holy bishops

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Friday, 17 March 2023 : 3rd Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Patrick, Bishop (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Hosea 14 : 2-10

Return to your God YHVH, o Israel! Your sins have caused your downfall. Return to YHVH with humble words. Say to Him, “Oh You Who show compassion to the fatherless forgive our debt, be appeased. Instead of bulls and sacrifices, accept the praise from our lips. Assyria will not save us : no longer shall we look for horses nor ever again shall we say ‘Our gods’ to the work of our hands.”

I will heal their wavering and love them with all My heart for My anger has turned from them. I shall be like dew to Israel like the lily will he blossom. Like a cedar he will send down his roots; his young shoots will grow and spread. His splendour will be like an olive tree. His fragrance, like a Lebanon cedar.

They will dwell in My shade again, they will flourish like the grain, they will blossom like a vine, and their fame will be like Lebanon wine. What would Ephraim do with idols, when it is I Who hear and make him prosper? I am like an ever-green cypress tree; all your fruitfulness comes from Me.

Who is wise enough to grasp all this? Who is discerning and will understand? Straight are the ways of YHVH : the just walk in them, but the sinners stumble.

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Thursday, 23 February 2023 : Thursday after Ash Wednesday, Memorial of St. Polycarp, Bishop and Martyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Lord in the Scriptures, we are all called to remember that each and every one of us have been given the choice from the Lord to follow the path that He has revealed before us, or to turn our back against Him and walk away from Him, by continuing to live in the state of sin. All of us have been given the freedom to choose, the free will to discern the path that we are going to choose in our path forward in life. That is why the Lord reminds us today, through His Church, at the beginning of this Lenten season that we should be very careful and vigilant in how we live our lives so that we do not end up falling into the path of sin and evil, and we do not end up making the wrong choice because we are swayed by the temptations of the world.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of Deuteronomy, we heard of the Lord’s reminders to the people of Israel, which He gave them through His servant Moses, who led the people of God in the great Exodus from the land of Egypt, where the Israelites were enslaved. First, we must understand how the Lord has led them all out of Egypt through Moses and his brother Aaron, performing great wonders and miracles, and leading them even through the sea itself, as I am sure we are all aware of. During the journey to the land He has promised to them, God gave His Law and commandments, and made a Covenant with them on Mount Sinai. But the people even at that early stage already showed signs of rebellion and unwillingness to obey God’s Law and commandments.

They made for themselves a golden calf to be their god, and offered sacrifices to it, despite having witnessed and experienced all the things that God had done for them, in saving them from their troubles and slavery. Those who disobeyed the Lord and persisted in the rebellion were crushed by God, and at that day, when Moses returned from the Mount of God, three thousand people in total perished by their refusal to repent from their sinfulness, while the rest also had to endure the bitterness of their disobedience. Then, in another well-known occasion, at the place known as Massah and Meribah, the Israelites rebelled again in opposition to God because they complained and disagreed about their state in the desert, despite God having provided for their every needs, every step of their way.

In all those occasions, including the time when God finally led them all to the boundary of the Promised Land, and when they refused to enter because of the reports from the scouts they sent to find out more about the place, which brought fear to their hearts, God punished all of their whole generation for their continued hard-hearted attitude and wickedness, their stubbornness and refusal to believe in Him. They were barred from entering into the Promised Land, and the journey which was supposed to be a relatively short one, ended up becoming a sojourn in the desert lasting a whole period of forty years, in which the entire generation of those who had rebelled and refused to follow God, save that of Caleb and Joshua, who remained faithful to the end, perished and died. Like what happened in one occasion when the rebelling Israelites were struck by the plague of fiery serpents, many died for their rebellion and sin.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, what those examples and experiences highlighted to the people of Israel back then and also to all of us is that, those people made their choice of action, in rebelling against God and in disobeying Him by their own free will. They have been given so much by God, provided and helped throughout their journey, and even throughout that forty years period of punishment and delay, God still provided the people with everything that they needed to survive and even flourish in the middle of a hot and lifeless desert. Whatever the people did in disobeying God and rebelling against Him was therefore their own free will and free choice, as there were also those who remained firm in their faith in God, and did not fall into the sinful and rebellious ways. What is clear is that the path of disobedience and rebellion lead to death and destruction, while faith leads to salvation and liberation in God.

God Himself has said that those who kept their faith in Him will be blessed and will receive the fullness of His grace, and while the path that He was leading them towards will not be an easy one, but there is great merit for one to choose to remain faithful to God and to obey His Law and commandments. In our Gospel passage today, the Lord Jesus told His disciples that unless they take up their crosses and follow Him, there will be no salvation and path forward to eternal life for them, and He said clearly that even He Himself, as the Son of Man and Saviour of all, would have to endure great persecution and sufferings, as He eventually did at the moment of His Passion, when He chose willingly to bear the whole entire great and unimaginably heavy burden of our multitudes of sins, so that by His suffering and death, He might bring us all to the assurance of eternal life.

The Lord reminded us all that following Him is something that we should do, and we have the free will to choose that or to continue to live in the state of sin as what we may be more accustomed to in this world. His path is likely going to be a difficult and challenging one, as we often will have to resist the many temptations all around us, and as was evident from the example of the Israelites in the past, many of them and our predecessors failed to do so. Many veered off and fell off the path that God had led them through, and were tempted and ensnared by sin instead, tempted by their pride and ego, their greed and desires, their jealousy and lust, among others. But this should not discourage us from following the Lord. Instead, it should keep our flames of faith burning bright and strong, as we help one another to remain faithful to God.

Today, we should be inspired by the great examples and faith shown by St. Polycarp, a great Church father and our holy predecessor, who was a bishop of the Church, the Bishop of Smyrna in Asia Minor. St. Polycarp was known to be one of the disciples of St. John the Apostle, the last surviving Apostle of the Lord back then, and he was entrusted with the care of many of the faithful in the often persecuted but still thriving Church. He was regarded as one of the three greatest Apostolic Fathers, the successors of the Apostles, together with Pope St. Clement of Rome and St. Ignatius of Antioch, each of whom were great role models and sources of inspiration in their own right. St. Polycarp corresponded frequently with the other Church fathers and was a great example to his flock, caring much for their spiritual needs.

And during a time of great and intense persecution of the Church by the Roman state, which carried out many rounds and episodes of persecutions and attacks against the Church and the faithful, St. Polycarp helped to lead his flock to remain faithful to God, and to endure the hardships and challenges that they had to face in the defence of their faith in God. In the end, St. Polycarp himself was arrested and persecuted, when he was already in the advanced age of eighty-six years old. Even then, in that old age, he remained strong in his desire to love and serve the Lord, and in persevering through the hardships and sufferings that he had to suffer, together with the rest of his flock, which was truly an example of them carrying their cross with the Lord. St. Polycarp died a martyr, inspiring countless others to follow the Lord more faithfully and with greater love, and I hope he has inspired us similarly too.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore renew our faith and commitment in God as we enter into this holy and blessed season of Lent. Let us make good use of this time and opportunity that God has given us so that each and every one of us may distance ourselves from the many temptations of sin, the allures of worldly fame, glory, pleasures, and the pressure from our pride, ego, greed, jealousy, ambition, and more. Let us all control all those desires and negative things within us, and help one another to be strong in enduring the challenges and trials of this world, carrying our crosses together faithfully with God. May the Lord continue to guide us and strengthen us, and give us all the courage to continue to live our lives as good and dedicated Christians, blessing our every works and efforts, our every endeavours at all times. Amen.

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Thursday, 23 February 2023 : Thursday after Ash Wednesday, Memorial of St. Polycarp, Bishop and Martyr (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Luke 9 : 22-25

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “The Son of Man must suffer many things. He will be rejected by the elders and chief priests and teachers of the Law, and be put to death. Then after three days He will be raised to life.”

Jesus also said to all the people, “If you wish to be a follower of Mine, deny yourself and take up your cross each day, and follow Me! For if you choose to save your life, you will lose it; but if you lose your life for My sake, you will save it. What does it profit you to gain the whole world, if you destroy or damage yourself?”

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Thursday, 23 February 2023 : Thursday after Ash Wednesday, Memorial of St. Polycarp, Bishop and Martyr (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 1 : 1-2, 3, 4 and 6

Blessed is the man who does not go where the wicked gather, or stand in the way of sinners, or sit where the scoffers sit! Instead, he finds delight in the Law of YHVH and meditates day and night on His commandments.

He is like a tree beside a brook producing its fruit in due season, its leaves never withering. Everything he does is a success.

But it is different with the wicked. They are like chaff driven away by the wind. For YHVH knows the way of the righteous but cuts off the way of the wicked.

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Thursday, 23 February 2023 : Thursday after Ash Wednesday, Memorial of St. Polycarp, Bishop and Martyr (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Deuteronomy 30 : 15-20

See, I set before you on this day life and good, evil and death. I command you to love YHVH, your God and follow His ways. Observe His commandments, His norms and His laws, and you will live and increase, and YHVH will give you His blessing in the land you are going to possess.

But if your heart turns away and does not listen, if you are drawn away and bow before other gods to serve them, I declare on this day that you shall perish. You shall not last in the land you are going to occupy on the other side of the Jordan.

Let the heavens and the earth listen, that they may be witnesses against you. I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore, choose life that you and your descendants may live, loving YHVH, listening to His voice, and being one with Him. In this life for you and length of days in the land which YHVH swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

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Tuesday, 21 February 2023 : 7th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Peter Damian, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, each and every one of us as Christians are called to be righteous and good, worthy of our Lord, virtuous and full of God’s grace in all things. All of us are called to be humble and good disciples and followers of our Lord, doing His will and committing ourselves to His cause first and foremost in our lives, and not giving in to the many temptations all around us, the temptations of pride and our human ego, and of worldly greed and desires, which can lead us down the wrong path of sin and evil. This is particularly timely and apt considering that we are going to begin the season of Lent tomorrow with Ash Wednesday, and hence, today we should spend some time to reflect on what we have just heard in the Scriptures.

In our first reading today, we heard from the prophet Sirach the words of reminders and encouragement which he spoke to the people of God regarding the matter of following the Lord and obeying His Law and commandments. The prophet Sirach told the people of God that they ought to be righteous and to do good always in their lives, in their every actions, and that they should be ready to endure challenges and trials for the sake of the Lord and for their faith in Him. He reminds all the faithful that their calling as the people of God is to keep their faith and trust in God even in their darkest and most difficult moments in life, and they ought to remain focused on God and His path despite the many temptations, pressures and coercions to do otherwise.

Contextually, the Book of Sirach was written by the author about two centuries prior to the birth and life of Our Lord Jesus Christ, a few centuries after the destruction of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, the destruction of Jerusalem and the exile to Babylon. During all those centuries and right up to the time of the prophet Sirach, the people of God had often been disobedient and rebellious against God, often not following the Law and commandments that He has set before them and preferring to do things in their own way, and allowing themselves to be led by their own wicked desires and ambitions, their pride and ego, which led them to their downfall. The prophet Sirach himself lived at a time of renewed difficulty for the faithful as it was during the beginning of the persecution of the faithful by the Greek authorities of the Seleucids, which would eventually lead to the Maccabean Revolt.

Hence, the prophet Sirach’s words were timely reminder to the people of his time and even to all of us that they must always remain true to their faith in God despite the many trials and challenges that they might have had to face along their life and journey. The prophet told them all to remain strong in faith and to do what the Lord had taught and commanded them to do so that in all things they would be truly worthy of God, and be righteous and good examples in the midst of their own community and as inspirations and good role models for many others all around them. All of them are reminded to be humble in accepting God’s help, grace and guidance in every single moments of their lives. They should inspire others to live their lives faithfully as well and not instead be sources of scandal for the Lord and their faith because of their actions.

In our Gospel passage we then heard of the Lord speaking to His disciples and teaching them that, in order for them to truly become His disciples, they all must be ready to abandon their prideful and ambitious thoughts, and their many temptations of worldly glory and status, power, influence, fame and more, among many other things. This happened just after the disciples failing to cast out the evil spirits from a boy who was possessed and struck deaf and mute, as we heard in the Scripture readings yesterday. The disciples were unable to do so because they were lacking in faith, and were likely swayed by pride and hubris, thinking that all the miracles and wonders they performed were due to their own powers and abilities, and forgetting that they did all that by the grace and power of God.

They were all reminded that in following the Lord they must be humble and obedient to God, and to put themselves after Him and others around us. Basically, pride, hubris, ego, ambition, greed and all those things will not bring us any good things at all. It will only end up leading us down the wrong path in life, bringing us further and further away from the righteousness of God. All of us as disciples and followers of the Lord must be like what the Lord Himself said, as He took up one child and told them that their faith ought to be like that of the little child. Why is that so? That is because the faith of a child is truly pure, pure in faith and purpose, as unlike all of us who are laden with worldly concerns, desires and attachments, a child had none of that yet. Essentially as Christians, all of us are reminded to have the same kind of faith and life, wholly centred on the Lord and His truth.

Today, the Church celebrates the Feast of St. Peter Damian, a great saint and Church father, whose life and works can truly inspire all of us to be faithful to the Lord in many ways, as he himself led a good and devout life, filled with faith and dedication to God. St. Peter Damian was a great intellectual and theologian who gave up the greatness of secular and worldly life to become a Benedictine monk. He was renowned for his great piety and dedication to his mission and works, in his efforts in reforming the Church and Christian faithful, beginning with his own Benedictine community, and then in tandem with the efforts of a few Popes of that time, beginning with Pope Gregory VI and up to Pope St. Leo IX and his friend, Pope St. Gregory VII.

Back then, the corruptions of worldly vices, attachments, ambitions and sins have slowly crept up into the Church and into its various communities, affecting both the clergymen and the laity alike. St. Peter Damian helped to reform the Church through his great vision and desire to root out from the Church those worldly corruptions and vices which had caused so many scandals and for so many of the faithful to fall into sin and evil ways. He rooted out corrupt practices and helped to straighten the ways of many of the faithful, in his various capacities as Papal envoy and legate, and as a member of the College of Cardinals, his role as a Cardinal and hence close Papal confidant and advisor was crucial in the reestablishment of order and virtue in the life of the Church of that time. And despite his high office and influential position, St. Peter Damian remained humble and thoroughly committed to his calling, and not swayed by worldly temptations of power and glory.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all discern what we have just discussed, including the life and examples of St. Peter Damian in remembering that as Christians each and every one of us are also expected to live our lives with genuine faith in the Lord, and root out from ourselves, from our hearts and minds, the corruption of sin and temptations of pride, ego, ambition, hubris, greed and others. Let us all remind ourselves of this as we are embarking on the journey through the season of Lent beginning tomorrow on Ash Wednesday, that through this penitential time and season, we may always be growing ever closer to God and distance ourselves from sin and its wickedness. May God bless us in our every good efforts and endeavours, all for His greater glory, now and always. Amen.

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Tuesday, 21 February 2023 : 7th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Peter Damian, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops)

Mark 9 : 30-37

At that time, after leaving the place where He cast out evil spirit from a deaf and dumb boy, Jesus and His disciples made their way through Galilee, but He did not want people to know where He was because He was teaching His disciples. And He told them, “The Son of Man will be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill Him, but three days after He has been killed, He will rise.”

The disciples, however, did not understand these words and they were afraid to ask Him what He meant. They came to Capernaum and, once inside the house, Jesus asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?” But they did not answer, because they had been arguing about who was the greatest.

Then He sat down, called the Twelve and said to them, “If someone wants to be first, let him be last of all and servant of all.” Then He took a little child, placed him in their midst, and putting His arms around him, He said to them, “Whoever welcomes a child such as this in My Name, welcomes Me; and whoever welcomes Me, welcomes not Me but the One Who sent Me.”

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Tuesday, 21 February 2023 : 7th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Peter Damian, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops)

Psalm 36 : 3-4, 18-19, 27-28, 39-40

Trust in the Lord and do good, dwell in the land and live on it. Make the Lord your delight, and He will grant your heart’s desire.

The Lord watches over the lives of the upright; forever will their inheritance abide. They are not crushed in times of calamity; when famine strikes, they still are satisfied.

Do good and shun evil, so that you will live secure forever. For the Lord loves justice and right, and never forsakes His faithful ones. The wicked instead will perish and their breed will be cut off.

The Lord is the salvation of the righteous; in time of distress, He is their refuge. The Lord helps them, and rescues them from the oppressor; He saves them for they sought shelter in Him.

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Tuesday, 21 February 2023 : 7th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Peter Damian, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops)

Sirach 2 : 1-13 (Greek Septuagint version – Sirach 2 : 1-11)

My son, if you have decided to serve the Lord, prepare yourselves for trials. Keep your heart upright and remain resolute; do not be upset in the time of adversity. Hold fast to the Lord, do not separate yourself from Him so that you may be successful to the end of your days.

Accept all that happens to you, be patient when you are humbled, for as gold is tested in the fire, so those acceptable to God are tested in the crucible of humiliation. Have confidence in Him and He will take care of you; follow the right path and hope in Him.

You who fear the Lord, wait for His mercy and do not turn away lest you fall. You who fear the Lord, trust Him and you will not lose your reward. You who fear the Lord, hope for all good things; hope for eternal joy and mercy. Remember what happened to your ancestors. Who has ever trusted in the Lord and been confounded? Who has persevered in fear of the Lord and been abandoned? Who has called upon Him and not been heard?

For the Lord is compassion and loving kindness; He forgives our sins and saves us in time of distress.

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Tuesday, 14 February 2023 : 6th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Cyril, Monk and St. Methodius, Bishop, Patron Saints of Europe (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we are all reminded both of the dangers and the threats of sin and evil present all around us, and at the same time we are also reassured through what we have heard in the Scripture passages today, of the guidance, help and providence which God has given us, just as the examples highlighted of the past, our predecessors should inspire and strengthen our faith and resolve to follow the Lord wholeheartedly and faithfully, entrusting ourselves completely and wholeheartedly to the cause of the Lord, and to be ever righteous, good and worthy of Him in all of our lives.

In our first reading today, we heard of the well-known story of the time when God sent a Great Flood to wipe out almost the entire race of mankind and other living things, due to the great wickedness of many of them who refused to believe in Him, and their continued disobedience and rebellion against the Lord and His Law. All of these great wickedness had come into the world due to the disobedience of man against God’s will and commandments, and then as we have just heard earlier in yesterday’s readings, on the murder of Abel by Cain, his own brother, the temptations of pride, ego, worldly sins and wickedness, all of these had led mankind further and further down the path towards evil and damnation.

As we heard in that passage from the Book of Genesis today, God was determined to save the only ones among the people who were still righteous and obedient to the will of the Lord, namely Noah and his family. That was how Noah was instructed by God to construct the immense Ark by which he would save not only his own family but also the living things all over the world, which God had chosen to spare amidst the destruction that He would bring to cleanse the world from all the wickedness, sins and evils. God showed how He treasured those whom He loves and cares for, those who are faithful to Him, while those who refused to obey Him and continued to live in sin, will suffer the just consequences for their wickedness.

We heard how the Ark saved Noah and his family amidst all the destruction of the Great Flood. The other people laughed at Noah when he built the Ark and refused to listen to his warnings and heedings, and hence, no one else save from Noah and his family were saved from the Flood. The whole world was covered with the wrath of God’s Flood, and was cleansed from all the wickedness that had afflicted it throughout. Noah was saved in the Ark, and when the Flood receded, we heard how God promised Noah and his descendants, that is all of us, that He would never again destroy the world and us with the water, with the rainbow as the sign of this promise. That is the story how rainbow appears after the rain, as reminders to both God and us of what had happened once.

This does not mean however that sin has no more consequences afterwards. Sin is still afflicting us, and through disobedience and sin, many more people since the days of Noah would fall into sin, right up to the present day. The Lord however did not give up on us and continued to love us and care for us, as He sent us His promised salvation in Jesus Christ, His own beloved and begotten Son, Who gave Himself to us, walking in our midst and reaching out to us, encouraging and strengthening us with the concrete show of God’s love and compassionate mercy. Through Him, we have seen yet again the proof of God’s ever enduring and persistent love for all of us. He has shown us His love as mentioned the Gospel passage today, by His feeding of the multitudes and many thousands of people.

At the same time, He also warned His disciples of the ‘yeast of the Pharisees’ and the ‘yeast of Herod’, which were actually reminders to them and also all of us to be ever vigilant against the temptations and allures of sin which are always present all around us. If we are not careful, we may end up falling into the same pride, ego and ambitions which became the downfall of many of the Pharisees, who refused to believe in the Lord because they hardened their hearts and minds, and remained in their stubborn refusal to believe. Meanwhile, the ‘yeast of Herod’ is a reminder for all of us not to allow the vices of worldly pleasures, the corruption of the sins of the flesh to mislead and corrupt us down the wrong path in life. We have to resist those temptations to sin and remain virtuous, good and worthy of God all the time, remembering all the good things and the love that God has lavished on us.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, hence today let us all discern our path in life very carefully, minding the examples shown to us from the time of Noah and the Great Flood, to the sins of the Pharisees and Herod which the Lord warned His disciples against, and all the loving actions that God had done for us. Let us all also heed upon the good examples set by our holy predecessors, namely the great saints and brothers, St. Cyril and St. Methodius, the Patron Saints of Europe and great missionaries of the Christian faith, renowned for their great commitment to the spreading and proclamation of the Good News of God amidst the Slavic peoples, who were still mostly pagan back then, and by whose works, many of them eventually turned to the Christian faith and embracing the Lord as their Saviour and God.

They spent a lot of time and effort to evangelise in various places, and at the same time also developing the alphabets for the Slavic peoples that will eventually be known as the Glagolitic and the Cyrillic alphabets, and they also spent a lot of energy in reaching out to many people, both the rulers and the commoners alike, in introducing God and His truth to all of them. God has truly done His many great and wonderful works amongst His people through St. Cyril and St. Methodius. He has led them all to do His great deeds, and He has strengthened us all through their great inspiration and actions as our great role models. Can we all follow the Lord faithfully in the same way that St. Cyril and St. Methodius had done, brothers and sisters?

Let us all hence draw ever closer to the Lord, and let us continue to dedicate our time, our lives, actions and efforts to glorify the Lord by our lives, by our every words, actions and works in every time and in every opportunities provided to us. Let us all continue to follow the Lord wholeheartedly, distancing ourselves from sin and from the temptations to sin and to disobey the Lord, reminding ourselves and one another each time, to continue to walk the path of God’s righteousness and love, at all times. May God be with us always, and may He bless us in our every good works and endeavours. Amen.