eternal life

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Tuesday, 19 April 2016 : Fourth Week of Easter, Eleventh Anniversary of the Pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI, Vicar of Christ and Supreme Pontiff (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 10 : 22-30

At that time, the time came for the feast of the Dedication. It was winter, and Jesus walked back and forth in the portico of Solomon. The Jews then gathered around Him and said to Him, “How long will You keep us in doubt? If You are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”

Jesus answered, “I have already told you, but you do not believe. The works I do in My Father’s Name proclaim Who I am, but you do not believe because, as I said, you are not My sheep.”

“My sheep hear My voice and I know them; they follow Me and I give them eternal life. They shall never perish, and no one will ever steal them from Me. What the Father has given Me is above everything else, and no one can snatch it from out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are One.”

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Monday, 18 April 2016 : Fourth Week of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we continue the discourse on the Lord as our Good Shepherd, our Guide and Leader through the darkness of this world, and He is gathering us all so that each and every one of us may find our way to salvation and find succour and grace in His embrace. This is what He is asking from each one of us, that we walk in His path and follow Him as our Shepherd and Guide.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, all of us call ourselves as Christians, and yet do we know the reason behind all of this? Do we know the reason why we call ourselves as Christians? That is because all of us belong to Christ, and He is part of us. We follow Him, and He leads us, and this is why those who see us, by right they should have known that we belong to Christ our Lord and to no one else.

Remember what Jesus said in the Gospel today? That the sheep know the shepherd, and listen only to the shepherd, and not to the other thieves and false shepherds? That is what we should be, for we are the sheep and the flock of the Lord, belonging to God. That means, our way of life, all of our dealings, words, deeds and actions should reflect the nature of God, that is goodness, love, compassion and care for each other.

And yet, if we reflect on how we live our lives, we should realise just how far from the truth that is. How many of us actually do and act in the way that we believe in? How many of us truly walk in the way of our faith and act in the manner appropriate to our faith? It is important because, while the Lord our God gathered us into His flock, but we are still prone to falling into temptation and into the falsehoods and lies of the devil.

The devil will not just be quiet and leave us be, even as we proceed on with our lives. He will do all that is in his power and ability in order to hamper us and to obstruct our path towards salvation. He will not let us be and allow us to peacefully achieve our goal of salvation. Instead, he will harass us, tempt us and try to pull us away by various means, so that in the end, we will abandon our Lord in the hope of attaining something else more valuable or attractive to us.

What we have to realise is the fact that it is not always something that is good and enticing that is what we should choose. The false leads of the devil and his attempts to deceive us were meant to distract us and to mislead us into a way through which we shall be trapped and fall into harm’s path. The devil is hiding behind a facade of innocence and goodness in order to lure us away from the safety in God, and thus to destroy us. Just as wolves are trying many tricks to lure away the sheep away from their shepherds, thus in the same manner the devil is doing the same to us.

And therefore, all of us must be fully alert and be careful, that we would not fall into the trap of the devil. What is at stake here is nothing less than the fate of our eternal soul. Do we want to look forward to a good and blessed eternal life, in the presence of God? Or do we rather have the suffering and the eternal pain that is to come when we are cast out and rejected because of our sinful ways?

God will not abandon us to the darkness and to the damnation of hell. And yet, it is usually we ourselves that have abandoned the Lord and we walked away from Him. It is a conscious choice that we make if we are to follow God, or to follow the devil and all of his temptations. God calls everyone to be saved in Him, and the first reading showed all these very clearly.

Therefore, let us all spend some time to reflect on this, and let us all think about ways for us to help one another to reach out to God and to resist the temptations of the devil. Why is this so? Because all of us have to realise that each and every one of us who have called ourselves Christians, and who have become members and parts of the Church have that particular obligation, the obligation for us to be shepherds for each other, to help lead and guide one another in faith.

That is why I placed so much emphasis in the beginning on why it is important for us to know what does being a Christian mean to us. If we act as true Christians should act, then those who see us will also come to believe in the Lord as we have done, and our actions will inspire them greatly in serving the Lord our God. On the other hand however, if our actions do not reflect what we believe, or worse, even contradicting, then it is a great scandal of our faith.

Let us not bring one another to fall into eternal damnation, but instead let us help and support each other, so that together we may draw ever closer tor God our Lord and Shepherd, and let us commit ourselves to renew our faith in Him, and devote ourselves wholly to Him in body, heart and mind. God bless us all. Amen.

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Monday, 18 April 2016 : Fourth Week of Easter (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 10 : 1-10

At that time, Jesus said to the Jews, “Truly, I say to you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate, but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a robber. But the shepherd of the sheep enters by the gate. The keeper opens the gate to him and the sheep hear his voice; he calls each of his sheep by name and leads them out.”

“When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but rather they will run away from him, because they do not recognise a stranger’s voice.”

Jesus used this comparison, but they did not understand what He was saying to them. So Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, I am the gate of the sheep. All who came were thieves and robbers, and the sheep did not hear them. I am the Gate. Whoever enters through Me will be saved; he will go in and out freely and find food.”

“The thief comes to steal and kill and destroy, but I have come that they may have life, life in all its fullness.”

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Sunday, 17 April 2016 : Fourth Sunday of Easter, Good Shepherd Sunday, Vocation Sunday (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 10 : 27-30

At that time, Jesus said to the Jews, “My sheep hear My voice and I know them; they follow Me and I give them eternal life. They shall never perish, and no one will ever steal them from Me. What the Father has given Me is above everything else, and no one can snatch it from out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are One.”

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Tuesday, 12 April 2016 : Third Week of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, it is sad today to witness the persecution and death of the first martyr of the Church and our faith, St. Stephen the Protomartyr, one of the original seven deacons who have been selected to be those who would serve the people of God and distribute the goods they share with one another, and minister to them in love.

But St. Stephen did not fear the persecution by the world or the threats and pressures laid upon him. He made a long and passionate speech to the Council, reiterating the truth of God, and how God has worked to bring salvation to mankind throughout history, how mankind have rejected Him, and how God Who still loved men, sent to us the Saviour in Jesus Christ.

St. Stephen courageously defended his faith and spoke the truth. He did not mince his words or held back the truth, even though doing so certainly would have brought about the anger and wrath of the Council members, and which means his own death and suffering at their hands. But he faced it all with grace, knowing that God would be with His faithful ones.

The Council members, made up of the high priests, the elders, Pharisees and Sadducees, and the teachers of the Law refused to listen to the truth that St. Stephen had spoken. These people were seeking the bread of this world, that is trying to satisfy their earthly needs. But in doing so, they lost sight of what they truly should have looked for, that is for the eternal Bread of Life.

And the Living Bread of God had come upon them, Jesus, the Saviour of the world, the Divine Word Incarnate into flesh, Who walked among us as we are, dwelling among us and showing to us the way to salvation and eternal life. And He was the One Whom St. Stephen had been standing up for, defending his faith and belief in Him, even though many others refused to believe.

Thus, this is the same challenge that our Lord Jesus Christ is presenting to all of us, as we continue to walk through this life in this world. Are we doing things so far merely in order to satisfy our needs, desires and wants, or are we looking for and seeking for something greater and beyond our mere needs and wants? The essence of being Christians is that we should take up the challenge and seek for the greater glory and true satisfaction that we can find in God alone.

Let us all therefore work together and strive to find the true happiness in God, by committing ourselves to obey the Lord and His laws, and to follow Him in all of His ways. We have no need to worry if we are not capable of doing it, as God did not call the great and the mighty to do His will, but instead He called on the weak and those who are struggling, and to them, if they are faithful, God will bestow great blessings and graces, as He had shown with St. Stephen.

Let us all reflect on our own actions and practices. Have we been truly faithful to God in all the things we say and do? Have we been insincere in our faith, or indifferent? If we want to be truly faithful to God, then we should really show it through our words and actions. St. Stephen had shown us the example, and we ought to learn from it. We do not have to do the same thing as he had done, but what we need to do is to change our lives for the better, and serve God with greater commitment from now on.

May God help us and strengthen our resolve in this journey, and may He help us to find our way to Him, and attain eternal life and redemption that can be found in Him alone. God bless us all. Amen.

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Tuesday, 12 April 2016 : Third Week of Easter (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 6 : 30-35

At that time, the Jews then said to Jesus, “Show us miraculous signs, that we may see and believe You. What sign do You perform? Our ancestors ate manna in the desert; as Scripture says : They were given bread from heaven to eat.”

Jesus then said to them, “Truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven. My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. The bread God gives is the One Who comes from heaven and gives life to the world.” And they said to Him, “Give us this bread always.”

Jesus said to them, “I am the Bread of Life; whoever comes to Me shall never be hungry, and whoever believes in Me shall never be thirsty.”

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Friday, 8 April 2016 : Second Week of Easter (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 26 : 1, 4, 13-14

The Lord is my Light and my Salvation – whom shall I fear? The Lord is the rampart of my life; I will not be afraid.

One thing I ask of the Lord, one thing I seek – that I may dwell in His house all the days of my life, to gaze at His jewel and to visit His sanctuary.

I hope, I am sure, that I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Trust in the Lord, be strong and courageous. Yes, put your hope in the Lord!

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(Easter Sunday) Sunday, 27 March 2016 : Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, Holy Week, Easter Octave (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 117 : 1-2, 16ab-17, 22-23

Alleluia! Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, His loving kindness endures forever. Let Israel say, “His loving kindness endures forever.”

The right hand of the Lord is lifted high, the right hand of the Lord strikes mightily! I shall not die, but live to proclaim what the Lord has done.

The stone rejected by the builders has become the cornerstone. This was the Lord’s doing and we marvel at it.

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(Easter Vigil) Saturday, 26 March 2016 : Easter Vigil of the Resurrection of the Lord, Holy Week (Psalm after the Epistle)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 117 : 1-2, 16-17, 22-23

Alleluia! Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, His loving kindness endures forever. Let Israel say, “His loving kindness endures forever.”

The right hand of the Lord is lifted high, the right hand of the Lord strikes mightily! I shall not die, but live to proclaim what the Lord has done.

The stone rejected by the builders has become the cornerstone. This was the Lord’s doing and we marvel at it.

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Friday, 25 March 2016 : Good Friday of the Lord’s Passion (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today is Good Friday, and we all know that today marks the very special moment in the history of our faith and of our salvation, because on this day we celebrate together the love of our God, the great and infinite love which He had for every single one of us, by bearing our own sins and iniquities upon Himself, and ascending to the hill of Golgotha, He bared Himself before all to see, and though rejected and ridiculed, He persevered to the end for our sake. Yes, so that by His suffering and death on the cross, He may bring us all out from the darkness and into the eternal light.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, one might be asking, that given the gravity of the situation of the day, of what we commemorate, then why we do call this day Good Friday? Should it not be one of sorrow and sadness, remembering how our Lord and Saviour was hated, rejected, cast out and sentenced to death on the cross? But this is where exactly we have to understand the meaning of our Lord’s works and His greatest work of all, that by sacrificing Himself and offering Himself on the cross, He has brought us all a new hope, and as well as a new life. Today is Good for us, because if not for this day, all of us would have no hope, and our existence in this world would have been meaningless.

Yes, we have ever suffered in this world, suffered pain and bitterness, sorrow and sadness, and all the other forms of sufferings because of the consequences of our sins and disobedience against God. We have betrayed our Lord, broken our promises to Him, failing to keep His laws and covenants, and by listening more to the words of Satan the deceiver and also to our own human desires, pride, greed and submitting ourselves to sin, rather than to obey the Lord and to live in accordance with His will. It was our destiny and fate for us to face persecution and punishment at the end of our earthly lives, an eternity of suffering and separation from the Lord our God in hell.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, God does despise our sins and He was angry at us with our disobedience. But we must not forget that just as much as He was angry with our sins and wickedness, He also still loved us with equal and even greater intensity, for all of us are beloved in His eyes, and He had created all of us out of love, to enjoy forever the blessings and graces that He had promised to all of us. Yet, because of our disobedience, we have been sundered from Him, separated from those blessings and graces intended for us, and that is why we suffered, because of our sinfulness.

And therefore to that extent of helping us and to keep us away from our fate of being destroyed for our disobedience, God Himself intervened for our sake, by sending to us His Deliverer, the Saviour Who would bring all mankind out of their sins and their misery, and bring them from the darkness of sin and into the light of righteousness in Him. And for this purpose He would send no mere man or any mere servant, but He sent to us His own Son, the very Lord God and Creator of all life and all the universe. He sent to us as a Redeemer, the Word of God, He Who is part of the Trinity, One God and Lord of all things, and yet, in all these, He was willing to empty Himself and came down to us in the form of a humble Man.

All these were done, so that by His humble and perfect offering before God His Father, the Lord God may accept His offering, and use it as the redemption and grace for all of us mankind who have ever lived, from the days of Adam to the days of the last man at the end of time. God offered Himself on the cross for us, that all of us who have a share in His suffering and death, may receive the gifts of eternal life and redemption from our sins. This was a sacrifice beyond all other sacrifices and offerings, for if in the past, the people of Israel offered the blood of goats and doves in order to absolve them temporarily from their sins, but God Himself offered His own Flesh and Blood, the perfect and spotless offering beyond all others, which was the only one worthy to redeem the whole multitude of our sins, every single taint of original sin that had held us back from our salvation and reunion with our loving God.

And if He had loved us so much, then what are we all supposed to do, brothers and sisters in Christ? Christ had chosen to die for all of us, for all mankind, from the least of sinners to the greatest among them, and from the humblest and smallest person, to the great and the mighty. He did not choose from us, and neither was He biased against a certain group or towards a certain person, but He offered His love, mercy and salvation to all. It is our choice now then, whether we are to accept that rich offering of love and mercy, or whether we want to reject them and instead continue to proceed on with our own lives.

Today we are all reminded that the cross that our Lord bore on His way to Calvary, and the cross on which He was nailed to, and hung between the heavens and the earth is a cross of love, the cross of mercy, the cross of forgiveness. For it was through that cross, that God made His love evident to all, and it was through that love, that He endeavoured to gather all of His beloved children to Himself, and took for us, for our sake, the punishments intended for us. And that cross is also the cross of victory, of the triumph against evil and sin, and of the triumph against death. For we know that His death was not forever, and neither did death had any power over Him.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, but we also have to realise that the cross of Christ is also a cross of suffering, as well as a cross of responsibility. Jesus Himself had said to His disciples, that all those who want to follow Him ought to take up their own crosses and follow Him. So, all of us mankind also have the same obligation to carry up our crosses with us, if we are to follow Him. This is what Jesus told us about how by becoming His followers and disciples, life will be difficult for us, because of all the opposition by the world, and by all the forces of darkness that did not desire to see us saved from our fated destruction.

And just how do we carry our crosses, brethren? It is by remembering that the cross itself is a symbol of love, a bridge between God and mankind, which our Lord Jesus had built for us. For once because of our sins, a great and wide chasm had existed between us and God, and none of us could go to the Lord without crossing that chasm, which was impossible. But our Lord Jesus made it all possible by His death on the cross. For we all who share in His cross, dying to ourselves and our sins, share with Him the glorious joy of His resurrection and brought into a new life of righteousness worthy of our Lord. It was through this that God Himself made the bridge between Him and ourselves, that is the cross of Christ.

Therefore, in order to carry our crosses, we ought to remember that the cross itself is a joining between two components, the vertical bar and the horizontal bar. The vertical bar represents the love and the relationship we have with God, while the horizontal bar represents the love and the relationships we have with one another, with our fellow men. And hence, if we are to be faithful to the Lord, and to be worthy of the salvation which He had offered us through His cross, we ought to remember to obey His covenant and His laws, that is by loving Him with all the might of our bodies, minds, hearts and soul, and do the same to our fellow brethren around us.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all use this opportunity to reflect on our own lives. Have all of us been faithful to the Lord, and obeyed all of His laws and commandments? Or have we instead been more faithful to our whim and desires? Have we been loving and merciful in our interactions with our brethren around us, showing them acts of love and mercy, of care and compassion, of tenderness and justice? Let us all do so, if we have not done so yet. Let us all go forth in celebrating this Easter Triduum and the whole joyful season of Easter, by bringing forth the joy that God brought us, and share it with others who have little or none. May God bless us and keep us, and may through His holy Cross, He brings us to eternal life in Him. God be with us all, now and forever. Amen.