First Sunday of Lent

by

Monday, 15 February 2016 : 1st Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard the Scripture readings which told us about the Last Judgment, where Jesus told the people about what would happen at the end of time, when the Lord will come again to judge all creation and all mankind, both the living and the dead. And the fate of those who are to be judged, including all of us, will depend on what had been done and what had not been done.

In the first reading from the Book of Deuteronomy, we heard about how God through Moses His servant, reminded His people of the importance of obeying the Law in their actions and deeds, and not to do things that lead to sin and to disobedience against Him. They were reminded not to commit sinful things before the Lord, such as being oppressive and show injustice to one another.

What we heard about is the reminder God gave His people not to commit the sins of action, namely, the actions that show disobedience to God, such as stealing, murder, jealousy, hatred, adultery and many other forms of wicked things that mankind often do, in disregard of God’s commandments. And indeed, all of us should make sure that we keep ourselves free from such actions, and resist the temptation to do those abominable things and acts.

However, we also have to take note what our Lord Jesus Christ said to the people in the Gospel today. The Lord Himself, the Great Judge revealed to the separated people, the good and the wicked, what He looks for in finding righteousness and worthiness to receive the eternal inheritance and grace He promised to all those whom He deemed to be worthy.

We often forget of the fact and reality that sin is not just about what we have done and committed. And it was not just the bad things we committed that brought us to sin, such as murder, stealing, lust and all the other forms of sins, but also things that we have failed to do, especially if we are fully capable of doing them, and yet we consciously ignore them and choose not to do what we ought to do.

This is the sin of inaction, the sin of apathy and sloth, the sin caused by our refusal to take action and to do something, when it is clearly possible and available for us to do good deeds for the sake of others who are around us. And this is just as bad and wicked as doing something that is vile and detestable before God.

Just imagine how many people have been deprived of good things, or have suffered because of our refusal to act, because of our ignorance and apathy. Imagine that in this world itself, if there are just more people who would share their blessings with each other, and care for those who have little or none, then there would be so much fewer cases of hunger, sickness, death and all the things that inflict the poor and the destitute among us.

We mankind have been given the capacity by God, through the blessings He had granted us, through the gifts and talents He had given to us, and through the opportunities that He had laid on our path, to be light, shepherds, and guide to our brethren, helping one another in their earthly lives, and guiding one another on our path together to reach out to the Lord our God.

If we do not do what the Lord had commanded us to do, and which He reminded us all yet again in today’s readings, then we can have no part in His inheritance, and that is why those who have failed to do as the Lord had taught us to do, failing to love, to care, to give our love to the poor and to the less fortunate, shall suffer the fate of those whom God had rejected and cast out from His presence into the eternal damnation.

Let us all therefore, during this season of Lent, make use of the opportunities which have been given to us, so that we may become ever more committed to become faithful servants of God, not just in mere words alone, but also through real and concrete actions. May the Lord our God strengthen the faith in each one of us, and awaken in us the strong desire to be courageous in standing up to our faith through action and good works, especially in this time of Lent. God bless us all. Amen.

by

Monday, 15 February 2016 : 1st Week of Lent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Matthew 25 : 31-46

At that time, Jesus said to the people and to His disciples, “When the Son of Man comes in His glory with all His Angels, He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be brought before Him, and as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, so will He do with them, placing the sheep on His right hand and the goats on His left.”

“The King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, blessed of My Father! Take possession of the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world. For I was hungry, and you fed Me. I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink. I was a stranger, and you welcomed Me into your house. I was naked, and you clothed Me. I was sick, and you visited Me. I was in prison, and you came to see Me.'”

“Then the good people will ask Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and give You food; thirsty, and give You something to drink; or a stranger, and welcome You; or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and go to see You?’ The King will answer, ‘Truly I say to you : whenever you did this to these little ones who are My brothers and sisters, you did it to Me.'”

“Then He will say to those on His left, ‘Go, cursed people, out of My sight into the eternal fire, which has been prepared for the devil and his angels! For I was hungry, and you did not give Me anything to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not welcome Me into your house; I was naked, and you did not clothe Me; I was sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.'”

“They, too, will ask, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, thirsty, naked, or a stranger, sick or in prison, and did not help You?’ The King will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you : whatever you did not do for one of these little ones, you did not do it for Me.'”

“And these will go into eternal punishment, but the just to eternal life.”

by

Monday, 15 February 2016 : 1st Week of Lent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 18 : 8, 9, 10, 15

The Law of the Lord is perfect : it gives life to the soul. The word of the Lord is trustworthy : it gives wisdom to the simple.

The precepts of the Lord are right : they give joy to the heart. The commandments of the Lord are clear : they enlighten the eyes.

The fear of the Lord is pure, it endures forever; the judgments of the Lord are true, all of them just and right.

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart find favour in Your sight, o Lord – my Redeemer, my Rock!

by

Monday, 15 February 2016 : 1st Week of Lent (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Leviticus 19 : 1-2, 11-18

YHVH spoke to Moses and said, “Speak to the entire assembly of the people of Israel and say to them : Be holy as I, YHVH, your God, am holy. Do not steal or lie or deceive one another. Do not answer falsely by My Name so as to profane the Name of your God; I am YHVH.”

“Do not oppress your neighbour or rob him. The wages of a hired man are not to remain with you all night until morning. You shall not curse a deaf man nor put a stumbling block in the way of the blind; but you shall fear your God; I am YHVH.”

“Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor nor bow to the great; you are to judge your neighbour fairly so as not to share in his guilt. Do not go about as a slanderer of your people and do not seek the death of your neighbour; I am YHVH.”

“Do not hate your brother in your heart; rebuke your neighbour frankly so as not to share in his guilt. Do not seek revenge or nurture a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbour as yourself; I am YHVH.”

by

Sunday, 14 February 2016 : First Sunday of Advent, Memorial of St. Cyril, Monk and St. Methodius, Bishop, Patron Saints of Europe (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, as we celebrate our first Sunday in the season of Lent, we always hear about the temptation of Jesus Christ our Lord in the desert by the devil, who tried to tempt Him three times without avail, and who then retreated, trying to undermine the works of the Lord in another way. This temptation of our Lord Jesus Christ is tied closely to our own observation of this Lenten period, and also to the history of our faith.

Mankind, ever since the days of Adam and Eve, our forebears and ancestors, had been afflicted with the disease of sin, as Satan managed to tempt them to disobey the Lord and by making use of our human desires to subvert us and to turn us against God, by disobeying His commandments, and by selfishly giving in to our desires. Satan had many weapons, and his greatest one is our pride, our greed and our insatiable desire to fulfil ourselves and our wants.

In the Gospel, as we heard about Jesus being tempted three times, we are heeded to take note of our weaknesses, and our vulnerabilities, which Satan and his agents can easily take advantage of, in their attempt to destroy us and bring us into the eternal darkness with them. First of all, is the temptation of our stomach, the needs and wants of our body, our flesh, the temptation of food and greed.

We all know that all living things require food in order to continue living and to survive, and without food we will eventually die of starvation and hunger. But we should also be aware of the distinction and the growing gap between the rich and the poor in our world today. All of us are indeed aware, and we should have indeed heard about how many of the poor people in places and parts of Asia, Africa, Latin America, and even in the developed countries and regions, who had not enough food even to sustain themselves, less still for their children and for their families.

And yet, we also know that there are many excesses that people in our time today had committed, squandering much money and wealth in pursuit of good food and good lifestyle, a lifestyle of hedonism and excess, where a lot of waste and a lot of injustice are being done to those who have little or even none for themselves, even to keep themselves alive. And yet, there are those who rejoice, revel at themselves and feast on top of the suffering of others.

This Lent, we are fasting because we ought to resist the temptation of our flesh. Our human needs and wants is such that, hunger and starvation can lead men to hurt or even kill one another, in order to get what we need and want. If we do not restrain ourselves, then surely we shall fall into the deep trap of sin that Satan has prepared for us. Thus, let us heed what Jesus said, that we do not live on bread or food alone, as these give us just what we need in this earthly life, but we should put our trust in the word of God, our true sustenance, for it is through the Word that we can find our way to salvation.

But we have to be careful, lest the devil used our lack of understanding of God’s words in order to deceive us and tempt us further. We saw how the devil was trying to use the verses from the Scriptures to tempt Jesus to show Himself to the people, by jumping off from the pinnacle of the Temple. Indeed, the verse meant that God will protect His people, and He will send His Angels to protect us from harm, but if we test God and try to see if He really will protect us, that means we have no faith in Him.

And the second temptation was also the temptation of pride, for we mankind are all inherently vulnerable to this trait, the pride and haughtiness in each and everyone of us. We see in many people, the desire to be recognised and to be praised, so that someone will praise us and recognise us for what we have done. But at times, we can be so desperate or our desire for such things may be so great, in the end, we lose sight and focus on what we ought to do, and again, we bring harm to others.

We see how people fight and jostle with one another, either with cunning, or trickery, with words of mouth, or even through physical violence, just so that they can have an edge over another people, and gain what they desire, that is power, honour, glory, fame and many others. And this is what the devil tried to tempt Jesu with, in his third attempt, as he brought Him to the highest mountain, offering all the kingdoms of the earth if Jesus would only worship him as lord.

But Jesus was not swayed, and He was not tempted. He knew that power, human praise, fame and glory, all forms of other temptations in the world were superficial and illusory in nature. They do not give lasting satisfaction and happiness, which can only be truly found in God alone. Power in particular is very dangerous, as the saying goes, that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

This means that if we allow ourselves to be tempted, and to seek more things for ourselves, in power and all the goods the world is offering us, then we will only get ourselves dragged deeper and deeper into the darkness, and we will never be satisfied ourselves. We should already know that, it is our tendency that once we have something that we desire, we tend to desire even more.

And this is why we abstain, and do penitential works, during this season of Lent. It was not just a mere obligation or something we have to do as part of our observation of the laws of the Church and the faith. If we look at it as that, then our focus is wrong, and what we have done will avail little at helping us to strive for God’s salvation.

Instead, we have to do what we must do in this period of Lent with proper understanding and with good faith, so that whatever we do, we do it because of our love for the Lord, and the deep and burning desire in our hearts to be cleansed of our sins and wickedness, and the desire to reject Satan and all of his lies, and be freed from our enslavement to our pride, to our greed and all forms of the temptations of the flesh and the heart.

Let us all follow our Lord Jesus’ examples, resisting the devil and all of his temptations, and through our actions during this time of Lent, let us all grow stronger in faith, and spiritually, so that we will grow more capable of resisting the advances of evil and all of its forces in the time to come. Let us all love one another, giving alms and helping those who are less fortunate than us during this time, sharing whatever goods, food or care that we have, so that all of us will be able to live comfortably and harmoniously in this world.

May Almighty God bless us and forgive us our sins, and may this season of Lent be a fruitful one in the salvation of our souls. Amen.

by

Sunday, 14 February 2016 : First Sunday of Advent, Memorial of St. Cyril, Monk and St. Methodius, Bishop, Patron Saints of Europe (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Luke 4 : 1-13

At that time, Jesus was then full of Holy Spirit. As He returned from the Jordan, the Spirit led Him into the desert where He was tempted by the devil for forty days. He did not eat anything during that time, and at the end He was hungry. The devil then said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, tell this stone to turn into bread.” But Jesus answered, “Scripture says : People cannot live on bread alone.”

Then the devil took Him up to a high place, and showed Him in a flash all the nations of the world. And he said to Jesus, “I can give You power over all the nations, and their wealth will be Yours; for power and wealth have been delivered to me, and I give them to whom I wish. All this will be Yours, provided You worship me.” But Jesus replied, “Scripture says : You shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him alone.”

Then the devil took Him up to Jerusalem, and set Him on the highest wall of the Temple; and he said, “If You are God’s Son, throw Yourself down from here, for it is written : God will order His Angels to take care of You; and again : They will hold You in their hands, lest You hurt Your foot on the stones.” But Jesus replied, “It is written : You shall not challenge the Lord your God.”

When the devil had exhausted every way of tempting Jesus, he left Him, to return another time.

by

Sunday, 14 February 2016 : First Sunday of Advent, Memorial of St. Cyril, Monk and St. Methodius, Bishop, Patron Saints of Europe (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Romans 10 : 8-13

True righteousness coming from faith also says : The word of God is near you, on your lips and in your hearts. This is the message that we preach, and this is faith. You are saved if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and in your heart you believe that God raised Him from the dead.

By believing from the heart, you obtain true righteousness; by confessing the faith with your lips you are saved. For Scripture says : No one who believes in Him will be ashamed. Here there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; all have the same Lord, Who is very generous with whoever calls on Him. Truly, all who call upon the Name of the Lord will be saved.”

by

Sunday, 14 February 2016 : First Sunday of Advent, Memorial of St. Cyril, Monk and St. Methodius, Bishop, Patron Saints of Europe (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 90 : 1-2, 10-11, 12-13, 14-15

You who dwell in the shelter of the Most High, who rest in the shadow of the Almighty, say to the Lord, “My stronghold, my refuge, my God in Whom I trust!”

No harm will come upon you, no disaster will draw near your home. For He will command His Angels to guard you in all your ways.

They will lift you up with their hands so that your foot will not hit a stone. You will tread on wildcats and snakes and trample the lion and the dragon.

“Because they cling to Me, I will rescue them,” says the Lord. “I will protect those who know My Name. When they call to Me, I will answer; in time of trouble I will be with them; I will deliver and honour them.”

by

Sunday, 14 February 2016 : First Sunday of Advent, Memorial of St. Cyril, Monk and St. Methodius, Bishop, Patron Saints of Europe (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Deuteronomy 26 : 4-10

Moses said, “Then the priest shall take the large basket from your hands and place it before the Altar of YHVH, your God, and you shall say these words before YHVH, ‘My father was a wandering Aramean. He went down to Egypt to find refuge there, while still few in number; but in that country, he became a great and powerful nation.'”

“‘The Egyptians maltreated us, oppressed us and subjected us to harsh slavery. So we called to YHVH, the God of our ancestors, and YHVH listened to us. He saw our humiliation, our hard labour and the oppression to which we were subjected. He brought us out of Egypt with a firm hand, manifesting His power with signs and awesome wonders.'”

“‘And He brought us here to give us this land flowing with milk and honey. So now I bring and offer the first fruits of the land which You, YHVH, have given me.'”

by

Sunday, 22 February 2015 : First Sunday of Lent, Feast of the Chair of St. Peter the Apostle (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the occasion of the First Sunday of Lent, the first of five sundays dedicated to the celebration of this holy season of preparation for the Holy Week and Easter. Today also happens to be the feast and celebration of the Chair of St. Peter the Apostle in Rome, the Apostolic authority of the Chief and Prince of the Apostles, the Vicar of Christ and the Leader of the Universal Church.

On this day, the theme of the Scripture readings is about God, His love and mercy that He showed to all those who have sincerely looked for Him and are genuine in their desire to repent and address their wrongs. Today we heard of the promise which God had made, that so long as we are faithful to Him, we shall receive His grace and will not perish, but receive eternal life.

In the first reading, which was taken from the Book of Genesis, we heard of the narrative of what happened after Noah had been saved by God through the ark he was told to build. God made a covenant with Noah and his descendants, that includes all of us, that He shall never again destroy us with water, the waters of the Great Flood that had made all creations to perish, except that of Noah and his family, and all those which had been gathered in the ark.

There are many symbolisms in the readings today, the first of which is water itself. God will no longer destroy mankind with water, but instead, through water, life will come forth. Water becomes a life-giving object, and it is not just because we need water to survive and live, but even more importantly, because we all know that all of us at one point of time in our lives, be it as a very young infant or as a child, a teenager or as an adult, we have been baptised in the Name of the Lord

Thus, we can see clearly, the symbolism of the reading on Noah and the Great Flood. The Church is often portrayed as an ark, a large boat or a ship, where all the faithful are gathered inside and safe from the storms and the waves outside. Therefore, the rites and the sacrament of baptism is also a reminder of the Great Flood, the time when God separated the righteous from the sinners by the means of water that destroyed and annihilated the wicked, but saved the righteous out of the water and into the ark.

Therefore in the same way, through the waters of baptism, we who have made the conscious decision, or the decision by our parents and godparents, have been saved from the darkness and ignorance of the world, and were joined into the Church of God, the Ark of salvation, and together we are braving through the storms of this world, the difficulties, the oppositions, the challenges and the temptations that come our way from the devil and all of his forces.

And the significance of this to the other feast we celebrate today is that, the one who helped to steer the great ship that is the Church, is the Vicar of Christ, the one who had been entrusted with the governance and authority over all the souls of the faithful, who is our Pope, the successor of St. Peter the Apostle, who is the first of the Vicars of Christ, and whose seat of authority is in Rome, as the Bishop of Rome.

Thus, on this feast of the Chair of St. Peter the Apostle, we should all reflect on the nature of the Church itself, the Ark of salvation, which is rooted in Christ and because it is safely and strongly anchored in Christ, no storm or wave can overcome it, and steered by St. Peter and his successors, the Church is moving forward in this world full of challenges, chair being the symbol of authority and teaching in the Church.

Therefore, all of these remind us that even though we have been saved by the grace of God through the waters of baptism, where our sins, the taints of the original sins of our ancestors had been erased from us, but we must still adhere closely to the teaching authority of the Church, which is centred upon the authority of the Bishop of Rome, our Pope, as the Vicar of our Lord Jesus Christ, His representative in this world.

And another strong reminder for us all today is about the nature of evil and what Satan and his allies are always busy doing on continuous basis, in trying to tempt us back into sin. Sin is always around us, and the temptations of the world are always very hard to resist at times. Temptation is the tool of the devil to bring us back into his dominion and so that we will suffer together with him in the eternal suffering of hell.

In the Gospel, we heard about the temptation of Jesus in the desert, when Jesus went for forty days and forty nights right after His baptism in the Jordan. He did not eat or drink anything during that period, and being in the desert where practically nothing lives, it must be really a great hunger and thirst that affected Him by the end of the forty days.

After all, although Jesus is divine and Lord of all creations, but at the same time He is also fully human, being both God and Man, and therefore, as all of us mankind are, He was also feeling the fatigue and the hunger that tempted Him to have something to eat. Although He is without sin, but He allowed Himself to be tempted by Satan to show us all an example, of what we should be and how we should live our lives and reject all forms of temptations and sin.

There are three things that we have to be aware of, brothers and sisters in Christ, the three greatest dangers that will often be on our path, which threaten to prevent us from achieving salvation in God. These three are gluttony and desire, human pride and finally the desire for power. These three were aptly showcased by Jesus, as He resisted the temptations of the devil who used these three against Him.

The first temptation, that of hunger, is playing against our human weakness against our stomach. When we have plenty with us, be it in terms of food or in terms of possessions, we tend to keep them all to ourselves. It is indeed not very wrong to say that we live by our stomach and for our stomach. When we have more, we tend to seek more and want for more, and when we do not have, we do all we can to obtain what we want, often at the disadvantage of others.

We are always worried about our lives, every single days of our life. We worry about what we are to have, what we have to eat, what will happen to us on this day and that, but in worrying so much, we forget that we have One who is always looking after us and He who indeed knows all that we will ever need in our lives. We have to learn to break free from our desires and know when to limit our desires.

There is no point if we are all well fed and had everything in the world, but we have no God inside of us, and if His words does not take root in us. In that manner, we secure for ourselves a good and prosperous life in this world, but we fail to secure the life that is in the world to come, then it is truly pointless. Remember of what had happened to the rich man in the story of Jesus on the rich man and Lazarus. He had all the food that he would ever want, and Lazarus had none. The rich man was cast down into hell because he had no love inside of him. He failed to show mercy, concern and love to those around him who need them.

And then, human pride, a great danger and threat to all of us. All of us mankind are by nature predisposed to hubris, arrogance and pride in ourselves. It is our pride that often make us boast of our own accomplishment and even looking down upon others because we think of ourselves as superior to them. It is pride that Satan was trying on Jesus, by pushing Him to glory in His greatness as God and Lord of all and show off to all the peoples His power, and therefore saving Him the need to labour and work hard as if He had done what Satan wanted Him to do, everyone would likely believe in Him and followed Him.

But Jesus knew that pride is not the way to go, as pride, hubris and arrogance will inevitably make us to be disobedient and rebellious, as we are less likely to admit that we have made a mistake and persist therefore in our sinfulness. Just as Lucifer the greatest and mightiest angel had been brought down by his pride, and becoming Satan, accursed and condemned, therefore, pride will lead us down the same path to destruction.

And the last of all, and the greatest of all temptations is power, and the desire to have that power. Indeed the saying is correct, that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Satan showed Jesus the power He could have if He would just worship him, who is the master of all the powers of the world, and also all the wealth that would accompany that. He would no longer need to go on and suffer for the sake of mankind and die for them.

That temptation is indeed the ultimate and greatest temptation of all. Any man would be sorely tempted by such offer, and with the offer literally given to them on a silver platter, it is obvious why it can be so easy for us to be tempted and fall into sin. But Jesus knew that true power does not lie in earthly wealth or through tyranny.

Rather, true power lies in the responsibility that comes together with that power and how to use that power responsibly. He chose to let go of all those temptations and faithfully carried out the mission which the Father had entrusted to Him. And because of that, all power and glory now belongs to Him alone, and dominion was passed from Satan and his allies to the triumphant Saviour.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we have been told of all these, so that we too may learn of the devices of the devil in his attempts to bring us down with him into eternal damnation. He is wicked as well as cunning, and he has many means within his disposal to trick us and to mislead us into sinning before God, including what he had tried out with Jesus and failed.

Yes, what I mean is that we must be ever vigilant, as the devil himself can use the verses of the Holy Scriptures itself and twist them to serve his own desires. That was what He did with Jesus, but our Lord knew what was the true meaning of the devil’s words and He did not fall for Satan’s trickery. But we may not be as capable in resisting the devil and knowing the right from the wrong when the devil assails us.

That is why today all of these are a reminder yet again that we should all seek to deepen our faith in God, by growing deeper in our understanding of the teachings of the Faith, and the way to do so is by putting ourselves ever close to the teachings of the Church and obey her teachings completely and fully as espoused by the Vicar of Christ, our Pope, who is leading the Church of God and all the faithful in it through the tumultuous times and tribulations, facing the forces of the devil in this world.

Therefore, as we progress through this season of Lent, let us all renew our faith for the Lord and let us no longer sin and commit any sort of evil, but strengthen our commitment and devotion to Him, so that we may resist all of the devil’s tricks and false promises and remain truly faithful to our Lord, who then will reward us for our faith and bring us to eternal life and glory. Amen.