forgiveness of sins

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Saturday, 14 March 2015 : 3rd Week of Lent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Luke 18 : 9-14

At that time, Jesus told another parable to some people, fully convinced of their own righteousness, who looked down on others : “Two men went up to the Temple to pray; one was a Pharisee, and the other a tax collector.”

“The Pharisee stood by himself, and said, ‘I thank You, God, that I am not like other people, grasping, crooked, adulterous, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, and give the tenth of all my income to the Temple.'”

“In the meantime, the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘O God, be merciful to me, a sinner.'”

“I tell you, when this man went back to his house, he had been reconciled with God, but not the other. For whoever makes himself out to be great will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be raised up.”

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Saturday, 14 March 2015 : 3rd Week of Lent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 50 : 3-4, 18-19, 20-21

Have mercy on me, o God, in Your love. In Your great compassion blot out my sin. Wash me thoroughly of my guilt; cleanse me of evil.

You take no pleasure in sacrifice; were I to give a burnt offering, You would not delight in it. O God, my sacrifice is a broken spirit; a contrite heart You will not despise.

Shower Zion with Your favour : rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Then You will delight in fitting sacrifices, in burnt offerings and bulls offered on Your altar.

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Friday, 13 March 2015 : 3rd Week of Lent, 2nd Anniversary of the Election of Pope Francis, Vicar of Christ and Supreme Pontiff (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard about the Law of God, and what the Law is according to the explanations of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Law and Commandments of God may seem to be complex and numerous, the chief of which are the Ten Commandments, but these ten can indeed be summarised as what Jesus had said, that they are about love. The love which we mankind ought to first show and devote to our Lord and God, and finally the same love which we ought to show to our brethren, our fellow men.

God does not want it to be difficult for us, and He does not need us to offer Him many things, sacrifices and oblations and many other things, for if all these are given to Him and yet the most important of all is forgotten, then it is truly meaningless. What He really wants from us is our love and dedication, that is our undivided attention and dedication, that we are truly devoted and faithful to Him, without being half-corrupted and taken in by the world’s pleasures and temptations.

The words of Jesus make even more sense if we look at them in the context of what had happened up to the time of Jesus itself. The people of God had not been faithful to the commandments repeatedly and frequently since the institution of the Law. They have erred in their way of life and they also refused to listen to the reminders which God had sent to them through the prophets.

And in time, not only that they committed all the sins and wickedness before God and men, but they even also subverted and changed the understanding of the Law, to suit their own purposes and selfishness. And these were the hypocrites, who claimed that they served God and their fellow people, but in reality, they served only themselves and their ego.

The Law became a means to subdue and suppress the people, and it became for many the source of difficulty and hardships, not because that is what the Lord wanted, but rather because the wicked had misused that Law for their own gain, namely to advance their own position and prestige in the society and to marginalise all of those whom they did not approve.

They thought of God as a distant and wrathful God, whom they thought that He could be appeased by sacrifices and external applications of the Law, and they thought that He would not look at what they had committed in their lives. But they understood wrongly, for God saw what they had done, in misleading the people of God into sin, and in their own ignorance and obstinate heart against the true meaning of the Law, which is love.

That was why, God finally revealed the fullness of His truth and love through Jesus, who came to fulfill the Law and the words of the prophets to the fullest and most perfect completion in Him. He came to show and embody the entirety of the Law to its fullest. He is perfectly and completely faithful to His Father in heaven, obeying the will of God the Father to the fullest and to the smallest details.

And even when in His humanity He was tempted to abandon the mission which He was sent for, He continued on, suffered and died for us, and through His obedience He obtained for us the grace of God’s forgiveness and eternal life. He obeyed His parents, and loved especially His mother Mary, who had given birth to Him and listened to her words. He cared for all of us, and He often showed compassion, mercy and pity to His beloved people, caring for them, healing them and feeding them until satisfied.

This is the kind of love which God wants to show us and teach us. He wants us to replicate the same love which Christ had shown us, the love of God, which should also become our love too. If we truly obey the commandments of God, we will not walk the same path as the hypocrites, who did not understand God’s intention and His love and who were too busy with their own ego and desires.

Let us make this Lent meaningful, brothers and sisters, that we all should practice our faith, all that we believe in, by loving one another with all of our strength, letting go of all the pride, the ego, the desire and greed and many other things that have prevented us from showing love, either to God or to our fellow men. May we grow ever more in love, and may we be able to show that love ever more genuinely and care for one another, giving the best from us to our God, that is our complete love and dedication. God bless us all. Amen.

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Friday, 13 March 2015 : 3rd Week of Lent, 2nd Anniversary of the Election of Pope Francis, Vicar of Christ and Supreme Pontiff (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Hosea 14 : 2-10

Return to your God YHVH, o Israel! Your sins have caused your downfall. Return to YHVH with humble words. Say to Him, “Oh You who show compassion to the fatherless, forgive our debt, be appeased. Instead of bulls and sacrifices, accept the praise from our lips.”

“Assyria will not save us : no longer shall we look for horses nor ever again shall we say ‘Our gods’ to the work of our hands.”

YHVH said, “I will heal their wavering and love them with all My heart for My anger has turned from them. I shall be like dew to Israel like the lily he will blossom. Like a cedar he will send down his roots; his young shoots will grow and spread. His splendour will be like an olive tree, his fragrance, like a Lebanon cedar.”

“They will dwell in My shade again, they will flourish like the grain, they will blossom like a vine, and their fame will be like Lebanon wine. What would Ephraim do with idols, when it is I who hear and make him prosper? I am like an ever-green cypress tree; all your fruitfulness comes from Me.”

“Who is wise enough to grasp all this? Who is discerning and will understand? Straight are the ways of YHVH : the just walk in them, but the sinners stumble.”

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Thursday, 12 March 2015 : 3rd Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard about how Jesus cast out demons from a person who was mute, and yet some of the people accused Jesus of using a demon’s power in order to cast out another. That was indeed such a heinous and terrible accusation which was against the truth which Christ had revealed to the world through His actions and deeds.

It is pointed out to us that in our hearts we should not follow in the rebellion of the people of God, who were so adamant in their rebellious ways so as to fail to notice what they have to change about themselves and what they have to do right in their lives. They were so blinded by their human and worldly desires, by the prejudice, greed and pride in their hearts that they are unable to look beyond themselves, and they were indeed selfish, thinking only about satisfying their needs and wants above anything else.

They doubted because in their hearts they did not have the faith. Their faith is only apparent, superficial and without substance. The moment difficulties come, they would be swaying and unfaithful to their obedience to God. They were not able to comprehend the Lord’s actions because in their hearts they refused to believe in Christ, and they refused to allow the Lord to explain and speak in their hearts. They were too caught up in their worldly concerns and things so that they failed to see the truth in Christ.

This is also what many of us may suffer from, namely to succumb to our human wickedness and vulnerabilities. We do not realise that if we allow these to cloud our judgments, then we are opening ourselves to the influences of the devil, who is always trying to snatch us away from the loving hands and care of the Lord our God. That is truly the objective and aim of Satan, who are like wolves and predators trying to snatch us, the sheep of the flock of Christ.

And what we are doing is often the action of rebellious sheep, who refused to listen to the words and guidance of our shepherd, namely our Lord the Shepherd of all. We like to follow our own way and path, following our own volition and decision, thinking that we know the best way for us. But, it is our Shepherd who knows the best way for us, and we often ignore them. He tried to lead us on the right path, safe from danger and harm, but we, in our impatience and inability to listen, we walked as we like, and we were scattered when the times of trouble come.

All sheep who keep themselves close to their shepherd will not be lost when dangers or troubles came. It is just like people clinging to a strong anchor or a ship clinging to the same anchor when the waves and the storm come. Those with such strong anchor will not be lost when troubles come. They will be safe while those who did not cling to that anchor will be lost. Similarly therefore with those who have been wayward in their ways, they too shall be lost.

The Lord is our Shepherd, and He wants to lead and guide us into a life filled with much goodness and blessings. He showed us the path to grace and righteousness, but only if we have the humility and willingness to open up our hearts and listen to Him. We have to get rid of the obstacles in our hearts and minds which prevented us from appreciating the fullness of God’s love and care for us.

It is hence a homework which all of us should take heed of during this Lenten season. This is the great time for us to reevaluate our actions and our path in life. Let us all find a way to grow stronger in faith to Jesus our Lord and our Shepherd. Let us grow greater in our humility and in our desire to seek the Lord. Turn our hearts to Him and be genuinely converted and changed, so that we may in the end be found worthy and able to therefore receive the fullness of God’s promise of inheritance and blessings upon us.

May we always remember the words of Jesus in our hearts, that all those who do not cling themselves to Him will scatter and be destroyed. Let us cling to our Lord ever more as we continue to walk in this earthly life. God bless us all. Amen.

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Wednesday, 11 March 2015 : 3rd Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard about the Law and commandments which God had given us all His people. The Law and the commandments are meant to be guides on how we should live our lives, and show the people the way to reach salvation in the Lord. He had given us these in order to lead us in our way, so that we will not be lost in the forest of temptations and falsehoods that are aplenty in this world.

It is however still up to us, and we all have a choice whether to follow and obey God’s laws or to follow our own path towards destruction and sin. We have been given free will by the Lord, but more often than not, this free will have been misused or corrupted by the temptations and allure of this world which threaten to lead us away from the path towards salvation and into annihilation.

He has reminded His people with many reminders and warnings, which He made clear through the succession of many prophets and messengers, and many servants who have come one after another to call back the people of God back into His loving embrace, that is to abandon their sinful ways and to turn their back on those sins and embrace instead the way of love of the Lord.

But the people refused to listen and they continued in their sinfulness. They rejected the Lord’s prophets and messengers, persecuting them, torturing them, casting them out of their cities and places, and eventually even killed them. And yet the Lord continued to provide them with opportunities and chances, to the point of fulfilling the promise which He had given them so many years before, in the sending of the Saviour who would save all of the world.

Jesus came as the fulfillment of all God’s promises made to us all throughout the ages. In Him lies the perfect fulfillment of the Law and the prophets. The Law spoke about Him, and the prophets were proclaiming His entry into the world. But by the time of Jesus, the Law and the teachings of the prophets had been so greatly misinterpreted and misappropriated by worldly things that they no longer recognised this fact in Jesus their Lord.

In fact, many of them would refuse the Lord their God when He came, thinking of themselves as better and more reliable arbiters and judges of the fate of the faithful, and of their own fate. They were blinded and deafened by their own pride and human desires which prevented them from seeing their own faults and flaws. As a result, they did not change but instead committed ever more sins in the presence of God and men alike.

Yet, God still wants us all to be saved, despite our rebellions and disobedience against Him. He continues to pour forth His heart and His love to us, but we also have to play our part in this. We have to accept the love and grace of God which He had so generously provided us with. Let us not waste this opportunity given by God to us to repent and change.

Therefore, in this holy season of Lent, we are all called to be better disciples and followers of our God, that is disciples who know how to restrain ourselves, our desires and our wants, our pride and our haughtiness, our human emotions and other things that prevented us from truly expressing our genuine and sincere love for our Lord and God, as well as for our fellow men.

This period of Lent, let us all reaffirm our faith for the Lord, and change our ways profoundly, so that while we were once sinful and disobedient against the Lord, from now on we may walk righteously in the path of the Lord. We hope that we may be justified through our actions, and become righteous and worthy of His salvation. God will reward all those who are faithful to Him, and He will grant them everlasting life. God bless us all. Amen.

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Tuesday, 10 March 2015 : 3rd Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard about the value of forgiveness, and how if we are to become the followers of our Lord Jesus Christ, then we will have to be generous with our forgiveness while still being aware and vigilant to the corrupting forces of sin. For God had forgiven us all our sins even though our sins were so great they should have merited our death and destruction.

Remember whenever we pray the Lord’s Prayer, the Pater Noster, that we pray this phrase, ‘Forgive us all our sins as we forgive those who sinned against us?’ This is exactly what is the essence of today’s readings and particularly that of the Gospel. What Jesus had mentioned is also that there should be no limit to mercy, and no limit to the graces which we should show to those who have cause us hurt.

Much of the evils and suffering in this world can actually be attributed to our inability to forgive one another. We continue to linger in hatred and jealousy over others. We feel hurt by what others had done badly for us, be in on body, in spirit, in mind or heart. We are afflicted, yes, but if we stop the cycle there and begin to learn to forgive, then the pain will also cease to grow further.

Instead, we take revenge, we retaliate, we fight back and cause even more injury to others, contending that because we have been hurt, then others should be hurt in the same manner if not worse than what they had afflicted upon us. Many of the worst wars and conflicts in the world today are caused by this inability to forgive and to let go of the pains which have been caused to us.

The parable of the ungrateful and unforgiving servant tells us about the lord who had forgiven the immense debt of a servant, and yet that servant refused to forgive another servant who owed him a debt that was far smaller in size. This is a clear representation of the interactions between the Lord and all of us, and how we interact with one another, our fellow brethren.

The master of the house represents the Lord, who had forgiven the servant who was deep in debt to his master. That servant represents all of us, who have great debts to God, and we have been forgiven this debt, that is all of us who believe in Him. This debt is sin, and sin has weighed us down greatly. We have so much sin if we are to count for all the sins which we have committed throughout this life.

And yet, God has forgiven us all these sins, and did not count against us all of the mistakes which we have committed. Despite all the weight of sin on our shoulders, we have been relieved by our Lord who have generously let us go from the threat of destruction because of our sins. We would have deserved death, but we were absolved from our faults.

Thus, we too should forgive one another our faults to each other. Compared to the sins from which we had been forgiven, the faults we committed against one another is relatively insignificant indeed. We should not be like the unforgiving and ungrateful servant who struck at the fellow servant for a trivial debt, ungrateful at having been forgiven his huge debt by his master.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all commit ourselves to forgive one another during this holy season of Lent. This is the moment for us to change our attitudes and seek to follow our Lord and His ways ever more in our lives. Let us all be thoroughly reformed in our actions, that we no longer keep hatred and negativities in our hearts. Forgive and let go all the anger in our hearts and learn to accept each others’ differences and live together with each other in harmony and love.

May Almighty God have mercy on us all, forgive us and bring us all to everlasting life. God bless us all. Amen.

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Tuesday, 10 March 2015 : 3rd Week of Lent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 24 : 4-5ab, 6 and 7bc, 8-9

Teach me Your ways, o Lord; make known to me Your paths. Guide me in Your truth and instruct me, for You are my God.

Remember Your compassion, o Lord, Your unfailing love from of old. Remember not the sins of my youth, but in Your love remember me.

Good and upright, the Lord teaches sinners His way. He teaches the humble of heart and guides them in what is right.

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Tuesday, 10 March 2015 : 3rd Week of Lent (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Daniel 3 : 25, 34-43

Azariah stood up in the midst of the fire and prayed aloud : “Do not abandon us forever, do not reject Your covenant for Your Name’s sake. Do not withdraw Your mercy from us, for the sake of Abraham, Your friend, of Isaac, Your servant, of Israel, Your holy one, to whom You promised to multiply their race as the stars of heaven and the sand on the shore of the sea.”

“Lord, see, we have become the least among the nations in all the world, and we are humiliated because of our sins. At this time, we no longer have a king, or prophet, or leader. We cannot offer You holocausts, sacrifices, offerings, or incense. We have no place to present to You the first fruits of our crops, and so obtain Your favour.”

“But at least when we present ourselves with a contrite soul and humbled spirit may we then be acceptable to You, more than by offerings of rams and calves as holocausts, and of thousands of fat lambs. May this sacrifice of ours today obtain for us Your favour for we know that those who trust in You shall never be disappointed.”

“And now, we serve You with our whole heart, we fear You and we seek Your face. Do not leave us in our humiliation, but treat us according to Your kindness and Your great mercy. Free us in keeping with Your wonders, and give us the glory of Your Name, Lord.”

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Monday, 9 March 2015 : 3rd Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Frances of Rome, Religious (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the message of today’s Scripture readings is very clear. That we all have to listen and obey the Lord’s will and follow Him in all of our ways, sinning no more and deviating no more from His path. And then we also have to open our hearts to Him and allow Him to speak into our hearts, and we will then be saved. And also it is highlighted yet again, how God desires the salvation of all mankind, which He desires greatly, and all men are equal before Him, equally loved and equally deserving for His mercy.

In the first reading we heard about the healing of Naaman, the Syrian general. Syria or Aram was the great rival of Israel at the time and the two countries often came to war. Naaman was a great and mighty general, who won many wars, but he was down and afflicted with leprosy, a terrible and infectious disease which at the time would make him shunned and shamed by the entire society.

Thus he sought help and healing in the land of Israel, when at that time the prophet Elisha, the successor of Elijah, was ministering to the people of God. Yet at that time, the king of Israel and most of the people were wayward in their ways and they refused to listen to Elisha and to all of his warnings. And thus, they received no grace and blessing from God, and the one to receive His blessing was in fact a foreigner, who did not belong to the community of the people of God.

And in the Gospel we heard how Jesus was rejected by His own people, by His own townsfellow, the people of Nazareth where He stayed since His youth. This paralleled the rejection of the Lord and His prophets by His own sinful people. This goes on to show that the Lord sees all the people, all mankind equally and love them all equally. No difference or distinction between any depending on either race, wealth, fame, prestige or any other worldly distinctions.

What matters would be the attitude and the actions which we are doing in life. Do we show that we are truly disciples and children of our Lord? Or do we instead show that we are the children of this world? We cannot be a hypocrite, in living our faith we show that our faith is not just mere proclamation or mere words, but is as real as it can be. This is the kind of faith that we need, that is to follow what our Lord had taught us.

What Naaman did before he was healed should be a good lesson for all of us, in that when he was defiant and reluctant to follow what Elisha had said to him, he represented what all of us are often doing in our own lives. How often is it that we defy the will of God and refuse to follow what He had asked us to do, and instead trust in our own judgments and follow our own human desires? It has been too often indeed for most of us.

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Frances of Rome, whose life hopefully will be able to inspire us to see and know what is meant by being a servant and follower of our God. St. Frances of Rome was born to a rich, influential and aristocratic family in Rome, who was married off to another aristocrat at a young age, and who was a usual and common mother for many years.

St. Frances encountered many difficult moments in her life, losing her children, being involved in family disputes and difficulties of life at the time, with conflict and challenges, but all these did not prevent her from committing herself to good cause, by her ample charitable acts and works to help many of the destitute and the poor, opening her house to welcome many of those who were less fortunate.

Although she was born to privilege and wealth, but she did not regard them as making her special above the rest. Instead, she used what she had to help all those who are in need, and she also dedicated herself to a life of prayer close to God. She left many things in the world in order to pursue her true desire, that is the Lord and to be close to Him.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, many of us are like Naaman who in his pride initially refused to follow the will of God and stood defiant. However, we all have to take note that he eventually obeyed the commands, and for that, he was healed from his leprosy. We too are sick from leprosy, brothers and sisters, but not leprosy of the body, rather that of the soul.

Sin is the leprosy, the sickness that is eating upon our soul, corrupting it and making it unworthy for the Lord. It is therefore what we should fight against and resist during this season of Lent. May this season by a time for us to reflect on our actions and find a way on how to become closer to our God and to walk faithfully and act justly according to His will. God bless us all. Amen.