Gaudete Sunday sermon

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Sunday, 11 December 2022 : Third Sunday of Advent, Gaudete Sunday (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Rose (Gaudete Sunday) or Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday marks the Third Sunday in the season of Advent, which is also known as the Gaudete Sunday. This comes from the Introit or the opening Antiphon of this Sunday’s Mass, ‘Gaudete in Domino semper…’ or ‘Rejoice in the Lord always…’ which reminds us of the Aspect of Joy that we focus on in this Sunday’s celebration of the season of Advent. Thus far, from the first Sunday, we have focused on the Aspect of Hope and then Peace on the second Sunday, and now the Aspect of Joy before the last Aspect of Love next Sunday. Thus, this Sunday we focus our attention on the joy that we have in us in anticipating and expecting the coming of the truly joyous celebration and occasion in Christmas that is coming really soon now. We rejoice because of the great joy and happiness in the coming of Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

Correspondingly, we can see that there are unique features of this Sunday which are not seen for the rest of the Advent season, much like that of Laetare Sunday in the season of Lent, as this Sunday we take some kind of short break from the more sombre and penitential nature and mood of this Advent season. Today we look upon the joy that is coming up in Christmas season, in the joy that our Lord Jesus has brought into our midst with His coming into this world. This joy is something that we look forward to, and expect with jubilation in our hearts, and yet, at the same time, still with solemn and some penitential nature due to our current Advent season as a reminder that while we rejoice, we also must temper down our rejoicing and most importantly, remain focused on the true reason for our joy, and not be overcome and overwhelmed by excesses of merrymaking and festivities that we forget why we celebrate in the first place.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the prophet Isaiah of God speaking to His people reminding all of them not to be fearful or afraid anymore, and that God will give them rest and new strength, freedom from their hardships and troubles, and they will return once again to Zion, singing and rejoicing because God is with them and that their days of trials and struggles are over. Back then, the people of God living in the kingdom of Judah where the prophet Isaiah ministered and worked as God’s prophet had suffered a lot of indignation and other forms of hardships at the hands of their enemies, and they had faced a lot of trials and difficulties, and such words from the Lord certainly must have brought about relief and great joy to everyone who listened to those words of God’s consolation and reassurance.

Because of their sins, the people of God had been scattered and humiliated, and parts of the people had been crushed, conquered and exiled by their enemies, such as much of the ten of the twelve tribes of Israel living in the northern kingdom of Israel, which had succumbed to the Assyrians merely few decades prior to the coming of these words of the Lord through Isaiah. At a time of great trials and challenges for God’s people, therefore, this reassurance truly must have been like a great light piercing the darkness of despair, doubt and suffering among the people of God. At that time, God intervened on their behalf, crushing and defeating the massive army of the Assyrian king sent to Judah and Jerusalem to conquer them. God protected His people and led them all to triumph against their enemies, and the retreat of the Assyrians in shame must have been truly joyful for the people who were there, witnessing God’s providence and presence among them.

But that is not just what the Lord would do for His people, as it was just merely one of the many occasions in which God cared for His beloved ones, protecting and guiding them throughout their journey. He would send them all, and all of the children of mankind, just as He has promised, His own only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, the Son of God. By the incarnation of this Son of God, the Divine Word Incarnate, God has come among His people in the flesh, tangible and approachable, as the conquering and great Light that pierced through the darkness of this world, and which brought a new Hope into our midst, the Hope for the Resurrection and eternal life, of eternal bliss and true joy that we shall receive and enjoy forevermore in the Holy Presence of God.

That is what we heard in our second and Gospel reading passages today, as St. James detailed upon us all in his Epistle the reminder for all of us the faithful, that God is coming again in glory, at the time of His choosing, and we ought to look up to Him and be hopeful, as well as being patient, awaiting for His coming and return to our midst, while being reassured of His ever continued presence and love for us. In the meantime, we are all therefore expected to be righteous, holy and just, just as our Lord, loving God and Father is also righteous, all holy and just. Our Gospel passage today reminds us that the Lord Himself has come into this world, to fulfil all the promises that He has made to us, to redeem us, to heal us from our sickness, maladies, and most importantly, the bondage and shackles of sin and death that have kept us apart from Him.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, once again, as we focus our attention this Sunday on the more joyful aspect of our Advent observance, let us all first and foremost remind ourselves of why we celebrate and rejoice at all in this time of Advent and Christmas. We ought to keep in mind that the true joy of Christmas is not referring to all the celebrations, festivities, merrymaking and all the things that we commonly associated as the joyful celebration and nature of Christmas. Instead, it is the reason why Christmas exists in the first place that is the reason why we celebrate and rejoice, and that is, the coming of our great Lord and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, the One Whom God had sent into our midst, that through Him we may have redemption and liberation from our impending destruction because of our many sins, wickedness and evils.

Let us reflect on this and ask ourselves if our focus and emphasis during this preparatory time of Advent has been correct, or whether we have been swayed and distracted by the many temptations present all around us, of worldly excesses and attachments, the desires for pleasures, comforts and worldly satisfaction and joys. We do not have to go far but look all around us to see just how secular our Christmas celebrations have often become. In many places, Christmas has become no more than just another holiday and another celebration, where everyone cannot wait to show off and indulge in the most lavish and extravagant celebrations and merrymaking possible. People put so much emphasis on the festivities that they tend to forget what the festivities and celebrations are all for, that is Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, for His love and His act in our redemption, for Him for Whom Christmas is named after.

That is why, brothers and sisters, as Christians, we should lead by our own good examples by making sure that we do not give in to the temptation of worldly pleasures and excesses, and keep reminding ourselves of the true joy that we uphold and focus on in our Christmas celebrations, even as we now prepare for all the festivities and merrymaking. Christ should be at the centre of it all, and we should make sure that every part of our communities, our families and all with whom we partake the Christmas celebrations, we have to place Christ, the Joy of Christmas, right at the centre and as the focus of everything, or else, our Christmas celebrations will in fact become empty and meaningless. Christmas is not a celebration about ourselves and our ego or greed, but is instead a celebration of our joy at the love of God made Man, through Whom He has brought us the assurance of eternal joy and life.

Lastly, let us also not forget that there are some among our brethren who are not truly able to celebrate Christmas with joy, like those whose Christian faith had to be kept secret because of persecutions and all the hardships that even quite a number of our fellow Christians still face all around the world. And there are also those who do not have the means to celebrate because of their various hardships and challenges in life. There are those who cannot even make ends meet each day and less still the ability to celebrate. In whatever way we can do, let us help them either spiritually or in material, through our prayers and charity, and also by sharing the joy that we have, so that through us, our less fortunate brethren may also experience the Joy of Christ in Christmas.

May the Lord, our most loving God and Creator, Who has given us Jesus Christ, His Son, born on Christmas Day, as our Light and Hope, continue to strengthen us and guide us in our journey so that by our faith and dedication to Him, through a worthy celebration of Christmas and our preparation this Advent, we may draw ever closer to Him and to His saving grace. May God bless us all in our every good endeavours, our efforts, actions and works, and bless our Advent preparations and observances. May all of us have a truly blessed and fruitful Advent. Amen.

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Sunday, 12 December 2021 : Third Sunday of Advent, Gaudete Sunday (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Rose (Gaudete Sunday) or Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this Sunday we celebrate the occasion of the Third Sunday of Advent, also known as Gaudete Sunday. On this day we may have noticed that the vestments used are rose in colour instead of the usual purple or violet. This colour is only used twice in the entire liturgical year, one of which is today and the other one at Laetare Sunday on the Fourth Sunday of Lent. This Gaudete Sunday is named as such because of the words of its Introit at the start of the Mass, ‘Gaudete in Domino semper…’ which means ‘Rejoice in the Lord forever…’

Just as the previous two Sundays of Advent we focus on the aspects of Hope and Peace in Advent. Today therefore we focus on the aspect of Joy in this Advent season. That aspect of Joy is why we have a more cheerful tone as compared to the more restrained and sombre nature of our Christmas preparations throughout this season of Advent. This focus on Joy is a reminder for all of us that we are preparing ourselves this Advent for the coming of the True Joy of Christmas, that is the salvation that has come to us through Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Salvation.

In our first reading today, all of us heard from the Book of the prophet Zechariah, in which the Lord reassured all of His people through Zechariah that He has always watched over them and He will always love them and care for them. God will bless them all and He will not abandon them to their fate. We must understand the context of what happened during the time of the prophet Zechariah. The prophet Zechariah lived and worked during the time of the early Persian Empire, likely according to historical evidence, during the reign of King Darius the Great.

At that time, the people of Israel, descendants of those who have lived in the old lands of Israel, the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, had just returned from their long exile in Babylon and other far-off lands, after God had redeemed them and liberated them through the Great King of Persia, Cyrus the Great. They and their ancestors had faced great humiliation and sufferings due to their own infidelities and stubbornness, their abandonment of God, His laws and commandments. They had been brought low and defeated, their lands and cities laid to waste, Jerusalem destroyed with its Temple cast down.

Therefore, the words of the Lord through the prophet Zechariah were reminder for God’s own people that even as they endured trials and sufferings, God was still with them, and as they themselves experienced their emancipation and liberation, they ought to be joyful for the Lord’s providence and love. Having been allowed to return to their own homeland and once again gathering as a people and community, no longer scattered among the nations, and even having their Temple of God rebuilt with the support of the Persian King, all these were more than enough reasons for them to rejoice.

The prophet Isaiah as we heard in our Psalm today also reiterated this, as he spoke words of rejoicing in God’s salvation and providence, in all that He had done for His people. God has blessed us all His people and He has done many wonderful things for us, and hence, all of us ought to rejoice and to be glad because God and His presence among us, in His coming to this world through Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, has guaranteed us that eternal life and salvation, if we have faith in Him and believe in Him wholeheartedly.

Today, in our second reading, taken from the Epistle that St. Paul wrote to the Church and the faithful in Philippi, we also heard the same exhortation to the faithful to rejoice because God is by our side, and He has always remained by our side through good times and bad times, and He has always guided us and patiently showed us His love all these while. We have been so fortunate to have been favoured by God in such a way, that He even gave us all the perfect gift, the best of all, that is the gift of His salvation through Christ.

We rejoice and should no longer be fearful or afraid, as God’s words are trustworthy and He has always fulfilled His promises, no matter what. He sent us St. John the Baptist as we heard in our Gospel passage today, to be the Herald proclaiming His coming to the world and also to prepare the way for Him in this world. St. John the Baptist proclaimed God’s Good News and truth, revealing to all of the people what God was going to do in order to save them. He also revealed to them, when He came, the Messiah of God, Jesus Christ.

All of us have been reminded throughout all these readings from the Sacred Scriptures today, of the wonderful love of God made manifest through Christ, His Son, Whom He had sent to us, and Whose coming we celebrate this Christmas. That is why this Sunday we focus on the aspect of Joy in Advent, the anticipation if the great Joy that we are going to celebrate in Christmas, for having received God’s grace and salvation, and for having been blessed by this opportunity we have to know God and His ever generous love.

And it is timely and proper today that we spend some time to reflect on the nature of the Joy that we are expecting this Christmas. Is this joy referring to the festivities and celebrations that we are planning and hoping to do this Christmas? Are we looking ahead to the merrymaking and bling of our Christmas parties, and yet forgetting about what Christmas is truly about and why we celebrate it? This is the time for us to reflect on how we should focus our Christmas joy and celebrations that we may better appreciate what its true importance and meaning are to us.

Is Christ the true Joy of our lives? And are we joyful because He has come to us and having loved and cared for us so much, despite of our stubbornness and sinfulness? Or are we joyful because we are merely looking for pleasure and gratification in all the festivities and merrymaking? Have we prepared ourselves well that we may truly know what it is that bring joy to our lives and existence? Christmas is a time for us to rejoice indeed, and this Sunday we have a glimpse and preview of that joy, but we must constantly remind ourselves lest we are distracted by the many temptations offered by the secular celebrations of Christmas that are focused not on God but on ourselves and our worldly desires.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we gather together to celebrate this Gaudete Sunday, the Joy in the season of Advent, our joyful expectation of the coming of Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, let us all remind ourselves that we celebrate because we are happy for the hope that Christ has brought us, and we are grateful for the assurance and peace that He has brought us all by His coming into this world. Let us not be distracted and be overtaken by the excesses of the pleasures and merrymaking of the secular Christmas celebrations, and instead let us be the role model and example in how each and every one of us can celebrate Christmas worthily in a meaningful way.

How do we do so? It is by sharing the Joy of Christmas with one another, especially with those who have no such privilege to celebrate Christmas the way that many of us do every year. There are many out there who cannot celebrate Christmas because they were not allowed to do so, and even were oppressed and persecuted for being Christians. Many therefore had to celebrate Christmas in secret, while holding on to that Joy that they also anticipate for the coming of the day of their liberation and freedom, for the day of their emancipation much like how the Israelites once longed for theirs.

Let us therefore do whatever we can to bear the joy of Christ to the world, by our actions and by whatever we can do to help our brethren who are lacking in joy and who have yet to appreciate and understand the true Joy of Christmas, that is Christ, Our Lord. Let us be the ones to bring forth joy, happiness and smile to our brethren, especially as we know so many people who are still suffering, sorrowful and in terrible state after the troubles and challenges many of us have been facing in the past two years.

May the Lord, our true source of Joy, the true Joy and the reason for our Christmas celebrations be with us always. May He bless us all and may He strengthen each and every one of us in faith, so that we may always, by our exemplary Christian living, faith and joy, bring forth the true joy of Christ into this world, to restore the joy to a world drowning in sorrow and darkness. May God bless us all and be with us, now and always, forevermore. Amen.

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Sunday, 15 December 2019 : Third Sunday of Advent, Gaudete Sunday (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Rose (Gaudete Sunday) or Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this Sunday, the third one in the season of Advent, you may have noticed a difference in the vestments of the priests and the celebrants of the Mass as we use the rose colour instead of violet, the decorations of the Church and the music, because on this day we celebrate what is known as Gaudete Sunday, which came from the Introit of today’s liturgical celebrations, ‘Gaudete in Domino semper…’, with the word ‘Gaudete’ meaning rejoice.

That is why on this particular Sunday of Advent, we focus on the theme of ‘Joy’, after we have focused on ‘Hope’ on the first Sunday of Advent, and ‘Peace’ on the second Sunday. On this day, we have some sort of reprieve from the relatively sombre and penitential nature of Advent, and assume temporarily the more joyous and festive atmosphere, not because it is already the time to embrace the fullness of the joy of Christmas, but rather because we look forward to that ‘Joy’ in Christmas that we rejoice today.

On this day, this Gaudete Sunday we are all reminded what the true meaning and joy of Christmas are all about. That is because many of us have forgotten what the true joy and meaning of Christmas is, and have become swallowed by the way the world perceives Christmas, the celebrations and festivities we often see all around us especially throughout this month and holiday season, which is focused not on the true joy of Christmas but instead on false, worldly joys.

This is why the world has often led us astray and distracted us from finding the true joy of Christmas. What is this true joy of Christmas, brothers and sisters in Christ? It is Christ Himself, our Lord Jesus Christ, the Saviour of all and the One after Whom Christmas was named. It is indeed such an irony that most of us treated Christmas as just another festivity and another holiday, forgetting the very One we should be celebrating about.

That is why it is indeed timely that we are reminded of Who we are celebrating for this coming Christmas, so that we may no longer forget about Him and may have the right direction and way of celebrating Christmas with true joy and happiness, not the glamour and pleasures of the holiday spirit and celebrations of Christmas all around us, not all the gifts we receive and all the food we are going to feast in, but rather in welcoming the Lord, our Saviour into our midst.

All of us rejoice because in Christmas lies the fulfilment of our long wait and desire for salvation and reconciliation with God. As our first reading today from the Book of the prophet Isaiah stated, the coming of the Lord and His salvation would indeed be a joyful one, a time when God would heal His people and reach out to them, when He would bring them true freedom and happiness by revealing His way and His truth to all of them, that is all of us mankind.

The Lord has always been faithful to His people and to all the promises that He has made with them. At the time of the prophet Isaiah, the people of Israel had indeed suffered, humiliated and beaten by their enemies, and the entirety of the northern kingdom had been destroyed by the Assyrians and the inhabitants of the northern lands had been brought into exile in far-off lands. Therefore the prophecy of the prophet Isaiah must have indeed brought great relief to the people of Judah, the southern kingdom, as a reassurance of God’s providence and love.

And this was reaffirmed in our Gospel passage today, as the Lord Jesus quoted that very same prophecy of the prophet Isaiah as a word of confirmation to St. John the Baptist, the one sent to herald the coming of the Messiah, that He, Jesus, was indeed the One and only Messiah of God, promised to all of mankind, through all the miracles and wonderful things He had done. All these fulfilled what God had spoken in the past, and for this all of us ought to rejoice.

But at the same time, this happiness and joy must be tempered with patience as St. James wrote in his Epistle, which is mentioned in our second reading today. St. James spoke of how the Lord is indeed coming, and we must be patient to wait for His coming, the time when He will fulfil completely all that He has promised to us. What St. James spoke about was the promise which Christ had made as He ascended to heaven, that He will come again at the end of time, to gather all of His faithful flock to Himself.

That is why we have in fact two joyful celebrations in this upcoming Christmas, the first one of which all of us must have known, in celebrating the historical birth of Our Lord and Saviour in Bethlehem, the moment two millennia ago when Jesus was born of His mother Mary in the poor and dirty stable just outside the town of Bethlehem as prophesied by the prophets. But then, at the same time, we also then rejoice because of the expectation of His second coming, which will come at the time that only God knows.

All of us rejoice because of this hope, and today, as we focus on this aspect of joy on Gaudete Sunday, we are also asked to reflect on how patient we have been as the disciples and followers of Christ all these while. Have we followed the Lord patiently, knowing that He has loved us all so much and blessed us all these while? Many of us are often too impatient and expect immediate satisfaction, happiness and joy.

That is exactly why many of us fell into the many temptations of the world, and why many of us have forgotten about the true joy of Christmas in Christ. We seek the instant joy and pleasure in our lives, which the world readily provided for us, in the many amenities and comforts we enjoy throughout life, in the many perks and things that we have all around us, in our often consumeristic and materialistic lifestyle.

On the contrary, if we want to be true and faithful Christians, we must then be ready to deny ourselves and all of these pleasures, the attachment to the many tempting things found in this world. We must be ready to suffer and face ridicule, rejection and difficulties, as what the Scripture readings today had alluded, as St. James wrote of the suffering of the prophets and all those who had come earlier on bearing God’s truth.

St. John the Baptist himself had to endure and suffer in prison, as what we heard today from the Gospel passage, how he sent message to the Lord Jesus from prison. As dedicated and committed St. John the Baptist was, he was still human, and he must have also felt some despair and the pain and bitterness of suffering in prison, and that was why he asked, if the Lord Jesus he believed to be the Messiah was truly the One he and all the others had waited for.

Similarly therefore, all of us will also likely face challenges and trials somewhere in our journey of faith, in varying degrees and difficulties. But we must not give up our faith and resolution to follow through this journey of faith, just as the prophets of old remained true to their mission and calling, despite the people’s opposition and challenges, and just as how St. John the Baptist remained firm and faithful until he was martyred.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, that is why as we celebrate this Gaudete Sunday today, while we rejoice at the expectation of the coming of Christ and the joy of Christmas, but we must also learn to be patient and to endure the trials and challenges we may face in this world with patience and faith, and not to seek or yearn for instant joy or gratification without having to endure the pains and crosses of life.

After all, the Lord has called us to follow Him and to carry our own crosses and walk in His path. Yes, we will find true joy and happiness in God, but it does not mean then that our life at present in this world will be free of sorrow and sufferings, because as long as sin exists in this world, and as long as mankind continue to walk in sin and in disobedience against God, abusing the freedom He has given us, in living our lives wickedly and in succumbing to our many desires, to our greed and ego, there will always be troubles, trials and sufferings to endure in this life.

This is where then we need to realise that, out of all these challenges, difficulties, trials and darkness in life in this world, there can be no true way out besides that of following the Lord and through His saving grace, by which He will bestow on us true joy and freedom from all the chains and trials that we are facing and will be facing in life. It is in Christ, our Lord and Saviour, Whom we celebrate this coming Christmas, that we have our hope and our salvation, the one and only source of Joy for us.

And last of all, as we look forward to the true joy of Christmas, let us also endeavour to remember our fellow brothers and sisters and share our joys and blessings to one another this coming Christmas. Let our festivities and celebrations be done with the right intentions and purpose, and not be selfish in keeping all the happiness and joy just for ourselves and leaving others to suffer while we rejoice. Let us remember that there are those in our midst, sometimes even within our families and friends, who are not able to celebrate Christmas with joy for various reasons.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all bear witness to Christ through our Christmas preparations this Advent, and by celebrating Christmas this year and from now on with the right focus and intentions in mind, that Christ is always and will be the centre and focus of our Christmas joy and celebration, because it is by His coming into this world, that joy has been given to us all once again. May the Lord bless us all and be with us through this journey through the remaining days of Advent. Amen.

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Sunday, 17 December 2017 : Third Sunday of Advent, Gaudete Sunday (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Rose (Gaudete Sunday) or Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this Sunday we enter into the third Sunday in the season of Advent, the time of preparation for the coming of Christmas. And we may have noticed something peculiar about today’s celebration of the Holy Mass, as we use a different liturgical colour, that is rose instead of purple or violet. That is because today we celebrate what is also known as Gaudete Sunday.

The word Gaudete comes from the first word in today’s Introit proper in Latin, ‘Gaudete’ which means ‘Joy’. In each of the four Sundays of Advent, we reflect on different aspects of our upcoming Christmas celebrations, from Peace, Hope, Joy and Love. And today we focus on the joyful aspect of our Christmas celebrations, and therefore the change in the liturgical colour signifies an allowance for a more vibrant celebration today as compared to the more solemn and penitential nature of the rest of the Advent season.

Yet, the first thing that we must ask ourselves today, is what is the joy of our Christmas celebrations. This may seem to be a silly question and many of us may be wondering why am I asking such a rhetorical and obvious question. However, do we realise that while many of us may know the answer to that question, ‘What is the joy of our Christmas celebrations?’, yet in our actions we are not doing what we think we know.

What am I talking about? I am talking about how many Christians know that Christmas is the joyous celebration remembering the historic and momentous event when Our Lord and God Himself, Who chose willingly to assume our humanity in Jesus Christ, His Son, was born into the world and God has entered into our midst, fulfilling His long promised salvation for us all who are faithful to Him. And yet, many of us do not celebrate Christmas for the right reasons.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we know just how aggressive the marketing campaign for Christmas can be. Almost everywhere in the world where Christmas is celebrated, there are plenty of festivities and celebrations, and increasingly, year after year, the celebrations become ever more elaborate, materialistic and the saddest of all, secularised.

What I mean is that, more and more people dissociate Christmas from the very One person after Whom Christmas was named, and the very One Whose birth is commemorated at Christmas, that is Christ, Our Lord Jesus Christ. While there are still places where the Lord Jesus features prominently in the Christmas celebrations, how much less popular He is in many other places compared to other familiar Christmas figures we know of!

For example, we can be sure that in almost all Christmas celebrations we always have a Christmas tree, wonderfully decorated with lights and presents underneath the tree. Yet, how many of us know the reason why we make Christmas trees and decorate them as such to celebrate this momentous event?

The Christmas tree in fact represents Christ, as the evergreen tree used for the tree represents the life that Christ gives to the world. At most of the places where Christmas is celebrated, it occurs during the time of winter, when everything is covered with snow and temperature is so low that nothing can live except the evergreen trees that can withstand the harsh conditions. It is symbolic of Christ giving life into the world by His coming through Christmas.

How about the lights and all the decorations that are placed on the Christmas trees? How about the gifts we place under the tree and the star that usually crowns the top of the Christmas tree? They also represent Christ, Who is the light of the world. As the prophet Isaiah said in the reading used for the Christmas Midnight Mass, ‘a people who lived in darkness have seen a great light’, and this Light is Christ.

The gifts represent the gift of Christ, as we should remember in the Gospel of St. John chapter 3 verse 16, the famous phrase, ‘God so loved the world, that He gave us His Beloved Son, that through Him all may be saved’. This is the ultimate gift that God has given us, the gift of love, and not just any kind of love, but ‘ultimate love’, for Christ Himself said, ‘there is no greater love than for someone to lay down his life for a friend’ and He laid down His life for us.

And the star atop the Christmas tree represent the Star of Bethlehem, which the three Magi saw, and they travelled a great distance from their homeland to come to the Saviour and King that the Star’s presence announced to the world. This Star is a symbol of faith and hope, and faith because the Magi had faith in God and they used the Star as a guiding light and their destination, and hope amidst the darkness of the land. As from the ancient times until today, the light of stars, sun and moon have guided us mankind in our journey, and therefore, Christ is our Light, our Hope and our Destination.

Therefore, as you can see, pretty much everything about the Christmas tree itself is about Christ! And yet, many of us may not have realised this fact, or that we are focusing on the wrong things. Many of us want to please our guests and family members who come to our houses for the Christmas celebrations, and many shopping malls and cities, companies and others try to outdo each other in raising up the best, the best decorated, the most beautiful and even largest Christmas trees. Yet, if we think about it carefully, are they, and indeed we, missing the point and the true spirit of Christmas?

And we always see Santa Claus and his chariot, driven by the reindeers around. We all know the story of how Santa Claus supposedly lives in the North Pole and has many elves who run a gift factory preparing many gifts for children around the world. And we know how Santa goes around in his magical chariot on Christmas Eve, and goes down the chimney to put the gifts secretly in the middle of the night, and magically the gifts appear in the morning to happy children?

All of them are fairy tales and fables crafted to entertain children and to entertain worldly fantasies. Unfortunately, not many people know the true origin of Santa Claus. Many of them associate Santa Claus with an elderly man dressed in red and white, with long moustache and beards, bearing a large sack filled with gifts. But the real Santa Claus is a saint, and one who was famous for his love for children, and the tradition that he gave gifts to children most likely have ended up being twisted eventually into the modern Santa Claus we know.

But the real Santa Claus is St. Nicholas of Myra, whose feast day we just celebrated earlier this month, a loving and kind servant of God, and yet one who was also zealous and filled with genuine devotion to God, and as tradition has it, he did not even hesitate to punch a heretic in the face, when Arius the heretic espoused and spoke heresies assembled at the Ecumenical Council of Nicaea.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, after our long discourse today about Christmas and all of its paraphernalia, and all the true reasons and purposes for all the Christmas traditions we see around us, are we convinced that our true joy of Christmas should indeed be Christ? Christmas is joyful because we have nothing less than God Himself, Master and Lord of all the universe, Who has willingly lowered and emptied Himself to take up our human existence, united to His divinity in Jesus Christ, equally God and equally Man, that through Him, and His ultimate loving sacrifice on the cross, we may have life in us?

Let us all tarry no longer and be distracted no longer by all the materialistic and secular celebrations of Christmas, but instead let us all seek to rediscover this true joy of our Christmas celebrations, that is Our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us restore Him to His rightful place in all of our celebrations, that is at the very centre and focus of all of our Christmas joy and happiness.

And as the Lord Himself has shown us, the examples of His love, then each and every one of us as Christians must also be empowered in the Christmas spirit of giving. Rather than giving expensive gifts to one another and expect a return from those who can give us back what we have given them, how about we give to those who have no joy with them this Christmas because they are not even able to make ends meet? Let us be generous with our charity and giving this Christmas.

As we continue to approach the time of Christmas, let us strive to be ever more understanding of the true meaning and joy of Christmas, that despite all the distractions of this world, we will not forget the true focus of all of our celebrations on this momentous occasion. May all of us draw ever closer to the Lord, and may we all find our true joy of Christmas. May God bless us all, now and always. Amen.

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Sunday, 11 December 2016 : Third Sunday of Advent, Gaudete Sunday, Memorial of Pope St. Damasus I, Pope (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or Rose (Gaudete Sunday)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we celebrate the occasion of the Third Sunday of Advent, also commonly known as the Gaudete Sunday, a special occasion in the season of Advent, when we see a change in the liturgical colour being used, from the usual purple or violet into the colour of rose, to symbolise the more joyous occasion of today’s celebration.

The word Gaudete itself comes from Gaudeamus, or ‘Joy’ in Latin, signifying what we are celebrating today, that is the joy we all experience in the anticipation of the coming of the Lord at Christmas. Therefore, as we focus on this aspect of joy, in a way, we suspend for a short moment the penitential and the solemn nature of this season of Advent, a season of preparation, and look forward to the joy of Christmas.

But again, as we surely have discussed a lot during this season of Advent thus far, and year after year, we all should realise that we need to ask ourselves the same question again and again, lest we forget and misunderstood the intent of our Christmas celebration. What are we rejoicing about at Christmas? What are we so happy about when the time of Christmas comes?

Is it about the gifts and presents that we are about to receive? Is it about the good times and the holidays we are going to enjoy for ourselves? Is it about the joyful time that we are going to enjoy and share with our family members, with our relatives and with our friends? These are usually what many of us are focusing and thinking about as we approach Christmas and its celebrations, but if our focus are on all of these, then I am afraid that we have missed what the joy of Christmas is essentially about.

On the occasion of this Gaudete Sunday therefore, all of us are reminded of the great joy that each and every one of us ought to have because of one singular act of love by our God. And that was the salvation which He brought into the world, through His Son Jesus Christ, our Lord, Who have entered into the world as a Man, that by bearing our own sins and the punishment for our sins upon Himself, we may all be redeemed through Him.

And that was the joy which the Scriptures today presented to us, the joy of the people who have been healed and made whole again, when those who were blind had their eyes opened, when those who were deaf and mute had their ears and tongues opened and loosened, when those who were paralysed and were possessed by evil spirits were healed from their afflictions.

But most importantly, above all these, besides the afflictions of the flesh, God has brought upon us His healing for the disease and sickness of our soul, and that is sin. Sin has become a great menace for us, a source of corruption that affects and destroys our soul, and from the soul, sin corrupts everything else, from mind to heart and to our bodies.

That is why we are so joyful this Christmas, because not only that God had come into the world to be with us, but through Him we have also received a new hope and an escape route from the despair that has been with us because of our sins. By our sins and disobedience we have been separated from God, and by the Lord’s doing, He has reunited us with Himself, all of us who believe wholeheartedly in His promise.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day therefore, as we reflect on the joy of Advent, and ultimately the joy of Christmas, let us all keep in mind that we ought to put Christ our Lord at the centre of our celebrations of Christmas, and ultimately, of course, not just at Christmas but also for the rest of our lives, so that anchored firmly in Christ, we may not be easily swayed by the temptations and the persuasions of this world to sin and be disobedient against God.

Let us all make good use of this Advent season and help one another to reorientate their lives and spend more time to reflect and pray, so that by discerning carefully and guided through our faith, we may all be able to find our true joy in the Lord, and receive the fullness of grace as we prepare ourselves throughly to welcome the Lord Jesus into our lives.

Remember, brethren, we do not just remember His first coming into this world, which has already happened. We also anticipate in this season of Advent, the Second Coming of our Lord and Saviour, Who will come in His glory to save all of us who have remained true and faithful to Him. Let us not be complacent and be swayed by the persuasions of the world, which wants us to continue on our current path filled with sin.

May the Lord Jesus bless us and strengthen in us our faith, as well as our commitment to live a life devoted to Him, that we may put Him at the centre of our lives, and in all the things that we say and do, we always declare and show to all the glory of our God and the goodness of His salvation to all. Come, Lord Jesus, come and bless Your people. Amen.

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Friday, 18 December 2015 : 3rd Week of Advent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we hear from the Sacred Scriptures on the proclamation of the coming of the Messiah, Who is the Heir and Son of David, which the Archangel Gabriel first delivered to Mary, His mother, and then also to Joseph, His foster father. Through this, God made it clear to His people that the salvation which He had promised them is coming true, and He was coming to deliver them from the evil one.

For many years, we mankind have lived in suffering in this world as a result of our sins and disobedience against God, and we are earning the bitter fruits of our ancestors’ inability to resist the temptation of the devil, and we have also been put under the thrall of the wicked one, so that sin weighed us down and became a huge stone hanging on our necks, threatening to bring us down into the abyss of darkness, the eternal fire and suffering.

But God does not wish this fate to be ours, as He created us and loved us more than all the other things and beings that He had created, for we all have been crafted in His own image, and He Himself breathed life into us. He has given us life, and therefore, all of us are intended for life with Him, and not to suffer death and suffering itself, instead enjoying forever the fullness of the richness of God’s grace.

Nevertheless, it was our rebellion and desire to follow our heart’s wants and desires which had sundered us from the fullness of God’s love and grace, and we were doomed into suffering on a hard life on earth, toiling without end, and in the end, to be claimed by death, as our bodies return to the dust from which we came from, and there seemed to be no escape from our punishment and our fate.

But God had another path that He had intended for us, that is the path of atonement and forgiveness, and in this, He promised His people that a deliverance will come upon all those who remain true to Him and to their faith in Him. And over the years, God continued to keep up that promise, and renewed again and again, the covenant which He made with them, as He made His covenant with Abraham, with Moses, with David, and through the prophets, made clear His will to the people.

It was through Jesus our Lord that God had made complete and perfect His promises to us, as through Him, a new Hope was shown to us, and in Him, our hearts that were once filled with despair and darkness, could finally see the Light of our Lord once again. And this is the essence of Christmas, the celebration and the joy we experienced, which is truly because our Lord has come to save His people.

The joy of Christmas is not about all the glamour and the glory associated to all the celebrations, the bright lights and all the commercial goods associated with it. Yes, it is a season of festive giving and happiness, joy and celebrations, but do we even remember Who or what we are celebrating it for? Is it for ourselves? Yes, partially for ourselves indeed, but why? Do we know the reason?

It is the joy we feel because of the hope we have received by the coming of our Saviour that is the true reason for our Christmas joy, for He is the true Joy of the world often forgotten by us all, even as we joyfully celebrate this Christmas. This Advent season, a time to prepare for Christmas, let us all commit ourselves to find the way to celebrate Christmas meaningfully in our families and communities, no longer be bound and consumed by the consumer celebration of Christmas, but celebrate it with full understanding of our faith.

May the Lord bless us and keep us in His grace, and may all of us be able to find the true meaning of Christmas in Jesus our Lord, Whose birth had blessed us with a new hope and the salvation He promised us. Let us all strengthen our faith and follow Him in all of His ways. Amen.

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Thursday, 17 December 2015 : 3rd Week of Advent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, we listen to the words of the Sacred Scriptures telling us about Christ our Lord and His origins in the accounts of the world and men. God had come into the world through the means of His blessed mother Mary, through Whom He assumed the flesh of Man, and became one like us.

Through the sons of Adam He had come forth into the world, and then through the line of Abraham, the faithful servant and beloved child of God, He had come into the world in order to fulfil the covenant and the promise which He had made with him. Then, God also fulfilled the promises He made to David, the faithful king and servant of God, by being born into His line and family as was promised.

And one may think that because Joseph was not the biological father of Jesus, but merely His foster-father, then Jesus was not the Messiah because He is not of the family of David, as the prophets had prophesied that the Messiah is also the Son of David. Yet, in the Jewish customs and laws, a legal father, even though he was not the biological father, but as long as he is legally married to the mother, he is the father of the child, and the child is the legal and rightful heir of the father.

Thus, this is how God made Himself manifest into the world, by His choice of the Holy Family of Mary and Joseph, to be the ones through whom He would descend into the world and save it. By fulfilling the promises He had made to His beloved people, He endeavoured to bring all of them to Himself, and bring them to salvation and eternal life which can only be found in Him.

All these are to remind us that our Lord loves all of us, and it is His desire that we should be reconciled to Himself and not be condemned for all of the wickedness and sins that we have committed. Yet, many of us willingly and openly rejected His love and mercy, and we instead walk on our own paths, following our own desires and wants, and refusing to believe in Him and refusing to listen to Him whose words is our salvation.

Now the challenge is upon us all, brethren, whether we are to walk on the same path as all those who have rejected the Lord and instead chose the ways of this world, that is often contrary to the ways of the Lord, that is the way that does not show our obedience to the will of God. God has been so kind such as to provide us with the means to salvation and the free offer of forgiveness that He had granted us, and yet, we spurned His love and rejected all these gifts in exchange for a life of pleasure and wickedness.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we draw closer to Christmas and as we enter this one last week of Advent, let us all reflect on the nature of Christmas, what it truly means for us, and how we are going to celebrate that great day and occasion, when our Lord Himself came into this world in order to save it and liberate us from all of our afflictions.

Do we celebrate Christmas because we like to have all the fun and the joy for ourselves? For all the new clothes, gifts and all the glamours the world had associated with it? Or do we want to celebrate Christmas as a glorious and great thanksgiving for the love which our God has given us? Remember, as St. John himself had written in his Gospel, that the Lord so loved the world, that He has given us His only Son, so that through Him all may be saved and have eternal life.

Let us all keep these in mind even as we continue to live through our lives, and as we prepare to celebrate Christmas again this year. Let us not forget Who Christmas was made for, and Who Christmas was truly celebrating. It was a celebration of God’s love, the love He had shown us, and thus we too, should show the same love to one another, sharing all the graces and blessings He had given us.

May our loving Father and Almighty God be with us always, and may He strengthen our faith in Him, that in all things we may realise the great graces and blessings we have received. God bless us all. Amen.

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Wednesday, 16 December 2015 : 3rd Week of Advent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we hear the message of the Sacred Scriptures, telling us about the Good News of salvation that He Himself has proclaimed many times through the prophets, through His many other servants, and finally through Himself in Jesus Christ, the Lord our Saviour Who came into the world in our form, taking up our flesh in order to save all of us.

God did not forget about His people and all those whom had been lost from Him, for He had endeavoured to gather all of His beloved ones to Himself, and called upon all those who were lost, so that they would hear the voice of their Shepherd, and therefore follow Him into the path towards eternal life and salvation in Him. He wants us all to be saved and to receive eternal life and to never again be lost.

And that is why all of us should be grateful, for God had stretched out His hands, and by His might He had gathered people from many nations, through the Church, the Apostles, bishops and the servants of God through whom many peoples of many nations are called ever closer to the holy presence of God. Through the hard works of the missionaries who prepared the path for the Lord, many souls have been saved and made ready for the Lord.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, all of us today are called to be faithful servants of our Lord, just as St. John the Baptist had been. St. John the Baptist was the one who heralded and announced the coming of the Lord and Messiah, and he taught them about what to do in order to attain the salvation which our Lord and Saviour has brought us, that is through genuine and sincere repentance and through the baptism that cleanses from the taints of sin.

In the same way, the Church also sent out many missionaries, preachers and workers of the faith, who worked hard just like St. John the Baptist, to preach the Word of God and to proclaim the Good News of His salvation to the entire world, the four corners of the earth. And just like John, they also encountered sceptics, dissidents and all those who refused to listen to the word of God, and who even made it difficult for the servants of God to spread the Good News.

Indeed, God is loving, merciful and forgiving, and it is His desire that as many people as possible come to listen and understand His will, and through the words of the Gospel, hopefully many would repent their sins and their wicked ways, and return to the path of the light. But if there is no one to bring the word of truth to the souls that are now dwelling in the darkness of this world, who will then allow them to come to the light? Some may come to the light eventually, but many will not.

Therefore, all of us, the disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ, and as the members of God’s Holy Church, we all have to understand that the mission which our Lord Jesus had entrusted to His Apostles, and thus to His whole Church, and thus to all of us living today, is far from done, and there are indeed still so many things that we can do, in order to bring the salvation of God to our brethren.

Remember that Jesus had commissioned His Apostles to baptise the peoples of the whole world in the Name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit and to proclaim His truth to all of them? The same task is now ours, and we too should walk in the footsteps of the faithful servants of God. And it does not mean that we should go to faraway places to preach and to make sermons about the faith, but instead, we should always begin from somewhere close, from our own homes.

Have our families been examples and role models of faith for others? Have we practiced what we believe in our own daily life actions and works? Or have our faith been merely on paper only and on the surface only? We should not think that we can convince others to follow whatever we tell them, if we do not practice the faith that we believe in, on our own.

Let us in this season of Advent, as we continue to prepare to celebrate the commemoration of our Lord’s entry into the world in Christmas, let us all prepare ourselves body, heart and mind, so that in all things, we may become ever more faithful and be ever more devoted to our God. Let us all give more effort to accomplish what the Lord had entrusted us, that is to preach the Word of God and the Good News to those who still have not heard of these yet, and therefore bring our brethren into salvation as well. May God bless us, now and forever. Amen.

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Tuesday, 15 December 2015 : 3rd Week of Advent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard our Lord Jesus Who told us clearly in the face, that whatever we believe in God, His ways and all of these, we must not just stop at believing and merely knowing on what are we supposed to do, but instead we must go further and apply our faith, whatever we believe in, in our own lives and actions.

The parable about a father with his two sons made this fact clear enough for us. The father represents the Lord our God, while his two sons are representatives of all of us with our various reactions to our Father’s wishes and desires, which can indeed be categorised into two major categories. First of all, the first son on the surface obeyed the father, gracefully with his mouth uttering his readiness to do his will, and yet he did not do what he had said he would do.

This represents all those whose faith are merely superficial, that is faith merely on paper only. This is the faith of those who have little or no commitment in love to God, and whose hearts have no place for the Lord. The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law belonged to this category, and as well as surprisingly, majority if not most of mankind.

Yes, many of us if we look at how we live our daily lives, we should immediately realise how even though we call ourselves as Christians, we do not truly live as Christians should live. As Christians and member of God’s Church we should follow the will of God, His teachings and commandments, and obey the laws and rules of the Church and the Sacred Tradition that has been passed down to us from the Apostles and from the Lord Himself.

Yet, many of us prefer to choose what we like to believe in and what we do not like to believe. This is a phenomenon commonly known as ‘Cafetaria Christians’ as just as those in cafetaria or a market choose what they want to buy and what they do not want to buy, we too choose in what we want to believe. And yet, this is something very wrong for us to do.

Indeed, we must believe in the entirety of the teachings of the Church and embrace wholly what it means for us to be Christians, rather than choosing what we like to believe and skipping and rejecting those that do not appeal to us. We either believe in the entirety of the Christian teachings or not at all, and there can be no compromise or middle way in these, as some would believe.

Thus we ought to reflect on the Lord’s parable of a father and his two sons. The second son was the better of the two because he did what the father had asked him to do, even though outwardly he was unwilling and showed apprehension. Surely this is what had happened to many of us as well, as we have doubts, uncertainties and apprehensions about many things even as we live our lives as Christians, but if we take heed of the examples of the second son, we know that God favours those who do His will and obey Him.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us therefore put the effort to live faithfully as Christians from now on, if we have not done so, and continue to do so, if we have already did. Let us all obey the entirety of the teachings of the Church and keep holy whatever has been entrusted to us as God’s children and as members of His Church. Let us all commit ourselves anew to the Lord and bless His glorious Name through our own actions, obedient and filled with faith. God bless us all. Amen.

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Monday, 14 December 2015 : 3rd Week of Advent, Memorial of St. John of the Cross, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, as we draw ever closer to the commemoration of Christmas, and as we continue to prepare ourselves during this Advent season, let us all heed the messages of the Sacred Scriptures that are being conveyed to us even as we listen to them. The readings today spoke of putting our trust in the works of God, and what we ought to do in order to keep ourselves faithful to Him.

In the first reading, the seer Balaam blessed the people of Israel after he had been tasked and brought by an enemy king to curse them. But Balaam was a seer who saw the will of God and listened to Him, and there is no way for him to contradict the Lord by cursing the people whom He loved, and thus, he blessed them just in accordance with the will of God, and instead of a curse to destroy them, God made them to be even stronger.

This is to remind us that God is always with His people, and despite the challenges and the opposition that faces all of us, as long as we cling strongly in our faith to our God, nothing is impossible and we shall not fail or perish. We see the example of how there are such oppositions, with the example of Jesus, Whom the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law opposed, and these people tried at every possible opportunities to question Him, to doubt Him and to strike against Him and His disciples.

They have had the privilege of witnessing and experiencing directly the works of God’s mercy, and they have seen directly the miracles and the healings attributed to our God, and yet they stubbornly refused to believe and continued to walk in the path of sin and wickedness. They placed themselves as arbiters and judges of the actions and works of others, and yet they themselves failed to look into and judge at their own actions and works.

Yes, they judged others for their shortcomings and for apparently not following the Law as how they followed it, but yet in their hearts, although they outwardly showed their piety and devotion, God was not in their hearts and minds. They were not serving the interests of God and His people first, but instead their own interests and needs. They strove hard to be seen as holy and pious among men, but what they have done had no meaning and empty.

And because of this, they did not understand the Lord and all that He had done for His people. And because the Lord was not in their hearts, they failed to understand the actions that Jesus had done, and they refused to listen to His teachings, for to them, it was them and their own ways that were the only right ones. And this is the very same reason why, this world which has its own ways and which was unable to understand the Lord, also persecutes us all who believe in our God and all who walk in His ways.

But we should not be disheartened or be afraid, for God is always with us. He will guard us and protect us so long as we are faithful to Him, and no harm will ever come our way. In this, let us follow the footsteps and examples of St. John ofthe Cross, the faithful servant of God and saint whose feast we celebrate on this day. He was a Carmelite who was renowned for his role in serving the poor and in helping to reform the Church and religious orders, and who himself encountered many oppositions and even persecuted for persevering in doing what he had done in faith.

St. John of the Cross lived during a time of the so-called Protestant ‘reformation’ heresy, when many of the faithful were lured away from the Church and salvation by the lies and the lures of the devil, and inside the Church itself, many of its members became engrossed in material excesses and followed a path of vice, sin and moral corruption unbecoming of the children of God and as His servants.

St. John of the Cross worked hard to serve the poor and to care for those who are destitute and have less or none on themselves. He also strove hard to enact reforms on the way how the faithful, in particular the religious order of the Carmelites that he was a part of, in how they ought to live out their lives in devotion to God and to their brethren, suppressing and condemning the excesses that had characterised the Church at the time.

But in doing so, St. John of the Cross encountered many significant oppositions and made many enemies. He nevertheless continued to push on in doing good for the sake of the Church and for the people despite all the sufferings he had to endure, the rejection, the ridicule, the oppression, and even persecution in prison and slander by those who refused to repent their ways of sin and continued to live in wickedness.

In the end, it was not all those people who lived by the ways and standards of the world who were to receive the eternal blessings and graces of God. It was St. John of the Cross, the many other saints and martyrs who had been persecuted for their faith and their steadfast dedication to God’s truth that had merited them to be glorified and to be recognised as those who deserve directly the glories of eternal life and heaven.

Therefore, let us all reflect on this, and let us all think of our own actions. Have we been truly faithful to God despite all the challenges from the world and despite all the obstacles that had been placed on our paths? Can we dedicate ourselves and commit ourselves anew to God, and place our complete trust in Him. God will not fail us in the way that men’s strength will fail us. Even though the world will fail and be destroyed, the anchor of faith we have in the Lord will last forever.

Let us all pray and ask for the intercession of St. John of the Cross, that we may be given the grace by God to be strengthened in our faith, and so that our minds and hearts be ever more attuned to Him and to His words, practicing what we believe actively in our own daily lives. May God be with us all. Amen.