Holy Advocate

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Saturday, 21 May 2016 : 7th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Christopher Magallanes, Priest and Companions, Martyrs (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of our Lady) or Red (Martyrs)

James 5 : 13-20

Are any of you discouraged? They should pray. Are any of you happy? They should sing songs to God. If anyone is sick, let him call on the elders of the Church. They shall pray for him, anointing him with oil in the Name of the Lord. The prayer said in faith will save the sick person; the Lord will raise him up and if he has committed any sins, he will be forgiven.

There will be healing if you confess your sins to one another and pray for each other. The prayer of the upright man has great power, provided he perseveres. Elijah was a human being like ourselves and when he prayed earnestly for it not to rain, no rain fell for three and a half years. Then he prayed again : the sky yielded rain and the earth produced its fruit.

Brothers, if any one of you strays far away from the truth and another person brings him back to it, be sure of this : he who brings back a sinner from the wrong way will save his soul from death and win forgiveness for many sins.

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Friday, 20 May 2016 : 7th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Bernardine of Siena, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard about the judgment of God for all of us mankind, and how those who are good, and those who have done good in patience, waiting patiently for the coming of the Lord, shall be rewarded with the blessings and the grace of God, and be welcomed into the eternal life which God has promised all of His faithful ones.

St. James rebuked those who were fighting amongst themselves and said that the kingdom and the glory of God belong to those who are patient, kind, good and obedient, just as the servant of God Job had done before many millennia before today, where he patiently endured persecutions and troubles, all the challenges and the obstacles that he encountered, all the trials and tribulations placed before him by the devil to test him.

And in the Gospel today, we heard about one of the teachers of the Law speaking and arguing with Jesus about divorce, and what the people ought to do in accordance with the Law of God. And the teacher of the Law argued that because the laws according to Moses had allowed for the cases of divorce, thus it was rightful for a person to divorce his wife, or to divorce her husband vice versa, as long as the necessary documents were completed.

But Jesus rebuked him, saying that such laws and rules were in place only because the people of God were obstinate and unruly, and were unable to follow precisely what God had told them to do. And such allowances were meant only to accommodate the demands and wishes of the rebellious people of God, but those were not meant to cover up their sins.

Jesus made it very clear on many occasions, that sin is sin, and the sin of adultery is truly grave indeed. It is because marriage is a holy Sacrament of God, one of the Seven holy Sacraments of the Church, which God had instituted Himself and passed down to His Apostles and thus to the Church. And through marriage, as what God had mentioned to mankind in the Book of Genesis, He had made man and woman into one body, uniting them in a holy bond of matrimony which He Himself had blessed.

Therefore, it is not right for anyone to break this holy bond which God had blessed as long as it had been lawfully made. No man should dissolve the holy bonds and desecrate the holy union which God had blessed unless if they want to commit a grave sin for themselves, and made worse if that desecration was caused by unfaithfulness and by betrayal of the love and trust made at the holy union between man and woman.

Why does that sin happen, brothers and sisters in Christ? The sin of adultery is caused by our own lack of patience, our tendency to be tempted and swayed by the offer of worldly pleasures, the pleasures of the flesh, the sins of corruption and perversion, and many other forms of distractions that keep us away from finding our way to righteousness, and from upholding the integrity and the holiness of God’s holy union.

Mankind were often not satisfied with chastity and with temperance, and instead looking forward to the opportunities to overcome the limitations and the rules imposed on the holy married life, and thus committed adultery, often with another more desirable and more pleasurable to the eyes and to the flesh, all these while they were still in the holy union legally and rightly blessed by God.

As such, we must not heed those in our world today, even those who are within the Church who espoused and pushed forth for the effort to ignore the sins of those who have committed adultery and divorce. We have to understand that the reality is such that, there were those who argued, just as the teacher of the Law had argued with Jesus at that time, that those who committed adultery by desecrating the Holy Sacrament of Matrimony should be welcomed and pardoned unconditionally through God’s mercy.

Yet, these people had conveniently or even purposely forgotten the fact that, while God is merciful and loving towards all of us, but at the same time, He also abhors all forms of sin and wickedness which all of us had performed in our lives. Thus, without clear and genuine repentance from sin, and without turning away from sinfulness, there can be no way forward for us mankind.

And in living our lives worthily before God, we can heed the examples shown by St. Bernardine of Siena whose feast we celebrate today. St. Bernardine of Siena was a priest of the Lord, a Franciscan missionary from Italy, who was a great and devoted preacher who taught the people of God against the sins and wickedness that had corrupted many of the people at the time.

He actively went from places to places, from towns to towns, villages to villages, and from communities to communities, calling the people of God to purify themselves and their faith, and remove from themselves all the sins and the unworthy things which had made themselves unworthy of God’s grace and blessings. He called for many of the people to cast away their sinful actions and remove from themselves all the vanities and the things that have led themselves to sin, such as unnecessary excesses and luxuries.

The words and the works of St. Bernardine of Siena are calling us to reexamine our own lives. Have we been truly faithful to the Lord? And have we been patient in enduring challenges after challenges, obstacles upon obstacles that would come our way when we remain faithful to the Lord and obey His laws? Or have we instead been impatient, and tried to circumvent God’s laws to serve our own unsatisfiable desires?

Let us all reflect on all these, and let us have a new resolve to devote ourselves to a holy life in God, upholding the sanctity of life and holy matrimony at all times. Let us not be deceived into allowing sin to enter into our hearts, especially by trying to show false mercy to those who have committed adultery and yet refused to repent from their sins and continue to live in sin. May God help us on our way to Him and bless us all our days. Amen.

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Friday, 20 May 2016 : 7th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Bernardine of Siena, Priest (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)

Mark 10 : 1-12

At that time, Jesus then left Capernaum and went to the province of Judea, beyond the Jordan River. Once more crowds gathered around Him and once more He taught them, as He always did. Some (Pharisees came and) put Him to the test with this question, “Is it right for a husband to divorce his wife?”

He replied, “What law did Moses give you?” They answered, “Moses allowed us to write a certificate of dismissal in order to divorce.” Then Jesus said to them, “Moses wrote this law for you, because you are stubborn. But in the beginning of creation God made them male and female, and because of this, man has to leave father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one body. So they are no longer two but one body. Therefore let no one separate what God has joined.”

When they were indoors at home, the disciples again asked Him about this, and He told them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against his wife, and the woman who divorces her husband and marries another also commits adultery.”

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Friday, 20 May 2016 : 7th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Bernardine of Siena, Priest (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)

Psalm 102 : 1-2, 3-4, 8-9, 11-12

Bless the Lord, my soul; all my being, bless His holy Name! Bless the Lord, my soul, and do not forget all His kindness.

He forgives all your sins and heals all your sickness; He redeems your life from destruction and crowns you with love and compassion.

The Lord is gracious and merciful, abounding in love and slow to anger; He will not always scold nor will He be angry forever.

As the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His love for those fearing Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does He remove from us our sins.

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Friday, 20 May 2016 : 7th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Bernardine of Siena, Priest (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)

James 5 : 9-12

Beloved, do not fight among yourselves, and you will not be judged. See, the judge is already at the door. Take for yourselves, as an example of patience, the suffering of the prophets who spoke in the Lord’s Name. See how those who were patient are called blessed. You have heard of the patience of Job and know how the Lord dealt with him in the end. For the Lord is merciful and shows compassion.

Above all, my beloved, do not swear either by heaven or by earth, or make a habit of swearing. Let your yes be yes and your no be no, lest you become liable for judgment.

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Thursday, 19 May 2016 : 7th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, first we heard about the rebuke which St. James placed on those who have been dishonest in their dealings, those who manipulated others and gained profits from the sufferings of others. That was the norm of that time, and in fact, if we realise, it is still very much the norm of today’s society.

How is this so, brothers and sisters in Christ? We just have to look at what men can do in order to get what they need, especially in the matters of money and possessions. Our societies and communities today are increasingly becoming ever more hedonistic, materialistic, and indeed, obsessed with all sorts of worldliness, with all sorts of glory and pleasures that are derived from the possession of those things we often desire in this life.

We often witness how men can even trick other men or women, just so that they could get profit out of their actions, not considering the expense that it is causing those poor fellows. Unbridled capitalism and the desire for ultimate profit has caused mankind to forget about who they really are, about what they are supposed to do for the sake of their brethren. Instead, they have been reduced to mere slaves of these desires that they had.

I am sure that many if not most or all of us can relate to this fact, on how we often think of ourselves first before the needs and the plight of others around us. And that is why we are so easily tempted by the many lies and the sweet temptations that Satan, the evil one, and his fellow fallen angels are offering us and tempting us with. In many occasions, we are simply too gullible and too easy to tempt, to the point that we end up falling into the darkness through sin.

And in the Gospel today, we heard how Jesus spoke to us about casting off our body parts that made us to sin. It may be quite scary for us to hear such a suggestion made by Jesus, but what He meant was not in reality, for us to literally take His words literally and do away with our body parts, although it may indeed help if we do so.

Instead, rather than doing this, what Jesus suggested to us is that, we should strive to remain pure in all things, in our hearts, in our minds, and in all of our actions and dealings. The body itself is often not at fault, since the body acts in the way that the heart, the mind and the soul are wishing it, and corrupt heart and a corrupt mind will inevitably lead to a corrupt being.

Thus, we all have to realise that the way to God is through hard work and through many challenges, as often we may find ourselves pitted against our very own selves, against our desires and wants, against all that our mind or our heart is asking for. If we give in to our desires, then that is what has led us to sin before the Lord our God. This was exactly what has led mankind to act in the way that St. James had deplored in our first reading today.

It is not wrong for us to have our desires and wishes, and it is not wrong indeed to have a desire in life, as long as these desires do not come into conflict with who we are as Christians, who ought to be living a good and worthy Christian lives, obeying the laws and commandments of our Lord. Let us all therefore, commit ourselves to reject the selfish ways of the world, and from now on, ensure that our actions are done in consideration of the needs of others around us.

Let us not be ignorant of the needs of the poor, but instead let us all keep our hearts and minds open to hear and listen to their plea. Let us not manipulate our brethren for the sake of mere profits, but help one another so that each and every one of us may have a decent and comfortable living in this world. May God help us in this endeavour, and may He awaken in us the love which we ought to have for Him. Amen.

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Thursday, 19 May 2016 : 7th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Mark 9 : 41-50

At that time, Jesus spoke to His disciples, “If anyone gives you a drink of water because you belong to Christ and bear His Name, truly, I say to you, he will not go without reward. If anyone should cause one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble and sin, it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a great millstone around his neck.”

“If your hand makes you fall into sin, cut it off! It is better for you to enter life without a hand, than with two hands to go to hell, to the fire that never goes out. And if your foot makes you fall into sin, cut it off! It is better for you to enter life without a foot, than with both feet to be thrown into hell.”

“And if your eye makes you fall into sin, tear it out! It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than, keeping both eyes, to be thrown into hell, where the worms that eat them never die, and the fire never goes out. The fire itself will preserve them.”

“Salt is a good thing; but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another.”

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Thursday, 19 May 2016 : 7th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 48 : 14-15ab, 15cde-16, 17-18, 19-20

This is the fate of people trusting themselves, the future of those who rely on their strength. Like sheep led to the grave, they have death as their shepherd and ruler.

Quickly their firm will be consumed in the world of the dead, which is their home. But God will rescue my soul from the grave by receiving me unto Himself.

Fear not when someone grows rich, when his power becomes oppressively great, for nothing will he take when he dies; his wealth and pomp he will leave behind.

Though he praised himself in his lifetime, “All will say that I have enjoyed life,” he will join the generation of his forebears, who will never again see the light.

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Thursday, 19 May 2016 : 7th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

James 5 : 1-6

So, now for what concerns the rich! Cry and weep for the misfortunes that are coming upon you. Your riches are rotting and your clothes eaten up by the moths. Your silver and gold have rusted and their rust grows into a witness against you. It will consume your flesh like fire, for having piled up riches in these the last days.

You deceived the workers who harvested your fields but now their wages cry out to the heavens. The reapers’ complaints have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You lived in luxury and pleasure in this world thus fattening yourselves for the day of slaughter. You have easily condemned and killed the innocent since they offered no resistance.

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Wednesday, 18 May 2016 : 7th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. John I, Pope and Martyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard about St. James speaking in his Epistle, about the way we should act in our lives. He criticised those who made many plans about how they would go about their days, and thinking that they would seek to make more money or income in so and so city or place.

And the reason he put forward was indeed true, brethren, that the Lord is the Master of all, the Lord and Master over our lives and all that we do. He has control and power over all things, and our own lives will not be ours to go about and do as we like. We may plan all that we want to do and what we wish to do with our lives, but ultimately, it is the will of God that will triumph in the end.

Ambitious men and women had from time to time trying their luck and putting the efforts in trying to bring glory to themselves. And they made a lot of effort in order to satisfy what they want, and immersed themselves in their busy schedules and in their plans. But what they did not realise is that, God can take away the life He has given them at any time, as He willed it. Our lives are in His hands, brothers and sisters in Christ.

There is no point for us to be so busy in planning ahead, that we fail to enjoy the fullness of it. If God is to take our life and bring us back to Him tomorrow, will that therefore be a waste then, all that we have planned for ourselves? I am not saying that we should be carefree and disregard anything in life, or leave it entirely to chance and luck in how we live our lives. Rather, it means that we must not let our lives, all of its busy and hectic schedules to control us and swallow us.

If we notice, in our world today, all around us, in our own communities and families, can we tell how many of us are so preoccupied with what we are doing to the point of forgetting everything else? It is because we are so focused with ourselves, our work, our desires and wants, that we have lost sight of the greater picture of life. We become our own slaves, slaves to our desires and needs.

We live in period of selfishness, where everything is about consideration for ourselves and we spare little or none for others around us. And as a result, we do not show love when we are capable of showing love, and we do not show care and concern for one another when we need to show these to our brethren and neighbours around us who need them.

In the Gospel today, Jesus spoke about those who were doing good works and yet not belonging to the group of the Apostles and the disciples. The disciples were trying to stop what those people had done as they did not belong to their group. But the Lord rebuked them and said that they should not stop these good works as those who did not oppose the Lord belongs also to God.

In this, we see the contrast with what was shown by the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, who were furiously and actively trying to oppose the works of Jesus and His disciples, as they saw Jesus and His disciples as bitter rivals and opponents to their own teaching authority and influence. They selfishly tried to stop the good works of the Lord to serve their own purpose and sinned in doing so.

This is precisely what we have to avoid, brethren. We cannot act in the same way as these people, unless if we want to fall into the same trap as the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law. In this, perhaps we should follow in the footsteps of the saint whose feast we celebrate today, namely that of Pope St. John I, Bishop of Rome and leader of the Universal Church during its early days and a holy martyr of God.

Pope St. John I reigned during the time of conflict between the powers of the world, between the Roman Emperor Justinian in the east and the king of the Ostrogothic kingdom, Theodoric the Great, who ruled the city and province of Rome at the time. The conflict extended into the matters of the Church, made worse as the Ostrogoths believed in the heresy of Arianism, while the faithful Romans kept the true faith.

As such, conflict grew and the faithful people of God became caught in the entanglement of the conflicts. Pope St. John I worked hard to keep the Church strong amidst the difficulties and persecutions, working for peace among the factions. And yet, the Ostrogoths suspected the Pope as plotting against them with the Romans and thus imprisoned and tortured him.

But Pope St. John I refused to give in to his persecutors’ demands, and he remained strong and resolute in the face of the opposition, and in the end, he met his death at the hands of the enemies of the people of God, but before having shown to the people of God, the examples of faith and commitment which he had shown to God, in not seeking his own personal glory, but instead in bringing forth and proclaiming the glory of God.

Let us all heed his examples, and reflect on the readings from the Holy Scriptures, and learn to live faithfully from now on. Let us all go forth to renew our lives, filled with renewed commitments to God, our Lord and Master. May all of us find our path to our Lord, and through our acts, bound and filled with love, be our justification before His holy presence. May God be with us all, and may He awaken in all of us the selfless love for one another. God bless us all. Amen.