Holy Day of the Lord

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Sunday, 8 January 2017 : Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 71 : 1-2, 7-8, 10-11, 12-13

O God, endow the King with Your justice, the Royal Son with Your righteousness. May He rule Your people justly and defend the rights of the lowly.

Justice will flower in His days, and peace abound till the moon be no more. For He reigns from sea to sea, from the River to the ends of the earth.

The kings of Tarshish and the islands render Him tribute, the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts, all kings bow down to Him, and all nations serve Him.

He delivers the needy who call on Him, the afflicted with no one to help them. His mercy is upon the weak and the poor, He saves the life of the poor.

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Sunday, 8 January 2017 : Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White
Isaiah 60 : 1-6

Arise, shine, for your Light has come. The Glory of YHVH rises upon you. Night still covers the earth and gloomy clouds veil the peoples, but YHVH now rises and over you His glory appears. Nations will come to your Light and kings to the brightness of your dawn.

Lift up your eyes round about and see : they are all gathered and come to you, your sons from afar, your daughters tenderly carried. This sight will make your face radiant, your heart throbbing and full; the riches of the sea will be turned to you, the wealth of the nations will come to you.

A flood of camels will cover you, caravans from Midian and Ephah. Those from Sheba will come, bringing with them gold and incense, all singing in praise of YHVH.

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Sunday, 1 January 2017 : Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God, Theotokos, World Day of Prayer for Peace (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, the first one in the Gregorian calendar, the year 2017 of our Lord Jesus Christ, two millennia after He was born into the world as our Saviour, we celebrate together the New Year’s Day, but even more importantly as Christians, we also honour and glorify Mary, the blessed Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has been honoured by many titles, but all of which stemmed from the very one title that made her deserved all the others.

And it is this title which we all celebrate today, that Mary as the Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ is the Mother of God, or Theotokos in the Greek language, coming from the word Theos or God in Greek, and also Tokos or Mother in Greek. The equivalent term in Latin is Dei Genetrix, both terms of which have been in use since the earliest days of the Church. It is this very special role that Mary played in the history of our salvation that made her so venerable throughout the history of the Church.

If we want to understand the significance of today’s celebration of Mary as the Mother of God, then we must look back long ago into the early days of the Church, up to the time of the first Ecumenical Council of the Church held in the city of Nicaea in the year 325 AD. During that time and in the earlier days of the Church, there were many people proclaiming different teachings from what the Church had passed down through the Apostles and the saints, the bishops and the priests who were their successors.

In that Ecumenical Council of Nicaea, the successors of the Apostles all worked and discussed together guided by the Holy Spirit, and most of them but a few rejected soundly the heresy of Arianism, as propagated by the heretic Arius, claiming that Jesus as Son of God was not equal with the Father, and was a mere creation by the Father. And there were also more extreme heresies that claimed that Jesus was mere Man, and not God.

The Nicene Creed that we recite at every celebration of the Holy Mass is a reminder of the strong stance that the faithful servants of God took against all these false teachings. And because Jesus is the Son of God, the One Who is God, and Who was with God from before the beginning of time, His mother can therefore also be called as the Mother of God.

And Mary was formally accorded with that most honourable title at the Third Ecumenical Council held in Ephesus in the year 431 AD, a century after the Ecumenical Council at Nicaea. There were the heresies of Nestorianism and others who claimed that the natures of God and Man in Jesus our Lord was separate, and that Jesus Christ as Man Who walked in this world is existentially and really distinct from the Divine Word of God He claimed to be.

Our faith taught us that Jesus is both God and Man at the same time, possessing the two distinct natures of God and Man, and yet they were united in the person of Christ, and cannot be separated one from the other, although distinct. Those who upheld the heresy claimed that because Jesus Christ was merely a Man and not God, then Mary is merely just the mother of a Man, no different from any other people, or from any other mothers.

This was what was rejected by the Church fathers and the faithful bishops and priests, who honoured Mary formally as the Theotokos, Dei Genetrix, the Mother of God and Lord of all the Universe. It was a sound and complete rejection of the false teachings of those who proposed that Jesus Christ was merely Man and not God. Thus Mary as the Theotokos, as the Mother of God is closely tied to our faith itself, for if we believe that Mary is the Mother of God, then we also believe in the divinity of Christ.

But then one might ask, why then the great honour we have given to Mary? Why is it that the Church had devoted so much time and effort in order to venerate her and glorify her? There are indeed some who criticised and even opposed the Church and our faith because they thought that we as Catholics and as Christians worship Mary just as if she is a goddess. But this was exactly where they got it wrong, for Mary is not a deity in her own right, and we honour her above all other created beings because of the virtue of her Son.

In the kingdom of Israel, as with many other kingdoms, while the king or the monarch is the highest authority in the entire realm, whose authority is absolute and great, but there was also another person whose presence, authority and advice were respected by the entire kingdom, and also by the king himself. And that person is the queen mother, the mother of the king.

And therefore, since Jesus our Lord, as both a Man born from His earthly mother by the power of the Holy Spirit, and also God as the Divine Word incarnate, and because of that, He is God, so as God is the King of all kings, Ruler and Master of the entire universe, hence His own mother is honoured as the Queen Mother of heaven and earth, of all creation. It was not by her own virtue, but because of the virtue of her Son, Christ the King of kings.

The fourth commandment in the Law of God or the Ten Commandments says, “Honour your father and mother.” And Jesus our Lord honours His mother and father, obeying them in all they had taught him, from the guidance of St. Joseph, the foster-father of our Lord, to the love and care of Mary, His mother, whom He had then elevated above every other men and women, and in our faith, we believe that He even granted her the singular exception that she would not suffer death.

And that is what we believe in the Blessed Virgin Mary, assumed into the glory of heaven, and we believe that she is there now seated at the right hand of her Son, as the great advisor and intercessor for our sake, at the head of the company of saints and martyrs, all of whom are our intercessors before God. They all pray for our sake and intercede on our behalf, beseeching that God will show mercy on us sinners still living and walking in this world.

That is precisely why we venerate Mary, we praise and glorify her, as because of her, her obedience and commitment to fulfilling to completion the Lord’s plan of salvation for us mankind, she had brought upon us the Saviour of the world. And our Lord Himself from the cross had entrusted her to us, just as at the same time, He has also entrusted all of us to her care, when He entrusted her to the care of His Apostle John, and vice versa.

Mary also loves each and every one of us like a mother, for indeed she is our mother. If Jesus has counted us among His brethren, as His brothers and sisters, then should we not then receive the same care, love and tenderness that our Lord has received from Mary? She is our greatest intercessor before her Son, and that is why we often ask her to intercede for our sake. We do not pray to her or ask her to perform miracles for our sake. Instead, we ask her to petition her Son that He will help us in our time of need.

Take for example the time when Jesus performed His first miracle in Cana, during a wedding when the bride and bridegroom had run out of wine for the guests. Mary was told of the situation, and she told her Son Jesus to help the wedding couple from embarrassment. Jesus was reluctant but His mother still wanted to help them, and therefore, she told the assistants to follow exactly as Jesus told them. In the end, He did listen to her plea for help, and thus performed His first miracle there at Cana. Jesus will listen to His own loving mother.

At the same time, not only that she intercedes for us, but she is also our role model in faith, for it was her obedience to the will of God despite all the uncertainties and fears she had, which had allowed her to persevere on throughout her life and throughout the time when she had Jesus with her. Otherwise, she would not have been able to endure the great pain of having to witness her own Son condemned to die like a criminal on the cross, rejected and humiliated by all. She never left the side of her Son, no matter what.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as all of us gather together to celebrate the Mother of our Lord and God, Jesus Christ, Mary most holy and blessed among all women, and indeed among all creation, let us all spend some time to reflect within ourselves, within our hearts. Are we able to follow in her footsteps and live our lives as Mary had lived hers? Are we able to commit ourselves to the Lord in the same manner as Mary had committed her whole life to her Son?

Today, each and every one of us Christians are challenged, just as embark and begin on this New Year, to make that important resolution. For many of us, we often think that resolution means that we want to desire for success, glory and fame in the year to come. But what about aiming to be a better disciple and follower of our Lord? Should we not rather seek the true treasure of our life rather than what is temporary and perishable?

We should be resolved to devote ourselves more as we open this new year. We should begin the new year not with excessive parties and celebrations, but with stronger resolve and faith, and to live every day of our lives from now on, that in all the things we say, act and do, we will always proclaim the Lord to all those who see us, witness us and hear our works.

Are we ready to do this, brothers and sisters in Christ? Today we also mark the occasion of the World Day of Prayer for Peace, and we should indeed reflect on the state of our world today. In the past year there had been many acts of injustice, of greed, of hatred upon one another, all of which had caused great pain and sufferings among us.

Can we be resolved to champion peace, harmony, forgiveness and mercy among ourselves, within our own respective communities and societies? Are we able to make a difference in the lives of our brethren? We do not have to make ambitious plans, but what we really need is to begin from our own lives, and from our own families. Let us devote more time this year to do acts of love and mercy, especially to our brethren in need.

Let us all look upon Mary as our example, as our guide, for the saying is indeed true, “To Jesus through Mary,” which highlights to us that through Mary, the mother of our Lord, and who is also our own loving mother, she will guide us all to reach out to her Son, and therefore through her, the Co-Redemptrix of us mankind, God her Son may exercise His mercy on us, and we may be forgiven from our trespasses, and one day be found worthy to be together with Mary and all the saints, in the holy presence of God forevermore. May God be with us and guide us through all of our endeavours. Mary, Mother of God, Theotokos, pray for us now and to the hour of our death. Amen.

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Sunday, 1 January 2017 : Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God, Theotokos, World Day of Prayer for Peace (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White
Luke 2 : 16-21

So the shepherds came hurriedly, and found Mary and Joseph, and the Baby lying in the manger. On seeing Him, they related what they had been told about the Child, and all were astonished on hearing the shepherds.

As for Mary, she treasured all these words, and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds then returned, giving glory and praise to God for all they had heard and seen, just as the Angels had told them.

On the eighth day the circumcision of the Baby had to be performed; He was named Jesus, the Name the Angel had given Him before He was conceived.

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Sunday, 1 January 2017 : Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God, Theotokos, World Day of Prayer for Peace (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White
Galatians 4 : 4-7

But when the fullness of time came, God sent His Son. He came born of woman and subject to the Law, in order to redeem the subjects of the Law, that we might receive adoption as children of God.

And because you are children, God has sent into your hearts the Spirit of His Son which cries out : Abba! That is, Father! You yourself are no longer a slave but a son or daughter, and yours is the inheritance by God’s grace.

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Sunday, 1 January 2017 : Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God, Theotokos, World Day of Prayer for Peace (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 66 : 2-3, 5, 6 and 8

May God be gracious and bless us; may He let His face shine upon us, that Your way be known on earth and Your salvation among the nations.

May the countries be glad and sing for joy, for You rule the peoples with justice and guide the nations of the world.

May the peoples praise You, o God, may all the peoples praise You! May God bless us and be revered, to the very ends of the earth.

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Sunday, 1 January 2017 : Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God, Theotokos, World Day of Prayer for Peace (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White
Numbers 6 : 22-27

Then YHVH spoke to Moses saying, “Speak to Aaron and his sons and say to them : This is how you shall bless the people of Israel; you shall say : May YHVH bless you and keep you! May YHVH let His face shine on you, and be gracious to you! May YHVH look kindly on you, and give you His peace!”

“In that way they put My Name on the people of Israel and I will bless them.”

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Sunday, 25 December 2016 : Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord, Christmas Day (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this moment has finally come, the time we have been waiting for during the season of Advent. For today we celebrate the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ, the moment when our Lord Jesus Christ, our God and King was born unto us in Bethlehem, in the city of David through His mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary.

This is a day full of joy, not because of the celebrations and festivities themselves, but rather because of what happened on this day two millennia ago, all of us can rejoice with an understanding that darkness and destruction will no longer be our fate, but instead the new path filled with hope towards salvation and eternal life in God. And Jesus made all of that possible because of His entry into this world, and later on, because of what He had done in His life.

And the Scripture readings for Christmas made it all clear to us, Who He is, Why He came into the world, and what He was going to do in order to bring His salvation upon us. And understanding all these is very important for us as Christians, as otherwise, when others ask us the simple question, what is the significance of Christmas, we will not be able to answer them and we indeed should feel very ashamed in that situation.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, what is it that made us all very special compared to all the other beliefs and religions around the world? What is it that made it to be the one and only true Faith? That is because what we believe is not just a myth or a belief founded upon things that are unreal and imaginary, but on things that are factual and there had been many witnesses testifying to the events of what have formed our Faith to be as what we know it today.

And ultimately, that is because our God has done what many others would think to be impossible and demeaning, that is for God to become Man, meaning that He would lower Himself to become one of us mankind, to become one of His own creatures even though He is the All Powerful and Almighty Creator of the whole universe. Imagine a great king humbling himself to act like one of his servants, and not just any servants, but as the lowest of his slaves.

And many would think that this is something strange that God had done, but essentially, that is what our faith is about, that we all believe in the one and only True God, Who loves each and every one of us so much so that He was willing to go through all those ordeals for our sake. It was what St. John wrote in his Gospel, that as Jesus said to Nicodemus, that God so loved the world, that is us all mankind, that He sent us His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, into the world, so that through Him we will not perish but instead have life.

It is only in our faith alone that God, our Lord Jesus Christ has willingly come down upon us, to be one like us and taking up the form of our flesh and to share in our human nature that He has become the Son of Man just as He is the Son of God. In the first chapter of St. John’s Gospel, what was usually known as the Last Gospel said at the ending of each Mass, lies the very essence of this belief in the Incarnation of the Divine Word.

For the Divine Word of God, Equal and Part of God, as one of the Holy Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, all part of one and only true God, has been incarnated into the flesh of Man, by the will of God and the power of the Holy Spirit. This very act is an act of tremendous love, that He was willing to lay down everything for our sake, out of His love for us.

St. Paul in his letter to the Church and the faithful in Rome spoke about how very few people will want to die for another person, more so if the person is a bad person. A good person might have merited such things, but sinners and delinquents would normally be shunned and not be considered worthy to have someone to lay down his or her life for his or her sake.

And yet, that was what Christ precisely had done. He came into the world as a King, but not as a proud and boastful King. Instead, He came as a servant King, Who led by example and lived humbly, and did all He can to save His beloved people from certain destruction because of their sins. And He did so by laying down His own life, that by His death on the cross, He may unite us to Himself that we share in His death, dying to our own sins, and be resurrected in glory as He Himself had risen from the dead.

That is why when we celebrate Christmas, there are three very important things that we have to take note of. First of all, is the meaning of Christmas itself. What are we celebrating in Christmas? Is it our holiday season and our travels or trips around the world? Is it our merrymaking and the plans for our holidays? Or is it the gifts we are about to give and which we are also about to receive?

Christmas is about Christ, and we should not forget about Him as we celebrate. He ought to be the centre of our joy and our celebrations, for without Him and His coming into the world, there can be no hope or joy for us. It is because of Him that we now have the chance to be joyful and to be happy, because in Him is our hope, and He has shown us the salvation that He brought upon us.

And secondly, then, we have to understand that Christmas itself is not complete and is meaningless without Easter and the celebrations of the Passion of our Lord preceding it. They are both intimately intertwined together, and one cannot exist without the other. Without Christmas, there is no God Who have become Man, and therefore there can be no crucifixion and the Passion of our Lord, and therefore, no resurrection and thus no hope for us.

But without Easter, then Christmas will be like celebrating any other birthdays, and there would be nothing special and no remarkable event in Christmas. It would be just celebrating the birthday of someone and nothing more. It is what we celebrate during the Holy Week and Easter that made everything we rejoice about in Christmas to come to its full realisation, because we are celebrating our God Who first willingly became Man for our sake, revealed to us His love, and then finally willingly died on the cross for us, that all of us who believe in Him, shared in His death and resurrection may be saved through Him.

And last of all, remember that Christ came into this world, despite being the King of kings and Master of the whole universe, but He came humbly born into a family of a carpenter, and all the inns of Bethlehem were full, and no one had the space to welcome Him. He was rejected and ignored, and only a dirty stable fit for animals was available for Him. This is our Lord, Whose love for us have given us salvation and hope, born into a small, dirty stable.

All of these are reminders for us that we rejoice this Christmas not because of ourselves, but truly it is because of Christ. It is because of Him that we have received the hope of everlasting life, and freedom from all the bonds of sin that had enslaved us since the days of our forefathers. And we cannot be so merry and happy that we forget about our brethren who lack the joy we have, those who are hungry, poor and without the means to even live comfortably, and less still to celebrate.

Yet, there are many people who still celebrate Christmas as best as they could despite their circumstances. Some had to celebrate in secret, fearing persecution by those who are opposed to the faith in places where being a Christian equals a death sentence or great suffering. Some others have no money, or no food on their table, but they shared whatever they had, and still tried to be joyful on this special occasion in memory of our Lord’s birth into the world.

Let us all, therefore, brethren, as Christians challenge ourselves to celebrate Christmas as it should be celebrated, not with excessive and expensive merry-making, but use it to spend our time with our loved ones, and pray together to the Lord, thanking Him for the love He has shown us in Jesus, and remembering our less fortunate brethren around us. Whatever good graces and blessings God had given us, let us all share with those who have little or none, that our joy may be complete.

May the Lord bless us all and our families, and may He continue to guide us, that in this Christmas season, we may grow ever closer to Him, and be more charitable and loving to one another, remembering that it is Christ’s love which has brought us from the brink of destruction into life anew, blessed by Him. May God bless us all. Amen.

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Sunday, 25 December 2016 : Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord, Christmas Day, Christmas Day Mass (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White
John 1 : 1-18

In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God and the Word was God; He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing came to be. Whatever has come to be, found life in Him; life, which for human beings, was also light, light that shines in darkness, light that darkness could not overcome.

A man came, sent by God; his name was John. He came to bear witness, as a witness to introduce the Light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the Light, but a witness to introduce the Light; for the Light was coming into the world, the true Light that enlightens everyone. He was in the world, and through Him the world was made, the very world that did not know Him.

He came to His own, yet His own people did not receive Him; but to all who received Him, He empowers to become children of God, for they believe in His Name. These are born, but not by seed, or carnal desire, nor by the will of man : they are born of God.

And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us; and we have seen His glory, the glory of the only Son of the Father : fullness of truth and loving-kindness. John bore witness to Him openly, saying, “This is the One Who comes after me, but He is already ahead of me, for He was before me.”

From His fullness we have all received, favour upon favour. For God had given us the Law through Moses, but Truth and Loving-kindness came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, but God-the-only-Son made Him known : the One, Who is in and with the Father.

Alternative reading (shorter version)
John 1 : 1-5, 9-14

In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God and the Word was God; He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing came to be. Whatever has come to be, found life in Him; life, which for human beings, was also light, light that shines in darkness, light that darkness could not overcome.

For the Light was coming into the world, the true Light that enlightens everyone. He was in the world, and through Him the world was made, the very world that did not know Him.

He came to His own, yet His own people did not receive Him; but to all who received Him, He empowers to become children of God, for they believe in His Name. These are born, but not by seed, or carnal desire, nor by the will of man : they are born of God.

And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us; and we have seen His glory, the glory of the only Son of the Father : fullness of truth and loving-kindness.

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Sunday, 25 December 2016 : Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord, Christmas Day, Christmas Day Mass (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White
Hebrews 1 : 1-6

God has spoken in the past to our ancestors through the prophets, in many different ways, although never completely; but in our times He has spoken definitively to us through His Son. He is the one God appointed Heir of all things, since through Him He unfolded the stages of the world.

He is the Radiance of God’s Glory and bears the stamp of God’s hidden being, so that His powerful Word upholds the universe. And after taking away sin, He took His place at the right hand of the Divine Majesty in heaven. So He is now far superior to Angels just as the Name He received sets Him apart from them.

To what Angel did God say : You are My Son, I have begotten You today? And to what Angel did He promise : I shall be a Father to Him and He will be a Son to Me? On sending His Firstborn to the world, God says : “Let all the Angels adore Him.”