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Sunday, 15 February 2015 : Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Quinquagesima Sunday (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, as we approach ever closer to the beginning of the Lenten season which will begin on this coming, the Ash Wednesday, today we celebrate the Quinquagesima Sunday, or the Seventh Sunday before Easter, as a reminder of the saving power and works of our Lord Jesus Christ, who had come unto this world and became incarnate as Man, that through His mission and works, He might bring healing to a sickened people.

Truly, the readings today, both that of the sixth Ordinary Sunday and the Quinquagesima Sunday are talking about the sickness of the flesh, and thus lead us all to understand that we are all, by our nature, sickened with sin, that is the sickness of the soul, or to link to the readings today even more closely, sin is the leprosy of the soul.

In the first reading, God stipulated the law regarding leprosy and what ought to be done to a person who has leprosy, to His people through Moses. Lepers ought to declare themselves as unclean and walk in shame, while at the same time they also must isolate themselves and exile themselves from the community of the people of God. They ought to remain outside the encampment where the people of Israel stayed in the presence of God.

At the first glance, this may seem to be very harsh and it may seem that God was punishing those with leprosy very severely. But in fact, the truth is that God desires their healing and salvation. If we read the entirety of the Book of Leviticus, and discern the meaning of what God had commanded to His people, we will find that for the case of leprosy, when those afflicted were cured of their condition, they have to present themselves to the priests who would then gave worthy sacrifice for the Lord and welcomed them back into the community of the people of God.

Thus, the same has happened to all of us mankind. We are all sick from the sickness of sin that affects our soul and tainted it. Sin is an abomination and filth that separates us from the loving embrace of our Lord and God, and sin has no place in His presence. Therefore, it would not indeed be too different from the lepers in the past, when Israel walked through the desert from Egypt to the Promised Land, that they were temporarily cast out of the society and had to wander in the wilderness beyond the confines of the camp of the faithful.

We have been separated from God and from being worthy of His salvation by the taint of sin, and as the Gospel of Quinquagesima Sunday also shows us, that blindness is another form of illness that we are suffering from. The blind man begged for Jesus to heal him, and in his faith, he was cured completely from his blindness. Here, there is again yet a clear link between what we heard and another story, when Jesus healed yet another blind man.

The blind man from his birth, who used to beg at the entrance of the Temple was healed by Jesus, and he gave thanks to God and testified to the glory of God, and yet, the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law accused him of sinning and of committing the sin by having been healed on the Sabbath day. They cursed him and were angry against him, but indeed, that other story from the Gospel also yet show us how, all of us men are sick, sickened by sin.

For sin blinded our hearts and minds against the love and mercy of God, and also prevented us from recognising the good works of the Lord present around us. It was precisely just as what the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law had done to Jesus and His works. They refused to recognise God’s love made evident and real through Jesus Christ, who was willing to endure the worst of sufferings and scourges, and bear the consequences of all of our sins with Him to the cross.

Yes, brothers and sisters in Christ, Christ brought about healing and justification to all those who believe in Him, in all those who have abandoned their old ways of sin and evil, and decided to follow Him and walk in His ways for the rest of their lives. This healing and cleansing is the healing of our soul and heart, as well as our mind and body from the corruption of sin and the desires of the world. He is the High Priest, who had offered Himself as the perfect sacrifice to reconcile us with God.

The sad fact is that, like the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, too many of us are still too proud to accept our sinfulness as a fact and reality, and too many of us are too haughty and prideful to seek for God’s forgiveness and to humble ourselves before His presence. It is also in our nature to boast of our abilities and greatness, as well as achievements, but not our shortcomings and failures, especially that of sin.

As we approach the season of Lent, and as later we are to celebrate the Most Holy Week of our Lord’s Passion, suffering, death and resurrection from the dead, all of which are part of His works to bring about our salvation and the deliverance of all those who put their trust and faith in Him, let us therefore reflect on our own lives and attitudes. Have we been truly faithful to the Lord, and have we been reflecting and be aware of our own sinfulness and wickedness in life that prevented us from being truly be with our loving God?

As St. Paul mentioned in his epistle we heard for this Quinquagesima Sunday, that our faith must be complemented with hope and love, the three cardinal and most important gifts of the Lord to all of us. If the three are not present together, then they are incomplete. And the greatest gift of all is indeed love, for it is love itself that drove our Lord to come down and to do His works to save us all. Sinners as we are, and unworthy as we are, He still loves us all very much.

Thus, we cannot say that we are truly faithful to the Lord, unless we imitate the love which Christ had shown to us all, who in His gentle and tender love had brought about our healing, the healing we receive so that our entire being are purged from the sickness of sin and evil. But we have to open our hearts to His love and mercy, and the best way to do this is to practice them in our own lives.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us be truly faithful to our Lord from now on, and show our thanks and gratitude for the love and mercy which He had shown us. Although we are sinners, unworthy and wicked, He was still willing to give Himself for our sake, and even to suffer and die for our sake. Let us all from now on be thoroughly transformed in faith, hope and love, that through these gifts which we exercise in our daily actions and deeds in life, we may grow stronger and more just in the eyes of our Lord, and be worthy for His eternal life. God bless us all. Amen.

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Sunday, 15 February 2015 : Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Quinquagesima Sunday (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 31 : 1-2, 5, 11

Blessed is the one whose sin is forgiven, whose iniquity is wiped away. Blessed are those in whom the Lord sees no guilt and in whose spirit is found no deceit.

Then I made known to You my sin and uncovered before You my fault, saying to myself, “To the Lord I will now confess my wrong.” And You, You forgave my sin, You removed my guilt.

Rejoice in the Lord, and be glad, you who are upright; sing and shout for joy, you who are clean of heart.

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Saturday, 14 February 2015 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Cyril, Monk and St. Methodius, Bishop, Patron Saints of Europe (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard of the fall of mankind and how mankind had been tainted by sin and evil, because of their disobedience against the Lord’s will and commandments, which He had established with them earlier on when He created them. Sin came into the hearts of men due to the vulnerability of us all mankind against the temptations which Satan arrayed against us.

Mankind received the punishment for their disobedience, and at first it might seem that they would forever be condemned and sundered from the goodness and the graces intended for them from the beginning of time. Yes, God intended not harm for us, but happiness, joy and everlasting fulfillment in Him, as the Garden of Eden was to show us all. Life before sin was perfect and complete, where mankind have all the things that they needed, and above all else, they had their Lord with them, who gave them all that they would ever need.

But mankind fell into the temptation of the evil one, who played upon our natural desire and curiosity, and when he offered our ancestors the opportunity to become equal with God, by getting beyond our boundaries and disobey the Lord, we forever therefore, all of mankind, had been tainted by that rebellion which Satan has brought upon us all mankind. Satan himself had fallen into evil because of his own pride and vanity, which he then passed on to mankind.

And by our nature, it is difficult to satiate our desire and wants. And ever since we ate of the tree of knowledge of the good and evil, our desire to know more and have more for ourselves only increased. And in that, we committed ever more sins, and ever greater in wickedness. How many times we can recognise greed and desire behind the actions of men when they sought to gain more in terms of material goods as well as other things?

And that is why our Lord want to liberate us from our slavery to our desires and wants. He came to show us that all that we need truly is to be faithful to our Lord and put our complete trust in Him, and He will provide us with all the things that we will ever need. He is our Lord, our Creator and our loving Father, and as such, He knows every one of us, in all that we need and in all the things we do.

He cares for all of us, and through Jesus, He made it all clear to us. The feeding of the hungry four thousand men in today’s Gospel tells us all about how God cares for our needs. We all naturally get hungry and we want to eat, and our Lord provided them with food, from the seven loaves of bread He gave His grace and power, and made the bread sufficient for all of them to eat until full.

Yet, one bad trait of mankind is our inability to know the limits to our desires. We always desire for more and more, and the more we are given, even more things we desire for ourselves. The people of Israel when they were on their way from Egypt out of their slavery and into the Promised Land, complained and protested against the Lord that the food that they had when they were in Egypt was much better, even though God had made large birds to come and provide them with those as food, and also with even the bread from heaven itself, that is the manna.

And God also provided them with sweet and crystal-clear pure water which He made to pour out from the earth itself. Such was the love and care that God had poured upon His beloved people, that He gave the best of all things to them. But they spurned that love and rejected Him, complaining and resisting with obstinate hearts. And destruction and ruin were what they deserved.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the feast of St. Cyril and St. Methodius, the holy saints and servants of God who were the evangelisers of the Faith in many countries and areas now known as Eastern Europe. They standardised the language used in those regions, the languages used for the means of the Church. And using those languages and the Scriptures translated into those languages, they managed to bring many people who used to be in the darkness and bring them into the light of our Lord.

St. Cyril and St. Methodius should both give us an inspiration to carry on the knowledge which we have received on the love which our God has for us, to more and more people who have yet to receive it, to those who have yet to witness it, and to all those who still lay in the darkness of the world. They have brought the light of Christ and bring about their salvation.

So much and so great is God’s great love for us that He sent us His faithful servants and called them from the world to bring about our salvation and safety. Thus, shall we all cast aside all of our pride, our greed and our stubbornness, and then carry up our cross and follow Christ our Lord? He has provided us all freely with the salvation that He bought for us through His sacrifice and death on the cross.

May Almighty God bless us all, guide us all on our way, and protect us from harm of the evil one, and while awakening in us the love which we all ought to have for Him. Let us all be thankful and grateful for the rich love and mercy which our Lord had shown us, and be grateful for all He had provided us, knowing how to say enough when we have enough for us, for what we need. God be with us all. Amen.

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(Special – Singapore) Saturday, 14 February 2015 : Solemnity of the Anniversary of the Dedication of the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

1 Corinthians 3 : 9-13, 16-17

We are fellow workers with God, but you are God’s field and building. I, as a good architect, according to the capacity given to me, I laid the foundation, and another is to build upon it. Each one must be careful how to build upon it. No one can lay a foundation other than the one which is already laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Then if someone builds with gold upon this foundation, another with silver and precious stones, or with wood, bamboo or straw, the work of each one will be shown for what it is. The day of Judgment will reveal it, because the fire will make everything known. The fire will test the work of everyone.

Do you not know that you are God’s Temple, and that God’s Spirit abides within you? If anyone destroys the Temple of God, God will destroy him. God’s Temple is holy, and you are this Temple.

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(Special – Singapore) Saturday, 14 February 2015 : Solemnity of the Anniversary of the Dedication of the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 84 : 9-14

Would that I hear God’s proclamation, that He promise peace to His people, His saints – lest they come back to their folly. Yet His salvation is near to those who fear Him, and His Glory will dwell in our land.

Love and faithfulness have met; righteousness and peace have embraced. Faithfulness will reach up from the earth while justice bends down from heaven.

The Lord will give what is good, and our land will yield its fruit. Justice will go before Him, and peace will follow along His path.

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Saturday, 14 February 2015 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Cyril, Monk and St. Methodius, Bishop, Patron Saints of Europe (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 89 : 2, 3-4, 5-6, 12-13

Before the mountains were formed, before You made the earth and the world, from eternity to eternity – You are God.

You turn humans back to dust, saying, “Return, o mortals!” A thousand years in Your sight are like a day that has passed, or like a watch in the night.

You sow them in their time, at dawn they peep out. In the morning they blossom, but the flower fades and withers in the evening.

So make us know the shortness of our life, that we may gain wisdom of heart. How long will You be angry, o Lord? Have mercy on Your servant.

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Friday, 13 February 2015 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 31 : 1-2, 5, 6, 7

Blessed is the one whose sin is forgiven, whose iniquity is wiped away. Blessed are those in whom the Lord sees no guilt and in whose spirit is found no deceit.

Then I made known to You my sin and uncovered before You my fault, saying to myself, “To the Lord I will now confess my wrong.” And You, You forgave my sin, You removed my guilt.

So let the faithful ones pray to You in time of distress; the overflowing waters will not reach them.

You are my Refuge; You protect me from distress and surround me with songs of deliverance.

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Thursday, 12 February 2015 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are presented with the readings which tell us about the relationship we have with one another, from the Book of Genesis which is our first reading that tells us about the creation of man and woman, and how woman was made as a companion to man, to help him and that she can also be helped by man. It is therefore a mutualistic relationship, where man complement woman and vice versa.

And that is why we have marriage and the institution of the holy matrimony and the holy institution of the family. That is because the union between man and woman had been decreed and ordained by God since the beginning of time, when He first created man and woman to complete each other and make each other perfect in the sight of God. And He had also given this world to our care, and blessed us all to bear children and spread all around the world.

The union of man and woman had been blessed by God, and indeed God had said that what God had made one, no man shall divide and separate. And from that blessed union, the gift of children came, and many young ones were born, to continue the legacy of mankind, as the new generation of humanity to walk in this world. However, unfortunately, sin entered into the hearts of men, and we became defiled by its darkness.

The people of God had been disobedient, and repeatedly they had abandoned the Lord their God to worship the horrible idols of the world, and allowed themselves to be corrupted by sin. They disregarded the commandments of the Lord and allowed their lives to be filled with the wickedness of sin and evil. But God did not give up on them, just as much as He hated their sins and evils, so much so and even more so that He loved them all and desired their salvation.

That was why He gave Jesus, His own Son, who became Man and incarnate in flesh, to walk as one of us and dwell in this world. He came into the world to reveal the truth to a people who have long walked in the darkness of the world, and bring them into the fullness of God’s love, mercy and salvation. But yet, His own people rejected Him, because they were so full of themselves, so immersed in their pride, and so reluctant to let go of the possessions and things of the world which they had accumulated in their earthly life.

This is where this attitude is contrasted with the attitude of the faithful Syro-Phoenician woman, whose daughter was afflicted and possessed by an evil spirit. She had great faith in Jesus, and knowing and accepting who Jesus was, she poured out her heart to Him, and in great humility, she beseeched Him to help her daughter. She did not even mind being insulted by what Jesus apparently said to her when she asked Him for help.

What Jesus said to the woman was in fact the prejudice and bias which the people of Israel often had of those around them who did not belong to the race of the Jewish people. They have always taken pride of the fact that they were the chosen people, and as the recipients of God’s planned salvation, they took great pride and thought lowly of those who did not belong to their race.

Thus, it is truly a surprising fact and occurrence when the Syro-Phoenician woman, considered to be among the Gentiles, or the non-Jewish people, had so great a faith for the Lord, when the very chosen people of God had refused to believe in Him and hardened their hearts against Him. And for her faith, she was rewarded and her daughter was cured from her afflictions.

Jesus did not intend to demean or insult her at all, but instead, He was rebuking the Jews and the people of God, who was so haughty and proud to the point that they lost their focus in the Lord, and thus they were unable to recognise Him in Jesus. He wanted to chastise His prodigal people, the unfaithful people, that they would be awakened from their long and deep slumber, and follow what the Syro-Phoenician woman had done, that is to be truly and genuinely faithful to the Lord.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore, today, let us all follow the Lord with all of our hearts and with our entire being focused completely at Him. Let us also be faithful to Him and follow all of His ways and teachings. In this era, we know that the institution of marriage and holy matrimony, as well as the family itself are under great threat. Let us be brave and courageous defenders of marriage, the sanctity of the union between man and woman as ordained by God.

May all of us strive to be holy and pure just as our Lord is. Let us all shun all forms of sin and become righteous as we were all intended to be. Reject Satan and all of his lies, and reject all forms of worldliness. May Almighty God be with us all and bless us all. Amen.

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Thursday, 12 February 2015 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 127 : 1-2, 3, 4-5

Blessed are you who fear the Lord and walk in His ways. You will eat the fruit of your toil; you will be blessed and favoured.

Your wife, like a vine, will bear fruits in your home; your children, like olive shoots will stand around your table.

Such are the blessings bestowed upon the man who fears the Lord. May the Lord bless you from Zion. May you see Jerusalem prosperous all the days of your life.

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Wednesday, 11 February 2015 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of our Lady of Lourdes, World Day of the Sick (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (our Lady of Lourdes)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the great feast day of Mary, the mother of our Lord and God Jesus Christ, who had appeared to her people, that is all of us, through the intermediary of St. Bernadette Soubirous just over a hundred and fifty years ago, in the quiet village and area of Lourdes in southern France. Today is the feast of our Lady of Lourdes, also known as the day of universal prayer for the sick and those afflicted with diseases both of body and soul.

We heard in the Gospel today of the creation of mankind, good and wonderful and perfect, filled with all the goodness of God, and made in the image of God. All of us were destined for a life filled with bliss and great happiness. Sickness and death were never meant for us, for these are the things of darkness, and we are the children of the Light, that is God.

Yet, it was because of our disobedience that we have sinned before the Lord and before all men, and therefore, in our disobedience and lack of faith, we brought the sickness unto ourselves, and sickness as well as corruption become a part of us. And that is what our Lord wants us to overcome and be freed from. He came into the world and through His teachings and works, He made whole a people that had been claimed by the darkness.

In the psalms, we heard about the praise upon Judith, the brave and courageous daughter of Israel and a holy woman, who despite of the great threat that faced her people, in the great force of the Babylonians under the leadership of the mighty general Holofernes, she went forth by herself to the camp of the enemy and in full faith of the Lord’s providence, she gained a great victory, triumph and salvation for her people by slaying the general when he was drunk with wine in his sleep.

Thus a great disaster was averted for the people of God, a people that had been subjected to the might and power of the conquering nation, expecting nothing else other than annihilation and slavery. It was because of the faith of one woman, who put her trust in the Lord, that salvation came for the people of God, and God heard the sincere prayers of the woman, Judith, which she made before she ventured into the enemy’s camp.

In the Gospel today, we hear something similar, and of an even greater significance for us all, as we heard about the Wedding at Cana, a story that we are surely all familiar with. In that wedding, the wedding couple who are the hosts of the wedding went into great trouble for their wine supply had run out. This is a great taboo in the Jewish society, and had the guests and the steward knew about it, the couple would be shamed and reviled for the rest of their lives.

That is when we know that Mary knew about the problem which the couple had, and she performed something that would set a great precedent. She requested for her Son to help the couple and get them out of trouble. Indeed, Jesus seemingly refused this when He remarked to her that it was not His time just yet. But, what Mary told the servants would be indeed amazing, as she said that whatever He would tell them, they have to listen to Him.

And indeed, Jesus performed His very first miracle right there and then. He turned the water into wine, and the reputation of the wedding couple was saved. But what is the true significance of this, brothers and sisters? It is that our beloved mother and the mother of our Lord Jesus, that is Mary, never forgets us when we are in trouble. Just as she was very observant of the problem faced by the couple, she too from heaven can see our troubles and the obstacles that lay in our path.

Mary is the greatest of all saints, not just because of her piety and her faithful life, which she spent in total and complete dedication to the will of God, mirroring what Judith had done even to a much greater scale, but she is also the mother of our Lord and God, Jesus Christ our Saviour and King. And she sits the closest to her Son’s throne in heaven, at His right hand, giving Him advice, prayers and petitions from all of us.

And she is also our mother, for remember that before His death on the cross, Jesus entrusted His own mother to His disciple John, just as He entrusted John to her. In this manner, He therefore entrusted all of us to the care of Mary, His mother. And that is how significant this feast day is for us. As we know with the other famous Marian apparitions, Mary appeared to many people, calling for them to repent and change from their sinful ways. She asked the people to devote themselves more and more to her Son, our Lord.

And in Lourdes, it was no different, for Mary also mentioned to St. Bernadette Soubirous, the need for the world to be converted for the sake of Christ, that everyone may receive the grace of salvation and liberation from their sins. And through her intercession for our sake, many had received miraculous healing at the Lourdes site ever since the apparition.

The water of the spring at Lourdes appeared since the time when Mary appeared to St. Bernadette, and those who bathed and immersed themselves in the water had been healed from their afflictions. This is why today we also pray for the sake of all those who are sick, as a reminder of this great grace of God. But we have to remember that, it is not that the water has any magical properties, or that Mary is the one who performed the miracle for us.

Rather, just like at the wedding at Cana, she is our intercessor, bringing our prayers directly to her Son, Jesus our Lord. Through her prayers, we are all made whole again by the grace of her Son, Jesus, who performed the healing and the miracle for us. What is the key? None other than our faith and our effort in living up to that faith. It is our faith in the power of our Lord, and the effort we have done to seek Him, which healed us from our afflictions, both of the body, and also of the soul, that is sin.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, on this great feast day of our Lady of Lourdes, let us all renew our commitment to our loving God, and let us all be ever more devoted to His mother, Mary, who is also our mother, and who like a mother is always concerned about us and daily pray for our sake, bringing our petitions and plight before her Son in heaven. Mary, our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us sinners that your Son may bring us to a new life everlasting freed from the afflictions of our body and soul. Amen.