holy saints of God

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Saturday, 28 January 2017 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Thomas Aquinas, Priest and Doctor of the Church (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White
Hebrews 11 : 1-2, 8-19

Faith is the assurance of what we hope for, being certain of what we cannot see. Because of their faith our ancestors were approved. It was by faith that Abraham, called by God, set out for a country that would be given to him as an inheritance; for he parted without knowing where he was going.

By faith he lived as a stranger in that promised land. There he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, beneficiaries of the same promise. Indeed, he looked forward to that city of solid foundation of which God is the Architect and Builder.

By faith Sarah herself received power to become a mother, in spite of her advanced age; since she believed that He Who had made the promise would be faithful. Therefore, from an almost impotent man were born descendants as numerous as the stars of heavens, as many as the grains of sand on the seashore.

Death found all these people strong in their faith. They had not received what was promised, but they had looked ahead and had rejoiced in it from afar, saying that they were foreigners and travellers on earth. Those who speak in this way prove that they are looking for their own country. For if they had longed for the land they had left, it would have been easy for them to return, but no, they aspired to a better city, that is, a supernatural one; so God, Who prepared the city for them is not ashamed of being called their God.

By faith Abraham went to offer Isaac when God tested him. And so he who had received the promise of God offered his only son although God had told him : Isaac’s descendants will bear your name. Abraham reasoned that God is capable even of raising the dead, and he received back his son, which has a figurative meaning.

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Friday, 27 January 2017 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Angela Merici, Virgin (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Virgins)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, we listened to the Lord Jesus teaching the people with parables, telling them that the kingdom of God is like a growing seed, which is sown by man, and then when it lands on a rich and fertile soil, it grows to be a mighty and great plant, even though it might be small as a seed. It is the same therefore with the kingdom of God, according to Christ, which is inside each and every one of us who belong to Him.

We are all given the gifts from the Lord, Who sowed in each of us the seeds of faith, the seeds of hope and the seeds of love. But all of these gifts were dormant in us, and they are not going to grow unless we place them in the right conditions, just as plants will not germinate from their seeds and grow unless they are placed under the right conditions.

And just as plants take a long time to grow from a seed, into a sapling and then into a growing young plant, into maturity and finally laying out flowers and then fruits, therefore it also takes a lot in order to make those seeds in us grow inside us, and transform us to be true beings of the kingdom of God. Our faith requires great patience for us to develop and to persevere through this life. To live faithfully according to the way of the Lord is never an easy one.

As mentioned in the first reading today, according to the Epistle to the Hebrews, the writer of this Epistle, likely to be St. Paul, wrote about the hardships which the first and earliest Christians had to endure, many of them being Jews, who were then often torn between their obedience to the laws that governed the Jewish society, and their newfound love and loyalty to the Lord which they had discovered through Jesus their Lord.

But even though they were once a small group of people, often shunned and rejected by others, reviled and ridiculed by their own countrymen for following Jesus the crucified Lord and Messiah, they eventually triumphed through the end, as the Church gradually grew stronger, larger and ever more vibrant even though there were many moments of difficulties and challenges along its path.

Yes indeed persecutions came their way, and many had to suffer for many years because of their faith, but as many did not give up their faith and helped one another to persevere in their faith, that is why the Church was able to persevere through and why the faithful were able to stay strong amidst the challenges and the difficulties. In the same manner therefore, all of us Christians must also stay together and help each other, that we may remain ever faithful.

We should also follow the examples of St. Angela Merici, the holy saint and woman whose feast we are celebrating today. Since her youth, she had devoted herself to God, particularly when her sister died, and we were told that she died without having the chance to receive the Last Rites from a priest. A distraught St. Angela Merici prayed fervently before the Lord, asking Him to forgive her sister and allow her to enter heaven. Later on, it was told that she received a vision, in which she saw her sister in the company of the saints of heaven.

She grew stronger in the faith through prayer, and she resisted the temptation of worldly pleasures and desires, and when suitors came to her attracted by her great beauty, she chose to dress herself in soot and dust, so as to detract her suitors and to remain committed to God. She taught others how to be close and spiritually devoted to God, and became a source of inspiration of many others.

Through the examples of the faith of St. Angela Merici, all of us are called to also grow in our faith, by giving it the most suitable conditions in order to grow, so that what God had planted inside each and every one of us may grow well. It is through deep and fervent prayer, made sincerely and with devotion that we provide this optimum condition. And then we also show our love, care and concern to others around us, giving ourselves to our brethren who are in need of our love.

It is when we have done all of these that we have truly become like the kingdom of God, when all of us Christians work together in love, showing hope to those who are in darkness, and having genuine faith in God, that the seeds of faith, hope and love God had sown in us no longer remains just as seeds, but grow together, interlocking with one another, until everything become a great tree, that is the Church of God, living and vibrant, filled with hope, with love and with faith. That is what the kingdom of God in this world is truly like.

Let us all work together in order to realise this, and be committed to do what we have been called to do, to serve God with all of our strengths and abilities. May God help us in this journey, and may He strengthen the faith in our hearts, awaken in us the desire to help our brethren in need, and make us to become light for those who are still in the darkness and ignorance in the world. God bless us all and our endeavours. Amen.

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Friday, 27 January 2017 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Angela Merici, Virgin (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Virgins)
Mark 4 : 26-34

At that time, Jesus also said, “In the kingdom of God it is like this : a man scatters seed upon the soil. Whether he is asleep or awake, be it day or night, the seed sprouts and grows, he knows not how. The soil produces of itself : first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. And when it is ripe for harvesting, they take the sickle for the cutting : the time for the harvest has come.”

Jesus also said, “What is the kingdom of God like? To what shall we compare it? It is like a mustard seed which, when sown, is the smallest of all the seeds scattered upon the soil. But once sown, it grows up and becomes the largest of the plants in the garden, and even grows branches so big, that the birds of the air can take shelter in its shade.”

Jesus used many such stories, in order to proclaim the word to them in a way that they would be able to understand. He would not teach them without parables; but privately to His disciples He explained everything.

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Friday, 27 January 2017 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Angela Merici, Virgin (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Virgins)
Psalm 36 : 3-4, 5-6, 23-24, 39-40

Trust in the Lord and do good, dwell in the land and live on it. Make the Lord your delight, and He will grant your heart’s desire.

Commit your way to the Lord; put your trust in Him and let Him act. Then will Your revenge come, beautiful as the dawn, and the justification of your cause, bright as the noonday sun.

The Lord is the One Who makes people stand, He gives firmness to those He likes. They may stumble, but they will not fall, for the Lord holds them by the hand.

The Lord is the Salvation of the righteous; in time of distress, He is their refuge. The Lord helps them, and rescues them from the oppressor; He saves them for they sought shelter in Him.

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Friday, 27 January 2017 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Angela Merici, Virgin (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Virgins)
Hebrews 10 : 32-39

Remember the first days when you were enlightened. You had to undergo a hard struggle in the face of suffering. Publicly you were exposed to humiliations and trials, and had to share the sufferings of others who were similarly treated.

You showed solidarity with those in prison; you were dispossessed of your goods and accepted it gladly for you knew you were acquiring a much better and more durable possession. Do not now throw away your confidence that will be handsomely rewarded.

Be patient in doing the will of God, and the promise will be yours : A little, a little longer – says Scripture – and He Who is coming will come; He will not delay. My righteous one will live if he believes: but if he distrusts, I will no longer look kindly on him. We are not among those who withdraw and perish, but among those who believe and win personal salvation.

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Tuesday, 24 January 2017 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Francis de Sales, Bishop and Doctor of the Church, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day all of us are reminded by the Lord and His Church through the Scripture passages we heard today, of the need of obedience and action in order for us to be truly justified and worthy in the sight of the Lord. It is not enough that we should just practice external observances of our faith, but instead, we must embody everything we believe in our own actions and deeds.

This is particularly relevant in the context in how these passages were written. At a time when disobedience against the rules and regulations imposed by the elders and the teachers of the Law were heavily discouraged and punishable, the people of God by then had lost the true meaning of the Law of God, which they had received through Moses, and obeyed them without understanding. And those who imposed them, forced the people to live strictly according to the Law also without knowing the intention of God’s Law.

The Pharisees, elders and teachers of the Law insisted that all the observances of the Mosaic laws must be adhered to, from rules on how a person should observe fasting, how one ought to wash his or her hands before a meal and when entering into another person’s house, as well as the laws regarding Sabbath and the strict instruction to avoid any works on that day, or else those who disobeyed would be expelled from the synagogues and shunned by the rest of their society.

In one count, there are approximately six hundred and thirteen set of laws, rules and regulations which the people had to obey, from the rituals of cleansing and purification, as well as ways to pray and fasting, right to the way for offering sacrifices, and the different purposes of each sacrifices of animal fats, blood, and others. These were imposed on the people, and became a great burden for them, because many of these were not what God intended for His people, but how the people themselves twisted the observances of the true Law, and utilised it to their own purposes.

That was why Jesus revealed to His people, what God actually intended for them, and what God wanted them to do for Him. It was not all the external observations of the laws that is important, but rather whether each person is able to commit themselves to God through the Law, and learn to give Him their love and commitment. It is no use for someone to observe the fullness of the rules and regulations, with the example of the Pharisees who openly displayed their observances before others, and yet God was not in their hearts.

It is pointless if we pretend to be pious, devout and holy, and yet in our hearts we store a greater malice of pride, arrogance and human greed. To want to be seen by others and be praised because of their deeds was the exact reason why Jesus rebuked the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law for their hypocrisy. They had no God in their hearts, but rather their own ego and selfishness.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, what God wants from each one of us is simply our love, just as He had loved us first. His laws as summarised by Jesus our Lord is indeed simple, about love, the love of God shown upon mankind, and the expectation that we also love Him back equally, and to put Him at the centre of our lives, so that His love lives inside each one of us, and we therefore may live in Him.

Let us all follow the examples of St. Francis de Sales, whose feast we celebrate today. St. Francis de Sales was a devout bishop and holy man, whose deeds and works were renowned far and wide among the communities of the faithful during and after his time. But when he was young, he was born into a noble family and followed worldly pursuits as what was expected of someone of his class at that time.

However, as he continue through his education in a seminary, and going through various spiritual experiences, he discovered a moment of conversion and change, when he realised that God loves him and each and every men and women. And based on that fundamental truth, St. Francis de Sales dedicated his life to God from then on, and left behind the worldly pursuits and ambitions.

He left behind everything and became a priest, and was renowned from then on by his zeal and faith in God, by the clarity of his sermons and preachings about the faith to the people. And by explaining the love of God which He had shown through the Church, he managed to convince many to repent from their old ways of sin and enter into conversion and change just as he himself had done many years prior.

St. Francis de Sales was renowned for his patience and humility, his loving and caring nature, his gentle attitude, which are all the characteristics of God’s love. Therefore, based on his examples, all of us Christians must also follow in his footsteps, practicing our faith in our own lives, so that we too may have the Lord at the centre of our lives, and be transformed wholly from creatures of sin and wickedness into creatures of love.

Let us all devote ourselves, our time and our efforts to love God in all the things we do, and we can start this by thanking Him for all the blessings and graces we have received, and then sharing them with one another, loving and caring our brethren, and even strangers who are in our midst. Let us live our lives with purpose from now on, that is to obey the will of God, and therefore we will be found worthy when the Lord comes again as He had promised us. May God bless us all. Amen.

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Tuesday, 24 January 2017 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Francis de Sales, Bishop and Doctor of the Church, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White
Mark 3 : 31-35

At that time, the mother and brothers of Jesus came. As they stood outside, they sent someone to call Him. The crowd sitting around Jesus told Him, “Your mother and Your brothers are outside asking for You.”

He replied, “Who are My mother and My brothers?” And looking around at those who sat there, He said, “Here are My mother and My brothers. Whoever does the will of God is brother and sister and mother to Me.”

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Tuesday, 24 January 2017 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Francis de Sales, Bishop and Doctor of the Church, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 39 : 2 and 4ab, 7-8a, 10, 11

With resolve I waited for the Lord; He listened and heard me beg. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God.

Sacrifice and oblation You did not desire; this You had me understand. Burnt offering and sin offering You do not require. Then I said, “Here I come!”

In the great assembly I have proclaimed Your saving help. My lips, o Lord, I did not seal – You know that very well.

I have not locked up in my heart Your saving help, but have spoken about it – Your deliverance and Your faithfulness. I have made no secret of Your truth and of Your kindness in the great assembly.

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Tuesday, 24 January 2017 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Francis de Sales, Bishop and Doctor of the Church, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White
Hebrews 10 : 1-10

The religion of the Law is only a shadow of the good things to come; it has the patterns but not the realities. So, year after year, the same sacrifices are offered without bringing the worshippers to what is the end. If they had been cleansed once and for all, they would no longer have felt guilt and would have stopped offering the same sacrifices.

But no, year after year their sacrifices witness to their sins and never will the blood of bulls and goats take away these sins. This is why on entering the world, Christ says : You did not desire sacrifice and offering; You were not pleased with burnt offerings and sin offerings. Then I said : “Here I am. It was written of Me in the scroll. I will do Your will, o God.”

First He says : “Sacrifice, offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings You did not desire nor were You pleased with them – although they were required by the Law. Then He says : Here I am to do Your will. This is enough to nullify the first will and establish the new. Now, by this will of God, we are sanctified once and for all by the sacrifice of the Body of Christ Jesus.

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Sunday, 22 January 2017 : Third Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Vincent, Deacon and Martyr, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this Sunday, as we go through the midst of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, it is appropriate for us to reflect firstly on what we heard in the second reading, taken from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Church and the faithful in Corinth, where he rebuked the Christians there for their divisiveness. At that time, the Church and the faithful there were divided bitterly among themselves as they were not able to agree on exactly who to believe in.

In order to understand this, we should understand the very nature of our Christian faith. Our faith is a faith by proclamation and witness. We received our faith and the teachings of those faith from those who have themselves received it from their teachers. Thus we believe because of witness, and because of the faith of those who have themselves received the same teachings.

But then, the question is that, how do we then make sure that the teachings are genuine, accurate and true? After all, as we have already seen, that even in the earliest days of the Church, there had been divisions and also conflict amongst the faithful because of the different ways the faith and its teachings were interpreted amongst the faithful, with both St. Paul and Apollos being charismatic and great preachers. Certainly they would gain plenty of following among the people.

Both of them might have indeed taught the exact same set of teachings, and although as told in the other part of the Acts of the Apostles, that Apollos had some mistakes in his teachings as he was not fully versed in the fullness of the Church’s teachings, unlike St. Paul, who have received the Holy Spirit and coordinated with St. Peter and the other Apostles, but as soon as some other disciples of the Lord pointed out his errors, he quickly rectified the mistake.

Rather, most likely the problem came about because of how we the hearers of the Good News interpret the message, and each of us make a different interpretation among ourselves. It is our human nature that we often like what we like to hear, such as parts that suit our objectives and needs, while at the same time we filter out the messages and parts that we do not like or do not favour us.

That is why the divisions came about in the Church and amongst the faithful, precisely because each and every person interpret the faith in the way that they like, and not in the way that it should be interpreted and understood. And then we may have the question of how then can we receive the faith that we now have in the correct and accurate manner?

This is where the Church comes in, brothers and sisters, the importance of the Church as an institution, not just in terms of the Church hierarchy and leadership that maintain control over the teachings and the traditions of our faith, but more importantly because it, being the collective Body of Christ on earth, as the union of all those who believe in God and call themselves as Christians, is the very important safeguard against those who would corrupt, misrepresent and misinterpret the faith and its teachings.

Without such a safeguard, then it is difficult to maintain the integrity and the truth of the faith as how it should be. The Church is the safe-keeper of the truth which our Lord Jesus Christ had proclaimed to the world, which then were passed down through His Apostles, and from them to their successors, and from their successors to their successors’ successors. And thus it was through the Church, through our bishops and priests, the successors of the Apostles that we have received this faith.

All the divisions of the Church since the beginnings of the Church, even from the days of the Apostles to the present day are caused by the disobedience, pride, greed and the rebelliousness we mankind, the people of God had done, which because of the refusal of men to obey the teachings of the Church, they had gone wayward, interpreting the Scriptures as they wished and in their own limited understanding, which resulted in the splintering of the body of the faithful into many pieces.

At the same time, we also have to acknowledge that the Church itself also is not entirely out of blame. The Church is human just as much as it is Divine. It may be instituted by the Lord, and authority have been given to it and its stewards, the Apostles and their successors, but after all, it was still feeble and sinful men and women who had been part of this Church, led it, and sometimes brought it into erroneous ways.

It was because of the corruption within the Church, the immorality of its leaders and even the Popes themselves were wicked in their actions, which resulted in the desire of certain people to reform the Church. There had been many occasions, harking earlier to the earliest days of the Church that the Church had not always been faithful to the truth, but was misled by false and heretical ways, and yet, almost every time, God called holy and committed men and women to correct the wrong ways, and those who refused to return to the true faith were expelled from the Church. Many did eventually return and repent their sins.

Indeed, we have to take note that as what happened five centuries ago, when the ‘Reformation’ rocked the entire Church and brought great harm to many of the faithful, there were many good intentioned reformers who wanted to see the Church purged from its corruption and worldliness, as then the Church had been too absorbed into worldly and secular ways to the point that it was hardly a dependable and reliable source of spiritual guidance to the people.

And yet, while the intentions of those reformers were probably good, but their methods of going about trying to achieve their goals were very wrong. They took it upon themselves to sunder the unity of the Church, and by declaring that the Scriptures alone was their authority, each and every person soon took it upon themselves to interpret what the Scriptures meant for them, and therefore, what they believed in. Some chose what they liked to believe and others threw away all those that they refused to believe in. This created confusion, and a ripe ground for the devil to sow further division and discord.

Let us all look back at the Church fathers, the collective body of the saints and martyrs who had once led the Church in its earliest days. They have carefully preserved the teachings of Christ and His Good News just exactly as how He passed it down to His Apostles and to them. Those who damaged the unity of the Church did so because they misunderstood the faith, and they ignored the Church’s ways because they were too focused on its faults then, and refused to maintain the truth which it had kept and preserved throughout time, up to this very day.

It was also then misinformation, socio-political issues and other misunderstandings that prevented the reunion of the faithful people of God into His Church. There were many false informations, lies and other falsehoods which became entangled with political issues, social issues, and even issues of pride, human greed and stubbornness, which kept the gap and the chasm between the divided members of the Church wide and even growing ever wider.

This is where then it is important that as Christians, those who belong to God’s Church, and as a member of the holy and venerable Body of Christ, which had guarded the Apostolic Tradition of our faith, and the fullness of the teachings of Christ, led by the Apostle St. Peter and his successors, our Popes, that we must remember what is our faith truly about, which I have mentioned at the very beginning of this discourse, that is about being witnesses of Christ.

That is why each and every one of us have the calling and the mission from God, to be witnesses of the faith, showing through our deeds and actions that we truly belong to God, that is by loving one another and showing care and concern for our less fortunate brethren around us. And it is important that we stick closely to the Church and its teachings, as Jesus Himself had said in another occasion in the Gospels, that He is the true Vine, and all who have no part in Him and have separated themselves from Him will have no life in them.

Therefore, similarly, if we do not adhere closely to the Church and separates ourselves from it, then that is why divisions came about, and we are bringing upon ourselves and others not the grace of salvation but the sins of error and condemnation by God. As Christians, we must work to overcome the divisions and the misunderstandings, all the obstacles that had prevented many of those who believe in God, and yet outside the Church from returning to the Holy Mother Church.

In this week of Prayer for Christian Unity, let us all Christians pray fervently together, that everyone who believe in God will no longer be separated, that everyone will be just as what Jesus our Lord wants them to be, to be one and united just as He and the Father is one. This is the prayer which Jesus Himself prayed on the night before He was to suffer and die, and prayer that He had asked the Father to bestow on His Church.

Therefore, those who foment divisions and spread lies and misinformations about the faith, not adhering to the teachings of the Church as passed down unto us from the Apostles are against the wishes of the Lord. Yet, sadly it is the reality of our world today that there are many both outside and inside the Church who are against unity. Rather, it is important that we overcome those misinformations, and therefore, it is important that each and every one of us, members of the Church, know fully what our faith is about.

After all, if we ourselves are unaware of what our faith is about, how can we then convince others to reunite and reconcile themselves with the Church? There have been good signs, as there have been quite a few of those who have decided to repent and return to the embrace of the Mother Church, after they had studied the teachings of the Church fathers, read their writings and works, and found in them the same faith as what our Church, the Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church have today, even almost two millennia away from the days of those holy saints.

Let us all therefore pray together, brethren, that the unity of the Church will be restored, and each and every one of us as Christians will know the fullness of the truth of God and the wholeness of His teachings, which He had passed on to His Apostles, and which the Church had preserved and kept for many ages. Let us all be agents of true unity in the Church, not by compromising our faith, but instead by being witnesses of the truth of God and knowing His truth.

We are all called to be shepherds and guides to all those who have fallen on their way towards the Lord. It is imperative then, even up to this present day and era, that we work to our best capabilities, in order to make many more people see the truth found in the Church. Let us all do our best, and pray that God will help us in all of our endeavours. May God be with His Church and with His people, bless all of their works, and bring all of His faithful one together as one flock, one people. Amen.