eternal damnation

by

Saturday, 18 January 2014 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of our Lady)

Today brethren, we heard about how God had chosen Saul, from the tribe of Benjamin, to be the king over His people Israel, and how He instructed Samuel, His prophet and servant, to deliver His will to Saul and later on, to let it be known to the people.

He anointed Saul through His servant Samuel, that Saul be filled with His own Spirit bearing power and authority, that He be granted wisdom and power, which came from God, to lead the people of God through righteous life and obedience to the Lord, and make sure that the people of God faithfully keep the laws and commandments of God without turning from them or abandoning them.

But sadly, Saul, and many other kings of Israel did not remain faithful to God, and followed their own ways and desires, in ruling the people, misusing the power given to them and the authority entrusted to them. They became tyrants and abusers of power, serving their own needs and desires instead of serving the people of God.

The people of Israel were eventually lost and were scattered all over the world, after their kingdoms of Israel and Judah were destroyed by their enemies. They went into exile, and only a portion would eventually return to their Promised Land, and began anew, trying to once again obey the will of God and not walk the path of sinfulness as their ancestors had under the rule of the corrupt kings.

God resolved to show His infinite love for His people and for all mankind, the most beloved of all His creations, by sending to us His ultimate form of love, that is, Jesus Christ, His own Son, the Logos, the Word of God, who was made man, by the power of God, and born of the Virgin Mary. Jesus, as Lord, is the true King of all, for God is the true King over all creations, the Lord and King over all the universe. From God all authority and power comes.

But Jesus showed all of us, that true kingship is not one based on the abuse of power or tyranny. Even though He was Lord of all and King of all kings, and have all the power and authority He needed, He never showed them off or used them to push things to His advantage. The kingship of Jesus is one of true service for His people, to care and love them very, very much, so much that He even was willing to lay down His own life for them.

He also came to seek the lost and the ones without hope. He came to bring light to those who live in the darkness, especially those who were deeper and even deeper in darkness. That was why, when He came, He sought those who were sinful and considered the troubles of the society, the hated enemies of the people. Yes, people such as tax collectors, prostitutes, and those possessed by illnesses and the evil spirits.

Jesus came to bring them to the comfort of the light of God, and to show that they too deserve redemption, even more so because they were so deep in the risk of damnation. He also made the point that these people were truly capable of great deeds and great piety, even more than those who outwardly showed brilliant faith, but inside were not as brilliant as they seemed to be.

That was why, He as the King who has authority over us, and who is like a father to all of us, came to correct things as well as perceptions of the society, that we should not judge others based on their appearance or their deeds in the past. Yes, the likes of Saul, who was very tall and handsome, who seemed like the perfect choice for a regal king, and yet failed miserably, and the likes of the Pharisees, who outwardly showed faith in God but in their hearts there were no love for God, but only for themselves.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are called by our King, our Lord Jesus Christ, to be the beacons of light shining the way for those who have been lost in the darkness of this world. Let us imitate Jesus and seek out those who have been condemned and villified by the society, those ostracised and hated. Let us not hate or be prejudiced against them, but instead embracing them, that we show to them the love of God, that they too may believe and therefore be saved together with us.

May the Lord put in our hearts, the courage to embrace the least of our brothers and sisters, especially those who are looked down upon by the society, and those who are unloved and rejected. May God be with all of us, that together, we may help one another to find a way to seek the light, our King, the One and only True King, Jesus Christ our Lord and God! Amen.

by

Tuesday, 14 January 2014 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Our Lord and God is merciful and loving, He is gentle and tender with love. Although He hates sin and despises those who committed sin before Him, with. His love, He is willing to forgive all trespasses, providing that we ourselves commit ourselves to repentance and changing our ways to follow the Lord with all of our hearts and with all of our strengths.

God listens to the prayer of mankind, when they asked Him with sincerity and true devotion, and will not abandon His beloved ones to doom or damnation. Yes, it will be the same as just when He heard the prayer of Hannah, who conceived with the grace of God after remained barren for so long. Not only that, but Hannah even gained many children after she presented her firstborn, Samuel, to the service of God.

Mankind had been long enthralled by the power of evil and sin, ever since sin entered into us through the disobedience of our ancestors, who turned away from the Lord and instead listened to the tempting words and lies of the evil spirits, the greatest of which was none other than Satan himself. Evil spirits entered the hearts of men and possessed those who were weak against them. They twisted mankind and made them to go further in their disobedience against their Creator.

But they have no authority or power against the One whom the Lord had sent into this world in order to bring mankind and all creations out of the dominion of the evil one, and back into the dominion of the Lord. That is why the evil spirits fear Jesus, whom they certainly know to be the One sent by God to liberate God’s people from their dominion and tyranny.

The evil spirits were once rebel angels who followed the great enemy, Lucifer, into his rebellion against the Lord, the one who claimed power beyond the Most High. They were defeated and cast down together with him, and just as he became Satan, the great enemy, they became the evil spirits who were against the people of God.

They know of the ultimate fate that awaits them at the end of time, and the punishment that they deserve. They are all to suffer with Satan for eternity at the lake of fire, forever sundered from the grace of God just as all mankind who never repented or loved the Lord. That is why they feared the Lord and always tried to dissuade Him from torturing them with His power and authority.

Brothers and sisters in Christ! How lamentable it is indeed, that even evil spirits acknowledge the power and authority of Jesus Christ as Lord and God, while many of us continue to ignore and reject Him from our lives. It is lamentable indeed that we do not remain faithful to Him, but instead follow in the rebellion of Satan, the evil one. We easily fall into temptation and succumb to the power of the devil in the world.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all reflect on our own actions, words and deeds. Have they all been for or against the Lord? Have we acted in a way that is rebellious against the will of God as the fallen angels and Satan did? Let us all use this opportunity to think and remember, that the actions against the will of God will only lead to death and ultimate destruction, the fate that the evil spirits feared very, very much when Jesus came to them.

If they fear such fate, then all the more, all of us as the children of God should avoid such fate with the best of our abilities. We all should resolve to be ever more obedient to the Lord and follow His will, that we too will not share the fate that these spirits will face as their judgment. Let us always remain true to the Lord and walk always in His path. God be with us all. Amen.

by

Sunday, 29 September 2013 : 26th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we listened to the well-known parable on the story of Lazarus the poor beggar and his counterpart, the rich man. We listened to the perils of Lazarus in this life, and after the deaths of both him and the rich man, we again listened to the suffering the rich man endured for eternity in hell.

The story shows the considerable contrast in the reality in our society, both at the time of Jesus and even today in our modern world. The rich lived in great wealth and great comfort, and the poor lived in suffering and a life of deficiency. The rich tends to get richer while the poor tends to get poorer. That is the reality, brethren, even today.

However, it is important to note that, Jesus did not condemn the rich and neither did He condemn their wealth, their money, and their possessions. What He condemned is inaction, the failure of one, whether he is rich or poor, strong or weak, to act, with love, when someone or others around them face difficulties or challenges, which we can help overcome through our actions.

The Lord our God desired that through our actions, we can look at our brethren in suffering, and offer to them a helping hand, and also, our love. That is what He truly wants from us, that we can share the love that He had given us, with one another. This is what the rich man had failed to do in his life. He failed to notice the plight of Lazarus the beggar, the poor man, leaving him to die of hunger, while he feasted every day and every night on endless flow of food and drinks.

Lazarus received his compensation in heaven, for in his suffering, he had built much wealth in heaven, by persevering through life, and presumably, doing what is good in the eyes of the Lord. He was given rest and happiness, in the company of the saints and the angels. On the other hand, the rich man, who feasted without end, and cared nothing on others, received his due, that is eternal suffering in hell.

Therefore, brethren, we are really urged to do something for others, especially those whose suffering and plight can be lessened through the touch of our love, be it in our words or our actions. Let us not be like the rich man, who ignored the plight of the weak, the poor, and the ostracised, and instead let us love them and open our hearts for them.

Today’s readings in fact highlight another important facet of our faith, brothers and sisters in Christ. In line with the first reading, and the psalm, while we have been cast out of the heavenly glory of God, all because of our sins and faults, He came to give us a new hope, in His saving power, through Jesus His Son, suffering and crucified.

Ever since our ancestors sinned against God, disobeying Him and instead, obeying the words of Satan the deceiver, we have been cast out from the presence of God, because we are unworthy, and because we have hardened our heart against God and His love. His enduring love for us however, continues to burn, with the hope that we may repent our ways and return to Him.

An infinite and uncrossable chasm existed between us and the Lord, and no one could cross this chasm, and we thought that we were doomed to hell prepared for the devil and his fellow rebels, the fallen angels. But God did not intend the hell for us, nor for any of His beloved creations. Yet, many of us throughout the ages failed to escape the snares of hell, falling into temptations of the world and its pleasures, as the rich man had done.

The great suffering in hell is in fact not the flames and heat that torture for all time, as the rich man had endured. That heat is a consequence and a part of the unending suffering that one has to go through, if one does not repent for his or her sins. The main part of the suffering is actually the complete sundering and separation of one from God, of one from the divine love that God has for all of us. That love, which sustains all of us in this world, is no longer there for those who have rejected Him and consequently fall into hell.

Without God’s love and the eternal period of one has to suffer in hell, knowing fully that there is no hope at all to redo what they had done wrongly and what they had failed to do, when they still walked this world. This hopelessness and thus despair, combined with the total separation from God and His graces, are the things that make hell so painful, so unendurable, and so despicable. Brethren, our every breath, and every good things we have, come from the Lord and His love. Can you imagine a state where we are entirely and totally devoid of any form of God’s love, for eternity, and that is hell?

That is why God constantly tried to help us, by sending His messengers through the prophets, to remind mankind of the need for repentance and purification, from the evils and the impurities of the devil inside our hearts. And yet, many of us and our ancestors turned a deaf ear to these reminders, and even slaughtered the prophets of God, spilling innocent blood, and mankind still fell into damnation.

That is why, brethren, He sent Jesus His Son, to be the great deliverance of His beloved children, from the slavery of sin and death, and from their fate of eternal punishment in hell. Jesus is the bridge, the narrow bridge that bridged the infinite chasm existing between us and God, that through Him, we may cross that chasm towards the Lord, our most loving God.

The Lord Jesus Christ  made our crossing towards the Lord possible, but as I mentioned, as much as He is the only bridge, that is the only way to salvation in God, that bridge is also very, very narrow at the same time. As such, the way to the Lord is not an easy one. We tend to face difficulties and challenges along the way, that would make us to detour from our true path, and fall into damnation, if we are not careful. After all, that path is really narrow indeed.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, once again, it must be reiterated that, God loves everyone and cares for everyone, be it that they are poor or rich, weak or strong, beggar or prince, all have a place in the Lord’s plan of salvation. God does not condemn the rich nor their wealth nor their privileges. What He condemns is the lack of charity, by anyone, even among the weak and the poor, for others.

It is these shortcomings, the lack of charity, the lack of love, and the lack of care for one another, which dooms us to failure, as we walk across the cross of salvation, that is the bridge Christ had made upon His death, to bridge the gap between mankind and their Father in heaven. In fact, as Christ had told His disciples, that to those who had been given much, much will also be expected from them. Therefore, as those who have more in terms of possessions and monetary well-being had been given a greater share of grace by the Lord, much is also expected from them, to share their joy with those who lack them, that in sharing, all the children of God will rejoice together as one.

We certainly do not want to suffer as the rich man had suffered in hell, for eternity. The way to the Lord is there, brethren, through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, but it is narrow. Let us resolve then to proceed on our way towards God without delay, and ensure that we stay on that path, by our faith in the crucified Christ and the Risen Christ, and that faith which is made alive through our love, reflected in our words and actions.

Let us therefore offer a helping hand to anyone around us who are in need of help, giving them the love, care, and attention, following the example of Christ Himself, who had given His complete and perfect love to everyone, to all of us sinners, to even His enemies who cried for His death and those who persecuted Him and the people of God.

May the Lord nurture in all of us, within our hearts, the enduring love and compassion, that from now on we will give our love to our brethren around us, sharing with them our joy and love. And the Lord who sees our obedience and faith, will reward us, with nothing else than eternal life in the presence of God, filled with joy, in the same way as Lazarus the poor beggar, had been treated. God bless us all and remain with us, within our hearts forever. Amen.

by

Thursday, 15 August 2013 : Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Scripture Reflection)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are celebrating a great feast of our faith, that is the Assumption of our Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, who bore Christ into this world, her Assumption into heaven. What is this Assumption and why is it so special and so important to us? What is the significance of this event in our faith and in our Church?

The feast of the Assumption of Mary celebrates an important part of our faith that is the assumption of Mary at the end of her earthly life into heaven. This is not the same as our death and resurrection, brothers and sisters, because Mary did not die, nor did death had any sort of power over her. Instead, our Blessed Virgin and Mother of God was taken up in both body and spirit into heaven by the power of God Himself. Nothing truly is impossible for God, even with this kind of feat.

Our brethren in the Eastern Rites of the Church celebrate a similar but slightly different celebration called the Dormition of the Virgin Mary, in which, they believe that Mary was brought to sleep and then taken into heaven, not unlike our doctrine on the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin. All are centred on the fate of Mary, the mother of God, after the death, resurrection, and Ascension of her Son, Jesus into His glorious throne in heaven.

The great and saintly Pope Pius XII, whom will soon be declared saint when his canonisation process is complete in the near future, declared the Dogma of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into heaven 63 years ago, on 1 November of the year 1950 in his Apostolic Constitution ‘Munificentissimus Deus’ declaring definitively and conclusively through an infallible ‘ex cathedra’ proclamation, and in conjuction with the well-established belief and tradition of the faith that Mary did not suffer any form of physical death at the end of her life in this world, but instead was taken bodily into heaven.

Why was Mary taken up into heaven? Like Enoch of old, one of the direct descendants of Adam and an ancestor of Noah, she was taken up from us in this world into heaven to be with God. Enoch, unlike the other sons and daughters of mankind at the time, was a righteous and just person, a man of integrity, and a man of God, devoted and dedicated to the Lord his Master and Creator. It is because of his righteousness and his goodness, God did not want to allow him to be claimed by death and suffering, but He lifted him up into heaven, to be with Him for eternity.

Similarly, this had happened to Mary, the mother of our God. And even greater than Enoch because Mary was indeed special, in another essential part of our faith, we believe that Mary was indeed born into this world and indeed was conceived without the taint of sin, original sin or whatsoever. This she had revealed herself to St. Bernadette Soubirous, at the site now famously known as Lourdes, in a series of vision and appearances more than 150 years ago.

Our Lord’s mother was conceived into this world without sin, or the Immaculate Conception of Mary was because ever before she was conceived, she had been chosen as the vessel through which, the Salvation of our world is to come from. Yes, she was the one to bear the very Son of the Most High God, who came down to be one of us, that through Him, the whole of mankind may be saved from death, that is not just the physical death, but the eternal death caused by the separation from God in hell.

And because Mary had been chosen to be the mother of our Lord and God who is perfect and without sin Himself, it is fitting that she herself has no sin or taint on her own, and that brought about her Immaculate Conception, that she was indeed, through her life, pure as snow and blameless, as a lamb without defect, the same as her Son, Jesus.

In the same way then, at the end of her life, Mary did not suffer death and was directly brought to heaven in the same way Enoch her ancestor was taken up by God. Mary did not suffer death because just as her Son Jesus had conquered death and be triumphant over all evils and hell through His most glorious resurrection from the dead after His crucifixion, thus, it is not fitting for His own mother to be claimed by the power of death. Yes, because death is in fact a punishment to us, brothers and sisters in Christ, because we have rebelled and sinned against the Lord our God Almighty.

Ever since our first forefathers sinned against God by their disobedience, they have been cast out from the perfection of the Lord. Death was not originally intended for them, and never would death had claimed them, because they would have remained with God in eternal happiness had it not been for their sin and disobedience. Suffering and death is then the punishment that mankind had to suffer for the sins they have committed.

Through Mary, the deliverance of our world was brought at hand, the deliverance brought through Jesus, the shepherd and not any shepherd, but the Good Shepherd, who will lead the people of God, as the King of all the nations, and King of all kings. The vision of St. John the Baptist in the Book of Revelation on the lady crowned by stars bearing the baby indeed reflect what had happend through Mary and her Son, Jesus our Lord and Saviour. Mary is exalted above all else save God Himself, because of her role in the plan of salvation, and her many good deeds and total obedience to the will of God.

The lady labouring with child in pain, in fact also represent all of us, all mankind ever since the time of Adam until the last man, who labour in difficulty and suffering, longing to be freed from the seemingly inevitable and unescapeable fate of death and damnation in hell for our sins and disobedience. The great red dragon, who is Satan, the enemy of all that is good, threatens to destroy us, and drag us with him into eternal damnation in hell, just as he had converted even many of the heavenly angels to his cause, represented by the one third of the stars of the sky taken by the dragon.

Yet, as we know that the deliverance had come, through the Son of God made man, Jesus Christ. Yes, He is the Son destined to rule the nations, and the One taken up to heaven, to the throne of God. Yes, exactly as what had happened, that after His death and resurrection, Jesus was taken up into heaven by His own power in His glorious Ascension. He will then come again in glory, to judge all the nations and deliver the righteous ones to Him, and cast the wicked ones forever away from His presence. He is our hope, our only hope, born through the Virgin Mary, whose Assumption we celebrate today.

Why then we celebrate this Assumption? That is because, our Blessed Virgin Mary is truly an example to all of us, the role model we ought to follow, through her upright life, filled with love, devotion, and full obedience to the will of God. She is the greatest help and intercessor to us, indeed, the greatest of all saints and angels in heaven, the one nearest to the throne of God. That is why we revere her as the Queen of all saints and of angels. Her Assumption into heaven reminds all of us of this fact, as well as the fact that through Jesus, her Son, we have all been saved, saved from death and eternal damnation in hell.

Jesus gave Mary to John, His disciple, before He died on the cross, and He also gave him to her, to care for one another. At that moment, the Lord gave both Mary to all of us, represented by John, and then all of us, He also entrusted to Mary, His mother, just as He entrusted John to her care. Yes, in Mary we have our greatest defender, and our greatest help in achieving the salvation offered by our Lord Jesus Christ, indeed, the best way to Christ is through Mary, that is by following her examples, be obedient and loving as she had been, and asking her for her intercession for our sake before her Son, Jesus.

That is why, brothers and sisters, let us strengthen our love and devotion to the Lord, by strengthening our own devotion to Mary, His mother, who was lifted up to heaven in glory at the end of her life and now defend us before Satan our accuser. Let us together with our mother, Mary, rebuke Satan and reject his evil advances and temptations, and put his head under our feet and crush it, just as Mary, through her Son, had crushed the head of the evil snake, as foretold by God Himself to Eve.\

May the Blessed Virgin Mary, the mother of our Lord Jesus, in her glorious Assumption into heaven, continue to pray for us, and intercede for us with all the saints and angels of heaven before the throne of her Son Jesus, that He, the King of all Kings and the victorious and conquering king, will come to smite the devil, the dragon, and bring us all to Him, and bless us with eternal grace and eternal life in heaven. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

by

Saturday, 13 July 2013 : 14th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Henry (Scripture Reflection)

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we should indeed not fear evil nor sin, and neither should we be afraid of Satan and his forces of deception in this world, for all of us are the children of God, the children of the true Light. The Lord Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour is always on our side, if we remain in His love and remain faithful to Him. Satan has no hold over us, because our soul that is the Spirit of the Lord is eternal. He can only touch our bodies, through the corruptions that he tried to impose on us through the world, but in no way that he can harm our soul.

Our Lord and God is the only One who can harm our soul, because He is the Great Judge of all things, that on the day of the Last Judgment, He would judge all beings living and dead, and separating the upright and righteous ones from those who are wicked. To those whom He shows His favour and love, He will reward with heaps of glory and happiness, to be in eternity in perfect union with Him, our Lord, our Creator, never to be separated again, in perfect love, unity, and harmony.

But to those whom He shows His wrath because of their wickedness and apathy towards love, He would condemn for eternity in hell. No, not hell of fire, but an eternal separation from God, and therefore, the soul is condemned for eternity, a dead soul, since the Spirit will no longer remain with them. That is why only the Lord can harm us bodily and also our souls, because He has all the authority in the universe to praise the righteous and condemn the evil and wicked ones. The same fate awaits the devil too, in the manner of the wicked.

The Lord who is loving had shown us His care, protection, provision, and compassion throughout time, ever since creation. He showed His love for Israel, who is Jacob, blessing him with twelve sons and other children, just as He had shown His love for Abraham, His servant, and made an everlasting covenant with him. He showed His love for Joseph, whom He brought away from slavery and made the Governor of Egypt, in charge of all the preparations for the years of famine.

Yet He is also forgiving for those who had wronged Him, for us sinners who had repeatedly disobeyed Him and betrayed Him to the devil, the way that Judas Iscariot had done. Just as Joseph forgave his brothers for having sold him to slavery and their hatred and jealousy for him, so the Lord also forgave those who had wronged Him through sin and evil, ever since the time of Adam and Eve, the first ones that He created amongst mankind.

He showed His mercy to the people of Israel repeated times, when they continuously rebelled against His will, and even abandoned Him to the pagan gods of the people of Canaan. He led them to the land of ever-flowing milk and honey, and continued to watch over them, even as they rebelled against Him. And when the people of Israel came under great suffering under the tyranny of the Babylonians, He sent them deliverance through Cyrus, the first Persian Emperor, who liberated them and allowed them to return to their own lands.

But none of this can be compared to the Lord’s greatest act of love and mercy, that is, in His great love, sending His own Son, the very part of Himself, the Holy Trinity, into the world, that the Word of God became flesh and walked on this world, that the world that has been tainted with evil and sin, may have hope of new life through Jesus Christ, the world’s Saviour.

The Lord sent Jesus to be our Redeemer, to save us from our fate that is death, and to reconcile us to Himself. Christ had become the great bridge, that crosses the infinite chasm of sin separating us from God, ever since Adam and Eve first disobeyed the Lord. Only in Christ lie our salvation, and only in Him that we have hope of new and eternal life. The Lord had shown His love and mercy for us in no lesser way, none other than by suffering insults and rejection, lashes and blows, and ultimately the death on the cross for us.

Today, we celebrate the feast of St. Henry, also known as Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor, the great divine ordained of the successor of Rome in the West, as the secular Vicar of Christ, under the jurisdiction of the Pope, as the Bishop of Rome and the true Vicar of Christ. St. Henry made great efforts to strengthen the Church and pried power away from the hands of the secular nobles into the Emperor’s hand and the jurisdiction of the Church.

In doing so, St. Henry had laid a stable foundation for the growth of the faith, and the cultivation of the faith amongst many throughout the world. He greatly strengthened the cause of the Lord, and built the work of salvation over the power of the power-hungry and wealth-hungry secular nobles, who constantly warred amongst themselves for wealth, reputation, and land.

St. Henry acted as the champion of the faith, as the champion of the Church, and indeed, as the champion of the Lord, who brought the Lord closer to many ordinary people, and his works enabled more to be in contact with the Lord who loves us and who wants to save us through Christ, His Son. St. Henry never gave up the struggle despite opposition from the nobles, and his efforts rewarded him with the glory of heaven, as the only Holy Roman Emperor and German monarch ever named saint.

We too, brothers and sisters in Christ, can follow in the footsteps of St. Henry, and also many other inspiring saints, to bring the Word of God closer to many who have yet to receive it, and to bring the Lord’s salvation and love ever closer to those who seek it. Let us also defend our faith, our faith in the Lord who loves us, and who redeemed us through His death and bring us new life through His Resurrection from the dead. Let us be zealous and devoted to our faith in God, through the Church, and obey the teachings of the Church, that is none other than the teachings of the Apostles, and therefore, the teachings of the Lord Himself.

May the Lord, accompanied by His faithful servant, St. Henry, and multitudes of holy men and women of the Lord and the angels, bless all of us with love, hope, and faith, and give us the Spirit to love, the Spirit to be compassionate, the Spirit of forgiveness and mercy, that all of us will be worthy of our Lord, who is Love and mercy. God bless us all. Amen.

by

Thursday, 9 May 2013 : Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord (Scripture Reflection)

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today is Ascension day, a very important day in our faith, because today we celebrate a central tenet of our faith. That is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is resurrected on the third day after dying on the cross for the salvation of all  mankind, but that today, most importantly, we celebrate the glorification of God, in which Christ, who had descended to this world as a humble man, returns to His glory in heaven as the divine God.

For Christ, our Messiah and our Lord, is both fully man and fully divine at the same time, with both of His human and divine nature united indivisibly in a mysterious and holy link that is beyond our best understanding. In Christ, who had been made incarnate to be a lowly human like us through His birth in Mary, His mother, lies our salvation, and our only hope.

Because, Christ, who is the Lamb of God, gave up Himself to be the sacrifice for the sake of our sins, just as God instructed the people of Israel to sacrifice unblemished lambs to erase their sins and their unworthiness before God. Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God is not merely unblemished, but also perfect, and as the only perfect and worthy sacrifice to take away all the sins of the world, once and for all, through the sacrifice He made on Calvary.

We celebrate this every time we celebrate the Mass, in which the bread and the wine that we offer are truly turned into the Precious Body and the Precious Blood of the Lamb, which He Himself had offered to His disciples at His last supper, so that He will continue to live in them, and therefore remain within us, that He will be within us, and therefore belong to Him and the Father. We have all been mark as His own, and we will not be lost, as long as we keep Him ever in our hearts, and invoke Him in all our actions.

He may be no longer with us in physical form, because He was indeed taken up to heaven with His glorious Ascension, when He parted ways from His disciples and left physically this world, but He actually remains with us, within all of us, that we are empowered with His presence. He granted us the Holy Spirit, the Helper, which came to the Apostles at Pentecost, and from them, the Holy Spirit is passed down to us, with the Sacrament of Baptism and strengthened at Confirmation, the fire of the spirit is burning with us, the living symbol of Christ’s presence within each one of us.

This Spirit that we have within each of us will stay dormant if we do not do anything to make use of the gifts that the Spirit had granted within each of us. Yes, all of us have the power and ability to make the difference, in our own lives, and in the lives of many of those who are around us. The Spirit has planted within us the seeds of faith and love, and these seeds will not sprout unless we provide them with ever greater faith and love, that can only be provided through solid and true actions made in the name of the Lord, and reflecting that we truly are God’s children.

If we allow the Holy Spirit to grow within us and use our beings to bring about love and peace in both ourselves and those around us, it will allow us to grow and bear much fruit, fruits of love and blessings, the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Christ who was taken up on Ascension will come again as He promised all of us, in His Second Coming, which is coming soon. When He comes again, He will see if we, the plants that He, the seed spreader, had grown to the results that He wants.

If we do not bear any fruit, like that of the barren tree, He would destroy us and curse us, because we have not bear any fruit, despite having been planted with seeds of faith. Just like those who had been given money by the master to be invested, but wasted the money in idleness, and did not invest it to let the value of the money to grow for profits. In this, the love that God had given us had become useless, because love cannot just remain within ourselves, because love is between us and another party, and remember that the Lord Himself had commanded us to love both Himself, and our fellow brethren.

The Lord Himself has told us that to love the least and weakest of our brethren, we have loved Him. That is why to just love the Lord alone, is in fact not sufficient, because this love that we have is not perfect, and can only be made perfect by us also loving our fellow brethren, particularly those who lacks, and those who are weakest and persecuted. Therefore, only in living our faith, and using the gifts that the Holy Spirit has placed in us that we can truly bear fruit and be found worthy when Christ once again comes into this world to judge it.

He will welcome and congratulate us, if we had done what we can to fulfill His wishes and His commandments. He will say to us, “Well done, My faithful servants. Come and take your rightful place at My Kingdom.” But if we do not make use of the chance we have now, and waste it on idleness, or worse, that is to spurn God’s love and Spirit, and indulge instead in the worldly temptations and pleasures and the world of hatred, we would be banished by the Lord from His presence, because we will be found unworthy of Him.

The Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ therefore, serves also as a reminder. Indeed, we rejoice in His glorification and ascension in heaven, to take up His rightful place at the right hand of the Father, but as the angels had said to the disciples on that day, that Christ will come again and that time when He comes again, He will judge the world and gather His faithful ones to Himself while banishing those who strayed from His way, together with Satan and his fallen angels, into the eternal damnation that awaits them.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, today, let us not be complacent, and let us strive to be always ready for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ, which indeed will come soon, and will come at a time when many are at their most unprepared moments. Do not be caught unprepared, and let us make sure that all of us, from now on, put Christ at the very centre of our lives, and reflect Christ in all our thoughts, our words, and our actions, that we show that we belong to Christ and to Him alone.

Love one another and love God with all our hearts, our minds, and our beings. Put our trust completely in Him, and let Him transform us with His Holy Spirit, and bear much fruit in us, the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Remember that Christ ascended to heaven, is always within all of us, with all of us serving as the Holy Temples of His Divine Presence. May God be with all of us, always, till the end of time. Amen.

by

Saturday, 2 March 2013 : 2nd Week of Lent (Scripture Reflection)

The parable of the prodigal son is indeed a well-known parable and story, that many have heard, which symbolises God’s eternal love for us and His great mercy. Do not be mistaken however, that God will simply just overlook any kind of error and sin because of His love for us. For God first and foremost is Holy and therefore He hates sin in all its forms. He hates evil and things that marred the holiness of His creations. He does have mercy, and His great and the incomprehensible degree of His love allows Him to forgive us, just like the father of the prodigal son.

But how does this forgiveness come about? It is not by being idle and wait for God’s forgiveness. If we stay idle, or worse if we continue to dwell in the world of sin, God will not forgive us, but rather condemn us for our continued rebellion against His love. Remember, that, in the parable of the prodigal son, it is the son, who in great humility and repentance, decided to turn back home and seek his father.

Instead of being haughty and proud, he lowered himself and even declared his unworthiness before the father. The father forgives him first because the younger son is back after being lost into the world, and then because he so humbly had submitted himself to the father’s judgement and in full humility even declared his unworthiness, which made the loving father to love him even more.

Forgiveness is not easy, but the Lord is willing to forgive as long as His children who have sinned, and thus rebelled against Him just like the prodigal son, are to humbly seek His mercy and love. God is kind as He is just, and He will show us great blessings and graces if we are obedient and try our best to remain in His favour, by first listening to the Word of God, and the commandments of love as brought by Christ, and to make our faith manifest through our good works and service for the good of all mankind, starting from those around us.

But do not forget, that God in His great mercy, do not just forgive us like that, for if we are forgiven but we ourselves continue to accuse others who had made mistakes to us, is it not contradictory? Just as Christ had said, love one another as I have loved you, and do upon others as what you wish to be done to you.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us first forgive one another first, forgive those who had made you hurt, those who had ostracised you, and then let us ourselves not hurt others, not ostracise others, and not made others’ lives to suffer. Only then, let us offer ourselves, our sinful beings in humility at God’s feet. He, who is our Father, will lift us up again, and makes us whole again, and once again worthy of Him.

If only love, kindness, and forgiveness can be ever present in everyone in our world today, that world would have been much nicer, is it not? All of us Christians, are just like the elder son of the father in the parable, as we had been brought closer to God through our baptism, and had been taught the faith and the love of God through our priests and our fellow brethren in faith. However, let us not be like the elder son who in jealousy became angry with the father because he seemed to overlook him due to the return of the prodigal younger son.

Because, we, who are like the elder son, have been saved in Christ, provided that we remain faithful to Him and practice our faith through our works and service for others as the Lord commanded us. However, there are many out there, who have yet to listen and receive the Good News of the Lord, and many still are also former believers in Christ, who had lapsed in their faith along the way, and had fallen into the traps of evil, through worldly pleasures, consumerism, secularism, and many others. They are the younger son, the lost prodigal son.

Rather than be annoyed and be jealous of them, when the Lord welcomes them into His kingdom like what the elder son did, let us instead help the Father, in seeking these lost sheep, these lost children of God, for through us, God can work wonders in our world. Let us help one another, particularly these lost ones, in finding together our way to the Lord, who will welcome all of us with His love and outstretched hands, the hands which had been pierced with nails on the cross to redeem us from death and eternal damnation, and into eternal life and union with Him.

Let us pray, brothers and sisters in Christ, that first we will always remain faithful to God, obey His commandments, and do what we can, and whatever is within our abilities to help one another, to love one another, and to reach out especially to those who hunger for God.

Then, let us also pray for our Holy Church, which is now without a shepherd, that God will appoint soon a new shepherd to guide His holy people, that through the Church, God’s work will be made manifest and real in this world, guiding all peoples back towards the Lord from their sinful past. May God, who is our loving Father, bless us all, and remain with us, and always be ready to welcome us back if we had gone astray and then humbly seek His mercy. May God place into our hearts the heart of mercy, the heart of love, and the heart of compassion for others. Blessed be God, forever and ever! Amen.