genuine love

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Monday, 20 January 2014 : 2nd Week of Ordinary Time, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, Memorial of Pope St. Fabian, Pope and Martyr, and St. Sebastian, Martyr (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green and Red (Martyrs)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, our Lord needs something from all of us, from each and every one of us. And what He needs is precisely our love, devotion, and wholehearted dedication, more than anything else. Yes, that is the offering of our hearts to Him, that we open our hearts to Him, our Lord, and show Him the sincere love we have for Him and for His precepts.

God gave His people Israel a long list of laws and regulations, as written in the Torah, in the Book of Leviticus, the Books of Exodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. These were not meant to put a heavy burden on the people, or to unnecessarily strangle them with the obligations to these laws. Instead, they were meant to provide a comprehensive guideline to them, that they can follow them and remain in God’s favour and love.

In these laws and regulations were written in detail, and the rituals and proceedings related to the offerings of burnt animals, their meat, fats, and blood were very elaborate indeed. There were details of each type of offerings, as well as details governing the daily life of the people of Israel, which were meticulously followed, and in the time of Jesus, was zealously followed by the Pharisees, who disdained anything other than perfect adherence to that extensive set of laws.

On top of the laws and rules stipulated and written in the Scriptures, over time, the religious authorities and leaders added more strict rules and regulations, adapting from the laws applicable to the society of the time. This covered everything from bathing, washing of hands before meals, the rituals related to what one should do in response to various things.

These laws, rules, and regulations were no different from the laws that exists in other various cultures and societies, particularly those of the eastern cultures, for example in China, Japan, and many others. They govern how the society should behave, and how people should do things in the correct and acceptable way. This was meant to prevent the people from doing things their own way, which may contradict the way things should be done in the society.

That is what the Lord meant for His people, when He presented them with these laws through Moses His servant. Even with these laws in place, the people of Israel, renowned for their constant whining, complaints and rebellions against the Lord during and after their journey to the Promised Land, continued to disobey the Lord and often refused to follow His laws. How would it have been therefore, had the Lord not given the laws to them to follow?

But there is one danger in strict adherence to the laws, such as those practiced and enforced by the Pharisees and the teachers of the law at the time of Jesus. That is because the way they practiced the law of Moses was that it became a kind of blind obedience to the law instead of practicing the law for its true purpose. That is why Jesus was often so much against the Pharisees and their way of observing the law.

What is therefore, the true purpose of the law of God? The law is truly about obeying the Lord and all that is about the Lord. And the Lord is actually quite simple in a way, because He is Love. Yes, love, and He is love personified, the perfect form of love. He loves us very, very much, and there can be no love greater than the love He has for all of us, for each one of us. So much so, that He was willing to come down unto this world and gave Himself for us so that we may live with Him once again.

The laws of the Lord was meant to bring His people to the greater understanding of God’s love for them, and then, bring them to love Him just as He has loved them. Yes! That is the purpose of God’s law! That is to make God’s people love Him, and that was why Jesus came to the world, to make clear that point to the people. And yet, many of the people refused to believe the truth.

God does not want to burden us unnecessarily, and neither does He want to punish us or make our lives difficult. What He wants from us is also not the sacrifices as written in the law of Moses, as what He truly asked is that the people offer Him their love, obedience, and devotion. In the quest to follow strictly the law, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law had missed entirely the meaning of the law. That was why Jesus rebuked them by saying that despite their pious external appearance, inside they were truly empty. Yes, there was no love of God in them, but only love for themselves.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the same the Lord expects from each one of us His faithful ones. The Church of which we are part of had also a set of rules and regulations to how we should live our faith. However, these rules are not used in the same way as the Pharisees had used the laws of the Lord. They were genuinely meant for helping all of us to find our way towards the Lord.

The question that is asked of us now is that, have we truly loved God? Or do we just offer lip service and empty gestures of faith to God? A simple example will make this point clear. The point on the obligation for all the faithful to go to Mass on every Sunday had been either ignored or followed. However, among those who did attend weekly Mass on Sundays, can we truly say that they, and indeed all of us here, can we say that we have done this out of true faith and devotion, or whether we did it out of obligation and coercion?

Brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore use this opportunity to reaffirm the love and devotion that we have for our Lord. Do not be hesitant to offer the Lord our love, brethren! For indeed the Lord desires our love, and the genuine offering of our hearts! He wants us to be with Him and reunited with Him, and even though we have sinned and did things wicked in His eyes, what He wants is for us to come back to Him in total repentance.

Do not fear the Lord and open our hearts to Him. Yes, open wide the doors of our hearts to Him, that we may come to Him and He may also come to us. Offer the gifts of our hearts to Him, the ultimate gifts, and the gifts that the Lord really wants from us. And we can do this by following the teachings, the guidelines and the rules established by the Church, to be our guide on the way to God.

Yet, we have to do them with understanding. Blind or coerced obedience is not the way, brethren. In that way our faith will not be true. It will be artificial and dead. Let what had happened to the Pharisees and their way of interpreting the faith be kept to them only, and let us not follow in their footsteps. Love the Lord, and love Him genuinely, as well as our fellow men. That is the true desire of the Lord.

Today, brethren, we celebrate the feast of two great saints, the first of which is Pope St. Fabian, one of the early Bishops of Rome, and St. Sebastian, both of whom were martyrs of the faith, at the time of the Roman Empire. Pope St. Fabian was elected the leader of the Universal Church in a strange event, when a dove came down upon his head, and thus marking him as the chosen one of God, and he was then elected the Bishop of Rome.

Pope St. Fabian worked hard to strengthen the Church amidst various persecutions against the faithful by the pagan Roman Emperors, who were hostile against the Christians. Pope St. Fabian helped organise the Church and did many good and charitable works. And when a new Roman Emperor, who was particularly hostile against the faithful came to power, Pope St. Fabian adamantly refused to bow to the Imperial pressure to worship pagan gods and to give offering to the Emperor.

He was therefore one of the first martyrs of the faith under that Emperor, Decius, who was well known for his Decian persecutions of the Christians in the Empire. Despite that, all of the hard works of Pope St. Fabian in strengthening the Church at Rome and throughout the Empire helped it to persevere through the harsh persecutions and even thrived.

St. Sebastian, meanwhile, was a soldier of high rank, possibly a captain or centurion in the Roman Army, who lived just after the life of Pope St. Fabian. He lived through the period of the last and the greatest persecution against Christians by the Roman Emperor Diocletian. The Emperor asked the centurion St. Sebastian to force some Christians who refused to offer worship to the pagan idols to renounce their faith.

Instead, St. Sebastian, being a secret Christian at that time, managed to convert the parents of the Christians as well as many others, including the prison master who guarded the Christian prisoners at the time. For this act of defiance and disobedience against the Emperor and his authority, St. Sebastian was punished to death, and was shot with arrows just as he was tied to a tree, but miraculously he did not die.

Only after the Emperor himself acted to put him to death, did St. Sebastian die. Just like Pope St. Fabian before him, St. Sebastian did what is right to obey the Lord, even if it was to mean their death because they had disobeyed laws and authorities of the land. Although the context was different, but they did provide us with the example to follow, that is to follow the Lord and obey only His will, not by blind obedience, but through concrete action, based on faith and love.

May the Lord our God, who loves us very much, continue to grace us with His infinite love and blessing, that we may live in happiness with Him, and that our faith in Him will continue to grow ever stronger, and become ever more genuine, that it comes not just from our mouths, but also from our hearts! God bless us all. Amen.

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Friday, 17 January 2014 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Anthony, Abbot (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White (Priests and Abbots)

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we reflect on the kingship and authority of the Lord, and how it can be compared to the authority of kings, princes, and any other earthly powers and authorities. We heard today of the clamour and the request of the people of Israel, that they be granted a king to rule over them, as lord to be their king and protector, much in the same way that their neighbours and other states have kings and princes to rule over them.

Continuing the catechesis in the theme of the prophet Samuel, during his ministry, Samuel faced much difficulties in dealing with the people of Israel, as even though they revered him as the prophet of the Lord, and following the way of the Lord as he ruled them as the judge of the Lord, they were not satisfied, and as before, had been bought over by the forces of the world. They clamoured for and desired for things of the world, including modelling themselves after the ways of the world.

This, even despite the fact that they had been chosen by the Lord, as a chosen race, and a chosen people. They were set aside from others, to be the ones whom God loved the most, as the chosen ones among His creation. Yet, they continuously fought against His will and chose to walk on their own way, and persistently asked to be given a king to rule over them, chosen from among them.

The people of Israel had no king over them, because the Lord their God is their King, the One who lead them and the only One who truly have authority over them. Indeed, the Lord God is not just the King of Israel, but also King over the entire universe, that is over the entire creation. He is Lord over all creation, and therefore over all mankind, over all states and dominions.

The Lord is the font of power and authority, from whom alone power and authority may come. Without the Lord, there can be no true power or authority, but instead there will often be tyranny or abuse of power. That was what the prophet Samuel warned the people about, to try to dissuade them from the foolishness of insisting having a king over them. The people did not listen to him.

The king as the leader of the people of Israel would have enormous dominion and power over his people, and by the standards of monarchical rule at the time, kings and their authority are often absolute. The word of the king is often law and unchallengeable. Thus, the people could not just refuse or reject any orders, demands, or desire from their respective kings.

As long as the king is faithful to the Lord, and lead them in his own behaviour and actions in accordance with the will of God, the people would prosper and be blessed, just as long as the people would stay faithful to the Lord. However, if the king is not faithful to the Lord and refuse to worship Him, and instead follow his own way in things, then great suffering and tragedy would happen to the people of God.

A clear example would be the behaviour of the first king himself. The king whom had been demanded by the people of God, led them to ruin and condemnation. For Saul, although supposedly was anointed king over Israel, but he did not remain faithful throughout his reign. While the prophet Samuel passed to him the will and commandments of the Lord, Saul did not fully obey them, and let his human judgments to allow him to corrupt the power he had been entrusted with.

Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. This often repeated phrase is indeed true in this case. Saul abused the power and authority given to him, and he began to act tyrannically and without the spirit of the Lord in him. It was not only king Saul, but in fact, many of the kings of Israel, especially the kings of the northern kingdom of Israel after division of Israel, were tyrants and wicked people, who brought the people of God to sin even more before the eyes of God.

It may seem that having kings over them might be a very bad choice for the people of Israel, but in fact, not all kings were bad rulers and unfaithful. The king David and Solomon for example, as well as some of the kings after them, such as Hezekiah and Josiah, were faithful and zealous kings, who followed the commandments of the Lord and exercised their power as the vicar of the Lord. They acted justly and in accordance with the will of God, and the people were blessed by God during their reign.

In the end, God would not let the devil to corrupt and destroy His beloved people, for the truth about the Lord is that God is love! He loves us completely and could not have given Himself to abandon and destroy us on purpose. It is often our own actions and deeds that condemned and doomed us rather than any divine actions. God cares for us, and He truly loves us.

That was why, to fulfill the promise He made to mankind, as well as other promises He had made to David his servant, which He made clearly known through the numerous prophets and messengers He sent over the ages, He came down upon the world, to be one of us, and to reassume the kingship He had over His people, that He, the true King and King over all other kings and lords, would once again lead their people.

Jesus came bearing the message of love, and love He had shown for mankind, by showing the authority He had over spirits and illnesses, and also the authority over sin and its forgiveness. He is Lord, God who was made into flesh by His own power. Yet the people continued in their resistance against Him, and they rejected Him, even though He, their King, had come to them to liberate them from the tyranny of sin and evil.

Today, brethren, we celebrate the feast of St. Anthony, also known as St. Anthony the Great, a well-known abbot and religious, who lived during the late period of the Roman Empire in what is now the present day Egypt. St. Anthony was one of the first monks, who sought life in seclusion from the world and one of complete dedication to the Lord. That was why St. Anthony pioneered the trend which became common in the years after him, of those going into the wilderness and the desert to seek that consolation and relationship with God through prayer.

St. Anthony was often at odds with the devil and his forces, in his piety and constant life of prayer, dedicated to God who loved mankind. The devil often opposed St. Anthony during his various journeys and sojourns in the desert, even at times striking him physically and threatening him with considerable danger. Nevertheless, St. Anthony never feared the devil, not even a bit, and laughed off his attacks.

That was because St. Anthony had complete and deep faith in God and in His power, who has all the authority that there is in heaven or on earth. That was why St. Anthony often rebuked Satan by saying that despite all the challenges, temptations, and threats that he posed on St. Anthony, he has no authority or power whatsoever over him, and that the Lord protects all those who remain faithful to Him, and remain in His love.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, are we able to emulate the exemplary faith of St. Anthony? And his love of the Lord? That he and many others had gone into seclusion just so that they could be truly with God and dedicated their lives to Him? We do not have to go to the extent of leaving everything we have and going to the wilderness as St. Anthony had done, but what we can learn from him are his examples in life and his attitude towards faith.

We must be dedicated to our Lord, brethren, for we cannot hope to both dedicate ourselves to the Lord and to the devil. Our faith in God must be genuine, and we should always seek out for the Lord in our lives, as St. Anthony had done. That is why it is important for us, every single day, to spend some time with God in prayer. St. Anthony’s devotion and strong prayer life protected him from the machinations of the devil.

The Lord too will therefore be with us and guide us, if we pray often, and if we pray devoutly, and dedicate ourselves completely to Him. May our Lord and God, Jesus Christ the King, bless us, strengthen us, and protect us, that our faith may be strong and our love may be truly genuine and tender, just as that which St. Anthony had. God bless us all. Amen.

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Saturday, 12 October 2013 : 27th Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are ever reminded of the love and kindness that God has shown us all these while. We are also reminded of the love and dedication that God has for us, by sending a deliverance to us in His Son, Jesus Christ. We are then finally reminded of the promise of salvation and eternal joy that He had made with us, through the covenant, the new covenant sealed by the Blood of His Son Jesus on the cross.

That everlasting joy, the happiness that never ends will be ours, if we remain faithful to the Lord, and if we are consistent in our commitment to the Lord and His cause. If we do so, we will receive rich rewards in the end, while those who diverge from the path of righteousness and turned their backs to the Lord, they will be damned to eternal suffering in hell.

However, brothers and sisters in Christ, we must not be focused too much on the rewards and punishments that await us at the end of our lives. Our love for the Lord must not be because of our fear of punishment or indeed because we desire rewards from the Lord. In that manner, our love and devotion to the Lord must be really genuine and pure, without any hidden desires or purposes.

The Lord rewards the just and all those who keep His commandments, staying true to His laws and words, tempted not by the worldly pleasures and evils. He loves us dearly and wants us to remain in His grace. He is loving and forgiving, caring for all of us. But if we divert from the path of the Lord, and walk in the land of the wicked, His anger will be upon us.

But the Lord is angry at us not because He does not love us, but precisely because He cares for all of us with all of His heart. He sent us prophets and helpers along time, and all these times, He had given much of His attention to us, that we can be saved, and be worthy of Him, and not fall into eternal suffering of death.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, it is often that we spurned God’s eternal love for us. It is often that we turned away from His loving embrace, from His light, as we prefer darkness to the light of God. In the darkness of the pleasures of this world, we find the false guide and the false light, and we spurned God’s love and God’s care for all of us.

Therefore, brethren, let us renew our commitment to the Lord, to be loving children of God, loving one another and loving He who is our Father, promising that we will keep true to His words and His proclamations, casting away all that is evil from our lives and doing good at all times, giving love to our fellow men. God bless us all. Amen.