Holy Sunday Mass

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Sunday, 6 November 2016 : 32nd Sunday of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, as this Sunday marks the occasion of being two Sundays away from the Solemnity of Christ the King, which marks the end of our current liturgical year, if we noticed, many of the Scripture readings have been taken from the passages of the Scripture referring to the end of times, such as from the Book of the Revelations of St. John the Apostle, as well as references to the life in the world that is to come, including what we have heard today, as the resurrection from the dead is a central theme of our faith.

By His death and resurrection, Jesus our Lord have made us all who share in His death and resurrection, to have the hope of eternal life, as when He descended into this world to save us, He shared in our humanity and became Man just like us. Through His death on the cross, not only that He had shouldered the burden of our sins, but He also shared with us His suffering and death, that we are also dead to our past lives of sin.

Then, by His glorious resurrection, He lifted us all up together with Him into a new life. Had the resurrection of the dead been false or absent, then our faith the Lord would have been wasted and useless, meaningless and we would have no hope. But we believe in this, and by our faith, we know that at the end of our earthly lives, in fact it is not the end of everything, but the beginning of a new, blessed life with God and with our righteous brethren, which we shall enjoy for eternity.  This is our faith and what we believe in.

In the Gospel today, Jesus our Lord spoke to a group of Sadducees who questioned Him about the matter of the resurrection from the dead. The Sadducees were one of the two major power and influential groups at the time. They were those who were influential, rich and powerful, close to the rulers and the kings at that time, the educated and intellectual class, opposed to the Pharisees, the other major group, who were also influential, but of different sort, since the Pharisees dealt more with matters of the Jewish faith and customs.

And thus, as opposed to the Pharisees’ extra-zealous observation and imposition of the tenets of the Jewish laws and customs, which the Lord Jesus had frequently condemned throughout the Gospels, the Sadducees on the other hand were very secular, and did not believe in supernatural matters such as Angels, spirits, and of course, the resurrection of the dead. They rejected all these, thinking that there is nothing after death.

They were indeed those who lived for the moment, enjoying the worldly pleasures and goodness, as they did not believe that there is resurrection after death, and they presumably would fear death, as death was therefore seen as a horrible end to the worldly life, from which there is nothing. They thought of the world, and therefore followed the ways of this world.

And because they treasured life more than anything else, they would do whatever it is that can please the demands of the world, even if that means opposing the works of God as they have done against Jesus. For Jesus came and rebuked them as well for their stubbornness and refusal to believe in the truth about the resurrection of the dead. They argued using the example of the seven brothers and their wife to push their argument about the impossibility of the resurrection.

In the two readings we heard, one from the Book of the Maccabees and then the Gospel, we can see the relation and the contrast between the two readings about this matter of the resurrection. The Sadducees were thinking in worldly terms, worrying about what would happen after the death of man, whether they would be able to carry on with their earthly life in the same manner as how they have lived it. This is evident as they asked Jesus what then would happen to the wife shared by the seven brothers.

Meanwhile, the seven brothers in the Book of Maccabeus faithfully upheld their faith in the Lord without fail, even when they were faced with great suffering, torture and certain death if they rejected the advances and offers from the king. As a little background explanation of what happened then, the Greek King of the Seleucids, King Antiochus IV Epiphanes ruled over the region of Judea, where the Jews then lived under his rule. At that time, that king was trying to enforce the Greek customs and ways to the Jews, including pagan worship and also the obliteration of the Jewish laws.

The king made many people to choose between obeying his commands and thus betraying the Lord, or to stand fast to their faith and suffer grievous consequences, even death. If they valued their lives more than their faith, then surely they would choose the side of the king, for after all, if they rejected the king’s orders, there was to be no hope for them, but death.

Yet, because they knew that there is indeed life beyond death, due to the promise of the resurrection of the dead, they did not fear the king and his threats, and even in the face of great tribulations, torture and persecution, they stood fast to their faith, to the very last brother, and the mother who witnessed it all, proud that all of her sons had acted in the way they did.

The king offered them high positions in his court, guarantees of success and wealth if they only would abandon their faith in the Lord, and their lives would have been prosperous and good. But at what cost? Jesus our Lord Himself said in one occasion, about how foolish it is for someone to gain the whole world but at the cost of losing one’s soul. It would have been better for someone to preserve his soul even though he suffers in this world.

Why is this so, brethren? That is because whatever we have in this world is transient and temporary in nature. All the things we obtain now in this world will not last forever. They are means for us to have a sustainable life, for us to survive in this world, and yet we should not let them to take over us with desires, untoward greed and unbridled wants, which then lead us into the temptations of this world, that eventually will lead us into sin.

The choice facing the seven brothers was clear, either to sin and live comfortably in this world, or to remain pure and holy although they might suffer in their earthly bodies and perish. Yet, God Who is the Lord and Master of life will bless them and grant them a new life, one that will never end, filled with true joy and happiness of having been reunited with God. Those who sided with the king and threw away their dedication to the Lord will indeed also have a new life, but instead of what the faithful received, they will receive the eternity of damnation and punishment.

The same faced the martyrs and all those who have been persecuted in the early days of the Church, when the Roman authorities, and in some cases, the Persian Sassanid authorities oppressed the Christian faith, and forced many of the faithful to choose between life or death. For those who did not understand and appreciate how important is the resurrection is for us, they would have thought that it was foolish for the faithful to choose death over life, if that would mean that they could keep their faith in God.

But that was exactly what happened then. There were indeed those who were unable to resist the temptation and abandoned their faith, but there were still many more who stood fast to their belief in the Risen Lord, and faced great sufferings and persecutions, and yet, at the end of the day, when the Lord comes to reward His faithful ones, they indeed deserve to receive great rewards from Him.

And persecution of the Church and the faithful ran throughout time and ages, even until this very day. I am sure that we are all quite aware of the challenges facing the Church and the faithful in several if not many areas in the world today. There were many opponents and enemies of the Lord and His Church, who ridiculed us for our faith, who despised us and attacked us, who made our lives very difficult and riddled with obstacles. But then, brothers and sisters in Christ, do we then give in to the demands of the world?

It does not mean that we should seek violence or revenge, for after all, Jesus Himself taught us to pray for our enemies and forgive those who have hurt or injured us. But it means that we should not be lukewarm in our faith, but instead be truly devoted in our words, actions and deeds, so that all those who see us may know that we truly believe in God, the Living God.

And in doing so, we are building for ourselves the true wealth and treasure found only in our God. We should not be obsessed with what is present in this world, but instead make use of what we have, especially if we have more of them, to help the needy, to alleviate the suffering of those who are lacking in certain areas, such as food, clothing, and even love.

If we remain faithful to the Lord, keep our faith strongly firm in Him, and doing whatever is right and just in His eyes, even though those whom we know and even those who are close to us may disapprove, then just like the seven brothers martyred in what we heard from the Book of the Maccabees, rich will be our reward in the world that is to come.

It is easy for us to fall into the temptation, and indeed, it is easy for us to become like the Sadducees as described in the Gospel today. Many of us have doubts in our lives, and indeed our faith are often far from perfect. Many have abandoned the faith because they do not have the love of God in their hearts, and because their faith were weak. It is a lot easier for us to just succumb to the temptations of this world and do things as it expects us to do, but remember, that if we live for the moment and do what the Lord abhors, we are inviting for ourselves an eternity of damnation.

Therefore, let us all in the Church, all members of the same Body of Christ, help one another to be closer to God, and put our hope in Him, Who have given us this life, and Who have sent His own Son into this world to die for our sins, and by sharing in our humanity, He has therefore shared with us His death, that we all die to our past sins and wickedness, and then as He rose from the dead in glory, we too may rise in glory with Him, and keeping our faith in Him strong and alive, we may receive the true joy and the crown of everlasting glory in the end of it all.

Let us pray, brothers and sisters in Christ, for the sake of our persecuted brethren throughout the world, in areas where it is very dangerous to live as Christians, and yet there are still those who proudly and openly carried themselves and proclaimed themselves as Christians. And let us all be thankful if we have had a good life, and pray that we may be ever more moved to do more for the sake of our suffering brethren, giving them support be it in material or in love and attention.

May the Lord, the Master and the Giver of life bless us all, and may He Who have conquered death dispel the doubts in our hearts, that we have no more of the doubt of the Sadducees, but instead, put our full and complete trust in our Risen Lord, Who is our hope and our aim in life. God be with us all. Amen.

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Sunday, 6 November 2016 : 32nd Sunday of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Luke 20 : 27-38

At that time, some Sadducees arrived. These people claim that there is no resurrection, and they asked Jesus this question, “Master, in the Law Moses told us, ‘If anyone dies leaving a wife but no children, his brother must take the wife, and any child born to them will be regarded as the child of the deceased.'”

“Now, there were seven brothers; the first married a wife, but he died without children; and the second and the third took the wife; in fact, all seven died leaving no children. Last of all the woman died. On the day of the resurrection, to which of them will the woman be a wife? For all seven had her as a wife.”

And Jesus replied, “Taking a husband or a wife is proper to people of this world, but for those who are considered worthy of the world to come, and of resurrection from the dead, there is no more marriage. Besides, they cannot die, for they are like the Angels. They are sons and daughters of God, because they are born of the resurrection.”

“Yes, the dead will be raised, as Moses revealed at the burning bush, when He called the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. For God is God of the living, and not of the dead, for to Him everyone is alive.”

Alternative reading (shorter version)
Luke 20 : 27, 34-38

At that time, some Sadducees arrived. These people claim that there is no resurrection.

And Jesus replied, “Taking a husband or a wife is proper to people of this world, but for those who are considered worthy of the world to come, and of resurrection from the dead, there is no more marriage. Besides, they cannot die, for they are like the Angels. They are sons and daughters of God, because they are born of the resurrection.”

“Yes, the dead will be raised, as Moses revealed at the burning bush, when He called the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. For God is God of the living, and not of the dead, for to Him everyone is alive.”

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Sunday, 6 November 2016 : 32nd Sunday of Ordinary Time (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green
2 Thessalonians 2 : 16 – 2 Thessalonians 3 : 5

May Christ Jesus our Lord Who has loved us, may God our Father, Who in His mercy gives us everlasting comfort and true hope, strengthens you. May He encourage your hearts and make you steadfast in every good work and word.

Finally, brothers and sisters, pray for us that the Word of God may spread rapidly and be glorified everywhere as it was with you. May God guard us from wicked and evil people, since not everyone has faith. The Lord is faithful; He will strengthen you and keep you safe from the Evil One.

Besides, we have in the Lord this confidence that you are doing and will continue to do what we order you. May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.

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Sunday, 6 November 2016 : 32nd Sunday of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Psalm 16 : 1, 5-6, 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.

Hold firm my steps upon Your path, that my feet may not stumble. I call on You, You will answer me, o God; incline Your ear and hear my word.

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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Sunday, 6 November 2016 : 32nd Sunday of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green
2 Maccabeans 7 : 1-2, 9-14

It happened also that seven brothers were arrested with their mother. The king had them scourged and flogged to force them to eat the flesh of a pig which was prohibited by the Law. One of them, speaking in behalf of all, said, “What do you want to find out from us? We are prepared to die right now rather than break the law of our ancestors.”

At the moment of his last breath, he said, “Murderer, you now dismiss us from life, but the King of this world will raise us up. He will give us eternal life since we die for His laws.” After this, they punished the third brother. He stuck his tongue out when asked to, bravely stretched forth his hands, and even had the courage to say : “I have received these limbs from God, but for love of His laws I now consider them as nothing. For I hope to recover them from God.”

The king and his court were touched by the courage of this young man, so unconcerned about his own sufferings. When this one was dead, they subjected the fourth to the same torture. At the point of death, he cried out, “I would rather die at the hands of mortals, and wait for the promises of God Who will raise us up; you, however, shall have no part in the resurrection of life.”

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Sunday, 30 October 2016 : 31st Sunday of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard that well known story of Jesus and Zaccheus, one of the stories that many of us must have heard while we were having our catechism classes, where we heard about how Zaccheus, the rich tax collector but a short man, desired to see Jesus and endeavoured to climb a tree just so that he could see Him, and for that, the Lord rewarded him with the privilege of Him coming to his house to eat with him and the other tax collectors.

And through that story, we heard the loving kindness, compassion and mercy of our Lord, Who loves each and every one of us equally, from the greatest of sinners to the greatest of the virtuous and righteous ones. God showed us all His love and mercy even though we have disobeyed Him and have been rebellious and delinquent in our ways. It is His desire that we are able to find our way to His loving mercy and be forgiven for our trespasses and sins.

That is the essence of our Gospel passage today, as well as some other stories of Jesus’ works, where He showed mercy to the woman caught in adultery, whom the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law wanted to stone to death. And that is also what He told His disciples when He related to them the parable of the prodigal son, telling them about a son who have disobeyed his father, and following his own desires, committed wicked lifestyle and eventually after having suffered, decided to repent and return to the house of his father, and the father accepted him back with love.

All of these showed to us the infinite mercy of our Lord, how great an extent He is willing to go in order to regain us back, all of us who have been sundered from Him because of our iniquities and sins, which resulted in our estrangement and fall into sin. But at the same time, as was the case when Jesus forgave the woman caught committing adultery, He told her not to sin anymore and go in peace from then on.

This is a reminder for us that while God’s mercy is given to us freely and unconditionally, but whether we will receive the fullness of His love and mercy depends solely on our desire to be forgiven, that is through genuine repentance and desire to change ourselves. No mercy and forgiveness can take place without repentance just as much as we cannot clap using only one hand. We have to have mercy and repentance working in tandem and only then we will be shown mercy and forgiveness.

After all, let us look at the examples of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, the scribes, elders and the chief priests themselves. God came into this world not just to save the prostitutes, tax collectors and all considered as sinners, since it is one misconception that can easily be made when we read today’s Gospel and other passages from the Sacred Scriptures.

Rather, God came to save all, be it those who are righteous or those considered as sinners, or those who have high and noble birth, and those who have low and common birth. He does not look at appearances, status or other worldly classifications of ourselves, but instead, He is looking deep into our hearts in order to see if we are truly worthy of His salvation.

Jesus forgave His enemies and those who have made Him to suffer from the cross, by saying to God His Father, ‘Father, do not hold this sin against them, for they do not know what they are doing.’ And through these words we can see that even Jesus came to deliver these people from their sins, and showed mercy as well as compassion to them, instead of cursing them and being angry with them. Now then the question is, did they take up His offer of mercy? Did they change their ways and repent? Or did they go on with their lives as how it was?

Therefore, we can see here that while God came for all of His people, to the Pharisees, to the tax collectors, to the chief priests, to the prostitutes, to people big and small in statures and status in the society, to those who have good appearances and bad appearances, all ultimately depend on their acceptance of that mercy and forgiveness.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, the same applies to us as well. We have lots of opportunities given to us by God to be redeemed and to be forgiven our sins in this life we are now enjoying in this earth. However, are we doing something in order to accept that salvation offered freely to us and do what is required of us? As Christians, all of us have been accepted by God to be members of His own Sacred Body, the Church, and we have been brought into one people, to be God’s own chosen ones, and be cleansed of the taints of original sins of our ancestors, but this does not mean that we can be complacent.

In fact, there are many Christians out there who are complacent and lukewarm in their faith, thinking that they are justified on the account of their faith alone, but then let me ask you, ‘What is faith?’ There may be many among us who do not really know or understand what is faith truly about, that is what is our faith is about. Can we truly say that we believe in God if we do not even act in the way that our faith requires of us, and which our Lord had taught us through His Church?

Just as Jesus Himself said, that not all who said ‘Lord, Lord’ will be saved, and also all who claimed to know Him and have indeed sat with Him and knew Him will be saved, just because they did not do as He had commanded them to do, and rather than doing what is good in the sight of God, through their wickedness and evil, they have besmirched and stained the good Name of the Lord in the sight of many people.

Yes, brothers and sisters in Christ, our faith requires active participation in good works and commitment to love, loving our brethren and showing our faith through true and living commitment in our words, actions and deeds, that we then shall be found just and worthy by the Lord, Who will then welcome us into His promise of eternal life, true joy and glory with Him in His heavenly kingdom, where we shall enjoy forever the joy of everlasting life without end.

But all of these, as mentioned earlier today, requires us to devote ourselves to do what is good and righteous before God, shunning evil and repenting from our sins. All of us are sinners, and all of us have disobeyed the Lord in one way or another, but that does not mean that any of us are beyond God’s salvation or hope. As long as we are still alive in this world, and desiring for a complete change of our own sinful life, there is always hope for us.

That is where we as Christians should contribute to the good works of our Lord’s salvation. There are many out there who have given up the hope of God’s salvation, and even many more who are still living in darkness and in ignorance of God’s truth and salvation. It is up to us then to help them, and to guide them that they may find their way to the Lord and thus be saved.

And as such, shall we not, brethren, commit ourselves anew to do the will of God and to obey Him in all things? And as St. Francis of Assisi was famous through his prayer, let us also pray it together, that when there is hatred, let us all sow love, and when there is injury, let us pardon, when there is doubt, let us all bring faith, when there is despair, let us all bring hope to each other, and when there is darkness, let us be light to one another, and finally when there is sadness and sorrow, let us bring joy to each other.

May God help us all to become better Christians and role model for one another, that in all the things we do and say, we always proclaim the Lord’s glory and be ever faithful to His ways and commandments, by showing mercy to sinners, and by seeking genuine repentance and regretting sincerely all of our sins, that all of us may eventually find our way to the Lord. God bless us all. Amen.

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Sunday, 30 October 2016 : 31st Sunday of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Luke 19 : 1-10

At that time, when Jesus entered Jericho and passed through the city, a man named Zaccheus lived there. He was a tax collector and a wealthy man. He wanted to see what Jesus was like, but he was a short man and could not see Him because of the crowd.

So he ran ahead and climbed up a sycamore tree. From there he would be able to see Jesus, Who was going to pass that way. When Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said to him, “Zaccheus, Zaccheus, come down quickly, for I must stay at your house today.” So Zaccheus climbed down and received Him joyfully.

All the people who saw it began to grumble, and said, “He has gone as a guest to the house of a sinner.” But Zaccheus spoke to Jesus, “Half of what I own, Lord, I will give to the poor, and if I have cheated anyone, I will pay him back four times as much.”

Looking at him Jesus said, “Salvation has come to this house today, for he is also a true son of Abraham. The Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost.”

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Sunday, 30 October 2016 : 31st Sunday of Ordinary Time (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green
2 Thessalonians 1 : 11 – 2 Thessalonians 2 : 2

This is why we constantly pray for you; may our God make you worthy of His calling. May He, by His power, fulfil your good purposes and your work prompted by faith. In that way, the Name of Jesus our Lord will be glorified through you, and you through Him, according to the loving plan of God and of Christ Jesus the Lord.

Brothers and sisters, let us speak about the coming of Christ Jesus, our Lord, and our gathering to meet Him. Do not be easily unsettled. Do not be alarmed by what a prophet says or by any report, or by some letter said to be ours, saying the day of the Lord is at hand.

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Sunday, 30 October 2016 : 31st Sunday of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Psalm 144 : 1-2, 8-9, 10-11, 13cd-14

I will extol You, my God and King; I will bless Your Name forever. I will praise You day after day and exalt Your Name forever.

Compassionate and gracious is the Lord, slow to anger and abounding in love. The Lord is good to everyone; His mercy embraces all His creation.

All Your works will give You thanks; all Your saints, o Lord, will praise You. They will tell of the glory of Your kingdom and speak of Your power.

The Lord is true to His promises and lets His mercy show in all He does. The Lord lifts up those who are falling and raises those who are beaten down.

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Sunday, 30 October 2016 : 31st Sunday of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Wisdom 11 : 22 – Wisdom 12 : 2

For the entire world lies before you, just enough to tip the scales, a drop of morning dew falling on the ground. But because You are almighty, You are merciful to all; You overlook sins and give Your children time to repent. You love everything that exists and hate nothing that You have made; had You hated anything, You would not have formed it.

How could anything endure if You did not will it? And how could anything last that You had not willed? You have compassion on all because all is Yours, o Lord, Lover of life. In fact, Your immortal Spirit is in all. And so by degrees You correct those who sin, You admonish them, reminding them how they have strayed so that turning away from evil they may trust in You, Lord.