Easter Homily

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Sunday, 15 May 2016 : Solemnity of Pentecost Sunday (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate a very great occasion of the Pentecost Sunday, celebrating and commemorating that moment when the Lord sent the Helper and Advocate which He had promised to His disciples and servants, the Holy Spirit of God that empowered them and gave them the courage and strength to carry out the mission which have been entrusted to them.

On that day, the Apostles received the Holy Spirit that appeared to them as the tongues of flames coming down from heaven and settled on each of their heads. This is the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which Jesus had promised to them, when He said that while John baptised with water, He shall baptise them with fire and the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit dwelled in them, and became in them the source of unquenchable flame, the passion and desire to go forth and courageously testify for the faith that they had in God. And it marked in them, the moment of great and unmistakeable transformation and change, which if we were to scrutinise the whole Gospels and the New Testament, we would be able to see the difference.

Before His death and resurrection, Jesus was always with the Apostles and disciples, and He always guided them and taught them all that He wanted to reveal to them. And like sheep under the guidance of their shepherd, they felt secure and safe while the shepherd was with them. Yet, their faith were still shaky and uncertain, as they did not yet fully believe in the entirety of God’s truth which Jesus had taught them.

And that was why, when the Lord and Master was suddenly taken away from them, they became confused and wandered without guidance. St. Peter even wavered such that although just on that same day he promised the Lord Jesus, that he would lay down his life for Him and follow Him to the death, he refused to recognise his Master out of fear and doubt, when those who tortured Him asked if St. Peter knew him or if he belonged to His group.

If we notice, even after the resurrection, the disciples were still afraid, not understanding fully the meaning of our Lord’s Passion, suffering and death on the cross. They locked themselves in their room, closing all their windows and hide in fear of repression, retaliation and persecution by the Jewish authorities, the chief priests and the Pharisees.

When the holy women who followed Jesus saw and witnessed His resurrection on Easter Sunday, and told the disciples of what they saw, still they refused to believe until the Lord Himself appeared to them. Only then they believed fully in Him. Jesus Himself at that time, and at various times prior to His suffering and death chided His disciples for their lack of faith, and rightly so, because these were easily shaken and were not firm.

And now, we should contrast this with how the Apostles acted after the coming of the Holy Spirit, when they fearlessly went forth to the streets and preached God’s truth in all languages. Their hearts have received the Holy Spirit, and God Himself dwelled in them through His Spirit. And that Holy Spirit gave them great strength and the courage to carry out the mission which the Lord had entrusted to them, that is the conversion of the whole mankind to the ends of the earth.

God led them and guided them through His Spirit dwelling in each and every one of them. The Apostles faced persecutions after persecutions, and gradually their own numbers were declining as they met cruel and terrible end in the hands of those who have persecuted them and the Church. And yet, through their tireless and zealous works, they have called many others to follow the Lord and continue the work which they have started.

We are surely familiar with the phrase, “The blood of martyrs is the seeds of Christians.” Truly, this means that even though the Church and the faithful were persecuted for their faith and devotion to God, but those persecutions and challenges were simply means through which the faithful could live their lives even more faithfully and devoutly, and by clinging to the Spirit of God and to the faith which they had in Him, they had brought salvation to more people, who saw what they did and believed in God as well.

The Apostles, for example St. Peter and St. Paul travelled widely across the known world at that time, preaching about Jesus our Lord, His words and His promised salvation to many communities, establishing the Church in those locations. Indeed, the amazing deeds of the Apostles were the deeds of the Lord Himself, Who had made these wonderful servants of God to be great instruments of His salvation of mankind by His Spirit.

And it all began on that moment of the Pentecost Sunday, fifty days after the celebration of Easter Sunday. It was after the Lord Jesus had ascended into Heaven, and in which He had promised that the Holy Spirit would be sent to His disciples soon. And the sending of the Holy Spirit marked a pivotal point in the history of our Church, for truly, it was the birthday of our Church, the moment when it was truly born.

Why is this so, brothers and sisters in Christ? All of us, although we came from different origins and places, with different histories and backgrounds, we all share in the same God, the same Eucharist which we receive, and in the same Spirit of God which has descended upon all of us. The Lord Himself sent His Spirit to His Apostles and the first disciples, who then went on to preach, teach and bring into conversion many others, who therefore received the same Spirit through the hands of the Apostles and the disciples of Christ.

And from them, the Holy Spirit had been passed down through the generations, and ultimately, to each and every one of us the faithful, who have been baptised, confirmed and received the Holy Communion, completing the three important Sacraments of the Church, having received the fullness of God’s Presence and Spirit in each of us. The Holy Spirit Who dwells in us now is the same Spirit Who had dwelled in the Apostles and those faithful who came before us.

And what we have to take note is that, if the Holy Spirit had made such a tremendous change in the life of the Apostles, from those who feared and doubted, uncertain about their faith and were unable to live out their faith fully, even to the point of abandoning our Lord at the time of His greatest need, to those who are courageous, and willing to carry out the word of God and preach the Good News even though knowing that they would face intense persecution and suffering for doing so, then we must know that it can be and will indeed be the same for us too.

What does this mean, brethren? It means that we who have received the Holy Spirit ought to realise that the Spirit has been given to us as a great gift, and indeed the Holy Spirit gave us many great gifts. He planted in each and every one of us, the seeds of faith, of hope and of love. But remember, that seeds will remain as seeds, and gifts will remain unused and useless, if we do not make use of the opportunity which the Holy Spirit has given to us.

Our faith is one of action, and not of inaction. We cannot profess to be Christians unless we ourselves believe fully and completely that we all have to know what is love and show love in our actions. Remember the most important commandments that the Lord Jesus Himself told a teacher of the Law who asked this of Him? Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind and strength, and then love one another, our fellow men with the same love which we show to God and to ourselves.

It means that just as the Apostles had done it in the past, we too should act with love, care for the needy and the poor, protect the innocent and the weak who were oppressed and unjustly treated, love those who are ostracised and unloved, and many other acts and opportunities which we can use in order to cultivate and grow the gifts of the Holy Spirit inside each one of us.

And this is very important because, just as in one occasion, our Lord Jesus cursed a fig tree because He passed by it, was hungry and He could find no fruit on it, when He came unannounced and suddenly even when it was not a fig season, but this is the same for us as well. The Lord has promised us all that He will come again, and He will come again at the time of His choosing which is unknown to us. When He comes again, will He find in us a fruitful tree, filled with the rich and vibrant fruits of the Holy Spirit? Or will He find us a barren tree, filled with wickedness and sin instead?

Let us no longer doubt or be fearful, brethren, for the Lord Himself is always faithful and He will always bless and protect those who are faithful to Him. He has given us all His own Spirit to guide us and to lead us to the path of righteousness leading to our salvation. What we need to do now is to walk, and follow in the footsteps of the Apostles, as indeed, they have left us with many responsibilities, and there are still many works of the Lord left undone.

We are the modern day disciples of our Lord, and the mission which the Lord has given to His Apostles is now ours too. Gather people from all over the world, from all the nations and from all the ends of the earth, and baptise them in the Name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, with the sole intention that these too, may be saved. And truly, it is often our own actions, our deeds, and not just our words alone that will convince them to listen to the truth of God, discover Him and finally find salvation in Him.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all reflect on this as we celebrate Pentecost Sunday. Have we been truly faithful to the Lord? And have we kept that zeal and faith which we have for God, burning brightly in our hearts? Can we from now on redouble and reinforce our efforts, to do more for the sake of our brethren? It is us who have the choice, and we have been given the opportunity by our Lord, to make a difference in the life of many through our works and actions.

Let us help those who have yet to receive the truth of God, that they may also hear it, know it and witness it through us, so that they may come to believe and receive the same Holy Spirit that we have received. Let us also pray, that the Holy Spirit of God will always inflame our spirit, that we may no longer fear the darkness, but instead be filled with joy and with courage to preach the Good News to many.

May God help us in our endeavour, and may His Holy Spirit ever strengthen our faith in Him. O Holy Spirit, dwell in us, transform us and make us to be the instruments of Your Divine will. God bless us all, now and forever. Amen.

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Saturday, 14 May 2016 : Feast of St. Matthias, Apostle (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we commemorate together the feast of one of the Twelve Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, namely St. Matthias, who was not counted among the original Twelve Apostles. However, after the betrayal of Judas, who not only betrayed the Lord Jesus to the Pharisees and the chief priests for thirty pieces of silver, but also took his own life in guilt and regret, the Twelve Apostles became incomplete.

And as prophesied in the Scriptures, this had been foretold in the ages past, that someone else more worthy would take up the place vacated by the unworthy betrayer. And that worthy disciple is St. Matthias, who had followed Jesus as the other Eleven Apostles had, and therefore were admitted into their number. The Apostles were the chief and principal disciples of our Lord, through whom the Church were built upon.

And they have been sent by the Lord with the mission, to evangelise the Gospel to the people in the pagan nations who still have yet to hear the Good News of God, and to bring the light of Christ to all of them. And they passed on this mission to the other disciples, who helped them and helped in establishing the Church of God in many places, saving many souls in the process.

It was told that St. Matthias went to many places to preach the Gospel and gained many people for the Lord. Many were baptised and received the Lord as their Master and Saviour. His hard work and efforts contributed to the thriving communities of Christians in several places, including places as far as Ethiopia and Georgia, and helped to establish future works of evangelisation.

It was told that he was martyred in Judea and Jerusalem, where the Jewish authorities had been oppressive against the early Christians. Or another tell mentioned that he met his death in the faraway Ethiopia where he went to evangelise. In the end, he fulfilled the duty and the charge given to him as the Apostle of Jesus Christ, gaining the eternal glory promised to him by our Lord Himself.

St. Matthias was not originally counted among the Twelve Apostles, and yet, because Judas Iscariot was unworthy, he was cast out from their number and damned to perdition, while St. Matthias took the place of glory reserved to the faithful servants of our Lord, and he proved it through his faith and his many works in fulfilling the call of the Lord.

All these are lessons for us, brothers and sisters in Christ, that we all have to always work hard and seek to be righteous in all of our actions. It does not mean that we as Christians are guaranteed salvation, as even though Judas Iscariot was chosen among the members of the Twelve, but he betrayed the Lord and failed to do what he was supposed to do, and as a result what he got was instead eternal damnation.

And it is also a reminder for us that God calls us and He wants to make us worthy. He has chosen us all from among the world, and He has shown us His truth by revealing Himself to us through our priests and bishops, who themselves received the same truth from the Apostles, and who therefore received it from the Lord Jesus Himself. We are part of this great mission to save all mankind, and we too have an important role to play in this.

Shall we all also continue the works of the Apostles in delivering the light of Christ into the world? All of us Christians have to really be Christ-like in our words, deeds and actions, that is by loving one another, showing mercy and compassion, and caring for all those who are unloved. We should heed the examples of Christ and practice these in our own lives.

If others see and witness all the things which we have done, surely they will also follow in our footsteps. Who will believe us and follow us if we ourselves did not do what the Lord had asked us to do? We have to lead by example as the Apostles themselves had once done, as St. Matthias showed us through his hard work, labour, hardships and the tribulations he faced.

May God help us on our path, and may He give us courage to walk in the footsteps of His Apostles and saints, that as St. Matthias had done before us, we too may be important tools and instruments of God’s love and mercy in this world. God bless us all. Amen.

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Friday, 13 May 2016 : Seventh Week of Easter, Memorial of our Lady of Fatima (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, we celebrate together the feast of our Lady of Fatima, commemorating that moment on this day, the thirteenth day of May, ninety-nine years ago in the year 1917, when during the height of the World War I and at the beginning of the time of great difficulty and persecution that would face Christian Russia, at the beginning of the Bolshevik Communist revolution, that the Blessed Virgin Mary, the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, appeared to three young children in the village of Fatima in Portugal.

Our Lady appeared to them and asking them to devote themselves and pray to the Holy Trinity daily, and pray the Rosary regularly for the sake of the peace of the world, the end of the war and the return of love, compassion and harmony into the world. She asked the children to spread the devotion to their fellow countrymen and all those that they had encountered, so that hopefully many people would walk in the path of repentance towards the redemption in God, and that they may seek Him through her help.

She also passed on words of advice, and many revelations to the children, including three secrets which would contain the things that were to come to the world and to the faithful people of God. She foretold of the great tribulations that would come upon the world, as we could see in the rise of Communism in Russia and in many other countries which engulfed much of the twentieth century and even until today, where those who refused to believe in God persecuted the faithful and the Church, making even many martyrs out of them.

Through the revelations of our Lady of Fatima, indeed all of us should be able to see and to feel just how much love God is showing us all His beloved ones. He has shown us His great love through His mother, who is also our mother, and that is why she is always busy at work both at the side of her Son in heaven, praying and interceding for our sake, or in the world, to stir the hearts of mankind that they may repent and turn away from their sins.

Each Marian apparitions, most famous of which were in Fatima and Lourdes spoke about the need for mankind to change their ways, repenting their sins through acts of faith and devotion, that our faith in God may be strengthened, and we may receive the grace, the strength and the courage to live our lives with faith, and to reject and resist whatever temptations that come our way, trying to pull us away from the path towards God.

And one of the advice which the Blessed Virgin Mary, mother of our Lord Jesus gave us was that we should pray the Rosary often with devotion and pure intentions, to help us in this spiritual warfare that is happening daily about us. And if we think praying the Rosary is repetitive and meaningless, that means, first of all, we may not be praying it right, and we in fact may not have gotten what prayer is all about, and we may also not realise the gravity of the spiritual battle happening around us and involving us.

Many of us when we pray, we do not pray in right way. We tend to think, wrongly, that prayer is a way for us to get help from God, and it is like a request booth through which we can plea, beg, ask and even demand grace and blessings from God. And that is why our prayer becomes less of that crucial conversation and interaction which we have with God, and became instead the litany and long list of wishes, requests and demands that do not do justice to what a prayer is truly about.

Instead, all of us should come to realise that prayer is a very powerful tool indeed, and not for us to merely get gratification and to satisfy our desires by asking the Lord all that we wished and wanted. Prayer is not just a unidirectional conversation where we do all the talking and expect the Lord to listen to us and to our petitions, as sadly most of us often believed. But rather, prayer is the time for us to spend a quiet and precious moment together with God, that we may speak with Him through the silence of our hearts, and that He too may speak to us deep in our hearts and minds.

As we honour our Blessed mother, Mary, the Lady of Fatima, and as we rejoice together knowing that the Lord had given us His own mother to be our mother as well, caring and loving for us, let us heed therefore her advice, as she had reiterated many times through her many apparitions including at Fatima, of the need for us all to undergo that tremendous change that begins from the heart. And the best way to that is through prayer and discipline.

Praying the Rosary regularly and meaningfully is a great method for us to quieten down our hearts and minds, allowing us to condition ourselves and tune ourselves away from the busy things of this world, shutting out all the noise, the temptations and all the distractions that often kept us away from truly being able to realise the way that God is reaching out to us, by speaking in the silence of our hearts.

Rather, let us all, in this month of May, which we should know as the month of the Holy Rosary, devote ourselves ever more to pray and pray the Rosary in many occasions with zeal and devotion, so that we may grow ever spiritually stronger. Remember, brethren, the devil and his fellow angels are out there like lions prowling about waiting to prey on us and to devour us, the sheep of the flock of the Lord, especially when we are distracted and lost our focus in the midst pf our busy lives.

Let us ask our blessed mother to intercede for us all, so that she may ask her Son to send His Angels to us to guard us against the enemy, and that we may be able to realise the gravity and the dangers of our sins, and thus make the conscious effort to change ourselves, repent and seek God’s forgiveness for our sins. May our Lord Jesus Christ, with the help of His Blessed mother Mary, our Lady of Fatima lead and guide us on the way to salvation and eternal life. God bless us all. Amen.

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Thursday, 12 May 2016 : Seventh Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Nereus and St. Achilleus, Martyrs and St. Pancras, Martyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, in the first reading today from the Acts of the Apostles, we heard about the moment when St. Paul was brought in front of the assembly of Pharisees and Sadducees in Caesarea, where they wanted to accuse him of wrongdoings and even through false charges. But St. Paul did not fear this and he fought back, showing just how weak and false the arguments laid against him was, as his many enemies and opponents could not even work together or find a common ground to accuse him of wrongdoing.

And in the end, he was saved from their persecution, which would likely have seen him brought up in chains to Jerusalem, and perhaps likely to suffer martyrdom there without the chance for further evangelisation. Instead, as the events went on, he managed to convince the governor to allow him to appeal to the Roman Emperor, and thus he went to Rome, and on the way, he stopped by several places where he helped to establish the Church in those places by his works.

In all these, we see that God will not abandon those who are faithful to Him. He will always be there for all those who obey His will and commandments, and also those who keep His ways faithfully. He will bless and guard these with jealous love, not allowing the forces of darkness and evil to harm them. These forces may challenge the servants of the Lord, bring tribulations and difficulties to them, but they will not bring harm to their eternal souls.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we see how much God has loved us and cared for us, so much so that He sent to us His only beloved Son, Jesus Christ, that the Divine Word assumed the flesh, our flesh, and became Man like us. And by His works, the trials and tribulations which He faced for our sake, by His entreaties and prayers, made as what we heard in the Gospel today, He beseeched the Father to forgive us our sins, and made His petitions for our sake.

How great indeed is the love which God has shown for us. He is always loving and ever merciful to us. He is slow to anger and rich in kindness. He shows us His compassion from time to time, and He is willing to forgive us, but as long as we ourselves are also willing and wanting to be forgiven. If we do not act in the way that is pleasing to God and continue to act wickedly and in disobedience to God, how would we expect to be forgiven?

God will keep us and guard us as He has always done. He is forever faithful, but how about us? Are we faithful to God and committed to His ways? Let us ask ourselves how often it was that we have acted in ways that are not in accordance with God’s ways. How often is it that we have been angry with our brethren, our neighbours around us, or even resenting them or being jealous with what they had and what we did not have?

How often is it that we have been ignorant of the need of others who are around us, who need our help, and yet we did not even lift a finger to help, and pretend not to notice their sufferings? These are the questions we should ask ourselves, and indeed, we should also reflect on the lives of the three great saints and holy martyrs whose feast we celebrate today.

St. Nereus, St. Pancras and St. Achilleus were told be the martyrs of the great persecution of the Emperor Diocletian, who was known for his especially vicious and harsh persecution against the Church and the faithful during the turn of the fourth century after the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. The faithful were greatly oppressed, and the Roman government and officials openly showed hostility against Christians of all backgrounds.

The three martyrs were told to be among those who were arrested and tortured at the time of the great persecution of Christians. And yet they refused to recant their faith in God, and they adamantly rejected the call to abandon their Lord and God and worship the Emperor as god instead. They courageously stood by their faith, even though they knew that by doing so, it means almost certain death at that time.

They did not compromise their faith and their life with submission to the world and its demands just in order to safeguard themselves. Rather, they totally surrendered it all to God, and went on knowing that doing so would mean facing death and painful sufferings. From their examples, each and every one of us should be aware that as Christians, we cannot be just passive and ignorant of things that we need to do, and indeed which we can do, for the sake of those who are around us, and for the sake of the Lord our God.

Let us all commit ourselves anew to the Lord, and let us be filled with strength and with the courage to carry out our lives in good faith and commitment to God, so that in all the things that we say and do, we will always bring forth the glory of God. May God bless us and keep us, and may He remain with us all forever. Amen.

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Wednesday, 11 May 2016 : Seventh Week of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day as we heard the continuation of the discourse which St. Paul had with the elders, the bishops, priests and the faithful of the Church in Ephesus, we heard of the reminders that we all should also pay attention to, in how they ought to live their lives faithfully, committed to God. St. Paul reminded the people of Ephesus on what things to expect as they live in faith.

In the Gospel, we also heard about the prayer of our Lord Jesus Christ to His Father in heaven, during the moments just before He was about to suffer, to be crucified and to die on the cross. He prayed that the Lord His Father would protect His disciples and keep them from harm’s way, and from the predation and attacks by the evil one. He prayed that they will remain in God’s grace and remain as one people faithful to God.

In all these, there is a similar theme to all, that is the alertness, the readiness and the care which all of us must take against the encroachments of evil, the allure and the pull of darkness, and all the methods and ways which the devil and its fellow allies are using against each one of us who are faithful to God. We must realise that the danger and the threat are ever present, and we cannot be less prepared or be less aware of the danger.

As Christians, and indeed as human beings, all of us are always presented with choices in our respective lives. And with each of the choices we made, we are presented with the consequences that are inevitable to come for each of these choices that we made. If we act in ways that are contrary to God’s laws and teachings, then we only invite harm and danger to ourselves, and then, it is not only affecting us, but in fact, also others around us.

How is this so, brothers and sisters in Christ? It is because we mankind are visual and auditory creatures, and we form our judgments and ideas based on what we see, what we hear and what we witness in others. How would people believe in us, no matter what we show them and teach them, if we as Christians do not act as how Christians should act? Indeed, if we do things that are contrary to our faith, we even would scandalise our faith, and prevent people from ever reaching salvation.

And if by our actions we have caused our fellow brethren to be condemned and thrown into hell, then we too would be held responsible for their downfall. We should have inspired them and helped them to attain salvation in God, and yet, what we have done had merely made them to go even further in their own sinful ways and prevent them from approaching the Lord through faith, because they saw in us the wickedness of the faithful.

Therefore, all of us today are challenged, just as St. Paul had reminded and challenged the elders, the bishops and the shepherds of God’s people in Ephesus. And this challenge is that we all should live our lives faithfully as Christians, and we should devote our time and our actions to be truly worthy of being called as Christians, that is by obeying the Lord in all of His laws and commandments, loving and caring for our fellow brethren, and acting with full faith in God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, the challenge has been given to us. Are we up to the challenge? It is up to us to choose whether we want to walk in this path, difficult and challenging, but reaps rich rewards of eternal life and glory in God, or we rather follow the path that is offered to us, the easier path of the world that leads to uncertainty and even to damnation.

Let us pray for discernment, that God will strengthen our faith and our resolve. May all of us be ever more courageous to carry out the laws and commandments of God in all of our actions, even if those actions may not be viewed favourably by others around us. Let us remember that we live to serve the Lord and not to serve the world. Let us all work together, so that hopefully at the end of the days, when the Lord comes again to claim us His faithful ones, He may find us worthy and just, and thus bring us to everlasting life. God bless us all. Amen.

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Tuesday, 10 May 2016 : Seventh Week of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard in the Scriptures the prayers and the wishes of those who have done the will of God and been faithful to the end. St. Paul was meeting the elders, the bishops and priests of the Church in Ephesus as a farewell to them, because he knew that afterwards he would never see them again, as he was going to his eventual martyrdom in Rome.

In the Gospel today, Jesus our Lord spoke to His disciples at the Last Supper, where He spoke to them about many things at the culmination of His earthly ministry. He prayed to God the Father to bless and strengthen His disciples through the difficult times that was to come, so that they might persevere through those challenging times.

Both St. Paul and Jesus our Lord had completed the respective works which they were given by the Lord, that is to give the people of God the truth and the revelation of the truth of God’s mysteries, and to reveal to them the nature of God’s love and mercy for mankind. They were then going to their end, the end of their earthly lives, having completed what they were supposed to do, faithful to the end and their rewards would be great.

They showed us all the attitudes which we as the disciples and followers of our Lord should have in our lives. We should first put our complete trust in the Lord, and believe in the providence and help which He will give to us and bless us with. We must remember that He will not abandon us in our time of great need, and He will always guard us and protect us as long as we keep our faith in Him.

He will not abandon us to the darkness and to the devil, but we must also realise that the path of being faithful to Him will not be an easy one, just as St. Paul himself had demonstrated, together with the other Apostles, disciples and martyrs of the Church who have encountered those challenges and difficulties in living their lives faithfully and against the forces of the world.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, challenges and obstacles are part and parcel of our lives as Christians, primarily because the ways of this world, as we all should now, are not in accordance to the ways of the Lord, and very often, they would come into conflict against each other. And thus, the world will indeed persecute the faithful people of God, just as they had done in the ages past.

It will not be easy indeed, brethren, many of those who have preceded us lived their lives in difficulty, persevering through the challenges, some were imprisoned, some were tortured and in pain, and some even lost their lives for the sake of the Lord. And yet, these had gone to their heavenly reward, receiving the glory of God and the eternal life promised to them, while those who compromised their faith and submitted to the world had also gone to their just reward, that is eternal suffering and damnation in hell.

We should all realise that for us all, it is now up to us to live our lives, and how we should act and do things in this life, so that we can be either faithful or faithless to God. Let us just ask ourselves this one question, what do we want to see in our own respective lives, if at the very end of our earthly lives, we are able to look back at our every single actions and deeds? What do we want to see, brethren? Do we want to see a life filled with justice and good deeds, worthy of the Lord? Or do we rather see a life of wickedness and evil, and unworthy of the Lord?

The choice is ours brethren, and let us all pray as St. Paul had done, that we may be given the strength and the grace to live our lives filled with faith and with confidence, knowing that if we are faithful to God’s ways, we shall never be disappointed and receive the eternal glory and life promised to all of us. Lord, our God and Father, remain with us always. Amen.

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Monday, 9 May 2016 : Seventh Week of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we heard in the first reading how St. Paul approached and spoke to the followers of Christ, who had heard of the word of God through the preachers and the other disciples, but who have not yet comprehended the fullness of the mysteries of God’s truth. They understood the basic tenets of the Lord’s teachings, but have yet then to receive the Holy Spirit of God.

But through the works and the teachings which St. Paul brought to them, they then understood the fullness of God’s truth and teachings, and they received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, as the Holy Spirit came down upon them through St. Paul. And thus, the foundations and the strength of the Church in Ephesus was strengthened and solidified.

And it is the same Spirit which all of us have received at our baptism and confirmation, when we have received the fullness of the three sacraments of Initiation, namely of Baptism, Confirmation and the Eucharist. The same Holy Spirit has been passed down to us from the Apostles, through their successors, our priests and bishops who then ministered to us and blessed us with the Holy Spirit.

And because of that, by the dwelling of the Lord inside each and every one of us, we have been renewed and strengthened, and indeed we have been prepared to be with God when He comes again. But then we should ask ourselves, how would the Lord find us when He comes again? Will He find us in a ripe and good state, filled to the brim and even overflowing with the fruits of the Holy Spirit? Or will we instead find ourselves filled with rotten fruits of sin and wickedness?

In one occasion, Jesus was passing by a fig tree on His way to Jerusalem, and He was hungry. He looked at the fig tree, hoping to find some fig fruits for Him to eat, but He could not find any fruit on the tree. Thus, He cursed the tree and when He and the disciples passed through the tree again on the next occasion, it had withered all the way to its roots.

If we just look at this passage with face value alone, then we indeed would be confused, thinking how come the Lord would be so angry at the fig tree for having no fruit while it was not yet the fig season yet. Surely it would be unreasonable and uncharacteristic for our Lord to be angry right? But if we look at it more carefully, ponder on it and reflect on what it means, surely we can see that those actions of Jesus spoke a thousand words.

Remember that Jesus always said that He will come again, and that we ought to be ready, as His coming will be swift and unnoticeable, unpredictable and unknown just as a thief comes to steal? What does this mean, brethren? Just as He came to the fig tree out of season, so He will also come to us in unpredicted time, when we do not expect Him to come at all. And when He comes, will He also find us barren as the fig tree was barren too?

What are the fruits that we ought to bear? We ought to cultivate what the Lord through His Spirit has given us and planted in us, that by our actions and deeds, we may bear forth love, hope, compassion, care and many other good fruits, particularly in how we deal with one another, and in how we live our faith with real commitment to love God and to love our fellow men.

If we have been truly faithful, then in our actions we should have shown how much we are able to obey Him, by loving Him as He has asked us, and loving each other in the same manner, rich in forgiveness and compassion, and unbending in seeking and demanding righteousness and justice in all things. Then, when the Lord comes again, He shall find us righteous, worthy and filled with precious fruits. Otherwise, it is only His curse that we shall get if we do not do all these.

Let us pray today, that all of us may grow strong in faith, and devote ourselves and our time to the Lord, that we may be fruitful and be worthy of the Lord as we approach the solemnity of the Pentecost Sunday this coming Sunday. May God bless us all and keep us, and may He fill us always with His Holy Spirit. Amen.

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Sunday, 8 May 2016 : Seventh Sunday of Easter, World Communications Sunday (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard about the death and martyrdom of St. Stephen, the first martyr of the Church from the Acts of the Apostles, our first reading, and we also heard from the Revelations according to St. John, about the promise of the world to come, and the promise that our Lord and Saviour, Jesus, will come again at the end of time to succour His people.

And in the Gospel, we heard about the prayer which Jesus our Lord made to His Father, for the sake of His disciples, all who believe in Him, and ultimately, for the entirety of the whole Church. He prayed for their sake, that God His Father through Him would bless those multitudes of people, and that He would bring them into the salvation and the glory which He had promised the faithful ones.

In all these, what we have heard from the Scripture readings pointed out to us about the nature of our faith in God, on how persecution will be part and parcel of our life, but as mentioned, God will not leave them alone, and He will continue to guide them and show them the path towards eternal life. God will be their strength and their foundation. If they are to keep their hold on Him, they will not be disappointed.

Why does this matter, brethren? Jesus mentioned to us the troubles that is facing the Church, and another had been presented by the tale of St. Stephen and his martyrdom. External pressures and persecution against the Church and the faithful are a reality, and these will not go away. Since the very earliest times of the Church, there had been those who opposed the message and the truth of Christ, from the Romans to the Jews, and then from the heretics and the other unbelievers, the Turks and now we have those who refused to believe in God, the atheists and those who rejected Christ.

And we can still recall quite clearly how in the past century, and in some places even until this very day, persecution of Christians is a reality. The horrors of the persecution especially by the atheist and the hostile Communist regimes in Soviet Union, its satellite regimes in Eastern Europe and beyond, and then the terrible persecutions in China and in North Korea, which for the latter is still continuing even unto this very day, and for the former persecution also still happened from time to time.

In the Middle East and in other parts of the world, Christians are also still persecuted, rejected and ridiculed for their faith in God. They are facing difficulties for keeping their faith, were blocked from being able to live out their faith lives freely, and some were even persecuted and tortured, and martyred for their faith, just as St. Stephen was, for standing up for their faith and for being courageous in not fearing the persecution of the world.

In this matter, with regards to the external persecution of the Church and the faithful, we have to keep praying and hoping. We have to keep in mind what Jesus our Lord had said, and what St. Stephen had shown all of us. Jesus said that once it was such that if someone made another lose an eye, then it is ought to be that the one who made the person to lose an eye, also lose an eye as well. But it should not be so with us Christians.

The principle of justice by revenge no longer applies to us Christians, for that law in the past was given by God as a means to rein in His often rebellious people, who frequently disregarded His laws and commandments, and thus harsh measures as a deterrent was appropriate to keep them in check. Yet, the purpose of the Law remains the same, that is for mankind to be able to discover and to love their Lord.

It is in our human nature to hate and to hold grudge against another. And to those of us who have experienced grudge before, most of us I believe, and including me as well, we know how dangerous and powerful hatred and grudge could be. We tend to keep it inside us, and it causes us to feel anger and indeed, it can make us do dangerous things, even to the point of inflicting harm and pain on others.

This world is running on the principle of reciprocation such that, if someone caused us harm and pain, then we also want to inflict harm and pain upon that person as well. But do we all realise that in doing so, we are merely perpetuating the cycle of hatred, pain, anger and suffering? We inflict pain on someone, and that someone did the same to us in revenge, and then we having been slighted one more time, decide to retaliate, which leads to even more retaliation of even greater degree. It is a painful and endless cycle which only leads to more and more hatred, pain and suffering.

Instead, as Christians, we ought to show love, true love that is unconditional and pure, just as the Lord Jesus Himself had shown to us. The love that Jesus our Lord showed us can be summarised also in the words He had spoken in the same occasion as He condemned those vengeance justice. He told us that we ought to forgive those who have sinned against us, and we ought to pray for those who hated us and persecuted us.

And even in the Lord’s Prayer, when Jesus prayed in another occasion to the Lord God His Father, one key essential element of the Pater Noster is that we pray that God will forgive us our sins just as we have forgiven those who sinned against us. And that was exactly what St. Stephen did just moments before his death. He forgave them and asked the Lord not to hold their sins and faults against them. The same action has also been done by our Lord Himself, as He hung upon the cross, forgiving all those who have called for Him to be crucified.

This means that, as Christians, we have to pray for perseverance and strength, that amidst the persecutions and the challenges presented to us by the world, we may not give up and surrender ourselves to the demands of the devil and the world. And yet, we must also pray for the strength to love and to forgive, that we may forgive those who have persecuted us, and love them even though they have hated us first. Hopefully through that love, they may be healed from the hatred and grudge they had against us, and be able to find repentance and forgiveness for all of their sins by God.

And lastly, just as I have mentioned that great troubles had always come from the outside of the Church, Jesus also mentioned about the coming troubles that would come from within the Church. He always warned His disciples against the false prophets, the wolves dressed in sheep clothing to deceive the faithful and to lure them away from the salvation in God.

And these false prophets and selfish men and women had brought about divisions and disunity within even the Church itself, with peoples making followings among themselves by spreading inaccurate and wrong teachings about the Lord in order to serve their own purposes, desires and ego. Throughout the centuries since the earliest days of the Church, we have been aware of those who have brought about this disunity, from the Gnostics, Arius, Nestorius, and then to Martin Luther, to John Calvin, Zwingli, King Henry VIII of England and many others who have misled the faithful and brought great divisions in the Church.

Jesus prayed to the Father that He will always keep His faithful people in the Church united, and He prayed hard for that unity, repeating again and again and emphasising of the need for the unity, so that the faithful may all be united as one people and one body in the Church, just as He Himself, the Father and the Holy Spirit are perfectly united in one Godhood, the Most Holy Trinity.

Therefore today, and indeed from now on, in addition to praying for the persecuted faithful around the world, and praying for the faith of the Church, we also should pray and work for the complete unity of the Church of God. The Church of God does not just consist of the buildings and the structures, and it does not consist only of the priests, the bishops and all the religious. Instead, it is the one and only body consisting of all, without exception, the faithful people who believe in God, who through the Church are journeying together towards their salvation in God.

And we all should realise that the unity of the Church had been long shattered, and many who claim themselves as faithful are outside the Church. There is no salvation but through God’s only Church alone, Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus. Therefore, while there is hope for all others, our brethren in faith outside the Church, but for them to receive God’s salvation, they must find their way back to the Holy Mother Church, and thus, it is our task and responsibility now to welcome them, to help them and to encourage them to return.

Let us all pray for one another, and for all the faithful, that everyone may return and reside within the embrace of the Holy Mother Church, the Body of Christ, so that together, all of us God’s people may praise and worship Him together as one people, and we may find our way to His salvation. Let us all work together, so that each and every one of us may draw ever closer to God’s love. May God help us, and may He restore the unity to the Church, and may He help all those who are persecuted for their faith. God bless us all. Amen.

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Saturday, 7 May 2016 : Sixth Week of Easter, Eleventh Anniversary of the Enthronement of Pope Benedict XVI, Vicar of Christ and Supreme Pontiff (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard about the works of St. Paul in continuing his evangelisation of the peoples, spreading the Good News of God, and how an inspirational preacher, Apollos, who although lacking somewhat in the full knowledge of the faith, but he has a great courage and energy, as well as charisma in proclaiming the truth of God, and as a result, many people turned to God because of his works and his inspiring sermons.

He was helped by the other disciples who explained to him in greater detail the fullness of the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ, and because of that, his works became ever more instrumental in helping to establish the strong foundations of the Church in the cities where he ministered in, especially in Ephesus and Corinth. Many of the people in those places became believers of Christ.

If you think that these people were great men and women who were very capable in all things, you are mistaken. God did not choose the great, the mighty and the powerful to be those whom He had chosen to be the extension of His mighty works on earth, but instead He chose the simple and normal people, just like each and every one of us, and He blesses those whom He had chosen to be His followers.

God will give all that the ones He blesses, granting them the authority over many things, even over sin and death. He will not leave those whom He had blessed alone. But the problem is that, it is so often that we are afraid to ask for help, and we are reluctant to ask our Lord for what we need and for what we want. In our reluctance, we do not gain what we needed, and therefore, we missed the opportunities for us to implement whatever good we have within us.

Sometimes we are afraid because we tend to view God as someone Who is exacting and wanting many things from us, and we do not therefore dare to seek for the Lord when we are in need, and we keep our hearts and minds closed against God. Or it may be that we also do not know that God is able to help us, either because we do not truly believe in Him, or that because we tend to ignore His words speaking in our hearts simply because we are too busy with matters of this world.

Ask and you shall receive, knock and the door shall be opened to you. Such is the very generous words and terms which our Lord has given us. After all, which other gods or beings would do the same? God Who loves us all wants us to listen to Him, to accept His path and to welcome His ways. And to that extent, He even sent us His own Son, Jesus to be our Saviour and as our Deliverer to free us from the bonds of our sins.

God has blessed us with many gifts and many graces. But it is really up to us how we ought to use them. As Christians we have to realise that we cannot be passive and inactive. It is such inactivity and passivity which has prevented us from seeking the Lord our God and asking Him for the graces and help which He is willing to give to us.

Christians must stand up and be active in making the effort to bring forth the gifts of God, of love, hope and faith, and share these with one another. This means that we should reach out to our brethren and love them through our actions, showing our genuine care and love for them, that through that same love, we may find true love in each other, and help one another in reaching out to God, and having shown love, we may therefore be found worthy by the Lord, and be welcomed into eternal life.

May God help us all in this journey of life, and may He strengthen the faith in each and every one of us. May all of us find the courage and the strength to always walk in the path of righteousness and justice. God bless us all. Amen.

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Friday, 6 May 2016 : Sixth Week of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard the encouragements which God has given His Apostles, all those who dedicated themselves to Him and to His works. In the first reading, God encouraged and reassured St. Paul of His protection and providence, even as the Jews and all the enemies of the Church were plotting up sinister fates and ideas for St. Paul and his evangelising works.

And in the Gospel we heard how Jesus at the Last Supper foretold of His own suffering and Passion on the way of the cross, and how those times would be difficult for the Apostles to bear, as they would be tempted to run away and flee from these challenges, as shown by St. Peter and his thrice denial of knowing Jesus, because he was afraid and uncertain at that time, after his Master had been arrested by the Jewish authorities.

There would be troubles and challenges facing the faithful if they continued to remain faithful in God, and He wanted them to understand that the path forward would not be an easy one. After all, we were all under the thrall of sin, and through sin we have been under bondage and the tyranny of the devil, who wanted to gain as many souls of mankind as possible, to join him in the eternal damnation.

He knew that he could not win or triumph against God, and his final defeat has indeed been sealed, but that did not stop him from trying to lure mankind away from salvation and from their liberation of their sins. He is always busy at work trying to tempt us away from the path of righteousness in God, and offered us many other seemingly better alternatives that in fact leads not to God but to damnation.

And when he is unable to tempt us away or to lure us to the path which he has designed to bring us into our downfall, then he uses other methods, such as pressure, from the society, and even from within the family and from those whom we know, so that hopefully we may give up and conform to the ways of the world which the devil had advocated.

We may find this to be very distressing, and hope may dry up for us, when especially we are faced with opposition from even those who even know us well, and whom we know well. But God is reminding us that He is always with us, and He will never abandon us, and we need to know that we can trust in Him with all of our heart. He shall succour us, comfort us and He shall give us all a new hope.

He is the true Joy of the world, Who came into the world to bring light to a people who have long lived in the darkness. And through Him, a new hope and light has blossomed and grown in our hearts, and in all those who believe in Him, and have witnessed and known His glorious resurrection from even death, we know that there is hope, even amidst all the gloom and the darkness that surrounded us.

We should not be disheartened, brothers and sisters in Christ, but instead we should really be encouraged by what we have received from the Lord, and by what hope and grace we have been given. Had the Apostles been fearful as they were when the Jewish authorities arrested Jesus, and had they been passive and hiding from trouble, then the word of God and the truth of our Lord Jesus Christ would have been hidden from the rest of mankind.

Instead, they persevered onwards, and despite the challenges, they tried their best in order to fulfil the mission which God had entrusted them with. And even though they were arrested, put into prison, made to suffer, and some of them even were martyred, but all these did not dampen their spirit. And as a result, many people came to know of the Lord and became believers, and thus as a result, they were saved.

We should ponder on all these, and reflect on how all of us are also called to do the same as what the Apostles had done. Their work is not yet complete, and there are always many more things to be done. It is now up to us whether we continue their work and help more and more of our brethren to draw closer to God, so that all of us may together receive God’s eternal life. May God help us in our endeavours and bless us, and may He strengthen our faith and guide us so we may always remain in His path. Amen.