emmanuel, which means that God is with us. God is indeed always with us, even though He may not be visible physically to us, and many of us indeed question if He even exists at all!

God loves us, brethren, very, very much. He does not abandon His people when they were in need, and He sent them many help along the way, in the form of the prophets, messengers, and many other forms unknown to us. It is mankind who often spurned His love and rejected His help, and yet we complained because we thought that God did not care for us.

And He showed that by making Himself as one of us, He who is divine, almighty, omnipotent and all powerful beyond measure, would lower Himself to be a lowly and weak human like us. That was the proof of our Lord’s love and dedication for all of us. And by doing that, He truly made complete His own promises, that He will be with us, as God who is not distant and uncaring on the conditions and plights of His people. Instead, He became one of us, like one of us, with all of our human weaknesses, emotions, and others, save for sin.

And as mentioned, Jesus came into this world not just for leisure or for holiday, or to enjoy His time with us all. Yes, indeed, He did enjoy the time He had while He was in this world. He was happy, surrounded by all His beloved ones, and even though He faced stiff oppositions from those who hated Him, He continued to seek for their redemption and return to the path towards salvation.

He came so that He can lead us all to be free from sin, our slavery by sins and evil! Yes, just as the people of Israel, the first to be chosen by God, had been liberated from their slavery in Egypt, the Lord too would liberate every men and women from their slavery by sin, ever since sin first entered into the hearts of mankind.

And while He sent Moses to be His tool for the deliverance of Israel, to be His tool and to represent His hand in delivering salvation and freedom to the people of God, He spared no expense in liberating us all, for ever, from the slavery under sin. He gave mankind hope in the words He had revealed to the messengers and prophets He had risen for mankind through the ages. And those words, promises and prophecies were fulfilled perfectly when Jesus came into this world, and when He fulfilled the long drawn plan of salvation.

Jesus is the Lord Himself who came to be our deliverer, to be the shepherd to lead us all out of the darkness of sin into the light of God, just as Moses led the people through the desert. And that is what we are going to celebrate about in Christmas, and what we are rejoicing for. We do not rejoice for the physical gifts, gadgets, and all the good things that we receive from each other during gift exchange at Christmas. We rejoice because of Jesus, who came unto us born as a humble man, which we celebrate as Christmas.

Sadly, just as the people of Israel grumbled and protested against the Lord because of the difficulties they faced along the way, we too often grumble and rebel whenever things do not go our way. We often prefer to choose the easy way out, and disobey God and His will. The people of Israel indulged themselves in the worship of the pagan gods, the golden calf and the gods of the people around them, enjoying the corrupted fruits of the world. So we too often enjoy the corrupted fruits of this world.

As we approach Christmas, brethren, we ought to take some time and reflect. Have we all made our Christmas truly centred on Christ? Have we all made Christ to be the One we celebrate with joy this Christmas? And not just this Christmas but from now on henceforth? It is not an easy path that we will have to take and endure, but if we make the effort, we will be well rewarded.

Let us all make the commitment to seek the Lord Jesus, who came to save us all and liberate us from the slavery under the power of sin. Let us all come and seek Him and follow Him, on the way towards salvation in Him, and let us always be faithful and remain loving towards our God and our Saviour. May the Lord continue to strengthen us, bless us, and watch over us as we walk through this life in this world. God be with us all. Amen.

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Wednesday, 18 December 2013 : 3rd Week of Advent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Matthew 1 : 18-24

This is how Jesus Christ was born : Mary His mother had been given to Joseph in marriage, but before they lived together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.

Then Joseph, her husband, made plans to divorce her in all secrecy. He was an upright man, and in no way did he want to discredit her. While he was pondering over this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, descendant of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. She has conceived by the Holy Spirit, and now she will bear a Son. You shall call Him ‘Jesus’ for He will save His people from their sins.”

All this happened in order to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet : ‘The virgin will conceive and bear a Son, and He will be called Emmanuel, which means : God-with-us.’

When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had told him to do, and he took his wife to his home.

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Tuesday, 17 December 2013 : 3rd Week of Advent (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we approach closer and closer to Christmas. It is just another week before we once again celebrate the first coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, who was born in the city of David, in Bethlehem over two millenia ago. The coming of the Lord as the Messiah, or the Saviour of all had been foretold long before His birth, through the revelations made through the prophets and the numerous messengers sent by God to His people, to tell them of the great joy of that Good News.

God is faithful to His promises and sought their fulfillment in the coming of the Messiah, born of the family of David, as a fulfillment of His promise to Israel, to those who had remained faithful to Him. He promised David, that his descendant will rule forever in a kingdom that is without end, and the same He had promised to Abraham, that his descendants would be innumerable and great. And not least of all, God promised even our first ancestors, from the very beginning, that He would not abandon them to the works of the evil one.

Mankind had indeed erred ever since the beginning, when they first tasted the fruits of sin, in contempt of the love of God for them, trusting more in the sweet but poisonous words of Satan rather than the loving words of God. Adam and Eve were lured into the trap of the devil, who promised them knowledge, greatness, and glory, by disobeying God. Indeed, the Lord loved them and gave them all the blessings He had intended for them, but He also set specific rules for them, to keep them away from sinfulness and thus, destruction.

Mankind were created pure, without knowing even an ounce of sin and evil. Evil was unknown to them, and all creations were created good and perfect. Yet, you may indeed ask then, why did God even plant such a dangerous tree, the tree of knowledge of good and evil, so that our ancestors might eat from them? Would it not be better for that tree to be not present at all?

Well, brethren, indeed, although all creations were created good and perfect, it was the devil himself who first ruined the order of the universe, through his own pride, jealousy, and vanity, desiring none other than the throne of God and to supersede God in his pride. Evil therefore was made to exist in the world, and that was why, God contained that evil and prevented our ancestors from knowing them, that they would not be corrupted as the devil had been.

After mankind fell to the temptations of the evil one, God could easily have obliterated them and destroyed them, for they have followed in the path of rebellion of Satan. Yet, He did not do so, and although He punished them for their disobedience, banishing them from the bliss and joy of Eden, to labour and work hard on barren earth, but deep inside, the Lord loved us still, and loved us deeply He did.

We have known good and evil, and therefore, we have the capacity for good or for evil. And that was exactly what mankind had done all these while. We had done much good, but also much evil. And evil and sin are the thongs that prevented us from reuniting ourselves with God, for God is good and perfect, and sin has no place before Him. As long as we remained sinful and rebellious, we cannot be with God.

That was why, for a long while, ever since the beginning, God had prepared a comprehensive plan of salvation. One that He first told our ancestors and the devil himself, as a premonition of what will happen. He chose those who were righteous and just, who disdained sin and rejected the sinful temptations of the devil, beginning with Noah, whom He called and rescued from among all mankind and their wickedness in the Ark, and then to Abraham and his descendants, the chosen ones of God.

And He chose David, a faithful servant, through whom the long planned salvation plan would continue, and although both his ancestors and descendants did not remain faithful to Him, sometimes even committing things very evil in the eyes of God, the Lord continued on, as He certainly knew what will eventually happen. And He revealed part by part His plan to the numerous prophets and messengers He had sent to His people, to call them to repent from their sinfulness.

And while some did heed His call, many continued to defy Him and turned deaf ears against His words delivered through the prophets. In fact, they persecuted and rejected these prophets and messengers, and even slaughtering them. Even John the Baptist, who prepared the way for the coming of Christ, they rejected, ridiculed, and eventually brought to death.

After a long while, in Jesus, the salvation itself finally arrived. God Himself incarnate into man, to be one of us. He did this for no other reason than that first He might reveal to His beloved children, of what He had intended for them, in all its fullness, and most importantly, to be a sacrificial victim, a worthy sin offering to take away from us, all the taints of sin that separated us from God. He became the way, and the only way between us and God our Father.

After hearing what the Lord had done and what He had planned, and what He had done through Jesus, as we all know from the Holy Scriptures, now it is our time to think, and to reflect on our own actions, and on the reality of our own sinfulness.

Yes, brethren, we have received the word of God and His revelations, as part of our faith, and we have indeed accepted Jesus as our Lord and Saviour. But have we truly lived in the way that Christ had taught us? Have we all remained faithful to His laws and commandments of love? Just as it was in the past, our world and our surroundings presented to us many tempting challenges and offers, those that many of us and those before us had taken up.

We professed our faith in God, and yet many of our actions still did not reflect this faith we have in Him. We are no better than those Pharisees and the chief priests who outwardly professed their faith and yet had no love for the Lord in them.

As we approach ever closer to the celebration of Christmas, let us all renew and strengthen our love for God, that we will be able to commit fully to the Lord and walk faithfully in His path. Let us all renew our faith in Him and profess it through not just our words, but also our actions. Let us all be courageous to proclaim our faith in God, that we truly believe in our Saviour, Jesus Christ, the long awaited Messiah.

May this Advent season be a fruitful one for all of us, that we make best use of the time to prepare ourselves for the celebration of Christ’s coming into this world. Let us all prepare ourselves, that we rid ourselves of sin and wickedness, that we all be pure and ready to welcome our Saviour, that when He comes again, we will be found worthy for the eternal joy and rewards He had promised us. God bless us all. Amen.

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Tuesday, 17 December 2013 : 3rd Week of Advent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Matthew 1 : 1-17

This is the account of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, Son of David, Son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers.

Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah (their mother was Tamar),  Perez was the father of Hezron, and Hezron of Aram. Aram was the father of Aminadab, Aminadab of Nahshon, Nahshon of Salmon.

Salmon was the father of Boaz. His mother was Rahab. Boaz was the father of Obed. His mother was Ruth. Obed was the father of Jesse. Jesse was the father of David, the king. David was the father of Solomon. His mother had been Uriah’s wife.

Solomon was the father of Rehoboam. Then came the kings : Abijah, Asaph, Jehoshaphat, Joram, Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, Manasseh, Amon, Josiah. Josiah was the father of Jechoniah and his brothers at the time of the deportation to Babylon.

After the deportation to Babylon, Jechoniah was the father of Salathiel and Salathiel of Zerubbabel. Zerubbabel was the father of Abiud, Abiud of Eliakim, and Eliakim of Azor. Azor was the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Akim, and Akim the father of Eliud. Eliud was the father of Eleazar, Eleazar of Matthan, and Matthan of Jacob.

Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and from her came Jesus who is called the Christ – the Messiah. There were then fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, and fourteen generations from David to the deportation to Babylon, and fourteen generations from the deportation to Babylon to the birth of Christ.

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Monday, 16 December 2013 : 3rd Week of Advent (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Brothers and sisters in Christ, the Lord is our teacher and our guide, the One who would bring enlightenment to this darkened world of ours, dark in the depth of the ocean of sin, which promotes ignorance, indifference, and even hostility against the infinite and gracious love and kindness of the Lord. He came in Jesus, incarnated into man, so that He might teach His own people directly, on the truth about God and His plan for all of us.

Jesus taught with clear authority, and He showed forth His infinite wisdom and intellect even as He taught the people. He showed them the revelation of the Lord’s Good News to mankind and showed them the truth about what God has prepared for all of us, that is salvation, and the promise of eternal life. He did not make up anything in His teachings, because all that He taught was the truth and is truth.

And although many things had been revealed through the prophets and the words in the Scripture, many still adamantly and obstinately refused to believe in Christ and in what He had taught them. They questioned Him and even His authority, even though they had eyes to see and ears to listen to what Christ had done, which would have been far more than enough to show the authority of the Messiah.

They doubted Him and refused to believe what He would tell them. They ignored His advice to them, and even plotted for His downfall. Such was the reception of a people for whom Christ Himself has come down upon this world for, to the point that He would even die to bear our sins and the consequences of our sins.

But was Jesus bothered by all these negative reactions, especially coming from the leaders of the people and the powerful ones in the society? No! Jesus brushed them aside, masterfully trapping them in their own queries, and He continued to teach the people. He found no point in arguing or debating with them, for after all, they were hell bent at trapping Him in His own words, and were adamantly against Him.

Similar situation also happened in the first reading taken from the Book of Numbers. In order to give all of you an understanding of what happened, one of the kings of the people of Canaan hostile to the people of Israel during their Exodus from Egypt and journey towards the Promised Land, was so terrified by the approach of the Israelites that he resolved to employ the service of a seer, named Balaam, a seer of God.

Balaam was employed to curse the people of Israel, that they would be cursed and destroyed. Is it not the same as the Pharisees who employed all their intelligence and knowledge for the wrong thing, that is wishing for the downfall of Jesus? But Balaam did not obey the orders of his employer, and instead of cursing the Israelites, he blessed them instead with rich blessings.

Balaam showed that we as the children and people of God should have no need to fear worldly authorities. Instead we all should obey the Lord, the One who has real and true authority over all creations. It is He who possesses all authority, the source of all authority that we have. We will not have any authority if we do not adhere ourselves to the Lord.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, today, as we reflect on the readings we had heard from the Scripture, let us first acknowledge the authority of the Lord and place our full trust in Him. Let us not be like the Pharisees, the Sadducees and many other people who were so occupied with their own pride and arrogance, so as to refuse to accept the Lord and listen to His teachings, stubbornly clinging to their jealousy of the Lord for challenging their own authority.

Let us trust in the Lord, and pay close attention to His teachings. Let us not ignore His call to us, a call which He intended for us to heed, that we may be called to be closer and closer to His love and mercy, changing our once sinful ways, with the ways of the Lord. Make God our guide and our leader, and resolve to walk closely within His path, without turning left or right. Listen to His words and let His words come in and transform us all. God be with us all. Amen.

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Monday, 16 December 2013 : 3rd Week of Advent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Matthew 21 : 23-27

Jesus had entered the Temple and was teaching, when the chief priests, the teachers of the Law and the Jewish authorities came to Him, and asked, “What authority have You to act like this? Who gave You authority to do all this?”

Jesus answered them, “I will also ask you a question, only one. And if you give Me an answer, then I will tell you by what authority I do these things. When John began to baptise, was it a work of God, or was it merely something human?”

They reasoned out among themselves, “If we reply that it was a work of God, He will say, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ And if we say, ‘The baptism of John was merely something human,’ we have got to beware of the people, for all hold John as a prophet.” So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.”

And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what right I do these things.”

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Monday, 16 December 2013 : 3rd Week of Advent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 24 : 4bc-5ab, 6-7bc, 8-9

O Lord, make known to me Your paths. Guide me in Your truth and instruct me, for You are my God, my Saviour.

Remember Your compassion, o Lord, Your unfailing love from of old. In Your love remember me.

Good and upright, the Lord teaches sinners His way. He teaches the humble of heart and guides them in what is right.

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Saturday, 14 December 2013 : 2nd Week of Advent, Memorial of St. John of the Cross, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Priests)

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard how Elijah, the great prophet of old, came once again into this world, in the form of John the Baptist, the messenger of God and the one who prepared the way for the coming of God. Indeed according to the Scriptures, both of them are likely to be one and the same.

While John the Baptist was not mentioned much in the Holy Scripture, and the details about his life and works are relatively scarce, gathering from what we have in the Holy Gospels, the story about the prophet Elijah, one of the greatest of the prophets, are plentiful. We can read many of his works in the Book of Kings in the Old Testament.

There are many parallels that we can find, between the prophet Elijah and John the Baptist, the last of God’s messengers before the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Elijah was sent to the people of Israel, when the people of God went through times of struggle, of an identity crisis, the crisis of their soul. The people of God had not been faithful to the Lord of their fathers, and they had turned away from His ways.

The people of the northern kingdom of Israel, whom Elijah was sent to, was under a rule of wickedness, under the king Ahab, whom many of you would know as one of the most wicked and unfaithful king of Israel. The people who remained faithful to the Lord suffered and even had to lose their lives. One of them was Nabot, whom the king murdered through false testimonies, and he was killed so that the king could have his land, fertile and rich.

Elijah lived through difficult times, where those who believe in God were persecuted. It was therefore even more difficult for one like the prophet and messenger of the Lord’s will. Elijah was persecuted and had to go from one exile to another, fleeing at times from the persecutioners and the forces of the king. Elijah yet persevered and with the power and guidance of God, he continued to work, calling the people to repent from their sinful ways and returned to the worship of the One, True God.

Elijah challenged the four hundred and fifty priests of Baal on Mount Carmel, and won against them, showing the people of God who is the One and only True God. He did many other works of wonders across the land, and even went to the land of the pagans, and found truly great faith there. He brought back to life the son of the widow, and feed them with oil when the land was in famine.

Elijah ended his works in this world and found in Elisha, a successor to his works. It was unique that he among the others, did not die, but was taken up on flaming chariots into heaven. Such was a spectacular and dramatic end for this great prophet of God. But no, that was not the end. Elijah was taken up into heaven to be at God’s side so that the Lord can entrust him to do an even greater work.

Yes, that is to be the one to prepare the way for the Lord, who would come as the Saviour of all, the long promised Messiah. As John the Baptist, what he did, were truly not different from what he had done as Elijah. He proclaimed to the people the need for repentance, and to change their ways, so as to prepare the way for the coming of the Lord Himself.

And just as Elijah had to suffer rejection and persecution, John the Baptist too faced mockery and rejection from the Pharisees and the Sadducees, who were too self-righteous to listen to the calling of John to repent and change their sinful ways. John the Baptist led the way for Christ, the Messiah, who came in Jesus, the One who finally came to liberate the people of God from sin. And finally both great servants did not hesitate to rebuke even worldly authorities, when they were faced with wickedness. Elijah rebuked king Ahab for his actions in causing the death of Nabot

And those who persecuted Elijah and John the Baptist, as opposed as they were against the Lord and His ways, would also be against the Lord, as was evident, when they opposed the Lord Jesus and all of His works during His earthly ministry. And if they persecuted Elijah, seeking to end his life, and which they succeeded in John, when through Herodias’ daughter, they ended the life of the servant of God. The Lord too, was rejected, reviled, mocked, and finally condemned to death, a death most shameful on the cross.

Yet, did the Lord give up on us? Did He turn away from us even after we have rejected so many of His prophets, and even murdered them? Did He give up the cross so that He no longer needed to suffer for the sake of our rebellious and sinful selves? No, He did not! And that is most important, for the actions of the two great servants of God, Elijah and John the Baptist, were ultimately designed after the examples of God Himself, who in His great love for us, was willing to lower Himself and die as slaves did, so that we can be liberated from our own slavery to sin.

And today, we celebrate a saint whose life has been dedicated to the Lord in much the same way. St. John of the Cross was born in Spain in the sixteenth century and joined the Carmelite order, and went on to be a famous preacher and teacher of the faith to many across Spain. And St. John of the Cross was known for his many works together with St. Teresa of Jesus, also known as St. Teresa of Avila, and both of them were declared Doctors of the Church for their numerous contributions.

St. John of the Cross took part in what was known to be the Reform of Avila, commenced by St. Teresa of Jesus herself, aimed at restoring the purity within the Carmelite order, restoring the venerable and holy traditions designed to keep disciplined and holy, dedicated lifestyle in those who had dedicated themselves to the service of the Lord.

And this was just one of the many contributions that St. John of the Cross had given to the Church. He has written many writings and books that helped greatly in the rediscovery of the purity of the faith among many people during the Counter-Reformation period. And just as many other holy people before him, as were Elijah and John the Baptist, he faced opposition, and even persecution and imprisonment.

There were many who were disgruntled and vehemently against the reforms initiated by both St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross, and yet, regardless of all these, St. John of the Cross continued his hard work and did not give up despite the difficulties. He continued to labour for the Lord’s sake until his death.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, it is easy and often even inevitable for us to act like those who persecuted and condemned these holy people and messengers of God’s will, because simply they speak in a way that truly pierced us to the very depths of our souls.

We have grown decadent and complacent, and we have grown accustomed to the ways of this world. We find comfort in the ways of the world, no matter how wicked they actually are. We prefer to keep to our wicked ways rather than listening to the words of God that these holy people and messengers have brought with them.

That is why we persecuted these people appointed by God to be our help and our guide. Instead of persecuting them, should we not then begin to take this opportunity to reflect on what we had done? Should we not use this chance to begin our path towards salvation by taking even small steps but steps that are certain. We can no longer be ignorant of the faith we have in God. We have to embrace that faith and listen to what the saints and the holy people of God had done and preached, and suffered for in God’s Name.

May the Lord with the help of His saints, and through their intercession, help us to keep on track, on the path towards the Lord, that we will remain faithful, and will be blessed by the faith we have, that on the last day, the Lord will reward us together with His saints. Amen.

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Friday, 13 December 2013 : 2nd Week of Advent, Memorial of St. Lucy, Virgin and Martyr (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or Red (Martyrs)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this world is never, ever satisfied with the ways of the Lord and His followers. They would always try to find criticism in the Lord, by using the misunderstandings and the lack of faith that is in this world. And that is the essence of what we had heard in the Gospel reading today.

That is sadly how we as a people act, think, and perform, just the same as what our predecessors had done long ago in the past. That is because of our lack of faith! It is often that our faith is only on the exterior, or in short, on paper, but we lack true substance to support that faith.

We always sway and change in our standards of righteousness and morality, because our anchor in God is weak. We always shift in our standings and in our way of thinking, following the ways and opinions of the world, to fit into them so that we can feel acceptance and belonging in the world. This is what we know as the evil of relativism, where everything, every moral standard and thoughts are relative to what the world thinks.

Relativism is great evil and sin that has corrupted many in our world. We always follow what the world thinks is right at the moment. If the way the world and the society perceives things change, then we too follow the sway of the world, and that is relativism. Social and moral relativism are the ills that are in both in the Church and in the world now.

Our faith in God cannot be subjected to relativism, because faith is constant and not changing. We cannot alter our faith and our beliefs in the Lord just because of certain developments and ideas in our world. To do so means that we had subjected our faith to relativism, where everything is relative to the world. And that is exactly where our Church had stood unchanged over the centuries, our faith, immoveable and true over all these times.

That is why the Faith and our Church has been ridiculed over the centuries, and even more so in these days. That is because, while our world changes and adopted new outlook of life and how our lives should be lived, we remained faithful to the teachings of the Lord and to the will of God. We did not change for the sake of pleasing the world, and we remained true to the Lord whom we serve.

Yet, many saw us and our faith as something of a bastion of backwardness and medieval mentality, because they think that we have not been up to date with the developments of this world. They failed to understand that the Church and our Faith is timeless and cannot be constrained by the feeble understanding of the world. We cannot demean our faith and bring it down to relativism, which threatens to unravel the very fabric of the understanding of our faith.

Our faith must remain constant, that is we must believe in the fullness of the faith in God. We cannot pick and choose what we want to believe, and take only what is convenient or good for us while ignoring what we do not like. We cannot be what is called ‘market Christians’, namely those who believe only in parts of the faith. This is sadly what many Christians do. They tried to fit in with the customs of this world and to suit with their own agenda and thinking, that they alter the faith as they see fit.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, while it does not mean that we should live in opposition to the world, but it does not mean that we should, in any way, discredit our faith by doing things that I had just mentioned. And this was what the saint we are celebrating today, that is St. Lucy, a martyr of the faith.

St. Lucy lived during the times of the early Church, at the mid-late Roman Empire, when the last persecution of Christians happened, under the reign of the Emperor Diocletian. St. Lucy was born in a noble Christian family, who met a persistent pagan suitor, who reported to the authorities about her Christian faith. The notably anti-Christian administration at the time tried to make her to abandon her faith, and even sent her to a brothel as part of her punishment.

And yet, St. Lucy remained ever faithful, and she was adamant in her dedication to the Lord. St. Lucy went through a miraculous event, where she was immovable as a rock when the soldiers tried to lead her to her punishment. Hence, the soldiers had no choice but to eventually kill her and thus, she received holy martyrdom for her continued and unchanging faith for the Lord.

As we have seen, brethren, St. Lucy did not try to adapt to the world not did she abandon her faith in its entirety. She did not subject herself to relativism, and she did not compromise her faith, for the sake of her own safety or acceptance in the world she lived in. She faced death openly and received therefore a crown of glory, for her unchanging and undeterred faith in God. Had she submitted to the will of the world, and allow herself to make compromises in her faith, she would not have received the glory and rewards God had promised those who kept their faith in Him.

Therefore, brethren, let us all be true to our faith, be true to our Lord and God, and be consistent always in our faith. Let not the temptations and the ways of this world affect us in any way or tempt us away from the way towards salvation in God. Do not let the perceptions of the world and mankind to affect us in any way. We have to stand strong for our faith in God just as St. Lucy had done.

May our Lord continue to strengthen our faith, and through the intercession of St. Lucy, may we continue to persevere despite the challenges awaiting us in this life. God be with us all, now and forever. Amen.