Eastern churches

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Saturday, 2 January 2016 : Weekday of Christmas Time, Memorial of St. Basil the Great and St. Gregory Nazianzen, Bishops and Doctors of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard about the humility of John the Baptist, the holy servant of God, the Herald of His Messiah, Who came into the world in order to save it and all of mankind. John the Baptist came before Jesus in order to prepare His way, and he baptised many people at the Jordan, calling them to repentance and to turn away from their sinful ways.

And even though many people listened to him and hearkened to his call for repentance, and although many people flocked to him and he was truly famous and respected by many, but in numerous occasions, as what we have also heard in the Gospel today, he denied that he was the Messiah, that is he denied that he was the Saviour that was to come into the world as prophesied.

He humbly revealed that he was merely the servant, the voice calling out in the wilderness to call the people of God to prepare themselves for the coming of the Lord and to prepare them to receive His salvation. He refused the temptation to be a great person himself, the temptation of power and worldly glory, and he preferred to remain faithful to the mission which he had come into this world for.

We can relate this to the first reading which we had today, the Epistle which St. John had written to the faithful to remind them to be true to their faith and reject all the falsehoods and lies, and to reject and resist all the false teachings of the false prophets and the antichrists, whose ways are not of the Lord but of the devil, and whose temptations on the faithful could cause these to lose their track on their way towards salvation and fall into damnation instead.

Just as Adam and Eve, these false prophets and antichrists were tempted by the devil with the false promises and the lies of worldly power and glory, if only that they would abandon their God and disobey Him, following rather the path of their own hearts’ desires and wants. And they succumbed to the temptation and followed the devil in his ways, and then they also preached the same falsehoods to mislead many others from among the faithful.

Throughout the ages, we have encountered many of them, the heretics such as Arius, Nestorius, and many others, including that of Martin Luther, Calvin and Zwingli in the more recent time. These people have turned the hearts of many of the faithful into the wrong paths, because instead of adhering to the teachings of the Lord as what had been kept faithfully by the Apostles and the Church fathers, they allowed their own judgments and ideas to supersede the truth.

And now, let us see the examples of the two very important saints whose feast we celebrate today, namely St. Basil the Great and St. Gregory Nazianzen. Both of these saints were widely honoured, especially in the eastern half of Christendom, where they were credited with the defence of the true faith against the dangerous heresies that threatened to divide and tear apart the Church of God.

St. Basil the Great was the Bishop of Caesarea who lived and worked at about the same time of his contemporary, St. Gregory Nazianzen or St. Gregory of Nazianzus, who was the Archbishop of the new capital city of the Roman Empire, Constantinople. Both of them worked together in the effort to counter the influence and the false teachings of the heretics such as the Arians and the many other sects which taught teachings contrary to the orthodox and true Church teachings.

Many of the faithful were divided against each other, with those who refused to leave behind the truth of God and join the heresies against those who have given themselves up to the false and twisted teachings. It fell to St. Basil the Great, St. Gregory Nazianzen and their fellow elders of the Church as well as the faithful among the laity to resist the advances of those seeking to destroy the Church and its truth.

It was not an easy journey, as many challenges awaited and faced them. All those who are opposed to the two saints made things difficult for them, the priests and bishops aligned with the heretical teachings constantly challenged them and made things difficult for the faithful people of God. Nevertheless, St. Basil the Great and St. Gregory Nazianzen never gave up, and with clarity of Christian teachings and truth in their hands, they worked hard and managed to turn many back to the true path towards the Lord.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we heard the examples of the faithful saints of God, and also that of John the Baptist who faithfully carried out his mission, rejecting the temptation of the evil one and the world, and humbly fulfilling what has been expected of him, let us all also reflect on these and walk in their footsteps, following their examples by doing the same in our own lives.

Let us all reject our human pride and desire for worldly glory, for these are the tools with which the devil will be able to easily manipulate us and tempt us to do what is sinful and wicked. We all have to stay together and to work together to maintain our faith life, and deepen our spiritual connection with the Lord by doing all that God had asked us to do, loving one another and serving each other with love.

Thus, after all that we have done, God Who rewards all who are faithful to Him will bless us and keep us in His grace, and He will not let us to suffer in the hands of the unfaithful, but He shall bless us with ever richer abundance of grace. God bless us all, now and forever. Amen.

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Saturday, 2 January 2016 : Weekday of Christmas Time, Memorial of St. Basil the Great and St. Gregory Nazianzen, Bishops and Doctors of the Church (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 1 : 19-28

This was the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites to ask him, “Who are you?” John recognised the truth, and did not deny it. He said, “I am not the Messiah.”

And they asked him, “Then who are you? Elijah?” He answered, “I am not.” They said, “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” Then they said to him, “Tell us who you are, so that we can give some answer to those who sent us. How do you see yourself?”

And John said, quoting from the prophet Isaiah, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness : Make straight the way of the Lord!” Those who had been sent were Pharisees; and they put a further question to John, “Then why are you baptising, if you are not the Messiah, or Elijah, or the Prophet?”

John answered, “I baptise you with water, but among you stands One Whom you do not know; although He comes after me, I am not worthy to untie the strap of His sandal.”

This happened in Bethabara beyond the Jordan, where John was baptising.

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Saturday, 2 January 2016 : Weekday of Christmas Time, Memorial of St. Basil the Great and St. Gregory Nazianzen, Bishops and Doctors of the Church (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 97 : 1, 2-3ab, 3cd-4

Sing to the Lord a new song, for He has done wonders; His right hand, His holy arm, has won victory for Him.

The Lord has shown His salvation, revealing His justice to the nations. He has not forgotten His love nor His faithfulness to Israel.

The farthest ends of the earth all have seen God’s saving power. All you lands, make a joyful noise to the Lord, break into song and sing praise.

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Saturday, 2 January 2016 : Weekday of Christmas Time, Memorial of St. Basil the Great and St. Gregory Nazianzen, Bishops and Doctors of the Church (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

1 John 2 : 22-28

Who is the liar? The one who denies that Jesus is the Christ. This is an antichrist, who denies both the Father and the Son. The one who denies the Son is without the Father, and those who acknowledge the Son also have the Father.

Let what you heard from the beginning remain in you. If what you heard from the beginning remains in you, you, too, will remain in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise He Himself gave us : eternal life.

I write this to you thinking of those who try to lead you astray. You received from Him an anointing, and it remains in you, so you do not need someone to teach you. His anointing teaches you all things, it speaks the truth and does not lie to you; so remain in Him, and keep what He has taught you.

And now, my children, live in Him, so that when He appears in His glory, we may be confident and not ashamed before Him when He comes.

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Sunday, 13 September 2015 : Twenty-Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John Chrysostom, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, the core message of the Scripture readings from both the Old Testament and the New Testament, as well as from the Gospel is about the Lord who came down to this world to dwell among us, and then brought us free from the chains and the bonds of sin that have kept us enchained and enslaved to suffering and death.

It was through the willing sacrifice, the willingness to bear all the huge burdens and the mountains of our sins that had been accumulated and is accumulating through time, as every man committed sin before God, on the weight of the cross that Christ our Lord had brought with Him as He walked down that road from Jerusalem towards Calvary, where He would give Himself up for the sake of all mankind.

The cross of our Lord Jesus Christ is not just the physical burden of the wood that made it up. It is filled with the entirety of mankind’s sins and the punishments that were to be due for it. Ever since mankind had first sinned against the Lord, by disobeying Him and following their own path, they have been cast out from the grace and the love God had prepared for them, and they have gotten for themselves the sufferings of the world, for they have chosen the path of suffering by disobedience, and death claimed them as its own, as their sins brought about their mortality.

Yes, because of our sins, we would have endured eternal suffering and hell, not the hell filled with fire and all the imaginable forms of suffering as how hell was often illustrated like, but the hell of suffering due to the lack of the love of God, the lack and the total absence of hope, because God’s favour is not with us, and when we look on our Lord, our Father and Creator, He would say to us, “I do not know you, begone from My presence, you wicked people!”

But this is not to be the case, as our Lord is ever merciful and ever loving. Indeed, He despises all forms of sins and wickedness, all the disobedience and rebelliousness, all the evils that had kept us away from Him. Yet, God despises not each one of us individually and without good reason, but instead it is our sins He despises, and not us as a person.

Why is this so? That is because He knew that all of us have good in each one of us, and each of us has the potential for both good and for evil. He had crafted each one of us from the earth, from the dust and the ground, fashioned us in His own image and then breathed life upon all of us, giving us His own Spirit of life. The Lord created us pure and immaculate, although the taint of original sin once overshadowed us, but we have been freed though the works of Christ.

And as all of us were created pure and clean, white as wool and immaculate as an empty slate, then all of us have to write and define what our lives would become. And we have to realise that this faith which we have through baptism, by the Sacrament of Baptism we have been made clean, freed from the taints of any sins, our original sins, our other sins big and small.

But our faith should not be just that, and our faith cannot be just a mere profession of faith or a mere proclamation or testimony. That is not enough, as faith is more than just words or profession, but it involves true and real commitment, as St. James made it clear in his epistle or letter to the faithful in the Church, that faith without good works is just the same as a dead and nonexistent faith.

For faith that benefits us and the state of the salvation of our souls is the kind of faith which Jesus had taught us all through His many parables. Faith cannot just be left by itself or else it will perish and be gone without any good. Let is look into the parable of the sower that Christ had taught His disciples, which represents all of us, the faith which we have received, and the outcome of our faith depending on our actions.

The Word of God are the seeds of faith which God, the Sower had placed in our hearts, by the life He had given us, and by the truth which God had revealed to us through the Scriptures and through the Church. And yet, if we notice in that parable, depending on where the seeds fell, be it on the roadside, on rocky ground, amongst thorny bushes or amongst rich soil, the result of the crop is very, very different.

If our faith is not strong or founded upon solid foundation built by hard work, devotion and total commitment to the Lord, then it will be like the seeds that fell on the roadside, or on the rocky ground, or on the thorny bushes, because the devil comes and then plant his seeds of evil and dissension, and the temptations which he brings us all is too much for us to bear, and without deep roots in the faith, it is very easy for us all to fall back once again into sin and darkness.

That is why, in the Gospel today, we have to pay very close attention to what the Lord Jesus spoke to His disciples, and how He rebuked Peter for refusing to believe what would happen to Him. To the feeble and easily tempted minds of men, it might indeed seem to be incoherent and impossible to hear Jesus speaking on one side, of His truth as the Messiah and Lord of all, but then on the other hand, to hear of His prophecy of His own suffering at the very hands of the people to whom He had been sent to.

Satan’s temptation is exactly that we may think that to follow the Lord is all good and easy, and when we find that it is not so, then we feel confused and vulnerable, and then Satan comes in to tempt us and to lure us back into sin, by offering us the alternative pathway that seems to be easier and without obstacle, unlike the path which we will face if we are to follow the Lord our God.

Jesus Himself had endured this when He was tempted by Satan in the desert during His forty days of fasting and preparation in the desert after His baptism by St. John the Baptist. At that moment, Satan tried to persuade Jesus to sin and to disobey the Lord without success, and He remained committed to the mission given to Him, that is the salvation of all mankind.

And when Satan saw that his temptations and attempts were thwarted, he tried yet again to persuade Jesus to abandon His ministry and works, by trying to dissuade Him from taking such a perilous task and enduring such sufferings for the sake of men, and indeed, a common argument for Satan in doing so is that mankind is not worth the great suffering which our Lord Jesus was to endure for the sake of all of us.

But to our Lord who loves us all beyond anything else, no pain or suffering is great enough to warrant Him to abandon us or to cast us out without trying to release us from the burden that had weighed us down all these while. He rebuked Satan and rejected him, and warned him that his dominion over men has come to an end, for God has come to take back His people, and He did so through the cross.

Tomorrow we shall be celebrating the feast of the exaltation of the Holy Cross, and indeed it is very timely and apt that the celebration of the triumph of the Holy Cross ties in very closely to today’s readings and theme. It is indeed through the cross that our Lord had redeemed us all from our sins and bore the punishments meant for us, and He has also turned that symbol of ultimate shame and defeat, into the ultimate symbol of triumph and victory.

Now, all that remains for us is that, if we become the followers and disciples of Christ, we take a share in the suffering which He bore, the rejection and the ridicule He endured, not because of our sins, which have been taken from us and from which we have been redeemed, but it is because of the opposition and jealousy of Satan and all of his allies that had brought about this suffering.

Let us all ask ourselves, if we are able to renew our commitment which we made at our baptism, either by ourselves or by our godparents, and which we renew yearly at Easter. If we want to be true disciples of our Lord, then we must be ready to reject Satan and all of his lies and false promises, and embrace fully the way of the Lord. And indeed, as our Lord had told us, that we all have to bear our own crosses, following the path of our Lord towards eternal life.

This means that the path ahead will be filled with challenges and difficulties for us, and there will likely be opposition ahead, even from amongst those close to us. But if we are truly committed, then I am sure that even all these should not hinder us from moving onward. Carrying our cross may be heavy for us, but that is where we should help one another, and doing the will of God by loving our brethren and helping those in need are also in fact part of what carrying our own crosses is about.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us grow ever more confident in our faith, and let us devote ourselves more and more to our loving God, and commit ourselves not just in mere words and proclamations of faith, but even more, through our own actions and deeds, so that in all the things that we do, we proclaim the glory of God, carrying the crosses of our lives, and following Jesus, may all of us attain the eternal life God has assured all of us who keep our faith in Him. God bless us all. Amen.

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Sunday, 13 September 2015 : Twenty-Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John Chrysostom, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Mark 8 : 27-35

At that time, Jesus set out with His disciples for the villages around Caesarea Philippi : and on the way He asked them, “Who do people say I am?” And they told Him, “Some say You are John the Baptist; others say You are Elijah or one of the prophets.”

Then Jesus asked them, “But You, who do You say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.” And He ordered them not to tell anyone about Him. Jesus then began to teach them that the Son of Man had to suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the Law. He would be killed, and after three days rise again.

Jesus said all this quite openly, so that Peter took Him aside and began to protest strongly. But Jesus turned around, and looking at His disciples, rebuked Peter, saying, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are thinking not as God does, but as people do.”

Then Jesus called the people and His disciples, and said, “If you want to follow Me, deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Me. For if you choose to save your life, you will lose it; and if you lose your life for My sake and for the sake of the Gospel, you will save it.”

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Sunday, 13 September 2015 : Twenty-Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John Chrysostom, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

James 2 : 14-18

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, to profess faith without showing works? Such faith has no power to save you. If a brother or sister is in need of clothes or food and one of you says, “May things go well for you; be warm and satisfied,” without attending to their material needs, what good is that? So it is for faith without deeds : it is totally dead.

Say to whoever challenges you, “You have faith and I have good deeds, show me your faith apart from actions and I, for my part, will show you my faith in the way I act.”

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Sunday, 13 September 2015 : Twenty-Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John Chrysostom, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 114 : 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 8-9

Alleluia! I am pleased that the Lord has heard my voice in supplication, that He has not been deaf to me, the day I called on Him.

When the cords of death entangled me, the snares of the grave laid hold of me, I called upon the Name of the Lord : “O Lord, save my life!”

Gracious and righteous is the Lord; full of compassion is our God. The Lord protects the simple : He saved me when I was humbled.

He has freed my soul from death, my eyes from weeping, my feet from stumbling; I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.

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Sunday, 13 September 2015 : Twenty-Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John Chrysostom, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Isaiah 50 : 5-9a

The Lord YHVH has opened My ear. I have not rebelled, nor have I withdrawn. I offered My back to those who strike Me, My cheeks to those who pulled My beard; neither did I shield My face from blows, spittle and disgrace.

I have not despaired, for the Lord YHVH comes to My help. So, like a flint I set My face, knowing that I will not be disgraced. He who avenges Me is near. Who then will accuse Me? Let us confront each other. Who is now My accuser? Let him approach. If the Lord YHVH is My help, who will condemn Me?

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Sunday, 30 November 2014 : First Sunday of Advent, Feast of St. Andrew, Apostle (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple or Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we mark the beginning of the season of Advent, the special season in our liturgical year, which we also begin anew today, that marks the season of preparation before the great feast and solemnity of Christmas, which will occur in about four weeks from now. The celebration of Christmas is about the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, commemorating the occasion when He first came into our world, He who is Divine and yet willing to assume the appearance and substance of a humble Man, in order to bring salvation to all of us.

We have two great celebrations in our liturgical year, namely the solemnities of Christmas and Easter, both of which commemorate the most important events in the life of our Lord Jesus Christ on earth. The former celebrates His birth and entry into the world as mentioned, and the latter celebrates the even greater event of His suffering, Passion and way to the cross, death and ultimately His resurrection from the dead. These are the two great celebrations of our Faith, and we put special importance to them.

And that is why for both occasions, we have two special seasons to prepare for them, as a season of penitence and self-introspection, a time for reflection and for us to look deeply into our lives. For our Lord is coming to us, just as He had come before, and like someone who is inviting guests to a party, would it not be fitting for the host to be prepared beforehand?

Thus why those seasons I have mentioned are very important? That is because these two seasons, Advent and Lent are the time for us to be prepared to celebrate with all of our heart, the joy and the truth of our Lord’s life events, in the Christmas and Easter celebrations. If we do not prepare ourselves fully beforehand, then the meaning of the celebrations may be lessened, as what many of us often encountered in our own lives.

The celebrations and festivals which grew around both events, Christmas and Easter had become increasingly more and more distant from their original meaning and purpose, and in this world, which values money and possessions above everything else, the true meaning of the celebration, in particular of Christmas had been lost, in the midst of commercialisation, branding and attempts to sell Christmas for money and profit.

How many of us grow to see Christmas only in terms of the parties and celebrations it brings with it? And how many of us associate it with shopping and gifts? Presents, new clothes and new things for our homes? How many of us associate Christmas with Santa Claus, the Christmas tree, the gift boxes and the various other so-called Christmas apparels and decorations? If we have done so frequently, then do not be afraid brethren, for many of us certainly have done so too.

It is the way of the world, and by extension, the works of Satan, in order to divert us from the true focus of Christmas. It is certainly not wrong for us to celebrate Christmas and be happy with all the celebrations. But are we really celebrating for the right purpose and with the right attitude? This is a question which all of us must ask ourselves, and for us all to be aware of.

Christmas is truly about Christ, the birthday Boy, the One whose birth we are celebrating, and nothing more important than this. We can celebrate and be happy about all the feasts and celebrations, but we must have Christ in our celebrations, and in our hearts we have to understand the significance of His birth and coming into the world. Otherwise, our Christmas celebrations will be empty, meaningless and directionless.

You may be wondering why I am talking so much about Christmas, and even Easter and all the festive and celebration seasons of the Church, even though Christmas itself is still about a month away, and we are just barely beginning the season of Advent. That is because the season of Advent is intimately and very closely related to Christmas itself, and our four weeks of Advent will be meaningless if we do not understand the true meaning of Christmas. It is just necessary that we start this Advent season right.

And in the same way, Christmas and all of its celebrations will be meaningless as I have mentioned, if we have not amply and sufficiently prepared ourselves, and that is why we have this season of Advent to serve as an opportunity and guide for us, to sit back and move away for a while from the busy schedules and activities we have in our lives, and take the opportunity to reflect, and to also confess our sins that as we enter later into the season of Christmas, our hearts, minds, body and souls will be ready for the Lord.

That is also the essence of the Scripture Readings which we heard today, from the first reading, to the second reading and the Gospel itself. The Lord Jesus who has come once before, will come again one day to judge all the living and the dead, and this is what we believe. And it is necessary that we begin the preparations for what is to come. For Advent itself means to prepare and to welcome in expectation for, from the Latin, ‘Adventus’ which literally means ‘coming’, the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The first reading from the Book of the prophet Isaiah focuses on the nature of our Lord as our Redeemer, who will wash away our sins and iniquities, providing that we want to change our ways and repent all of our sinfulness. Isaiah the prophet had indeed acknowledged our sinfulness, and how wicked we have been, but he also showed that while our Lord is angry with our sins and attitudes in life, but He also opens the way for our salvation and repentance.

The psalm spoke of our Lord as our Shepherd, and this relates to how Isaiah the prophet said that the Lord is like our Potter, who shaped us all like a potter shaped the clay jugs and items. He guides us and leads us like a shepherd guiding his sheep from places to places. But it is also easy for the clay to lose its structure and shape, and for the sheep to be lost to the shepherd, if the condition of the clay is not satisfactory, or if the sheep is misled and misguided by other things other than the shepherd.

Thus, as I have elaborated earlier on, it is easy for us to lose our path in life, and to lose focus in our faith, that we forget the true meaning of our faith, of all the celebrations we have and why we even call ourselves a Christian and come to celebrate the Holy Mass together as the Church. We have to therefore be vigilant and strong, and seek help from whatever source available, to strengthen our faith and be ready, for when the Lord comes again.

The second reading from the letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians and the Gospel from the Gospel according to St. Mark truly spoke of one thing, that our Lord is coming again, and the time of His coming will not be known to us. But we have no need to fear if we put our trust and faith in Jesus completely, for He will guide us and show us the way. Thus, it is of great importance for us, to use this perfect opportunity of the Advent season now, to prepare thoroughly, for the eventual and inevitable coming of our Lord and Saviour.

On this day, we also celebrate the feast of one of the great holy Apostles, the feast of St. Andrew, the brother of St. Peter, the chief of all the Apostles and Vicar of Christ. St. Andrew was the first to be called among all the Apostles, at the shore of the lake of Galilee by Jesus, who then called his brother Simon, then to be named Peter by the Lord. As he was the first to be called among the Apostles, and also the first to believe in the Lord Jesus as the Messiah who came into the world, he is also known widely as St. Andrew the First-Called.

And it happens also that as the brother of St. Peter, he was also the founder of the brother of the premier see and diocese in Christendom. He was the founder of the See and Diocese of Constantinople, then known as Byzantium, a quiet city at the edge of Europe at the boundary between Europe and Asia, which is at the site now known as the city of Istanbul. However, it is truly still known by its true name, Constantinople or New Rome or Second Rome.

The city of Constantinople was founded by the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great who was the first Christian Emperor and who ended the great persecutions of the faithful and convoked the first Ecumenical Council in Nicaea in the year 325. The city of Constantinople therefore became a second capital of the Roman Empire, and as such, in the next few decades, the See founded by St. Andrew would grow to a great importance, as the second most important in Christendom after Rome, the See of St. Peter, the Vicar of Christ.

Thus, today we see that among our separated brethren in the Eastern Orthodox Communion, the Archbishop of Constantinople is the most important among all the bishops, and styled himself the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. Our Holy Father and Vicar of Christ, Pope Francis is visiting Constantinople today to celebrate this occasion of the feast of St. Andrew, and to foster unity between the Church established by the Apostles, and rediscover the close bond and brotherhood between the Apostles St. Peter and St. Andrew.

But what is truly the significance of this feast of St. Andrew for us? And how is it relevant to our celebration of the First Sunday of Advent? Truly, we have to know first what St. Andrew had done for the Lord and for the faithful. St. Andrew was one of the Twelve Apostles, and although details about him other than his calling by Jesus were scant in the Gospels and also in the rest of the New Testament, it was known by Tradition that he also did what the other Apostles did, in spreading the Good News to many lands and helped to establish many dioceses and structures of the Church.

St. Andrew worked hard and zealously to bring the Good News of the Lord to the people who have yet to hear of it, and he and his fellow servants of God faced difficulties and challenges, until eventually, he was martyred in what is now Greece, as he went about spreading the Gospel. He was crucified like that of his brother, St. Peter in Rome. While St. Peter chose to be crucified upside-down, St. Andrew was crucified on an X-shaped cross, which we are now familiar with as the cross of St. Andrew.

The lesson from the life of St. Andrew, how he was called and how he carried on his faith is very relevant to us, on this very occasion of the very first day of this season of Advent. The Lord Jesus is coming soon, and when He comes again, in sudden and unannounced arrival, He will proceed to measure the worth of us all, in whether we have been faithful and devoted to Him. He Himself had told His disciples and all of us many times of what will happen.

The signs are clear, brethren, and the evidence is clear. If we have faith in God, then why hesitate anymore? We have to use whatever opportunity we have now, and this Advent is a perfect reminder to all of us, that we have to prepare ourselves for the coming of the Lord. This Advent is more than just a preparation for Christmas and Christmas is more than just festivities and celebrations. They are all part of our larger preparation in expectation of the coming again of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ into this world as King, and this time to bring us all into the eternal glory and happiness He had promised all of us.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us use this opportunity to the maximum, and let us be proactive in our faith. Just as St. Andrew believed in John the Baptist when he said about the Christ, ‘there is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world’ and immediately set about following Him as the first-called among many, we too should follow his example and set about following the Lord now.

Do not wait until the last minute, lest we may be like the foolish and unwise women who were not prepared with oil in their lamps as told in the parable of the five wise women and the five unwise women. When the Lord comes again suddenly, they will be caught unprepared and no goodness will come to them. Instead, be ready and be vigilant, be prepared with all things, that is our heart, mind, body and soul, that we are ever ready to welcome the Lord our God in His glory.

May Almighty God bless us all and guide us all in this season of Advent, that all of us may come to greater realisation of the need to prepare for the coming of Christ, and therefore to prepare ourselves thoroughly and fully, that when He comes again in glory, reminiscing His first coming at Christmas, we may be found ready and worthy, as like St. Andrew, be made worthy of the kingdom of God. God bless us all. Amen.

 

First Reading :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/11/28/sunday-30-november-2014-first-sunday-of-advent-feast-of-st-andrew-apostle-first-reading/

 

Psalm :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/11/28/sunday-30-november-2014-first-sunday-of-advent-feast-of-st-andrew-apostle-psalm/

 

Second Reading :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/11/28/sunday-30-november-2014-first-sunday-of-advent-feast-of-st-andrew-apostle-second-reading/

 

Gospel Reading :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/11/28/sunday-30-november-2014-first-sunday-of-advent-feast-of-st-andrew-apostle-gospel-reading/

 

Epistle (Usus Antiquior) :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/11/28/usus-antiquior-first-sunday-of-advent-i-classis-sunday-30-november-2014-epistle/

 

Gospel (Usus Antiquior) :

https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/11/28/usus-antiquior-first-sunday-of-advent-i-classis-sunday-30-november-2014-holy-gospel/