evil dragon

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Sunday, 1 September 2013 : 22nd Sunday of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflection)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today Christ taught us the value of humility, of doing things in humility, and seeking not human glory in all our dealings. The prophet Sirach in the first reading today also put the emphasis on the relations between greatness and humility, that the greater someone is, the more that he or she should be humble, and to seek not things that lie beyond our capabilities and our reach.

Brethren, too many times have we heard about mankind trying to reach things beyond what they can do, that they became too absorbed in that pursuit and forget about anything else. It is very often that we even sacrificed much in order to get to that destination, to that desire that we seek to achieve. More often than not, this involved sacrificing even those dear to us. What makes mankind so desperate for such aims and targets that they devote so much for them?

That is because we often become immersed in our pride and in our desire, so much that we simply cannot let go when things do not go the way we wanted it. We always want to be the first in everything, the first in getting new items from the store, the first in our academic, economic, and other performances, that we fear so much from losing out to another people. In our deep pride, we cannot bear to lose to another person, because to us, there is often no consideration for being the second place.

It is in our human nature that we want to be preeminent, and first in all things, and that is our pride, that we ought to stand alone at the top without rivals. Yet remember, brothers and sisters, it is exactly the same sin that had brought down the greatest angel and the mightiest angel of all the angelic host of heaven. Who is that? Precisely, it is Lucifer, the false lightbringer, now known as Satan, the evil one, the devil, the deceiver, and the great enemy.

Lucifer was created as the most brilliant of all of God’s angels, the most perfect and beautiful of all God’s angels. It was told that he was created with twelve wings of a seraph, with incredibly bright light illuminating his figure, and hence his name, Lucifer, the lightbringer and the morning star. To him had been given power, glory, and might in addition to his beauty and wonder, by the Lord the Creator of all.

Yet, in his heart, due to his seemingly perfect beauty, power, and glory, he began to form dissensions and dissatisfactions with being a servant of God, and instead, in his great pride, he wanted to rise above all things, and take over the throne of God, as the ruler of all the creation and over all of heaven, as written in the Book of the prophet Isaiah. That he will raise his throne above the stars of heaven and ascend to the heights of heaven, seated on the throne of God, such are the things in his heart, the schemes that he plotted against God.

And yet, he failed. In his great pride he had sought to be like the proud guest who seek to reach the first place in the banquet, and he failed, badly. He was struck down and cast down from the heavens, as we read in the Book of the Revelation, when the Archangel Michael and the angels of heaven fought with the dragon, that is Lucifer, and defeated him with the power of God, and cast him away from heaven. The Book of the prophet Isaiah continued with the lamentation on the fate of Lucifer, as the fallen morning star, that had fallen and would never rise again as he had once boasted.

Indeed, as Christ had said to the Pharisees in the feast, that the one who seek to be the first will be made last, and will be relegated to the last position in great shame and humiliation. Truly, Lucifer, once the brightest, most brilliant, and mightiest angel of heaven, is now a shadow of his former self, known to us as the great enemy and the evil one, twisted, broken, and marred in his beauty, all because of his pride and lack of humility before God.

On the other hand, the Archangel Michael, whom we know as the chief of the angelic host and the leader of the angels of God, is made such not because of his pride, his power, or his might. Instead, the Archangel Michael was known for his great humility and obedience to the will of God, and it was indeed told that he always trembled before the presence of the Lord. That humility made the Lord to choose him as the leader of His angelic host, in the same way as the humble guest who seek the worst and last seat, is invited by the host to a position of honour.

After quoting the example of the archangels, of Lucifer and Michael and the comparison between them, and how it relates to the lessons we learn today from our readings and the Lord Himself, of the importance of humility in our lives, let us take some time to reflect on our own lives, whether we have always let our pride get in our way, and whether we have let our pride to take over us, as it had done to Lucifer.

To be humble is not easy, as temptations will certainly be great. We tend to compete with one another, not least in this increasingly more fast-moving and competitive world, where everyone’s success in life is measured by their achievements and by the things that they are able to do better than others, fueling even more and more competition in a vicious cycle, that if not controlled may result in excessive competition and everyone sought to overcome one another, at the expense of others as best as possible.

Yet, the Lord challenged us today to be different, to dare to be different from others, to be humble in our increasingly prideful world, in a world where people increasingly care less about one another, in a world where everyone vies to be the first ahead of others, and to achieve things that they are not able to do. The Lord challenged us to know the meaning of humility and the value of satisfaction, of knowing that we truly have enough in our lives, that all that we need have truly been taken care of by the Lord our God in various ways.

Christ had taught us the meaning of humility, and also teach us love, how to love one another, and how to love God. He has shown us all that through His own actions, that He, who is God, and who is divine and all-powerful, is willing to take the last seat of all, the most humiliating seat of all, to be born into a poor family of a carpenter and born in a dirty stable, even though He is indeed a King, King of all kings no less, the Master of all the Universe.

It does not just stop at that, as He lived humbly and did not seek glory for Himself. Many times the people who were amazed at His miracles and powers sought to force Him and to make Him their king, as the king of a renewed Israel, and yet, Jesus walked away from all that, and not only that, He even willingly walked towards His own death.

Yes, brethren, in His great humility, He who is God, let Himself be captured, tortured, mocked and spat at. He was given many lashes and eventually after carrying His own cross, was nailed to that cross on Calvary. Such is His great humility that He endured all sufferings intended for us, and took them all upon Himself. His wounds marked all the sufferings He had to suffer in our place, that we may live. He died, and died a humiliating death, a criminal’s death on the cross.

And yet? He who has died for all of us has risen from the dead! He has triumphed and conquered over the prideful one, Satan, the old Lucifer, whose pride had brought him from glory to humiliation. Christ had risen to His glory and made the greatest and most prominent of all. The Lord Himself had proven His own words today through His own actions, which He made out of pure love for all of us, that we all may live, that He had humbled Himself to die a humiliating death, despite being the Master of all, for our sake.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, inspired by the very example of our Lord Jesus, let us today heed His call, that we be humble in all our words, in all our deeds, and in all our actions. Let us be humble in all our dealings with one another, caring and loving for one another, just as the Lord had commanded us. Let us be truly brothers and sisters to one another, and do not seek the downfall of others or the failure of others for our own success. Let us throw away our pride and don humility instead, just as our Lord Himself had once done for us.

May the Lord continue to watch over us, protect us, and bless us, and that may He remind us at all times that we ought to be humble and loving in all our actions, and in all our dealings to our brethren, remembering the very life He had given us, through His own humble death. God bless us all, forever and ever. Amen.

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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.