Easter Homily

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Tuesday, 16 May 2017 : 5th Week of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, we heard the words of the Lord Jesus, reassuring us all that He came bearing unto us His peace. It is not peace as the world knows it, but an everlasting peace, that will be ours when we place our complete trust in the Lord, and follow Him wholeheartedly, as the Apostles and the disciples of the Lord had once done.

The Apostles did not have it easy on their missions around the world at that time, as they encountered many oppositions to their works, challenges from all those who refuse to follow their lead and those who refuse to listen to their call to conversion, namely those who persist in their sinfulness and wickedness, and closed their hearts against God’s words that the Apostles and the disciples had preached.

There was hardly much time for the Apostles and the disciples had to be savoured in peace. They constantly met the opposition from the Jewish leaders, from the local populace who refused to listen to them and abandon their pagan gods, and from the Roman authorities who found the teachings of Christ as a threat to their own authority, and from various other sources.

But the Lord was with them, and He guided them throughout their journey, that even though there were many who wished for their arrest, their demise and destruction of the Church, in reality, the Church and the faithful flourished both in number and in their zeal. The Lord provided for what they needed, and gave them the strength to persevere in the troubled times.

The Lord had revealed it all to them, how they would have to suffer in order to glorify God, by their works of evangelisation and mercy, calling many nations and peoples to repentance and conversion in God. But they found true peace in fulfilling God’s will and in doing whatever He had led them to do. They knew that even though the world was against them, but if they continued their good works and remained faithful, they would gain true peace, as the Lord would reward them with eternal glory and joy with Him.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we reflect on this, and as we remember how many people have faithfully obeyed the Lord, and had to suffer in order to bring the truth of the Gospel and the Good News to all the peoples, including to us, let us all remember that their works have not been completed, as even now, there are still many more people out there who have not yet received or welcomed the truths found in the word of God.

Let us all remember this as we continue to live out our lives today. There are many more people whom we can help, by our good works and efforts, to spread the truths of the Gospel, the message of God’s peace and love. There are still so many anguish, sorrow, anger, hatred and all sorts of negativities in this world, because people cannot find in them God’s love and peace.

Let us all therefore, work together, in order to bring the peace of God to all peoples, to all the nations, as the Lord had commanded us. Let us all place our complete trust in God, knowing that He will give us all true peace, and let us share that peace we have with one another. Let us all bring our brethren out of the darkness of sin, and into the new light of God, into a new life blessed by the peace of God, that all of us may find our way towards that peace we long for.

May all of us endeavour from now on to seek true peace and joy found in the Lord alone, and not be distracted by all the desires and false peace that the world offers us. May the Lord help us on our journey of faith, and help us all to live faithfully in accordance with His will. May God bless us all, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Monday, 15 May 2017 : 5th Week of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard from the Scriptures an interesting set of readings, which remind us all of who we are, and how we ought to live our lives as Christians. In the first reading, we heard how the pagan Greeks to whom St. Paul and St. Barnabas were preaching the faith, mistook their intentions and teachings, and thought of the two Apostles as their own pagan gods who came to the world in their presence.

The people treated St. Paul and St. Barnabas like as if they were their gods who assumed the flesh of mankind. They brought animal sacrifices to them and offered these sacrifices before them, as they thought of these two as either emissaries of their pagan Greek gods or the gods themselves. But St. Paul and St. Barnabas became very angry when they saw all these happening before them, and in their anguish, they tore their garments and told the people of their mistakes.

Then in the Gospel today, we heard the conversation between Jesus our Lord and His disciples, in which St. Judas Thaddeus asked why Jesus revealed Himself to them and not to the whole world. And Jesus replied them saying, that if they do not listen to the word of God and obey His will, then they will have no part in Him. Those who listen to the word of God and obey God’s will, will do as the Lord had asked of them. And this is what we need to pay attention to, very closely.

What do all these things mean, brothers and sisters in Christ? What are their significance for us? These are in fact reminders for us not to fall into the temptations of worldly power, of worldly influence and human greed, which are all the things that commonly became obstacles on the journey of men towards righteousness and justification in God’s presence.

Let us reflect on our own lives, and on how we mankind have lived our lives in the past, our shared history of humanity. We mankind are easily tempted with power, wealth, fame, human glory and praise, and all other worldly things, and that is exactly what we must be wary of. Imagine if other people were to praise us, adore us, and glorify us right in front of us. Certainly many of us will fall to the temptations and become proud of ourselves. Our ego will take over our rational mind.

That is how we mankind think, the way of the world. But that is not how the Lord wants it to be. His ways are different from the world’s ways, and His norms are completely opposite of what the world’s norms are. That is why when He was hailed and wanted to be made a king by the people who saw His great and miraculous deeds, He actually hid Himself away and retreated away from the people, who have misunderstood and mistook His true intentions.

In the same manner, the Apostles St. Paul and St. Barnabas had also rejected human desires for pride and ego, when the people worshipped them as if they were their Greek gods. They stood firmly by their faith, and even with indignation, they told off the people who had mistaken them for their gods. In this, as the Lord had said in the Gospel today, they had obeyed not the whim of their human desires, but the will of God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us ask ourselves, that in our own respective lives, have we encountered such a situation, that we have to choose between listening to our human desires or to obey the will of God? We have certainly faced that kind of situation before, and let us remember what we have done. Have we listened to the whim of our desires, to the temptations that Satan had placed in our path? Or have we instead tried to obey the Lord, our God, in His ways, even though that often bring us to difficult situations?

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we continue to progress through this season of Easter, let us all renew our faith and commitment to the Lord, and awaken in us the desire to serve Him with all of our heart and with all of our strength. May the Lord give us the strength to persevere faithfully in this life we have on earth. May God be with us all, now and always. Amen.

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Saturday, 13 May 2017 : 4th Week of Easter, Memorial of Our Lady of Fatima, 100th Anniversary (Centenary) of the Apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we as the whole Church are all celebrating a very special occasion and anniversary of one very significant event in our faith, one that happened not that long ago such that it was still relatively fresh in the living memory, that is about a century ago in Fatima, a small village in Portugal, in the year of our Lord 1917.

At that time, Our Lady, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to three young villagers, named Jacinta, Francisco and Lucia. She appeared to them bearing messages to the people of God, calling mankind to repentance, and to rediscover their faith in God. There are many messages which Our Lady’s apparition, later known as Our Lady of Fatima, passed on through the three children.

She came at the time in the world where there were so many great evils lurking around, in the midst of the first World War, then known as the Great War, where millions of people lost their lives over conflict of national interests and sovereignty, over human greed and pride, over all worldly concerns and other things. Millions more people had been displaced from their homes and their dwellings, and had become refugees in their own lands.

And the year 1917 was the beginning of the Communist movement gaining momentum and power throughout the world, beginning in Russia, when the Bolshevik Revolution succeeded in allowing the Communists to establish the world’s first Communist regime. And this in time would result in the extermination of countless faithful, both the laity and the priests alike, the closure of many churches and parishes, and the spread of atheism throughout not just Russia but also through many other parts of the world.

Our Lady of Fatima made her appearance to the three children of Fatima, two of whom are now Blessed and will soon be made as Saints, right at the anniversary today, because she is the mother of our Lord, whom the Lord Jesus Himself had entrusted to all of us as our own mother, by His entrusting of her to His disciple St. John as He hung from the cross. Therefore, at the same time, just as she is our mother, we have also all been adopted as her children.

After all, which mother does not love her children? If a mother refuses to love her children, or neglect those children she had, then even if the children were her own biological children, she should be ashamed of even calling or considering herself as a mother. But Mary, Our Lady of Fatima, is truly our mother, because not only that she is concerned for our well-being, but she also tries her best to help us as we journey through this journey of life towards the end, trying out to reach the Lord and His salvation.

She has made frequent apparitions, and in the recent years alone, the two most well known of those were made, namely at Lourdes and at Fatima, in order to remind us all, the children of God, whom God had made to be her children as well, that all of us mankind must turn away from our sinful ways, and begin to make our journey towards repentance and forgiveness from our sins.

Otherwise, much sufferings, sorrows and evils will come out of our human behaviours, as shown and proven right at the very moment Our Lady of Fatima chose to make her appearance. The Great War or the first World War was the product of human greed, of the desire for power, for wealth, for renown and many other things, first of which is human ego, which led to men killing one another and making sufferings to happen on each other because they could not restrain themselves from the temptations.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, it may have been a century since the apparition of Our Lady of Fatima, but the message she had spoken to us all through the three Fatima children remain true to this very day. It may seem that in our world today, things are now less chaotic and dangerous than it was a hundred years ago, and yet, if we pay a closer attention to what is happening around us, we will realise that mankind have not yet learnt from the lessons of their past.

There are many people who continue, in the pursuit of their personal desires and wishes, to oppress other people and cause suffering upon other people, and there are also still the forces of those who refuse to believe in God, and impose their will on the faithful people of God, causing much harm and suffering on the people of God, much as how it had happened in the past.

Therefore, a century after the Blessed Virgin Mary, mother of God, Our Lady of Fatima appeared to the three children at Fatima, delivering grim messages of destruction if mankind were to continue in their current path, and how we should act in order to avoid that fate, by bringing ourselves closer to God through the path that Our Lady had shown us, now the challenge is upon us, in order to listen again to what she had told Jacinta, Francisco and Lucia, and reflect on our own deeds in life, and think of what we can do, in order to be ever more faithful to God.

As Christians, all of us should do our best to help one another to live faithfully in accordance with the ways of the Lord, turning ourselves completely away from sin, and abandoning all sorts of wickedness and evil, and seek to serve the Lord with all of our might. Let us all listen to the messages of Our Lady of Fatima, and begin our way towards redemption, as we turn away from selfishness and worldly temptations, and renew our commitment to the Lord.

Mary, Our Lady of Fatima, should be our role model in life, as she is the paragon of virtue and obedience, as someone who had dedicated her entire life in the service of God, by obediently following her Son, Jesus our Lord, throughout His entire ministry in this world. She obeyed the Lord with faith, entrusting herself to God and His plans, and therefore, she became for all of us, an example in faith not surpassed by any other.

That is why we have such a deep devotion to Mary, Our Lady of Fatima, because we honour her great faith and commitment to live her life in accordance with the will of God. Let us all remember this, whenever we try to act selfishly and bring suffering on others, that our Blessed Mother Mary, Our Lady of Fatima, had been ever so selfless in her life, that she gave her all to love her Son, Jesus, and always thinking of Him all the time, the perfect love shown by a mother to her Son.

Let us all remember that despite all the darkness present in our lives today, and despite all the evils and wickedness that we mankind commit in this world, all of us as Christians, as those who believe in the Lord, can follow in the footsteps of Mary, Our Lady of Fatima, whose faith in God and life was brilliantly bright, that we can become beacons of light, to bring light to those who are living in the darkness, and make our world a better place, and save more souls from the damnation to hell and the darkness.

O, Our Lady of Fatima, Most Blessed Virgin Mary, pray for all of us sinners who are still struggling with our lives in this world. Help us to persevere in faith as you have done, and pray for our sake before your Son, our Lord and God, and help us to say in sincerity the prayer which the Angel your Son had sent to the three children had taught us to pray, for the sake of our souls and their salvation from eternal death and damnation in hell.

Let us all pray together, brothers and sisters in Christ, with the words taught to us by the Angel at Fatima a hundred years ago, “O my Jesus. Forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls to heaven, especially those who are most in need of Your mercy.” Amen.

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Friday, 12 May 2017 : 4th Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Nereus and St. Achilleus, Martyrs and St. Pancras, Martyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White or Red (Martyrs)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we are all reminded that if we follow the Lord our God, even though on our life’s journey we will encounter, and indeed, had encountered many forms of tribulations, sufferings and troubles, all the challenges we have to face, but in the end of it all, God will reward us with His everlasting grace and love.

This is the promise which God Himself had made through His Son Jesus, Who revealed the perfect love of God to all of us. He has revealed that all of those who are faithful to Him, remain faithful and true to Him despite the temptations and the challenges from the world, will be rewarded, and places have been prepared for all of them in the glorious heaven.

This is why we believe that saints and holy martyrs are present, and they are with God, praying for our sake. For it is this belief in the resurrection from the dead, and the hope of a glorious everlasting life with God, in the bliss of heavenly glory and joy, that make us to have faith in God and believe in Him, because of the saints and martyrs that had preceded us, all those who had to even give their lives for the sake of the Gospel of Christ.

If they had not believed in the glory in the life that was to come to them, then it would indeed have been foolish for them to die as they had done, or to suffer as they have suffered. Yet, those faithful people continued to believe in God, and resisted the efforts by those who wanted them to abandon their faith in the Lord Jesus. That is because they believed in the promise of God, which is indeed not just a mere promise, but already a reality in waiting for those who keep their faith in Him.

That is what the holy martyrs whose memory we celebrate today had done in their lives. St. Nereus and St. Achilleus were martyrs of the early Church, among the earliest of the known martyrs, who lived during the years, as told by the tradition of the Church, of the Roman Emperor Domitian, who was known to persecute the Church and the faithful. And at that time, being a Christian meant difficulties, challenges, and they could even be arrested for being known as Christians.

Yet, St. Nereus and St. Achilleus were among those Christians who did not let the difficulties of the time to hamper their zeal and devotion to the Lord, as many other martyrs had also done. And when the other saint, St. Pancras or St. Pancratius, who lived during the years of the great persecution under the Roman Emperor Diocletian, was found out to be a Christian, he did not give up his faith, despite all that the enemies of the faith were trying to do in order to subvert them.

For example, when the Roman Emperor Diocletian tried to persuade St. Pancras to abandon his faith in the Lord, as he was impressed with his wisdom and intellect, St. Pancras refused to do so, even when he was offered good life and safe conduct by the Emperor, in exchange for his abandonment of the Lord and the Church. St. Pancras would rather choose to suffer and to perish rather than to follow what the world wanted him to do, because he had faith in the Lord and His promise.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, now the question comes to us. Do we believe in God and in His teachings? Do we truly believe what He had promised all of us who are faithful to Him? Do we really believe in all that we have come to believe through the Church? If our answers to all of these are yes, then we must remember the examples of our predecessors, the holy saints and martyrs in particular, in how they lived their lives and also in how they encountered persecution and rejection.

Let us all be inspired by their examples, and strive to follow their examples in how we lived in our lives and in how we should be faithful to the Lord. May the Lord also give us strength to live our faith with commitment, and devote ourselves wholeheartedly to Him. May God empower us to become ever more devoted disciples and followers of His will. Amen.

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Thursday, 11 May 2017 : 4th Week of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, through the Scripture passages which had been chosen for us today, we are reminded by what St. Paul told the Jews at the synagogue in Antioch in Pisidia, on the history of the salvation of all mankind by God. The people of God whom He had chosen, He had led and guided through the many tribulations and difficulties, and He had given them the way to follow through by the means of His servants and messengers.

They all had spoken about Him, about the love He had for them, and which He Himself had proven time and time again, by liberating His people from their oppressors, bringing them to the land He had promised them. And when they erred, He sent messengers and prophets to them in order to guide them, through advice and through hard work, to wake the people up from their sinfulness and to stir them from their darkness, that they might turn back on the darkness and return to the light.

And we ourselves, have received the same revelation of truth through the Church, by the hands and the works of the people who have laboured tirelessly for the sake of God’s people, especially our bishops and priests, and also many other countless people involved in the good works of Christ’s Church on earth, all the volunteers and laymen who volunteered and made use of their time and efforts, talents and abilities to advance the good cause of the Lord.

We have heard about the faith from them, from our priests, from our catechists and teachers in the faith, and also from our relatives and friends, those who have kept the faith, and themselves received the faith from their predecessors. This is how they came to believe in God, and how we ourselves, in turn, come to believe in God, in His teachings and in His ways.

Yet, we also have to realise that there are still many people out there who have not yet known God’s light, or that the Lord’s light had come to them, and yet they rejected it out of various reasons, be it ignorance, or be it the lack of faith, or be it because the temptations and falsehoods that were spread by the devil that prevented the faith from taking up roots in them.

It is therefore now up to us all, to continue the good works that the Lord and His faithful servants had begun in this world, beginning from the messengers and the prophets, from Moses to king David, and to all the other prophets sent to lead the people of God to Him. They have done much work, and the same responsibilities now pass down to us, to share the Good News we have received, and the joy we have had in the Lord, with all those who have not yet witnessed it.

And how do we do this, brothers and sisters in Christ? It is not by great deeds or miraculous works that we perform all of these, but rather through simple and yet regular and necessary deeds in our lives, by our interactions with those whom we meet and interact with in our regular lives. This is where it is important that all of us Christians must act in accordance with what we believed in, and in what we have been taught through faith.

Otherwise, how would others then come to believe in us? And instead of bringing the people closer to God, we will keep them away instead, as our actions that are not in accordance with the ways of the Lord bring about scandal to Him and to our faith. If we do this, we would have sinned against God, and against our fellow brethren, and that is clearly what we should not have done.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore commit ourselves to serve the Lord with a renewed zeal, so that through us the will of God and the good works of God may be made a reality among us all, and more and more people will come to know of the Lord’s truth and salvation, and therefore, seek to find the Lord and repent from their sins, so that their souls will no longer be lost in the darkness, but instead come to the light of Christ.

May the Lord empower us all to live with faith in His presence, so that we shall no longer commit deeds that are sinful and disobedient against Him, but instead seek to be ever more committed and faithful to Him, and thus, leading others with our good examples, that all of us may be saved together through Jesus Christ, our Lord. May God bless us all, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Wednesday, 10 May 2017 : 4th Week of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day as we continue to progress through the season of Easter, through the Scripture passages we heard, we are reminded that it is important for us to draw closer to the Lord, for if we do not come to the Lord and experience living in His light, then we remain in the darkness, the darkness of sin.

We often think that the Lord our God is a loving and merciful God, which is indeed true, but we often forget that in His love and mercy, He also demands and requires from us our obedience and adherence to His laws and precepts. It does not mean that He loves us then we are free to do in our lives as however we wish it to be. We are free to do things as long as it is in accordance with God’s will, and not committing sinful deeds.

Remember, brothers and sisters in Christ, that the Lord our God loves each and every one of us, but at the same time, He also despises all forms of sins, all forms of perversions and corruptions, all the wickedness of man and the evils in this world. No sin may come before Him, and if an unrepentant sinner continue to live in the state of sin, then he or she shall perish because of his or her sins.

Yes, brothers and sisters in Christ, it is indeed right what the Lord Jesus had said in the Gospel today, that it is not Him Who shall judge the people, not because He does not judge them, indeed He judges all the people, as the Judge mentioned at the Last Judgement accounts, but Jesus our Lord does not judge arbitrarily or without good reason. Instead, it is our very own sins that will judge us on the last day.

Our sins will be removed from us if only that we are sincere in seeking forgiveness for those sins, and if we repent from them, making the commitment to abandon those sins and our sinful deeds, and from now on to live faithfully and righteously in God. Otherwise, our sins will remain in us, and it is by those sins, be it unconfessed or not repented, that we will be judged by.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore the challenge given to us today, as we continue living as Christians, is for us to live righteously and justly as the Lord had taught us, by obeying His commandments and laws, and to help one another to live in such a way, adhering closely to the Lord. It is our obligation and calling for us to bring our fellow brethren from the darkness, calling them to the same light of Christ, in which we are living in today.

That was what the Apostles had done, by preaching the truths of the Gospel and the message of the Good News to the people, of many nations and races, to the Gentiles and the pagan nations, and also to the Jewish people. They preached about the salvation found only in Jesus Christ, that they all should abandon their old sinful and mistaken ways, and follow from thereafter, only the Lord, the One and only true God.

Of course, such an undertaking was not an easy one for the Apostles and the disciples of the Lord to bear. They encountered many difficulties and much opposition to their works. The same will be our lot when we walk in their footsteps and do the same in our own lives and in our own communities. But that is the crosses which the faithful Apostles had born upon themselves, and which we too should bear on ourselves, our crosses in life.

And we should carry them on, putting our faith in the Lord as we do so, carrying our crosses together with Christ. Therefore, let us all renew our commitment to love and serve the Lord our God, and in the same manner, love our fellow brethren, and teaching one another the truth of God, by practicing in our lives genuine faith and commitment to the ways of the Lord, so that all of us may draw ever closer to the Lord, and therefore come closer to attain salvation through Him.

May the Lord bless us all, forgive us all our sins, and renew our faith in Him, so that we may courageously live our lives filled with faith and love, becoming true and committed disciples of His. Amen.

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Tuesday, 9 May 2017 : 4th Week of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, in today’s readings taken from the Scriptures, we heard how the Church was flourishing and growing, among the Jews and the Gentiles alike, after St. Paul had evangelised to the people in many places, and after the grace of God allowing the faithful to multiply in number quickly despite the challenges and persecutions facing them.

It is a sign that God was with His people, as it was then at that time, and all the way to today, the same Church and the same people which God had chosen from the world, to be those to whom He had granted His grace and salvation. And those who place their trust in God will not be disappointed, for He is ever faithful and ever trustworthy. All those who place their trust in Him will find full satisfaction.

The hand of the Lord was with the Apostles as mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles today, and He guided them through their works and efforts, leading them through from place to place, even though they faced much troubles, persecutions, challenges and oppositions from the world, from the authorities and from all those who closed their hearts against God and rejected His words.

That is because the devil, Satan, our old enemy is always busy at work, trying to oppose the good works of God. He is always hard at work trying to undermine the Church and seek out the faithful, like that of wolves seeking for the sheep to be caught and eaten. The devil and his allies are busy at work trying to steal the souls of the faithful, but God will not allow them to have a free reign at hand in doing so.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as long as the Lord is with us, we shall not falter. He has promised this Himself when He established His Church in this world, by saying unto St. Peter the Apostle that, the Church He has established will be able to stand up against even the gates of hell itself. Nothing shall avail itself against the Church and the faithful, providing that the faithful stand together and put themselves to trust in their Master and Shepherd.

This is the promise which the Lord gave to us, but all of us must also work and put our efforts together in order to keep one another away from the clutches of the evil one. As He is our Good Shepherd, therefore as Christians, truly we have two obligations, and the first one is obvious, that is to follow our Shepherd and Master wherever He leads us to, and whatever is His will for us. This is our obedience to His will, and if we obey Him in all the things we say and do, it will never go wrong for us.

Then, another responsibility that we must bear, and one that requires our effort is that, just as He had taught us and shown us the way through His own actions and words, therefore, all of us must also commit ourselves to Him in the same way, and this means that we all must be shepherds for one another, guiding each other and helping one another, fellow brethren in the Lord, in our way to Him.

Therefore, all of us are called to be role models in our faith and in our lives, so that all those who see us will come to believe in God, as they see the actions of our Lord, the Good Shepherd of all mankind, through our own works and actions. If we do not do as He had done, then we will in fact drive people away from the Lord, for they then find it hard to believe in the Lord whose love must be made evident through us.

May the Lord, our Good Shepherd be our Guide in life, and may He strengthen our faith, and give us the courage to live day after day, filled with faith and commitment to Him. May He empower us to become His disciples, and allow us to serve Him in whatever way we can, for the salvation of all mankind, our brethren. Amen.

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Monday, 8 May 2017 : 4th Week of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, following the celebrations yesterday of the Good Shepherd Sunday, the fourth Sunday in the season of Easter, today’s Gospel continue speaking about the Lord as our Good Shepherd, as the One Who cares for us and loves us so tenderly, that He is a loving Shepherd to us, desiring nothing else but our redemption and reconciliation with Him.

He has chosen us all His beloved people, by calling us to Himself, like a shepherd calling upon his sheep to gather to him. A shepherd knows all of his sheep, and it is often that each of them has a way to identify each one of them, by their appearances, by marks, or by assigning names to them. In that way, he would know if any of them are not around or are lost from him.

The sheep know their shepherd, and they will only follow him. If another person is to come and call them, they will not follow the stranger. Yet, it is possible indeed for the sheep to be led astray at times, and they become lost. In this, we see the reality about ourselves, how all of us, each of whom belonging to the Lord’s own flock, as He is our Shepherd, can be lost to Him through sin.

The devil has lured us all through his lies and falsehoods, empty and sweet words, filled with false promises, which however sound very alluring and attractive to us. Just as when he tempted our ancestors, Adam and Eve, who got attracted to his lies, and therefore disobeyed God and sinned. And ever since then, Satan, the devil, has worked busily day and night, all the time, trying to lure us away from God’s salvation.

This therefore bring us to the need to realise the fact that in this world, there are still many lost sheep out there, the people who have been separated from God and the rest of His flock. There are still a lot of people who have not yet known the love of God, and are still either ignorant or unaware of His love, His ways and His teachings. And there are many people who have lived in a state of sin, doing things that disobey the will of God, and therefore causing them to be separated further and further from God.

That was what happened at the time of Jesus and His Apostles as well. At that time, the revelation of the truth of God was limited mostly to the Jewish people, the descendants of the people of God, whom He had chosen from among the children of Abraham. However, there were numerous other peoples, originating from various other nations, cultures, races and languages, who have not yet believed in God, and indeed had not yet heard of His salvation.

And because the Lord loves every single one of us mankind, without any exception, for He is our loving God and Creator, and because as our Shepherd, He is the Lord and Master over all of us, even the greatest of sinners, therefore, He does not want any of us to be lost to Him. And as such, He calls everyone to Him, to turn themselves away from their sinfulness, and find their way to Him.

But such is the difficulty of accomplishing the task, that it requires all of our combined efforts in order to make sure that this can succeed. For what is at stake is none other than, and nothing less than the fate of the souls of mankind, the souls of our own brothers and sisters. And the Apostles and disciples had been given the commandment to spread the Good News and the truth to the whole world, that the light of Christ may come to all the peoples, of all races, languages, and origins.

And we are their successors, continuing the good works they had started. We must not falter in our efforts to evangelise, not just by mere words and proclamations, but more importantly, also through action, just as the Lord, our Good Shepherd has shown us His love by dying on the cross for us. We too, therefore, should become shepherds for one another, helping each other on our way to the Lord.

Let us all keep ourselves faithful and true to the faith we have in God. Let us help guide each other on the way of the faith, so that none of us will be lost to the temptations of the devil, but will remain true in faith in all the things we say and do, in our whole lives. May God bless us all, now and forever. Amen.

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Saturday, 6 May 2017 : 3rd Week of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we listened to the words of the Scripture, speaking to us about the works of the Apostles, especially that of St. Peter as he went about many places to spread the Good News of the Lord, the many miraculous deeds he had done. And then in the Gospel we heard how the disciples and the people who followed Jesus complained about what He had said to them, and many of them left Jesus behind afterwards.

To them, the words that Jesus said was too hard to be understood, and they all found it impossible to believe that this Man would give them His own Body for them to eat, and His Blood for them to drink. For them such a feat was a nonsense, and that was because they did not have a strong faith in the Lord. They only followed Him because of what He had done before them, which amazed them, but they did not have true faith in Him.

That was why, the moment that their faith in Him was tested, they quickly abandoned Him, an explanation for why the same people who have welcomed the Lord Jesus into Jerusalem as King, and glorified Him with the singing of Hosanna and exultant praise, would in the same week, within less than a week’s time, denounced Him and cried out for His death, crying out, ‘Crucify Him!’.

But that is not the way with those who believed in Him. For even though they were tested in their faith, they did not give up or falter, but persevered on through with their faith, despite facing persecution and opposition, rejection and challenges, difficulties and threats in life. That was what the Apostles and the faithful disciples of the Lord had done, witnessing to the same truth which Christ Himself had preached to the people.

It would have been easy for the Lord and for His disciples if He had come to preach a message that is easy to be understood and easy to be accepted by the people. But that was not what the Lord had done. He told them the truth and nothing but the plain truth about Himself, and also about the people who lived at that time, including the reality about their sins, their wicked way of life, and all the other things that would have made those seeking for popularity cringed, because these are the things that they would not have said if they wanted to be popular among the people.

Yet, that is exactly what the Apostles had done, what they had stood for, being the witnesses for the events and the truth which the Lord had brought with Him into this world. Just as the world had rallied against Him and rejected Him, it had also therefore persecuted and brought great difficulties and challenges against those who followed Him and professed their faith with Him.

That is what all of us as Christians must realise even as we continue carrying on our daily living, that we have to be aware that following the Lord is not a trivial and easy thing to do. Much will be expected from us if we are to be true disciples of the Lord. We are all the successors of the Apostles and the disciples of the Lord, and therefore, just as those venerable servants of God had laboured to spread the truth about the Lord and His saving love, we too are expected to do the same.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, in our world today, there exists still a lot of people who have not yet heard of the good deeds of the Lord, or are ignorant of Him, or even those who have rejected Him, those who have been misguided and led away from Him. Let us all be the beacons of light to help these brethren of ours so that they may be able to find their way to Him, together with us, so that each and every one of us may find the salvation in God.

Let us be exemplary in our faith, practicing our faith through actions that show genuine faith and belief in the Lord, and strive to stand up for that faith, showing that what the Lord had done for us is a reality, and as something that everyone need to pay attention to, so that all of them may attain the salvation and eternal life God had promised them.

May the Lord bless us and all of our endeavours, and may He empower us with courage and strength, so that despite difficulties, challenges and opposition, and despite stubbornness shown by others around us, we may continue to be faithful to the Lord, and therefore inspire many more people to follow the Lord. May God be with us all, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Friday, 5 May 2017 : 3rd Week of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard from the Sacred Scriptures, the passages on the conversion of Saul, once a great enemy of the Church and persecutor of the faithful, who would later on become one of the most faithful and ardent defender of the faith, St. Paul the Apostle. And then we also continue to hear the Lord Jesus speaking of Himself as the Bread of Life, and the giving of His own Body and Blood for the consumption of the faithful.

In all these readings which we have heard and received, we heard how someone who have lived in ignorance and rejection of the truth of the Lord was converted because he came to realise the truth, and in this case it was St. Paul who was touched by the Lord, and came to realise the folly of his past sins and misled zeal, and then came to believe wholeheartedly in the Lord and became His faithful follower.

Jesus revealed Himself to Saul as the One Whom the prophets and the messengers of God had spoken about, the One through Whom God would save all of His people, and this He had done, through none other than by the outpouring of His love, by His act of love on the cross, the greatest singular act of love of all, as He laid down His life for our sake, so that through His death, He might redeem us all mankind from our sins.

He is the Lamb of God, Whose Body had been given for all the faithful, through the bread that He and all of our priests had blessed and transformed into the very essence and reality of His Precious Body, the Lamb of sacrifice that is perfect and unblemished, far greater beyond the lambs that the Israelites ate at their first Passover in Egypt, and beyond the bread of the manna that they ate during their journey in the desert.

The blood of the lambs had been used for the marking of the doorposts of the houses of the Israelites, at the time when God was to send His greatest plague upon Egypt, the plague of death and destruction on all the firstborn sons and children of the Egyptians. All the houses of Israel marked with the blood of the lamb escaped the fated destruction as sent by God throughout the land of Egypt.

And the blood of lambs and bulls were also used to sanctify the people of God, and as a sign of penance and the absolution of sins, as the symbol of the covenant between God and His people. And in the end, God Himself as the true Lamb, shed His own Blood, given to us, through the wine which He Himself had blessed, and which He and all of our priests had transformed into the very essence and reality of His Most Precious Blood.

Through His Most Precious Body and Blood, Christ Himself had come to dwell in each and every one of us who believe in Him, and who place our trust and faith in Him. He has come to redeem us and to free us from our bondage to sin, to open our eyes and allow us to see once again His truth and His light. That was exactly what had happened to Saul as he laid blind for three days in Damascus, unable to see and living in darkness.

That blindness and darkness is a representation of just how wicked and sinful, corrupted and tainted the soul of Saul had been before his conversion. But God did not wish to see him perish in his sins. Instead, the Lord called Saul out of the darkness, and opened his eyes, not just the eyes of his body as Ananias did to him, but also the eyes of his heart and soul.

That was how Saul was transformed completely and thoroughly, being filled anew with a new life blessed by the Holy Spirit, from a creature of darkness and sin, and from a ruthless and terrible enemy of Christ and His Church, into its greatest protector and one of His greatest servants. Such a turnaround is possible because Saul opened himself to God’s love and mercy, and repented from his past sins, and committing himself completely to a new way of life, one that is in accordance with the Lord’s will.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore, today as we reflect on today’s Scripture passages, let us all reflect on our own lives, our actions and deeds in life. Let us all think of how we have carried out our lives thus far, and see if we have allowed God to come to us and transform our lives. He Himself had given His own Body and Blood, as real food and real sustenance, that He is living in each one of us, and becoming the source of our strength. Shall we now then do what He wants us to do?

May the Lord bless our works and give us the strength to commit ourselves to a new life filled with grace, hope and love, that we may do everything in life in accordance with what the Lord had taught us and willed us to do. May He strengthen our faith inside us, that we may always strive to be closer to Him and be more like Him in everything. Amen.