holy religious

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Thursday, 3 November 2016 : 31st Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Martin de Porres, Religious (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Religious)
Philippians 3 : 3-8a

We are the true circumcised people since we serve according to the Spirit of God, and our confidence is in Christ Jesus rather than in our merits. I myself do not lack those human qualities in which people have confidence. If some of them seem to be accredited with such qualities, how much more am I!

I was circumcised when eight days old. I was born of the race of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin : I am a Hebrew, born of Hebrews. With regard to the Law, I am a Pharisee, and such was my zeal for the Law that I persecuted the Church. As for being righteous according to the Law, I was blameless.

But once I found Christ, all those things that I might have considered as profit, I reckoned as loss. Still more, everything seems to me as nothing compared with the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord.

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Monday, 24 October 2016 : 30th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Anthony Mary Claret, Bishop (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today all of us Christians who believe in God are challenged to lead a real life of faith, that we should devote ourselves not to hypocrisy and all the things that do not lead to salvation in God. The example was given in the Gospel today, when Jesus was angry at those who were in the synagogue and was against His works, healing a woman who had been enthralled by the demons and the evil spirits for years.

All these meanwhile the synagogue officials, the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law constantly opposed the Lord, pretending through their piety that they were doing the works that God wanted them to do. They have taken upon themselves to safeguard the laws and traditions of Moses and their ancestors, but in that process, they truly have forgotten what it meant to be true disciples and followers of the Lord, and instead became blind followers and leaders.

They preached strict obedience and adherence to the Law, and were not hesitant to punish all those who did not follow the Lord as they had done, thinking that they have done the will of God in that way, but in reality, they have only served their own needs and purposes. They had no God in their hearts, but instead their own ego, their own greed and desire for money, for wealth, for possessions of worldly power and glory, and of influence and fame.

That was why these supposedly pious leaders of the people tolerated merchants and all money lenders and corrupt people to set up their businesses at the Temple courtyard, selling and manipulating prices, making profits out of poor and honest people so that those merchants could get rich, and then probably, in the process, also made the Pharisees, the chief priests and the elders rich from the agreement they likely to have made between them.

This was what the warning by St. Paul in his Epistle to the Church and the faithful in the city of Corinth and the Psalm today meant, that those who serve not the Lord but worldly things such as money, wealth, fame and glory, are real threat to us and to our salvation, as these shall bring whoever that are ensnared in their traps, to veer away from the Lord’s ways and salvation, and fall instead into sin and damnation.

And that is a reminder to all of us Christians, just as our Lord made another example in the Gospel today, which we just discussed, that as Christians we cannot imitate the examples of all those who have not shown righteousness in their way of life. We cannot be like those who have given themselves to debauchery and to follow the ways of this world in their actions and deeds.

As Christians, we are called instead to show care and concern for others, especially for the weak, the downtrodden, the less privileged, the poor and all others who are in need of our help. This is the calling which our Lord made to us, even as He Himself led by example, and showed mercy and love to that poor woman who needed help.

Perhaps, all of us should learn from the examples of St. Anthony Mary Claret, the founder of the Claretians religious order, whose feast we are celebrating today. St. Anthony Mary Claret was a holy and devout man, whose works did not just include advising and helping the Queen of Spain at that time, Isabel II of Spain, but also in the matters of advancing the cause of the people who are suffering, weak and poor throughout the dominion of the crown and beyond.

St. Anthony Mary Claret established the religious order that would later on be known as the Claretians, in order to gather more people with the same mind, same intention and devotion to serve the Lord and His people with genuine devotion and commitment, desiring for the betterment of those who are suffering and in pain, and bring people closer to God spiritually, that they may not just become better physically but more importantly, also spiritually, drawing closer to God and to His salvation.

St. Anthony Mary Claret showed us through his examples, writings and many other ways that in order to become good and true Christians, we must be able to live up fully to what the Lord had expected from us, and that is not hypocrisy and empty faith, but faith that is made real by genuine commitment and hard work, devoting oneself to God and to our fellow brethren in need.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all awaken in ourselves the strong desire to love and serve the Lord genuinely, and also to love our brethren with all of our heart, so that we will be able to appreciate how we ought to serve God with love, and thus be able to draw closer to Him and find righteousness in Him. At the end of the days, He will bless us all and call us into the eternal glory and joy He has prepared for us. May God bless us all. Amen.

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Monday, 24 October 2016 : 30th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Anthony Mary Claret, Bishop (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops)
Luke 13 : 10-17

At that time, Jesus was teaching in a synagogue on the Sabbath, and a crippled woman was there. An evil spirit had kept her bent for eighteen years, so that she could not straighten up at all. On seeing her, Jesus called her and said, “Woman, you are freed from your infirmity.” Then He laid His hands upon her, and immediately she was made straight and praised God.

But the ruler of the synagogue was indignant, because Jesus had performed this healing on the Sabbath day, and he said to the people, “There are six days in which to work. Come on those days to be healed, and not on the Sabbath!”

But the Lord replied, “You hypocrites! Everyone of you unties his ox or his donkey on the Sabbath, and leads it out of the barn to give it water. And here you have a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan had bound for eighteen years. Should she not be freed from her bonds on the Sabbath?”

When Jesus said this, all His opponents felt ashamed. But the people rejoiced at the many wonderful things that happened because of Him.

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Monday, 24 October 2016 : 30th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Anthony Mary Claret, Bishop (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops)
Psalm 1 : 1-2, 3, 4 and 6

Blessed is the one who does not go where the wicked gather, or stand in the way of sinners, or sit where the scoffers sit! Instead, he finds delight in the law of the Lord and meditates day and night on His commandments.

He is like a tree beside a brook producing its fruit in due season, its leaves never withering. Everything he does is a success.

But it is different with the wicked. They are like chaff driven away by the wind. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous but cuts off the way of the wicked.

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Monday, 24 October 2016 : 30th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Anthony Mary Claret, Bishop (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops)
Ephesians 4 : 32 – Ephesians 5 : 8

Be good and understanding, mutually forgiving one another as God forgave you in Christ. As most beloved children of God, strive to imitate Him. Follow the way of love, the example of Christ Who loved you. He gave Himself up for us and became the offering and sacrificial victim Whose fragrance rises to God.

And since you are holy, there must not be among you even a hint of sexual immorality or greed, or any kind of impurity : these should not be named among you. So too for scandalous words, nonsense and foolishness, which are not fitting; instead offer thanksgiving to God.

Know this : no depraved, impure or covetous person who serves the god ‘Money’ shall have part in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty arguments, for these are the sins which God is about to condemn in people who do not obey.

Do not associate with such people. You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Behave as children of light.

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Saturday, 15 October 2016 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Teresa of Jesus, Virgin and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we are reminded yet again that as Christians, each and every one of us have been made righteous and just in Christ our Lord. Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world has made us whole and liberated us from the sins of our ancestors and that of our own, that is through His great and ultimate love shown through the sacrifice of the cross.

And yet, we mankind have responded to God’s love with scorn and contempt. We refused and rejected God’s love because of our pride, and because of our inability to wrench ourselves away from the temptations of pleasure and the persuasions and lies of the evil one. We are easily tempted by our weaknesses and our vulnerabilities and proneness to sin and to the wickedness of the flesh.

And it is all these which have separated us from the love and grace of our God. And one example was shown by the people of Israel themselves, ever since when they escaped from the land of Egypt. God showed His might to them, liberating them from the hands of the Pharaoh by the Ten Plagues that struck down the Egyptians, from their mighty Pharaoh to the smallest and least of the Egyptians and their animals.

Yet, even though God had rescued them and brought them into freedom, opening the seas and destroying their enemies before them, these people were very stubborn and rebellious. They complained and resisted the authority of Moses and all those whom God had entrusted with their care. They gave in to the temptations of their stomachs, the temptations of pleasure and easy life, and they ditched the Lord on many occasions and instead worshipped the idols.

These were those whom God had punished through death and pestilence, as His anger raged amongst them, and many did die, as the whole rebellious generation of Israelites would show, when they perished in the desert and did not enter into the Promised Land. Only those who obeyed the Lord received His grace and allowance to settle in the land of milk and honey.

It was the same with the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, who despite having witnessed the miracles and the healing works, the wondrous deeds of Jesus and His disciples, still refused to believe in Him, doubted Him and tested Him to the very end, when they mocked Him hanging on the cross to rescue Himself if He was truly the Messiah. This attitude of lack of faith and stubbornness are really a characteristic of us mankind.

And as they continuously mocked the One Whom God had sent into the world in order to save it, including these very people, they were not forgiven their sins and they were considered as true sinners, even as they themselves liked to parade around their piety and deeds and looked down on others whom they considered as sinners, the prostitutes and tax collectors. And yet, as Jesus Himself said, that these people were going faster towards the Kingdom of God because they repented from their sins.

In Jesus we have our hope of salvation and liberation, and thus, we should try our best to resist the temptations of this world, so that we may be able to truly accept the Lord in our hearts and not harden our hearts and closed our minds as those Pharisees and the teachers of the Law had done. In His holy Name we shall find our succour and liberation from these darkness and the threats of the devil.

St. Teresa of Jesus, who was also known as St. Teresa of Avila after her birthplace in Avila, Spain, who is our saint of this day, is a strong proponent of renewed faith and commitment to our Lord through strong spirituality and devotion to God. St. Teresa of Jesus was renowned as the founder of the Discalced Carmelite order with St. John of the Cross, and both of them were strong and dedicated reformer of the faith and the Church.

At that time, the Church, the Faith and the faithful people of God were under great threat from the massive heresy of Protestantism, which was called by the heretics as ‘reform’, and yet, in the false teachings it proposed, it has led into many people of God to fall away from the path towards salvation, and through the devil and his works in the false prophets like Martin Luther, John Calvin, Zwingli and many others, many had been cast down into hell for their sins.

It was a time of great distress for the Church and for the faithful. But there were many courageous and devoted servants of God who worked hard to stem the tide of heresy and bring back many thousands and more to the true faith in God. St. Teresa of Jesus was among them, a great visionary and mystic, a great writer and contributor to the teachings of the Church, and a strong proponent of an active spiritual life dedicated to God.

St. Teresa of Jesus devoted her whole life to the Lord, as well as for her religious congregation, persuading many and pushing for reform and change in the way how many of them lived their lives, deepening their spirituality and relationship with the Lord their God. She purged worldly elements and unworthy conduct from amongst her fellow religious, and wrote extensively on the matter, on how to become ever more devoted and holy in the sight and presence of God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all devote ourselves wholly to the Lord in the same manner as that of St. Teresa of Avila, St. Teresa of Jesus, as well as the many other saints, holy men and women of God. Let us no longer be stubborn and wicked in our hearts, but be converted thoroughly to the Lord. May the Lord bless us all and keep us in His love at all times. Amen.

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Saturday, 15 October 2016 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Teresa of Jesus, Virgin and Doctor of the Church (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White
Luke 12 : 8-12

At that time, Jesus said to the people and to His disciples, “I tell you, whoever acknowledges Me before people, the Son of Man will also acknowledge before the Angels of God. But the one who denies Me before others will be denied before the Angels of God.”

“There will be pardon for the one who criticises the Son of Man, but there will be no pardon for the one who slanders the Holy Spirit. When you are brought before the synagogues, and before governors and rulers, do not worry about how you will defend yourself, or what to say; for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you have to say.”

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Saturday, 15 October 2016 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Teresa of Jesus, Virgin and Doctor of the Church (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 8 : 2-3a, 4-5, 6-7

O Lord, our Lord, how great is Your Name throughout the earth! And Your glory in the heavens above. Even the mouths of children and infants exalt Your glory in front of Your foes.

When I observe the heavens, the work of Your hands, the moon and the stars You set in their place – what is man that You be mindful of him, the Son of Man, that You should care for Him?

Yet You made Him a little lower than the Angels; You crowned Him with glory and honour, and gave Him the works of Your hands; You have put all things under His feet.

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Saturday, 15 October 2016 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Teresa of Jesus, Virgin and Doctor of the Church (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White
Ephesians 1 : 15-23

I have been told of your faith and your affection towards all the believers, so I always give thanks to God, remembering you in my prayers. May the God of Christ Jesus our Lord, the Father of Glory, reveal Himself to you and give you a Spirit of wisdom and revelation, that you may know Him.

May He enlighten your inner vision, that you may appreciate the things we hope for, since we were called by God. May you know how great is the inheritance, the glory, God sets apart for His saints; may you understand with what extraordinary power He acts in favour of us who believe.

He revealed His almighty power in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and had Him sit at His right hand in heaven, far above all rule, power, authority, dominion, or any other supernatural force that could be named, not only in this world but in the world to come as well.

Thus has God put all things under the feet of Christ and set Him above all things, as Head of the Church which is His Body, the fullness of Him Who fills all in all.

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Thursday, 11 August 2016 : 19th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Clare, Virgin (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the clear theme of today’s Scripture readings is compassion and forgiveness, which God has shown unto us His people, and therefore, we too are expected to show the same compassion and forgiving nature as the Lord had done, in our own dealings with others around us. That is the key message that I want all of us to heed today, especially when we live in a world that is increasingly unforgiving in nature.

In the first reading, taken from the Book of the prophet Ezekiel, God spoke to Ezekiel that he might convey His intention to His people, that because of their sinfulness and wickedness, they have brought ruin upon themselves and brought about their exile and humiliation among the nations. They have been shamed and brought low and their enemies took advantage on them.

At that time, the prophecy would come true, as Ezekiel and his fellow exiles went ahead of the rest when the king of Babylon first ransacked Jerusalem and Judah and brought part of the people to exile. The remainders led by king Zedekiah of Judah and his people held onto Jerusalem for a while longer, and when they rebelled haughtily thinking that they could trust in the power of men rather than God, they were crushed.

Thus ended the glorious kingdom established by Saul and made strong by David and Solomon, the faithful kings who followed the Lord and devoted themselves in faith to lead the people of God. For the waywardness of the people and their kings that followed after, the sins of Jerusalem and Judah piled up to such an extent that in the end, they suffered the consequences of their sins and disobedience.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we are called to listen to what Jesus our Lord mentioned in the Gospel. He told His disciples about the servant who was indebted to his master, and who was about to pay the consequences of his debt, by being sold into slavery with all of his family and his possessions. But the servant begged the master for mercy, and the master did have mercy on him, not only forgiving him from all his debts, he also set him free.

Yet, that same servant, after he had been set free and forgiven from his heavy debts, went to another servant who in turn owned him some money, albeit far less than what he himself ever owed his master. And when that servant begged for mercy and forgiveness, for him to be patient while he tried to gather the money to pay him back, the wicked servant refused and sent the other, poor servant to be tortured and to suffer.

In this parable, the master is the Lord our God, Who shows mercy to all those who beg Him to forgive them, as long as they are sincere in desiring the mercy and the forgiveness of God. And the servants represent us all mankind, of all our various needs and kinds, who serve the Lord, and then who committed mistakes and sins in our lives, that is our debt to our true Lord and Master.

And just as that servant did not forgive the debt of those who were indebted to him, we mankind also often keep grudges and vengeance, and we also found that it was not easy to forgive those who have wronged us. We tend to keep our negative judgment and prejudice on others, and that resulted in our inability to appreciate the greatness of God’s love and compassion for us.

We cannot just profess that we believe in God, and yet in our actions, our very deeds and dealings, we have too much ego in us and we have too much pride and hate in us to be able to learn to forgive each other and to love one another without ulterior motive, resulting in the Lord condemning our own actions and deeds because through them we have not followed what our Lord had done to us.

God has forgiven us, but yet we do not forgive our brethren? Let us then take note at what we often pray as we pray the Lord’s Prayer, the Pater Noster. There is that part which mentioned the petition we gave to the Lord, for Him to forgive us our sins and trespasses, just as He has forgiven us first our own sins and trespasses before Him. If we want to be forgiven, then we must forgive those who have sinned against us first, and also to ask for forgiveness if we have wronged someone else.

Today, we commemorate the feast of St. Clare of Assisi, a renowned holy woman and one of the greatest saints of her time. St. Clare was a pious and devoted woman who gave her life to serve the people of God and the Church, as a member of the Franciscan order, as one of the first followers of the renowned St. Francis of Assisi, sharing in his passion and desire to help the poorest and the weakest in the society.

She helped to establish the Order of Poor Ladies, the female counterpart of the Franciscan order, helping to gather like-minded and devoted young ladies who wanted to give their lives in commitment to the service of the people of God, grounded on faith, charity and service. And she led the efforts of the new order, by leading the devout women in the service to the poor, in evangelising the word of God to the sinners, and to serve God in all possible ways.

It was told in what is now a very famous and renowned story that once the army of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II during one of his many wars in Italy, came to the convent where St. Clare and her followers lived and worked. And St. Clare, not fearing for her life in the face of the bloodthirsty and angry soldiers, picked up the holy monstrance bearing inside it the Most Precious Body of our Lord, lifted it high up above her head just as the soldiers barged into the chapel.

And so terrified the soldiers were at the Real Presence of our Lord, that they fled the place and left the city unharmed without striking at the people. And thus, we saw how God showed His love and mercy to His people, for He will care for those who kept their faith in Him, and He will never abandon them. Therefore, let us follow the examples of St. Clare and the other holy saints, and devote ourselves anew to the Lord.

May the Lord bless us and keep us, and may He strengthen our faith that we may find our way to Him, with the strong belief and conviction that He will always be with us to the end, never leaving us in the darkness. May He bring us into the light and bless us forevermore. Amen.