First Week of Advent

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Monday, 19 December 2016 : 4th Week of Advent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Psalm 70 : 3-4a, 5-6ab, 16-17

Be my Rock of refuge, a Stronghold to give me safety, for You are my Rock and my Fortress. Rescue me, o my God, from the hand of the wicked.

For You, o Lord have been my hope, my trust, o God, from my youth. I have relied on You from birth : from my mother’s womb You brought me forth.

I will come to Your strength, o Lord, and announce Your justice, Yours alone. You have taught me from my youth and until now I proclaim Your marvels.

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Monday, 19 December 2016 : 4th Week of Advent (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Judges 13 : 2-7, 24-25a

There was a man of Zorah of the tribe of Dan, called Manoah. His wife could not bear children. The Angel of YHVH appeared to this woman and said to her, “You have not borne children and have not given birth, but see, you are to conceive and give birth to a son.”

“Because of this, take care not to take wine or any alcoholic drink, nor to eat unclean foods from now on, for you shall bear a son who shall be a Nazirite of YHVH from the womb of his mother. Never shall his hair be cut for he is consecrated to YHVH. He shall begin the liberation of the Israelites from the Philistine oppression.”

The woman went to her husband and told him, “A messenger of God who bore the majesty of an Angel spoke to me. I did not ask him where he came from nor did he tell me his name. But he said to me : ‘You are to conceive and give birth to a son. Henceforth, you shall not drink wine or fermented drinks, nor eat anything unclean, for your son shall be a Nazirite of God from the womb of his mother until the day of his death.'”

The woman gave birth to a son and named him Samson. The boy grew and YHVH blessed him. Then the Spirit of YHVH began to move him.

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Sunday, 18 December 2016 : Fourth Sunday of Advent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this Sunday we celebrate together the occasion of the Fourth Sunday of Advent, the last of the four Sundays of Advent, and a sign that we are approaching Christmas really soon, which is in fact going to occur just next week. As we approach closer to the time of Christmas, we should have used this time of Advent to prepare ourselves mentally and spiritually to welcome our Lord Jesus as we remember His first coming into this world two millennia ago.

The Lord has shown His promise to be true and His dedication to us and to His covenant to be trustworthy, as He has fulfilled what He had prophesied right from the beginning of time, of what He was going to do in order to save all of His people, that is by the sending of the Deliverer and Saviour into the world, the One through Whom the salvation of God would be made a reality, and all of God’s people would be redeemed from their sins and from their fated destruction.

In the very beginning, God had made His words to Adam and Eve, as well as Satan very clear. If we read through the first chapters of the Book of Genesis, we can see how God cursed Satan for his role in bringing about the downfall of mankind, for his jealousy against God and against mankind. But he was allowed to test the sons and daughters of men, and for a long time, he was a great trouble for mankind. God said that he would seize the heels of the sons of men, but at the same time, He also promised that from the Woman that was to come, salvation would come and Satan would be crushed.

That Woman was to be the Virgin, the same one whom the prophet Isaiah mentioned in the first reading today to king Ahaz of Judah. And that cane about a time when the people of God had fallen away back into their sinful ways, as they had repeatedly throughout their history, ever since the days of Abraham, to the days of Moses, when they chose to worship the golden calf and the pagan idols instead of the Lord God, and right down to the time of the kings.

It is a constant reminder that while mankind had been unfaithful and disobedient, but God never forgot about them, and neither did He want them to perish, lest it was they themselves who rejected God’s generous offer of mercy, forgiveness and grace. God did not create us to see us destroyed or perish meaninglessly. He created us all, each and every one of us out of His love for us, or otherwise He would not have created us in the first place. Despite our imperfections and the taints of our sins, He wanted us to be redeemed and to be purified from those sins and be reunited with Him.

And that is precisely the essence of Advent and Christmas, the former which is the representation of the great longing of mankind to be reunited with their Lord and God, and also the waiting and expectation for the fulfilment of God’s promise, which is fully completed by Christmas and its true meaning, that is the birth and the arrival of the long promised Saviour of the world, Jesus Christ, the One Who would free all of God’s people from their bondage to sin and to the forces of Satan.

Sin are like chains that have put us enslaved and under the domain of the prince of this world, that is Satan. And because of sin, we have been corrupted and made unworthy to be with God, because He is all good and no sin can stand in His presence and stay unjudged. Through sin, Satan had had dominion and power over us, but not anymore, since deliverance have been shown to us through Christ Who came to break us free from our bondage and chains of sin.

Through Mary, our Lord has been born into this world, taking up our very form and our very essence and flesh, the Almighty God taking up the mere and humble flesh of Man, for a singular purpose, that is for the salvation of us all, that all of us may be liberated from the sins that have gripped us since the early days of creation. And as I mentioned earlier before, God did not just do things without any reason. He did all these because of His infinite and everlasting love for each and every one of us.

And that is the aspect we are focusing on this Sunday, the aspect of Love. We have celebrated the aspects of Hope, Peace and Joy thus far, that is the hope, peace, and joy that Christ has brought into the world with His coming, but Love is the greatest of them all. Without God’s love, there would be no Christmas, and without His love, He would not have created us in the first place, and He would not have given us all a chance to be redeemed and to be forgiven from our sins.

God’s love has given us the opportunity to break away from the slavery of sin and death, and by His sacrifice on the cross, made with the ultimate and selfless love He has for each and everyone of us, He has absolved us from the burdens of the original sins of Adam and Eve, giving us a new hope and a new joy in our hearts, that while once we mankind had to face death and suffering because of our sins and iniquities, the consequences for our rebellion, now we have a new hope in our God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we have to reflect and think about how we have lived our lives. God has been so generous with His love for us, but have we been generous with our love for Him? That is one very important question that we need to ask ourselves as we approach the celebration of Christmas. We should not come into Christmas without understanding this important tenet about Christmas, and without properly knowing what Christmas is truly about.

Many of us go through Christmas as if it is just another time and moment to celebrate and rejoice without stopping to reflect and to find time to think about what it is we are rejoicing about. We revel in the festive season and rejoice with our family members, our relatives and with our friends, but we do so with the wrong reasons. Sometimes it is painful to see people competing with each other for the best Christmas decorations in their homes, or for the best dresses they wear to the Christmas parties, and focusing on all the material goods rather than the essence of Christmas itself, that is Christ.

It means that many of us have taken Christ out of Christmas, and many of us have forgotten that Christmas is truly a celebration about Christ and not about ourselves. Yes, in a way, it is a time to also celebrate about ourselves, but not for our own worldly glory and joy, but instead because of the reason that we have been saved by the love of God from certain destruction because of our sins. It is the love of God shown through Christ that we are celebrating, and we rejoice together because of that.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, as Christmas is just one more week away, let us all see into our preparations for the celebration of Christmas and ask ourselves that very important question, that is, is Christ at the centre of our celebrations? Is He the focus of our joy and of our revelry? Or is it instead a time when we ignore Him and put Him out of the picture when it was really because of Him and His generous love that we can rejoice, knowing that we have hope in Him?

Let us all reorientate our celebrations and focus it on Christ, and indeed, let us all refocus our lives on Christ, putting Him at the very centre of our lives. From now on, let all things we do, we say and we act, be filled with the fullness of God’s love, so that through our actions, words and deeds, we may show to the world and to many people, just how loving God is to all of us.

May the Lord help us all Christians, that each of us may become the bearers and witnesses of His love that came in Christmas in Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world. May we all be able to share the joy of Christmas with each other and with the world, that many more will come to believe in the Lord and in His salvation. And at the same time, let us all not forget the poor and those who are unable to rejoice in this season of joy because of various reasons. Let us share our joy with them and comfort them from their sorrows with the love and joy from the Lord. May God bless us all. Amen.

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Sunday, 18 December 2016 : Fourth Sunday of Advent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Matthew 1 : 18-24

This is how Jesus Christ was born : Mary His mother had been given to Joseph in marriage, but before they lived together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph, her husband, made plans to divorce her in all secrecy. He was an upright man, and in no way did he want to discredit her.

While he was pondering over this, an Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, descendant of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. She has conceived by the Holy Spirit, and now she will bear a Son. You shall call Him ‘Jesus’ for He will save His people from their sins.”

All this happened in order to fulfil what the Lord had said through the prophet : The Virgin will conceive and bear a Son, and He will be called Emmanuel, which means God-with-us. When Joseph woke up, he did what the Angel of the Lord had told him to do, and he took his wife to his home.

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Sunday, 18 December 2016 : Fourth Sunday of Advent (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Romans 1 : 1-7

From Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, an Apostle called and set apart for God’s Good News, the very promises He foretold through His prophets in the sacred Scriptures, regarding His Son, Who was born in the flesh a descendant of David, and has been recognised as the Son of God endowed with Power, upon rising from the dead through the Holy Spirit.

Through Him, Jesus Christ, our Lord, and for the sake of His Name, we received grace and mission in all the nations, for them to accept the faith. All of you, the elected of Christ, are part of them, you, the beloved of God in Rome, called to be holy : May God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, give you grace and peace.

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Sunday, 18 December 2016 : Fourth Sunday of Advent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Psalm 23 : 1-2, 3-4ab, 5-6

The earth and its fullness belong to the Lord, the world and all that dwell in it. He has founded it upon the ocean and set it firmly upon the waters.

Who will ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who will stand in His holy place? Those with clean hands and pure heart, who desire not what is vain.

They will receive blessings from the Lord, a reward from God, their Saviour. Such are the people who seek Him, who seek the face of Jacob’s God.

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Sunday, 18 December 2016 : Fourth Sunday of Advent (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Isaiah 7 : 10-14

Once again YHVH addressed Ahaz, “Ask for a sign from YHVH your God, let it come either from the deepest depths or from the heights of heaven.”

But Ahaz answered, “I will not ask, I will not put YHVH to the test.” Then Isaiah said, “Now listen, descendants of David. Have you not been satisfied trying the patience of people, that you also try the patience of my God? Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign : The Virgin is with Child and bears a Son and calls His Name Immanuel.”

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Saturday, 17 December 2016 : 3rd Week of Advent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we listened to the message of the Sacred Scriptures telling us about the genealogy of our Lord Jesus Christ, from the time of Abraham all the way to David, and from David all the way to Jesus Himself. It is a reminder for us that He is the Son of Abraham and Son of David, as the One Whom God had promised to all of His people, that He has fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ.

Although Jesus was not the biological Son of Joseph, His foster-father, but as Joseph was legally married to Mary, His mother under the Law, therefore He is considered legally as His father, and therefore the right of inheritance is His through His foster-father Joseph, including as Heir to the throne of David and as the One through Whom God fulfilled His promises to Judah and to David, His forefathers.

In the first reading, we heard the moment when Jacob, before he passed away, blessing his sons with many words of blessings. And for Judah, he gave a special blessing, which would be fulfilled through his descendant Jesus, that the throne and sceptre will belong to his house forever, and it is through him that David would be born, and then his descendant Jesus after him, as the King and Lord over all of God’s people forever.

In all of these we can see that God is a faithful God Who always remembers His promise to all of His people, and we can also see the long expectation of the salvation which all mankind had awaited since the very day that they were separated from their loving God due to sin. Abraham himself was a descendant of Adam, as all mankind are, and all of humanity have shared in his sins, because of his disobedience against God at the beginning of creation.

And thus, by taking up upon Himself the flesh of Man, through His mother Mary, Jesus our Lord had endeavoured to make Himself as the new Adam, as mentioned by St. Paul in one of his Epistles, that while the old Adam brought sin and death upon everyone, right down to us all living in this world today, but the new Adam, that is Christ, had united all of us upon Himself, and by His sacrifice on the cross, He has destroyed our sins and liberated us from the certainty of damnation.

Unfortunately, it is sad to see just how many of us disregarded God’s promise made to us through Christ, and ignored His free offer of love and mercy. Many of us are often too busy to spend time with our Lord, and rather than believing in Him and walking in His ways, we end up following the whims of our own human desires and worldly greed.

Many of us forgot about Christ and even took out Christ from Christmas. We see it more as a yearly and regular period of rejoicing and celebrations, yet we did not put the Lord Jesus at the centre of our joys. We become engrossed on worldly goods and materials, and we have forgotten what Christmas and our joys are truly about. And this is what we need to reflect on, as we progress through this season of Advent, that we may find true Christmas joy for ourselves.

Let us all realise that in Christmas lies the fulfilment of the very long promised salvation which the Lord promised to mankind ever since the days of Adam. Countless sons and daughters of mankind were unable to know and witness the coming of their Saviour unlike all of us who have received the knowledge and revelation of Christ through our faith and the Church.

Many people longed for the coming of their salvation and they did not have hope because after all their lives, they would succumb to death and to the uncertainties afterwards. And yet, through Christ, now all of them, past, present and future of mankind have that new hope have dawned on mankind. We may not realise just how important that is, but let us then think about what would have happened, had Christ chosen not to come and save us.

Imagine an eternity of suffering and separation from the love of our God. An eternity of despair without hope, and all shrouded in darkness, anguish and pain, because we have been sundered forever from the care of our Lord. Without God we will perish for sure and be destroyed. And yet, it is because of Jesus our Lord that we have received that new light and that new hope from Him.

A new light has dawned on us all brethren, and now what matters is for us to accept the coming of this light. Let us all turn ourselves towards this light, repent and turn away from our sinful past, and be renewed in our faith in the Lord our God. May all of us spend meaningful time to work together to make sure that we put the Lord our God at the centre of our lives, and focus on Him all the days of our lives. May we be ready to celebrate the true joy of Christmas. Amen.

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Saturday, 17 December 2016 : 3rd Week of Advent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Matthew 1 : 1-17

This is the account of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, Son of David, Son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers. Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah (their mother was Tamar), Perez was the father of Hezron, and Hezron of Aram. Aram was the father of Aminadab, Aminadab of Nahshon, Nahshon of Salmon.

Salmon was the father of Boaz. His mother was Rahab. Boaz was the father of Obed. His mother was Ruth. Obed was the father of Jesse. Jesse was the father of David, the king. David was the father of Solomon. His mother had been Uriah’s wife. Solomon was the father of Rehoboam. Then came the kings : Abijah, Asaph, Jehoshaphat, Joram, Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, Manasseh, Amon, Josiah.

Josiah was the father of Jechoniah and his brothers at the time of the deportation to Babylon. After the deportation to Babylon, Jechoniah was the father of Salathiel and Salathiel of Zerubbabel. Zerubbabel was the father of Abiud, Abiud of Eliakim, and Eliakim of Azor. Azor was the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Akim, and Akim the father of Eliud. Eliud was the father of Eleazar, Eleazar of Matthan, and Matthan of Jacob.

Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and from her came Jesus Who is called the Christ – the Messiah. There were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, and fourteen generations from David to the deportation to Babylon, and fourteen generations from the deportation to Babylon to the birth of Christ.

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Saturday, 17 December 2016 : 3rd Week of Advent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Psalm 71 : 1-2, 3-4ab, 7-8, 17

O God, endow the King with Your justice, the Royal Son with Your righteousness. May He rule Your people justly and defend the rights of the lowly.

Let the mountains bring peace to the people, and the hills justice. He will defend the cause of the poor, deliver the children of the needy.

Justice will flower in His days, and peace abound till the moon be no more. For He reigns from sea to sea, from the River to the ends of the earth.

May His Name endure forever; may His Name be as lasting as the sun. All the races will boast about Him, and He will be blessed by all nations.