God the Father

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Monday, 4 November 2013 : 31st Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Charles Borromeo, Bishop (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White (Bishops)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we come together to celebrate the feast of a great and yet humble saint, that is St. Charles Borromeo, or San Carlo Borromeo as he is known in his native Italy. He was the Archbishop of Milan, the most influential and largest of the dioceses in the world today, and even then during the lifetime of St. Charles Borromeo. He was also a Cardinal of the Roman Church based on his position as Archbishop of Milan. Truly he was a very influential prelate during his time.

Yet, despite all that, St. Charles Borromeo remained, above all else, a humble, devout, and loving person, and a dedicated servant of God Most High, putting God always before himself in all things. He committed himself to the service of those who had been entrusted to him, like that of a shepherd caring for his sheep with all of his might and attention, as well as love.

St. Charles Borromeo was born from a rich family, and yet he rejected the culture of waste and excessive glamour that characterised the nobles and the wealthy during that period. He was completely dedicated and devoted to the poor, and he took his duties as Archbishop of Milan seriously, working hard for his people, and in humility, he often walked in the streets barefooted and with a cord around his neck, to symbolise the burdens he carried as the shepherd of God’s people.

St. Charles Borromeo, made a cardinal in his youth, showed great zeal as well in the affairs of the Universal Church, giving great contributions towards the effort to stem the tide of the heretical Protestantism, and spearheading, together with many other contemporary saints, the Counter-Reformation, particularly through the Council of Trent. St. Charles Borromeo ensured that the Church was thoroughly reformed and cleansed of any corruptions that had permeated the Church of God in the past centuries.

St. Charles Borromeo, despite his zeal, great dedication, and commitment to the good of the Church and God’s people, faced much opposition and resistance. Despite all those oppositions, though, he persevered, and his hard works gave a solid foundation for the Church, from which the Church and Christendom may heal from the terrible heresy of Protestantism and other heresies running rampant at that time.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, St. Charles Borromeo truly embodied what the Lord said in our Gospel reading today. That we have to love and care for the poor, and dare to step out from our comfort zone. We should not just enclose ourselves in our comfort zone, but we must take action, just as St. Charles Borromeo had done, that we love our brethren, especially the poorest, the last, the lost, the least, and the unloved, namely those rejected by society.

Being wealthy and having many possessions is God’s grace, brothers and sisters. It is a sign of God’s blessing and favour upon us. But He did not intend for us to keep all of these blessings and graces for ourselves. We ought to share those blessings with one another, and enjoy these blessings together. We should not rejoice over the suffering of others, especially not those who have nothing or little.

The Lord urged us to show love, care, and compassion to these brothers and sisters of ours. Everyone ought to have enough and sufficient for themselves, and nobody should be lacking and suffer from that. Following the examples set by St. Charles Borromeo and other saints, we should open up ourselves and not withdraw into ourselves. We cannot become mere closet Christians, but rather we must go out and be courageous to proclaim God and His love to all, especially through our own words, deeds, and actions.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, to us who have been given much, let us share with one another the joy He had given us, that our less fortunate brethren may also have the taste of this joy, and rejoice together with us as one people in God, all of whom are His children. And to those of us who have less, we too can share our joy with one another. It does not mean that because we have less then we cannot be joyful or rejoice. Be happy and glad, and celebrate life with one another, sharing the joy.

Yes, brethren, share the joy and blessings we have, that all of us, rich or poor, powerful or weak, can together praise and glorify the Lord as one people, without discriminating against each other or rejoicing over another’s suffering. May the Lord who loves us all, continues to watch over us, bless us, and embrace us with His love. God be with us, always and forever. Amen.

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Saturday, 2 November 2013 : Solemnity of All Souls (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Violet or Black

John 6 : 37-40

Yet all those whom the Father gives Me will come to Me, and whoever comes to Me, I shall not turn away. For I have come from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of the One who sent Me.

And the will of Him who sent Me is that I lose nothing of what He has given Me, but instead that I raise it up on the last day. This is the will of the Father, that whoever sees the Son and believes in Him shall live eternal life; and I will raise Him up on the last day.

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Sunday, 27 October 2013 : 30th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflection)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Brethren, beloved brothers and sisters in Christ. What right do we have to be proud and judgmental before God and before others? What right do we have to condemn others because we think that we are better than them? And what right do we have to boast of ourselves and the good things that we do, before the Lord our God? None, we have none of these rights, because we truly are all sinners without exception, all equal before the Lord.

The Lord loves all those who are humble, and those who are in deep realisation of their own sins. They are truly beloved by God, because they are those who are more likely to have God in their hearts, and also those who are more likely to put the Lord at the centre of their hearts and at the centre of their very being. It does not mean that the proud and the mighty do not have the Lord in their hearts, but they are predisposed to put less importance to the Lord compared to those who are meek and humble.

This is because, due to our nature, our pride very often stands in the way of salvation in God, as well as blocking the love of God from reaching us. When pride masters our hearts, it grows to arrogance, and a feeling of superiority that tends to shut out anything that points out our inadequacies and mistakes, because we tend to put ever more and more trust in our own strengths and abilities.

We must not therefore, be like the Pharisee, who basked in his own glory, and praising his own goodness. He even went on to look down upon those whom he considered to be not as good as him, particularly the tax collector. He thought of himself as being pious and saved, but in fact he is truly empty within him, and without God as the centre of his life.

In doing what he had done, the Pharisee had highlighted the pride he has in him, and how he gave in to that pride, and finally, in his prayers, he gave glory to himself and did not give glory to God. The Lord who sees all and knows all will give what the Pharisee and other people like him, what they deserved. They deserved neither praise nor honour, because in their pride, they gave no glory to God, and in a prayer full of hubris, they revealed the darkness of their souls.

Brethren, although Jesus used the example of the Pharisees to depict the bad seed in the society, in many different occasions and conditions, that is mainly because at that time, the Pharisees were well known for their very strict adherence to the laws of Moses, as well as the other, numerous Jewish laws and customs.

This is in fact good, as indeed, we all need to obey and follow God’s rules and laws. However, in the way that this was done by the Pharisees, they had not done what the Lord truly wanted them to do, and in fact, the Pharisees obeyed mostly the laws of men, that is the numerous rules, regulations, and rituals created by the people over many generations.

They have lost the understanding of the true meaning of the law of God, as well as how it should be implemented. They had become obsessed at the observation of the laws derived from the true law, that they did those rules without true understanding of why they did so. Even worse, as the leaders of the people and role model of the people, they have misguided the people of God, and also exploited them, by imposing on them the crushing weight of such rules and regulations.

What the Lord truly wants from us, His children, is the love and dedication that we can give Him, genuinely and sincerely, from the depth of our hearts. This kind of love is not easy for us to achieve, as it means the total giving of ourselves, the opening of our hearts to the Lord and His love. In the same way, the Lord also wants us to love one another just as we have loved ourselves, and just as we have loved Him. These are the essence of the true desire of the Lord for us, through which He guided us via His laws and commandments.

This is why, the Lord loves the prayer of the tax collector mentioned in Jesus’ teaching, where He mentioned that the prayer of the tax collector was heard and he had his sins forgiven for him. The tax collector did not only distance himself from the Holy Presence of God, feeling so unworthy because he realised the depth of his faults and iniquities, but he even lowered himself humbly before God’s presence, kneeling in great shame before God.

And yet, it is this tax collector who are more capable of understanding his own sins, being in greater realisation of the faults he had committed. As I would like to highlight again what the late, saintly Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen had said, that the greater the sin one has, the closer is one to the throne of mercy. The darker one’s sins are, the more shame they should experience before the Lord their God.

Yet, the problem lies in that, many of us today are desensitised to sin. We are no longer feeling that shame whenever we commit sinful deeds. We instead even find sin to be good things and things that we enjoy. Hence we begin our path to downfall, by not realising the gravity of our sinfulness, and putting our pride ahead of us. In essence, we are becoming more and more like the Pharisee instead of the remorseful tax collector.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, lastly, the Lord also taught us the importance of prayer through the same parable, that we ought to pray, but not just any prayer. A prayer that is truly genuine and from the heart, made in complete submission to the will of God, and also complete willingness to listen to the word of God being spoken in our hearts.

Prayer is not just about us talking all the time, and neither it is a litany of demands and wishes for us to send to the Lord. Instead, a prayer is ought to be how it is intended, that is as a two-way communication channel between us and the Lord. That is what prayer truly is, brothers and sisters! Talk less and listen more! The Lord who knows all certainly knows what we truly need. It is often that what we desire is not what we need. In our greed it is likely for us to desire even things that we do not truly need.

Therefore, brothers and sisters, today all of us are called to a life of greater holiness, deeper spirituality, and greater commitment to the Lord. We need a deeper faith, a healthier prayer life, and ultimately, greater dedication and love for our fellow mankind, and especially, for the Lord Himself. May we grow ever stronger in our faith, our hope and love in God. God bless us all. Amen.

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Friday, 25 October 2013 : 29th Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard of the importance to uphold what is good, and to live uprightly and justly, to abandon all taints of sin, and keep ourselves pure and dedicated to the Lord our God. We have to really appreciate, understand, and indeed be grateful of this faith that we have in the Lord. We have to treasure this faith that is within us, and keep it not hidden, but let it shine out for all to see, spreading the love that is within us to all mankind.

We cannot be hypocrites who profess the faith and outwardly appear to be faithful to the Lord, but really in fact is empty and without faith and love in God or our fellow mankind. We must practice our faith and make real the devotion that we have in God. As we belong to God, so then must our actions and deeds reflect this holy nature that is within each of us, because the Holy Spirit had been sent to us as our strength in life.

The Lord also highlighted the importance for us to seek peace with God our Lord and Creator, which He aptly portrayed using the example of an accuser and an accused on their way to the place of judgment. He stressed that it is important for the accused to seek peace, reconciliation, and ultimately resolution of the issue with the accuser, before the accused is judged and punished for what he or she had done.

That accused one is us, my dear friends. We who are all sinners with varying kinds and degrees of sins are the accused, the accused one before the Lord our God, who will be the judge of us all, the Great Judge. If we do nothing and continue to live in our sinful ways, we will face our fate according to what the Lord had told His disciples, that the accused will face punishment suitable to the faults he or she had done. And brethren, the punishment and consequence of sin is death.

Not just any death, brothers and sisters, but an eternal death and suffering, in total separation from the mercy and love of God, with no hope of release or salvation from such state. That is true hell for us, not the popularly depicted hell of fire and flames, but the hell of total separation from God’s love and mercy, the hopelessness of men fallen into eternal damnation. That is hell. That is the punishment and the judgment given to us, who had failed to reconcile ourselves with the judge and the accuser, none other than the saints and the angels, who observed all that we do and stand before us at the presence of God.

Yet the Lord did not leave us alone, and that is why He sent us the greatest help in Jesus, His Son, that through Him, we have hope for salvation, and we have hope of a new life in the holiness and purity that is of the Lord, just as a criminal pardoned and forgiven of his sins, and given a new lease of life, a new opportunity to do what is good, and sin no more.

Through Jesus, we are taught the value of love, the nature of love, and the same in terms of mercy and kindness. Through Him we receive the knowledge of what we ought to do if we seek to be absolved from our trespasses, which earned us the punishment of death in the first place. Through Jesus therefore, we ought to be able to break free from that chain of sin and death which had engulfed us for a very, very long time.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, let us learn from the Lord, from His examples, and from His words, just as they are written and recorded in the Holy Scriptures. That is what we ought to do, and from now on as well, may all of us be closer and be more intimate in our relationship with our Lord, bringing ourselves ever closer to the throne of the Lord’s mercy and love.

May we not ever be separated from Him, and may we be empowered always, by His Holy Spirit, that in His love and infinite mercy, we can be closer to Him, and remain by His side, faithfully following His path towards salvation and eternal glory in heaven with Him who loves us so much that He sent us Jesus Christ to be our Saviour, His only Son. May the Lord watch over us and bless us always. Amen.

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Thursday, 10 October 2013 : 27th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 11 : 5-13

Jesus said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and goes to his house in the middle of the night and says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine who is travelling has just arrived, and I have nothing to offer him.’ Maybe your friend will answer from inside, ‘Do not bother me now; the door is locked, and my children and I are in bed, so I cannot get up and give you anything.'”

“But I tell you, even though he will not get up and attend to you because you are a friend, yet he will get up because you are a bother to him, and he will give you all you need.”

“And so I say to you, ‘Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For the one who asks receives, and the one who searches finds, and to him who knocks the door will be opened.”

“If your child asks for a fish, will you give him a snake instead? And if your child asks for an egg, will you give him a scorpion? If you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him.”

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Thursday, 10 October 2013 : 27th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Malachi 3 : 13-20a

You say very harsh things about Me, says YHVH, and yet you say : “What harsh things did we say against You. You say : ‘It is useless to serve God. There is no benefit in observing His commandments or in leading an austere life for His sake. Happy are the shameless! Those who do evil succeed in everything; though they provoke God, they remain unharmed.”

Those were the very words of those who fear YHVH. YHVH listened and heard what they said. He ordered at once that the names of those who respect Him and reverence His Name be written in a record.

And He declared, “They will be Mine on the day I have already set. Then I shall care for them as a father cares for his obedient son. And you will see the different fates of the good and the bad, those who obey God and those who disobey Him.”

“The day already comes, flaming as a furnace. On that day all the proud and evildoers will be burned like straw in the fire. They will be left without branches or roots. On the other hand the sun of justice will shine upon you who respect My Name and bring health in its rays.”

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Saturday, 5 October 2013 : 26th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White

Luke 10 : 17-24

The seventy-two disciples returned full of joy. They said, “Lord, even the demons obeyed us when we called on Your Name.” Then Jesus replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. You see, I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the Enemy, so that nothing will harm you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice because the evil spirits submit to you; rejoice rather that your names are written in heaven.”

At that time Jesus was filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit, and said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for You have hidden these things from the wise and learnt, and made them known to little ones. Yes, Father, such has been Your gracious will. I have been given all things by My Father, so that no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son, and he to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.”

Then Jesus turned to His disciples and said to them privately, “Fortunate are you to see what you see, for I tell you that many prophets and kings would have liked to see what you see, but did not see it; and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.”

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Wednesday, 2 October 2013 : 26th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Holy Guardian Angels (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Matthew 18 : 1-5, 10

At that time, the disciples came to Jesus and asked Him, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”

Then Jesus called a little child, set the child in the midst of the disciples, and said, “I assure you that, unless you change and become like little children, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes lowly like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, and whoever receives such a child in My Name receives Me.”

“See that you do not despise any of these little ones, for I tell you : their angels in heaven continually see the face of My heavenly Father.”

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Tuesday, 1 October 2013 : 26th Week of Ordinary Time, Solemnity of St. Therese of the Child Jesus, Virgin and Doctor of the Church (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Matthew 18 : 1-5, 10

At that time, the disciples came to Jesus and asked Him, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”

Then Jesus called a little child, set the child in the midst of the disciples, and said, “I assure you that, unless you change and become like little children, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes lowly like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, and whoever receives such a child in My Name receives Me.”

“See that you do not despise any of these little ones, for I tell you : their angels in heaven continually see the face of My heavenly Father.”

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Sunday, 15 September 2013 : 24th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflection)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we truly know of the greatness of the divine love and mercy of our Lord. He is truly our Father and God, because He truly loves us all unconditionally, like that of a father to a son. The parable of the prodigal son, the well-known story of the wayward son and the forgiving, loving father illustrates this nature of our God’s love for us very vividly.

Yes, the Lord our God is a loving God, whose heart is full of tenderness of love and compassion, especially for all of us, the most beloved of all His creations. He is merciful and readily forgives His children, that is all of us, if we come to Him with contrite and sorry heart, seeking for His forgiveness and love. That love and mercy He had given freely to all of us without exception.

He cares for us the way the father of the two sons cared for them. He showered them with abundance and love, and they lacked nothing. Similarly, we have been provided by the Lord with many things, some of us less, some of us more, that shows the depth of His love and care for us. When we go astray, in the same way as the wayward younger son, He seeks for us with love and commitment.

Yet, brethren, we cannot constantly live with sin, be tempted by sin, and showing sin and wickedness, as the Lord God, as loving and merciful He is, He is also a jealous and avenging God. He would not have sin tolerated in His presence. The temptation of doing these things abhorring to God, and Satan always ramp-up their success in corrupting the hearts of men, that we fall and fail, just like the second son of the father, whom left his father to wander to a foreign nation.

God wants us to be His, and that we will return to His embrace, and He longs for that day when we all can be reunited in perfection with Him, and no longer be separated from Him by sin and our stubbornness. In the same way as the father awaited for the return of the prodigal son from his sojourn in the foreign country, day after day, month after month, until the prodigal son returned to his presence, and he rejoiced because of that.

Yet, we are reluctant to return to our loving God, because of various reasons that become serious obstacles in our path towards God, towards returning to His loving embrace. We can easily observe this in the story of the prodigal son, where the younger son feared going home to his father, although if he returned, he would have lived once again in plenty.

One such obstacle is the pull and temptation of worldly pleasures, which prevents us from going back to the Lord, and instead we immerse ourselves in such pleasures excessively, shutting the Lord out of our hearts and our minds. The other obstacle is fear, that is the fear of the wrath of God, the fear of His anger and retribution for our mistakes and our betrayal.

Such fear prevents us from drawing near to the throne of mercy, and also opening our hearts to the love of God. Yes, the Lord who hates sin and evil will certainly be angry on the sins we have committed, but He is not someone who will get angry without any good reason. The anger of the Lord does not always mean a bad thing to us, as He is indeed like a father to us, a loving Father who cares for His children.

And therefore, just like a father, He chastises us whenever we do something wrong, that we will not repeat doing that again in the future. He is angry with us and punishes us as the way that He showed His care, that we will not fall again as our ancestors had fallen into damnation. He punished us not because He wanted us to suffer, but indeed to avoid eternal suffering that awaits us if He did not ‘discipline’ us.

Hence, brethren, let us look into ourselves and reflect on the things that we had done, which had not been what the Lord taught us to do, that brought us into sin, following the example of the prodigal son, who realised the mistakes he had committed, and to the point of being embarrassed of having to go back to his father when he had no other option.

But it is important to note and follow his examples, that despite his initial fear and hesitation, he gathered his courage and returned to his father, who welcomed him and embraced him with love and joy. Then, brethren, we too should follow his example, to be meek and humble before the Lord who is merciful and loving.

Then, finally, let us reflect on the behaviour of the elder son, who became angry at his father for what he perceived to be unequal and unfair treatment by his father. This is a common  behaviour in mankind, which I am sure that we had witnessed quite often in our lives, how people feel that they deserve something more than what they had received and become jealous when they perceive tht others had been treated better when to them, these people deserved it less than them.

The elder son represents those people whom the Lord had chosen and saved since early on in their lives, and therefore remain in God’s love always, unlike the younger son who went astray along the way, and then returns to the fold. It is natural for us humans, relying on our emotions and instinct to resent those whom we deemed to have been treated better than they should have been.

We ought not to be judgmental on others, and indeed, with God, we should rejoice whenever one of the lost ones returned to the Lord and to us. Remember, that even great saints were once great sinners too. In fact, as Archbishop Fulton Sheen had said, the greater the sins one had committed, the closer one should have been towards realising the depth of their faults and iniquities, and thus, be more ready to embrace the mercy and love offered by God.

Therefore, we should help one another, assisting and supporting one another in our lives, that we will ensure that all of us will be saved and freed from sin. Give help and our love to those who are trapped in the seduction of in and the devil, praying to the Lord to open their hearts to His love. We too, brethren, though we have been saved, must be ever vigilant, that we too do not falter and fall to the traps of Satan that he had cleverly and carefully laid down for us.

May the Lord who has shown His love and mercy for us, continue to shower us with His blessings and graces, and continue to care for us like a father loves his children. May we too realise the depth of our sins, and the depth of His tenderness and love, that we will not be hesitant or fearful to approach Him, full of remorse and sorrow, that the Lord who loves us will embrace us, forgive us, and give us a place beside Him in eternal glory. Love one another and love the Lord God our Father. Amen.