grace of God

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Tuesday, 3 June 2014 : 7th Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Charles Lwanga and Companions, Martyrs (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red (Martyrs)

Acts 20 : 17-27

From Miletus Paul sent word to Ephesus, summoning the elders of the Church. When they came to Him, he addressed them, “You know how I lived among you from the first day I set foot in the province of Asia, how I served the Lord in humility through the sorrows and trials that the Jews caused me.”

“You know that I never held back from doing anything that could be useful for you; I spoke publicly and in your homes and I urged Jews and non-Jews alike to turn to God and believe in our Lord Jesus.”

“But now I am going to Jerusalem, chained by the Spirit, without knowing what will happen to me there. Yet in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that imprisonment and troubles await me. Indeed I put no value on my life, if only I can finish my race and complete the service to which I have been assigned by the Lord Jesus, to announce the Good News of God’s grace.”

“I now feel sure that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom of God will ever see me again. Therefore I declare to you this day that my conscience is clear with regard to all of you. For I have spared no effort in fully declaring to you God’s will.”

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Prayer to our Lady of Sheshan, World Day of Prayer for the Church in China (24 May)

Virgin Most Holy, Mother of the Incarnate Word and our Mother, venerated in the Shrine of Sheshan under the title “Help of Christians”, the entire Church in China looks to you with devout affection.

We come before you today to implore your protection. Look upon the people of God and, with a mother’s care, guide them along the paths of truth and love, so that they may always be a leaven of harmonious coexistence among all citizens.

When you obediently say “yes” in the house of Nazareth, you allowed God’s eternal Son to take flesh in your virginal womb and thus to begin in history the work of our redemption.

You willingly and generously cooperated in that work, allowing the sword of pain to pierce your soul, until the supreme hour of the Cross, when you kept watch on Calvary, standing beside your Son, who died that we might live.

From that moment, you became, in a new way, the Mother of all those who receive your Son Jesus in faith and choose to follow in His footsteps by taking up His Cross.

Mother of hope, in the darkness of Holy Saturday you journeyed with unfailing trust towards the dawn of Easter. Grant that your children may discern at all times, even those that are darkest, the signs of God’s loving presence.

Our Lady of Sheshan, sustain all those in China, who, amid their daily trials, continue to believe, to hope, to love. May they never be afraid to speak of Jesus to the world, and of the world to Jesus.

In the statue overlooking the Shrine you lift your Son on high, offering Him to the world with open arms in a gesture of love. Help Catholics always to be credible witnesses of this love, ever clinging to the rock of Peter on which the Church is built.

Mother of China and all Asia, pray for us now and forever. Amen!

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Monday, 19 May 2014 : 5th Week of Easter (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 113B : 1-2, 3-4, 15-16

Not to us, o Lord, not to us, but to Your Name be the glory, for the sake of Your love and faithfulness. Why should the pagans say, “Where is their God?”

There in heaven is our God; whatever He wishes, He does. Not so the hand-made idols, crafted in silver and gold.

May you be blessed by the Lord, Maker of heaven and earth. Heaven belongs to the Lord, but the earth He has given to humans.

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Thursday, 15 May 2014 : 4th Week of Easter (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Brothers and sisters in Christ, God has planned His coming into this world since a very long time ago. He had revealed His plans to the prophets who proclaimed the Lord’s coming, and yet the people failed to appreciate and understand in its fullness, the message passed down by the prophets of the Lord. In Jesus, all of God’s long awaited promise is fulfilled in its perfection.

The coming of the Lord is intended to be the end of the suffering of mankind in darkness, for through the Lord, a new light has dawned, and that light is not to be put out, and become the source of salvation and inspiration on all the people who sees Him. But not all the people welcomed the Lord when He came, and some of them even rejected Him and closed their hearts to Him when He came to knock at their doors.

Today’s first reading showed us the history of the Lord’s work of salvation, which He had long planned ever since mankind first fall to the temptations of Satan. St. Paul told the people of God the entirety of the history of salvation summarised in short words, but yet still clear enough to show the sincerity of God, and His seriousness to help us to return to His embrace.

God sent His Son to be with us, and to walk among us, so that we may see the Lord in Jesus, and walk in His ways, and therefore, obey the will of God and hence, be in the favour of God and be saved from their afflictions. Jesus is the true and real manifestation of God’s love for us, and the reminder to God’s people how they were saved from their various afflictions and persecutions, as He had done when He liberated them from the bonds of the Egyptians.

The Son of God came to perfect all the laws of the land, which He had revealed through Moses, the Law of God. He made everything clear through His explanations, and on the real and true purpose of the Law, that is love, God’s love for all of His creations, particularly mankind, the most beloved out of all His creatures. He explained with love, how much the Lord wants His children to be reunited and reconciled with Him, and showed them how to do so.

Jesus showed by example, encouraging His disciples to love one another just as He had first loved them. He sought sinners and fornicators, and those looked down upon by the society, gathering them and bringing them back to His loving embrace. He showed God’s love for them through His own love, and brought many of them back to the Lord and redeemed them.

Jesus shows how God’s mercy and love is available to everyone, even to the greatest of sinners and the most unworthy of the faithful. But this requires us to be open to this mercy and love, or otherwise, the Lord’s works will not be able to make a concrete change in us and transform us from creatures of sin into creatures of holiness and hope.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, shall we commit ourselves to the Lord, that in all the things that we do, we do it for the sake of the Lord? Shall we focus all our attentions to the Lord and turn our ways to align with His? May the Lord guide us ever in our path, that in all things we do we may always bring glory to God. May our hearts always be open to the love and mercy of God, that we may ever seek the Lord’s mercy and forgiveness whenever we sin and therefore gain the grace and blessings of the Lord. Amen.

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Wednesday, 14 May 2014 : Feast of St. Matthias, Apostle (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the feast day of St. Matthias, one of the Twelve Apostles, although originally he was not included among the Twelve, until after Judas Iscariot had betrayed the Lord and committed suicide for his sins against the Holy One of God. Only then that Matthias was selected, as we heard how it went in the first reading today, to replace Judas so that the number of the Apostles will always be full, that is twelve.

There are great symbolisms behind the number twelve chosen by the Lord to be the chief among His disciples and followers, and He set them aside to become His Apostles, to be the ones who led in the evangelisation of the Gospel and the spreading of the Good News to many nations. The number twelve is often associated with the number of the tribes of Israel, the sons of Jacob to whom the Lord had bequeathed the Promised Land long ago after their exodus from the land of Egypt.

The Apostles, if we read the Book of Revelation, are the ones who will judge the people and the tribes of Israel, at the end of time, and Jesus Himself said that they will be the judges of the people of God. They were the chief assistants of the Lord, to whom Jesus even promised that He went ahead of them to prepare the places for them. Such a good life for them, is it not?

But, brethren, you have to look at what they have to face in life, as they proceed on with what they had been entrusted with. They were charged to bring the people of God from many nations and return them to the embrace of God, their loving Father. This was no easy task, and they had enormous challenges in their ministry, facing rejection after rejection, and the open and blatant hostility of the Jewish leaders and priesthood, as well as opposition from various groups of people who refused to listen and believe in the truth.

And eventually they also met their end in various means, through martyrdom and suffering, in different parts of the world, when the people to whom they had dedicated themselves to, turn their back on them, rejecting them, and murdered them, shedding the Apostles’ blood, which in turn became the seed for the faith of more Christians, as inspirations for even more martyrs to rise up and defend their faith.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, this is what St. Matthias had been chosen for. It was not an easy task, but he and the other Apostles persevered nonetheless, and  they served as an inspiration for all of us. So how is this relevant to us who live in this modern era, in this modern day world? It is relevant because we are all also charged with the same mission to evangelise the world, to spread the Good News to all men.

And even these days, it does not mean that this work is getting any easier. On the contrary, it is getting more and more difficult, with challenges and oppositions from every possible sources and corners of the world, from both outside the Church and even from within the Church. Being a missionary and a worker of the Lord like the Apostles is not easy, but arguably, it is truly worth doing. Why? Because the Lord takes good care of all those who believe in Him and those who do His will, like the Apostles did.

Let us therefore be encouraged, that we will be faithful and committed to the cause of the Lord, that we may be fruitful in our attempts at evangelisation, and bring more souls closer to the salvation in God. May the Lord protect and guide us on our way, that through the help and intercession of St. Matthias the Apostle, we may become ever better disciples of God. God bless us all. Amen.

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Tuesday, 13 May 2014 : 4th Week of Easter, Memorial Feast of our Lady of Fatima (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate a truly wonderful and beautiful feast of the Church, honouring the blessed mother of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, that is His mother, Mary, who appeared to three children at a village known as Fatima in Portugal, almost a century ago, in which she revealed much revelations of truth to the children, about the faith and the Church and the constant battles it faces daily against the evil in the world.

The revelations of Fatima had been a very popular topic among many of the faithful, and many speculations about its contents had arisen. But most importantly, the truth is that Mary who appeared to the three children foretold the many events that would happen, and did happen in the course of the last one century since the apparition.

The apparition was seen by the three children, but many tens of thousands of other people saw the miracle of the sun and testified to its truth, through which the Blessed Virgin Mary showed the truth of her message, and the urgency of the contents of such message, in the view of the increasing dangers facing the Church of God and the faithful disciples of the Lord.

Our Lady and mother of our Lord had often appeared to us, to mankind to continue to urge us to return to the loving embrace of her Son, and abandon our past, sinful lives, in exchange of a new life anchored upon God’s love. She appeared to the three children at a time of great difficulty, not just for the Church but also for the entire world and mankind.

The first world war was raging when the three children saw our Lady in Fatima, and her appearance occurred just moments before the downfall of the Christian nation of Russia, the Russian Empire, which was overthrown by the Communist rebels and agitators, ushering in a long period of suffering, death and destruction, which we all are very aware about, the effects of which are still felt today.

The Cold war, and the second world war was all indirectly and directly linked to that event, and also to other sad events that had unfolded during the past one century. And the apparition revealed those sad events to the children, who eventually one of them revealed much of the revelations to the Church. This world indeed had been filled with so much violence and evil for much of the past century, and it is therefore ever more urgent that we heed the call for repentance.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we have to change our ways if we have dwelt in darkness and engage in wicked behaviours and dealings. We cannot be ignorant and continue with our lives as if nothing has happened. We have to commit ourselves to the way of the Lord and listen to the call of His mother, who, as the greatest among the saints and intercessors, and as the one nearest to her Son’s throne, she is our greatest help in this life’s battle against the corrupting nature of sin and evil.

The Lord Himself said that those who do the will of God, and keep as well as understand His precepts will be blessed. As such, that is what our Lady at Fatima encouraged mankind, that is to give themselves to the Lord and dedicate themselves to Him, and to ask His mother for help and intercession during the time of troubles. We must not be afraid to do so, for the mother of our Lord is loving and merciful, and she wants to help us that we may be saved and be reunited with her Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

We have to be profoundly changed in our ways, that in all the things we say and do, we will always reflect the will and nature of our God, and in that, be blessed in all that we do. Let us heed the call of our beloved mother Mary, who appealed to us to reform our ways that we may shun violence and evil, and embrace instead her Son who showed us love in all its perfection through His sacrifice on the cross.

O, our Lady of Fatima, the mother of our Lord and our mother, help us to change our ways and continue to speak to us, just as you had spoken at Fatima long time ago, that we may understand better, how to become loving children of God, and sin no more but live eternally in His grace. O most loving mother, pray for us sinners. Amen.

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Tuesday, 13 May 2014 : 4th Week of Easter, Memorial Feast of our Lady of Fatima (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 86 : 1-3, 4-5, 6-7

He Himself has built in His holy mountain; the Lord prefers the gates of Zion to all of Jacob’s towns. Great things have been foretold of you, o city of God.

Between friends we speak of Egypt and Babylon; and also Philistia, Tyre, Ethiopia : “Here so-and-so was born.” But of Zion it shall be said, “More and more are being born in her.” For the Most High Himself has founded her.

And the Lord notes in the people’s register : “All these were also born in Zion.” And all will dance and sing joyfully for You.

 

Alternative Reading (Mass of our Lady of Fatima)

 

Psalm 44 : 11-12, 14-15, 16-17

Listen, o daughter, pay attention; forget your father’s house and your nation, and your beauty will charm the King, for He is your Lord.

All glorious as she enters is the princess in her gold-woven robes. She is led in royal attire to the King, following behind is her train of virgins.

Amid cheers and general rejoicing, they enter the palace of the King. Forget your fathers and think of your sons, you will make them princes throughout the land.

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Monday, 12 May 2014 : 4th Week of Easter, Memorial of Sts. Nereus and Achilleus, Martyrs, and St. Pancras, Martyr (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White or Red (Martyrs)

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are affirmed with the love of the Lord, who had given us that love through His gift of Jesus, His only beloved Son to us, as a fitting sacrificial victim and the intermediary between us sinners to He who is perfect in heaven. Through Christ all were made worthy of the Lord and were promised the glorious eternal life in heaven.

Yes, and this promise was extended to all mankind, to all the beloved creations of the Lord Most High, and not just to a certain group of people. If we read the Old Testament, it is very easy for us to have the misconception that the people of Israel, or the Jews, are the chosen people of God, whom the Lord chose over all the other nations.

God did choose the descendants of Jacob, and therefore, the descendants of Abraham, to be His first chosen, to be the ones to whom He first revealed Himself to, and the ones to whom He revealed His will and His love. But this does not mean that God excludes all the other nations from His love. He loved them equally just the same, just as we have our breath of life every single moments of our lives.

The shepherd, Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd of all the people of God, did not choose favourites among His people. Indeed, He came first to the Jews, just as His Father had first chosen them to be His people. But this does not mean that His salvation is intended only for them to the exclusion and damnation of all the other nations.

He loves us all, and wishes us all to be saved, and therefore, that is why He commended the disciples to go and spread the Good News to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth. That is His intention, and He desires that we all be reunited with God in eternal bliss of splendour and happiness. And thus, He sanctifies all mankind through His death and resurrection.

We must never be haughty and judge ourselves, just like the Jews who thought themselves of being worthy of salvation, because they misunderstood the intentions and actions of the Lord as one of favouritism, particularly the chief priests and the Pharisees. They judged themselves worthy and condemned others who did not share their opinions, to the point of persecuting Jesus and His followers in their ministry.

God showed His mercy to mankind, and He forgave them all, on the account of His love and dedication for them. The Lord is loving to all, and He readily shows His love for us all. He comforts us when we suffer and when we are sad, and He lifts us up when we fall down into despair and hopelessness. He shows His care for us without any discrimination.

Today we celebrate the feast of many saints, namely St. Nereus and Achilles, as well as St. Pancras, all of whom were slaves and servants of the Empress or Augusta of the early era Roman Empire. They were the servants of the wife of the Emperor Domitian or Domitianus, who was infamous for his great persecutions against the faithful and the Church, who carried out the one of the great persecution against the Church.

They were martyred in the defense of their faith, and they refused to recant their devotion and commitment to the Lord. They stayed faithful to the end and received holy martyrdom, and now they are revered by us in the Church as saints of the holy Church, worthy of heaven and interceding for our sake daily before the Lord.

In their example, we see how even the people considered to be unworthy by many in Jesus’ time can become saints and holy martyrs, by their following of the teachings of the Lord and by walking faithfully in His ways. Thus, we too should not be afraid and instead, walk courageously in the footsteps of these holy men to be also faithful disciples of the Lord and be courageous in our works, that we may bring even more souls to salvation.

May the Lord open our minds and hearts today, that we will learn to be inclusive and not to exclude others or be judgmental, and instead be humble in seeking the Lord’s forgiveness and love. May He guide us always that we may approach ever closer to His throne of mercy and to His loving embrace. Amen.

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Monday, 12 May 2014 : 4th Week of Easter, Memorial of Sts. Nereus and Achilleus, Martyrs, and St. Pancras, Martyr (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White or Red (Martyrs)

Psalm 41 : 2-3 and Psalm 42 : 3, 4

As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for You, o God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I go and see the face of God?

Send forth Your light and Your truth; let them be my guide, let them take me to Your holy mountain, to the place where You reside.

Then will I go to the altar of God, to God, my gladness and delight. I will praise You with the lyre and harp, o God, my God.

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Saturday, 10 May 2014 : 3rd Week of Easter (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Hope in God always, and never falter! For God will always stand by us and protect us, and He will never give up on us no matter what. It may often be difficult to remain faithful and keep the truth that He has revealed to us, because of various reasons.

The people failed to understand Christ and His teachings, because they were unable to comprehend Christ’s hard message, that is real and hard on them, because their minds think not in heavenly terms, but in terms of this world. They based their judgments and beliefs in the logic of this world, and the understanding in their minds.

They put themselves in the completely wrong focus, contending that because to them, Jesus is mere man, like them, it is definitely very gross for Him to say something such as, giving them His own flesh and blood for them to eat. Sadly, this was precisely the same sentiment espoused by so many people who claimed that they belong to the same Christian faith, and yet failed to accept the truth in the Lord, that God gave us His own flesh and blood, which He gave to us through the Eucharist.

Mankind like to think that they are the best, and that their opinions and wisdom are better than everything else, even including divine wisdom and revelations from the Lord. Thus, mankind stumble into the trap of human pride and greed, refusing to believe in the truth. What is this truth? That the Lord is present in the Real Presence in the Eucharist, the bread and wine changed in form and substance to that of the Body and the Blood of Christ, real and present.

Many failed to understand this, particularly those who literally read the Scriptures and failed to comprehend the fullness of the mysteries of God, and end up with having false and inaccurate deductions on the faith and the nature of the Lord itself. Many deduced that the Eucharist and the celebration of the Mass is merely a symbolism rather than real giving of the Lord’s Body and Blood. This erroneous view of the real truth was catastrophic and even until today, this condemns countless souls to perdition and eternal damnation.

The celebration of the Mass, the memorial reenactment of the Lord’s Supper every time we celebrate the Mass is not just a mere memorial, or a mere symbolic gesture or representation. Instead, every Mass is the same sacrifice that Jesus had made at Calvary, when He was crucified between the heaven and the earth, surrendering Himself to the will of the Father and opened Himself to us. He gave us generously His own Body and His Blood, which He offered for our sake, as the perfect sacrifice for the oblation of our sins.

Yes, the Mass is a sacrifice, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, just as Christ offered Himself as the worthy sacrifice, the worthy Lamb of God to be the settlement for our numerous and innumerable sins and faults. His is the only blood worthy to cleanse our sins, something that the old rituals of animal sacrifices at the time of the Temple, could not do.

Again even here, those who refused to believe in the truth were led astray by their own wisdom and arrogance, thinking that they know it all about God. They thought it to be impossible and unthinkable that Christ should be sacrificed again and again at the Mass, every time the bread and wine were transformed into the Real Presence of our Lord. They thought it blasphemous to think that the bread and wine in the Eucharist is the Real Presence, but the truth is that in fact it is blasphemous to think that the bread and wine are not real Body and real Blood of our Saviour.

The Mass is a mystery in itself, that when the priest, endowed with power given to him through the unbroken succession from the Apostles and hence from the Lord Himself, turned the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ, this process is mystically linked to the same, one and only sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ almost two thousand years ago on the cross. It is not a reenactment, nor it is just symbolic, but in fact it is truly the real thing, and we all experience the saving power of God’s sacrifice and love.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, hence, it is imperative that we all be true disciples of Christ and be courageous proclaimers of His truth. Do not be afraid to tell the truth to others, particularly to those who believe in the lies of the world and those who prefer to depend only on themselves in faith. Let us be courageous and faithful disciples, spreading the Good News wherever we go. God guide our way and may He bless us always in all our endeavours. Amen.