Easter Sunday Homily

by

Sunday, 21 May 2017 : Sixth Sunday of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this Sunday, the sixth in the season of Easter, all of us gathered together in the celebration of the Holy Mass are all called to remember that the Lord has given us His very own Holy Spirit to dwell in us, as the Helper and Advocate which He had promised us all through what He had said to His disciples, as we heard it ourselves in the Gospel passage today.

As we approach the end of the season of Easter, fifty days of celebration of the glorious resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, culminating at the Solemnity of the Pentecost, we are preparing ourselves to commemorate that momentous event in the entire history of the Church, the day when the Lord sent the Holy Spirit to all of His Apostles and disciples, giving them the power and courage to go forth and proclaim His Good News to all the nations, essentially marking the beginning of the Church.

The Holy Spirit has descended upon the face of the earth, and by their imparting upon the Apostles and the disciples, the Holy Spirit Himself has been given to all the faithful upon whom the Apostles and the disciples of the Lord had laid their hands on, passing down the same gifts that the Lord had given them to their successors, and from their successors to their successors’ successors, and eventually unto us.

And because the Lord Himself has dwelled in us, first of all, by the life that God the Father has given us, and by the Most Precious Body and Blood which God the Son has given us to eat and drink, and by the coming of God the Holy Spirit dwelling in us, all of us have been sealed, by the Sacrament of Initiation, through Baptism, Confirmation and the Eucharist, in the Name of the Lord’s Most Holy Trinity, and God Himself is in us, and He lives inside each one of us.

And if God is inside us, living in us, and really present in each one of us, then surely we cannot defile our bodies, our minds, our hearts and our souls. As St. Paul mentioned in his Epistle to the Church and the faithful in the city of Corinth, we are all Temples of the Holy Spirit, that is our entire being, our entire body, mind, heart and soul. We are God’s dwelling and holy tabernacles on earth.

If we do our best to give the best things for the church, by bowing, kneeling, adoring and falling flat before God, and since we believe in the Real Presence in the Most Holy Eucharist, using only the finest materials of gold and precious metals for chalices and ciboriums, and the finest tabernacles and monstrances to contain the Most Precious Body and Blood of the Lord, then should we not do the same with our own bodies, with our own minds, hearts and souls?

Otherwise, our faith is not truly complete, if we do not do what we are supposed to do, in maintaining purity and holiness in life. The Lord had entered our bodies, sinful and tainted by those wickedness we have done, and yet, He had done so in order to purify us, to make us clean and worthy. Such was His love for us that He has given us innumerable opportunities for us to be redeemed from our sins, and to be reconciled with Him.

If we continue to live in sin, or reverting back to our past sinfulness and wickedness, even after we have been made to be children of God, by the Sacraments of Initiation mentioned earlier, then truly we have sinned against the Lord and the Holy Spirit, an unforgivable sin, if we persist in our way of sin and refuse to repent from those sins.

That said, all of these simply point us all in one simple direction, yet clear. And that is all of us Christians must ‘walk the talk’, and we must be genuine and sincere in our faith and in what we believe in the Lord. We must follow in the footsteps of the Apostles, as we have heard from the Acts of the Apostles, which is our first reading today. They were the ones whom God had given the authority and power, and they had dutifully done what they were supposed to do, travelling from places to places, healing the sick and reaching out to sinners and to those who had no hope with them.

We cannot be lukewarm Christians, all those who claim themselves to be Christians and yet they carry on with life as if nothing concerns them besides all of their worldly pursuits and goals, those who are Christians in name only, but in their behaviours and attitudes, often show actions contrary to their supposed belief in the Lord. They did not follow the way of the Lord, but their own, often selfish ways.

Such Christians will bring about scandal to the Church, to the faith, and to the Holy Name of our Lord, because people then can slander us by saying, ‘I thought that Christians believe in their God, and yet this is how they have acted in life?’ Others will then think of Christians as hypocrites, all those who talk but show no action, or those who preach one thing, and yet act in a totally contradictory manner.

No, brothers and sisters in Christ. We cannot be like this. We have to be true disciples of the Lord in all things. We have to practice what we believe in, or we will be hypocrites like those Pharisees whom Jesus our Lord criticised and rebuked, because they acted high and mighty, assuming great piety and devotion to God, but they did not do as they have preached, and sought human praise as well as worldly ambition above all else.

It is time for us all Christians to reflect on our actions thus far, we all whom God had chosen from the world to be His disciples, to be those on whom He had bestowed the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the same gifts that He had granted these holy and devout people, and yet we can see just how those gifts God gave them had flourished and grew to be such great fruits of the faith. Thousands and more people, countless souls had been saved through their hard work, which they showed not just by mere words alone, but through their genuine Christian living.

What does this mean, brothers and sisters in Christ? It means that if we have not done so, and if we have not lived an honest and upright Christian life thus far, and if we have become like those lukewarm or even ‘cafetaria’ Christians, those who choose what they want to believe based on what suits them and reject those that they do not agree with, then it is time for us to change our way of life.

It is time for us to repent and to seek God’s forgiveness, and from now on, devoting our whole lives in the service of God. We have to be loving just as our God is loving. That is what Jesus our Lord mentioned in the Gospel today. All those who believe in Him will do His commandments, and obey the will of God wholeheartedly. And Jesus Himself had summarised the whole law He had given them into two rules.

First, all of us have to love God with all of our heart, with all of our strength. We cannot love anything in a way that is greater than how we love God. He is our Creator, our Lord and Master, the One to Whom we owe our existence and our life. He alone is worthy of our greatest love and praise. And then, secondly, our faith life cannot be kept to ourselves, but we must be active, that is we have to love and serve our fellow brethren, our brothers and sisters, fellow mankind who are all children of the same God.

Love is at the heart of our Christian faith, for St. Paul also mentioned in another occasion, as the Lord Jesus also mentioned, that no matter how great the faith that someone has, but without love, that faith will amount to nothing in the end. And no matter how great we are, in deeds and abilities, but if we have no love in us, that our lack of love will be held against us on the day of judgment, and all that we have, our talents and abilities will do us no good.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all remember that even though the season of Easter is coming to an end soon, there must be no end to our effort to love the Lord and our brethren, as best as we are able to. That is our obligation as Christians, following in the footsteps of the holy Apostles, saints and martyrs, many of whom have even laid down their lives for the sake of the Lord, and for protecting the life of the innocents.

Let us all be ever more courageous in faith, and be ever more devoted to the Lord, so that in all the things we say and do, we will always declare and proclaim to all peoples, the glory of the Lord our God, His truth and His love for all of us mankind. May through us and our good works, we may be able to bring countless more souls towards their salvation in God. Let the fruits of the Holy Spirit, of faith, hope and love grow in us and blossom well through us. May He bless us all and our endeavours, and make us all true Christians in name and in deeds. Amen.

by

Sunday, 14 May 2017 : Fifth Sunday of Easter, Feast of St. Matthias, Apostle (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this Sunday, the fifth in the season of Easter, it happens that we also celebrate the feast of one of the Holy Apostles, that is St. Matthias the Apostle, who was not originally counted among the Twelve Apostles, but was added to their number in order to replace the traitor Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus our Lord.

In the first reading today, we have also heard about the decision by the Apostles to choose from among the faithful, seven holy men, filled with the Holy Spirit, in order to serve as the new order of Christian Deacons, which was the moment of the foundation of the diaconate. The deacons were meant to serve the people of God, the community of the faithful, by complementing the works of the Apostles, who were indeed the priests newly appointed by God, given the authority to forgive sins, and to transform the bread and wine offered to the Lord into the very essence and reality of the Most Precious Body and Blood of our Lord Himself.

And in the second reading today, taken from the first Epistle written by St. Peter, the first Pope and leader of the Church, we heard about how all of us Christians have been called by God, to become living stones, meaning to become living temples of the Lord’s Most Holy Presence, for He has called us out of the darkness into the light, in order to become His disciples, and He has given us Himself, His own Body and Blood to be eaten and consumed, and thus, He Himself dwells in each and every one of us.

And He has revealed all about God’s love to us, how God has sent us His own beloved Son, Jesus Christ, that through Him, and by all those who believed in Him, all will be made worthy of the Lord, and be forgiven of all their sins, provided that they are willing to be forgiven. This is what the Lord intended for us mankind, His desire that all of us should be reconciled with Him, and saved from eternal damnation in hell, which was our fate.

Thus, after hearing all of these passages from the Scriptures, keeping in mind what the Apostles, the disciples of the Lord, the deacons had done for the sake of the Church, and what each of us as Christians had received from the Lord, it is time for us all to reflect on what being a Christian and being a member of the Church which Christ our Lord had established in this world mean for us.

What is the mission of the Church, and indeed what is our mission, our responsibility as part of God’s Church? What is it that we need to do so that we may be able to actively take part in the works of the Church? The primary mission of the Church is the salvation of all the souls of all mankind, that no one, not a single one of us mankind, children of God, should have to perish in hell because of our sins and wickedness.

The Church is the manifestation of God’s love, which He had made evident and real to us through Jesus Christ, our Lord, by His suffering and death on the cross, and then by His glorious resurrection from the dead. It was His triumphant victory over death, over the chains of sin and evil that bound us mankind to suffering and death, which had become the foundation of the Church He established and entrusted on the Apostles He had called.

Yes, brothers and sisters in Christ, God had entrusted to all of us in His Church, the mission to deliver the truth He had revealed to His Apostles, and thus to all of us, that if mankind are to believe in Him, have faith in Him, and put their trust in Him, then they shall not falter any more, and sin and evil will no longer have any dominion or power over them. For just as the Lord had conquered sin, evil and death, He will also liberate all those who have put themselves in Him from all these, and lead them into the eternal life and glory He had promised them.

But there are still many people out there who have not yet heard of God’s love and mercy, of His desire to forgive them from their sins and wickedness, and they continue to live in ignorance of God and His truth. They continue to live in a state of sin, and if nothing is done, the devil and his allies will then be victorious over them, as they will be successful in dragging these souls into hell, for their failure to repent from their sins.

And there are also many others who have drifted away from the Lord, even many of those who were once counted among the faithful ones. There are indeed in reality, many Christians who are no longer regularly attending the celebrations of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, coming to the church only in the festive moments of Christmas and Easter, or certain feast days, instead of regularly attending and participating in the Holy Mass as is necessary.

And there are even more of those who have stopped coming to the Holy Mass altogether, and those who have stopped believing in God. Thus, after coming to realisation of this reality, all of us must do our best to help these brethren of ours who are in need of our help. It is often that our actions in life are not representative of what we believe in Christians, and it is often this that had prevented many more people from coming to believe in God.

Yes, brothers and sisters in Christ. How are we supposed to make people believe in God and accept the Lord Jesus as their Saviour, if we ourselves as Christians fight among ourselves, and are involved in numerous immoral and unjust acts? How can people believe in what we preach to them, if we ourselves do not do as we have believed? Then we are no better than the Pharisees, whom the Lord Jesus Himself had criticised as those who preached well, but did not practice what they preached, and thus told the people to listen to them, but not follow their practices.

Let us all therefore, from now on, renew our commitment to the Lord, by putting our greatest effort to live faithfully as Christians, devoting our time and effort to serve Him with zeal, and by practicing love and grace in our daily actions. We must be true Christians through our actions, that we should show love to the unloved, to those who have been rejected by others, and show mercy to our enemies and those who have wronged us.

Let us all be exemplary in our actions, and do whatever we can as members and parts of the Church of God, devoting our time and effort, walking in the footsteps of the holy deacons, the Apostles, St. Matthias and his fellow disciples of the Lord, so that many more people may come to be saved through our efforts, and all of us may rejoice together as one people, in the loving presence of our God. Amen.

by

Sunday, 7 May 2017 : Fourth Sunday of Easter, Good Shepherd Sunday and Vocation Sunday (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this Sunday, the fourth one in the entire season of Easter, we always celebrate the one aspect of God which endears Him to us, that He is our Good Shepherd, the One Who guided the faithful people of God to Himself. Today the Scripture readings reflect precisely that fact, showing to us, how God loved the whole world and all mankind, who are His beloved ones.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, why then God chose to be known as a Good Shepherd? Surely He can let Himself be known as a great King, or a Teacher, or as a great Being, with titles more befitting of His stature as God. There were indeed a lot of other professions far more worthy and reputable at that time, and even as it is today, a shepherd is not a particularly well-liked or well-respected work. Yet, it is truly a noble profession in reality.

But at the time of Jesus, as well as the time of the ancestors of the people of Israel, many of the people were shepherds, as there were also many farmers and fishermen. Jesus was using parables to teach the people about the truth of God, and in the same manner therefore, just as He had used the parables of the seeds being sown in comparing the kingdom of God and explaining it to them, therefore, Jesus also compared Himself to shepherds in how He were to carry out His mission in this world.

A shepherd’s main duty is to watch over his sheep, the animal which were herded by the shepherds, as they grazed the grasslands for food. The shepherd must ensure that the sheep are protected from harm, such as wolves which would hunt sheep that are not kept in the protection of its shepherd. And sometimes, the sheep may also be separated from the flock, and becomes lost. In that case, it is the shepherd’s duty to find out where the sheep is and return it back to the flock.

But not all shepherds cared for the sheep in that expected way. Many of the shepherds were paid in order to do their job, and they only did the job as far as it benefitted them. They did not truly care for the sheep, and they would be unwilling to go the extra mile for the sake of these sheep. They would want to do only what was expected of them based on what they received.

The moment that difficulty comes upon the sheep and the flock, these people were likely to be the ones who would leave the sheep behind, caring only for their own safety and not that of the sheep. Then, how is it that the Lord is our Good Shepherd? He is the Good Shepherd precisely because He truly loves us and cares about us, as how shepherds are supposed to be. He loves us all just as much as a shepherd cares about his sheep, and even more so.

He does not abandon us or ignore us when we are in trouble. And when we are led astray, as sheep in reality had often done, He is the One Who is concerned about us, and immediately, He will go forth and find a way in order to return us to His loving embrace. It is just how much He cared for us mankind, all of His beloved ones who had become astray in this world, because we have disobeyed Him and sinned against Him.

We have become lost from the Lord, not because the Lord had cast us out from His presence, but rather because we ourselves chose to be lost and be separated from God. Had the Lord not loved us or cared for us, He would just abandon us to our fated destruction, as the punishment and consequence for sin is death, and not just death but eternal death, the damnation of our souls for eternity in hell.

That is not what the Lord intended for us, brothers and sisters in Christ. He loves each and every one of us so much, that as shepherds do, He is willing to even lay down His life for our sake. When faced with trouble, a shepherd who cares for his sheep will shelter the sheep even if he himself were to face danger by doing so. Thus in the same way, the Lord had loved us, even to the point of giving Himself for our sake, that through His suffering and death, we may be spared the fate of our destruction.

And therefore, by that great love which He had for us, He had inspired all of us to love. He has taught us real love by His own examples. That is why as Christians all of us should love each other just as He had loved us first. And He has called upon those whom He had chosen to be His servants, those who dedicated themselves completely to serve the Lord and His people, namely our priests and bishops, all those who have entered into the holy orders.

Thus, today we celebrate Vocations Sunday, a day of remembrance and prayer for all those who have received God’s call in life and chose to follow Him and dedicate themselves completely to Him. They are our shepherds, that is our priests and bishops. They are the ones who take care of us as God’s chosen shepherds, that by imitating the same examples and actions that He as our Good Shepherd had done, all of us may grow ever stronger in God’s love.

But this is certainly not an easy vocation to be done. As the Lord Himself encountered dangers, challenges, opposition and much difficulty in His mission on earth, therefore, the same thing will also happen to those shepherds He had chosen, our priests and bishops. They must persevere through those challenges, the temptations to give up their vocations and good works, and without our support, it will be difficult for them to persevere through.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us therefore support our priests, our bishops and all those who have decided to commit themselves completely to the service of God. Let us provide them help and support in whatever way we can give, and pray for their sake, that God will protect them and grant them strength to persevere through the challenges of life.

And for those of us who have heard the Lord calling us to serve Him, let us not close our hearts and minds to Him, and let us all not ignore His call. Let us instead pray that we may discern what is the path that God had called us to walk on, and follow Him in obedience, serving Him and our fellow brethren in whatever way, be it through our daily contributions in life, and to the most noble cause of all, by dedicating our whole lives entirely to God in answering His call to the sacred priesthood, if we choose to do so.

May God bless us all, and bless our Church, all the multitudes of our priests and bishops, all those in the holy orders, who have given their all for the Lord and His people. May God be with us all, be with His Church, now and forevermore. May our Good Shepherd continue to love us and help us to walk in His path. Amen.

by

Sunday, 30 April 2017 : Third Sunday of Easter, Memorial of Pope St. Pius V, Pope (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, as we celebrate the Third Sunday in the season of Easter, the Scripture readings today from the Acts of the Apostles and from the Gospel according to St. Luke, with the Epistle of St. Peter all seek to remind us the very reason we celebrate this great and joyous occasion of Easter. This is the time when we rejoice not so much of all the secular celebrations of Easter, like gathering easter eggs or Easter bunnies, or by gathering with our families and friends in revelry and festivities, but because of the hope which Easter brought to all of us, that is the hope in the resurrection from the dead.

What does this mean, brothers and sisters in Christ? It means that because of Christ, Who have died and rose again from the dead, all of us now have the hope that we will also rise with Him, and be like Him in His risen glory, that overcoming death, we shall have life beyond death, hope beyond all despair and light beyond darkness. We have once feared death, as many people still fear it, as death marks the abrupt end to our earthly existence, and because we thought that there is nothing beyond death.

We did not know of the life beyond death, because we did not know such a life could have existed. We mankind are people who are easily skeptical. And we believe in something only after we have experienced it, or touched it, or heard it, and felt it, or a combination of all those sensory experiences. And we saw how our loved ones, our friends and all the people around us succumbing to death. No one could escape death, because death itself is a punishment, and a consequence for our sins and disobedience against God.

Ever since the very first mankind chose to sin and disobey God, sin had entered into the world, and into our hearts and minds, tainting and corrupting us all. Therefore, death had taken its mastery over us all, subjugating us under itself, and all of us ought to have perished in the sins that we committed, as a just consequence of our rebellion.

Yet, that is not what the Lord wishes to happen to us. His love for each and every one of us is so great that He does not want us to perish, or to despair without hope in the darkness. Instead, He has promised all of us deliverance and freedom, as He had promised through His messengers and prophets, as St. Peter proclaimed it among the people, revealing to them that Jesus Who had died and rose from the dead, is the fulfilment of God’s long awaited promise.

Once, the Lord had saved His people Israel from the slavery in Egypt, by sending to them deliverance through Moses, a people who had suffered for many years without hope finally saw hope once again, knowing that God loved them and had not abandoned them to slavery under the Egyptians. And with His mighty power and deeds, the Lord brought His people out of the land of Egypt, crushing the Egyptians and their resistance.

And then, He endeavoured to fulfil the promise He had made to mankind a long time ago, beginning when mankind themselves had disobeyed Him and committed the first sin. While death would come to rule over them due to their sins, but God promised a Saviour to come to the people whom He loved, through which He would save all of them from the slavery and the tyranny of sin and evil.

It was then through Jesus that God had fulfilled His promises completely, by the sending of His own Beloved Son into the world. Christ had shared in our humanity, so that by uniting our own humanity with Himself, He had made us all sharers in His work of redemption. He suffered for our sake, and was willing to carry the heavy burdens of our sins, dying on the cross, as a sign for all to see, the sign of God’s love and care for each one of us.

But God did not stop there, brothers and sisters in Christ. For if Christ had died and remained dead as all men and women were, and remained in the tomb henceafter, then there would have been no hope for us all. That is because it means that death still triumphed over us, and continued to wield its influence and mastery over us. Yet, that was not the case, as we all know. Christ had risen from the dead, triumphantly defeating death, and showed all of us that if we put our trust and faith in Him, we shall not be disappointed.

Let us doubt no longer, and be like the two disciples who went on the journey to Emmaus and met the Risen Lord Jesus along the way. They received the revelation of what truly happened from the Lord Himself, and their hearts of despair and darkness were transformed into new hearts filled with hope, light and joy at knowing that the Lord, Who is our Saviour, had risen from the dead, and that we will rise with Him in glory.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore be joyful, just as the disciples who were on their way to Emmaus was so joyful and filled with exhilaration, at knowing that the Lord had risen from the dead, that they ran all the way back to Jerusalem, just so that they could tell the other Apostles and disciples of the Lord, the Good News of His resurrection.

May all of us therefore bear the same Good News, becoming witnesses to our Risen Lord and Saviour, by being faithful and committed through our actions and deeds. May all of our good works inspire and help more people to come closer to God, and let us share the hope which He has given all of us, especially with those who are despairing, those who are sorrowful, those who are unloved and rejected by their fellow men. May God bless us all and all of our endeavours. Amen.

by

Sunday, 23 April 2017 : Second Sunday of Easter, Divine Mercy Sunday (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today all of us celebrate together the Second Sunday of Easter, also known in the recent years as the Divine Mercy Sunday, based on the popular devotion to the Divine Mercy by the Polish nun and visionary St. Faustina Kowalska. Today therefore, we remember and glorify the great mercy of God, His most merciful heart, through which He has shown His desire to forgive us sinners from our sins.

We mankind have sinned from the time when we first entered into this world, from the time of our first ancestors, Adam and Eve, whom God created and placed in the beautiful garden of Eden, intended to live in bliss and joy for eternity. And yet, we have disobeyed the Lord and did what was abhorrent in His sight, and thus, we had to endure the fate of suffering and pain in this world, and also death had come to rule over us. All of us would have perished in the end. But God did not intend this to happen to us, as He wanted to show us all His mercy.

And how does God show His mercy to all of us, brothers and sisters in Christ? It is none other than by the generous giving of His only Beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the ultimate symbol of God’s love and mercy. Remember that in the famous verse from the Gospel of St. John, Jesus said to Nicodemus, that “God so loved the world, that He sent into the world His only Son, that through Him, all will not perish but find eternal life and redemption.”

Jesus had come into this world bearing His truth and His love. The love and mercy of God had been made manifest through Christ and all that He had done. He had shown mercy on sinners and all those who had once been sundered from God’s love, calling them to repentance and forgiveness. He had turned sinners like tax collectors and prostitutes, criminals and delinquents into the path of the Lord’s salvation. He showed them that there is hope beyond the darkness of their sins.

For He has done the ultimate act of love, by His willing and loving sacrifice on the cross. During the Holy Week, which had just passed on not long ago, we remembered the memory of the Lord’s Passion and suffering, how He endured the last week of His earthly life in Jerusalem, and eventually giving Himself up for the sake of the salvation of all mankind, God’s people, by laying down His life on the cross, for our sake, and for the absolution of our sins.

But if Christ had remained dead, then there would have been no proof of God’s mercy. For then He would just be like any other men who have died because of their sins. It was His glorious resurrection from the dead which made God’s mercy available for all of us, as He proved that death does not have the final say to us, and by His resurrection from the dead, He showed us all that there is hope in life through Him.

Yet we often acted as St. Thomas the Apostle had done. We knew how St. Thomas often had doubts in his heart about the Lord, and he also doubted that Jesus had risen from the dead. He did not want to believe before he was able to prove it himself, by seeing for himself that the Lord is risen, and physically present in his presence, that he was able to tangibly sense and recognise His presence, by putting his fingers into the wounds on the hands, feet and the side of the Lord’s Body.

We often try to find excuses and justification for our way of life, by acting in the same manner as St. Thomas had done. We are too easily swayed by our senses, by what we see, what we hear and what we feel around us. And that is how we ended up falling into sin. We sin because we are not careful enough with how we live our lives, as we are tempted by the temptations of this world, be it the temptation of desire, of pride, of recognition, of wealth, possessions, fame and many others.

We are easily tempted, and we are prone to fall into sin again and again. Yet, that is what our crosses in life are. We must persevere and remain true and faithful to God to the very end. Remember how Christ bore His heavy cross for our sake, and despite falling three times, He always stood up again. This is a reminder for us that, even when we fall into sin, we must not let despair to take over us, but we must keep instead the strong hope for our salvation, by keeping our focus on the Lord, and having the strong conviction not to commit sin again in our respective lives.

Yes, brothers and sisters in Christ, we will surely encounter moments of weakness and doubt as St. Thomas had encountered, but we cannot give up, for what is at stake is none other than the fate of our souls. Do we want to give up to sin, and therefore endure forever the eternal damnation that is the just reward for all those who have not turned away from sin and perished? Or do we rather repent and turn away from those sins, as best as we can, and therefore enter into God’s merciful love and grace?

Brothers and sisters in Christ, this is where it is important for each one of us Christians to show God’s mercy to one another, to promote His everlasting mercy for each one of us. But we must be careful lest we end up promoting false mercy, which God does not show to us sinners. God is indeed merciful and forgiving, and He is willing to wipe away our sins, but all of these depend on whether we ourselves want to be forgiven.

Yes, this is the reality, which all of us must carefully keep in mind. We must not and cannot offer false mercy, by allowing sinners to continue to live in sin and say to them that God understands their sinful actions, as if He condoned such actions and sins. We have to keep in mind that God despises sins and wickedness, just as much as He is loving and kind towards us. He loves each and every one of us, and desires us to be forgiven, but He does not condone our sins.

God loves sinners, but not sin. This is the reality about God’s mercy. We as Christians have received the promise of God’s salvation, but we must remain vigilant and ready, lest we fall again into sin. It is said in the Gospels, that if the righteous falls into sin, then he or she shall perish, because of the sin committed. And similarly, if a sinner turns away from sin and do what is righteous and just in the eyes of God, the sinner will be saved because of the righteousness he or she had committed.

That means, brothers and sisters in Christ, all of us have a lot of work ahead of us. We need to show real mercy in our actions and interactions with others, especially with those who have lapsed away from God’s grace. We must not judge them in a way that we are ourselves also sinners, and if we judge them in this manner, then we too will be liable to be judged in the same way.

Rather, what we all need to do is to welcome them, and help them, to turn away from their sinful ways, just as we ourselves must keep ourselves from doing what is sinful in the sight of God and men alike. We must follow what the Lord said to the woman condemned for adultery, that is to ‘sin no more’. Jesus did not condemn the woman, but what we often forget is that, He also asked her to abandon her sinful ways, and turn herself completely to the way of the Lord.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we remember God’s most Divine Mercy on this Sunday, let us all therefore, first of all, remember how we are sinners and how we have sinned in various ways in our life, be it venial or small sin, or serious sin. And thus, let us all make the commitment to reject all of our sinful past way of life, and seek to be changed by the grace of God, opening ourselves to receive God’s forgiveness. Let us help one another to attain this forgiveness, by encouraging one another to lead a righteous life in accordance to God’s will.

May the Lord, Whose most Divine Mercy wants us to be forgiven and to be reconciled to Him, grant us the strength to persevere through the temptations and challenges in this life, so that we may always be able to resist the temptation and pressure to sin, that by turning our back to sin and sinning no more, we may be worthy to enter into the heavenly inheritance which the Lord has promised to all those who are faithful to Him. O Most Divine Mercy, have mercy on us all sinners. Amen.

by

(Holy Week) Sunday, 16 April 2017 : Easter Sunday of the Lord’s Resurrection, Easter Vigil and Easter Day (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White
Alleluia! The Lord is risen! He is indeed risen from the dead, and darkness has been dispelled, and sin has lost its sting, for death no longer hold any dominion over all those who believe in the Risen Lord, our Saviour and Master. Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we rejoice greatly because of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who was indeed witnessed and proved to be triumphant against death, that not even the gates of hell were able to hold Him back.

We have gone through the entire celebrations of the Holy Week, beginning with Jesus our Lord’s triumphal entry into the city of Jerusalem, in order to begin His Passion and complete the mission for which He had been sent into this world, for the salvation of all mankind. We have gone through how the Lord had His Last Supper with His disciples, giving His own Precious Body and Blood to them, establishing a new Covenant which will never be broken again, for on the next day, He took up the cross and died for the sake of all mankind, sealing the new Covenant with His Blood.

But all of these would have been meaningless, and our faith would indeed be nothing if Jesus just died on the cross, and then stayed dead. What made our faith so remarkable is that we believed in the One Who had suffered and died for our sake, and yet, on the third day counting from the day of His death, He reappeared in this world in glory, no longer dead, but filled with life, as the Risen Lord and Triumphant Saviour.

Without Easter, our whole faith and belief would be meaningless, and without the resurrection from the dead, all that we believe in and all that we do are without any purpose. For if Jesus died on the cross and stayed dead, what good would that do for us? Does not other men and women also encounter death at the end of their life on earth, and then death claimed us? But Jesus had shown us that death will not have the final say over us.

All of us mankind, whom God had created out of His great love for us were never meant to perish and die. We were all created to share the love which God had in Himself. He created us so that we can love Him and He can love us, and by sharing together the love we have, we may live forever in bliss and harmony, instead of suffering and die. But because we have disobeyed God and sinned against Him, then because of those sins we have received our just punishment, and sin took hold over us and had dominion over us.

Yes, sin enslaved each and every one of us ever since our first forefathers disobeyed the Lord and His will. Sin chained us and death dominated over us, just as much as the people of Israel was enslaved by the Egyptians and came under the domination of the Pharaohs, the king of Egypt. And we suffered grievously, just as the people of Israel had once suffered from persecution and oppression. Yet, while the Pharaoh and the Egyptians could only inflict bodily and physical harm over the Israelites, sin is an even more dangerous as it inflicts harm on our souls.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, during the Easter Vigil, we heard the long series of readings, seven in total, from the Old Testament, revealing to all of us throughout history, just how God had endeavoured to bring His people back to Him, that is all of us, by His wonderful works and grace. We heard how He had again and again brought respite and help for His people, and promised that He would bring them salvation and liberation, through the Messiah or Saviour He told them about, the One Who would save all of them from their sins.

We heard how God also brought His people out of the land of Egypt, walking through the Red Sea, which He opened before them, so that they could walk through them on dry land. He crushed their enemies, their oppressors, the Egyptians and their chariots. That was the old Passover. Now, we all no longer celebrate the old Passover but a new one, which God had brought upon all of mankind, through Easter.

For all of us who have received our baptism, we have been washed with the holy water in the Name of the Most Holy Trinity, of Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. We have passed through the water just as the Israelites have walked through the Red Sea by the grace of God. And if we looked back a bit, we remembered how the Israelites were saved from a great disaster and catastrophe, by the blood of the lamb they slaughtered, and put as a mark on their houses, and we remember now, how Christ our Lord, the Lamb of God had been sacrificed for our sake.

Through baptism, all of us have received a share in the death of Christ, and we have become partakers in His salvation and in His loving works. Through baptism, we have received the reassurance and the promise that will never, ever be broken, the promise of life everlasting with God, in grace and eternal joy. And just as Christ had died and then rose again in glory, defeating death, therefore all of us who believe will also triumph together against death and evil, and rose in glory as our Lord had risen.

This is the true meaning of Easter, and why we rejoice so greatly in this season. It is a joy so great that it is truly indescribable. We should indeed be joyful and be thankful of God’s great love for us, that He was willing to do so much for our sake, and on our behalf, just so that all of us may be saved. This is our Easter joy, far surpassing even the joy of the Israelites when they were rescued from the tyranny and slavery of Egypt.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, what are we all then ought to do from now on, even as we share together this Easter joy? We now need to truly be children of the Light that we are, and act as those whom God had chosen from the world to be His disciples. And how do we do this? It is by abandoning our past way of life, our sins and our wickedness. In Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday Masses we celebrate, we all make our renewal of the baptismal promises, for all those who had been baptised, and a new vow of baptism for those who are just baptised.

Through these vows and promises, we all renewed our commitment to reject Satan and all of his wicked lies. We are all called to abandon those sinfulness, and embrace a new life blessed by God. Brothers and sisters in Christ, this is what all of us Christians need to do, as all those whom God had blessed and called to be His sons and daughters. Yes, by baptism we have been adopted as God’s own children, and therefore, as God is good and just, all of us are called to righteousness too.

Let us all love one another, giving our love, care and concern, especially to all those who have no one else to love them, those who are homeless, those who are ostracised and dejected, all those who are sorrowful and in pain and suffering, all those who are persecuted and troubled. Let us bring love and comfort to these brethren of ours, and help them to see that despite all of their sorrows and difficulties, God will always be with them, through us.

May the Lord awaken in us all a strong faith and heart filled with love in this Easter season and beyond. May the love and joy of Easter continue to burn strongly in our hearts, as we continue to go on with our lives. May the Lord empower us all to become His good disciples, persevering day by day to live out our faith with zeal and through real and genuine actions, to be worthy people and disciples of the Lord, our Risen Lord. Let us all be witnesses of His resurrection and of His love for each and every one of us, and make disciples of all the nations! God bless us all and our endeavours. Amen.

by

Sunday, 5 April 2015 : Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday of the Lord’s Resurrection (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Alleluia! The Lord is risen, and we are glad. All creation rejoices because our Lord has triumphed. Satan He had conquered, sin He had cast down, and death He had destroyed forever by the power of His glory and majesty. In His rising from the dead we find hope of our salvation.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate together the greatest feast of our faith, the culmination of our long wait for this moment, which we began with Ash Wednesday forty days ago, and now finally we come to this moment when we celebrate our Lord’s triumph. For today is the culmination of all God’s hard work, both in heaven and on earth. It was at this moment that God declared to all men, the fullness of His intention, and the goodness that He has planned for them.

Easter is a very important moment for all of us, for without Easter, and without our Lord’s resurrection from the dead, our faith would mean nothing, and we will have no hope in our own lives. We can have hope for the future because our Lord had risen and conquered death, proving to all of us that death and sin do not have the final say over all of us. It was once dreadful, yes, but through what Jesus had gone through for us, He had set us free.

Without Easter, without the resurrection of our Lord, there is no meaning to Good Friday, for then Jesus would just be a mere Man condemned to death, and die a humiliating death on the cross, the end of a rather successful career and work as a popular preacher and prophet. And there would be little meaning to our celebration of the Palm Sunday too, for then Jesus would just be someone who aspired to be the King over the Jews and failed, betrayed by His own people.

And our observance of Lent, Christmas and other important feasts would be for nothing, and our faith would be empty, since we are believing in a person who would seem to be no different than any other person. But Jesus is different, and we know that and we believe that He is not just like any other men, but He is God, who has made Himself to assume the flesh of man, so that He becomes fully God and fully Man at the same time, in the person of Jesus Christ.

And by His own power, Jesus had descended down into hell, after His death, which happened on Good Friday, and when He went down into hell, not because by any sins but because of what He wanted to do for all of us, He brought the souls of the faithful who have been lying in wait for timeless ages, and brought them into the salvation and new life which God had promised them all.

This is the essence of Easter, that is the final victory which had been inflicted on Satan, on sin and death. This is the moment of victory and triumph, of celebration, the new and true Passover, made through the new Covenant which God had sealed by His own Blood shed on the cross. Like the first Passover, a people in suffering under the slavery of the Egyptians had been freed from their torment by their God, who did not forget His love for them, and who had opened even the Red Sea for them to cross to safety from their oppressors.

The Scripture readings today are a series of reminders for all of us, of God’s continuing work and presence in our midst from the very moment when He created this world and all of us, that He never abandoned us mankind even after we have fallen into sin. We were created perfect and all good, as our first reading from the Book of Genesis had mentioned, and we were not meant to suffer death and tribulations in this world, if not because of our disobedience that led us to sin.

God easily could have crushed us and destroyed us if He wanted to. He was certainly perfectly capable of such feat. And yet, He went to all the trouble of coming down personally Himself to sort out the issue, and the rest of the story, we know all about it. It was the life and death of our Lord Jesus Christ. He assumed our humanity so that as the new Adam, the new Man, He might show the way for us to break free from our chains of sin and become righteous and true disciples and children of our God.

Yes, that is exactly what the significance of Easter is also to us. We have to remember that every Easter, we renew our baptismal promises, and our brethren who have decided to accept our Lord and God as their Lord and Saviour are traditionally baptised on this day, at either the Easter Vigil or Easter Sunday, as this is the moment that signifies new birth, new life and liberation from all the vices and evils of old, of our old lives and of our old habits.

Do we realise how important our baptism is to us? Through baptism we have been made free from all the sins and defects of our past, and we are reborn anew in the Lord. Jesus mentioned to the faithful Pharisee, Nicodemus, how a man must be reborn again if he or she wants to attain the fullness of God’s grace and salvation. And while the Great Flood of Noah’s time destroyed all those who were impure in the world and the righteous ones were saved, so therefore through the waters of baptism, we have died to our old selves of sin, to our old selfishness and wickedness, and reborn into a new life of grace.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, as we celebrate this greatest feast of our faith, and as we begin our season of great celebration this Easter, can we ask ourselves as we look deep within our hearts, whether we have already done what God had asked us to do as His disciples and as His children? God had made us His adopted children through baptism, when we are made the members of His Church, and by sharing in the glory of Christ, we became His brethren, the members of His Body.

And therefore, naturally, as His children, we should behave all children are. Children should emulate their fathers and follow what their parents had taught them. If we truly belong to the Lord, then we would not continue whatever wickedness and evils which we had once committed in our lives. Indeed, if we do so, we do not just mock the goodness of God, but we also bring doom upon ourselves.

Our faith cannot be passive or stagnant, and neither can we believe that because we have been baptised and as members of God’s Church, then we are automatically saved. Our faith requires us to continue living day after day in fulfillment of what our faith had taught us. That means, our actions, our words and our every deeds must show that we truly are Christians, people who have been chosen by God and who believes in Christ and His resurrection from the dead. Otherwise, our actions and deeds will only betray our faith, that to show that we are not worthy of God’s salvation.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we rejoice greatly in this great joy of Easter, let us all renew our commitment, as we renew our baptismal promises, and let us mean them with every single words we utter from our mouth. Let us reject Satan, all the devices of evil and all forms of sin with finality, knowing that if we sin any more, we are betraying Jesus yet again and disrespect the love which He had shown us. Let us all grow stronger in our faith and in our dedication to the Lord, and help one another to seek the Lord and become closer to Him.

May Almighty God be with all of us, forgive us all our sins, awaken in us all the love and passion which we ought to have for Him, and by remembering our own baptism, let us all share the joy of Easter with one another. The Lord has risen, and He has conquered death! The glory of our Lord is upon us! Allelluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!