holy Popes

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Friday, 16 September 2016 : 24th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. Cornelius, Pope and St. Cyprian, Bishop, Martyrs (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Red
Psalm 16 : 1, 6-7, 8b and 15

Hear a just cause, o Lord, listen to my complaint. Give heed to my prayer for there is no deceit on my lips.

I call on You, You will answer me, o God; incline Your ear and hear my word. For You do wonders for Your faithful, You save those fleeing from the enemy as they seek refuge at Your right hand.

Under the shadow of Your wings hide me. As for me, righteous in Your sight, I shall see Your face and, awakening, gaze my fill on Your likeness.

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Friday, 16 September 2016 : 24th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. Cornelius, Pope and St. Cyprian, Bishop, Martyrs (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red
1 Corinthians 15 : 12-20

Well, then, if Christ is preached as risen from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is empty and our belief comes to nothing.

And we become false witnesses of God, attesting that He raised Christ, whereas He could not raise Him if indeed the dead are not raised. If the dead are not raised, neither has Christ been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith gives you nothing, and you are still in sin. Also those who fall asleep in Christ are lost.

If it is only for this life that we hope in Christ, we are the most unfortunate of all people. But no, Christ has been raised from the dead and He comes before all those who have fallen asleep.

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Saturday, 3 September 2016 : 22nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. Gregory the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the key message and the gist of today’s Scripture readings is really very simple, and yet it is at the same time, something very important for us all to take note of, as disciples and followers of our Lord. And that is the value and virtue of humility, and of rejecting pride and hubris, understanding that we mankind are not greater than God and His authority.

In order to understand fully the meaning and nuances behind what transpired between the Lord Jesus and the Pharisees in today’s Gospel, we have to appreciate and be able to understand the history of how it came to be as what it was like at the time of Jesus. By that time, the Jewish people, the descendants of Israel had had the Law revealed to them for over a thousand years, with many generations of peoples passing down the Law of God from mouth to mouth.

God made it clear in the beginning that He created mankind because of His love for all that He had created, and the greatest of which He reserved for us, the most perfect and beloved of all His creations, created in His very own Image. And because of that love, He has endeavoured to forgive them and rescue them from their own downfall, that is sin. Sin has entered into the hearts of men because of disobedience, and the reward for sin is death.

But God did not want such a fate for those whom He had intended to give His love to, and for the ones whom He had cared for, certainly He did not desire for them to perish, but to live and to rejoice together with Him. That was why He sent His messengers and servants among His people, to call them to repentance and to turn themselves to the loving and caring hands of the Lord, that He might take them up and bless them once more.

To that extent also, therefore, God sent Moses to rescue His people from their suffering and tribulation in the land of Egypt. They went out with the guidance from God’s own mighty Hand, and He showed His might before them. And in order to seal the promise He had made with them, He sealed it with the Covenant which He established through the Law that He passed down to Moses His servant, that His people would observe them forever.

These laws and commandments are love, brothers and sisters in Christ. If we read through the Ten Commandments, love the Lord your God and have no idols or false gods before Him, honouring His holy Name and the day of the Lord, all these speak of how we ought to have that love and dedication for God, just in the same manner as God has loved us first.

And the other commandments, exhorting us not to kill, not to steal, honouring one’s mother and father, all are speaking about how we ought then to show the same love we have shown to the Lord, in how we also love our brethren, our neighbours around us. This is what the Lord wanted from us all mankind, His beloved people, that we have love in us, His love, that we may love Him just as much as we have been loved by Him.

Yet, unfortunately, due to the obstinance and the rebelliousness of the people, they disagreed and doubted many times about the Lord, so much so that in order to keep them in check and to help ensure that they are able to restrain their negative desires and traits, God helped them by giving them rules and regulations to help them to manage themselves, that after having disciplined themselves, then they would be better able to find themselves on the right track towards the Lord.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, over time, the people of God forgot the intention of God why He established those rules and regulations in the first place. And as the Law was often transmitted from mouth to ear, and then from one to another again, over time, there were many misunderstandings and things that they had added into the laws, which then the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law zealously defended and imposed on the people.

These people saw themselves as superior to others, and they revelled in their pride knowing about their esteemed position and supposed greater piety and honour in the society, something which St. Paul clearly warned against in today’s First Reading, taken from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Church and the faithful in Corinth. He warned them about human pride and hubris, greed and desire for power which could easily takeover us mankind, and make us not faithful servants of the Lord, but instead as wayward people.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as Christians we should learn to be more like king David, whom Jesus mentioned in His words in the Gospel today. When his men were hungry, the king David cared for them and found food for them in the Temple of God, that they might be sustained and not suffer from hunger. That is the kind of love which our Lord also expects from each and every one of us, that we do not overlook the sufferings of others, or worse, by imposing our views and opinions on others.

The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law were fixated on the wrong things. They were so blinded by their blind obedience to the laws of Moses, which was serious misunderstanding of the true intention of the Law of God, that is love. Instead of bringing mankind to love God more, they were making those people to fear Him, as the excessive obligations and rules ended up burdening the people, especially all those seeking to repent and to turn over a new leaf.

Rather, we should learn to be true disciples of our Lord, by not just having empty faith, but also through active participation and commitment of our loving works and deeds, that we show love in all that we do, in all that we say, and after all these, in not claiming the credit for ourselves, or be proud of our achievements and deeds, for all these we have done, all for the sake of the greater glory of our God.

Today we also commemorate the feast of the great and renowned Pope, Pope St. Gregory the Great, who was well known for his great devotion to God, in his efforts to live a truly Christian life. Even though he had been elected to such an important role and position in the Christian world, but he remained humble and was very dedicated to the mission which he had been entrusted with by the Lord.

Pope St. Gregory the Great helped to reform the Church and the lives of the faithful, bringing greater discipline to the Church and to help the people of God to learn how to live as a faithful disciple and follower of the Lord. He helped the poor and the weak in his areas of jurisdiction, improving the livelihood of those who once lived in squalor and filth, showing genuine Christian love to everyone who saw him.

And he also sent many missions to convert many Pagans and all those who still lived in the ignorance of the salvation of God, that through these courageous missionaries, the word of God, that is the love I have mentioned earlier, the desire of the Lord to have all of His beloved children to return to Him, may reach all the ends of the earth, and as many souls as possible could be saved.

In his short earthly life, we can already see how he embodied what we Christians have to do, and how we ought to do it. Can we all devote ourselves to God and to our fellow brethren in the same way that Pope St. Gregory the Great and many of the other holy saints had done, brethren? Are we able to commit ourselves to the Lord fully and wholly without being distracted by the temptations of worldliness, power and all others?

Let us all pray now, brethren, that we may be given the gift to discern carefully how we are to do our actions in life, that wherever we are, we will always be ready to show love where it is needed, to care for the life and wellbeing of others when they were under threat, and to stand up for our needy and poor fellow men who were unjustly oppressed. May God help us in these endeavours, and may He keep us all always in His everlasting grace. Amen.

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Saturday, 3 September 2016 : 22nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. Gregory the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White
Luke 6 : 1-5

At that time, one Sabbath Jesus was going through the corn fields, and His disciples began to pick heads of grain, crushing them in their hands for food. Some of the Pharisees asked them, “Why do you do what is forbidden on the Sabbath?”

Then Jesus spoke up and asked them, “Have you never read what David did when he and his men were hungry? He entered the house of God, took and ate the bread of the offering, and even gave some to his men, though only priests are allowed to eat that bread.”

And Jesus added, “The Son of Man is Lord and rules over the sabbath.”

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Saturday, 3 September 2016 : 22nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. Gregory the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 144 : 17-18, 19-20, 21

Righteous is the Lord in all His ways, His mercy shows in all His deeds. He is near those who call on Him, who call trustfully upon His Name.

He fulfils the wish of those who fear Him; He hears their cry and saves them. For those who love Him, the Lord has compassion; but the wicked, He will destroy.

Let my mouth speak in praise of the Lord, let every creature bless His holy Name, forever and ever.

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Saturday, 3 September 2016 : 22nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. Gregory the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White



1 Corinthians 4 : 6b-15

Learn by this example not to believe yourselves superior by siding with one against the other. How then are you more than the others? What have you that you have not received? And if you received it, why are you proud, as if you did not receive it?

So, then, you are already rich and satisfied, and feel like kings without us! I wish you really were kings, so that we might enjoy the kingship with you! It seems to me that God has placed us, the Apostles, in the last place, as if condemned to death, and as spectacles for the whole world, for the Angels as well as for mortals.

We are fools for Christ, while you show forth the wisdom of Christ. We are weak, you are strong. You are honoured, while we are despised. Until now we hunger and thirst, we are poorly clothed and badly treated, while moving from place to place.

We labour, working with our hands. People insult us and we bless them, they persecute us and we endure everything; they speak evil against us, and ours are works of peace. We have become like the scum of the earth, like the garbage of humankind until now.

I do not write this to shame you, but to warn you as very dear children. Because even though you may have ten thousand guardians in the Christian life, you have only one father; and it was I who gave you life in Christ through the Gospel.

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Sunday, 21 August 2016 : 21st Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. Pius X, Pope (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard both the message of hope and also a warning from the Lord our God. We heard about how the Lord promised His people the salvation and liberation He would give them all, who have suffered from exile and troubles, as He revealed it to them through His prophet Isaiah in the last chapter of his book, as the portent and premonition of the future.

Through those reassuring and encouraging words, God wanted to remind His people that He would not abandon them to the darkness, no matter how bad the situation was. However, it does not mean that they could just continue to sin in the way that they have sinned, or to continue the wickedness they have committed in life, by selling themselves heart, mind and soul to the pagan gods and idols, to the fornications of the body and the soul.

God reminded us about this through what He said in the Gospel today, on the parable of the narrow door. He reminded His people that the door to the kingdom of God is a narrow one, and we should not take for granted that we are saved that we may do things as we like, or to think that God will overlook our trespasses and wrongdoing. For ultimately, while He is indeed a loving and merciful God, but He is also a just and jealous God, Who does not hold back His anger against the sins we committed.

That said, He hated the sins we committed and not we ourselves as human beings, His own creations. He loved us all as His children and His people, but when we err and when we refuse His love and mercy, how else could He be not angry with us? It is our own actions, our own stubbornness and all the rejections and refusals we have made against Him has been our undoing thus far.

And we should not think that we have all the time in the world to be doing what we wanted. Some people had that misconception, thinking that it was alright to do all they wanted in life, even sins and debauchery, fornication and corruption of the mind and soul, thinking that they could just ask the Lord for mercy at the last hours of their lives, and God would forgive them.

In the first place, God may call us back to Him at any time He wishes, for we do not control when we shall die, as it is under His authority alone. Our time may suddenly be up, and we do not know it. If we are astute and wise enough, then we can clearly see the dangers of delaying, of waiting and doing things that kept us away from getting closer to the salvation found in God alone.

We should heed God’s warning that all those who are found to be unworthy of Him shall suffer in the darkness and in nothingness for all eternity. Shall we want such a fate to be ours? Shall we want for such an eternity of regret and pain to be ours? We who are still breathing, living and walking on this world have that ability, that choice to make a difference with our lives, and indeed, the ability to change our fate, but only through a real and thorough transformation of our entire being, from a being of darkness to be a being of the light.

We, like the Israelites of old, live in moments of exile from God. Truly, all mankind have been sundered from God by the very sins which we have committed in this earthly life, and by the disobedience shown by our ancestors. We were destined to perish and to be condemned, but God had another plan for us. His love for us is so great that it is impossible for Him to let us perish in darkness and sin, unless it is we ourselves who want such a fate.

Through Christ He has opened a path to our redemption, by calling all of us back to Him, to regret our sinfulness and embark on our path towards repentance and thus forgiveness. This path is not an easy one for us to take, for it requires commitment and dedication from us, that we may find our way to Him and not be lost because of us being distracted by all the temptations and other things that are obstacles in our path towards Him.

And He has also sent us holy people, those whom He had chosen from among us sinners, all those who have left behind their sinfulness and devoted themselves to the way of the Lord, obeying His laws and walking in the light, that is the saints. And probably, all of us can learn much from the holy saint whose feast we are celebrating today, that is of Pope St. Pius X, the holy Pope of the Eucharist.

Pope St. Pius X, one of the Popes of our recent memory, having lived and worked approximately a century or so from our own time, was born into a poor family living in the northern region of Italy, in the area known as Mantua, as Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto. He was born into a poor family of many children, and yet his parents placed great importance in his education and good upbringing.

He grew up with good upbringing in the faith, excelling in his studies and then also growing deeper in his desire to serve the Lord through the priesthood. Eventually his family’s support and permission, he became a priest and began to minister to the people of his rural and poor area, caring for them and showing them the way to God’s love.

It was told that he was very angry for some people after they did not show proper reverence in his parish church during the Holy Mass, but at the same time he helped these wayward people to find their way through patience and also through hard work. It was exactly as what St. Paul in his Epistle to the Hebrews that is our second reading today mentioned, as the love of God our Father is a tough love as what Pope St. Pius X exhibited to his parishioners.

Even when eventually he was appointed as the Bishop of Mantua and as the Patriarch of Venice, he continued to be humble, remembering his roots, and continued that same commitment he had for the poor, the sick and the least among his flock. And as Pope St. Pius X, the leader of the Universal Church, he helped to reform the faith and the Church.

He was particularly renowned for his efforts to return the sense of the sacred in the celebration of the Holy Mass by promoting the use of Gregorian Chants in the Mass. He also advocated for the reception of the Eucharist starting at a younger age, in order to bring the Lord closer to His people at even younger age that they may grow to love the Lord all the more ever more devoutly.

In all these, we saw the examples of a great saint whose life has been filled with good deeds, but we too are capable of the same deeds as well, for all saints were themselves sinners like us, but what matters is that they decided to change their way of life and follow the ways of God. We too can emulate the examples of Pope St. Pius X and be devoted to the Lord as he had devoted himself.

May we grow to love our loving God all the more as we continue to live our earthly existence day after day. May we not fear God for His ways of disciplining us but instead grow to understand that He cares for us and He wants us to be freed from our bondage to sin and eventually be reunited with Him in perfect love. May God bless us and our endeavours, henceforth, now and forever. Amen.

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Sunday, 21 August 2016 : 21st Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. Pius X, Pope (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 13 : 22-30

At that time, Jesus went through towns and villages teaching, and making His way to Jerusalem. Someone asked Him, “Lord, is it true that few people will be saved?” And Jesus answered, “Do your best to enter by the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able.”

“When once the Master of the house has gone inside and locked the door, you will stand outside. Then you will knock at the door, calling, ‘Lord, open to us!’ But He will say to you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with You, and You taught in our streets!’ But He will reply, ‘I do not know where you come from. Away from Me, all you workers of evil.'”

“You will weep and grind your teeth, when you see Abraham and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves left outside. Others will sit at table in the kingdom of God, people coming from east and west, from north and south. Some who are among the last, will be first; and some who are among the first, will be last!”

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Sunday, 21 August 2016 : 21st Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. Pius X, Pope (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Hebrews 12 : 5-7, 11-13

Do not forget the comforting words that Wisdom addresses to you as children : My son, pay attention when the Lord corrects you and do not be discouraged when He punishes you. For the Lord corrects those He loves and chastises everyone He accepts as a son.

What you endure is in order to correct you. God treats you like sons and what son is not corrected by his father? All correction is painful at the moment, rather than pleasant; later it brings the fruit of peace, that is, holiness to those who have been trained by it.

Lift up, then, your drooping hands, and strengthen your trembling knees; make level the ways for your feet, so that the lame may not be disabled, but healed.

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Sunday, 21 August 2016 : 21st Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. Pius X, Pope (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 116 : 1, 2

Alleluia! Praise the Lord, all you nations; all you peoples, praise Him.

How great is His love for us! His faithfulness lasts forever.