Holy Week of the Lord’s Passion

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Saturday, 9 May 2015 : 5th Week of Easter (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Acts 16 : 1-10

Paul travelled on to Derbe and then to Lystra. A disciple named Timothy lived there, whose mother was a believer of Jewish origin but whose father was a Greek. As the believers at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him, Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him. So he took him and, because of the Jews of that place who all knew that his father was a Greek, he circumcised him.

As they travelled from town to town, they delivered the decisions of the Apostles and elders in Jerusalem, for the people to obey. Meanwhile, the churches grew stronger in faith and increased in number every day.

They travelled through Phrygia and Galatia, because they had been prevented by the Holy Spirit from preaching the message in the province of Asia. When they came to Mysia, they tried to go on to Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them to do this. So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas.

There one night Paul had a vision. A Macedonian stood before him and begged him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us!” When he awoke, he told us of this vision and we understood that the Lord was calling us to give the Good News to the Macedonian people.

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Friday, 8 May 2015 : 5th Week of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we all ought to reflect on the nature of God’s love for us. His love for us is true, genuine, perfect and transcending all forms of selfish love and worldliness, and His love is given to us freely! And yet, it is us all who have often rejected His love. We prefer the love of this world and the love of ourselves.

And this is why all of us have to learn that if we become the disciples of our Lord, them all of us ought to grow stronger in our humility and dedication to one another, and to be less in the attention which we pay to ourselves and to our desires. We must die to our desires and our greed, and rise up at the call of others, when they cried for justice, for food and for love, which many in our world today lacks.

As we have discussed earlier on this week on the matter of the observation of the laws of Moses, the customs of Israel, the over-emphasis on such strict observation of the faith by the Jews and their demands that all the faithful followed such strict laws caused the people to lose sight of what being a true disciple of our Lord Jesus Christ really means.

To be the true disciples of our Lord, we have to be completely and thoroughly changed in our ways and be converted to His cause, not just externally, but also internally as well. We cannot be so focused on ourselves and then be blind to the plight of others who are around us. Thus, as we seek to obey the Lord and follow His commandments, we cannot blindly follow them and worse still, to do them for the sake of being seen and praised for having obeyed the Law of God.

The Jews themselves, as emphasized by the examples of the Pharisees, were too caught up in the act of maintaining the law at the strictest possible application, that they ended up doing the law injustice, for they failed to understand the real and true meaning of the Law. The Law is meant to guide us in the way of love, that is teaching us on how to love one another, and also to love God.

As such, we have to understand what Jesus had taught us about the commandments and Law which He had given us. To love God means to give ourselves completely in our being to Him, and with all of our strength and might we ought to focus all of our attentions to Him, so that whenever we do something we always give glory to God and we will not even contemplate doing something that will go against the way of the Lord.

And if we love God, then we will also definitely follow in His footsteps and not turn left and right in the pursuit of other things. We will be faithful no matter what challenges and temptations that lie on our way. This is our faith, and this is what we should do in the name of our faith to the Lord. And if we love God, then we will also love our fellow men, so that in all that we do, we may bring goodness to others around us.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore reflect on this occasion, on what we can do more to love our Lord and to love one another. If we have not shown love in our actions, then perhaps this is the time for us to begin to do so. May God guide us on our ways and help us to keep faithfully all of His commandments and remain true to Him, our Lord and Saviour. God bless us all. Amen.

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Friday, 8 May 2015 : 5th Week of Easter (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 15 : 12-17

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “This is My commandment : Love one another as I have loved you! There is no greater love than this, to give one’s life for one’s friends; and you are My friends, if you do what I command you.”
“I shall not call you servants any more, because servants do not know what their master is about. Instead I have called you friends, since I have made known to you everything I learnt from My Father.”

“You did not choose Me; it was I who chose you and sent you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last. And everything you ask the Father in My Name, He will give you. This is My command, that you love one another.”

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Friday, 8 May 2015 : 5th Week of Easter (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 56 : 8-9, 10-12

My heart is steadfast, o God, my heart is steadfast. I will sing and make music. Awake, my soul. Awake, o harp and lyre! I will wake the dawn.

I will give thanks to You, o Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praise to You among the nations. For Your love reaches to the heavens, and Your faithfulness, to the clouds. Be exalted, o God, above the heavens! Let Your Glory be over all the earth!

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Friday, 8 May 2015 : 5th Week of Easter (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Acts 15 : 22-31

Then the Apostles and elders together with the whole Church decided to choose representatives from among them to send to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. These were Judas, known as Barsabbas, and Silas, both leading men among the brothers.

They took with them the following letter : “Greetings from the Apostles and elders, your brothers, to the believers of non-Jewish birth in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia. We have heard that some persons from among us have worried you with their discussions and troubled your peace of mind. They were not appointed by us.”

“But now, it has seemed right to us in an assembly, to choose representatives and to send them to you, along with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, who have dedicated their lives to the service of our Lord Jesus Christ. We send you then Judas and Silas who themselves will give you these instructions by word of mouth.”

“We, with the Holy Spirit, have decided not to put any other burden on you except what is necessary : You are to abstain from blood from the meat of strangled animals and from prohibited marriages. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.”

After saying goodbye, the messengers went to Antioch, where they assembled the community and handed them the letter. When they read the news, all were delighted with the encouragement it gave them.

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Thursday, 7 May 2015 : 5th Week of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we all heard how Jesus our Lord exhorted His disciples to follow the way of the Lord, that is to follow all of His teachings and all that He had revealed about God, the Creator and Master of all, if they are truly faithful to Him. If we truly love God, then certainly, we would have dedicated ourselves to His ways and in all of our actions we should indeed be much like Him.

And Jesus mentioned that those who belong to Him and those who are faithful to Him will do His commandments, the Law of God, that is essentially, as He had often explained, Love. The Law of God, the commandments of God, all are essentially about two things as Jesus explained, that is the love we ought to have for God, our Lord, Father and Master, as well as the love that we all should have towards one another.

Therefore, this is the focus of our life and what we all should aspire to, that is to practice our faith with real and genuine sincerity, in all of our every words, deeds and actions without exception. But as we heard in the readings, there are difficulties and challenges awaiting us. Externally, as the world and its ways as we know are diametrically opposite to that of the way of our Lord, and therefore, temptations and challenges will surely come our way.

And then challenges also comes from within as well, from the example of what we heard in the first reading today from the Acts of the Apostles. The Jews have arguments and conflicts with the non-Jews or the Gentiles, both of which groups had embraced the faith and believed in Jesus. The Jews contended that to be truly faithful, then everyone, including the Gentiles have to observe the entirety of the laws of Moses, the set of very expansive and exhaustive laws, rules and regulations, that governed many things in the lifestyle and customs of the Jews.

It is not only that this set of laws, which apparently numbered about six hundred and thirteen in all, if not more, that has brought a great burden to the others, and even to the Jews themselves who were in fact often not able to fulfill the entirety of its requirement, but also because, while the practices and customs were held by the Romans and Greeks to be strange and foreign, to the point of being barbaric and unsightly, but as long as they remained with the Jews, they might ignore it.

However, if the Gentiles who have accepted Jesus as their Saviour and believed in the truth had to also embrace the fullness of such a draconian and burdensome set of laws, which the Jews themselves were unable to fulfill completely, then it would result in great difficulty for the Gentiles themselves. For the Romans and the Greeks despised and looked at the Jewish customs with suspicion and also loathed the practice of circumcision that they did.

Therefore, what the Apostles had suggested for the whole Church to do indeed was the obvious choice, that instead of being bound and set rigid by the set of laws mostly made by men, although its core was divine, being the Law which God first revealed through Moses, but the purpose of the Law and our obedience to it should be so that we may be true disciples and followers of our Lord, not just in externals and appearances, but instead more importantly, in our inner beings.

That means instead of being fussy over the circumcision of the externals, we must seek the circumcision of the internals, that means, to purge our hearts of all sorts of malice and wickedness, and all sorts of impurities, of impure thoughts and intentions, impure emotions and dark thoughts, and anything that would bring us astray from the righteous path of the Lord.

If we have true faith in God, we will surely love Him and all those around us, our brothers and sisters in the same Lord, our Father. And therefore, let us all reflect on our own actions so far in life. Have we been truly faithful by practicing our faith in our own actions and deeds? Have every word that leaves our mouth show that we truly are the people that belongs to the Lord?

May Almighty God be with us and guide us all from now on, so that in all things we do, we may bring greater glory to Him who had been with us, loved us and cared for us all the days of our life. God bless us all and all of our endeavours. Amen.

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Thursday, 7 May 2015 : 5th Week of Easter (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 15 : 9-11

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “As the Father has loved Me, so I have loved you. Remain in My love! You will remain in My love if you keep My commandments, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and remain in His love.”

“I have told you all this, that My own joy may be in you, and your joy may be complete.”

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Thursday, 7 May 2015 : 5th Week of Easter (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 95 : 1-2a, 2b-3, 10

Sing to the Lord a new song, sing to the Lord, all the earth! Sing to the Lord, bless His Name.

Proclaim His salvation day after day. Recall His glory among the nations, tell all the peoples His wonderful deeds.

Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns!” He will judge the peoples with justice.

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Thursday, 7 May 2015 : 5th Week of Easter (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Acts 15 : 7-21

As the discussions became heated, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that from the beginning God chose me among you so that non-Jews could hear the Good News from me and believe. God, who can read hearts, put Himself on their side by giving the Holy Spirit to them just as He did to us. He made no distinction between us and them and cleansed their hearts through faith.”

“So why do you want to put God to the test? Why do you lay on the disciples a burden that neither our ancestors nor we ourselves were able to carry? We believe, indeed, that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they are.”

The whole assembly kept silent as they listened to Paul and Barnabas tell of all the miraculous signs and wonders that God had done through them among the non-Jews. After they had finished, James spoke up, “Listen to me, brothers. Symeon has just explained how God first showed His care by taking a people for Himself from non-Jewish nations.”

“And the words of the prophets agree with this, for Scripture says, ‘After this I will return and rebuild the booth of David which has fallen; I will rebuild its ruins and set it up again. Then the rest of humanity will look for the Lord, and all the nations will be consecrated to My Name.’ So says the Lord, who does today what He decided from the beginning.”

“Because of this, I think that we should not make difficulties for those non-Jews who are turning to God. Let us just tell them not to eat food that is unclean from having been offered to idols; to keep themselves from prohibited marriages; and not to eat the flesh of animals that have been strangled, or any blood. For from the earliest times Moses has been taught in every place, and every Sabbath his laws are recalled.”

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Wednesday, 6 May 2015 : 5th Week of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we hear again on the parable of the vine, where Jesus compared Himself to a vine, which was tended by the vinegrower, who is the Father in heaven. We are His branches, that come out branching from the vine. This is a very good and indeed perfect representation of how God does His work in this world and in all of us.

We who are living have all been created by the Lord, who then breathed life into us through the Spirit. All of us share the same life that God had granted us, and this life is a blessing. We are all like the branches that share the same life and are sustained by that life which the stem and the vine provides. If the branch falls of from the stem and vine, then it will die, for it no longer has any connection with the life-giving vine.

Thus, without the Lord, we can have no life in us, and we ought to be thankful for this life which He had granted us. And then, we are all also part of His living Church, that is His Body. With Christ as the Head of the Church, we are all united as part of this same Body, united by the communion we share with His Most Precious Body and Blood, which we all receive regularly through the Most Holy Eucharist.

That is why, all of us when we receive the Eucharist, it is important for us to realise how crucial this is, that we have received the Lord, who is Life and the sources of all life, into ourselves, that we have Him inside us, and therefore, as Jesus Himself once said to the Samaritan woman, that whoever drinks the water He provides will never be thirsty again, for indeed, He dwells in us all and become an eternal spring of water and life that satisfy us and make us to never be lacking again.

This means that as long as we adhere ourselves to the ways and the teachings of the Master of Life, then we will have life in us. And His way is love, that is to love both God and men alike. The way of the Lord is simple, and yet difficult to be done as it is very easy for us all to be tempted away from the truth and into the falsehoods of Satan, the pleasures of the flesh and the other factors that make it difficult for us to execute the will of God faithfully and courageously.

The most important matter is for us to achieve a state of harmony in our hearts and our being with the way of the Lord. This means that in all of our words, deeds and actions we must always proclaim the Lord and testify for His truth. If the Lord dwells in us, then our actions must profess Him and show that we are truly faithful to Him. In the first reading today from the Acts of the Apostles, we saw how there were tensions between the believers of Jewish and non-Jewish origins. And the tension is on the matter of whether the laws of Moses should be observed by the non-Jews as well.

Those laws, while centred on the Law of God, given through Moses, had many human additions and embellishment that were placed in, for the sake of the maintenance and preservation of the practices and customs of the Jews. Those who argued that the non-Jews had to also fulfill the entirety of the laws of Moses failed to see that truly, to be God’s followers and disciples, it would not be enough to just fulfill the outward application of the Law of God, but more importantly, is the conversion of our inner beings that we are truly the followers of God in all things.

Many of the laws of Moses deal with the purity of the exterior and appearances, and while these may be good, they often may distract us from the true goal, that is to be righteous and just in the presence of God, obeying His will and practicing our faith through real words, deeds and actions. That is why, St. Paul and the Apostles, led by St. Peter, eventually judged that the whole world does not have to observe the fullness of the laws of Moses, but as long as they do what is expected of them as the members of the Church of God and one of the faithful, then it would be enough.

Therefore, it is a good lesson for us, that we should not think of something big and beyond our means to do, as we live out our faith. But indeed we must begin with small and simple things, that in every small and little actions that we do, we must proclaim and glorify the Lord. Let us all therefore take small but concrete steps to change our lives for the better and walk more in the way of the Lord. May Almighty God be with us, guide us and strengthen us in our faith. God bless us all. Amen.