holy men

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Wednesday, 29 December 2021 : 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 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.

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Thursday, 23 December 2021 : 4th Week of Advent, Memorial of St. John of Kanty, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day as we are almost at the end of the Advent season and the start of the Christmas celebrations, through what we have heard from the readings of the Sacred Scriptures, we are all called to reflect on the life, work and faith of St. John the Baptist, whom the Lord had sent into this world just before His coming and revelation to the world, to prepare His way and to proclaim His coming to everyone, so that all may know of the Lord’s salvation.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of the prophet Malachi, we heard the words of the Lord revealing to His people that He would send His messenger ahead of Him to prepare the way for His own coming. This was a prophecy of the coming of God’s Messiah, the Saviour Whom He has promised to all of His people for a very long time. And the coming of this Messiah would be preceded by a Herald, the one sent to prepare the way for the coming of the Saviour. This Herald is none other than St. John the Baptist.

St. John the Baptist came into this world to prepare the way for the Lord, which happened through the miraculous pregnancy of Elizabeth, who was Mary’s relative, and that happened despite Elizabeth having been in an advanced age and had been barren, unable to bear a child at all. The Angel of the Lord appeared to Zechariah, his father in the Temple and proclaimed to him the Good News, that the son he would soon bear through his wife Elizabeth would be the one prophesied to proclaim the coming of the salvation of God.

He was born into this world and was dedicated to God from his infancy and youth, to be the servant of God Most High, and became the instrument through whom God prepared the revelation of His great plan of salvation to all of us. God sent St. John the Baptist into the midst of His people to call them all to repentance, to call them to remember their sins and wickedness, and resolve to overcome all those evil and wicked deeds that they had committed. The Lord called on all of them to embrace His mercy and love, and through his baptism, St. John the Baptist prepared the hearts and minds of many to welcome the Lord.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, having been reminded in the same manner, as we are all now about to celebrate Christmas, have we prepared ourselves well in order to be ready to welcome the Lord, the One Whom we are celebrating this Christmas for, into our hearts and minds? Or have we instead been too busy and distracted by the many concerns, the many busy commitments and tight schedules we have, our work and preoccupations that we ended up forgetting God, ignoring and sidelining Him in our busy lives and shutting Him out from ourselves.

Then, many of us have also been too distracted with the many distractions and temptations of the secular Christmas, and how it has been celebrated all around us. Many people have forgotten the true reason and meaning of Christmas, and this sadly include many of those who have called themselves as Christians. We do not have to look far, brothers and sisters in Christ. For example, let us all just look at ourselves and our attitudes towards the Lord and our faith in Him. How many of us can confidently say that we have truly devoted ourselves to Him?

Today, all of us should spend some time to reflect on how we can be better disciples and followers of our Lord, in living our faith in a more genuine and committed manner in our lives. Let us all also look for inspiration from the saint whose feast we celebrate today, namely that of St. John of Kanty, also known as St. John Cantius, who was a Polish priest and theologian renowned for his great piety and dedication to the Lord. He was involved in theological teachings and many other works among the people of God.

But what is most remembered from his actions were his compassionate nature and the efforts he put in reaching out to the poor and the people suffering all around him in his community. He also helped to support the students in the university he was teaching in, providing support and assistance whenever and wherever he could, while at the same time doing his best to do many other good works for the Lord and His Church. St. John Cantius devoted his life to follow the Lord and to live out the Christian faith in his daily living.

Are we able to do the same too, brothers and sisters in Christ? Let us all reflect on this, and spend the remaining time on these last two days of the Advent season to reorientate our lives if we have not yet done so thus far, so that we may once again focus our attention and our lives towards the Lord. May God be with us all too, and may He strengthen us in our resolve and faith to live our lives ever more faithfully in the service of His greater glory. Amen.

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Thursday, 23 December 2021 : 4th Week of Advent, Memorial of St. John of Kanty, Priest (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Luke 1 : 57-66

When the time came for Elizabeth, she gave birth to a son. Her neighbours and relatives heard that the merciful Lord had done a wonderful thing for her, and they rejoiced with her. When, on the eighth day, they came to attend the circumcision of the child, they wanted to name him Zechariah after his father. But his mother said, “Not so; he shall be called John.”

They said to her, “But no one in your family has that name!” and they asked the father, by means of signs, for the name he wanted to give him. Zechariah asked for a writing tablet, and wrote on it, “His name is John,” and they were very surprised. Immediately Zechariah could speak again, and his first words were in praise of God.

A holy fear came on all in the neighbourhood, and throughout the hill country of Judea the people talked about these events. All who heard of it pondered in their minds, and wondered, “What will this child be?” For they understood that the hand of the Lord was with him.

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Thursday, 23 December 2021 : 4th Week of Advent, Memorial of St. John of Kanty, Priest (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 24 : 4-5ab, 8-9, 10 and 14

Teach me Your ways, o Lord; make known to me Your paths. Guide me in Your truth and instruct me, for You are my God, my Saviour.

Good and upright, the Lord teaches sinners His way. He teaches the humble of heart and guides them in what is right.

The ways of the Lord are love and faithfulness for those who keep His covenant and precepts. The Lord gives advice to those who revere Him and makes His covenant known to them.

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Thursday, 23 December 2021 : 4th Week of Advent, Memorial of St. John of Kanty, Priest (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Malachi 3 : 1-4, 23-24

Now I am sending My messenger ahead of Me to clear the way; then suddenly the Lord for Whom you long will enter the sanctuary. The Envoy of the covenant which you so greatly desire already comes, says YHVH of hosts. Who can bear the day of His coming and remain standing when He appears? For He will be like fire in the foundry and like the lye used for bleaching.

He will be as a refiner or a fuller. He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver. So YHVH will have priests who will present the offering as it should be. Then YHVH will accept with pleasure the offering of Judah and Jerusalem, as in former days.

I am going to send you the prophet Elijah before the day of YHVH comes, for it will be a great and terrible day. He will reconcile parents with their children, and the children with their parents, so that I may not have to curse this land when I come.

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Tuesday, 14 December 2021 : 3rd Week of Advent, Memorial of St. John of the Cross, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are called to remember our duty and responsibility to listen to the Lord, to obey Him and follow His ways and teachings. The Lord has shown us all the way, and He calls on us to follow Him that we may become His people, His disciples and followers. And through His truth, He shall gather us all into His presence and free us from the fetters and chains of our bondage to sin and evil.

In our first reading today, as we heard from the Book of the prophet Zephaniah, in that occasion, God spoke to His people through the prophet who lived during the time of King Josiah of Judah, one of the last kings of Judah who happened to be also the last among the righteous kings. At that time, so that we can understand better the context of the words of the Lord, the people of God had been scattered and divided among the nations, as the former northern kingdom of Israel had been crushed and destroyed, while the southern kingdom of Judah had gone through many periods of difficulties and defeats against their enemies.

And all these happened because the people had not always stayed faithful to the Lord, as their kings and lords led them to sin and disobey the Lord, false prophets and teachings going rampant all over the whole land. They had strayed from the guidance shown by the prophets and the messengers of God, and they had turned a deaf ear against those who had called on them to return to the Lord and to repent from their sins. They had not heeded the Lord’s call that He had made repeatedly calling on them to return to Him with faith.

That was why God smote His people who had been rebellious against Him, that all those who disobeyed Him knew what it meant for them to go against His will and for walking in the path of wickedness and evil. While God is always loving, compassionate and merciful, but we must not forget that He is also a just God Who upholds justice and truth. No sin and evil can stand before Him unaccounted for and unless we have sought Him for forgiveness and mercy, then we will need to account for our sins and wickedness.

Yet, He still loved us nonetheless and still wanted all of us to be reunited and reconciled with Him, as He fulfilled His promises made through the prophets, promising all of us that salvation would come in His Messiah, Whom He later revealed to be none other than His own Son, Himself descended in the flesh and taking up the form and existence of Man. In Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, God has extended to us the loving hands and outreach of His ever generous love, compassion and mercy. Despite our constant stubbornness and delinquency, our persistence to sin and disobey Him, God still wants us to come back to Him.

That is why in our Gospel passage today we heard the Lord speaking to the people using the parable of a father and his two sons, reminding all of us that what is important for God is for us to follow Him, in not just words but also actions, as there is no point for us to speak of faith in the Lord and yet in our actions, we are not doing what someone faithful to God should be doing. And without God being truly present in our hearts, without true and genuine love for the Lord, then our faith is dead, meaningless and empty. We are no better than hypocrites.

Today, all of us should follow the great examples set by St. John of the Cross, whose feast day we are celebrating this day. St. John of the Cross was a famous co-founder of the Discalced Carmelites together with St. Teresa of Avila, another great saint of the Church. They worked together and did their best to reform the then corrupted and divergent Carmelite order, to return to the original designs and aims of the order’s founders and eliminate the excesses and creeping worldly corruptions.

St. John of the Cross was also a great figure in the Counter Reformation, in his efforts and works to bring many of those who have fallen to the sway of heresy and false teachings to return to the Mother Church. Through his writings, numerous theological works, sharings of his mystical experiences, preaching and tireless dedication, gradually more and more of the faithful began to be touched by his great piety and devotion to God, and many others who have erred and lost their path came back to the Lord with repentance.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all be inspired to follow the Lord, to be faithful and obedient to Him as St. John of the Cross had done, that is with genuine faith and devotion, and not with false and empty promises and merely superficial faith. Let us truly love the Lord, our most compassionate, loving and patient God, Who has done everything to reach out to us and to save us all from our fated destruction because of our many sins. Let us all look up to His love and generous mercy, and dedicate ourselves anew to Him, now and always. Amen.

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Tuesday, 14 December 2021 : 3rd Week of Advent, Memorial of St. John of the Cross, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Matthew 21 : 28-32

At that time, Jesus went on to say, “What do you think of this? A man had two sons. He went to the first and said to him, ‘Son, go and work today in my vineyard.’ And the son answered, ‘I do not want to.’ But later he thought better of it and went.”

“Then the father went to his other son and gave him the same command. This son replied, ‘I will go, sir,’ but he did not go. Which of the two did what the father wanted?” They answered, “The first.” And Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you : the publicans and the prostitutes are ahead of you on the way to the kingdom of heaven. For John came to show you the way of goodness, and you did not believe him; but the publicans and the prostitutes did. You were witnesses of this, but you neither repented nor believed him.”

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Tuesday, 14 December 2021 : 3rd Week of Advent, Memorial of St. John of the Cross, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 33 : 2-3, 6-7, 17-18, 19 and 23

I will bless the Lord all my days; His praise will be ever on my lips. My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the lowly hear and rejoice.

They who look to Him are radiant with joy, their faces never clouded with shame. When the poor cry out, the Lord hears and saves them from distress.

But His face is set against the wicked to destroy their memory from the earth. The Lord hears the cry of the righteous and rescues them from all their troubles.

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves the distraught. But the Lord will redeem the life of His servants; none of those who trust in Him will be doomed.

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Tuesday, 14 December 2021 : 3rd Week of Advent, Memorial of St. John of the Cross, Priest and Doctor of the Church (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Zephaniah 3 : 1-2, 9-13

Woe to the rebellious, the defiled, the city that oppresses. She did not pay attention to the call nor accept the correction; she did not trust YHVH nor did she approach her God.

At that time I will give truthful lips to the pagan nations that all of them may call on the Name of YHVH and serve Him with the same zeal. From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia they will bring offerings to Me. On that day you will no longer be ashamed of all your deeds when you were unfaithful to Me; I will have removed from your midst the conceited and arrogant and My holy mountain will no longer be for you a pretext for boasting.

I will leave within you a poor and meek people who seek refuge in God. The remnant of Israel will not act unjustly nor will they speak falsely, nor will deceitful words be found in their mouths. They will eat and rest with none to threaten them.

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Saturday, 11 December 2021 : 2nd Week of Advent, Memorial of Pope St. Damasus I, Pope (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Popes)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Lord in the Sacred Scriptures, we are all called to reflect on the lives of two great servants of God of the past, both of whom had dedicated themselves to the Lord all their lives, enduring great trials and challenges in serving the Lord and facing persecutions and oppressions all the while doing God’s works. We should reflect on their lives this Advent that we too may become more faithful by following their examples and faith.

First of all, the prophet Elijah, one of those two great servants of God was mentioned in our first reading today from the Book of the prophet Sirach. The prophet Elijah was a great prophet and servant of God sent to the northern kingdom of Israel, to their king and people, to remind them of God and their obligation to serve God and abandon their sinful worship of the pagan gods and idols. Elijah laboured for many years, preaching God’s message and performing miracles among the people and their king who were stubborn in opposing God.

As mentioned in the Book of Sirach, Elijah performed many wonderful deeds, such as bringing God’s retribution in the years of famine and drought that happened during the reign of king Ahab for his wickedness and the Israelites’ constant refusals to follow the Lord, and then the moment when he stood up alone against the four hundred and fifty priests of Baal, the Canaanite pagan idol at Mount Carmel. By the power of God, Elijah called down fire from Heaven that showed that God is indeed the true God and Creator of all, and defeating all those priests of Baal before the people of God.

Yet, at that time, just as Elijah performed many wonderful deeds, he also faced a lot of tough experiences as he was often rejected by the king and the people, and had many enemies among them, even though they had witnessed everything that God had performed and done through Elijah. He had to flee into exile and was on the run from the land of Israel because of this, on more than one occasion. He had to work and labour alone amidst the often hostile populace and encountered a lot of challenges along the way.

Elijah was then later on taken up to Heaven in a flaming chariot sent by God, as witnessed by his disciple and successor, the prophet Elisha. All these were mentioned by the prophet Sirach as well. Then, he was again mentioned by the Lord Jesus in our Gospel passage today, as one of His disciples asked Him regarding the coming of the prophet Elijah, and how he had actually come then. It was believed among the Jewish people, the descendants of the Israelites, that the prophet Elijah, who was taken up into Heaven and therefore did not die, would come again to proclaim the Messiah or the Saviour of God.

This was a reference to St. John the Baptist, the one who was the Herald of the Messiah, the one who prepared the path for the Lord Jesus as predicted by the prophets. The Lord mentioned how John was the fulfilment of those prophecies, and indeed, his works and ministry had prepared the path for the Lord and His coming into this world. St. John the Baptist had often been compared with the prophet Elijah because both of them had suffered persecutions for their works and both of them lived in a similar manner, travelling in the wilderness, proclaiming repentance and the coming of God’s salvation.

Some said that St. John the Baptist was indeed the same prophet Elijah sent into the world to finish the works that he had once initiated. And others said that St. John the Baptist had the spirit of the prophet Elijah, which was not the same as being the same person, but that both by that extension had the same ministry among the people of God, the same approach and efforts. And regardless which one is the real case, St. John the Baptist and the prophet Elijah both had laboured hard, sweat, blood and endured sufferings for the sake of the glory of God.

Today, we have yet another great servant of God who dedicated his life to Him, and who can also become our role model and inspiration in life. Pope St. Damasus I was the Pope, and therefore leader of the Universal Church during the important years and time of the Church when there were numerous converts and more and more coming to believe in God. At that same time, there were also a lot of divisions and disagreements in the Church, which Pope St. Damasus worked very hard to overcome as the leader of all God’s faithful people.

Pope St. Damasus himself became Pope during a turbulent time of a succession crisis following the death of the previous reigning Pope due to interference from the secular ruling class and nobles of Rome. There was a contested election and two rival Popes were elected, in a heated campaign before Pope St. Damasus eventually prevailed against his rival. This rival himself belonged to the heretical party, the Arians, who had wrecked a lot of damage and divisions in the Church for many decades up to that time.

Pope St. Damasus was instrumental in leading the charge against the heretics and all of their false teachings, devoting much of his time and efforts to overcome the falsehoods spread by those who claimed to teach the truth of God, but in reality were spreading false ideas. He also helped the creation of the Biblical canon especially in the Western, Latin half of the Church by his works with St. Jerome, whom he tasked with the compilation and the proper translation of the Greek Septuagint Bible into Latin, which would become the renowned Latin Vulgate Bible.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, in Pope St. Damasus, his life and works we can see how those who dedicated their lives to serve God often had to face a lot of challenges in their mission, and many had to even face prison, suffering and death, like what the prophet Elijah and St. John the Baptist endured, the latter which suffered martyrdom at the hands of King Herod, for his courage in defending the truth of God and the sanctity of His teachings and ways. Having heard of these great examples, are we now more encouraged to live our lives faithfully in accordance with God’s truth?

Let us all seek to glorify the Lord in each and every moments of our lives, that we may indeed be ever faithful in our every actions, words and deeds so that through us, through our contributions no matter how small they may be, we will always bring glory to the Name of the Lord. May God bless us always, now and forevermore. Amen.