holy missionaries

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Tuesday, 11 June 2024 : 10th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Barnabas, Apostle (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Acts 11 : 21b-26 and Acts 13 : 1-3

A great number believed and turned to the Lord. News of this reached the ears of the Church in Jerusalem, so they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he arrived and saw the manifest signs of God’s favour, he rejoiced and urged them all to remain firmly faithful to the Lord; for he, himself, was a good man, filled with the Holy Spirit and faith. Thus large crowds came to know the Lord.

Then Barnabas went off to Tarsus, to look for Saul; and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year, they had meetings with the Church and instructed many people. It was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians.

There were at Antioch – in the Church which was there – prophets and teachers : Barnabas, Symeon known as Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up with Herod, and Saul. On one occasion, while they were celebrating the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said to them, “Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul to do the work for which I have called them.”

So, after fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them and sent them off.

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Friday, 3 November 2023 : 30th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Martin de Porres, Religious (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Religious)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are all called to do what is right and just in all of our actions, works and deeds. All of us as God’s beloved and holy people are expected and called to do God’s will in each and every moments of our lives, to be exemplary and inspirational to others all around us so that we may indeed bear the truth, love and the Good News of God to many others, who have seen and witnessed our works and lives, and embraced God because of what they have experienced through their interactions and encounter with each and every one of us. And all of these are indeed crucial because these actions and right direction in life will help us in how we may truly be good role models and be truly faithful as Christians in all things, and not merely in name only.

In our first reading today, we heard from the continuation of the Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans, in which the Apostle spoke about the examples of faith which he himself showed, in his persistence to spread the Good News and the truth of God through the efforts and works which he had done, in persisting to do the will of God despite the opposition and all the hardships that he had constantly faced and encountered even from his own people, the Jewish people. Back then, the Jewish authorities, the members of the Sanhedrin, composed of many Sadducees and Pharisees, the elites among the people of God, had mostly opposed the Lord Jesus and His teachings, and persecuted His disciples and followers. Many of the early Christians had to face great persecution and sufferings because of their faith in God.

St. Paul himself was a member of the Pharisees and was in his youth, a very overzealous person, who hunted and persecuted the earliest members of the Church, the early Christians, and made them to suffer very greatly just as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. He was misled by the wrong understanding and interpretation of the Law, and also the misunderstanding and prejudice against Christ and His teachings, which the Pharisees in particular refused to accept because they held on firmly to their version of the Law, while the Sadducees on the other hand was also opposed to because of their firm refusal to believe in supernatural and spiritual aspects of the faith like that of the belief in the Resurrection, the afterlife and the concept of Angels and spirits. In either case, both of these prominent groups of the Jewish leaders and people were opposed to the Lord and to the Christian faith.

But St. Paul saw the errors of his ways, and after having personally encountered the Lord Himself on the way to Damascus, in his zealous persecution of Christians, St. Paul had a thorough and complete change of heart and mind, that he was no longer a persecutor of Christians, and then, at the same time, he was also renewed and reborn into the true path that the Lord has shown him. St. Paul became a new champion and defender of the Christian faith, and henceforth became a great Apostle, spreading the words of God’s truth and also the Good News through his evangelising missions and actions, in his dedication to serve the Lord through various ministries among the many communities of the early Church, and in his numerous letters and Epistles to help clarify the many aspects of the faith to those who have just embraced the Lord.

St. Paul as we heard in our first reading today did not shun his Jewish heritage and origins, and in fact, he praised the Jewish people that he belonged to, as the people whom God had first chosen and called to be His own, and how He had made His Covenant with all of them, with Abraham and his descendants. By mentioning this fact, St. Paul wanted to highlight that ultimately, everyone are called to be God’s disciples and followers, to be part of His flock, embracing His path and truth, and there should not be distinction based on whether one is a Jew or not, as ultimately, what matters is one’s faith and dedication to God, in the manner that He Himself has shown us all, as we heard in our Gospel passage today, in the account of the confrontation and the encounter that the Lord had against the Pharisees in one of His many works and ministries.

In that occasion, the Lord Jesus went to eat in the house of a leading and important Pharisee, and the other Pharisees as mentioned were watching His every moves and actions. There was a man who was suffering from an illness, and based on what we have experienced in the other parts of the Scriptures, it might not be a stretch to suggest and conclude that the person had been brought there in order to test the Lord, that day being the Sabbath day as well, out of all days. The Sabbath day was a day sacred to the Lord and according to the Law of God given to His people through Moses, the people ought not to be working on that day, and instead focus their attention on the Lord and to worship Him. The Pharisees interpreted this most strictly, and were opposed to the Lord Who often carried out His healing and works on the day of the Sabbath.

Thus, in that same occasion again, the Lord asked the Pharisees who were present blatantly, whether it was lawful or not to heal an afflicted person, that is to do a good and virtuous deed on the day of the Sabbath, and He spoke of it with such an authority that the Pharisees assembled there could not refute or respond to Him at all, using examples of how even the Pharisees would do something to help their flock that got into trouble on the Sabbath day, and the Lord healed the suffering man regardless, showing all those bigoted leaders and influential members of the people, the folly of their stubborn upholding of their mistaken and overzealous beliefs, in merely obeying the letter of the Law but not understanding and appreciating its true nature and purpose. Thus, the Lord wanted us all to know that to be His disciples and followers, we have to follow His examples, in loving God and our fellow brothers and sisters, and not merely blind followers obeying rites and empty letters of the Law.

Today, the Church celebrates the Feast of St. Martin de Porres, a great and virtuous man of God, a holy servant and follower of Christ, who had dedicated himself and his life to the Lord, though his works, his commitments and actions. He is a humble and simple man, and yet, in his simplicity and great faith, he has shown us all how to truly be good and faithful disciples of the Lord, in doing our best to follow the Lord’s commandments, in obeying His will and doing His Law. St. Martin de Porres has shown his love both to the Lord and towards his fellow brothers and sisters, and hence, he has been doing what the Lord had commanded and told us all to do, and his virtues become for us a shining beacon of his faith, righteousness and justice amidst the darkness of this world and all the temptations and corruptions of sin.

St. Martin de Porres was born in Lima, in what is now Peru, and then part of the Spanish dominions in the New World, the Americas. He was born of a mixed ancestry, of Spanish and natives, being an illegitimate son of a Spanish nobleman and a freed slave of mixed African and native descent. He grew up in poverty, like many others like him at that time, and eventually, he wanted to join the Dominicans, only to be stopped by the law of the time which forbid those who has similar background as him from joining as full members of the Dominican Order. Instead, he became a third order member of the Dominicans, and he performed various works and actions in supporting the Dominicans and also in other charitable actions, particularly towards the poor, whose sufferings he understood very well, having been born, lived and dwelled in poverty and amongst the poor.

St. Martin de Porres was renowned for his great piety and faith, and for his loving outreach to the poor all around the community he was living and ministering in, faithfully doing whatever the Lord had commanded and told him to do through his part in the Dominican Order as a religious brother. He devoted much of his time before the Blessed Sacrament, in which he had a great devotion and also among the poor as mentioned. He did not even hesitate to help those who were sick and suffering, and showed everyone around him the true compassionate and loving face of God, shown clearly through his exemplary virtues and compassion. He obeyed the Lord perfectly and continued to do what he could to serve God till his death. He continued to inspire countless others even long after his death.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore devote ourselves, our time and attention to serve the Lord, our loving God and Father, our Creator and Master, in following the footsteps of the saints, especially that of St. Martin de Porres. Let us all be exemplary in our every way of life, in our love towards God and also our charity and care towards the poor and the less fortunate all around us. Let us all be truly faithful to God, not just merely in words alone, but also through real action and commitment towards God, in all of the love we show one another. May God be with us all and may He bless our every good efforts and endeavours, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Friday, 3 November 2023 : 30th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Martin de Porres, Religious (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Religious)

Luke 14 : 1-6

At that time, on one Sabbath Jesus had gone to eat a meal in the house of a leading Pharisee, and He was carefully watched.

In front of Him was a man suffering from dropsy; so Jesus asked the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?”

But no one answered. Jesus then took the man, healed him, and sent him away. And He said to them, “If your lamb or your ox falls into a well on a Sabbath day, who among you does not hurry to pull it out?” And they could not answer.

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Friday, 3 November 2023 : 30th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Martin de Porres, Religious (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Religious)

Psalm 147 : 12-13, 14-15, 19-20

Exalt YHVH, o Jerusalem; praise your God, o Zion! For He strengthens the bars of your gates and blesses your children within you.

He grants peace on your borders and feeds you with the finest grain. He sends His command to the earth and swiftly runs His word.

It is He, Who tells Jacob His words; His laws and decrees, to Israel. This, He has not done for other nations, so His laws remain unknown to them. Alleluia!

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Friday, 3 November 2023 : 30th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Martin de Porres, Religious (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Religious)

Romans 9 : 1-5

I tell you, sincerely, in Christ, and my conscience assures me in the Holy Spirit, that I am not lying : I have great sadness and constant anguish for the Jews. I would even desire, that, I myself, suffer the curse of being cut off from Christ, instead of my brethren : I mean, my own people, my kin.

They are Israelites, whom God adopted, and on them, rests His glory. Theirs, are the Covenants, the Law, the worship and the promises of God. They are descendants of the patriarchs, and from their race, Christ was born, He, Who, as God, is above all distinctions. Blessed be He forever and ever. Amen!

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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.

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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 (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Mark 8 : 14-21

At that time, the disciples had forgotten to bring more bread, and had only one loaf with the in the boat. Then Jesus warned them, “Keep your eyes open, and beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod.” And they said of one another, “He saw that we have no bread.”

Aware of this, Jesus asked them, “Why are you talking about the loaves you are short of? Do you not see or understand? Are your minds closed? Have your eyes that do not see and ears that do not hear? And do you not remember when I broke the five loaves among five thousand? How many baskets full of letfovers did you collect?”

They answered, “Twelve.” “And having distributed seven loaves to the four thousand, how many wicker baskets of leftovers did you collect?” They answered, “Seven.” Then Jesus said to them, “Do you still not understand?”

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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 (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 28 : 1a and 2, 3ac-4, 3b and 9-10

Give the Lord, o sons of God, give the Lord the glory due His Name; worship the Lord in great liturgy.

The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the Lord thunders over vast waters. How powerful is the voice of the Lord, how splendorous is the voice of the Lord.

The God of glory thunders, the Lord strips the forests bare, and in His Temple all cry, “Glory!” Over the flood the Lord was sitting; the Lord is King and He reigns forever.

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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 (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Genesis 6 : 5-8 and Genesis 7 : 1-5, 10

YHVH saw how great was the wickedness of man on the earth and that evil was always the only thought of his heart. YHVH regretted having created man on the earth and His heart grieved. He said, “I will destroy man whom I created and blot him out from the face of the earth, as well as the beasts, creeping creatures and birds, for I am sorry I made them.” But Noah was pleasing to God.

YHVH said to Noah, “Go into the Ark, you and all your household, for I see that you are just in this generation. Of all the clean animals, you are to take with you seven of each kind, male and female, and a pair of unclean animals, a male and a female. In the same way for the birds of the air, take seven and seven, male and female, to keep their kind alive over all the earth, for in seven days I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights. I will blot out from the face of the earth all the living creatures I have created.”

Noah did all as YHVH had commanded. And after seven days the waters of the flood were over the earth.

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Monday, 19 October 2020 : 29th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John de Brebeuf and St. Isaac Jogues, Priests and Martyrs, and Companions, Martyrs, and St. Paul of the Cross, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Priests)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we are all reminded of the Lord’s generous love and providence, all that He had done for our sake, in caring for us and giving us our freedom and for bringing us out from our fated destruction. The Lord has called on all of us to have faith in Him, to put our trust and also be humble, as much as we can.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Church and the faithful in Ephesus on the Lord and how His love for us has rescued us from the depth of darkness and destruction, liberating us from the fate that we ought to have suffered because of our sins and disobedience against Him. God has given us this wonderful gift thanks to His enduring love for each and every one of us.

And therefore, we are reminded that we have been saved by God’s grace and love, and not by our own might and achievements. But for those who argue then that we are saved by faith alone then they must realise also that faith without any actions and deeds done in accordance to that faith is truly an empty, meaningless and dead faith.

And we shall also then be judged by our inaction, which is tantamount to committing sins of omission. Whatever it is, we have to follow the path that the Lord has set before us and have genuine faith in Him, living our lives virtuously and being centred on God. This is not something that can be easily done as there would definitely be plenty of temptations and challenges in our path and journey.

One of the most common temptations is that of pride and desire, as we heard the warning from St. Paul in our first reading today and also in our Gospel passage today through the parable the Lord used to teach His disciples and the people on the futility of worldly desires and pursuits, and the foolishness of human desires and greed, as well as pride and ego. In that reading, we heard about a rich and powerful man who owned a vast holding and earned plenty of harvests from his vast farmlands.

We heard how the man worried and wondered how he were to store all the things he had gained, and planned to build even larger barns and storehouses to gather more worldly wealth and possessions, thinking that he had secured his future completely and that he had nothing to fear from. This was the fault of his pride and ego, as well as his greed that he was oblivious and unable to recognise his own limitations and mortality.

And the Lord through that parable showed clearly all these, by showing how the life and death of man are completely in the hands of God. And no one could ever know the exact time and moment of the ending of one’s earthly life and existence. For all the wealth, glory and power that man had gathered as according to the parable, all of those would have amounted to nothing and are meaningless, as none of them would end up following the man to the afterlife.

This is why, brothers and sisters in Christ, we are all reminded this day that as Christians we must lead a life that is filled with faith and devotion to God, free from the corruption of ego, pride, greed and earthly desires in our hearts and minds. And we can look upon the good examples set by our saints whose feast day we celebrate today, the Holy Canadian Martyrs or the North American Martyrs, the martyrs St. John de Brebeuf and St. Isaac Jogues, holy Jesuit missionaries of North America, as well as their companions in martyrdom.

St. John de Brebeuf and St. Isaac Jogues were the members of the Jesuits or the Society of Jesus that had been instrumental in Counter-Reformation and were also involved in missionary works. In that particular area, St. John de Brebeuf and St. Isaac Jogues ministered among the native populations and tribes of North America, spending much time and a lot of effort in reaching out to the pagan tribes and preaching the Good News of Christ to them.

As those tribes lived in some of the least hospitable and difficult conditions known to men, St. John de Brebeuf, St. Isaac Jogues and other missionaries had difficult time trying to adjust and to minister to the people, which was further compounded and made difficult by the reluctance and opposition by some of the native tribes against the efforts to evangelise among them by the Christian missionaries. There were misunderstandings and even conflicts, and also disagreements between the tribes that converted to the Christian faith with the other tribes.

Yet, despite all of these, the missionaries dedicated themselves wholeheartedly, and devoted their time and effort to minister to the people, both caring for them and providing for them, especially spiritually. In the end, amidst all the hardships they encountered, they were attacked by those who misunderstood the intentions of the missionaries, and they were tortured, made to suffer and eventually killed. Nonetheless, the seeds of faith they had spread and nurtured by their efforts remained strong and became the source of the Christian faith among many of the people for generations onwards.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, those missionaries laboured in terrible conditions, had nothing on themselves, and had nothing else but God’s providence and guidance. They entrusted themselves completely to the Lord and allowed Him to lead them through the path that He has led them through. Are we as Christians, able to follow in their footsteps, and be inspired by their faith and courage to live their lives with genuine faith?

Let us all carefully discern this, and see in which way each and every one of us are able to commit ourselves to the Lord, in our every moments and actions. Let us all dedicate ourselves anew to the Lord, strengthen ourselves with faith, and walk faithfully and virtuously in the Lord’s presence, that our every efforts and works will be for the greater glory of God. St. John de Brebeuf, St. Isaac Jogues and all the martyrs of North America, holy servants of God and courageous defenders of the Faith, pray for us all. Amen.