Holy Confessors

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Saturday, 28 January 2017 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Thomas Aquinas, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard about faith in God, and what our predecessors have shown to us regarding that faith which they had. Beginning from the days of our early forefathers, from the days of Abraham, to his son Isaac and then to the latter’s own son Jacob, and down to the days of the Apostles, when Jesus was with them.

In the Gospel today, we heard the well known story of how Jesus calmed the waters and rebuked the storm. The disciples were in the same boat as the Lord, and while He was sleeping calmly in the boat, the disciples, seeing the strong winds, terrible thunderstorms and the strong waves feared for their lives and became panicked. They were afraid that the boat would be overturned and then they would sink into the lake and die.

Their faith in the Lord was then not strong, and they were wavering. They were having so many concerns about themselves that they were not able to think rationally and they were not able to appreciate what they have amongst them, the Lord Himself, Whom they could really trust. But they instead worried and panicked, and they doubted. This was where Jesus rebuked them for their lack of faith.

If only that they would look and remembered at how God had cared for His people in the ages past, with mighty deeds, then they would not have panicked, or doubted, or be worried about themselves, because God Himself will not abandon His people. Throughout time, again and again, even when we mankind had been unfaithful to Him, He is always ever faithful, as He was, and as He will ever be.

During the days of Abraham, when many had not yet known the Lord, for many who saw and witnessed what Abraham did must have been a folly and crazy deed indeed. After all, what would a man gain by leaving his entire family, possessions, inheritance behind? What would Abraham, then known as Abram, gain by leaving his ancestral lands of Ur behind and travel to Canaan as the Lord had instructed him?

Certainly, his own family, his own friends and all those he knew must have laughed at him, mocked and ridiculed him for what he had done. And all others who heard his tale must have also thought that he was out of his mind. After all, in the reckonings of this world, who in his or her right mind would just abandon all of the earthly goods he or she had, or what he or she was bound to receive?

And on top of that, he and his wife Sara had been barren without a child. This would have been considered a curse for a people at that time, as a sign of divine displeasure and wickedness. But I am sure that all of these must not have deterred Abram from obeying God and listening to His will. He ventured on to the land which God had showed him, and listened to God as he went along with his life.

We know the rest of the story. God did not just give him a child as He had promised, even through Sara who was already at an advanced age. In the Psalm today, taken from the Gospel of St. Luke we have the Magnificat, the song of Mary, who thanked the Lord for His great graces, having blessed Elizabeth her cousin with a child at her own very advanced age, and the greatest of all, God Himself had been willing to enter into this world through her.

Those who are faithful will never be disappointed by God, for He is ever faithful. Abram, whom He renamed Abraham, did not just get a new name, but also a new life, as the father of many nations, and also as our father in faith. He was blessed among all the nations, and from a man, certainly ridiculed by his friends and relatives, who was barren without a child, had come a great and many nations, blessed and chosen by God to be His people.

Without Abraham’s faith, there would not have been Israel, and without Mary’s faith, the work of God’s salvation through Jesus Christ would have been thwarted. And no salvation would have come into this world, and we would all have no hope. It was because of God’s faithfulness, and our human responses and readiness to accept that faith which allowed God to work His great wonders among us.

Today, we also commemorate the feast of the great and renowned saint, St. Thomas Aquinas, the great confessor, theologian par excellence and Doctor of the Church. St. Thomas Aquinas was truly known for his brilliant and intellectual mind, through which he did many works and writings trying to explain to us the nature and the love of God.

St. Thomas Aquinas was a devout and truly committed person, teaching many others about the Lord and about having faith in Him. This is the perfect opportunity for us to read up more about this holy and devout saint, a role model for all of us, just as our holy forefathers had shown us how to be faithful to God. Having faith in God is not such an easy task, as even the disciples themselves wavered in their faith in the midst of great difficulties, but it is possible if we have the will and the strength to have that faith in God.

Now, what we all need to do is ask ourselves, have we been faithful to God? Have we all been faithful to God even though the world may be against us, and even when they may be mocking us, reviling us and humiliating us for believing in God, and keeping our faith in Him? Let us never forget what God had done for Abraham, our father in faith, for Israel, when they were enslaved in Egypt, and for ourselves, when He chose to send His own Son to us to be our Saviour.

Let us be ever faithful in all of our ways, and grow ever stronger in the way of faith. Let us inspire one another and help guide each other so that we will always remain true to our faith in God, and be completely devoted to Him in all of our ways. Let us also ask for the intercession of St. Thomas Aquinas, that his devotion and dedication to the Lord will inspire us all to do the same as well in our own lives. May God bless us all. Amen.

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Saturday, 28 January 2017 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Thomas Aquinas, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White
Mark 4 : 35-41

At that time, on that same day, when evening had come, Jesus said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.”

So they left the crowd, and took Him away in the boat He had been sitting in, and other boats set out with Him. Then a storm gathered and it began to blow a gale. The waves spilled over into the boat, so that it was soon filled with water. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion.

They woke Him up, and said, “Master, do You not care if we drown?” And rising up, Jesus rebuked the wind, and ordered the sea, “Quiet now! Be still!” The wind dropped, and there was a great calm. Then Jesus said to them, “Why are you so frightened? Do you still have no faith?”

But they were terrified, and they said to one another, “Who can this be? Even the wind and the sea obey Him!”

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Saturday, 28 January 2017 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Thomas Aquinas, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White
Luke 1 : 69-70, 71-72, 73-75

In the house of David His servant, He has raised up for us a victorious Saviour; as He promised through His prophets of old.

Salvation from our enemies and from the hand of our foes. He has shown mercy to our fathers; and remembered His holy covenant.

The oath He swore to Abraham, our father, to deliver us from the enemy, that we might serve Him fearlessly, as a holy and righteous people, all the days of our lives.

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Saturday, 28 January 2017 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Thomas Aquinas, Priest and Doctor of the Church (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White
Hebrews 11 : 1-2, 8-19

Faith is the assurance of what we hope for, being certain of what we cannot see. Because of their faith our ancestors were approved. It was by faith that Abraham, called by God, set out for a country that would be given to him as an inheritance; for he parted without knowing where he was going.

By faith he lived as a stranger in that promised land. There he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, beneficiaries of the same promise. Indeed, he looked forward to that city of solid foundation of which God is the Architect and Builder.

By faith Sarah herself received power to become a mother, in spite of her advanced age; since she believed that He Who had made the promise would be faithful. Therefore, from an almost impotent man were born descendants as numerous as the stars of heavens, as many as the grains of sand on the seashore.

Death found all these people strong in their faith. They had not received what was promised, but they had looked ahead and had rejoiced in it from afar, saying that they were foreigners and travellers on earth. Those who speak in this way prove that they are looking for their own country. For if they had longed for the land they had left, it would have been easy for them to return, but no, they aspired to a better city, that is, a supernatural one; so God, Who prepared the city for them is not ashamed of being called their God.

By faith Abraham went to offer Isaac when God tested him. And so he who had received the promise of God offered his only son although God had told him : Isaac’s descendants will bear your name. Abraham reasoned that God is capable even of raising the dead, and he received back his son, which has a figurative meaning.

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Tuesday, 29 December 2015 : Fifth Day within Octave of Christmas, Memorial of St. Thomas Becket, Bishop and Martyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard about the Lord Jesus Who was presented at the Temple of God at the time when He was just eight days old, as He was the Firstborn Son of Mary, which according to the Law and the commandments of God, all the firstborn sons of Israel and his descendants should be presented to the Lord after their birth as a sign of the renewed covenant between God and His people.

This can be linked to what had happened in the past during the time of Abraham, when God made a covenant with him, and established the promise which He had vowed to Abraham, the faithful servant of God, that He would make him and his descendants to be a great nation. But one day, God asked Abraham to bring the son God had promised him, Isaac, to a mountain and sacrifice him as an offering to Him.

We can just imagine what kind of thoughts and emotions that ran through Abraham’s mind at that time. Imagine that the Lord had given you such a great promise, and then suddenly it seemed as if He wanted to take that promise away from him by taking the one whom he had been expecting for a long time, that is a son to be his heir and to be the predecessor of the great nation promised to him.

Yet, if we see how Abraham reacted to the Lord’s request, we can immediately see how he was thoroughly committed to God and obeyed Him without question. He was ready to give up his son to the Lord, as his attitude was likely to be such as, whatever God has given me, God may take again from me. Yes, this is because He is the Lord and Master of all, and it is certainly within His power and authority to decide on the fate of all things.

And therefore, just as Abraham had been willing to give even his own beloved son, the promised son that would be his seed and a great nation, therefore, in this Christmas season, God also would not hold back Himself from giving His own Beloved Son, the Firstborn of all things, not created but Who was with Him since before the beginning of time.

Yes, God gave us none other than His own Beloved Son, the Divine Word of God Who was made Man, one of the Holy Trinity and inseparable part of the Lord, Who came down as a humble Man in Jesus, born of a carpenter and a young virgin, and consecrated to God as all other firstborns of Israel were, so that through Him, this world and all of God’s people might be saved.

This is the essence of Christmas, its true meaning, and which all of us should understand, that the love that God has for all of us is so great, His dedication and commitment to us is so great that He is willing to do all these just so that we may be reunited with Him in perfect love. This is the commitment that God has given to His part of the covenant that He had established with us. But a covenant is a two-way process, and thus we too need to give our part to the covenant.

How do we do this, brethren? Perhaps we should look at the examples of the saint whose life is a good barometer and example to follow in this regard, namely St. Thomas Becket, or St. Thomas of Canterbury, the Archbishop of Canterbury and therefore the Primate of England who lived and worked at about eight hundred years ago, at the time of the Medieval age Europe.

St. Thomas Becket was once the Chancellor of the Realm, the highest political office equivalent to that of today’s Prime Minister and also a good friend of the king of England at that time, king Henry. For a long time, St. Thomas Becket lived a life of privilege, of honour and worldly glory, with all the things that were made available to him because of his esteemed position.

All this changed when the king appointed him as the Archbishop of Canterbury, the highest position in the Church within the realm of the English king, with jurisdiction over the other English bishops, priests and also all of the laity. Such an esteemed position was bestowed on St. Thomas Becket by the king with the hope that he would be able to rein the Church that the king will gain better cooperation from a Church controlled by his own confidant.

Yet, St. Thomas Becket received the revelation of the Faith as he embarked on his new duty, and he wholeheartedly devoted himself to the mission he had been entrusted with. He took his new position of responsibility very seriously, and instead of championing the cause of the king as the king had intended when he appointed St. Thomas Becket as the Primate of England, the fact was completely contrary to the desires of the king.

He opposed the king and the nobles in many occasions, defending the rights of the Church and the faith, and also chastised certain nobles for their wicked ways and called for their repentance. Not even opposition and threats from the nobles and all those who had been negatively affected by St. Thomas Becket’s works could stop him from devoting himself completely to God’s works.

In the end, the nobles with the complicity from the king murdered him in a cold-blooded assassination when St. Thomas Becket celebrated the Mass in his own chapel. The assassination was immediately condemned by the Church and by the people, and those involved had to undergo painful penitential efforts before they were allowed to return to the Church, and St. Thomas Becket was universally recognised as a saint for his hard works and efforts.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, all of us should be inspired by his examples, and we should redouble our efforts and commit ourselves anew to the Lord. May all of us be able to give ourselves more and more to God our Lord and Father, and may He bless us and keep us always in His love. God bless us all. Amen.

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Tuesday, 29 December 2015 : Fifth Day within Octave of Christmas, Memorial of St. Thomas Becket, Bishop and Martyr (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Luke 2 : 22-35

When the day came for the purification according to the law of Moses, they brought the Baby up to Jerusalem, to present Him to the Lord, as it is written in the Law of the Lord : Every firstborn male shall be consecrated to God. And they offered a sacrifice, as ordered in the Law of the Lord : a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.

There lived in Jerusalem at this time a very upright and devout man named Simeon; the Holy Spirit was in him. He looked forward to the time when the Lord would comfort Israel, and he had been assured, by the Holy Spirit, that he would not die before seeing the Messiah of the Lord.

So he was led into the Temple by the Holy Spirit at the time the parents brought the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the Law. Simeon took the Child in his arms, and blessed God, saying, “Now, o Lord, You can dismiss Your servant in peace, for You have fulfilled Your word and my eyes have seen Your salvation, which You display for all the people to see. Here is the Light You will reveal to the nations, and the glory of Your people Israel.”

His father and mother wondered at what was said about the Child. Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary, His mother, “Know this : your Son is a Sign, a Sign established for the falling and rising of many in Israel, a sign of contradiction; and a sword will pierce your own soul, so that, out of many hearts, thoughts may be revealed.”

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Tuesday, 29 December 2015 : Fifth Day within Octave of Christmas, Memorial of St. Thomas Becket, Bishop and Martyr (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 95 : 1-2a, 2b-3, 5b-6

Sing to the Lord a new song, sing to the Lord, all the earth! Sing to the Lord, bless His Name.

Proclaim His salvation day after day. Recall His glory among the nations, tell all the peoples His wonderful deeds.

But YHVH is the One Who made the heavens. Splendour and majesty go before Him; power and glory fill His sanctuary.

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Tuesday, 29 December 2015 : Fifth Day within Octave of Christmas, Memorial of St. Thomas Becket, Bishop and Martyr (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

1 John 2 : 3-11

How can we know that we know Him? If we fulfil His commands. If you say, “I know Him,” but do not fulfil His commands, you are a liar and the truth is not in you. But if you keep His word, God’s love is made complete in you. This is how we know that we are in Him : he who claims to live in Him must live as He lived.

My dear friends, I am not writing you a new commandment, but reminding you of an old one, one you had from the beginning. This old commandment is the word you have heard. But, in a way, I give it as a new commandment that is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true Light already shines.

If you claim to be in the light but hate your brother, you are still in darkness. If you love your brothers and sisters, you remain in the light and nothing in you will make you fall. But if you hate your brother you are in the dark and walk in darkness without knowing where you go, for the darkness has blinded you.